Read City of God (Penguin Classics) Online
Authors: Saint Augustine
86
. cf. Bk VII, 2.
87
. Three gods. No other authority associates Mars with Terminus and Juventas. The altar of Juventas was allowed to remain in the new temple of Minerva; the stone of Terminus in the temple of Jupiter, dose to his image (Ovid, Fast, 2, 667–79; Liv., 1, 55; Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom., 3,69).
88
. i.e. the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
89
.
Summanus
appeals sometimes as Jupiter Summanus in inscriptions; he is mentioned in Cicero (
De Div
., 1, 10, 16) and Livy (32, 29). Pliny (2, 52, 138) agrees with St Augustine about bis functions, but Ovid is doubtful about him (Fast, 731f. ‘A temple is said to have been dedicated to Summanus, whoever he may be’). His temple, built in 278
B.C
., was near the Circus Maximus.
90
.
Pomona
: goddess of fruit. Bubona is not found elsewhere.
91
. e.g. Alcmena.
92
. Ganymede.
93
.
Tuse. Disp
., 1, 26, 65.
94
. cf. Cic,
De Div
., 1, 26, 55; Liv. 2, 36; Val. Max., 1, 7, 4.
95
. cf. Bk III, 28n.
96
.
Three kinds of gods
. The theory is perhaps derived from the Stoic philosopher Panaetius of Rhodes (
c
. 180–110
B.C.
) who taught in Rome for some time.
97
. ‘
They were men
.’ The theory that the gods were deified men is called Euhemerism, after Euhemerus of Sicily, who advanced it
c
. 300
B.C
. in his
Hiera Anagraphe
, which Ennius translated into Latin. St Augustine refers to Euhemerus by name in Bk VI, 7; VII, 27.
98
. Europa and Leda.
99
. cf. Bk II, 11.
100
. ch. 23.
101
.
Hadrian
, on his accession in
A.D
. 117, ended the war against the Partisans, started by Trajan in 114, giving up conquered territory and restoring the Euphrates as the boundary of the Roman Empire.
102
. cf Bk V, 21. The story is told in Ammianus Marcellinus (24, 7, 4).
103
. Elected by the army after Julian’s death, A.D. 363.
104
. Rom. 1, 25.
105
.
‘Cicero laughs at auguries
’. Cicero, who was elected augur in 53
B.C
., quotes the remark of Cato the Censor, that he was amazed that one augur could meet another without bursting into laughter (
De Div
., 2, 24).
106
.
De Div
., 2, 36–8.
107
.
Academic philosophers
: Plato and his successors taught in the grove of Academus, near Athens. Arcesilaus of Pitane (
c
. 315–240) introduced the Scepticism of Pyrrhon of Elis (
c
. 365–275) into the teaching of what came to be known as the Second (or New) Academy. The denial of the possibility of certain knowledge led to controversy with the Stoics. Qcero was, in fact, a complete eclectic in philosophy.
108
.
De Nat. Dear
., 2 ,28, 70.
109
. A Stoic philosopher.
110
. II., 20, 31ff.
111
. An absurd etymology; but the true derivation is uncertain.
112
. cf. ch. 11.
113
. cf. ch. 24. (Mellona does not appear in classical authors).
1
.
De Foto
(not extant).
2
. 460–357
B.C.
3
.
Posidonius
: of Apamea (c. 135–51
B.C.
), the head of the Stoic school at Rhodes; historian, scientist, philosopher, and astrologer. Varro and Cicero were among his pupils. His works are lost.
4
.
Nigidius
: astrologer and Pythagorean philosopher; reputedly the most learned man in Rome after Varro. He was of some service to Cicero in 63
B.C.
during Catiline’s conspiracy; he sided with Pompey in the Civil War, and died in exile in 45
B.C.
5
. Gen. xxv, 26.
6
. cf. ch. 2.
7
. see ch. 2n.
8
. L.
Annaeus Seneca
(4
B.C.-A.D.
65): Stoic moralist, essayist and poet. The lines are a free translation from Cleanthes (c. 330–231
B.C.
), successor to Zeno as head of the Stoic school The original Greek is given by Epictetus (Ench., 77).
9
. Ep., 107.
10
.
Od
., 18, 136f. The translation was probably contained in the lost part of De Fato.
11
. De Div., 2.
12
. De Div., 2, 56.
13
. Ps. 14. 1.
14
.
c
.
Aurelius Cotta
, consul 75. He is one of the disputants in Cicero’s
De Orotore
and
De Natura Deorum
, representing the Academics.
15
. De Nat. Deor., 3.
16
. cf. Bk IV. 30n.
17
.
De
Fato, 17, 40.
18
.
De
Fato, 10, 20ff.
19
. The etymology is, for once, correct
20
. Ps. 61, 11f.
21
.
De Fato
, 10f.
22
. Ps. 14, 1.
