The City of God, Volume I by Saint of Hippo Augustine

one and true God, and preserved by Him as long as they remained in the true religion._ Therefore, that it might be known that these earthly good things, after which those pant who cannot imagine better things, remain in the power of the one God Himself, not of the many false gods whom the Romans have formerly believed worthy of worship, He multiplied His people in Egypt from being very few, and delivered them out of it by wonderful signs. Nor did their women invoke Lucina when their offspring was being incredibly multiplied; and that nation having increased incredibly, He Himself delivered, He Himself saved them from the hands of the Egyptians, who persecuted them, and wished to kill all their infants. Without the goddess Rumina they sucked; without Cunina they were cradled; without Educa and Potina they took food and drink; without all those puerile gods they were educated; without the nuptial gods they were married; without the worship of Priapus they had conjugal intercourse; without invocation of Neptune the divided sea opened up a way for them to pass over, and overwhelmed with its returning waves their enemies who pursued them. Neither did they consecrate any goddess Mannia when they received manna from heaven; nor, when the smitten rock poured forth water to them when they thirsted, did they worship Nymphs and Lymphs. Without the mad rites of Mars and Bellona they carried on war; and while, indeed, they did not conquer without victory, yet they did not hold it to be a goddess, but the gift of their God. Without Segetia they had harvests; without Bubona, oxen; honey without Mellona; apples without Pomona: and, in a word, everything for which the Romans thought they must supplicate so great a crowd of false gods, they received much more happily from the one true God. And if they had not sinned against Him with impious curiosity, which seduced them like magic arts, and drew them to strange gods and idols, and at last led them to kill Christ, their kingdom would have remained to them, and would have been, if not more spacious, yet more happy, than that of Rome. And now that they are dispersed through almost all lands and nations, it is through the providence of that one true God; that whereas the images, altars, groves, and temples of the false gods are everywhere overthrown, and their sacrifices prohibited, it may be shown from their books how this has been foretold by their prophets so long before; lest, perhaps, when they should be read in ours, they might seem to be invented by us. But now, reserving what is to follow for the following book, we must here set a bound to the prolixity of this one. FOOTNOTES: [155] In Augustine's letter to Evodius (169), which was written towards the end of the year 415, he mentions that this fourth book and the following one were begun and finished during that same year. [156] Comp. Bacon's _Essay on the Vicissitudes of Things_. [157] Matt. v. 45. [158] 2 Pet. ii. 19. [159] Nonius Marcell. borrows this anecdote from Cicero, _De Repub._ iii. [160] It was extinguished by Crassus in its third year. [161] Cloacina, supposed by Lactantius (_De falsa relig._ i. 20), Cyprian (_De Idol. vanit._), and Augustine (_infra._, c. 23) to be the goddess of the "cloaca," or sewage of Rome. Others, however, suppose it to be equivalent to Cluacina, a title given to Venus, because the Romans after the end of the Sabine war purified themselves (_cluere_) in the vicinity of her statue. [162] Forculum foribus, Cardeam cardini, Limentinum limini. [163] Virgil, _Eclog._ iii. 60. [164] Virgil, _Æneid_, i. 47. [165] Cicero, _De Nat. Deor._ ii. 25. [166] Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 325, 326. [167] Eusebius, _De Præp. Evang._ i. 10. [168] Virgil, _Georg._ iv. 221, 222. [169] The feminine Fortune. [170] Hab. ii. 4. [171] So called from the consent or harmony of the celestial movements of these gods. [172] _Tusc. Quæst._ i. 26. [173] Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, _De Divin._ 26. [174] Called by Cicero (_De Oratore_, i. 39) the most eloquent of lawyers, and the best skilled lawyer among eloquent men. [175] Superflua non nocent. [176] Rom. i. 25. [177] _De Divin._ ii. 37. [178] Cic. _De Nat. Deorum_, lib. ii. c. 28. [179] Superstition, from _superstes_. Against this etymology of Cicero, see Lact. _Inst. Div._ iv. 28. [180] Balbus, from _balbutiens_, stammering, babbling. [181] See Cicero, _De Nat. Deor._ i. 2. [182] Plutarch's _Numa_, c. 8. BOOK FIFTH.[183] ARGUMENT. AUGUSTINE FIRST DISCUSSES THE DOCTRINE OF FATE, FOR THE SAKE OF CONFUTING THOSE WHO ARE DISPOSED TO REFER TO FATE THE POWER AND INCREASE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WHICH COULD NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO FALSE GODS, AS HAS BEEN SHOWN IN THE PRECEDING BOOK. AFTER THAT, HE PROVES THAT THERE IS NO CONTRADICTION BETWEEN GOD'S PRESCIENCE AND OUR FREE WILL. HE THEN SPEAKS OF THE MANNERS OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS, AND SHOWS IN WHAT SENSE IT WAS DUE TO THE VIRTUE OF THE ROMANS THEMSELVES, AND IN HOW FAR TO THE COUNSEL OF GOD, THAT HE INCREASED THEIR DOMINION, THOUGH THEY DID NOT WORSHIP HIM. FINALLY, HE EXPLAINS WHAT IS TO BE ACCOUNTED THE TRUE HAPPINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN EMPERORS. PREFACE. Since, then, it is established that the complete attainment of all we desire is that which constitutes felicity, which is no goddess, but a gift of God, and that therefore men can worship no god save Him who is able to make them happy,--and were Felicity herself a goddess, she would with reason be the only object of worship,--since, I say, this is established, let us now go on to consider why God, who is able to give with all other things those good gifts which can be possessed by men who are not good, and consequently not happy, has seen fit to grant such extended and long-continued dominion to the Roman empire; for that this was not effected by that multitude of false gods which they worshipped, we have both already adduced, and shall, as occasion offers, yet adduce considerable proof.