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.
He further recounts the tale of the sacristan of Hercules who gambled with the god and hired a prostitute, a story so shameful that if a poet had invented it, it would be rejected as a fable, yet it is accepted as a sacred event. Augustine contrasts the public theatrical performances with the secret rites of the Mother of the Gods and Ceres, arguing that the latter, involving mutilated priests (Galli) and lamentations for dead youths, are far more detestable than anything seen on stage. He contends that the “natural” or allegorical interpretations offered by pagans cannot excuse these immoralities. If Saturn devouring his children can be interpreted allegorically to mean time consuming its own products, then the myths could likewise be excused, yet Varro rejects the myths while upholding the rites. Augustine suggests Varro implicitly exposed the falsity of civil theology by linking it to the fabulous, hoping the reader would reject both in favor of the natural theology of the philosophers. By showing that the civil theology is essentially a collection of fabulous fables enacted by the state, Varro, whether intentionally or not, guides the discerning reader to despise both and embrace only the natural theology of the philosophers. The physical interpretations of the rites, such as castration symbolizing the pruning of seeds, do not remove the moral stain of the acts themselves, which are contrary to nature and decency.
Augustine continues his refutation by mocking the minute specialization of the gods, such as Educa for food and Potina for drink, arguing that such divisions are more consistent with mimic buffoonery than divine majesty. He notes that if a human master were to employ two nurses for an infant, one giving nothing but food and the other nothing but drink, he would be considered foolish for performing in his house a thing worthy of a mimic. Yet, the pagans have established two goddesses for these precise functions, Educa and Potina, thereby reducing the care of human life to a series of trivial, distinct divine interventions. He turns his attention to the obscene deities presiding over human physiology and marriage, arguing that their presence turns the marriage bed into a scene of immodesty and buffoonery. He lists the gods who are invoked at the various stages of the wedding process: Jugatinus presides over the joining of the couple; Domiducus brings the wife home; Domitius ensures she is in the house; and Manturna keeps her there. However, the intrusion of the divine into the marital chamber becomes even more ridiculous when the act of consummation itself is micromanaged by a host of deities. Augustine cites the goddess Virginiensis, who loosens the virgin’s girdle; the god Subigus, who presses the woman down beneath the man; the goddess Prema, who holds her in place; and the goddess Pertunda, who presides over the physical act of penetration. He argues that if the gods themselves are present during such intimate moments, they ought to inspire shame rather than assistance. The very existence of a goddess like Pertunda, or the presence of Priapus, whose immense member is displayed for the bride, demonstrates that this theology is not merely false but lascivious and corrupt. Augustine notes that if a single god, such as Venus, were insufficient for this task, the multiplication of such deities serves only to turn a sacred human union into a farce worthy of a mime, not a solemnity worthy of religion.
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