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 elaborates on the relationship between necessity and power. Some things happen by necessity—death, for instance, which comes to all regardless of their wishes. But the will is not subject to this kind of compulsion. We do many things that we would not do if we were unwilling; indeed, the very act of willing consists in this, that if we will, it happens, and if we will not, it does not. When we say that it is necessary for God to live forever or to foreknow all things, we do not thereby subject Him to a necessity that diminishes His power. On the contrary, His inability to die or to err is the perfection of His omnipotence. He is called omnipotent because He accomplishes what He wills, not because He suffers what He does not will. Similarly, when we acknowledge that it is necessary for the will to act freely when it acts, we do not subject it to a necessity that destroys liberty. The will exists as will and accomplishes what it does by willing. God foreknew the power He gave to human wills and the use they would make of it; therefore, whatever power they have, they have within certain limits, and whatever they do, they do most assuredly—yet they do it freely.
With these philosophical foundations established, Augustine proceeds to examine the virtues of the ancient Romans and the role of divine providence in granting them empire. God, who holds all kingdoms in His power, chose to bestow dominion upon the Romans as a temporal reward for their relative merits. Though they worshipped false gods, the early Romans possessed qualities worthy of recognition. Their historians record that they were greedy for praise, prodigal of wealth, desirous of glory, and content with modest fortunes. They loved glory so ardently that they were willing to live and die for it. This passion suppressed other desires—avarice, luxury, self-indulgence—and enabled them to achieve great things for their earthly city.
The Roman pursuit of glory manifested first as a love of liberty. Having expelled their kings, they established a republic governed by annually elected consuls. Their historian Sallust observes that the state grew with amazing rapidity once it obtained freedom, so great was the desire for glory that possessed it. This desire drove them to seek not merely liberty but domination. The poet Virgil captures this ambition when he has Jupiter predict that Rome’s sons would reign over Greece and humble proud nations. The Romans developed distinctive arts: the arts of ruling, commanding, subjugating, and vanquishing. They exercised these skills more effectively because they restrained their appetites for pleasure and wealth.
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