In part one, we covered the preface to Book one of The City of God, detailing the purpose of the book, who Augustine was writing to, and what his starting thoughts were going into the writing. Today, we’re going to tackle points one and two. To read along, you can always pick up a copy of the book online for free, or buy a physical copy from your local bookstore.
Point 1, The Sparing of Christians During the Sack of Rome
On the 24th of August, 410 A.D, The Visigoths sacked the city of Rome. Led by a man named Alaric, the Visigoth King, the Visigoths ran a violent incursion that would lead to three days of pillaging, a response to failing negotiations with the Roman emperor.
Pagan Romans were quick to blame the leaving of Rome from its idol worship for the decline and fall of the city, a point which Augustine now contests.
Alaric was an Arian Christian, and as such, ordered that none of the holy sites in Rome be defiled or destroyed. In the first paragraph, Augustine highlights the fact that many pagan Romans took shelter in the Christian churches, allowing them to survive the raids unscathed, only to turn about and blame those same Christians for the collapse of the Roman Empire.
He goes on to point out that rather than thanking God for his protection, they claimed their survival was a matter of “destiny”, rather than attributing their harsh punishment and their redemption to “the providence of God”.
He goes on to point out that God has often used war and captivity as a way to redirect His people back into the correct way of living and worshiping him.
Next, he points out that all of the pagans should convert, to save themselves from eternal punishment, since after all, they were quick to claim Christ when it protected them from earthly pain.
Point 2, Mercy of Victors over the Conquered out of respect for their gods is unexampled in history.
Here, Augustine makes one of the first mistakes in his treatise, claiming that no leader in history had ever spared the opposing force when taking refuge in their temples.
Notable instances of this happening are Alexander at Tyre, and Agesilaus at Coronea, both of whom found men in temples and spared them.
It is, however, important to note that while Alexander spared people in sanctuary at the temple of Heracles, many of these people were of high rank, and may have been of more political importance.
Agesilaus spared a small contingent of troops after the battle at Coronea, potentially out of respect for the temple.
However, there is no record that these people were ordered spared prior to the battle, whereas King Alaric had specifically ordered his men not to attack Christian sites or their occupants during their raids on Rome.
Back to the text, Augustine goes forth quote Virgil’s Aeneid, the story of Troy, where Diomedes and Ulysses carve their way through the citadel and secure the statue guarding Troy.
He points out that if Athena/Minerva was in truth a god, she should hardly have needed the protection of guards, and a citadel, and points out rather that instead of protecting the city, the city was protecting her.
Thoughts on Points 1 and 2
As an opening defense of Christianity from the attack “Christians are responsible for the downfall of Rome”, I’d say that these two are decent opening arguments.
It’s difficult to claim a group of people are bad when they were actively sheltering you from hostilities, and it’s difficult to claim the protection of gods who have been shown unable to help themselves (More on this in point 3).
Additionally, when you have two opposing forces who are both led by Christians, it’s difficult to say the fall of an Empire is the cause of Christianity, unless to say that it is Christian infighting that caused the fall of Rome.
In the next Part, we’ll be covering points 3,4, and 5, where Augustine covers household gods, the temple of Juno, and references the historian Sallust’s “Cataline”.
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. Now follow the page so you get new notifications every time I post a new part to this series, or any of my other ones.
modernsurvivalarkansas.com 