SCRIPTURA

Church Fathers

City of God · De civitate Dei

Augustine

Translated by Marcus Dods

“Two loves have made two cities.” Augustine’s Latin, in Hoffmann’s critical text, beside Dods’s English, chapter by chapter.

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  • Latin: Augustine, De civitate Dei, ed. Emanuel Hoffmann, CSEL 40 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1899–1900), as encoded by the Open Greek and Latin project, University of Leipzig (stoa0040.stoa003.opp-lat3, CC BY-SA 4.0); apparatus omitted.
  • English: Marcus Dods, The City of God (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 2, 1887).
  • Chapters are matched one to one except where the two editions divide them differently; within a chapter the Latin sentences are shared out over the English paragraphs by position.

Contents · 116

  1. 1Augustin censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods.
  2. 2That It is Quite Contrary to the Usage of War, that the Victors Should Spare the Vanquished for the Sake of Their Gods.
  3. 3That the Romans Did Not Show Their Usual Sagacity When They Trusted that They Would Be Benefited by the Gods Who Had Been Unable to Defend Troy.
  4. 4Of the Asylum of Juno in Troy, Which Saved No One from the Greeks; And of the Churches of the Apostles, Which Protected from the Barbarians All Who Fled to Them.
  5. 5Of the Advantages and Disadvantages Which Often Indiscriminately Accrue to Good and Wicked Men.
  6. 6Of the Captivity of the Saints, and that Divine Consolation Never Failed Them Therein.
  7. 7Of Lucretia, Who Put an End to Her Life Because of the Outrage Done Her.
  8. 8That in that Virtue in Which Regulus Excels Cato, Christians are Pre-Eminently Distinguished.
  9. 9Of the Establishment of Scenic Entertainments.
  10. 10That the Worshippers of the Gods Never Received from Them Any Healthy Moral Precepts, and that in Celebrating Their Worship All Sorts of Impurities Were Practiced.
  11. 11That the Romans, by Refusing to the Poets the Same License in Respect of Men Which They Allowed Them in the Case of the Gods, Showed a More Delicate Sensitiveness Regarding Themselves than Regarding the Gods.
  12. 12Of the Corruption Which Had Grown Upon the Roman Republic Before Christ Abolished the Worship of the Gods.
  13. 13Of the Deeds of Sylla, in Which the Demons Boasted that He Had Their Help.
  14. 14The external calamities of Rome.
  15. 15Of the Destruction of Ilium by Fimbria, a Lieutenant of Marius.
  16. 16By What Right or Agreement The Romans Obtained Their First Wives.
  17. 17Of the First Roman Consuls, the One of Whom Drove the Other from the Country, and Shortly After Perished at Rome by the Hand of a Wounded Enemy, and So Ended a Career of Unnatural Murders.
  18. 18Of the Destruction of the Saguntines, Who Received No Help from the Roman Gods, Though Perishing on Account of Their Fidelity to Rome.
  19. 19Of the Victory of Sylla, the Avenger of the Cruelties of Marius.
  20. 20How Like Kingdoms Without Justice are to Robberies.
  21. 21Concerning the Many Gods Whom the Pagan Doctors Defend as Being One and the Same Jove.
  22. 22With What Reason They Who Think Felicity and Fortune Goddesses Have Distinguished Them.
  23. 23Of the Scenic Plays, the Celebration of Which the Gods Have Exacted from Their Worshippers.
  24. 24Concerning the Kingdom of the Jews, Which Was Founded by the One and True God, and Preserved by Him as Long as They Remained in the True Religion.
  25. 25Concerning the Choosing of a Day for Marriage, or for Planting, or Sowing.
  26. 26Concerning Those Who Call by the Name of Fate, Not the Position of the Stars, But the Connection of Causes Which Depends on the Will of God.
  27. 27Concerning the Foreknowledge of God and the Free Will of Man, in Opposition to the Definition of Cicero.
  28. 28By What Virtues the Ancient Romans Merited that the True God, Although They Did Not Worship Him, Should Enlarge Their Empire.
  29. 29Concerning the Love of Praise, Which, Though It is a Vice, is Reckoned a Virtue, Because by It Greater Vice is Restrained.
  30. 30How Far Christians Ought to Be from Boasting, If They Have Done Anything for the Love of the Eternal Country, When the Romans Did Such Great Things for Human Glory and a Terrestrial City.
  31. 31The Durations and Issues of War Depend on the Will of God.
  32. 32What We are to Believe that Varro Thought Concerning the Gods of the Nations, Whose Various Kinds and Sacred Rites He Has Shown to Be Such that He Would Have Acted More Reverently Towards Them Had He Been Altogether Silent Concerning Them.
  33. 33Concerning the Likeness and Agreement of the Fabulous and Civil Theologies.
  34. 34That When Once the Vanity of the Gods of the Nations Has Been Exposed, It Cannot Be Doubted that They are Unable to Bestow Eternal Life on Any One, When They Cannot Afford Help Even with Respect to the Things Of this Temporal Life.
