Commentary Par XII 130

Illuminato and Augustino were among Francis's earliest followers. The first was a nobleman from Rieti and accompanied him on his voyage to Egypt. Augustino was a townsman of Francis and eventually became head of a chapter of the Order in Terra di Lavoro. Neither one of them is particularly associated with knowledge, which causes Benvenuto (DDP Benvenuto.Par.XII.130-132) to wonder why these two homines ignorantes were included here. He goes on to admire Dante's subtlety in doing so, for they, if not great intellects themselves, helped others to become, by their labor and example, more wise.

It was only in 1960 that a commentator on this verse (DDP Mattalia.Par.XII.130), responding to a number of Dantists who raised the issue, suggested that a predictable reaction in one who is reading this line might very well be: 'But that's not Saint Augustine of Hippo; where is he in all this?' (And we have to wait until [Par XXXII 35] to find that he is indeed among the blessed; see C.Par.XXXII.34-36.) For the last time he was named, see [Par X 120], but without mention of his eventual fate. Is it possible that Dante is playing a game with us? He mentions the actual St. Augustine two cantos ago, where we might have expected to find him, among other theologians in the Sun; he now mentions the name of a saved soul named 'Augustine' who is not he but who is here. Both these gestures lead us to contemplate the possibility that Dante is teasing us. There will be some speculation as to his reasons for doing so (see C.Par.XXXII.34-36, a passage that situates Augustine among the inhabitants of the celestial Rose). Mattalia (DDP Mattalia.Par.XII.130) refers to the notion, which he attributes to C. Landi, that Dante's hostility toward Augustine is a reaction against the Bishop of Hippo's strong opposition to the legitimacy of the state, a position that is not easily reconciled with Dante's central agreement with the Aristotelian/Thomistic understanding of the question, the ideological basis of those who sustained the theocratic position.