Augustine's Use of Status legales in the Anti-Donatist Exegesis of Song of Songs 1.6–7

Abstract:Answering to the accusation of schism, the Donatists often claimed that they were not schismatics, but a true church. Augustine maintains that one of their more frequent patterns of defense was to base their argument on very few biblical sources, one of which was Song of Songs 1.6–7. The value of this claim has been the subject of a scholarly controversy because the wide use of this passage by his counterparts is not attested by sources other than his own writings. Without resolving this aporia, my paper focuses on the analysis of Augustine's patterns of refutation of the allegedly Donatist exegesis of Song 1.6–7 in his anti-Donatist writings and sermons. The aim of this exercise is to prove that the structure of Augustine's arguments is deeply embedded in the rhetorical theory of status. To be more precise, Augustine closely follows the patterns of argumentation discussed by classical rhetorical handbooks under the headings of status legales. Hence, the main part of this paper is dedicated to presenting the ways in which Cicero's detailed guidelines found in De inventione 2.116–21, concering structuring an argument within one of the status legales, called ambiguity, form the backbone of Augustine's discussions of Song 1.6–7 in his Sermon on Good Shepherds (Sermo 46.35–38).