Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The City of God, Volume IThe Project Gutenberg eBook of The City of God, Volume I This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. 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 Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45304 Credits: Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Charlene Taylor, Joe C and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) *** 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 offer t |