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C h a p t e r 7 Accused Sometime in 394 or 395, as Augustine worked intently on finding a “Catholic” Paul, bishop Valerius proposed to his superior, Megalius, bishop of Calama and primate of Numidia, that his priest Augustine be appointed coadjutor bishop in Hippo.1 We do not know what argument Valerius made for this unusual step. It is possible that his health was failing, since he died within two or three years. It seems likely that he was concerned with retaining Augustine as his successor, and avoiding his cooptation to another episcopate . Members of the educated circle around Augustine had begun to be drawn away from Hippo to various episcopal appointments. Perhaps Valerius had caught wind of similar plans for Augustine while attending the council of Carthage in 394. Whatever the impetus, Augustine had proved himself as a priest, and his rhetorical skill had found good use in his anti-Manichaean tracts and sermons. So Valerius acted to keep Augustine for Hippo. But his suggestion was not received warmly. Megalius wrote a stinging letter, raising objections to Augustine as a suitable candidate that highlighted lingering suspicions about his Manichaean connections (Cresc 3.80.92). A copy of this letter eventually found its way into the Donatist dossier on Augustine, although it is lost to us. All we have is Augustine’s dismissive rebuttal addressed to the Donatist bishop Petilian , who had cited Megalius’s letter against him: “What the man who was afterwards to ordain me bishop wrote about me in anger, while I was as yet a priest, he may freely seek to use as evidence against me. That the same man sought and obtained forgiveness from a holy council for the wrong he 240 chapter 7 thus had done to me, he is equally at liberty to ignore” (CLP 3.16.19; cf. Cresc 3.80.92; 4.64.78–79).2 The issues raised in the letter were serious, and took some time to be resolved, since Megalius withdrew his objections and ordained Augustine only in early 396.3 The “episcopal” or “holy” council to which Megalius made his formal withdrawal of charges would have been the episcopal commission empaneled to investigate them (in episcoporum concilio probare, Cresc 4.64.79, a more exact characterization than the sancto concilio of LitPet 3.16.19). When that commission made a determination that the charges and suspicions Megalius had raised had no validity, he accepted its judgment and made his apology. This was perfectly normal procedure for cases such as this. Before the commission reached that finding, however, it conducted an investigation , and would have asked for—or rather demanded—a formal response of Augustine to the charges.4 This whole episode of Augustine’s career has largely been forgotten, due in no small part to Augustine’s success in overwriting it in his own literary self-presentation. Even when responding to references to it made by his various enemies and accusers, he was vague and evasive. As best as we can tell, there were two main suspicions circulating around Augustine’s name. The first was that he had fled Africa and assumed a Catholic identity overseas in the face of anti-Manichaean legislation, and was secretly still a Manichaean. The second was that he had transmitted magical materials (a love spell and a piece of ritually charged bread) in his correspondence (LitPet 3.16.19; Cresc 3.80.92, 4.64.78–79). The same combination of accusations of Manichaeism and magic had led to the execution of Priscillian of Avila a decade before, at precisely the time Augustine opted to convert to Nicene Christianity. So these were far from minor charges. They represented capital offenses, and the threat to Augustine was very real. In Priscillian’s case, the path to execution had begun with just such an episcopal investigation. While proudly reporting Megalius’s apology for his accusations, Augustine offered not the slightest clue as to how he had gone about persuading the commission and the primate of his innocence. Augustine must have offered some defense, and, given his predilections and talents, this defense would have taken a polished rhetorical form. Megalius certainly received some sort of argument of innocence before agreeing to make the journey to Hippo to ordain Augustine in 396. But we have no letter or tract on this subject from Augustine’s pen. Or do we? Certain peculiarities in the structure and -04-25 12:39 GMT) Accused 241...

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