The Court of the Martyrs

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the role of forensic rhetoric in Augustine’s dealings with the Donatists, who styled themselves the “church of the martyrs.” To deny them this claim, Augustine deploys the slogan non poena sed causa to argue that it is not the punishment but the cause that makes a martyr. This slogan and its subsequent denial of the title of martyr to the Donatists is best understood in terms of forensic status theory, especially a status of definition whereby the proper legal category of an act is disputed. Augustine similarly deploys forensic rhetoric against the charge of persecution, this time arguing, by way of a status of quality, that the persecution committed by Catholic officials is just because it is for the good of those persecuted.