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Title: The City of God, Volume I
Author: Saint of Hippo Augustine
Editor: Marcus Dods
Release date: April 8, 2014 [eBook #45304]
Most recently updated: March 22, 2026
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CITY OF GOD, VOLUME I ***
THE WORKS
OF
AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,
BISHOP OF HIPPO.
_A NEW TRANSLATION._
=Edited by the=
REV. MARCUS DODS, M.A.
VOL. I.
THE CITY OF GOD,
VOLUME I.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXXI.
PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB,
FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.
LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
DUBLIN, JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO.
NEW YORK, C. SCRIBNER AND CO.
THE
CITY OF GOD.
=Translated by the=
REV. MARCUS DODS, M.A.
VOLUME I.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXXI.
Of the following Work, Books IV. XVII. and XVIII. have been
translated by the Rev. GEORGE WILSON, Glenluce; Books V. VI. VII. and
VIII. by the Rev. J. J. SMITH.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
PAGE
Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the
world, and especially the sack of Rome by the Goths, to the
Christian religion and its prohibition of the worship of the
gods, 1
BOOK II.
A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time
of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into
corruption and vice, 48
BOOK III.
The external calamities of Rome, 91
BOOK IV.
That empire was given to Rome not by the gods, but by the One True
God, 135
BOOK V.
Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the
virtues of the ancient Romans, 177
BOOK VI.
Of Varro's threefold division of theology, and of the inability of
the gods to contribute anything to the happiness of the future
life, 228
BOOK VII.
Of the "select gods" of the civil theology, and that eternal life
is not obtained by worshipping them, 258
BOOK VIII.
Some account of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and a
refutation of the doctrine of Apuleius that the demons should
be worshipped as mediators between gods and men, 305
BOOK IX.
Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good
and others evil, 353
BOOK X.
Porphyry's doctrine of redemption, 382
BOOK XI.
Augustine passes to the second part of the work, in which the
origin, progress, and destinies of the earthly and heavenly
cities are discussed.--Speculations regarding the creation of
the world, 436
BOOK XII.
Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil, 481
BOOK XIII.
That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin, 521
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
"Rome having been stormed and sacked by the Goths under Alaric
their king,[1] the worshippers of false gods, or pagans, as we
commonly call them, made an attempt to attribute this calamity to
the Christian religion, and began to blaspheme the true God with
even more than their wonted bitterness and acerbity. It was this
which kindled my zeal for the house of God, and prompted me to
undertake the defence of the city of God against the charges and
misrepresentations of its assailants. This work was in my hands for
several years, owing to the interruptions occasioned by many other
affairs which had a prior claim on my attention, and which I could
not defer. However, this great undertaking was at last completed in
twenty-two books. Of these, the first five refute those who fancy
that the polytheistic worship is necessary in order to secure worldly
prosperity, and that all these overwhelming calamities have befallen
us in consequence of its prohibition. In the following five books I
address myself to those who admit that such calamities have at all
times attended, and will at all times attend, the human race, and
that they constantly recur in forms more or less disastrous, varying
only in the scenes, occasions, and persons on whom they light, but,
while admitting this, maintain that the worship of the gods is
advantageous for the life to come. In these ten books, then, I refute
these two opinions, which are as groundless as they are antagonistic
to the Christian religion.
"But that no one might have occasion to say, that though I had
refuted the tenets of other men, I had omitted to establish my
own, I devote to this object the second part of this work, which
comprises twelve books, although I have not scrupled, as occasion
offered, either to advance my own opinions in the first ten books,
or to demolish the arguments of my opponents in the last twelve. Of
these twelve books, the first four contain an account of the origin
of these two cities--the city of God, and the city of the world.
The second four treat of their history or progress; the third and
last four, of their deserved destinies. And so, though all these
twenty-two books refer to both cities, yet I have named them after
the better city, and called them The City of God."
Such is the account given by Augustine himself[2] of the occasion
and plan of this his greatest work. But in addition to this explicit
information, we learn from the correspondence[3] of Augustine, that
it was due to the importunity of his friend Marcellinus that this
defence of Christianity extended beyond the limits of a few letters.
Shortly before the fall of Rome, Marcellinus had been sent to Africa
by the Emperor Honorius to arrange a settlement of the differences
between the Donatists and the Catholics. This brought him into
contact not only with Augustine, but with Volusian, the proconsul
of Africa, and a man of rare intelligence and candour. Finding that
Volusian, though as yet a pagan, took an interest in the Christian
religion, Marcellinus set his heart on converting him to the true
faith. The details of the subsequent significant intercourse between
the learned and courtly bishop and the two imperial statesmen,
are unfortunately almost entirely lost to us; but the impression
conveyed by the extant correspondence is, that Marcellinus was
the means of bringing his two friends into communication with one
another. The first overture was on Augustine's part, in the shape of
a simple and manly request that Volusian would carefully peruse the
Scriptures, accompanied by a frank offe Next |