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Translator's
Preface.
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"Rome
having been stormed and sacked by the Goths under Alaric their king,1
the worshippers of false gods, or pagans, as we commonly call them, made
an attempt to attribute this calamity to the Christian religion, and
began to blaspheme the true God with even more than their wonted
bitterness and acerbity. It was this which kindled my zeal for the house
of God, and prompted me to undertake the defence of the city of God
against the charges and misrepresentations of its assailants. This work
was in my hands for several years, owing to the interruptions occasioned
by many other affairs which had a prior claim on my attention, and which
I could not defer. However, this great undertaking was at last completed
in twenty-two books. Of these, the first five refute those who fancy
that the polytheistic worship is necessary in order to secure worldly
prosperity, and that all these overwhelming calamities have befallen us
in consequence of its prohibition. In the following five books I address
myself to those who admit that such calamities have at all times
attended, and will at all times attend, the human race, and that they
constantly recur in forms more or less disastrous, varying only in the
scenes, occasions, and persons on whom they light, but, while admitting
this, maintain that the worship of the gods is advantageous for the life
to come. In these ten books, then, I refute these two opinions, which
are as groundless as they are antagonistic to the Christian religion.
"But
that no one might have occasion to say, that though I had refuted the
tenets of other men, I had omitted to establish my own, I devote to this
object the second part of this work, which comprises twelve books,
although I have not scrupled, as occasion offered, either to advance my
own opinions in the first ten books, or to demolish the arguments of my
opponents in the last twelve. Of these twelve books, the first four
contain an account of the origin of these two cities-the city of God,
and the city of the world. The second four treat of their history or
progress; the third and last four, of their deserved destinies. And so,
though all these twenty-two books refer to both cities, yet I have named
them after the better city, and called them The City of God."
Such is
the account given by Augustin himself5
or life-work. It was begun the very year of Marcellinus' death, a.d.
413, and was issued in detached portions from time to time, until its
completion in the year 426. It thus occupied the maturest years of
Augustin's life- from his fifty-ninth to his seventy-second year.6
From this
brief sketch, it will be seen that though the accompanying work is
essentially an Apology, the Apologetic of Augustin can be no mere
rehabilitation of the somewhat threadbare, if not effete, arguments of
Justin and Tertullian.7
In fact, as Augustin considered what was required of him,-to expound the
Christian faith, and justify it to enlightened men: to distinguish it
from, and show its superiority to, all those forms of truth,
philosophical or popular, which were then striving for the mastery, or
at least for standing-room; to set before the world's eye a vision of
glory that might win the regard even of men who were dazzled by the
fascinating splendor of a world-wide empire,-he recognized that a task
was laid before him to which even his powers might prove unequal,-a task
certainly which would afford ample scope for his learning, dialectic,
philosophical grasp and acumen, eloquence, and faculty of exposition.
But it is
the occasion of this great Apology which invests it at once with
grandeur and vitality. After more than eleven hundred years of steady
and triumphant progress, Rome had been taken and sacked. It is difficult
for us to appreciate, impossible to overestimate, the shock which was
thus communicated from centre to circumference of the whole known world.
It was generally believed, not only by the heathen, but also by many of
the most liberal-minded of the Christians, that the destruction of Rome
would be the prelude to the destruction of the world.8
Even Jerome, who might have been supposed to be embittered against the
proud mistress of the world by her in hospitality to himself, cannot
conceal his profound emotion on hearing of her fall. "A terrible
rumor," he says, "reaches me from the West telling of Rome
besieged, bought for gold, besieged again, life and property perishing
together. My voice falters, sobs stifle the words I dictate; for she is
a captive, that city which enthralled the world."9
Augustin is never so theatrical as Jerome in the expression of his
feeling, but he is equally explicit in lamenting the fall of Rome as a
great calamity: and while he does not scruple to ascribe her recent
disgrace to the profligate manners, the effeminacy, and the pride of her
citizens, he is not without hope that, by a return to the simple, hardy,
and honorable mode of life which characterized the early Romans, she may
still be restored to much of her former prosperity.10
But as Augustin contemplates the ruins of Rome's greatness, and feels in
common with all the world at this crisis, the instability of the
strongest governments, the insufficiency of the most authoritative
statesmanship, there hovers over these ruins the splendid vision of the
city of God "coming down out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her
husband." The old social system is crumbling away on all sides, but
in its place he seems to see a pure Christendom arising. He sees that
human history and human destiny are not wholly identified with the
history of any earthly power-not though it be as cosmopolitan as the
empire of Rome.11
He directs the attention of men to the fact that there is another
kingdom on earth,-a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
is God. He teaches men to take profounder views of history, and shows
them how from the first the city of God, or community of God's people,
has lived alongside of the kingdoms of this world and their glory, and
has been silently increasing, "crescit occulto velut arbor aevo."
