Welcome back to my personal study of City of God, Part 3! Today we are looking at parts 3-5 of book 1, discussing the household gods of Rome, Juno, and further discussion of war customs in the 400’s A.D!
Point 3: The Household Gods of Rome
Augustine continues his criticism of the Roman and Trojan deities, declaring all idol worship as “pitiable folly”. He also points out that the Romans, while quick to anger when the previous facts are pointed out, also flock to authors who spread this truth in narrative format!
Virgil is quoted:
“A race I hate sails the Etruscan sea, Bringing to Italy Troy’s vanquished gods, and Troy itself.”
Augustine then puts forth the question: Should the Roman’s entrust themselves to their own, admittedly vanquished, gods? Gods unable to defend themselves, requiring the transportation of man?
He quotes Aeneas:
“Panthus, the priest of Phoebus and the citadel, snatches his conquered gods and his young grandson, rushes in frenzy to the door.”
He points out that in extremely famous literature, the gods are described quite clearly as being conquered. He continues that the only reason the only reason these gods escaped destruction was through the aide of men.
Next, he posits that Roman gods would have certainly perished without the protection of Rome itself, and states it would be foolishness to believe that the fall of Rome was due to the fall of Roman gods to the true Christian God. After all, if one God conquers a pantheon, how can he be weaker than that pantheon?
Point 4: The Temple of Juno protected none, but the Basilicas in Rome protected both Christian and pagan.
Here Augustine continues in the previous points theme, quoting Virgil once more to point out that, rather than keeping the people of Troy safe from the Greeks, it was instead the very collection point for those imprisoned and enslaved, their treasure, and their idols, for distribution by the conquerors.
This, in contrast with the holy sites of the church, which were sites of protection from the invaders wrath.
Point 5: Cato Describes the Sacking of a City
One of the mistakes in Book 1 is an accidental misattribution of quotes in the book Catiline to Cato, when the quote actually belongs to Julius Caesar. This is a simple mistake when putting together such an extensive text, and has little bearing on the purpose of the point.
“Maidens and boys are carried off, children are torn from parents embrace; mothers are subjected to the pleasure of their conquerors, temples and homes are despoiled, there is fire and slaughter everywhere; the scene is crowded with fighting men, with dead bodies, with bloodshed and lamentation.”
Augustine uses this quotation to clarify that temples have ever been the target of plunder, even by those who share the same deities, in this case Catiline and his contingent.
Thoughts On Point 3-5
Augustine uses the known mythology of paganism at the time to skillfully deconstruct Roman paganism. He builds upon his previous points well, though by citing his sources, he may have avoided a few minor misquotations.
I find point five to actually be one of the weaker points, at least at this point in the reading. While there was less horrible abuse of captives due to Alaric’s orders, it’s not clear that NONE of these horrible behaviors occurred anywhere in Rome, only that people in places of worship had a level of protection not often seen in history.
In the next part, we’ll discuss Rome’s treatment of conquered cities, the cause of mercy during the sacking of Rome, and the nature of blessings and punishment in Church history.
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