Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 2
Augustine — City of God & Christian Doctrine
SECTION 81
Book VI.
Book VI. ------------------------ Argument--Hitherto the argument has been conducted against those who believe that the gods are to be worshipped for the sake of temporal advantages, now it is directed against those who believe that they are to be worshipped for the sake of eternal life. Augustin devotes the five following boo…
2,291 wordsSECTION 82Chapter 3.--Varro's Distribution of His Book Which He Composed Concerning the Antiquities of Human and Divine Things.
This man, then, of so distinguished and excellent acquirements, and, as Terentian briefly says of him in a most elegant verse, "Varro, a man universally informed," [237] who read so much that we wonder when he had time to write, wrote so much that we can scarcely believe any one could have read it all,--this man, I say, so gre…
852 wordsSECTION 83Chapter 4.--That from the Disputation of Varro, It Follows that the Worshippers of the Gods Regard Human Things as More Ancient Than Divine Things.
Chapter 4.--That from the Disputation of Varro, It Follows that the Worshippers of the Gods Regard Human Things as More Ancient Than Divine Things. In this whole series of most beautiful and most subtle distributions and distinctions, it will most easily appear evident from the things we have said already, and from what is to b…
991 wordsSECTION 84Chapter 5.--Concerning the Three Kinds of Theology According to Varro, Namely, One Fabulous, the Other Natural, the Third Civil.
Chapter 5.--Concerning the Three Kinds of Theology According to Varro, Namely, One Fabulous, the Other Natural, the Third Civil. Now what are we to say of this proposition of his, namely, that there are three kinds of theology, that is, of the account which is given of the gods; and of these, the one is called mythical, the oth…
1,005 wordsSECTION 85Chapter 6.--Concerning the Mythic, that Is, the Fabulous, Theology, and the Civil, Against Varro.
Chapter 6.--Concerning the Mythic, that Is, the Fabulous, Theology, and the Civil, Against Varro. O Marcus Varro! thou art the most acute, and without doubt the most learned, but still a man, not God,--now lifted up by the Spirit of God to see and to announce divine things, thou seest, indeed, that divine things are to be separ…
1,057 wordsSECTION 86Chapter 7.--Concerning the Likeness and Agreement of the Fabulous and Civil Theologies.
Chapter 7.--Concerning the Likeness and Agreement of the Fabulous and Civil Theologies. That theology, therefore, which is fabulous, theatrical, scenic, and full of all baseness and unseemliness, is taken up into the civil theology; and part of that theology, which in its totality is deservedly judged to be worthy of reprobatio…
1,263 wordsSECTION 87Chapter 8.--Concerning the Interpretations, Consisting of Natural Explanations, Which the Pagan Teachers Attempt to Show for Their Gods.
Chapter 8.--Concerning the Interpretations, Consisting of Natural Explanations, Which the Pagan Teachers Attempt to Show for Their Gods. But all these things, they say, have certain physical, that is, natural interpretations, showing their natural meaning; as though in this disputation we were seeking physics and not theology, …
788 wordsSECTION 88Chapter 9.--Concerning the Special Offices of the Gods.
Chapter 9.--Concerning the Special Offices of the Gods. And as to those very offices of the gods, so meanly and so minutely portioned out, so that they say that they ought to be supplicated, each one according to his special function,--about which we have spoken much already, though not all that is to be said concerning it,--ar…
1,767 wordsSECTION 89Chapter 10.--Concerning the Liberty of Seneca, Who More Vehemently Censured the Civil Theology Than Varro Did the Fabulous.
Chapter 10.--Concerning the Liberty of Seneca, Who More Vehemently Censured the Civil Theology Than Varro Did the Fabulous. That liberty, in truth, which this man wanted, so that he did not dare to censure that theology of the city, which is very similar to the theatrical, so openly as he did the theatrical itself, was, though …
1,359 wordsSECTION 90Chapter 11.--What Seneca Thought Concerning the Jews.
Chapter 11.--What Seneca Thought Concerning the Jews. Seneca, among the other superstitions of civil theology, also found fault with the sacred things of the Jews, and especially the sabbaths, affirming that they act uselessly in keeping those seventh days, whereby they lose through idleness about the seventh part of their life…
788 wordsSECTION 91Book VII.