He demonstrates that the superior morality, the true doctrine, the
heavenly origin of this city, ensure it success; and over against this,
he depicts the silly or contradictory theorizings of the pagan
philosophers, and the unhinged morals of the people, and puts it to all
candid men to say, whether in the presence of so manifestly sufficient a
cause for Rome's downfall, there is room for imputing it to the spread
of Christianity. He traces the antagonism of these two grand communities
of rational creatures back to their first divergence in the fall of the
angels, and down to the consummation of all things in the last judgment
and eternal destination of the good end evil. In other words, the city
of God is "the first real effort to produce a philosophy of
history,"12
to exhibit historical events in connection with their true causes, and
in their real sequence. This plan of the work is not only a great
conception, but it is accompanied with many practical advantages; the
chief of which is, that it admits, and even requires, a full treatment
of those doctrines of our faith that are more directly historical,- the
doctrines of creation, the fall, the incarnation, the connection between
the Old and New Testaments, and the doctrine of "the last
things."13
The
effect produced by this great work it is impossible to determine with
accuracy. Beugnot, with an absoluteness which we should condemn as
presumption in any less competent authority, declares that its effect
can only have been very slight.14
Probably its effect would be silent and slow; telling first upon
cultivated minds, and only indirectly upon the people. Certainly its
effect must have been weakened by the interrupted manner of its
publication. It is an easier task to estimate its intrinsic value. But
on this also patristic and literary authorities widely differ. Dupin
admits that it is very pleasant reading, owing to the surprising variety
of matters which are introduced to illustrate and forward the argument,
but censures the author for discussing very useless questions, and for
adducing reasons which could satisfy no one who was not already
convinced.15
Huet also speaks of the book as "un amas confus d'excellents
materiaux; c'est de l'or en barre et en lingots."16
L'Abbé Flottes censures these opinions as unjust, and cites with
approbation the unqualified eulogy of Pressensé.17
But probably the popularity of the book is its best justification. This
popularity may be measured by the circumstance that, between the year
1467 and the end of the fifteenth century, no fewer than twenty editions
were called for, that is to say, a fresh edition every eighteen months.18
And in the interesting series of letters that passed between Ludovicus
Vives and Erasmus, who had engaged him to write a commentary on the City
of God for his edition of Augustin's works, we find Vives pleading
for a separate edition of this work, on the plea that, of all the
writings of Augustin, it was almost the only one read by patristic
students, and might therefore naturally be expected to have a much wider
circulation.19
If it
were asked to what this popularity is due, we should be disposed to
attribute it mainly to the great variety of ideas, opinions, and facts
that are here brought before the reader's mind. Its importance as a
contribution to the history of opinion cannot be overrated. We find in
it not only indications or explicit enouncement of the author's own
views upon almost every important topic which occupied his thoughts, but
also a compendious exhibition of the ideas which most powerfully
influenced the life at that age. It thus becomes, as Poujoulat says,
"comme l'encyclopédie du cinquième siècle."
All that is valuable, together with much indeed that is not so, in the
religion and philosophy of the classical nations of antiquity, is
reviewed. And on some branches of these subjects it has, in the judgment
of one well qualified to judge, "preserved more than the whole
surviving Latin literature." It is true we are sometimes wearied by
the too elaborate refutation of opinions which to a modern mind seem
self-evident absurdities; but if these opinions were actually prevalent
in the fifth century, the historical inquirer will not quarrel with the
form in which his information is conveyed, nor will commit the absurdity
of attributing to Augustin the foolishness of these opinions, but rather
the credit of exploding them. That Augustin is a well-informed and
impartial critic, is evinced by the courteousness and candor which he
uniformly displays to his opponents, by the respect he won from the
heathen themselves, and by his own early life. The most rigorous
criticism has found him at fault regarding matters of fact only in some
very rare instances, which can be easily accounted for. His learning
would not indeed stand comparison with what is accounted such in our
day: his life was too busy, and too devoted to the poor and to the
spiritually necessitous, to admit of any extraordinary acquisition. He
had access to no literature but the Latin; or at least he had only
sufficient Greek to enable him to refer to Greek authors on points of
importance, and not enough to enable him to read their writings with
ease and pleasure.20
But he had a profound knowledge of his own time, and a familiar
acquaintance not only with the Latin poets, but with many other authors,
some of whose writings are now lost to us, save the fragments preserved
through his quotations.