  35. 35Concerning the Opinion of Varro, that God is the Soul of the World, Which Nevertheless, in Its Various Parts, Has Many Souls Whose Nature is Divine.
  36. 36Concerning the Surnames of Jupiter, Which are Referred Not to Many Gods, But to One and the Same God.
  37. 37Concerning Apollo and Diana, and the Other Select Gods Whom They Would Have to Be Parts of the World.
  38. 38Concerning the Earth, Which Varro Affirms to Be a Goddess, Because that Soul of the World Which He Thinks to Be God Pervades Also This Lowest Part of His Body, and Imparts to It a Divine Force.
  39. 39That All Things Which the Physical Theologists Have Referred to the World and Its Parts, They Ought to Have Referred to the One True God.
  40. 40That the Question of Natural Theology is to Be Discussed with Those Philosophers Who Sought a More Excellent Wisdom.
  41. 41Concerning that Philosophy Which Has Come Nearest to the Christian Faith.
  42. 42What Apuleius the Platonist Thought Concerning the Manners and Actions of Demons.
  43. 43That We Must, Notwithstanding the Opinion of Apuleius, Reject the Worship of Demons.
  44. 44The Point at Which the Discussion Has Arrived, and What Remains to Be Handled.
  45. 45Whether the Intercession of the Demons Can Secure for Men the Friendship of the Celestial Gods.
  46. 46Whether It is Reasonable in the Platonists to Determine that the Celestial Gods Decline Contact with Earthly Things and Intercourse with Men, Who Therefore Require the Intercession of the Demons.
  47. 47That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies It Both to the Holy Angels and Just Men.
  48. 48Of the True and Perfect Sacrifice.
  49. 49That the One God is to Be Worshipped Not Only for the Sake of Eternal Blessings, But Also in Connection with Temporal Prosperity, Because All Things are Regulated by His Providence.
  50. 50Of the Power Delegated to Demons for the Trial and Glorification of the Saints, Who Conquer Not by Propitiating the Spirits of the Air, But by Abiding in God.
  51. 51How It is that Porphyry Has Been So Blind as Not to Recognize the True Wisdom—Christ.
  52. 52Augustin 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.
  53. 53What We are to Understand of God’s Resting on the Seventh Day, After the Six Days’ Work.
  54. 54Of the Ranks and Differences of the Creatures, Estimated by Their Utility, or According to the Natural Gradations of Being.
  55. 55Of the Divine Trinity, and the Indications of Its Presence Scattered Everywhere Among Its Works.
  56. 56Of the Opinion that the Angels Were Created Before the World.
  57. 57That in All Natures, of Every Kind and Rank, God is Glorified.
  58. 58How These Persons are to Be Answered, Who Find Fault with the Creation of Man on the Score of Its Recent Date.
  59. 59Of the Impiety of Those Who Assert that the Souls Which Enjoy True and Perfect Blessedness, Must Yet Again and Again in These Periodic Revolutions Return to Labor and Misery.
  60. 60That the Whole Plenitude of the Human Race Was Embraced in the First Man, and that God There Saw the Portion of It Which Was to Be Honored and Rewarded, and that Which Was to Be Condemned and Punished.
  61. 61Of the Death Which the Unbaptized Suffer for the Confession of Christ.
  62. 62That Adam in His Sin Forsook God Ere God Forsook Him, and that His Falling Away From God Was the First Death of the Soul.
  63. 63That the Bodies of the Saints Shall After the Resurrection Be Spiritual, and Yet Flesh Shall Not Be Changed into Spirit.
  64. 64Of Carnal Life, Which is to Be Understood Not Only of Living in Bodily Indulgence, But Also of Living in the Vices of the Inner Man.
  65. 65That the Sin is Caused Not by the Flesh, But by the Soul, and that the Corruption Contracted from Sin is Not Sin But Sin’s Punishment.
  66. 66That the Opinion of the Platonists Regarding the Nature of Body and Soul is Not So Censurable as that of the Manichæans, But that Even It is Objectionable, Because It Ascribes the Origin of Vices to the Nature of The Flesh.
  67. 67Of the Perturbations of the Soul Which Appear as Right Affections in the Life of the Righteous.
  68. 68Of the Justice of the Punishment with Which Our First Parents Were Visited for Their Disobedience.
  69. 69Whether Generation Should Have Taken Place Even in Paradise Had Man Not Sinned, or Whether There Should Have Been Any Contention There Between Chastity and Lust.
  70. 70Of the Two Lines of the Human Race Which from First to Last Divide It.
  71. 71What Cain’s Reason Was for Building a City So Early in the History of the Human Race.
  72. 72That the Years in Those Ancient Times Were of the Same Length as Our Own.
  73. 73How It is that Cain’s Line Terminates in the Eighth Generation, While Noah, Though Descended from the Same Father, Adam, is Found to Be the Tenth from Him.
  74. 74That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church.
  75. 75Of the Generations of the Three Sons of Noah
  76. 76Whether We are to Believe in the Antipodes.
  77. 77Of the Order and Nature of the Promises of God Which Were Made to Abraham.
