Chapter 31.--Apology for the Length of the Work.
64. This book has extended to a greater length than I expected or desired. But the reader or hearer who finds pleasure in it will not think it long. He who thinks it long, but is anxious to know its contents, may read it in part. He who does not care to be acquainted with it need not complain of its length. I, however, give thanks to God that with what little ability I possess I have in these four books striven to depict, not the sort of man I am myself (for my defects are very many), but the sort of man he ought to be who desires to labor in sound, that is, in Christian doctrine, not for his own instruction only, but for that of others also.
THE CITY OF GOD.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Abel, the relation of, to Christ, [1]299. See Cain.
Abraham, the era in the life of, from which a new succession begins, [2]318; time of the migration of, [3]319, etc.; the order and nature of God's promises to, [4]320, etc.; the three great kingdoms existing at the time of the birth of, [5]321; the repeated promises of the land of Canaan made to, and to his seed, [6]321; his denial of his wife in Egypt, [7]322; the parting of Lot and, [8]322; the third promise of the land to, [9]322; his victory over the kings, [10]323; the promise made to, of a large posterity, [11]323; the sacrifices offered by, when the covenant was renewed with, [12]324; the seed of, to be in bondage [13]400 years, [14]325; Sarah gives Hagar to, [15]325; the promise of a son given to,--receives the seal of circumcision, [16]326; change of the name of, [17]327; visit of three angels to, [18]327; his denial of his wife in Gerar, [19]328; birth of his son Isaac, [20]328; his offering up of Isaac, [21]329; death of his wife Sarah, [22]330; what is meant by marrying Keturah after Sarah's death? [23]330; the time of the fulfillment of the promise made to, respecting Canaan, [24]337.
Abyss, casting Satan into the, [25]427.
Achior, his answer to Holofernes' inquiry respecting the Jews, [26]319.
Adam forsook God before God forsook him, [27]251; in Paradise; his temptation and fall, [28]271, etc.; nature of his first sin, [29]272; an evil will preceded his evil act, [30]273; the pride involved in the sin of, [31]274; the justice of the punishment of, [32]274, etc.; the nakedness of, seen after his base sin, [33]276; the fearful consequences of the sin of, [34]241, [35]245, [36]260.
Æneas, [37]45; time of the arrival of, in Italy, [38]371.
Æsculanus, the god, [39]75.
Æsculapius, sent for to Epidaurus by the Romans, [40]54; a deified man, [41]104.
Affections of the soul, right or wrong according to their direction, [42]266, [43]267, [44]268.
Africa, a fearful visitation of, by locusts, [45]62.
Ages of ages, [46]238, etc.
Aionun, [47]326.
Albans, the wickedness of the war waged by the Romans against, [48]49.
Alcimus, [49]388.
Alexander the Great, the apt reply of a pirate to, [50]66; and Leo, an Egyptian priest,--a letter of, to his mother Olympias, [51]147, [52]165; invades Judea, [53]388.
Alexandra, queen of the Jews, [54]388.
Alms-deeds, of those who think that they will free evil-doers from damnation in the day of judgment, [55]468, [56]475.
Altor, [57]136.
Alypius, [58]485.
Amor and dilectio, how used in Scripture, [59]266.
Amulius and Numitor, [60]371, [61]372.
Anaxagoras, [62]145, [63]385.
Anaximander, [64]145.
Anaximenes, [65]145.
"Ancient compassions, Thine," sworn unto David, [66]351, etc.
Andromache, [67]49.
Anebo, Porphyry's letter to, [68]187, etc.
Angels, the holy things common to men and, [69]163, etc.; not mediators, [70]174; the difference between the knowledge of, and that of demons, [71]177; the love of, which prompts them to desire that we should worship God alone, [72]184; miracles wrought by the ministry of, for the confirmation of the faith, [73]185, etc., [74]188, etc.; the ministry of, to fulfill the providence of God, [75]190; those who seek worship for themselves, and those who seek honor for God which to be trusted about life eternal, [76]190; rather to be imitated than invoked, [77]196; the creation of, [78]209, etc.; whether those who fell partook of the blessedness of the unfallen, [79]211; were those who fell aware that they would fall? [80]212; were the unfallen assured of their own perseverance? [81]212; the separation of the unfallen from the fallen, meant by the separation of the light from the darkness, [82]215; approbation of the good, signified by the words, " God saw the light that it was good," [83]215; the knowledge by which they know God in His essence, and perceive the causes of His works, [84]222; of the opinion that they were created before the world, [85]223; the two different and dissimilar communities of, [86]224, etc.; the idea that angels are meant by the separation of the waters by the firmament, [87]225; the nature of good and bad, one and the same, [88]226; the cause of the blessedness of the good, and of the misery of the bad, .[89]229; did they receive their good-will as well as their nature from God? [90]230; whether they can be said to be creators of any creatures, [91]242; the opinion of the Platonists that man's body was created by, [92]243;the wickedness of those who sinned did not disturb the order of God's providence, [93]282; the " sons of God " of the 6th chapter of Genesis not, [94]303, etc.; what we are to understand by God's speaking to, [95]313; the three, which appeared to Abraham, [96]327; Lot delivered by, [97]328; the creation of, [98]479.
Anger of God, the, [99]306, etc., [100]471.
Animals, the dispersion of those preserved in the ark, after the deluge, [101]314, etc.
Animals, rational, are they part of God? [102]71.
