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The City of God

Chapter 9.--Whether the Great Extent and Long Duration of the Roman Empire Should Be Ascribed to Jove, Whom His Worshippers Believe to Be the Chief God.

Therefore omitting, or passing by for a little, that crowd of petty gods, we ought to inquire into the part performed by the great gods, whereby Rome has been made so great as to reign so long over so many nations. Doubtless, therefore, this is the work of Jove. For they will have it that he is the king of all the gods and goddesses, as is shown by his sceptre and by the Capitol on the lofty hill. Concerning that god they publish a saying which, although that of a poet, is most apt, "All things are full of Jove." ¹ Varro believes that this god is worshipped, although called by another name, even by those who worship one God alone without any image. But if this is so, why has he been so badly used at Rome (and indeed by other nations too), that an image of him should be made?--a thing which was so displeasing to Varro himself, that although he was overborne by the perverse custom of so great a city, he had not the least hesitation in both saying and writing, that those who have appointed images for the people have both taken away fear and added error.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput IX: An imperii Romani amplitudo et diuturnitas Ioui fuerit adscribenda, quem summum deum cultores ipsius opinantur.

Omissa igitur ista turba minutorum deorum uel aliquantum intermissa officium maiorum deorum debemus inquirere, quo Roma tam magna facta est, ut tam diu tot gentibus imperaret. nimirum ergo Iouis hoc opus est. ipsum enim deorum omnium dearumque regem uolunt: hoc eius indicat sceptrum, hoc in alto colle Capitolium. de isto deo quamuis a poeta dictum conuenientissime praedicant: Iouis omnia plena. hunc Varro credit etiam ab his coli, qui unum deum solum sine simulacro colunt, sed alio nomine nuncupari. quod si ita est, cur tam male tractatus est Romae, sicut quidem et in ceteris gentibus, ut ei fieret simulacrum? quod ipsi etiam Varroni ita displicet, ut, cum tantae ciuitatis peruersa consuetudine premeretur, nequaquam tamen dicere et scribere dubitaret, quod hi, qui populis instituerunt simulacra, et metum dempserunt et errorem addiderunt.