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The City of God

Chapter 6.--That Rome Made Its Founder Romulus a God Because It Loved Him; But the Church Loved Christ Because It Believed Him to Be God.

Let us here recite the passage in which Tully expresses his astonishment that the apotheosis of Romulus should have been credited. I shall insert his words as they stand: "It is most worthy of remark in Romulus, that other men who are said to have become gods lived in less educated ages, when there was a greater propensity to the fabulous, and when the uninstructed were easily persuaded to believe anything. But the age of Romulus was barely six hundred years ago, and already literature and science had dispelled the errors that attach to an uncultured age." And a little after he says of the same Romulus words to this effect: "From this we may perceive that Homer had flourished long before Romulus, and that there was now so much learning in individuals, and so generally diffused an enlightenment, that scarcely any room was left for fable. For antiquity admitted fables, and sometimes even very clumsy ones; but this age [of Romulus] was sufficiently enlightened to reject whatever had not the air of truth." Thus one of the most learned men, and certainly the most eloquent, M. Tullius Cicero, says that it is surprising that the divinity of Romulus was believed in, because the times were already so enlightened that they would not accept a fabulous fiction. But who believed that Romulus was a god except Rome, which was itself small and in its infancy? Then afterwards it was necessary that succeeding generations should preserve the tradition of their ancestors; that, drinking in this superstition with their mother's milk, the state might grow and come to such power that it might dictate this belief, as from a point of vantage, to all the nations over whom its sway extended. And these nations, though they might not believe that Romulus was a god, at least said so, that they might not give offence to their sovereign state by refusing to give its founder that title which was given him by Rome, which had adopted this belief, not by a love of error, but an error of love. But though Christ is the founder of the heavenly and eternal city, yet it did not believe Him to be God because it was founded by Him, but rather it is founded by Him, in virtue of its belief. Rome, after it had been built and dedicated, worshipped its founder in a temple as a god; but this Jerusalem laid Christ, its God, as its foundation, that the building and dedication might proceed. The former city loved its founder, and therefore believed him to be a god; the latter believed Christ to be God, and therefore loved Him. There was an antecedent cause for the love of the former city, and for its believing that even a false dignity attached to the object of its love; so there was an antecedent cause for the belief of the latter, and for its loving the true dignity which a proper faith, not a rash surmise, ascribed to its object. For, not to mention the multitude of very striking miracles which proved that Christ is God, there were also divine prophecies heralding Him, prophecies most worthy of belief, which being already accomplished, we have not, like the fathers, to wait for their verification. Of Romulus, on the other hand, and of his building Rome and reigning in it, we read or hear the narrative of what did take place, not prediction which beforehand said that such things should be. And so far as his reception among the gods is concerned, history only records that this was believed, and does not state it as a fact; for no miraculous signs testified to the truth of this. For as to that wolf which is said to have nursed the twin-brothers, and which is considered a great marvel, how does this prove him to have been divine? For even supposing that this nurse was a real wolf and not a mere courtezan, yet she nursed both brothers, and Remus is not reckoned a god. Besides, what was there to hinder any one from asserting that Romulus or Hercules, or any such man, was a god? Or who would rather choose to die than profess belief in his divinity? And did a single nation worship Romulus among its gods, unless it were forced through fear of the Roman name? But who can number the multitudes who have chosen death in the most cruel shapes rather than deny the divinity of Christ? And thus the dread of some slight indignation, which it was supposed, perhaps groundlessly, might exist in the minds of the Romans, constrained some states who were subject to Rome to worship Romulus as a god; whereas the dread, not of a slight mental shock, but of severe and various punishments, and of death itself, the most formidable of all, could not prevent an immense multitude of martyrs throughout the world from not merely worshipping but also confessing Christ as God. The city of Christ, which, although as yet a stranger upon earth, had countless hosts of citizens, did not make war upon its godless persecutors for the sake of temporal security, but preferred to win eternal salvation by abstaining from war. They were bound, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, burned, torn in pieces, massacred, and yet they multiplied. It was not given to them to fight for their eternal salvation except by despising their temporal salvation for their Saviour's sake.

