City of God (Penguin Classics), page 151
107. cf. Jas. 4, 14.
108. ? Tusc. Disp., 5, 19, 55.
1. cf. Bk X, 1.
2. Ps. 40, 4.
3. e.g. Plat, Tim., 40.
4. cf. Bk IV, 11; 21.
5. cf. Bk IV, 22.
6. cf. Virg., Ecl., 3, 9… faciles Nymphae risere…
7. On Juventas and Bearded Fortune see Bk. IV, 11n.
8. cf. Bk III 4n.
9. Presumably in the lost Acad. III
10. 1, 3, 9.
11. Terentianus Maurus: grammarian (fl c. A.D. 200). He wrote three didactic poems, on Letters, on Syllables, on Metres.
12. De Metr., 2846.
13. cf. Bk III, 18.
14. cf. Virg., Aen., 2, 717; 747f.
15. Keepers of the Sibylline Books.
16. cf. Bk III, 12.
17. cf. Bk VII, 2.
18. ch. 31.
19. Scaevola’s distinction; Bk IV, 27.
20. Minerva, Bacchus, and ? Pegasus (the winged horse from the blood of Medusa).
21. e.g. Mercury, Jupiter, Apollo (slave to Admetus).
22. Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 500 B.C.) attributed the origin of all things to fire, an immaterial substance.
Pythagoras of Samos settled in Magna Graeda in the second half of the sixth century B.C. He found the explanation of all things in numbers and their relations.
Epicurus of Samos (341–270 B.C.) settled in Athens in 306. His physical speculations developed the atomic theory of Leucippus and Democritus.
23. The Stoics, cf. Cic, De Nat. Dear., 2, 7; 2, 14, 37ff.
24. i.e. the philosophers.
25. On these three ‘deities’, cf. Bk. IV, 8.
26. The goat Amalthea (Ovid, Fast., 5, 115–128).
27. cf. Bk IV, 27n.
28. Banqueting gods: epulones deos. Epulones is the name of priests in charge of sacrificial banquets offered to gods, and it is occasionally found in inscriptions referring to the gods to whom such banquets are offered. We have no other evidence for the banquets implied by St Augustine, where Zeus entertains other deities. The closest resemblance seems to be the epulum Jovis during the ludi Romani in September, repeated at the ‘Plebeian Games’ in November. This was a religious banquet on the Capitol, attended by the senate and magistrates, at which the statue of Jupiter reclined, while those of Juno and Minerva sat on chairs (Val. Max., 2, 12).
29. cf. Plut, Quaest. Rom., 36; Gell., 6,7.
30. cf. Virg., Aen., 1, 15f
31. Cybele; cf. Bk II, 4n
32. cf. Ovid, Fast., 4, 223–30; Bk II, 7n; Bk Vii, 25n.
33. cf. Bk IV, 10n.
34. cf. Bk IV, 11.
35. Liberamentum. The word is not found elsewhere. Liber is generally a vine god (cf. Bk IV, un.) and the name is perhaps from the same root as ‘libation’. Cicero (De Nat. Deor., 2, 24, 62) distinguishes the sexual from the alcoholic Liber, and connects the former with liberi, ‘children’.
36. In 186 B.c.; Liv., 39, 18.
37. Silvanus: generally an agricultural deity. These post-natal precautions are not mentioned elsewhere.
Pilumnus: mentioned in Virgil, Aen., 10, 76, where the note of Servius, citing Varro, says that a bed was made up for Filumnus and Fitumnus in the atrium of a house where a child had been born.
Intercidona, Deverra: unknown elsewhere.
38. cf. Bk iv. 11.
39. Domiducus appears in Martianus Capella (fifth century), De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, 2, 149. Domiduca occurs as an epithet of Juno (cf. Bk Vii, 3).
Domitius Manturna Virginensis (cf. Bk IV, 11), Subigus are all unknown.
40. Prema is mentioned in Tertullian (Ad Not., 2,11).
Priapus: cf. Bk 11, 1411. pertunda: her function is described in Arnobius (Adv. Gent, 3, 10).
41. Npnia means ‘dirge’. Arnobius (Adv. Gent., 4, 7) calls her the protector of those in extremis.
42. Seneca (cf. Bk V, 8n.) was certainly contemporary with the apostles; his elder brother, Gallio, encountered St Paul in Corinth in A.D. 52 (Acts 18,12). An apocryphal correspondence (of unutterable banality) between Seneca and Paul is extant (trans, in M. R. James, Apocryphal New Test.); and, as we know from Jerome (De Vir. 111., 12) and from St Augustine himself (Ep., 153, 14) it was accepted as authentic, and widely read, in the fourth century. Many others besides Jerome believed that Seneca was at least sympathetic to Christianity.
43. Not extant
44. Strato ‘was called Physicus because he held that all divine power was situated in nature, which possesses the causes of birth, growth, and diminution, while it lacks any shape or sensibility’ (Cic, De Nat. Deor., 1, 13, 35). Strato succeeded Theophrastus as head of the Peripatetic school in 288 B.C.
