Journal 5

What is it about Epicurus that Augustine was drawn to, and why would he not
commit himself fully to be an Epicurean?

The answer to the ladder question is a much easier one to understand; it was a
question introduced in class discussion, from a very interesting passage indeed. In
the Confessions Augustine states: “Epicurus had in [his] mind won the palm, had
[he] not believed that after death there remained a life for the soul” (book VI).
Epicurus did in fact believe in god, but he did not believe in a vengeful god that
passed judgment on humans, he believed that god had nothing to do with
humans. Augustine did not believe this to be God, he had trouble with Epicurus
in the sense that, Augustine, the Saint lived his life fearful of death, and
Epicurus did not do so. He believed that what you did in life would affect you
in death. This brings me to my first reason for Augustine’s fondness of
Epicurus. Augustine was known to be an extremely sad person who cried often,
I think religion had something to do with this; an unconscious envy of
Epicurus’s ‘don’t fear death’ lifestyle may be one reason he was attracted to his
ideals. Augustine must have been a supporter of Epicurus and
his scientific discoveries, and he must have believed that these ‘theories’ had
some merit to them, regardless of the
god he believed in. Would it be
unwise to believe that Augustine
thought rainbows to be a work of
science, as opposed to the work of a
deity? Or that thunder and lightning
was not the work of an angry god, but
simply the clashing of air? I think it is
entirely possible, and I think that even
if he would not say so, on some level
he truly believed so. Onto my second
point…Augustine was a very lustful man, he was ashamed of this lustfulness
and thus envious of Epicurus’s prudence. I think Augustine believed, just as
Epicurus did that prudence was key, but he did not posses the strength to
practice it in a sexual regard. These are but a few reasons why I believe
Augustine was attracted to Epicurean Philosophy, because as I stated in a
previous journal, the man is an unconscious Epicurean.