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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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by St Augustine of Hippo |
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Ch 8. It is lawful for a Christian
teacher to use the art of rhetoric |
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22. But although I take some examples of eloquence from those
writings of theirs which there is
no difficulty in understanding, we are not by any means to suppose
that it is our duty to imitate
them in those passages where, with a view to exercise and train
the minds of their readers, and to
break in upon the satiety and stimulate the zeal of those who are
willing to learn, and with a view
also to throw a veil over the minds of the godless either that
they may be converted to piety or
shut out from a knowledge of the mysteries, from one or other of
these reasons they have
expressed themselves with a useful and wholesome obscurity. They
have indeed expressed
themselves in such a way that those who in after ages understood
and explained them aright have
in the Church of God obtained an esteem, not indeed equal to that
with which they are themselves
regarded, but coming next to it. The expositors of these writers,
then, ought not to express
themselves in the same way, as if putting forward their
expositions as of the same authority; but
they ought in all their deliverances to make it their first and
chief aim to be understood, using as
far as possible such clearness of speech that either he will be
very dull who does not understand
them, or that if what they say should not be very easily or
quickly understood, the reason will lie
not in their manner of expression, but in the difficulty and subtilty of the matter they are trying to
explain.
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Ch 9. The proper age and the proper
means for acquiring rhetorical skill |
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23. For there are some passages which are not understood in their
proper force, or are
understood with great difficulty, at whatever length, however
clearly, or with whatever eloquence
the speaker may expound them; and these should never be brought
before the people at all, or
only on rare occasions when there is some urgent reason. In books,
however, which are written in
such a style that, if understood, they, so to speak, draw their
own readers, and if not understood,
give no trouble to those who do not care to read them, and in
private conversations, we must not
shrink from the duty of bringing the truth which we ourselves have
reached within the
comprehension of others, however difficult it may be to understand
it, and whatever labour in the
way of argument it may cost us. Only two conditions are to be
insisted upon, that our hearer or
companion should have an earnest desire to learn the truth, and
should have capacity of mind to
receive it in whatever form it may be communicated, the teacher
not being so anxious about the
eloquence as about the clearness of his teaching.
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Ch 10. The duty of the
Christian teacher |
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24. Now a strong desire for clearness sometimes leads to neglect
of the more polished forms of
speech, and indifference about what sounds well, compared with
what dearly expresses and
conveys the meaning intended. Whence a certain author, when
dealing with speech of this kind,
says that there is in it "a kind of careful negligence." Yet while
taking away ornament, it does not
bring in vulgarity of speech; though good teachers have, or ought
to have, so great an anxiety
about teaching that they will employ a word which cannot be made
pure Latin without becoming
obscure or ambiguous, but which when used according to the vulgar
idiom is neither ambiguous
nor obscure) not in the way the learned, but rather in the way the
unlearned employ it. For if our
translators did not shrink from saying, "Non congregabo
conventicula eorum de sanguinibus" (I
shall not assemble their assemblies of blood), because they felt
that it was important for the sense
to put a word here in the plural which in Latin is only used in
the singular; why should a teacher
of godliness who is addressing an unlearned audience shrink from
using "ossum" instead of "os", if he fear that the
latter might be taken not as the singular of "ossa", but as the
singular of "ora", seeing that African ears have no quick
perception of the shortness or length of vowels? And what
advantage is there in purity of speech which does not lead to
understanding in the hearer, seeing that there is no use at all in
speaking, if they do not understand us for whose sake we speak?
He, therefore, who teaches will avoid all words that do not teach;
and if instead of them he can find words which are at once pure
and intelligible, he will take these by preference; if, however,
he cannot, either because there are no such words, or because they
do not at the time occur to him, he will use words that are not
quite pure, if only the substance of his thought be conveyed and
apprehended in its integrity.
25. And this must be insisted on as necessary to our being
understood, not only in conversations, whether with one person or
with several, but much more in the case of a speech delivered in
public: for in conversation any one has the power of asking a
question; but when all are silent that one may be heard, and all
faces are turned attentively upon him, it is neither customary nor
decorous for a person to ask a question about what he does not
understand; and on this account the speaker ought to be especially
careful to give assistance to those who cannot ask it. Now a crowd
anxious for instruction generally shows by its movements if it
understands what is said; and until some indication of this sort
be given, the subject discussed ought to be turned over and over,
and put in every shape and form and variety of expression, a thing
which cannot be done by men who are repeating words prepared
beforehand and committed to memory. As soon, however, as the
speaker has ascertained that what he says is understood, he ought
either to bring his address to a close, or pass on to another
point. For if a man gives pleasure when he throws light upon
points on which people wish for instruction, he becomes wearisome
when he dwells at length upon things that are already well known,
especially when men's expectation was fixed on having the
difficulties of the passage removed. For even things that are very
well known are told for the sake of the pleasure they give, if the
attention be directed not to the things themselves, but to the way
in which they are told. Nay, even when the style itself is already
well known, if it be pleasing to the hearers, it is almost a
matter of indifference whether he who speaks be a speaker or a
reader. For things that are gracefully written are often not only
read with delight by those who are making their first acquaintance
with them, but reread with delight by those who have already made
acquaintance with them, and have not yet forgotten them; nay, both
these classes will derive pleasure even from hearing another man
repeat them. And if a man has forgotten anything, when he is
reminded of it he is taught. But I am not now treating of the mode
of giving pleasure. I am speaking of the mode in which men who
desire to learn ought to be taught. And the best mode is that
which secures that he who hears shall hear the truth, and that
what he hears he shall understand. And when this point has been
reached, no further labour need be spent on the truth itself, as
if it required further explanation; but perhaps some trouble may
be taken to enforce it so as to bring it home to the heart. If it
appear right to do this, it ought to be done so moderately as not
to lead to weariness and impatience.
