Augustine's Rhetoric Analysis

Everything is judged at first by its appearance at first. Later something might be reexamined for its content. Augustine did this with arguments. During the first part of his life he put a heavy emphasis on form but as he grew older he found that form did not satisfy him as a reader. He then began to analyze the substance of arguments and had his questions answered. This is because, form merely entertains, while substance dispenses wisdom. Cicero’s Hortensius is the first argument Augustine mentions for its substance. When he was a school boy in Carthage, an impressionable Augustine had to study the form Cicero used to write Hortensius. (38). Cicero was known for beginning great at rhetoric. This drew many pupils of rhetoric, like Augustine, towards him. Most pupils were not changed by Hortensius, since they were only studying how it entertained the reader. In contrast, Augustine admired the work for its content. (39). The content enkindled Augustine’s love for wisdom and provoked him to read scripture. When Augustine first approached scripture he did so as a student of rhetoric and was distracted by its simple form. (40). This blinded Augustine from seeing what scripture had to say. The form of the document lacked the entertainment Augustine was use to

They were eloquent enough for Augustine to be interested in their teachings but Augustine saw a flaw in their dogma. He noticed that their accounts of astrological events contradicted the science that governed the events. (75). Augustine wanted in explanation for why the contradiction existed. Faustus was supposed to prove him with an answer but Augustine said “he said the things they usually say, but put it much more agreeably.” (77-78). Augustine realized at this point that not every carefully crafted argument was worth listening to. Augustine gave up on the Manichees because of Faustus’ lack of substance in his