Book VII. ------------------------ Argument--In this book it is shown that eternal life is not obtained by the worship of Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the other "select gods" of the civil theology. Preface. It will be the duty of those who are endowed with quicker and better understandings, in whose case the former books are …
1,090 wordsSECTION 92Chapter 3.--How There is No Reason Which Can Be Shown for the Selection of Certain Gods, When the Administration of More Exalted Offices is Assigned to Many Inferior Gods.
Chapter 3.--How There is No Reason Which Can Be Shown for the Selection of Certain Gods, When the Administration of More Exalted Offices is Assigned to Many Inferior Gods. What is the cause, therefore, which has driven so many select gods to these very small works, in which they are excelled by Vitumnus and Sentinus, though lit…
1,633 wordsSECTION 93Chapter 4.--The Inferior Gods, Whose Names are Not Associated with Infamy, Have Been Better Dealt with Than the Select Gods, Whose Infamies are Celebrated.
Chapter 4.--The Inferior Gods, Whose Names are Not Associated with Infamy, Have Been Better Dealt with Than the Select Gods, Whose Infamies are Celebrated. However, any one who eagerly seeks for celebrity and renown, might congratulate those select gods, and call them fortunate, were it not that he saw that they have been selec…
1,190 wordsSECTION 94Chapter 6.--Concerning the Opinion of Varro, that God is the Soul of the World, Which Nevertheless, in Its Various Parts, Has Many Souls Whose Nature is Divine.
Chapter 6.--Concerning the Opinion of Varro, that God is the Soul of the World, Which Nevertheless, in Its Various Parts, Has Many Souls Whose Nature is Divine. The same Varro, then, still speaking by anticipation, says that he thinks that God is the soul of the world (which the Greeks call kosmos), and that this world itself i…
837 wordsSECTION 95Chapter 8.--For What Reason the Worshippers of Janus Have Made His Image with Two Faces, When They Would Sometimes Have It Be Seen with Four.
Chapter 8.--For What Reason the Worshippers of Janus Have Made His Image with Two Faces, When They Would Sometimes Have It Be Seen with Four. But now let the interpretation of the two-faced image be produced. For they say that it has two faces, one before and one behind, because our gaping mouths seem to resemble the world: whe…
1,421 wordsSECTION 96Chapter 10.--Whether the Distinction Between Janus and Jupiter is a Proper One.
Chapter 10.--Whether the Distinction Between Janus and Jupiter is a Proper One. Since, therefore, Janus is the world, and Jupiter is the world, wherefore are Janus and Jupiter two gods, while the world is but one? Why do they have separate temples, separate altars, different rites, dissimilar images? If it be because the nature…
758 wordsSECTION 97Chapter 12.--That Jupiter is Also Called Pecunia.
Chapter 12.--That Jupiter is Also Called Pecunia. How elegantly they have accounted for this name! "He is also called Pecunia," say they, "because all things belong to him." Oh how grand an explanation of the name of a deity! Yes; he to whom all things belong is most meanly and most contumeliously called Pecunia. In comparison …
746 wordsSECTION 98Chapter 14.--Concerning the Offices of Mercury and Mars.
Chapter 14.--Concerning the Offices of Mercury and Mars. But they have not found how to refer Mercury and Mars to any parts of the world, and to the works of God which are in the elements; and therefore they have set them at least over human works, making them assistants in speaking and in carrying on wars. Now Mercury, if he h…
993 wordsSECTION 99Chapter 16.--Concerning Apollo and Diana, and the Other Select Gods Whom They Would Have to Be Parts of the World.
Chapter 16.--Concerning Apollo and Diana, and the Other Select Gods Whom They Would Have to Be Parts of the World. Although they would have Apollo to be a diviner and physician, they have nevertheless given him a place as some part of the world. They have said that he is also the sun; and likewise they have said that Diana, his…
1,034 wordsSECTION 100Chapter 18.--A More Credible Cause of the Rise of Pagan Error.
Chapter 18.--A More Credible Cause of the Rise of Pagan Error. A far more credible account of these gods is given, when it is said that they were men, and that to each one of them sacred rites and solemnities were instituted, according to his particular genius, manners, actions, circumstances; which rites and solemnities, by gr…
859 wordsSECTION 101Chapter 20.--Concerning the Rites of Eleusinian Ceres.
