Key Arguments

• Augustine discovers that Faustus, whom he had expected to be highly learned, is in fact narrowly trained: "I quickly discovered him to be ignorant of the liberal arts other than grammar and literature; and his knowledge was of a conventional kind."
• He lists Faustus’ reading to show how thin his culture is, especially in comparison with the vast cosmological claims of Manichaean books: "He had read some orations of Cicero, a very few books by Seneca, some pieces of poetry, and some volumes of his own sect composed in a Latin of good style."
• Faustus nevertheless has genuine rhetorical grace and self‑control, which Augustine still appreciates: "Every day he practised delivery of a discourse, and so acquired a verbal facility which was made more agreeable and attractive by the controlled use of his mind and by a certain natural grace."
• When confronted with technical questions on astronomy and cosmology, Faustus declines to answer, recognizing his limitations: "He modestly did not even venture to take up the burden. He knew himself to be uninformed on these matters and was not ashamed to confess it."
• Augustine contrasts him favorably with loquacious pseudo‑teachers, highlighting the virtue of modesty: "He was not one of the many loquacious people, whom I have had to endure, who attempted to instruct me and had nothing to say."
• He explicitly judges modest self‑knowledge as more beautiful than the speculative knowledge he had wanted: "For the controlled modesty of a mind that admits limitations is more beautiful than the things I was anxious to know about."
• Faustus’ inadequacy leads Augustine to despair of Manichaean teaching and abandon his effort to advance in the sect: "In consequence the enthusiasm I had for the writings of Mani was diminished, and I felt even greater despair of learning from their other teachers … my entire effort, on which I had resolved, to advance higher in that sect was totally abandoned, once I had come to know that man."
• Augustine interprets this as God’s hidden providence using Faustus to loosen his Manichaean bonds: "So the renowned Faustus, who had been for many ‘a snare of death’ (Ps. 17: 6), without his will or knowledge had begun to loosen the bond by which I had been captured."

Source Quotes

When this became possible, I together with my close friends began to engage his attention at a moment when it was not out of place to exchange question and answer in discussion. When I put forward some problems which troubled me, I quickly discovered him to be ignorant of the liberal arts other than grammar and literature; and his knowledge was of a conventional kind. He had read some orations of Cicero, a very few books by Seneca, some pieces of poetry, and some volumes of his own sect composed in a Latin of good style.

When I put forward some problems which troubled me, I quickly discovered him to be ignorant of the liberal arts other than grammar and literature; and his knowledge was of a conventional kind. He had read some orations of Cicero, a very few books by Seneca, some pieces of poetry, and some volumes of his own sect composed in a Latin of good style. Every day he practised delivery of a discourse, and so acquired a verbal facility which was made more agreeable and attractive by the controlled use of his mind and by a certain natural grace.

Nevertheless I put forward my problems for consideration and discussion. He modestly did not even venture to take up the burden. He knew himself to be uninformed on these matters and was not ashamed to confess it. He was not one of the many loquacious people, whom I have had to endure, who attempted to instruct me and had nothing to say.

This was an additional ground for my pleasure. For the controlled modesty of a mind that admits limitations is more beautiful than the things I was anxious to know about. And in all the most difficult and subtle questions this was how I found him.

I decided to be content for the time being unless perhaps something preferable should come to light. So the renowned Faustus, who had been for many ‘a snare of death’ (Ps. 17: 6), without his will or knowledge had begun to loosen the bond by which I had been captured. For in your hidden providence your hands, my God, did not forsake my soul.

Key Concepts

• I quickly discovered him to be ignorant of the liberal arts other than grammar and literature; and his knowledge was of a conventional kind.
• He had read some orations of Cicero, a very few books by Seneca, some pieces of poetry, and some volumes of his own sect composed in a Latin of good style.
• He modestly did not even venture to take up the burden. He knew himself to be uninformed on these matters and was not ashamed to confess it.
• For the controlled modesty of a mind that admits limitations is more beautiful than the things I was anxious to know about.
• the renowned Faustus, who had been for many ‘a snare of death’ (Ps. 17: 6), without his will or knowledge had begun to loosen the bond by which I had been captured.

Context

Book V, sections vi–vii (11–13): Augustine narrates his long‑anticipated encounter with Faustus, noting his charm and modesty but also his lack of real learning, and reinterprets this disappointment as part of God’s providential liberation from Manichaeism.