St. Augustine and the Last Days of Rome, AD 370-430

The Late Roman Empire, an age of traditionalism and far-reaching change, is no longer dismissed as 'decadent'. This course offers an opportunity to study its culture and society in the half-century before the fatal impact of barbarian invasion, reflected in the writings of two of the most articulate graduates of the classical system of education: a Greek-speaking emperor who rejected the Christianity which had been forced upon him and tried to revive a moribund paganism, and a university teacher of Latin rhetoric whose conversion has given Christianity one of its most influential theologians and philosophers. The Confessions of Augustine, the most vivid autobiography of Antiquity, is the central text, counterpointed by some of Julian's uneasy and self-revelatory writings, in a literary context. It includes the work of pagan intellectuals known to Julian and letters of two of Latin Christianity's most forceful champions, St. Ambrose and St. Jerome, as well as of the litterateur Symmachus, author of what has been called the swansong of Roman paganism. There are glimpses of figures like Petronius Probus, the millionaire who crowned a career of misgovernment by being buried in St. Peter's, and the pagan Praetextatus, who jokingly demanded the Papacy as the price of his conversion. A historical background is provided by extracts from the last great Roman historian, Ammianus Marcellinus and from the abundant surviving legislation. The texts prescribed for study in translation are listed in the Examination Regulations and have been chosen for their literary merit as well as historical interest. The paper is examined by a single 3 hour written paper combining passages for comment and essay questions. This course is usually taught in Michaelmas Term. (Convenor: R. S. O. Tomlin, Wolfson).