Chapter 20.--Concerning the Rites of Eleusinian Ceres. Now among the rites of Ceres, those Eleusinian rites are much famed which were in the highest repute among the Athenians, of which Varro offers no interpretation except with respect to corn, which Ceres discovered, and with respect to Proserpine, whom Ceres lost, Orcus havi…
2,634 wordsSECTION 102Chapter 25.--The Interpretation of the Mutilation of Atys Which the Doctrine of the Greek Sages Set Forth.
But the authority of the erring ancients weighs heavily on Varro, and compels him, after having expressed this opinion, to show signs of uneasiness; for he immediately adds, "With which things the opinion of the ancients, who thought that there were really many goddesses, does not conflict." How does it not conflict, when it is …
805 wordsSECTION 103Chapter 26.--Concerning the Abomination of the Sacred Rites of the Great Mother.
Chapter 26.--Concerning the Abomination of the Sacred Rites of the Great Mother. Concerning the effeminates consecrated to the same Great Mother, in defiance of all the modesty which belongs to men and women, Varro has not wished to say anything, nor do I remember to have read anywhere aught concerning them. These effeminates, …
1,348 wordsSECTION 104Chapter 28.--That the Doctrine of Varro Concerning Theology is in No Part Consistent with Itself.
Chapter 28.--That the Doctrine of Varro Concerning Theology is in No Part Consistent with Itself. To what purpose, then, is it that this most learned and most acute man Varro attempts, as it were, with subtle disputation, to reduce and refer all these gods to heaven and earth? He cannot do it. They go out of his hands like wate…
823 wordsSECTION 105Chapter 30.--How Piety Distinguishes the Creator from the Creatures, So That, Instead of One God, There are Not Worshipped as Many Gods as There are Works of the One Author.
Chapter 30.--How Piety Distinguishes the Creator from the Creatures, So That, Instead of One God, There are Not Worshipped as Many Gods as There are Works of the One Author. And now, to begin to go over those works of the one true God, on account of which these have made to themselves many and false gods, whilst they attempt to…
801 wordsSECTION 106Chapter 32.--That at No Time in the Past Was the Mystery of Christ's Redemption Awanting, But Was at All Times Declared, Though in Various Forms.
Chapter 32.--That at No Time in the Past Was the Mystery of Christ's Redemption Awanting, But Was at All Times Declared, Though in Various Forms. This mystery of eternal life, even from the beginning of the human race, was, by certain signs and sacraments suitable to the times, announced through angels to those to whom it was m…
1,167 wordsSECTION 107Chapter 35.--Concerning the Hydromancy Through Which Numa Was Befooled by Certain Images of Demons Seen in the Water.
Chapter 35.--Concerning the Hydromancy Through Which Numa Was Befooled by Certain Images of Demons Seen in the Water. For Numa himself also, to whom no prophet of God, no holy angel was sent, was driven to have recourse to hydromancy, that he might see the images of the gods in the water (or, rather, appearances whereby the dem…
831 wordsSECTION 108Book VIII.
Book VIII. ------------------------ Argument--Augustin comes now to the third kind of theology, that is, the natural, and takes up the question, whether the worship of the gods of the natural theology is of any avail towards securing blessedness in the life to come. This question he prefers to discuss with the Platonists, beca…
1,383 wordsSECTION 109Chapter 3.--Of the Socratic Philosophy.
Chapter 3.--Of the Socratic Philosophy. Socrates is said to have been the first who directed the entire effort of philosophy to the correction and regulation of manners, all who went before him having expended their greatest efforts in the investigation of physical, that is, natural phenomena. However, it seems to me that it ca…
2,456 wordsSECTION 110Chapter 6.--Concerning the Meaning of the Platonists in that Part of Philosophy Called Physical.
[299] Dii majorum gentium. [300] Book i. 13. Chapter 6.--Concerning the Meaning of the Platonists in that Part of Philosophy Called Physical. These philosophers, then, whom we see not undeservedly exalted above the rest in fame and glory, have seen that no material body is God, and therefore they have transcended all bodies i…
714 wordsSECTION 111Chapter 7.--How Much the Platonists are to Be Held as Excelling Other Philosophers in Logic, i.e. Rational Philosophy.
