---
title: "Seven Books of History against the Pagans"
author: "Paulus Orosius"
translator: "S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)"
title_ru: "История против язычников"
title_fr: "Histoires contre les païens"
title_de: "Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 136 of 177
url: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/
cite: "Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026), Seven Books of History against the Pagans, section 136. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/"
---

# Seven Books of History against the Pagans

*Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)*

Russian: История против язычников · French: Histoires contre les païens · German: Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden

Augustine's pupil tells the whole of world history to prove that the Christian times are not the worst.

## 136. Book 7 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/#p-N

[¶0] At the beginning of my second book, when in the course of my pen I touched briefly upon the times of the founding of Rome, I set down many correspondences between Babylon, the city of the Assyrians, then the chief of the nations, and Rome, which now in like manner rules over the nations:

> Latin: 1 Principio secundi libelli cum tempora Romanae conditionis stili tenore perstringerem, multa conuenienter inter Babylonam urbem Assyriorum tunc principem gentium et Romam aeque nunc gentibus dominantem conpacta conscripsi:

[¶1] that the one was the first empire, the other the last; that the one gradually gave way, while the other slowly grew strong; that the one lost its last king at the very time when the other had its first; that the one, taken when Cyrus then invaded, fell as if into death, while the other, rising confidently after the expulsion of the kings, began to enjoy free counsels;

> Latin: 2 fuisse illud primum, hoc ultimum imperium; illud paulatim cedens, at istud sensim conualescens; defluxisse illi sub uno tempore nouissimum regem, cum isti primum fuisse; illam deinde tunc inuadente Cyro captam uelut in mortem concidisse, cum istam fiducialiter adsurgentem post expulsos reges liberis uti coepisse consiliis;

[¶2] especially since, at the time when Rome was claiming its freedom, the people of the Jews too, who had been in servitude under the kings at Babylon, recovered their freedom, returned to holy Jerusalem, and rebuilt the temple of the Lord, as had been foretold by the prophets.

> Latin: 3 praecipue cum, uindicante libertatem suam Roma, tunc quoque Iudaeorum populus, qui apud Babylonam sub regibus seruiebat, in sanctam Hierusalem recepta libertate redierit templumque Domini, sicut a prophetis praedictum fuerat, reformarit.

[¶3] I had said, moreover, that between the Babylonian kingdom, which had been in the east, and the Roman, which, rising in the west, was being nurtured on the inheritance of the east, there came in the Macedonian and African kingdoms — that is, from the south and the north, as it were — which for brief turns held the parts of guardian and trustee.

> Latin: 4 praeterea intercessisse dixeram inter Babylonium regnum, quod ab oriente fuerat, et Romanum, quod ab occidente consurgens hereditati orientis enutriebatur, Macedonicum Africanumque regnum, hoc est quasi a meridie ac septentrione breuibus uicibus partes tutoris curatorisque tenuisse.

[¶4] That the Babylonian and Roman kingdoms are rightly called the kingdoms of the east and of the west, I know that no one has ever doubted; that the Macedonian kingdom lay under the north is shown both by the very quarter of the sky and by the altars of Alexander the Great, set up beneath the Riphaean Mountains, which stand to this day;

> Latin: 5 orientis et occidentis regnum Babylonium et Romanum iure uocitari, neminem umquam dubitasse scio; Macedonicum regnum sub septentrione cum ipsa caeli plaga tum Alexandri Magni arae positae usque ad nunc sub Riphaeis montibus docent;

[¶5] while that Carthage excelled over all Africa, and stretched the bounds of its kingdom not only to Sicily, Sardinia and the other neighbouring islands but also into Spain, the records of histories and of cities alike declare.

> Latin: 6 Carthaginem uero uniuersae praecelluisse Africae et non solum in Siciliam Sardiniam ceterasque adiacentes insulas sed etiam in Hispaniam regni terminos tetendisse, historiarum simul monumenta urbiumque declarant.

[¶6] It was said also that very nearly equal numbers of years ran their course to the laying waste of Babylon by the Medes and to the breaking into Rome by the Goths.

> Latin: 7 dictum est etiam, uastatae per Medos Babyloniae et inruptae per Gothos Romae pares admodum annorum numeros cucurrisse.

[¶7] Now, however, I add this to those points, so that it may be all the clearer that God is the one arbiter of all ages, kingdoms and places.

> Latin: 8 Nunc autem his illud adicio, quo magis clareat unum esse arbitrum saeculorum regnorum locorumque omnium Deum.

