Chapter Five Of that custom, according to Sallust, a historian of outstanding truthfulness, Cato gives a sample in the speech on the conspirators which he delivered in the Senate: ‘Girls and young boys are ravished, children are torn from their parents’ arms, matrons must submit to the victor’s lust, temples and homes are plundered, murder... Continue Reading →
The City of God: Book 1: Chapter Four
BOOK ONE Chapter Four As I have already suggested, Troy herself, parent of the Roman people, for all her sanctuaries of the gods, offered to her pious citizens no protection from the fire and sword of the Greeks. On the contrary, ‘in Juno’s sanctuary, with its now emptied porticoes, the chosen sentries, Phoenix and... Continue Reading →
The City of God: Book 1: Chapter Three
BOOK ONE Chapter Three Just think of the kind of gods to whose protection the Romans were content to entrust their city! No more pathetic illusion could be imagined. Yet, the pagans are angry with us because we speak so frankly of their divinities. However, they feel no anger against their own writers. They even... Continue Reading →
The City of God: Book 1: Chapter Two
BOOK ONE Chapter Two The chronicles are filled with wars waged before Rome was founded, and since it rose and grew to be an empire. Let the pagans read these chronicles, and then adduce one single instance of a city falling into the hands of a foe disposed to spare men seeking refuge in the... Continue Reading →
The City of God: Book 1: Chapter One
BOOK I Preface MY DEAR MARCELLINUS: This work which I have begun makes good my promise to you. In it I am undertaking nothing less than the task of defending the glorious City of God against those who prefer their own gods to its Founder. I shall consider it both in its temporal stage here... Continue Reading →