Confessions - Part 1

At the beginning of his Confessions, Augustine explains the way in which he was educated. As a boy, he learned Latin and Greek so that he could read the great epics of Homer and Virgil. Using them as their source, the students then used these texts and other works related to these texts as ways to learn new words and phrases. However, Augustine does not approve of such methods of teaching as the literature given promotes vicious behavior.

It is as if we would not know words such as ‘golden shower’ and ‘bosom’ and ‘deceit’ and ‘temples of heaven’ and other phrases occurring in the passage in question, had not Terence brought on the stage a worthless young man citing Jupiter as a model for his own fornication. . . . There is no force, no force at all, in the argument that these words are more easily learnt through this obscene text. The words actually encourage the more confident committing of a disgraceful action. (19, section 26)

By this teaching method, one would think that there was no other way in which to learn a language without having to promote immoral behavior. Even by speaking them, one would be more prone to act on these words and not let them be as mere learning tools.

So one might then ask how to get a good education in the midst of such muck. Augustine says that it is not so much the fault of the words themselves that the student is led astray to think immoral behavior as god-sanctified but that of the teachers and their erroneous thinking. “I bring no charge against the words which are like exquisite and precious vessels, but the wine of error is poured into them for us by drunken teachers. If we failed to drink, we were caned and could not appeal to any sober judge,” (19, section 26). Language and words themselves are not wrong or bad. However, when the idea that the only way in which to learn is by reciting or emulating passages praising sinful behavior, then the words are tainted. There is no reason why it would be better to learn words and phrases from an immoral passage than from an edifying one. It is the choice of the teachers what they choose to encourage in their students whether consciously or not.