The City of God, Book I

Book I

• The City of God I.1 — Of the Adversaries of the Name of Christ, Whom the Barbarians for Christ’s Sake Spared When They Stormed the City. Chapter 1.—Of the Adversaries of the Name of Christ, Whom the Barbarians for Christ’s Sake Spared…vatican.va
• The City of God I.2 — That It is Quite Contrary to the Usage of War, that the Victors Should Spare the Vanquished for the Sake of Their Gods. Chapter 2.—That It is Quite Contrary to the Usage of War, that the Victors Should Spare the…vatican.va
• The City of God I.3 — Chapter 3.—That the Romans Did Not Show Their Usual Sagacity When They Trusted that They Would Be Benefited by the Gods Who Had Been Unable to Defend Troy. And these be the gods to whose protecting care the Romans…vatican.va
• The City of God I.4 — Chapter 4.—Of the Asylum of Juno in Troy, Which Saved No One from the Greeks; And of the Churches of the Apostles, Which Protected from the Barbarians All Who Fled to Them. Troy itself, the mother of the Roman…vatican.va
• The City of God I.5 — Cæsar’s Statement Regarding the Universal Custom of an Enemy When Sacking a City. Chapter 5.—Cæsar’s Statement Regarding the Universal Custom of an Enemy When Sacking a City. Even Cæsar himself gives us positive…vatican.va
• The City of God I.6 — That Not Even the Romans, When They Took Cities, Spared the Conquered in Their Temples. Chapter 6.—That Not Even the Romans, When They Took Cities, Spared the Conquered in Their Temples. Why, then, need our argument…vatican.va
• The City of God I.7 — Chapter 7.—That the Cruelties Which Occurred in the Sack of Rome Were in Accordance with the Custom of War, Whereas the Acts of Clemency Resulted from the Influence of Christ’s Name. All the spoiling, then, which…vatican.va
• The City of God I.8 — Of the Advantages and Disadvantages Which Often Indiscriminately Accrue to Good and Wicked Men. Chapter 8.—Of the Advantages and Disadvantages Which Often Indiscriminately Accrue to Good and Wicked Men. Will some one…vatican.va
• The City of God I.9 — Of the Reasons for Administering Correction to Bad and Good Together. What, then, have the Christians suffered in that calamitous period, which would not profit every one who duly and faithfully considered the…vatican.va
• The City of God I.10 — That the Saints Lose Nothing in Losing Temporal Goods. These are the considerations which one must keep in view, that he may answer the question whether any evil happens to the faithful and godly which cannot be…vatican.va
• The City of God I.11 — Of the End of This Life, Whether It is Material that It Be Long Delayed. But, it is added, many Christians were slaughtered, and were put to death in a hideous variety of cruel ways. Well, if this be hard to bear, it…vatican.va
• The City of God I.12 — Of the Burial of the Dead: that the Denial of It to Christians Does Them No Injury. Chapter 12.—Of the Burial of the Dead: that the Denial of It to Christians Does Them No Injury. Further still, we are reminded that…vatican.va
• The City of God I.13 — Reasons for Burying the Bodies of the Saints. Nevertheless the bodies of the dead are not on this account to be despised and left unburied; least of all the bodies of the righteous and faithful, which have been used…vatican.va
• The City of God I.14 — Of the Captivity of the Saints, and that Divine Consolation Never Failed Them Therein. Chapter 14.—Of the Captivity of the Saints, and that Divine Consolation Never Failed Them Therein. But, say they, many Christians…vatican.va
• The City of God I.15 — Chapter 15.—Of Regulus, in Whom We Have an Example of the Voluntary Endurance of Captivity for the Sake of Religion; Which Yet Did Not Profit Him, Though He Was a Worshipper of the Gods. But among their own famous…vatican.va
• The City of God I.16 — Chapter 16.—Of the Violation of the Consecrated and Other Christian Virgins, to Which They Were Subjected in Captivity and to Which Their Own Will Gave No Consent; And Whether This Contaminated Their Souls. But they…vatican.va
• The City of God I.17 — Of Suicide Committed Through Fear of Punishment or Dishonor. And consequently, even if some of these virgins killed themselves to avoid such disgrace, who that has any human feeling would refuse to forgive them? And…vatican.va
• The City of God I.18 — Of the Violence Which May Be Done to the Body by Another’s Lust, While the Mind Remains Inviolate. Chapter 18.—Of the Violence Which May Be Done to the Body by Another’s Lust, While the Mind Remains Inviolate. But is…vatican.va
