Of the following Work, Books IV. XVII. and XVIII. have been translated by the Rev. George Wilson, Glenluce; Books V. VI. VII. and VIII. by the Rev. J. J. Smith.
[CONTENTS.]
| BOOK I. | |
| page | |
| Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of theworld, and especially the sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christianreligion and its prohibition of the worship of the gods, | [1] |
| BOOK II. | |
| A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time ofChrist, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruptionand 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 TrueGod, | [135] |
| BOOK V. | |
| Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtuesof the ancient Romans, | [177] |
| BOOK VI. | |
| Of Varro's threefold division of theology, and of the inability of thegods 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 notobtained by worshipping them, | [258] |
| BOOK VIII. | |
| Some account of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and a refutationof the doctrine of Apuleius that the demons should be worshippedas mediators between gods and men, | [305] |
| BOOK IX. | |
| Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good andothers evil, | [353] |
| BOOK X. | |
| Porphyry's doctrine of redemption, | [382] |
| BOOK XI. | |
| Augustine passes to the second part of the work, in which the origin,progress, and destinies of the earthly and heavenly cities are discussed.—Speculationsregarding the creation of the world, | [436] |
| BOOK XII. | |
| Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil, | [481] |
| BOOK XIII. | |
| That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin, | [521] |
[EDITOR'S PREFACE.]
"Rome having been stormed and sacked by the Goths under Alaric their king,[1] the worshippers of false gods, or pagans, as we commonly call them, made an attempt to attribute this calamity to the Christian religion, and began to blaspheme the true God with even more than their wonted bitterness and acerbity. It was this which kindled my zeal for the house of God, and prompted me to undertake the defence of the city of God against the charges and misrepresentations of its assailants. This work was in my hands for several years, owing to the interruptions occasioned by many other affairs which had a prior claim on my attention, and which I could not defer. However, this great undertaking was at last completed in twenty-two books. Of these, the first five refute those who fancy that the polytheistic worship is necessary in order to secure worldly prosperity, and that all these overwhelming calamities have befallen us in consequence of its prohibition. In the following five books I address myself to those who admit that such calamities have at all times attended, and will at all times attend, the human race, and that they constantly recur in forms more or less disastrous, varying only in the scenes, occasions, and persons on whom they light, but, while admitting this, maintain that the worship of the gods is advantageous for the life to come. In these ten books, then, I refute these two opinions, which are as groundless as they are antagonistic to the Christian religion.