ONLINE FIRST
published on July 17, 2024
Jack Boczar

https://doi.org/10.5840/augstudies202471684
The Relationship Between Plotinus¡¯s On Beauty and Augustine¡¯s Contra Academicos 2.5
The present article examines Contra Academicos 2.5 in which Augustine seems to detail the influence of the libri Platonicorum on his conversion. In the first part of the paper, I argue that Michael P. Foley is correct to interpret Augustine¡¯s phrase ¡°libri quidam pleni¡± as a reference to the libri Platonicorum. I advance the further claim that Augustine primarily has in mind Ennead I.6. This is in contrast to the argument alluded to by Pierre Courcelle and formally given by John J. O¡¯Meara where such a reading of Contra Academicos misconstrues the relationship between Augustine and Plotinus. In response to O¡¯Meara, I advance a threefold argument, a corollary of which is a novel reading of a Latin phrase (bonas res Arabicas) that has perplexed scholars. In the second part of the paper, I use my reading of Contra Academicos along with two considerations from Ennead I.6 to motivate a deeper understanding of Augustine¡¯s conversion. The present study develops recent lines of thought in Augustine scholarship and seeks to open new avenues for understanding the libri Platonicorum and their influence on Augustine¡¯s conversion.