Antediluvians the long life and great stature of, [103]291, etc.; the different computation of the ages of, given by the Hebrew and other MSS. of the Old Testament, [104]291, etc.; the opinion of those who believe they did not live so long as is stated, considered, [105]292; was the age of puberty later among, than it is now? [106]296, etc.
Antichrist, the time of the last persecution by, hidden, [107]394, etc.: whether the time of the persecution by, is included in the thousand years, [108]433; the manifestation of, preceding the day of the Lord, [109]437, etc.; Daniel's predictions respecting the persecution caused by, [110]443, etc.
Antiochus of Syria, [111]388.
Antipater, [112]388.
Antipodes, the idea of, absurd, [113]315.
Antiquities, Varro's book respecting human and divine, [114]111.
Antiquity of the world, the alleged, [115]232, etc.
Antisthenes, [116]385.
Antithesis, [117]214.
Antoninus, quoted, 9.
Antony, [118]62.
Apis, and Serapis, the alleged change of name, worshipped, [119]363.
Apocryphal Scriptures, [120]305.
Apollo and Diana, [121]131.
Apollo, the weeping statue of, [122]47.
Apostles, the, whence chosen, [123]391.
Apples of Sodom, the, [124]456.
Apuleius, referred to, or quoted, [125]26, [126]65, [127]152; his book concerning the God of Socrates, [128]153; his definition of man, [129]155; what he attributes to demons, to whom he ascribes no virtue, [130]166, [131]167; on the passions which agitate demons, [132]169; maintains that the poets wrong the gods, [133]169; his definition of gods and men, [134]170; the error of, in respect to demons, [135]197, etc.
Aquila, the translator, [136]304, and note.
Archelaus, [137]145.
Areopagus, the, [138]365.
Argos, the kings of, [139]363, [140]364; the fall of the kingdom of, [141]368.
Argus, King, [142]363, [143]364.
Aristippus, [144]385.
Aristobulus, [145]388.
Aristotle, and Plato, [146]152.
Ark, the, of Noah, a figure of Christ and of His Church, [147]306, etc.; and the deluge, the literal and allegorical interpretation of, [148]307; the capacity of, [149]307; what sort of creatures entered, [150]307; how the creatures entered, [151]308; the food required by the creatures in, [152]308; whether the remotest islands received their fauna from the animals preserved in, [153]314, etc.
Ark of the covenant, the, [154]191.
Art of making gods, the invention of the, [155]161.
Asbestos, [156]456.
Assyrian empire, the, [157]362; close of, [158]371*
Athenians, the, [159]362.
Athens, the founding of, and reason of the name, [160]365.
Atlas, [161]364.
Atys, the interpretation of the mutilation of, [162]137.
Audians, [163]225, and note.
Augury, the influence of, [164]77, [165]79, [166]80.
Augustus Cæsar, [167]62.
Aulus Gellius, the story he relates in the Noctes Atticæ of the Stoic philosopher in a storm at sea, [168]167, [169]168.
Aurelius, Bishop, [170]486.
Aventinus, king of Latium, deified, [171]371. [172]372.
Babylon, the founding of, [173]312, etc.; meaning of the word, [174]313, [175]385.
Bacchanalia, the, [176]368.
Baptism, the confession of Christ has the same efficacy as, [177]248, [178]255; of those who think that Catholic, will free from damnation, [179]467, etc., [180]472, etc.; other references to, [181]487.
Barbarians, the, in the sack of Rome, spared those who had taken refuge in Christian churches, 2.
" Barren, the, hath born seven," [182]341.
Bassus, the daughter of, restored to life by a dress from the shrine of St. Stephen, [183]489.
Bathanarius, count of Africa, and his magnet, [184]455.
Beast, the, and his image, [185]431.
Beatific vision, the nature of, considered, [186]507-[187]509.
Beauty of the universe, the, [188]214.
" Beginning, in the," [189]223.
Berecynthia, [190]25, and note.
Binding the devil, [191]426.
Birds, the, offered by Abraham, not to be divided, --import of this, [192]324.
Birds, the, of Diomede, [193]369, [194]370.
Blessed life, the, not to be obtained by the intercession of demons, but of Christ alone, [195]175.
Blessedness, the, of the righteous in this life compared with that of our first parents in Paradise, [196]212; of good angels, --its cause, [197]229, etc.; the true, [198]281; eternal, the promise of, [199]480.
Blessings, the, with which the Creator has filled this life, although it is obnoxious to the curse, [200]502-[201]504.
Boasting, Christians ought to be free from, [202]99.
Bodies, earthly, refutation of those who affirm that they cannot be made incorruptible and eternal, [203]253; refutation of those who hold that they cannot be in heavenly places, [204]254, etc.; of the saints, after the resurrection, in what sense spiritual, [205]255; the animal and spiritual, [206]257, [207]258; can they last forever in burning fire? [208]452-[209]454; against the wise men who deny that they can be transferred to heavenly habitations, [210]481; the Platonists refuted, who argue that they cannot inhabit heaven, [211]492; all blemishes shall be removed from the resurrection bodies, the substance of, remaining, [212]493; the substance of, however they may have been disintegrated, shall in the resurrection be reunited, [213]498; the opinion of Porphyry, that souls must be wholly released from, in order to be happy, exploded by Plato, [214]505.
Body, the, sanctity of, not polluted by the violence done to it by another's lust, [215]12, [216]13; the Platonic and Manichæan idea of, [217]265, etc.; the new spiritual, [218]499; obviously meant to be the habitation of a reasonable soul, [219]503.
Body, the, of Christ, against those who think that the participation of, will save from damnation, [220]467, [221]468.
Body of Christ, the Church the, [222]496