How we cite our quotes: (Book.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I was much attracted by the theatre, because the plays reflected my own unhappy plight and were tinder to my fire. (III.2.1)
No, Augustine doesn't empathize with Oedipus, with the killing his father and marrying his mother and all. (Well, maybe on some Freudian level he does.) Augustine's ability to relate to the stage has more to do with things like pathos and catharsis. After all, who doesn't enjoy a sad movie? But this is madness, says Augustine, because the pity is fake. And no one should be using fake pity like a drug.
Quote #8
On the one hand we would hunt for worthless popular distinctions, the applause of an audience, prizes for poetry, or quickly fading wreaths won in competition. We loved the idle pastimes of the stage and in self-indulgence we were unrestrained. On the other hand we aspired to be purged of these lowly pleasures […] (IV.1.1)
Being pious is easy when it's, well, easy, but when it involves actually sacrificing the things we enjoy, then it's pretty hard. We might, rather conveniently, choose not to think about how what we do is at odds with what we claim to believe. Hey, if piety were so simple then everyone'd be doing it.
Quote #9
The truth, of course, was that it was all my own self, and my own impiety had divided me against myself. My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner. (V.10.2)
Well, they say admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. But what does Augustine mean when he says that his impiety had divided him against himself? Are there two Augustines duking it out? No. He means that by not taking the blame for his actions, Augustine is externalizing his willpower. Remember, the Manichees believe that all particles, including the particles we're made of, are either good or evil. So he thinks believing in all that material nonsense is like eating your friend's birthday cake and saying "My stomach made me do it. Sorry."