• The City of God I.19 — Of Lucretia, Who Put an End to Her Life Because of the Outrage Done Her. This, then, is our position, and it seems sufficiently lucid. We maintain that when a woman is violated while her soul admits no consent to the…vatican.va
• The City of God I.20 — That Christians Have No Authority for Committing Suicide in Any Circumstances Whatever. Chapter 20.—That Christians Have No Authority for Committing Suicide in Any Circumstances Whatever. It is not without…vatican.va
• The City of God I.21 — Of the Cases in Which We May Put Men to Death Without Incurring the Guilt of Murder. Chapter 21.—Of the Cases in Which We May Put Men to Death Without Incurring the Guilt of Murder. However, there are some exceptions…vatican.va
• The City of God I.22 — That Suicide Can Never Be Prompted by Magnanimity. But they who have laid violent hands on themselves are perhaps to be admired for their greatness of soul, though they cannot be applauded for the soundness of their…vatican.va
• The City of God I.23 — What We are to Think of the Example of Cato, Who Slew Himself Because Unable to Endure Cæsar’s Victory. Chapter 23.—What We are to Think of the Example of Cato, Who Slew Himself Because Unable to Endure Cæsar’s…vatican.va
• The City of God I.24 — That in that Virtue in Which Regulus Excels Cato, Christians are Pre-Eminently Distinguished. Chapter 24.—That in that Virtue in Which Regulus Excels Cato, Christians are Pre-Eminently Distinguished. Our opponents…vatican.va
• The City of God I.25 — That We Should Not Endeavor By Sin to Obviate Sin. But, we are told, there is ground to fear that, when the body is subjected to the enemy’s lust, the insidious pleasure of sense may entice the soul to consent to the…vatican.va
• The City of God I.26 — That in Certain Peculiar Cases the Examples of the Saints are Not to Be Followed. Chapter 26.—That in Certain Peculiar Cases the Examples of the Saints are Not to Be Followed. But, they say, in the time of…vatican.va
• The City of God I.27 — Whether Voluntary Death Should Be Sought in Order to Avoid Sin. There remains one reason for suicide which I mentioned before, and which is thought a sound one,—namely, to prevent one’s falling into sin either…vatican.va
• The City of God I.28 — By What Judgment of God the Enemy Was Permitted to Indulge His Lust on the Bodies of Continent Christians. Chapter 28.—By What Judgment of God the Enemy Was Permitted to Indulge His Lust on the Bodies of Continent…vatican.va
• The City of God I.29 — Chapter 29.—What the Servants of Christ Should Say in Reply to the Unbelievers Who Cast in Their Teeth that Christ Did Not Rescue Them from the Fury of Their Enemies. The whole family of God, most high and most true,…vatican.va
• The City of God I.30 — That Those Who Complain of Christianity Really Desire to Live Without Restraint in Shameful Luxury. Chapter 30.—That Those Who Complain of Christianity Really Desire to Live Without Restraint in Shameful Luxury. If…vatican.va
• The City of God I.31 — By What Steps the Passion for Governing Increased Among the Romans. For at what stage would that passion rest when once it has lodged in a proud spirit, until by a succession of advances it has reached even the…vatican.va
• The City of God I.32 — Of the Establishment of Scenic Entertainments. Know then, ye who are ignorant of this, and ye who feign ignorance be reminded, while you murmur against Him who has freed you from such rulers, that the scenic games,…vatican.va
• The City of God I.33 — That the Overthrow of Rome Has Not Corrected the Vices of the Romans. Oh infatuated men, what is this blindness, or rather madness, which possesses you? How is it that while, as we hear, even the eastern nations are…vatican.va
• The City of God I.34 — Of God’s Clemency in Moderating the Ruin of the City. And that you are yet alive is due to God, who spares you that you may be admonished to repent and reform your lives. It is He who has permitted you, ungrateful as…vatican.va
• The City of God I.35 — Of the Sons of the Church Who are Hidden Among the Wicked, and of False Christians Within the Church. Chapter 35.—Of the Sons of the Church Who are Hidden Among the Wicked, and of False Christians Within the Church.…vatican.va
• The City of God I.36 — What Subjects are to Be Handled in the Following Discourse. But I have still some things to say in confutation of those who refer the disasters of the Roman republic to our religion, because it prohibits the offering…vatican.va