23
. Sall.,
Cat
., 7. 6.
24
. An unlikely etymology.
25
. Sall.,
Cat
., 6, 7; Cic,
De Rep
., 2, 31.
26
.
Cat
., 7, 3.
27
. Cato of Utica and Julius Caesar.
28
.
Cat
., 53f.
29
. Virg., A
en
., 8, 703.
30
. Virg., A
en
., 8, 646ff.
31
. A
en
., 279–85.
32
.
Aen
., 6, 847–53.
33
.
Cat
., 11, 1ff.
34
. cf. Bk IV, 20n.
35
.
Cat
., 54, 6.
36
.2 Cor. 1, 12.
37
. Gal. 6, 4.
38
. Sall.,
Cat
., 52, 19ff.
39
. Bk II. 18.
40
. Hist. fr. 1.11. The passage is quoted literally in Bk. II, 18.
41
.
Cat
., 53, 2–5.
42
.
Cat
, 52, 21f.
43
.
Ep
., 1, 1 36f.
44
.
Carm
. 2, 2, 9ff
45
.
Intelligible Beauty
: the Platonic ‘idea’ of beauty, apprehended by the intellect, not by the senses.
46
.
De Rep
., 5, 7, 9.
47
.
Tusc. Disp
., 1, 2, 4.
48
. John 5, 44.
49
. John 12, 43.
50
. Matt. 10, 33; Luke 12, 9.
51
. cf. 1 Cor. 15, 10.
52
. Matt. 6, 1.
53
. Matt. 5, 16.
54
. cf. Bk IV, 20nn.
55
. cf. Bk x, 1.
56
. Matt. 6, 2.
57
. Matt. 5, 45.
58
. Mal. 4, 2.
59
. cf. Bk 1, 34; Liv., 1, 8.
60
. cf. Bk III, 16.
61
. Virg., A
en
., 6, 820ff
62
. cf. Bk I, 23n.
63
. cf. Bk II, 17.
64
. Scaevola; cf. Bk IV, 20.
65
. cf. Bk IV, 20n.
66
. Liv., 2, 8.
67
. Matt. 8, 22.
68
. cf. Bk I, 15n.
69
. Ps. 116, 2.
70
. P. Valerius Publicola: Liv., 2, 16; Val. Max., 4, 4, 1.
71
. Dictator, 458
B.C.
Liv., 3, 26–9; Val. Max., 4, 4, 7.
72
. Plut, P
yrrh
., 20; Eutrop., 2, 12.
73
. P. Cornelius Rufinus, 275
B.C.
Val. Max., 2, 9, 4; Gell., 4, 8.
74
. Acts 2, 44; 4, 32.
75
. Rom. 8, 18.
76
.
New Testament revealed
: cf. IV, 33; XVI, 26; and the most famous statement of this relation between the Old and New Testaments in
Quaes., in Hept
., 2, 83:
In Vetere Novum latet et in Novo Vetus patet
, ‘The New Testament is latent in the Old: the Old is patent in the New.’
77
.
Cat
, 11, 1, cf. ch. iz.
78
. cf. Suet.,
Nero, passim.
79
. Prov. 8, 15.
80
.
Aen
., 7, 266.
81
. Job 34, 30 (Vulg.).
82
. Stoics.
83
. Epicureans.
84
. Cic.,
De Fin
., 2, 21, 69 (after Cleanthes).
85
.
Two gods
: Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), god of light and Ahriman, god of darkness, in the teaching of Zoroaster (sixth century
B.C
.) given in the
Zend Avesta.
86
. Titus.
87
. cf. Bk IV, 29n.
88
. Bk IV, 23n.
89
. Bk III, 26.
90
. Lake Trasimene, 217, and Cannae, 216
B.C
.
91
. Pompey annihilated the pirates in six months, 67
B.C
. Scipio Aemilianus (Africanus Minor) destroyed Carthage two years after taking command, 146
B.C
. The Servile War of the gladiators, 73–72. The Second Punic War, 220–202. Mithridates began his aggression in 104; he was finally defeated by Pompey in 63. First Samnite War 343
B.C
.; the Fourth Samnite War ended 272. St Augustine probably ignores the last war; the first three lasted 342–290. The episode of the Caudine Forks, when the Roman army had to ‘pass under the yoke’, happened in 321.
92
.
Radagaisus
. At the end of
A.D
. 405, a barbarian host from the Danube region, consisting mainly of Ostrogoths, invaded Italy under Radagaisus. They were pagans, unlike the Vizigoths, who were Arian Christians. For six months and more they ravaged North Italy, and finally reached Florence, where they were checked, then routed, at Fiesole, by Stilicho, the Vandal general of the Western emperor, Honorius. Radagaisus was captured and executed.
93
. cf. Bk I,1 for the behaviour of Alaric.
94
. Alaric and the Vizigoths in
A.D
. 410.