Christian History Home > Issue 67 > Augustine & the Battle for Orthodoxy: A Gallery of Influential Antagonists
Augustine & the Battle for Orthodoxy: A Gallery of Influential Antagonists
Augustine's life and ministry were shaped by his encounters with these intellectual adversaries.
J. Stepehn Lang | posted 7/01/2000 12:00AM
Symmachus
(c. 345-c. 402)
Augustine's pagan patron
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman prefect, was everything Rome admired: wealthy, eloquent, a born leader. He was also a dedicated pagan at a time when paganism was on the wane.
The Roman empire at this time tolerated paganism, but Christianity was clearly the rising star among religions. Symmachus, a conservative aristocrat, tried to fight this trend, but he was outmaneuvered by his powerful cousin: Ambrose, bishop of Milan.
Ambrose persuaded the Roman emperor Gratian to remove the Altar of Victory from the Roman senate chamber—an obvious slap at Rome's pagan past. The senate sent Symmachus to plead with the emperor to replace the altar. Though eloquent (his style evoked comparisons with Cicero and Pliny), Symmachus failed in his mission.
Symmachus's clout was sufficient, however, to give Augustine's career an early boost. In 384 a government position as teacher of rhetoric in Milan was open, and some of Augustine's Manichee friends told Symmachus ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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