The shipwrecks and philosophers : the rhetoric of aristocratic conversion in the late 4th and early 5th centuries

Abstract

In this study the literary aspects of the conversion to Christianity are discussed. The research has been based on the letters of Ambrose of Milan, Jerome of Stridon, Augustine of Hippo, and Paulinus of Nola. As we know, letters were a very effective medium of the early Christian public relations, for they were vastly copied, read aloud in the circles of noblemen and highly influential in creating the symbolic sphere. The form and style of communication e.g. the metaphors used in trumpeting the new noble Christian can give us insight not only into the art of rhetoric but also into the epistemological ramifications, imaginary schemes that constituted thinking of the aristocracy in times when Christian life became an attractive choice. The goal of this study is to present the detailed picture and systematization of the various modes in which conversion was treated as a literary theme in the correspondence of the studied period. The article focuses on two different literary phenomena: 1. The rhetoric of persuading to conversion; 2. The literary descriptions of famous aristocratic conversions. It shows that in the analyzed letters two types of metaphors prevailed: those presenting conversion as avoidance of danger, specifically of shipwrecking or falling into slavery, and those painting the image of the converted as a true philosopher. It should be also noted that I make one generic exception to comment briefly on the exceptional case of the selfpersuasion of Hilary of Arles that we find in hagiography.