I am aware that Cicero, in the third book of his De Republica, if I mistake not, argues that a first-rate power will not engage in war except either for honor or for safety. What he has to say about the question of safety, and what he means by safety, he explains in another place, saying, "Private persons frequently evade, by a speedy death, destitution, exile, bonds, the scourge, and the other pains which even the most insensible feel. But to states, death, which seems to emancipate individuals from all punishments, is itself a punishment; for a state should be so constituted as to be eternal. And thus death is not natural to a republic as to a man, to whom death is not only necessary, but often even desirable. But when a state is destroyed, obliterated, annihilated, it is as if (to compare great things with small) this whole world perished and collapsed." Cicero said this because he, with the Platonists, believed that the world would not perish. It is therefore agreed that, according to Cicero, a state should engage in war for the safety which preserves the state permanently in existence though its citizens change; as the foliage of an olive or laurel, or any tree of this kind, is perennial, the old leaves being replaced by fresh ones. For death, as he says, is no punishment to individuals, but rather delivers them from all other punishments, but it is a punishment to the state. And therefore it is reasonably asked whether the Saguntines did right when they chose that their whole state should perish rather than that they should break faith with the Roman republic; for this deed of theirs is applauded by the citizens of the earthly republic. But I do not see how they could follow the advice of Cicero, who tell us that no war is to be undertaken save for safety or for honor; neither does he say which of these two is to be preferred, if a case should occur in which the one could not be preserved without the loss of the other. For manifestly, if the Saguntines chose safety, they must break faith; if they kept faith, they must reject safety; as also it fell out. But the safety of the city of God is such that it can be retained, or rather acquired, by faith and with faith; but if faith be abandoned, no one can attain it. It is this thought of a most steadfast and patient spirit that has made so many noble martyrs, while Romulus has not had, and could not have, so much as one to die for his divinity.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VI: Quod Roma conditorem suum Romulum diligendo deum fecerit, ecclesia autem Christum deum credendo dilexerit.

Recolamus etiam hoc loco illud, quod de Romuli credita diuinitate Tullius admiratur. uerba eius ut scripta sunt inseram. magis est, inquit, in Romulo admirandum, quod ceteri, qui di ex hominibus facti esse dicuntur, minus eruditis hominum saeculis fuerunt, ut fingendi procliuis esset ratio, cum inperiti facile ad credendum inpellerentur: Romuli autem aetatem minus his sescentis annis iam inueteratis litteris atque doctrinis omnique illo antiquo ex inculta hominum uita errore sublato fuisse cernimus. et paulo post de eodem Romulo ita loquitur, quod ad hunc pertinet sensum: ex quo intellegi potest, inquit, permultis annis ante Homerum fuisse quam Romulum, ut iam doctis hominibus ac temporibus ipsis eruditis ad fingendum uix quicquam esset loci. antiquitas enim recipit fabulas, fictas etiam nonnumquam incondite; haec aetas autem iam exculta, praesertim eludens omne quod fieri non potest, respuit. unus e numero doctissimorum hominum idemque eloquentissimus omnium Marcus Tullius Cicero propterea dicit diuinitatem Romuli mirabiliter creditam, quod erudita iam tempora fuerunt, quae falsitatem non reciperent fabularum. quis autem Romulum deum nisi Roma credidit, atque id parua et incipiens? tum deinde posteris seruare fuerat necesse quod acceperant a maioribus, ut cum ista superstitione in lacte quodammodo matris ebibita cresceret ciuitas atque ad tam magnum perueniret imperium, ut ex eius fastigio, uelut ex altiore quodam loco, alias quoque gentes, quibus dominaretur, hac sua opinione perfunderet, ut non quidem crederent, sed tamen dicerent deum Romulum, ne ciuitatem, cui seruiebant, de conditore eius offenderent, aliter eum nominando quam Roma, quae id non amore quidem huius erroris, sed tamen amoris errore crediderat. Christus autem quamquam sit caelestis et sempiternae conditor ciuitatis non tamen eum, quoniam ab illo condita est, deum credidit, sed ideo potius est condenda, quia credidit. Roma conditorem suum iam constructa et dedicata