The City of God, Volume I

Sallust distinguishes between the good man and the base man in their pursuit of glory, honor, and power. Both desire these things, but the good man seeks them by the true path—virtue—while the base man employs fraud and deceit. The Romans even built temples to Virtue and Honor, worshipping as gods the gifts that God alone can bestow. Cato, the exemplar of Roman virtue, observed that the republic grew great not through arms or wealth but through industry at home, just government abroad, and minds free from crime and lust—virtues that had disappeared by his own time. Yet even Cato’s virtue, impressive by human standards, fell short of true righteousness, for it was directed toward earthly glory rather than toward God.

Augustine clarifies that the love of human praise, though it restrained greater vices and enabled civil achievements, remains itself a vice. True virtue seeks the glory of God, not the approval of men. The Lord Himself warned that those who seek glory from one another cannot truly believe, for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. The apostles and martyrs, by contrast, did not rest in human acclaim but referred all glory to God, seeking to kindle in others a love for the One who had made them what they were. Nevertheless, for the Romans, who knew only the earthly city, the pursuit of glory was the highest motive available to them. God granted them empire and fame as their reward; in the Lord’s words, they have received their reward.

The citizens of the heavenly city, by contrast, look forward to eternal life in a realm where none are born and none die, where true felicity is not a goddess but a gift of God. The examples of Roman virtue serve a useful purpose for Christians: they provoke a salutary shame. If the Romans endured poverty, sacrificed their children, faced torture and death for a terrestrial city and human glory, how much more should Christians be willing to do for the heavenly city and eternal life? Augustine catalogs the heroic deeds of Roman legend: Brutus putting his sons to death for the sake of liberty; Torquatus slaying his son for disobeying orders; Camillus returning from exile to save his ungrateful country; Mucius thrusting his hand into fire to intimidate an enemy king; Curtius riding armed into a chasm to satisfy an oracle; the Decii dedicating themselves to death in battle; Regulus returning to certain torture rather than break his oath; Fabricius and Cincinnatus refusing wealth and power to remain in poverty. These men did such things for a city that would pass away, for a glory that fades. Christians, who hope for a city that endures forever, should not boast if they have done less.

Augustine distinguishes between the desire for glory and the desire for domination. Those who seek glory, even from human judges, strive to avoid displeasing those whose opinion they value. This can lead to genuine virtue, or at least to its appearance. But those who seek domination without regard for reputation often pursue their ends through open crimes. The worst tyrants combine cruelty with luxury, exceeding even the beasts in vice. Yet even tyrants reign by God’s permission, as Scripture affirms: “By me kings reign, and tyrants possess the land.” God makes the hypocrite to rule because of the people’s perversity. The hidden judgments of God’s providence often exceed our understanding, but this much is clear: true virtue cannot serve human praise any more than it can serve bodily pleasure. The philosophers rightly mock the notion of virtue enslaved to pleasure; they should equally reject virtue enslaved to glory.

All power comes from the one true God, who gives happiness in the kingdom of heaven to the pious alone but distributes earthly rule to both pious and impious according to His own just purposes. He gave empire to the Assyrians, the Persians, and the Hebrews. He gave power to Marius and to Caesar, to Augustus and to Nero, to the benevolent Vespasians and to the cruel Domitian. He gave it to the Christian Constantine and to the apostate Julian. The durations of wars likewise fall under divine governance: some conflicts end quickly, others drag on for decades. The recent defeat of Radagaisus, the Gothic king who threatened Rome with a vast army, demonstrates God’s mercy. This pagan warlord, who trusted in his daily sacrifices to demons, was overthrown in a single day without the loss of a single Roman soldier. God thus showed that sacrifices to false gods are unnecessary even for temporal success.

Augustine concludes by defining the true happiness of Christian emperors. A ruler is not happy merely because he reigns long, dies peacefully, founds a dynasty, conquers enemies, or suppresses rebellions. These temporal blessings God grants even to worshippers of demons. The Christian emperor is happy if he rules justly, if he remains humble amid flattery, if he uses his power to extend true worship, if he fears and loves God, if he prefers the heavenly kingdom where he need not fear rivals, if he is slow to punish and ready to forgive, if he tempers severity with mercy, if he governs his own passions more strictly than he governs nations, and if he does all this not for empty glory but for love of eternal felicity, offering to God the sacrifices of humility, contrition, and prayer.

Constantine illustrates God’s willingness to grant earthly success to a faithful emperor. God gave him victory over tyrants, a long reign, and the honor of founding a Christian city. Yet God also removed Jovian quickly and permitted Gratian to be slain, lest anyone think that Christianity guarantees temporal success. Theodosius stands as the supreme model of imperial piety. He protected the young Valentinian, who had been driven from power, restoring him to his throne rather than seizing it for himself. When threatened by the tyrant Maximus, Theodosius sought counsel from John, a prophetic servant of God in the Egyptian desert, and received assurance of victory. He defeated Maximus and restored Valentinian with paternal kindness. After Valentinian’s death, Theodosius again received prophetic assurance and marched against the usurper Eugenius. At that battle, the winds themselves fought for him, driving his soldiers’ missiles forward and turning the enemy’s darts back upon their throwers. Theodosius overthrew the pagan idols that had been raised against him and treated the sons of his enemies with clemency, bringing them to Christianity and allowing them to retain their property and honors.