II. THE CITY OF GOD
When, in 410, Rome was sacked by the Goths, the pagans, not unnaturally, attributed the disaster to the abandonment of the ancient gods. So long as Jupiter was worshipped, they said, Rome remained powerful; now that the Emperors have turned away from him, he no longer protects his Romans. This pagan argument called for an answer. The City of God, written gradually between 412 and 427, was Saint Augustine’s answer; but it took, as it proceeded, a far wider flight, and developed a complete Christian scheme of history, past, present, and future. It was an immensely influential book throughout the Middle Ages, especially in the struggles of the Church with secular princes.
Like some other very great books, it composes itself, in the memory of those who have read it, into something better than at first appears on rereading. It contains a great deal that hardly anyone at the present day can accept, and its central thesis is somewhat obscured by excrescences belonging to his age. But the broad conception of a contrast between the City of this world and the City of God has remained an inspiration to many, and even now can be restated in nontheological terms.
To omit detail in an account of the book, and concentrate on the central idea, would give an unduly favourable view; on the other hand, to concentrate on the detail would be to omit what is best and
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most important. I shall endeavour to avoid both errors by first giving some account of the detail and then passing on to the general idea as it appeared in historical development.
The book begins with considerations arising out of the sack of Rome, and designed to show that even worse things happened in preChristian times. Among the pagans who attribute the disaster to Christianity, there are many, the Saint says, who, during the sack, sought sanctuary in the churches, which the Goths, because they were Christians, respected. In the sack of Troy, on the contrary, Juno’s temple afforded no protection, nor did the gods preserve the city from destruction. The Romans never spared temples in conquered cities; in this respect, the sack of Rome was milder than most, and the mitigation was a result of Christianity.
Christians who suffered in the sack have no right to complain, for several reasons. Some wicked Goths may have prospered at their expense, but they will suffer hereafter: if all sin were punished on earth, there would be no need of the Last Judgement. What Christians endured would, if they were virtuous, turn to their edification, for saints, in the loss of things temporal, lose nothing of any value. It does not matter if their bodies lie unburied, because ravenous beasts cannot interfere with the resurrection of the body.
Next comes the question of pious virgins who were raped during the sack. There were apparently some who held that these ladies, by no fault of their own, had lost the crown of virginity. This view the Saint very sensibly opposes. «Tush, another’s lust cannot pollute thee.» Chastity is a virtue of the mind, and is not lost by rape, but is lost by the intention of sin, even if unperformed. It is suggested that God permitted rapes because the victims had been too proud of their continence. It is wicked to commit suicide in order to avoid being raped; this leads to a long discussion of Lucretia, who ought not to have killed herself. Suicide is always a sin, except in the case of Samson.
There is one proviso to the exculpation of virtuous women who are raped: they must not enjoy it. If they do, they are sinful.
He comes next to the wickedness of the heathen gods. For example: «Your stage-plays, those spectacles of uncleanness, those licentious vanities, were not first brought up at Rome by the corruptions of the
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men, but by the direct command of your gods.» * It would be better to worship a virtuous man, such as Scipio, than these immoral gods. But as for the sack of Rome, it need not trouble Christians, who have a sanctuary in the «pilgrim city of God.»
In this world, the two cities—the earthly and the heavenly—are commingled; but hereafter the predestinate and the reprobate will be separated. In this life, we cannot know who, even among our seeming enemies, are to be found ultimately among the elect.
The most difficult part of the work, we are told, will consist in the refutation of the philosophers, with the best of whom Christians are to a large extent in agreement—for instance
as to immortality and the creation of the world by God. â€
The philosophers did not throw over the worship of the heathen gods, and their moral instructions were weak because the gods were wicked. It is not suggested that the gods are mere fables; they are held by Saint Augustine to exist, but to be devils. They liked to have filthy stories told of them, because they wanted to injure men. Jupiter’s deeds count more, with most pagans, than Plato’s doctrines or Cato’s opinions. » Plato, who would not allow poets to dwell in a well-governed city, showed that his sole worth was better than those gods, that desire to be
honoured with stage-plays.» ‡
Rome was always wicked, from the rape of the Sabine women onwards. Many chapters are devoted to the sinfulness of Roman imperialism. Nor is it true that Rome did not suffer before the State became Christian; from the Gauls and the civil wars it suffered as much as from the Goths, and more.
Astrology is not only wicked, but false; this may be proved from the different fortunes of twins, who have the same horoscope. § The Stoic conception of Fate (which was connected with astrology) is mistaken, since angels and men have free will. It is true that God has foreknowledge of our sins, but we do not sin because of His foreknowledge. It is a mistake to suppose that virtue brings unhappiness,
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* The City of God, I, 31.
 This argument is not original; it is derived from the academic sceptic Carneades. Cf. § Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. 166.
€ Ibid., I, 35.
â
€ Ibid., II, 14. ¡
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even in this world: Christian Emperors, if virtuous, have been happy even if not fortunate, and Constantine and Theodosius were fortunate as well; again, the Jewish kingdom lasted as long as the Jews adhered to the truth of religion.
There is a very sympathetic account of Plato, whom he places above all other philosophers. All others are to give place to him: «Let Thales depart with his water, Anaximenes with the air, the Stoics with their fire, Epicurus with his atoms.» * All these were materialists; Plato was not. Plato saw that God is not any bodily thing, but that all things have their being from God, and from something immutable. He was right, also, in saying that perception is not the source of truth. Platonists are the best in logic and ethics, and nearest to Christianity. «It is said that Plotinus, that lived but lately, understood Plato the best of any.» As for Aristotle, he was Plato’s inferior, but far above the rest. Both, however, said that all gods are good, and to be worshipped.
As against the Stoics, who condemned all passion, Saint Augustine holds that the passions of Christians may be causes of virtue; anger, or pity, is not to be condemned per se, but we must inquire into its cause.
Platonists are right about God, wrong about gods. They are also wrong in not acknowledging the Incarnation.
There is a long discussion of angels and demons, which is connected with the Neoplatonists. Angels may be good or bad, but demons are always bad. To angels, knowledge of temporal things (though they have it) is vile. Saint Augustine holds with Plato that the sensible world is inferior to the eternal.
Book XI begins the account of the nature of the City of God. The City of God is the society of the elect. Knowledge of God is obtained only through Christ. There are things that can be discovered by reason (as in the philosophers), but for all further religious knowledge we must rely on the Scriptures. We ought not to seek to understand time and space before the world was made: there was no time before the Creation, and there is no place where the world is not.
Everything blessed is eternal, but not everything eternal is blessed —e.g., hell and Satan. God foreknew the sins of devils, but also their
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* The City of God, VIII, 5.
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use in improving the universe as a whole which is analogous to antithesis in rhetoric.
Origen errs in thinking that souls were given bodies as a punishment. If this were so, bad souls would have bad bodies; but devils, even the worst of them, have airy bodies, which are better than ours.
The reason the world was created in six days is that six