But the
interest attaching to the City of God is not merely historical.
It is the earnestness and ability with which he develops his own
philosophical and theological views which gradually fascinate the
reader, and make him see why the world has set this among the few
greatest books of all time. The fundamental lines of the Augustinian
theology are here laid down in a comprehensive and interesting form.
Never was thought so abstract expressed in language so popular. He
handles metaphysical problems with the unembarrassed ease of Plato, with
all Cicero's accuracy and acuteness, and more than Cicero's profundity.
He is never more at home than when exposing the incompetency of
Neoplatonism, or demonstrating the harmony of Christian doctrine and
true philosophy. And though there are in the City of God, as in
all ancient books, things that seem to us childish and barren, there are
also the most surprising anticipations of modern speculation. There is
an earnest grappling with those problems which are continually re-opened
because they underlie man's relation to God and the spiritual world,-the
problems which are not peculiar to any one century. As we read these
animated discussions,
"The fourteen centuries fall
away
Between us and the Afric saint,
And at his side we urge, to-day,
The immemorial quest and old
complaint.
No outward sign to us is given,
From sea or earth comes no reply;
Hushed as the warm Numidian heaven,
He vainly
questioned bends our frozen sky."
It is
true, the style of the book is not all that could be desired: there are
passages which can possess an interest only to the antiquarian; there
are others with nothing to redeem them but the glow of their eloquence;
there are many repetitions; there is an occasional use of arguments
"plus ingenieux que solides," as M. Saisset says.
Augustin's great admirer, Erasmus, does not scruple to call him a writer
"obscura, subtililatis et parum amaenae prolixitatis;21
but "the toil of penetrating the apparent obscurities will be
rewarded by finding a real wealth of insight and enlightenment."
Some who have read the opening chapters of the City of God, may
have considered it would be a waste of time to proceed; but no one, we
are persuaded, ever regretted reading it all. The book has its faults;
but it effectually introduces us to the most influential of theologians,
and the greatest popular teacher; to a genius that cannot nod for many
lines together; to a reasoner whose dialectic is more formidable, more
keen and sifting, than that of Socrates or Aquinas; to a saint whose
ardent and genuine devotional feeling bursts up through the severest
argumentation; to a man whose kindliness and wit, universal sympathies
and breadth of intelligence, lend piquancy and vitality to the most
abstract dissertation.
The
propriety of publishing a translation of so choice a specimen of ancient
literature needs no defence. As Poujoulat very sensibly remarks, there
are not a great many men now-a-days who will read a work in Latin of
twenty-two books. Perhaps there are fewer still who ought to do so. With
our busy neighbors in France, this work has been a prime favorite for
400 years. There may be said to be eight independent translations of it
into the French tongue, though some of these are in part merely
revisions. One of these translations has gone through as many as four
editions. The most recent is that which forms part of the Nisard series;
but the best, so far as we have seen, is that of the accomplished
Professor of Philosophy in the College of France, Emile Saisset. This
translation is indeed all that can be desired: here and there an
omission occurs, and about one or two renderings a difference of opinion
may exist; but the exceeding felicity and spirit of the whole show it to
have been a labor of love, the fond homage of a disciple proud of his
master. The preface of M. Saisset is one of the most valuable
contributions ever made to the understanding of Augustin's philosophy.22
Of
English translations there has been an unaccountable poverty. Only one
exists,23
and this so exceptionally bad, so unlike the racy translations of the
seventeenth century in general, so inaccurate, and so frequently
unintelligible, that it is not impossible it may have done something
towards giving the English public a distaste for the book itself. That
the present translation also might be improved, we know; that many men
were fitter for the task, on the score of scholarship, we are very
sensible; but that any one would have executed it with intenser
affection and veneration for the author, we are not prepared to admit. A
few notes have been added where it appeared to be necessary. Some are
original, some from the Benedictine Augustin, and the rest from the
elaborate commentary of Vives.24
Marcus Dods. Glasgow, 1871. [On the back of the title pages to vols. I.
and II. of the Edinburgh edition, Dr. Dods indicates his associates in
the work of translation and annotation as follows:
"Books
IV., XVII. and XVIII. have been translated by the Rev. George Wilson,
Glenluce; Books V., VI., VII. and VIII. by the Rev. J. J. Smith."]
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