  78. 78Of the Meaning of the Sacrifice Abraham Was Commanded to Offer When He Supplicated to Be Taught About Those Things He Had Believed.
  79. 79Of Isaac, Who Was Born According to the Promise, Whose Name Was Given on Account of the Laughter of Both Parents.
  80. 80Of Jacob’s Mission to Mesopotamia to Get a Wife, and of the Vision Which He Saw in a Dream by the Way, and of His Getting Four Women When He Sought One Wife.
  81. 81Of the Prophetic Age.
  82. 82Of Those Things Which a Man of God Spake by the Spirit to Eli the Priest, Signifying that the Priesthood Which Had Been Appointed According to Aaron Was to Be Taken Away.
  83. 83How Different the Acts in the Kingdom of the Earthly Jerusalem are from Those Which God Had Promised, So that the Truth of the Promise Should Be Understood to Pertain to the Glory of the Other King and Kingdom.
  84. 84Of the 3d, 41st, 15th, and 68th Psalms, in Which the Death and Resurrection of the Lord are Prophesied.
  85. 85Of Those Things Down to the Times of the Saviour Which Have Been Discussed in the Seventeen Books.
  86. 86When the City of Athens Was Founded, and What Reason Varro Assigns for Its Name.
  87. 87Of the Fall of the Kingdom of Argos, When Picus the Son of Saturn First Received His Father’s Kingdom of Laurentum.
  88. 88Of the Succession of the Line of Kings Among the Israelites After the Times of the Judges.
  89. 89Of the Erythræan Sibyl, Who is Known to Have Sung Many Things About Christ More Plainly Than the Other Sibyls.
  90. 90That the Seven Sages Flourished in the Reign of Romulus, When the Ten Tribes Which Were Called Israel Were Led into Captivity by the Chaldeans, and Romulus, When Dead, Had Divine Honors Conferred on Him.
  91. 91Of the Predictions Concerning the Salvation of the World in Christ, in Obadiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk.
  92. 92That Prophetic Records are Found Which are More Ancient Than Any Fountain of the Gentile Philosophy.
  93. 93That the Jews Ceased to Have Prophets After the Rebuilding of the Temple, and from that Time Until the Birth of Christ Were Afflicted with Continual Adversity, to Prove that the Building of Another Temple Had Been Promised by Prophetic Voices.
  94. 94Whether We Should Believe What Some Think, That, as the Ten Persecutions Which are Past Have Been Fulfilled, There Remains No Other Beyond the Eleventh, Which Must Happen in the Very Time of Antichrist.
  95. 95What the Christians Believe Regarding the Supreme Good and Evil, in Opposition to the Philosophers, Who Have Maintained that the Supreme Good is in Themselves.
  96. 96Of the Happiness of the Eternal Peace, Which Constitutes the End or True Perfection of the Saints.
  97. 97How Different the Uncertainty of the New Academy is from the Certainty of the Christian Faith.
  98. 98That Where There is No True Religion There are No True Virtues.
  99. 99That Proofs of the Last Judgment Will Be Adduced, First from the New Testament, and Then from the Old.
  100. 100What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom.
  101. 101Of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
  102. 102What is Meant by the Good Going Out to See the Punishment of the Wicked.
  103. 103That the Law of Moses Must Be Spiritually Understood to Preclude the Damnable Murmurs of a Carnal Interpretation.
  104. 104Whether Bodily Suffering Necessarily Terminates in the Destruction of the Flesh.
  105. 105That All Marvels are Not of Nature’s Production, But that Some are Due to Human Ingenuity and Others to Diabolic Contrivance.
  106. 106Of Hell, and the Nature of Eternal Punishments.
  107. 107Against the Opinion of Those Who Think that the Punishments of the Wicked After Death are Purgatorial.
  108. 108That Everything Which the Grace of God Does in the Way of Rescuing Us from the Inveterate Evils in Which We are Sunk, Pertains to the Future World, in Which All Things are Made New.
  109. 109Against Those Who are of Opinion that the Punishment Neither of the Devil Nor of Wicked Men Shall Be Eternal.
  110. 110Against the Belief of Those Who Think that the Sins Which Have Been Accompanied with Almsgiving Will Do Them No Harm.
  111. 111Against the Wise Men of the World, Who Fancy that the Earthly Bodies of Men Cannot Be Transferred to a Heavenly Habitation.
  112. 112Of Miracles Which Were Wrought that the World Might Believe in Christ, and Which Have Not Ceased Since the World Believed.
  113. 113That All the Miracles Which are Done by Means of the Martyrs in the Name of Christ Testify to that Faith Which the Martyrs Had in Christ.
  114. 114What is Meant by the Conforming of the Saints to the Image of The Son of God.
  115. 115Of the Miseries and Ills to Which the Human Race is Justly Exposed Through the First Sin, and from Which None Can Be Delivered Save by Christ’s Grace.
  116. 116What Plato or Labeo, or Even Varro, Might Have Contributed to the True Faith of the Resurrection, If They Had Adopted One Another’s Opinions into One Scheme.