The City of God, Book VII

Book VII

• The City of God VII.1 — Chapter 1.—Whether, Since It is Evident that Deity is Not to Be Found in the Civil Theology, We are to Believe that It is to Be Found in the Select Gods. If there is any one whom the sixth book, which I have last…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.2 — Who are the Select Gods, and Whether They are Held to Be Exempt from the Offices of the Commoner Gods. Chapter 2.—Who are the Select Gods, and Whether They are Held to Be Exempt from the Offices of the Commoner Gods.…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.3 — 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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.4 — 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,…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.5 — Concerning the More Secret Doctrine of the Pagans, and Concerning the Physical Interpretations. Chapter 5.—Concerning the More Secret Doctrine of the Pagans, and Concerning the Physical Interpretations. But let us…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.6 — 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,…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.7 — Whether It is Reasonable to Separate Janus and Terminus as Two Distinct Deities. Chapter 7.—Whether It is Reasonable to Separate Janus and Terminus as Two Distinct Deities. Who, then, is Janus, with whom Varro…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.9 — Concerning the Power of Jupiter, and a Comparison of Jupiter with Janus. But they also show whom they would have Jove (who is also called Jupiter) understood to be. He is the god, say they, who has the power of the…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.11 — Concerning the Surnames of Jupiter, Which are Referred Not to Many Gods, But to One and the Same God. Chapter 11.—Concerning the Surnames of Jupiter, Which are Referred Not to Many Gods, But to One and the Same God.…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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!…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.13 — That When It is Expounded What Saturn Is, What Genius Is, It Comes to This, that Both of Them are Shown to Be Jupiter. Chapter 13.—That When It is Expounded What Saturn Is, What Genius Is, It Comes to This, that Both…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.15 — Concerning Certain Stars Which the Pagans Have Called by the Names of Their Gods. Chapter 15.—Concerning Certain Stars Which the Pagans Have Called by the Names of Their Gods. But possibly these stars which have been…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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.…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.17 — That Even Varro Himself Pronounced His Own Opinions Regarding the Gods Ambiguous. Chapter 17.—That Even Varro Himself Pronounced His Own Opinions Regarding the Gods Ambiguous. And the same is true with respect to all…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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,…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.19 — Concerning the Interpretations Which Compose the Reason of the Worship of Saturn. Chapter 19.—Concerning the Interpretations Which Compose the Reason of the Worship of Saturn. They said, says Varro, that Saturn was…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.21 — Concerning the Shamefulness of the Rites Which are Celebrated in Honor of Liber. Chapter 21.—Concerning the Shamefulness of the Rites Which are Celebrated in Honor of Liber. Now as to the rites of Liber, whom they…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.22 — Concerning Neptune, and Salacia and Venilia. Now Neptune had Salacia to wife, who they say is the nether waters of the sea. Wherefore was Venilia also joined to him? Was it not simply through the lust of the soul…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.23 — Chapter 23.—Concerning the Earth, Which Varro Affirms to Be a Goddess, Because that Soul of the World Which He Thinks to Be God Pervades Also This Lowest Part of His Body, and Imparts to It a Divine Force. Surely the…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.24 — Chapter 24.—Concerning the Surnames of Tellus and Their Significations, Which, Although They Indicate Many Properties, Ought Not to Have Established the Opinion that There is a Corresponding Number of Gods. The one…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.25 — The Interpretation of the Mutilation of Atys Which the Doctrine of the Greek Sages Set Forth. Chapter 25.—The Interpretation of the Mutilation of Atys Which the Doctrine of the Greek Sages Set Forth. Varro has not…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.27 — Chapter 27.—Concerning the Figments of the Physical Theologists, Who Neither Worship the True Divinity, Nor Perform the Worship Wherewith the True Divinity Should Be Served. We see that these select gods have,…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.29 — That All Things Which the Physical Theologists Have Referred to the World and Its Parts, They Ought to Have Referred to the One True God. Chapter 29.—That All Things Which the Physical Theologists Have Referred to…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.30 — 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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.31 — What Benefits God Gives to the Followers of the Truth to Enjoy Over and Above His General Bounty. Chapter 31.—What Benefits God Gives to the Followers of the Truth to Enjoy Over and Above His General Bounty. For,…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.33 — That Only Through the Christian Religion Could the Deceit of Malign Spirits, Who Rejoice in the Errors of Men, Have Been Manifested. Chapter 33.—That Only Through the Christian Religion Could the Deceit of Malign…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.34 — Chapter 34.—Concerning the Books of Numa Pompilius, Which the Senate Ordered to Be Burned, in Order that the Causes of Sacred Rights Therein Assigned Should Not Become Known. But, on the other hand, we find, as the…vatican.va
• The City of God VII.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…vatican.va