On Christian Doctrine — II

St. Augustine of Hippo

  1. 1. — Signs, Their Nature and Variety.
  2. 2. — Of the Kind of Signs We are Now Concerned with.
  3. 3. — Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place.
  4. 4. — Origin of Writing.
  5. 5. — Scripture Translated into Various Languages.
  6. 6. — Use of the Obscurities in Scripture Which Arise from Its Figurative Language.
  7. 7. — Steps to Wisdom: First, Fear; Second, Piety; Third, Knowledge; Fourth, Resolution; Fifth, Counsel; Sixth, Purification of Heart; Seventh, Stop or Termination, Wisdom.
  8. 8. — The Canonical Books.
  9. 9. — How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture.
  10. 10. — Unknown or Ambiguous Signs Prevent Scripture from Being Understood.
  11. 11. — Knowledge of Languages, Especially of Greek and Hebrew, Necessary to Remove Ignorance or Signs.
  12. 12. — A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words.
  13. 13. — How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended.
  14. 14. — How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered.
  15. 15. — Among Versions a Preference is Given to the Septuagint and the Itala.
  16. 16. — The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions.
  17. 17. — Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses.
  18. 18. — No Help is to Be Despised, Even Though It Come from a Profane Source.
  19. 19. — Two Kinds Of Heathen Knowledge.
  20. 20. — The Superstitious Nature of Human Institutions.
  21. 21. — Superstition of Astrologers.
  22. 22. .— The Folly of Observing the Stars in Order to Predict the Events of a Life.
  23. 23. — Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination.
  24. 24. — The Intercourse and Agreement with Demons Which Superstitious Observances Maintain.
  25. 25. — In Human Institutions Which are Not Superstitious, There are Some Things Superfluous and Some Convenient and Necessary.
  26. 26. — What Human Contrivances We are to Adopt, and What We are to Avoid.
  27. 27. — Some Departments of Knowledge, Not of Mere Human Invention, Aid Us in Interpreting Scripture.
  28. 28. — To What Extent History is an Aid.
  29. 29. — To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid.
  30. 30. — What the Mechanical Arts Contribute to Exegetics.
  31. 31. — Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies.
  32. 32. — Valid Logical Sequence is Not Devised But Only Observed by Man.
  33. 33. — False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa.
  34. 34. — It is One Thing to Know the Laws of Inference, Another to Know the Truth of Opinions.
  35. 35. .— The Science of Definition is Not False, Though It May Be Applied to Falsities.
  36. 36. — The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False.
  37. 37. — Use of Rhetoric and Dialectic.
  38. 38. — The Science of Numbers Not Created, But Only Discovered, by Man.
  39. 39. — To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit.
  40. 40. — Whatever Has Been Rightly Said by the Heathen, We Must Appropriate to Our Uses.
  41. 41. — What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture.
  42. 42. — Sacred Scripture Compared with Profane Authors.

1. As when I was writing about things, I introduced the subject with a warning against attending to anything but what they are in themselves, even though they are signs of something else, so now, when I come in its turn to discuss the subject of signs, I lay down this direction, not to attend to what they are in themselves, but to the fact that they are signs, that is, to what they signify. For a sign is a thing which, over and above the impression it makes on the senses, causes something else to come into the mind as a consequence of itself: as when we see a footprint, we conclude that an animal whose footprint this is has passed by; and when we see smoke, we know that there is fire beneath; and when we hear the voice of a living man, we think of the feeling in his mind; and when the trumpet sounds, soldiers know that they are to advance or retreat, or do whatever else the state of the battle requires.

2. Now some signs are natural, others conventional. Natural signs are those which, apart from any intention or desire of using them as signs, do yet lead to the knowledge of something else, as, for example, smoke when it indicates fire. For it is not from any intention of making it a sign that it is so, but through attention to experience we come to know that fire is beneath, even when nothing but smoke can be seen. And the footprint of an animal passing by belongs to this class of signs. And the countenance of an angry or sorrowful man indicates the feeling in his mind, independently of his will: and in the same way every other emotion of the mind is betrayed by the tell-tale countenance, even though we do nothing with the intention of making it known. This class of signs, however, it is no part of my design to discuss at present. But as it comes under this division of the subject, I could not altogether pass it over. It will be enough to have noticed it thus far.