The Position of Blassed Augustine on Ars Rhetorica
The Position of Blassed Augustine on Ars Rhetorica

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, first of all, I would like to mention some valences of ancient culture, which was an essentially literary culture, grounded in grammar and rhetoric. I also provide clarifications regarding the use of the term eloquentia in Antiquity and its connotations, as well as the position of Blessed Augustine and some of his contemporary Christian writers on ars rhetorica. In what follows, we will use the term eloquentia with the same meaning as Blessed Augustine and his contemporaries did. They employed the term in its denotative meaning, not only in oratory, but also in written literature. In this respect, classical literature was much closer to the spoken language than it is today, and the development we see in the late Imperial period had its roots in the classical period. Even if Blessed Augustine acknowledges the usefulness of traditional eloquentia, he no longer considers it indispensable for the Christian orator or writer. The great ecclesiastical writer affirms that the Christian orator has only one purpose: to secure the salvation of souls. To this end, eloquence is useful, but not indispensable. Christian preaching makes use of the Holy Scripture, which possesses its own efficacy by itself, a supernatural eloquence.

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