The City of God stands as Augustine's masterwork of theological defense and construction, written over thirteen years in response to accusations that Christianity brought ruin upon Rome. This first volume contains the first ten books of sustained refutation—demolishing pagan claims that traditional worship secured either temporal prosperity or eternal happiness—followed by the beginning of his positive vision in Books Eleven through Thirteen, where he traces the origin of two societal orders to the primordial division among the angels. What emerges is not merely an apology for Christianity but a philosophy of history that subordinate the fate of empires to the hidden providence of the one true God, whose sovereignty extends from creation through the fall to the final judgment.
Augustine concludes the book by contrasting the health-giving Christian religion with the destructive pagan rites. He describes the Christian churches as places where a seemly separation of the sexes is observed, where Holy Scripture and instruction in righteousness are proclaimed, and where no filthy action is set forth to be gazed at or imitated. The Christian worship nourishes the soul with truth, while the pagan spectacles poison it with vice. He exhorts the Romans, the progeny of Scævolas and Scipios, of Regulus and Fabricius, to turn away from the false gods and embrace the true God. He urges them not to listen to degenerate sons who slander Christ and impute disastrous times to Him, but rather to lay hold on the celestial country where they will reign truly and forever. He reminds them that they have already judged these demons unworthy, for they have banished actors from the number of their citizens because they acted the crimes of the gods. How much more, then, should they banish the gods who take pleasure in such crimes? Augustine asserts that the heavenly city is incomparably more glorious than Rome, for it has truth for victory, holiness for dignity, felicity for peace, and eternity for life. He bids the Romans to shun the society of devils and to seek the true God, by whose grace alone they can attain to the blessed city. The final appeal is a passionate call to renounce the worship of demons, whose festivals are a pollution, and to embrace the worship of the one true God, whose religion heals the soul and leads to eternal life. The chapter ends with a poetic quotation from Virgil, transformed to describe the endless reign of the City of God, in stark contrast to the fleeting and corrupt empire of Rome. This conclusion serves as a bridge to the next book, where Augustine will address the question of the demons’ power over temporal affairs, showing that even if they possess some limited influence, they are not to be feared or worshipped, for their ultimate defeat is assured by the providence of the true God.
Augustine shifts from moral to bodily disasters, noting pagans fear losing property more than virtue. Despite exclusive worship by all nations except the Hebrews, the gods failed to avert famine, war, and pestilence before Christ. Focusing on Rome, he cites Troy’s destruction as proof. Since the gods permitted the ruin of this Roman cradle despite shared worship, they cannot be relied upon to save the city.
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