Augustine: The Decline of the Roman Empire

Hippo (North Africa), 430 d. C. For months the city, a Roman province since the time of Caesar, has been besieged by the Vandals led by King Genseric. Augustine - Bishop of Hippo - has the opportunity to escape aboard a ship sent especially for him by the Pope but, despite the pressure of his niece Lucilla, he decides to stay close to his fellow citizens. He exhorts the City Council to seek mediation with the besiegers, but the imperial tribune Valerius proves to be his fierce opponent: Rome will never bow before the barbarians. Beside Valerius there is also the young centurion Fabius, also hostile to Augustine, but in love with Lucilla. Augustine, torn apart by the Pope's exhortation to save himself and his writings, looks back on his past. And the memories of him take us back to ... Tagaste, a small agricultural village in the North African hinterland. Augustine is a turbulent teenager, indocatable to the attentions of his mother Monica, who tries in vain to pass on her Christian faith to her son. More than anything, the young man wishes to become a great lawyer, to excel in the courts of the Empire. For this he decides to go to Carthage and go to the school of a true prince of the Forum, Macrobius. In the big city, Augustine lives as a guest of a very wealthy contemporary, Valerius, who offers him a beautiful slave, Khalidà. Years pass and Augustine seems to make his dreams come true: he becomes a great speaker and has at his disposal all the pleasures and luxuries that Carthage can offer him. But everything seems to collapse on him when a defendant whom he had cleared even though he was guilty is stained again with a terrible murder. A profound crisis of conscience opens up in Augustine, which pushes him to go back to his mother Monica together with Khalidà, the only woman he really loves. With Monica, old and new frictions emerge which subside with the birth of her son Adeodatus. Augustine seems to have forgotten his past and lives a life as a simple provincial teacher with his family, until Valerius comes to look for him and rekindles his ambitions: he proposed him as an orator at the imperial court of Milan to counter the power of the Catholic bishop Ambrose, disliked by the Empress Justina, of Aryan faith. Moving to Milan, Augustine immediately conquers the court. But the challenge with Ambrose turns out to be more difficult than expected.

In Milan, Khalidà realizes that she is a burden for Augustine's career and decides to distance herself from him and his beloved son. The excruciating separation from Khalidà, the relationship with Bishop Ambrose and the discovery of the hypocrisies of court life aroused in Augustine an ever more acute torment, until he witnessed, helplessly, at the charge of the empress's guards against the Catholic faithful, among whom he also recognizes his mother. His crisis comes to a head. After a night of anguish and remorse he hears the famous phrase: "Take and read ..." and, in a passage from San Paolo, he finds the electrocution and under the moved eyes of his mother he is baptized by Bishop Ambrose. Soon Monica will die shortly before returning to Tagaste. Years after his conversion, Augustine became bishop of Hippo. In this capacity he convinces the head of the heretical Donatist bishops to call a council to put an end to the "fratricidal" conflict between them and the Catholics. The Donatist bishop accepts only on condition that the dispute is arbitrated by Judge Hilary, an incorruptible man of proven honesty. The council ends with the victory for the Catholics but it will cost Hilary the death, killed by a Donatist hand. Only now do we discover that the son of Hilary is Fabius, the same Fabius who is now in Hippo alongside the imperial tribune Valerius, opposing Bishop Augustine's exhortation to peace. Valerius has gone from words to deeds: he has placed himself at the head of a group of armed men who will attempt a sortie against Genseric's troops who are besieging the city. Before leaving, Fabius says a passionate farewell to Lucilla. The expedition turns out to be a total failure: the Vandals catapult into the city bags full of the heads of some of Hippo's soldiers taken prisoner. Lucilla is shocked at the thought of having lost Fabius forever. Augustine decides to make a last desperate attempt and, risking his own life, goes to Genseric. Against all odds, he manages to obtain the prisoners' freedom in exchange for the surrender of the city. Despite this, many citizens prefer to rely on Valerius and wait for the arrival of the Roman fleet. However, Augustine decides to stay in Hippo and orders that the cases of his books be disembarked from the papal ship to make room for those who choose to leave the city. Among these, also Lucilla and Fabius, whom Augustine unites in marriage before leaving. That same evening the Roman fleet is completely defeated and the Vandals invade Hippo, while on the burning walls of the city that God has entrusted to him Augustine sees the papal ship departing, with his fellow citizens in safety. Months later, in the ruins of Hippo, we see a child enter the bishop's ransacked study and begin leafing through one of his books. Today the Vandal army no longer exists. The Roman Empire is just a memory. But Augustine's books are read all over the world.