Chapter 7.--How Much the Platonists are to Be Held as Excelling Other Philosophers in Logic, i.e. Rational Philosophy. Then, again, as far as regards the doctrine which treats of that which they call logic, that is, rational philosophy, far be it from us to compare them with those who attributed to the bodily senses the faculty…
975 wordsSECTION 112Chapter 9.--Concerning that Philosophy Which Has Come Nearest to the Christian Faith.
Chapter 9.--Concerning that Philosophy Which Has Come Nearest to the Christian Faith. Whatever philosophers, therefore, thought concerning the supreme God, that He is both the maker of all created things, the light by which things are known, and the good in reference to which things are to be done; that we have in Him the first…
1,001 wordsSECTION 113Chapter 11.--How Plato Has Been Able to Approach So Nearly to Christian Knowledge.
Chapter 11.--How Plato Has Been Able to Approach So Nearly to Christian Knowledge. Certain partakers with us in the grace of Christ, wonder when they hear and read that Plato had conceptions concerning God, in which they recognize considerable agreement with the truth of our religion. Some have concluded from this, that when he…
714 wordsSECTION 114Chapter 12.--That Even the Platonists, Though They Say These Things Concerning the One True God, Nevertheless Thought that Sacred Rites Were to Be Performed in Honor of Many Gods.
Chapter 12.--That Even the Platonists, Though They Say These Things Concerning the One True God, Nevertheless Thought that Sacred Rites Were to Be Performed in Honor of Many Gods. But we need not determine from what source he learned these things,--whether it was from the books of the ancients who preceded him, or, as is more l…
1,841 wordsSECTION 115Chapter 15.--That the Demons are Not Better Than Men Because of Their Aerial Bodies, or on Account of Their Superior Place of Abode.
Chapter 15.--That the Demons are Not Better Than Men Because of Their Aerial Bodies, or on Account of Their Superior Place of Abode. Wherefore let not the mind truly religious, and submitted to the true God, suppose that demons are better than men, because they have better bodies. Otherwise it must put many beasts before itself…
706 wordsSECTION 116Chapter 16.--What Apuleius the Platonist Thought Concerning the Manners and Actions of Demons.
Chapter 16.--What Apuleius the Platonist Thought Concerning the Manners and Actions of Demons. The same Apuleius, when speaking concerning the manners of demons, said that they are agitated with the same perturbations of mind as men; that they are provoked by injuries, propitiated by services and by gifts, rejoice in honors, ar…
1,150 wordsSECTION 117Chapter 18.--What Kind of Religion that is Which Teaches that Men Ought to Employ the Advocacy of Demons in Order to Be Recommended to the Favor of the Good Gods.
Chapter 18.--What Kind of Religion that is Which Teaches that Men Ought to Employ the Advocacy of Demons in Order to Be Recommended to the Favor of the Good Gods. In vain, therefore, have Apuleius, and they who think with him, conferred on the demons the honor of placing them in the air, between the ethereal heavens and the ear…
1,117 wordsSECTION 118Chapter 20.--Whether We are to Believe that the Good Gods are More Willing to Have Intercourse with Demons Than with Men.
Chapter 20.--Whether We are to Believe that the Good Gods are More Willing to Have Intercourse with Demons Than with Men. But does any urgent and most pressing cause compel the demons to mediate between the gods and men, that they may offer the prayers of men, and bring back the answers from the gods? and if so, what, pray, is …
1,307 wordsSECTION 119Chapter 22.--That We Must, Notwithstanding the Opinion of Apuleius, Reject the Worship of Demons.
Chapter 22.--That We Must, Notwithstanding the Opinion of Apuleius, Reject the Worship of Demons. None of these four alternatives, then, is to be chosen; for we dare not suppose such unbecoming things concerning the gods as the adoption of any one of them would lead us to think. It remains, therefore, that no credence whatever …
1,816 wordsSECTION 120Chapter 24.--How Hermes Openly Confessed the Error of His Forefathers, the Coming Destruction of Which He Nevertheless Bewailed.
Chapter 24.--How Hermes Openly Confessed the Error of His Forefathers, the Coming Destruction of Which He Nevertheless Bewailed. After a long interval, Hermes again comes back to the subject of the gods which men have made, saying as follows: "But enough on this subject. Let us return to man and to reason, that divine gift on a…
1,855 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.