Book II

With the onset of adolescence in Book II, Augustine enters what he seems to consider the most lurid and sinful period of his life. He "ran wild," he writes, "in the jungle of erotic adventures...and became putrid in [God's] sight." In addition to his first sexual escapades, Augustine is also quite concerned with an incident in which he and some friends stole pears from a neighborhood orchard. Augustine deeply regrets both of these sins, and offers a few brief insights as to how and why he committed them.

[II.1-4] Though sinful in acting out his erotic desires, Augustine gives himself some credit, writing that "the single desire that dominated my search for delight was simply to love and be loved." Again, God has given Augustine only good properties, and it is his own fault for misdirecting those properties. In this case, the problem was that his love had "no restraint imposed [on it] by the exchange of mind with mind." Hence, pure love was perverted by its misdirection toward worldly things (bodies). Ideally, according to Augustine, sex is used only for procreation, and even then only in a relationship focused not on lust but on a loving, rational partnership (as he sees Adam and Eve relating before their fall). [II.5-8] Having finished grade school at this point, Augustine was preparing to leave for Carthage for further study. His father Patrick had managed to raise funds for this, and Augustine praises him for trying so hard to educate his son. Still, he notes, his father had no proper moral concern for him--as was the overwhelming custom, education was seen simply as a means to worldly success. "But in my mother's heart," writes Augustine, "you had already begun your temple." The Catholic Monica often admonished young Augustine against fornication, and he now recognizes that God was speaking through her. At the time, however, her warnings seemed "womanish advice which I would have blushed to take the least notice of." Eventually, Monica tends to lets Augustine do as he will, fearing that a proper wife at this stage would impede his chances for a good career. [II.9-14] Augustine considers the theft of the pears next. What particularly disturbs him about this teenage prank is that he did it out of no other motive than a desire to do wrong. "I loved my fall [into sin]," he writes. The pears were not stolen for their beauty, their taste, or their nourishment (there were better pears at home), but out of sheer mischief. Investigating this point further, Augustine again concludes that his actions simply represent a human perversion of his Godgiven goodness. In fact, each thing he sought to gain from stealing the pears (and everything humans desire in sinning) turns out to be a twisted version of one of God's attributes. In a remarkable rhetorical feat, Augustine matches each sinful desire with a desire to be like God: pride seeks loftiness (and God is the highest), perverse curiosity desires knowledge (and God knows all), idleness is really aiming at "quietude" (and God is unchanging in his eternal repose), and so on.

The underlying theme here is, again, Neoplatonic. For the Neoplatonists, all creation (the material world) has "turned away" from God's perfection, becoming scattered into a chaotic state of mutability, temporality, and multiplicity. God remains unchangeable, eternal, and unified, and creation always seeks (whether it realizes it or not) to return to God. Here, Augustine has argued that even sin itself fundamentally aims at a return to God. [II.15-18] Book II ends with a consideration of the peer pressure on which Augustine partly blames the theft of the pears. The main lesson he takes from this is that "friendship can be a dangerous enemy, a seduction of the mind." Like love, it must be subjected to reason if it is to be truly good

Book VII
Although Augustine has been using Neoplatonic terms and ideas throughout the Confessions thus far, it isn't until Book VII that he reaches the point in his autobiography when he first reads Neoplatonic philosophy. This is a watershed moment for the young Augustine, who finds in Neoplatonism a way of reconciling his long pursuit of philosophy with his new and serious faith in the Catholic church. The union of this philosophy and this theology will guide his work (including the Confessions) for the rest of his life.