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Ch 11. Wisdom of more importance than
eloquence to the Christian teacher |
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26. For teaching, of course, true eloquence consists, not
in making people like what they
disliked, nor in making them do what they shrank from, but in
making clear what was obscure; yet
if this be done without grace of style, the benefit does not
extend beyond the few eager students
who are anxious to know whatever is to be learnt, however rude and
unpolished the form in
which it is put, and who, when they have succeeded in their
object, find the plain truth pleasant
food enough. And it is one of the distinctive features of good
intellects not to love words, but the
truth in words. For of what service is a golden key, if it cannot
open what we want it to open? Or
what objection is there to a wooden one if it can, seeing that to
open what is shut is all we want?
But as there is a certain analogy between learning and eating, the
very food without which it is
impossible to live must be flavoured to meet the tastes of the
majority.
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Ch 12. The sacred writers unite eloquence
with wisdom |
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27. Accordingly a great orator has truly said that "an eloquent
man must speak so as to teach, to delight, and to persuade." Then
he adds: "To teach is a necessity, to delight is a beauty, to
persuade is a triumph." Now of these three, the one first
mentioned, the teaching, which is a matter of necessity, depends
on what we say; the other two on the way we say it. He, then, who
speaks with the purpose of teaching should not suppose that he has
said what he has to say as long as he is not understood; for
although what he has said be intelligible to himself, it is not
said at all to the man who does not understand it. If, however, he
is understood, he has said his say, whatever may have been his
manner of saying it. But if he wishes to delight or persuade his
hearer as well, he will not accomplish that end by putting his
thought in any shape no matter what, but for that purpose the
style of speaking is a matter of importance. And as the hearer
must be pleased in order to secure his attention, so he must be
persuaded in order to move him to action. And as he is pleased if
you speak with sweetness and elegance, so he is persuaded if he be
drawn by your promises, and awed by your threats; If he reject
what you condemn, and embrace what you commend; if he grieve when
you heap up objects for grief, and rejoice when you point out an
object for joy; if he pity those whom you present to him as
objects of pity, and shrink from those whom you set before him as
men to be feared and shunned. I need not go over all the other
things that can be done by powerful eloquence to move the minds of
the hearers, not telling them what they ought to do, but urging
them to do what they already know ought to be done.
28. If however, they do not yet know this, they must of course
be instructed before they can be moved. And perhaps the mere
knowledge of their duty will have such an effect that there will
be no need to move them with greater strength of eloquence. Yet
when this is needful, it ought to be done. And it is needful when
people, knowing what they ought to do, do it not. Therefore, to
teach is a necessity. For what men know, it is in their own hands
either to do or not to do. But who would say that it is their duty
to do what they do not know? On the same principle, to persuade is
not a necessity: for it is not always called for; as, for example,
when the hearer yields his assent to one who simply teaches or
gives pleasure. For this reason also to persuade is a triumph,
because it is possible that a man may be taught and delighted, and
yet not give his consent. And what will be the use of gaining the
first two ends if we fail in the third? Neither is it a necessity
to give pleasure; for when, in the course of an address, the truth
is clearly pointed out (and this is the true function of
teaching), it is not the fact, nor is it the intention, that the
style of speech should make the truth pleasing, or that the style
should of itself give pleasure; but the truth itself, when
exhibited in its naked simplicity, gives pleasure, because it is
the truth. And hence even falsities are frequently a source of
pleasure when they are brought to light and exposed. It is not, of
course, their falsity that gives pleasure; but as it is true that
they are false, the speech which shows this to be true gives
pleasure.
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Ch 13. The hearer must be moved as well
as instructed |
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29. But for the sake at those who are so fastidious that they do
not care for truth unless it is put
in the form of a pleasing discourse, no small place has been
assigned in eloquence to the art of
pleasing. And yet even this is not enough for those stubborn
minded men who both understand
and are pleased with the teacher's discourse, without deriving any
profit from it. For what does it
profit a man that he both confesses the truth and praises the
eloquence, if he does not yield his
consent, when it is only for the sake of securing his consent that
the speaker in urging the truth
gives careful attention to what he says? If the truths taught are
such that to believe or to know
them is enough, to give one's assent implies nothing more than to
confess that they are true.
When, however, the truth taught is one that must be carried into
practice, and that is taught for
the very purpose of being practiced, it is useless to be persuaded
of the truth of what is said, it is
useless to be pleased with the manner in which it is said, if it
be not so learnt as to be practiced.
The eloquent divine, then, when he is urging a practical truth,
must not only teach so as to give
instruction, and please so as to keep up the attention, but he
must also sway the mind so as to
subdue the will. For if a man be not moved by the force of truth,
though it is demonstrated to his
own confession, and clothed in beauty of style, nothing remains
but to subdue him by the power
of eloquence.
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