tamquam deum coluit in templo; haec autem Hierusalem conditorem suum deum Christum, ut construi posset et dedicari, posuit in fidei fundamento. illa illum amando esse deum credidit, ista istum deum esse credendo amauit. sicut ergo praecessit unde amaret illa et de amato iam libenter etiam falsum bonum crederet, ita praecessit unde ista crederet, ut recta fide non temere quod falsum, sed quod uerum erat amaret. exceptis enim tot et tantis miraculis, quae persuaserunt deum esse Christum, prophetiae quoque diuinae fide dignissimae praecesserunt, quae in illo non sicut a patribus adhuc creduntur inplendae, sed iam demonstrantur inpletae; de Romulo autem, quia condidit Romam in eaque regnauit, auditur legiturue quod factum est, non quod antequam fieret prophetatum; sed quod sit receptus in deos, creditum tenent litterae, non factum docent. nullis quippe rerum mirabilium signis id ei uere prouenisse monstratur. lupa quippe illa nutrix, quod uidetur quasi magnum exstitisse portentum, quale aut quantum est ad demonstrandum deum? certe enim etsi non meretrix fuit lupa illa, sed bestia, cum commune fuerit ambobus, frater tamen eius non habetur deus. quis autem prohibitus est aut Romulum aut Herculem aut alios tales homines deos dicere et mori maluit quam non dicere? aut uero aliqua gentium coleret inter deos suos Romulum, nisi Romani nominis metus cogeret? quis porro numeret, quam multi quantalibet saeuitia crudelitatis occidi quam Christum deum negare maluerunt? proinde metus quamlibet leuis indignationis, quae ab animis Romanorum, si non fieret, posse putabatur exsistere, conpellebat aliquas ciuitates positas sub iure Romano tamquam deum colere Romulum; a Christo autem deo non solum colendo, uerum etiam confitendo tantam per orbis terrae populos martyrum multitudinem metus reuocare non potuit non leuis offensionis animorum, sed inmensarum uariarumque poenarum et ipsius mortis, quae plus ceteris formidatur. neque tunc ciuitas Christi, quamuis adhuc peregrinaretur in terris et haberet tamen magnorum agmina populorum, aduersus inpios persecutores suos pro temporali salute pugnauit; sed potius, ut obtineret aeternam, non repugnauit. ligabantur includebantur, caedebantur torquebantur, urebantur laniabantur, trucidabantur - et multiplicabantur. non erat eis pro salute pugnare nisi salutem pro saluatore contemnere. scio in libro Ciceronis tertio, nisi fallor, de republica disputari nullum bellum suscipi a ciuitate optima, nisi aut pro fide aut pro salute. quid autem dicat pro salute uel intellegi quam salutem uelit, alio loco demonstrans: sed his poenis, inquit, quas etiam stultissimi sentiunt, egestate exsilio, uinculis uerberibus, elabuntur saepe priuati oblata mortis celeritate; ciuitatibus autem mors ipsa poena est, quae uidetur a poena singulos uindicare. debet enim constituta sic esse ciuitas, ut aeterna sit. itaque nullus interitus est reipublicae naturalis, ut hominis, in quo mors non modo necessaria est, uerum etiam optanda persaepe. ciuitas autem cum tollitur, deletur, exstinguitur, simile est quodammodo, ut parua magnis conferamus, ac si omnis hic mundus intereat et concidat. hoc ideo dixit Cicero, quia mundum non interiturum cum Platonicis sentit. constat ergo eum pro ea salute noluisse bellum suscipi a ciuitate, qua fit ut maneat hic ciuitas, sicut dicit, aeterna, quamuis morientibus et nascentibus singulis. sicut perennis est opacitas oleae uel lauri atque huiusmodi ceterarum arborum singulorum lapsu ortuque foliorum. mors quippe, ut dicit, non hominum singulorum, sed uniuersae poena est ciuitatis, quae a poena plerumque singulos uindicat. unde merito quaeritur, utrum recte fecerint Saguntini, quando uniuersam ciuitatem suam interire maluerunt quam fidem frangere, qua cum ipsa Romana republica tenebantur; in quo suo facto laudantur ab omnibus terrenae reipublicae ciuibus. sed quomodo huic disputationi possent oboedire, non uideo, ubi dicitur nullum suscipiendum esse bellum nisi aut pro fide aut pro salute, nec dicitur, si in unum simul periculum ita duo ista concurrerint, ut teneri alterum sine alterius amissione non possit, quid sit potius eligendum. profecto enim Saguntini si salutem eligerent, fides eis fuerat deserenda; si fides tenenda, amittenda utique salus, sicut factum est. salus autem ciuitatis dei talis est, ut cum fide ac per fidem teneri uel potius adquiri possit; fide autem perdita ad eam quisque uenire non possit. quae cogitatio firmissimi ac patientissimi cordis tot ac tantos martyres fecit, qualem ne unum quidem habuit uel habere potuit quando est deus creditus Romulus.