[VII.1-7] Augustine begins with another appraisal of his philosophy at the time, paying particular attention to his conceptions of God as a being and of the nature of evil (the two concepts that Neoplatonism would alter most for him). The problem of picturing God remained central. Having rejected Manichee dualism, Augustine was finally trying to imagine God as "incorruptible and inviolable and unchangeable" rather than as some kind of limited, partly impotent substance. He still, however, has no conception of spiritual substance (a substance that is not matter and does not exist in space). He pictured God as "a secret breath of life" or like sunlight, when he shouldn't have been "picturing" him at all. "My eyes are accustomed to such images," he writes, and "my heart accepted the same structure. Augustine couldn't get around the idea that anything not occupying space could still have existence. (He notes that even the power of thought itself, if he had considered it, would have served as an example). Similarly, although Augustine now thought of Manichee dualism as "an abomination," he still had no solution to the problem of evil. He even reached the point of suspecting (after listening to other Catholics) that human free will causes evil, but was left with the question of why humans can choose evil at all. How could it even be an option to choose something other than God, if God is omnipotent? This problem, too, Augustine now attributes to improper visualization. He thought of God like an immense ocean, with the world as "a large but finite sponge" within it. Thus, he asked, "how [did] evil creep in?" And if matter itself was evil (as the Manicheans taught), why did God create it?

BOOK 8
[VIII.1-18]Characteristically of this part of theConfessions,Augustine begins by taking stock of his progress toward God at the time. He had removed all doubt "that there is an indestructible substance from which comes all substance," and recognized that God was a spiritual substance with no spatial extension. "My desire," he writes, "was not to be more certain of you but to be more stable in you." Augustine is further moved by the story (told by his Christian friend Simplicianus) of Victorinus, a highly respected rhetorician and translator of the Neoplatonic texts Augustine had just read. Victorinus had converted to Christianity toward the end of his life, and Augustine was much impressed that such an intelligent and successful man had had the faith to become Catholic. Nonetheless, Augustine did not yet convert. Though no further obstacles stood in his way, he felt he was struggling against a second will within himself: "my two wills...one carnal, one spiritual, were in conflict with one and other." Augustine remained attached by habit to the beauty of material things and pleasures, though he felt that this habit was "no more I." Comparing his state with that of a drowsy sleeper trying to get up, Augustine continued to edge closer to conversion. Nebridius was turning down work at the law courts to have more time for spiritual pursuits, and Alypius was in close dialogue with Augustine about the same issues. With a great deal of motivation already in the air, a friend (Ponticianus) tells Augustine of monasteries outside the city and of two men who had given up their worldly lives in an instant to become monks. For Augustine, this is almost like an accusation: "you thrust me before my own eyes.... The day had now come when I stood naked to myself."

Book I
Summary Ovid begins the Metamorphoses by invoking the gods. He asks them to inspire his work, which opens with the creation of the world and continues on to the present day, and is about the transformation of bodies. After this short prayer, Ovid describes the birth of the world. A creator separated earth from heaven, sea from land, and lighter air from heavier air. He then made beings to inhabit these new spaces: Gods and stars filled the heavens, fish the seas, beasts the land, and birds the air. Man was created to rule the world. Four ages followed. The age of gold was a time of trust, moral goodness, and fruitfulness. In the age of silver, people had to work for a living. The age of bronze saw the first wars, but some semblance of morality persisted. In the age of iron, however, nothing is sacred. Even family ties lead to bloodshed.

