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The 's Confessions By Augustine Dismisses The Aeneid

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In the first book of his Confessions, Augustine dismisses the Aeneid, describing it merely as depicting “the wanderings of some legendary fellow named Aeneas” (Conf. 1.20). However, this is not the only thing that he dismisses throughout the text. Augustine also rejects other culturally significant texts and the work of both himself and others in his life. While he does admit there are positive lessons to learn from each of these pursuits, Augustine argues the only texts or professions that matter are those that bring an individual closer to God, specifically by mentioning Him and His teachings. Throughout Confessions, Augustine, in retrospect, rejects many of the texts he came across in his life. He first exhibits this when he describes how wrong it was to have reacted emotionally to the Aeneid. He “wept over Dido, who ‘died pursuing her ultimate end with a sword’” (Conf. 1.21), while at the same time he failed to realize he was “dying by [his] alienation from [God]” (Conf. 1.20). Here Augustine laments the fact he wept over Dido’s death while at the same time worsened his own condition by ignoring God and his own sinfulness. He is highly critical of himself in the way he approached the Aeneid as a child, describing himself as having “abandoned [God] to pursue the lowest things of [God’s] creation” (Conf. 1.21). Because the Aeneid leads Augustine further away from God it cannot have any significance in one’s life. The Aeneid is not the only text Augustine disregards in

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