What’s in the fresco?

This fresco represents the turmoil in Augustine’s life during his period of schooling at Carthage. He is portrayed as kneeling in front of his teachers and reaching out to them, yet his attention is on the group of aristocratic young men on the left side of the fresco. Augustine is in a submissive position, representing the low self-image he had during this time. His teachers are physically above him, showing that he respects their presence. Still, his attention is focused on the aristocrats showing that his penchant for sin took precedence in his life. He lusted after power, more than knowledge. He was drawn to others in the community with status, which brought him away from the church and education. Augustine was absorbed during this time with a motto which is seen earlier in the pear incident of his adolescence: “We derived pleasure from the deed simply because it was forbidden” (2.4.9.). In this occurrence, Augustine stole pears just for the pleasure of stealing, rather than out of need or desire for the pears. His lust for power and knowledge during his school days was likewise without purpose. Here, disapproving glances from his teachers and other observers monitoring him in the back of the image show that he was constantly under observation. Another important note is the presence of Cicero’s Hortensius, which is being given to him by his teachers. In Confessions, Augustine remembers, “The book changed my way of feeling and the character of my prayers” (3.4.7.). The church is in the background of this fresco, and the Bible is on the table. Augustine has his back to both, showing what little value he found in religious teachings during this time. His worshipping occured outside of the church and God and the bible were in his life, but not of the utmost importance. He continued to love the lower over the higher, his definition of sinning. Conversely, in the next fresco, Monica, his mother, is praying in a church, showing that she puts God above all else and worships him from the church.

What’s in Confessions?

In Confessions, Augustine explains the significance of his reading of Cicero’s Hortensius. Reading the book first awakened him to the love of wisdom and the search for something higher than himself. However, his pride prevented him from turning to the Bible for further enlightenment. “When I studied the Bible and compared it to Cicero’s dignified prose, it seemed to me unworthy. My swollen pride recoiled from its style and my intelligence failed to penetrate to its inner meaning” (3.5.9). He reflects that Cicero’s work was beautifully written and easier for him to read, but he found the Bible dry and was unable to recognize the moral message behind the seemingly bland text. Still, Hortensius inspired Augustine to seek wisdom instead of honing his verbal skills, and this is exactly how he approached the Bible after his epiphany with the boy who tells him “tolle lege.”

Augustine also reflects on his materialism, describing his lustful behaviors during his college years. He says, “loving and being loved were sweet to me, the more so if I could only enjoy a lover’s body” (3.1.1). He is unable to be faithful to God because God is not a physical being on this earth. Meanwhile, the closeness Augustine feels when he is with someone in person, often sexually, is very fulfilling for him. Augustine is unable to find friends through his faith and finds them instead through their physical bodies.

What’s in it for us?

College students can easily identity with the schooling period of Augustine's life. During this time, his life entered into a downward spiral, which Augustine identifies: “I was in love with my own ruin, in love with decay: not in love with the thing for which I was falling into decay but with decay itself, for I was depraved in soul, and I leapt down from your strong support into destruction, hungering not for some advantage to be gained from the foul deed, but for the foulness of it” (2.4.9.). Adolescence and young adulthood are riddled with mistakes and learning. Oftentimes, we find that our actions misrepresent the person we would like to be. There are not always explanations for our actions, but we can learn from them as Augustine did. Finally, we can come out of our mistakes with the ability to know and do tremendous things.

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