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The City of God

Chapter 2.--Recapitulation of the Contents of the First Book.

In the foregoing book, having begun to speak of the city of God, to which I have resolved, Heaven helping me, to consecrate the whole of this work, it was my first endeavor to reply to those who attribute the wars by which the world is being devastated, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the barbarians, to the religion of Christ, which prohibits the offering of abominable sacrifices to devils. I have shown that they ought rather to attribute it to Christ, that for His name's sake the barbarians, in contravention of all custom and law of war, threw open as sanctuaries the largest churches, and in many instances showed such reverence to Christ, that not only His genuine servants, but even those who in their terror feigned themselves to be so, were exempted from all those hardships which by the custom of war may lawfully be inflicted. Then out of this there arose the question, why wicked and ungrateful men were permitted to share in these benefits; and why, too, the hardships and calamities of war were inflicted on the godly as well as on the ungodly. And in giving a suitably full answer to this large question, I occupied some considerable space, partly that I might relieve the anxieties which disturb many when they observe that the blessings of God, and the common and daily human casualties, fall to the lot of bad men and good without distinction; but mainly that I might minister some consolation to those holy and chaste women who were outraged by the enemy, in such a way as to shock their modesty, though not to sully their purity, and that I might preserve them from being ashamed of life, though they have no guilt to be ashamed of. And then I briefly spoke against those who with a most shameless wantonness insult over those poor Christians who were subjected to those calamities, and especially over those broken-hearted and humiliated, though chaste and holy women; these fellows themselves being most depraved and unmanly profligates, quite degenerate from the genuine Romans, whose famous deeds are abundantly recorded in history, and everywhere celebrated, but who have found in their descendants the greatest enemies of their glory. In truth, Rome, which was founded and increased by the labors of these ancient heroes, was more shamefully ruined by their descendants, while its walls were still standing, than it is now by the razing of them. For in this ruin there fell stones and timbers; but in the ruin those profligates effected, there fell, not the mural, but the moral bulwarks and ornaments of the city, and their hearts burned with passions more destructive than the flames which consumed their houses. Thus I brought my first book to a close. And now I go on to speak of those calamities which that city itself, or its subject provinces, have suffered since its foundation; all of which they would equally have attributed to the Christian religion, if at that early period the doctrine of the gospel against their false and deceiving gods had been as largely and freely proclaimed as now.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput II: De his, quae primo uolumine expedita sunt.

Superiore itaque libro, cum de ciuitate dei dicere instituissem, unde hoc uniuersum opus illo adiuuante in manus sumptum est, occurrit mihi resistendum esse primitus eis, qui haec bella, quibus mundus iste conteritur, maximeque Romanae urbis recentem a barbaris uastationem Christianae religioni tribuunt, qua prohibentur nefandis sacrificiis seruire daemonibus, cum potius hoc tribuere deberent Christo, quod propter eius nomen contra institutum moremque bellorum eis, quo confugerent, religiosa et amplissima loca barbari libera praebuerunt, atque in multis famulatum deditum Christo non solum uerum, sed etiam timore confictum sic honorauerunt, ut, quod in eos belli iure fieri licuisset, inlicitum sibi esse iudicarent. inde incidit quaestio, cur haec diuina beneficia et ad inpios ingratosque peruenerint, et cur itidem illa dura, quae hostiliter facta sunt, pios cum inpiis pariter adflixerint? quam quaestionem per multa diffusam - in omnibus enim cottidianis uel dei muneribus uel hominum cladibus, quorum utraque bene ac male uiuentibus permixte atque indiscrete saepe accidunt, solet multos mouere - ut pro suscepti operis necessitate dissoluerem, aliquantum inmoratus sum maxime ad consolandas sanctas feminas et pie castas, in quibus ab hoste aliquid perpetratum est, quod intulit uerecundiae dolorem, etsi non abstulit pudicitiae firmitatem, ne paeniteat eas uitae, quas non est unde possit paenitere nequitiae. deinde pauca dixi in eos, qui Christianos aduersis illis rebus adfectos et praecipue pudorem humiliatarum feminarum quamuis castarum atque sanctarum proteruitate inpudentissima exagitant, cum sint nequissimi et inreuerentissimi, longe ab eis ipsis Romanis degeneres, quorum praeclara multa laudantur et litterarum memoria celebrantur, immo illorum gloriae uehementer aduersi. Romam quippe partam ueterum auctamque laboribus foediorem stantem fecerant quam ruentem, quandoquidem in ruina eius lapides et ligna, in istorum autem uita omnia non murorum, sed morum munimenta atque ornamenta ceciderunt, cum funestioribus eorum corda cupiditatibus quam ignibus tecta illius urbis arderent. quibus dictis primum terminaui librum. deinceps itaque dicere institui, quae mala ciuitas illa perpessa sit ab origine sua siue apud se ipsam siue in prouinciis sibi iam subditis, quae omnia Christianae religioni tribuerent, si iam tunc euangelica doctrina aduersus falsos et fallaces eorum deos testificatione liberrima personaret.