[¶8] The Carthaginian kingdom, from its founding to its overthrow, stood a little more than seven hundred years; likewise the Macedonian kingdom, from Caranus to Perseus, a little less than seven hundred; yet each was brought to its end by that number seven by which all things are judged.

> Latin: 9 regnum Carthaginiense a conditione usque ad euersionem eius, paulo amplius quam septingentis annis stetit, aeque regnum Macedonicum a Carano usque ad Persen paulo minus quam septingentis; utrumque tamen septenarius ille numerus, quo iudicantur omnia, terminauit.

[¶9] Rome itself too, although it was being carried forward to a perfected empire against the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, nevertheless itself stumbled a little on meeting this number.

> Latin: 10 Roma ipsa etiam, quamuis ad aduentum Domini Iesu Christi perfecto proueheretur imperio, tamen paululum et ipsa in occursu numeri huius offendit.

[¶10] For in the year 700 from its founding a fire, rising no one knows from where, consumed fourteen of its districts, and never, as Livy says, was it laid waste by a greater conflagration; so much so that some years afterwards Caesar Augustus granted a great sum of money from the public treasury for the restoration of what had then been burned.

> Latin: 11 nam septingentesimo conditionis suae anno quattuordecim uicos eius incertum unde consurgens flamma consumpsit, nec umquam, ut ait Liuius, maiore incendio uastata est; adeo, ut post aliquot annos Caesar Augustus ad reparationem eorum, quae tunc exusta erant, magnam uim pecuniae ex aerario publico largitus sit.

[¶11] I could also show that the same number, doubled, remained for Babylon, which was finally taken by King Cyrus after one thousand four hundred years and somewhat more, were I not called back by the contemplation of the present.

> Latin: 12 poteram quoque ostendere eundem duplicatum numerum mansisse Babyloniae, quae post mille quadringentos et quod excurrit annos ultime a Cyro rege capta est, nisi praesentium contemplatione reuocarer.

[¶12] This at least I gladly add: that in the forty-third year after he began to reign of Ninus, the first of all kings — although his father Belus too is obscurely reported to have reigned first — in the forty-third year, then, of that Ninus was born that holy Abraham to whom the promises were spoken, and from whose seed Christ was promised;

> Latin: 13 illud sane libenter adicio, quia primi illius regum omnium Nini - quamuis et pater eius Belus obscure primus regnasse referatur - illius ergo Nini anno, postquam regnare coeperat, quadragensimo tertio natus est sanctus ille Abraham, cui dictae sunt repromissiones, ex cuius semine promissus est Christus;

[¶13] and that now, of Augustus Caesar, the first of all emperors — although his father Caesar too stood forth as the surveyor of the empire rather than its emperor — of this Caesar, then, when nearly the forty-second year after he began to rule had run its course, Christ was born, who had been promised to Abraham under Ninus, the first king.

> Latin: 14 deinde nunc primi istius imperatorum omnium Augusti Caesaris - quamuis et pater eius Caesar metator imperii potius quam imperator exstiterit - istius ergo Caesaris, posteaquam imperare coepit, emenso propemodum anno quadragensimo secundo natus est Christus, qui Abrahae sub Nino primo rege fuerat repromissus.

[¶14] He was born, moreover, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January, when all the increase of the coming year first begins. Thus it came about that, whereas Abraham was born in the forty-third year, the nativity of Christ fell at the end of the forty-second, so that he did not now arise in part of the third year, but rather the third year arose in him.

> Latin: 15 natus est autem VIII kalendas Ianuarias, cum primum incrementa omnia anni uenientis incipiunt. ita factum est, ut, cum Abraham quadragensimo tertio anno natus sit, sub fine quadragensimi secundi natiuitas Christi conueniret, ut iam non ipse in parte tertii anni sed in ipso potius tertius annus oreretur.

[¶15] How rich that year was in blessings — how great, how new and how unaccustomed — I think is well enough known even without my setting it forth: throughout the whole world a single peace for all, through not the suspension but the abolition of wars; the gates of twin Janus closed, with the roots of wars torn out, not merely held down; that first and greatest census, when the whole created order of great nations swore by this one name of Caesar and at the same time, through sharing in the census, was made into one fellowship.

> Latin: 16 qui annus quantis, quam nouis quamque inusitatis bonis abundauerit, satis etiam me non proferente compertum haberi arbitror: toto terrarum orbe una pax omnium non cessatione sed abolitione bellorum, clausae Iani gemini portae extirpatis bellorum radicibus non repressis census ille primus et maximus, cum in hoc unum Caesaris nomen uniuersa magnarum gentium creatura iurauit simulque per communionem census unius societatis effecta est.