The care of the friend in word and silence. The case of Alipio

Abstract

This brief work is divided into three parts: in the first, and on the basis of recent works on the medieval ethics of the peccata oris, the author expands on the extremes of the multiloquium and the taciturnitas, with the respective characterisations made of them by medieval authors and their immediate antecedents. She then locates the wise use of the officium locutionis between these extremes. In the second part, the Ciceronian tradition on the concept of friendship and its assumption and particular enrichment by Augustine are discussed. In the third part, he brings together the considerations of the art of speech in the exercise of friendship, showing how Augustine in fact conceives this art in Confessions VIII in relation to his relationship with Alypius.