High-low Balance

In an effort to persuade the audience, Augustine relies heavily on the testimony and documentation of the prophets of old to fuel his main rhetorical function of teaching. The fast majority of his discourse relies on his ability to instruct the audience on the nature and intricacies of repentance and forgiveness. Augustine goes to great length to implement the Lord’s Prayer as median to instruct the people. He quotes the line “forgive us our debts” from the that Prayer implying that none in attendance could sincerely utter that line to the Lord if he has not already at least attempted to repentant to those whom we have wronged and forgive those who have wronged us. Furthermore, Augustine makes meticulous work of teaching the need to forgive those who have wronged us and then let go. He makes it abundantly clear that once we have forgiven those who have offended, we need not be concerned with that act any more. He ingrains his point into the reader with effective use of anaphora.

Though his main rhetorical function is a low level of just teaching, he definitely amps up his speech by calling to action. Inherent in teaching about repentance and forgiveness is an appeal to be repentant and be forgiving. Though this high level of style was in the vast minority for the bulk of the sermon, I think the ratio seems appropriate. One would be hard pressed to sustain such a high level of style for an extended period of time. Furthermore, it would be extremely stressful for the audience to be called to action, either directly or indirectly, for an overly extended period. At the end of the day, Augustine does an excellent job teaching the people why they need to repent and helping motivate everyone to do so.