The City of God, Volume I is a collection of theological essays by Saint Augustine. It defends Christianity against pagans who blamed the faith for Rome's sack by the Goths, and contrasts the earthly city with the City of God. It is worth hearing for its influential reflection on history, society, and belief.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO. A NEW TRANSLATION. Edited by the REV. MARCUS DODS, M.A. VOL. I. THE CITY OF GOD, VOLUME I. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXXI. PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO. NEW YORK, C. SCRIBNER AND CO. THE CITY OF GOD. Translated by the REV. MARCUS DODS, M.A.
VOLUME I.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXXI.
Of the following Work, Books IV. XVII. and XVIII. have been translated by the Rev. GŧLjǡƄŧ WƗƯǪLjƿ, Glenluce; Books V. VI. VII. and VIII. by the Rev. J. J. SƽƗǵƒ.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
ǙĵƄŧ
Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the
calamities of the world, and especially the
sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian
religion and its prohibition of the worship of
the gods,
1
BOOK II.
A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruption and vice, 48 BOOK III. The external calamities of Rome, 91 BOOK IV. That empire was given to Rome not by the gods, but by the One True God, 135 BOOK V. Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans, 177 BOOK VI. Of Varro's threefold division of theology, and of the inability of the gods to contribute anything to the happiness of the future life, 228 BOOK VII. Of the "select gods" of the civil theology, and that eternal life is not obtained by worshipping them, 258 BOOK VIII.
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