In the iron age, the gods appear and witness human impiety. In particular, Jupiter visits the house of the Lycaon, who treats Jupiter with the greatest disrespect, even trying to murder him in his sleep. Outraged, Jupiter decides to punish humanity with a flood. Because of their piety, Deucalion and Pyrrha survive. No one else does. Themis gives Deucalion and Pyrrha cryptic advice about how to repopulate the earth: They must cover their heads, let their garments loose, and cast the bones of their great mother behind their backs. Initially, Pyrrha is disheartened, because she interprets this advice as sacrilegious. How can she desecrate her mothers bones? Deucalion has a different interpretation. He thinks Themis was referring not to their actual mothers, but to the earth. They try throwing stones behind them, and the stones morph into people. Apollo speaks disparagingly to Cupid, who shoots two arrows in retaliation. The first arrow causes Apollo to fall in love, and the second arrow makes the object of his love, Daphne, flee. Apollo pursues Daphne, but she rejects him. Apollo pleads and persists, and Daphne cries out to her father for help. He responds by transforming her into a laurel tree. Not entirely deterred, Apollo gropes the tree. At this point, Jupiter catches sight of a young nymph, Io, and lust fills his heart. He rapes her. Juno, Jupiters wife, suspects something. To throw his wife off the scent, Jupiter turns Io into a cow. But this move makes Juno even more suspicious. She asks Jupiter for Io as a present and sets many-eyed Argus to keep watch over the transformed Io. Upset by Ios great distress, Jupiter sends Mercury to kill Argus. Mercury succeeds, and Io is eventually transformed back into a nymph. She has a son by Jupiter, Epaphus. Analysis From the first sentence of his Metamorphoses, Ovid makes it clear that he is not writing a traditional epic. He states outright that his intention is to create something new, writing, My mind carries me to speak of bodies changed intonew forms (I.1 2). The phrase new forms suggests that Metamorphoseswill not mimic Virgils Aeneid or Homers Iliad. Ovid differentiates himself still further from Virgil by stating that his mind moves him to write. Instead of calling on a muse for inspiration, Ovid calls on the gods. This difference in inspirations may seem slight, but by invoking all of the gods, Ovid insures that none of them get credit. Ovid subtly suggests that this work is all about him. Ovid depicts a group of gods who are often irrational. In this section of the work, Jupiter provides a prime example of the gods tendency to draw foolish conclusions. Based on his negative experience with one man, Lycaon, Jupiter decides that all humans are evil and must be exterminated. He fails to consider Deucalion and Pyrrha, two models of piety who prove that not all humans are immoral. Jupiters other reason for causing the flood is his desire to make the world a safer place for lesser divinities that do not inhabit the heavens: nymphs, fauns, satyrs, and mountain-dwelling divinities. However, this reasoning is also flawed. As the epic continues and we read about the brutal behavior of the godsApollos pursuit of the

anguished Daphne, Jupiters rape of Io, and so onwe realize that the gods dont have the moral authority to police the world. Indeed, the lesser divinities need to be protected from the gods, rather than protected by them. The gods are as immoral as they are irrational. Ovid gets his narrative off to a dark start by introducing the theme of divine rape almost immediately. Apollo, filled with lust for Daphne, attempts to rape her. Even after she is turned into a tree, Apollo kisses her and gropes her bark. Jupiter is no better. He lusts after Io, rapes her, and turns her into a cow when his wife gets suspicious. Jupiters crime is both more violent than Apollos and more hypocritical; he commits it directly after flooding the earth to wipe it clean of impious mortals. The other gods are no less hypocritical. They care far more about token gestures of respect than they do about actual good behavior. When confronted with the possible destruction of humanity, they worry only about who will burn incense on their altars. Incense is more important to them than compassion.

Ovid weaves a strong element of comedy into the fabric of his narrative. While he depicts the gods behavior as darkly immoral, he also shows the funny side of it. Daphnes transformation into a tree is tragic, but there is something amusing about the stolid, unmoving form her father gives herand something downright comical about the image of Apollo copping a feel of her bark. Jupiters taste for extramarital affairs is also amusing. He cant keep his hands off young maidens, and the lengths he goes to in an attempt to fool his wife might remind modern readers of the antics of cheating husbands in screwball comedies. Jupiter is king of the gods, but he flutters around in a panic, trying to pull the wool over Junos eyes by giving Io the comical form of a cow.

Book III
Summary Europas father, Agenor, threatens Cadmus with exile if he does not find Europa. Cadmus tries and fails. He cant go home, so he prays to Apollo about where he should live. Apollo says he a pristine heifer will lead him to a place where he will establish a city. Apollos prophecy is born out. However, Cadmuss men encounter an enormous serpent, which kills them. Cadmus slays the serpent and, at Minervas request, buries its teeth in the ground. Immediately, a group of belligerent men emerge from the land and begin to kill each other. The five remaining men agree to live in peace, and Thebes is established.

