Friday 12th

Day two of the big countdown to completion of the dissertation proposal. Today I got a good page and a half done, and three pages worth of tables to go with it, but I really need to watch that. I think they'll have to be redone, as they're simply too big size wise - no way should they be occupying three pages! But squashing them up is going to be difficult what with all the formatting that went on. But still, they do look good. Here's a thought, am I being overly impressed with them, and in reality they mean nothing? God knows.
Anyhow I guess the really big deal is that I sort of have a title. It's called The Miracle of Health: What can accounts of miracles tell us about health in antiquity? I thought that's quite snappy. And sufficiently loose to be flexible about what I actually write. I can include mental health and people with limbs falling off - there's one of these miracles that involves a chap who's basically described as a comic actor from Curubis, who (you've got to feel for this chap) not only is suffering from paralysis, but genital deformity as well. Lord only knows what state he was in after his healing, but you've got to wonder if this wasn't some sort of scam he was pulling, thinking I go in there, drag the old leg a bit, get prayed over and helped to the shrine of the martyrs, and hey presto, get cured and maybe there'll be a meal and a few coins in it for me. It is entirely possible that that's what was going on here, or alternately, I really should say its equally possible that he was on his last legs (no pun intended) and really, genuinely got healed. There's absolutely no way to tell. I'm the sceptical 21st century girl here, and this happened back at the end of the, well lets say 420 which is when Augustine 'published' all this. It's well pointed out by Peter Brown I think (sorry my referencing is used up for the day) that Augustine was a pretty savvy chap, and this chapter of miracles is sort of tapped on to the end of the City of God. I don't think there's any doubt that its his work, but it is kind of an odd change of direction for him. Until you get into On The Care To Be Had For The Dead, which was part of the Retractions, and it's pretty plain at that point that the Church was having problems making the pagans toe the line when it came to burials and death practises. People where having memorial celebratory meals by the graveside, people where claiming that Great Uncle so and so appeared to them in a dream and told them where he had buried the family doubloons when the Goths so inconveniently invaded a few years back... My but they must have been having trouble. The Christian Church is always an organisation that likes people to do as they're told to do. They are a religion of the book, and it's by the book, or you could get into some mighty hot water. Back then at any rate. They hadn't actually started burning people at that point, but they weren't far off it. Augustine had to find ways to explain all these funny dreams, and he didn't much care about whether they dined at the graveside is my guess, but he'd really rather that they didn't. So he took a leaf out of St Ambrose, who essentially came up with the Cult of Saints, and instead of dining at mother's graveside, you could pop her in next to some holy bones, and that would do her nothing but good in the afterlife. As for the dreams he's very firm that your ancestors aren't in the least interested in having a chat with you in your dreams, they are far too busy up there doing a bit of worshipping, but it's entirely possible that an angel could pop down to have a chat, and pass the information on when they get back home. Augustine's angels are the biggest gossips in the afterlife, it's a hoot!! At any rate, his contributions to the way the church presented death and the afterlife were very influential indeed.
Anyhow I hadn't exactly intended to write a mini lecture here, and you'll have to take all this with a pinch of salt because it's the end of a very long day, with far more to come tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!