Augustine, a saint for our times
by Peter Mullen, TCW:
IF St Augustine (354-430) were to come back to Europe today, he would probably feel very much at home.
There were the barbarians attacking and besieging Rome itself and gangs of marauders – you might say terrorists – mounting raids on outposts of the Empire; there was within Rome an alien and disaffected minority who refused to accept the Roman civilisation. Not long after Augustine’s day the Emperor said to the writer and philosopher Sidonius: ‘I know what to do, Sidonius. I will close the gates of Rome!’
And Sidonius replied: ‘Too late, Sir. Our enemies are within our gates!’
And then among Romans themselves there was widespread decadence. Augustine stared into this decadence and said: ‘A city is not fortunate when its walls are standing while its morals are in ruins.’
He asked: ‘Why do you seek an infinite variety of pleasure with a crazy extravagance, while your prosperity produces a moral corruption far worse than all the fury of an enemy?’
There were theatres putting on gross pornography and the sadism and blood lust of the gladiatorial arena. Augustine described and condemned these scenes of depravity: ‘Full publicity is given where shame would be appropriate; close secrecy is imposed where praise would be in order. Decency is veiled from sight; indecency is exposed to view. Scenes of evil attract packed audiences; good words scarcely find any listeners. It is as if purity should provoke a blush and corruption give grounds for pride.’
Pretty much like Britain today.
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