Cadmuss household is plagued. While hunting, his grandson, Actaeon, stumbles upon Diana bathing in her sacred grove. Diana is so offended that she transforms Actaeon into a deer, and Actaeons own hunting dogs kill him. Semele, Cadmuss daughter, is pregnant with Jupiters child. Juno, filled with rage at yet another dalliance of Jupiters, disguises herself as an old woman and convinces Semele to ask Jupiter to make love to her with all his power as a god, just as he makes love to Juno. Semele gets Jupiter to promise her an unspecified gift. When she makes her request, Jupiter cannot go back on his word. He makes love to her with all his power. She cannot withstand it, and she dies. Jupiter brings their son, Bacchus, to full term in his thigh.

The scene changes. Jupiter and Juno banter about which gender enjoys sex more. Jupiter says women do, and Juno says men do. They decide to ask Tiresias, who reportedly has experienced life as both a man and woman. Tiresias agrees with Jupiter. In her anger, Juno strikes Tiresias blind. Jupiter compensates Tiresias by giving him supernatural foresight. Ovid records Tiresiass first prediction: that Narcissus will live a long life as long as he does not know himself. These cryptic words were born out when Narcissus, who had rejected all would-be lovers, fell in love with his own reflection. Ovid returns to the story of Cadmuss family. Pentheus tries to persuade his family and others not to worship Bacchus. No one is convinced, but Pentheus stands firm. Not even Acoetes, a convert to the worship of Bacchus, can change his mind. Pentheus threatens to make Acoetes into an example by killing him. Pentheus sets out for Mount Cithaeron to spy on the rites of Bacchus. When he arrives, his own aunt and mother mistake him for an animal and hunt him. His aunt, Autonoe, rips off his arms, and his mother tears off his head and lets out a shout of victory. Analysis This book begins auspiciously, with the founding of Thebes. However, divine revenge soon takes center stage. The gods punish nearly every major character for a crime, regardless of whether the crime was committed wittingly or unwittingly. Diana punishes Actaeon for accidentally stumbling upon her when she is naked. Juno punishes Semele for her love affair with Jupiter. She also punishes Tiresias with blindness for agreeing with Jupiter. And Bacchus punishes Pentheus for failing to worship him. By focusing on the theme of revenge, Ovid invites comparisons with Virgils Aeneid, which portrays Aeneass quest to establish a city, and Junos resulting wrath. Ovid outdoes Virgil, whose sole villain was Juno. In Ovids account, three divine figures damn the household of Cadmus and the founding of Thebes: Diana, Juno, and Bacchus. Each act of revenge is accompanied by an ironic twist at the expense of the victim. Actaeon, a hunter, becomes the hunted. The reversal is completed when Actaeons own dogs tear him apart. Semele is killed by sex, the very act that drew her and Jupiter together. She is slain by her lovers overwhelming prowess, and she requests her own manner of death. Tiresias extensive knowledge causes his blindness. Narcissus, who has rejected all suitors, is rejected by himself. He becomes both the object and the subject of spurned love. Pentheuss death is ironic for three reasons. First, his threat to kill Acoetes is turned against him when he himself is killed for impiety. Second, Bacchuss worshipers mistake Pentheus for an animal ironic, considering that Pentheus is not an animal or even a transformed animal, as are many of the characters in the poem. Finally, despite his refusal to worship Bacchus, Pentheus becomes a central figure in a worship rite, as he is sacrificed at the hands of his mother and aunt.

In this book, Ovid focuses on the danger of transgression. In almost all of the episodes, boundaries are crossed, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. Semele, a human, sleeps with Jupiter, a married god; Actaeon stumbles into the sacred and secret grove of Diana and sees something he should not; Tiresias lives as both a man and a woman and offers a verdict on pleasure and sexuality from the perspective of both; and Pentheus witnesses and unwillingly takes part in the secret the rites of Bacchus. The result of each of these boundary-crossings justifies Ovids dictum, do not call someone happy until he dies and his funeral is over (III.136137). When people cross boundaries, the result is blindness, death by sex, death by dogs, or an equally horrible fate. While Thebes is founded happily, its subsequent history quickly grows grim.