45. cf. Bk IV, 8n.
46. Picus, Tiberinus: cf. Bk IV, 23n.; panic, Pallor: cf. Bk IV, 15.
47. Osiris. The Egyptian myth described him as a king who brought civilization to his people; but he was murdered and his body dissected by his wicked brother Set. Isis, his sister and wife, collected his remains and buried them, and then, with her son Horus, took revenge on Set. Osiris becomes the god of the dead, and through Horus (identified with the Sun) the source of new life. Osiris’ incarnation in the bull Apis suggests that he essentially represents the male generative power.
48. cf. Bk IV, 11.
49. Populonia occurs as an epithet of Juno, as protectress against devastation (populan = ‘to devastate’). Perhaps Fulgora describes her as guarding against lightning (fulgor).
50. cf. Bk IV, 11n.
51. Adv. Faust. Man., ch.6; 7.
52. cf. Bk IV, 18.
1. cf. Ps. 102, 3; Jas. 4,14.
2. Neither the Greek theotês nor the Latin deltas are found in classical authors. Divinitas is a classical Latin word. Christian writers do not establish any firm distinction between deltas and divinitas, but there is a tendency to use deltas of the nature of God, the Godhead, and divinitas of his attributes.
3. Tert, Ad Nat, 2,9.
4. cf. Ps. 118, 22.
5. cf. ch. 13n
6. cf. Bk IV, 11n; vi, 9.
7. Generally identified with Diana.
8. Libero and Mena: cf. Bk IV, 11n.
9. lucina: cf. Bk IV, 11n. Vitumnus is perhaps Vertumnus; cf. Bk IV, 21n. Sentinus occurs elsewhere only in Tert, Ad. Not. 2, 11.
10. Virg., Aen., 5, 302.
11. cf. Bk IV, 21.
12. cf. Bk IV, 21.
13. Iterduca, Domiduca appear as epithetis of Juno as goddess of marriage in Martianus Capella (De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, 2, 149); cf. Bk VI, 9.
14. ch. 21; 23.
15. Cat., 8, 1.
16. cf. Bk IV, 21.
17. cf. Virg., Aen., 8. 355–9; Ovid, Fast., 1, 235–46.
18. Jonus-two faces: cf. ch. 8, four faces. There was an image of Janus Quadrifrons in the Forum Transitorium in a shrine with four gates (Servius on Virg., Aen., 7, 607).
19. Four parts. The notion of the four elements, and their local distribution, goes back to Aristotle. It was developed by Pythagoreans and Stoics; Varro appears to have identified the ether with fire, which Aristotle and the Stoics regarded as the highest element.
20. 23 Feb.; Ovid, Fast., 2, 639–84.
21. Latin poets. Cicero (De Nat. Dear., z, 18, 29) quotes caeli palatum from Ennius, ‘the palate of the sky’ meaning ‘the vault of heaven’, the converse of the Greek use of ouranos for ‘the palate’.
22. John 10, 9.
23. Jove-Jupiter. The root Iov for all cases of Jupiter other than the nominative implies a nominative Jovis, which occurs in chs. 14, 15 (twice) and ch. 16. It is perhaps significant that in ch. 15 and ch. 16 this form is found where God is identified with the world, which may suggest a traditional formula. Iovis (nominative) occurs in lines of Ennius quoted in Apuleius (De Deo Socr., 2, 112) in a list of the ‘great gods’. It is used by Apuleius himself in two places (De Mund., 37, 370 and Met., 1, 33, 311).
24. Georg., 2, 490.
25. Virg., Ecl., 3, 60.
26. Q. Valerius Soranus of Sora, tribune in 82 B.c. was a friend of Varro and Cicero, and the writer of works on philosophy and philology, of which only a few fragments remain.
27. cf. ch. 7; 9.
28. cf. Bk III, 13. The other epithets are not found as tides of Jupiter in classical literature.
29. cf. ch. 9n.
30. Nodutus and Volutina: cf. Bk IV, 8. Rumina occurs in Bk IV, 21.
31. Bk IV, 21; 24.
32. Sall., Cat., 11, 3.
33. cf. ch. 9.
34. Genius: the spirit presiding over man’s birth, and also dwelling with him, like a guardian angel, or in him, giving him the power of generation; hence the bed is the lectus genialis. The notion is somewhat vague and elastic, and St Augustine in ch. 23 seems to identify a man’s genius with his soul, or spirit. The genius of the Roman Empire was the focus of emperor-worship. A place .could have a genius loci; and we find mention of the genius urbis Romac. The Genius included among the ‘select’ gods in ch. 2 is perhaps the genius populi S-omani.
35. cf. Apul., De Deo Socr., 14.
36. Mercury. St Augustine’s (or Varro’s) derivation is, as usual, fantastic The name is almost certainly connected with merx, merces, ‘merchandise’, as the Augustan philologist, Verrius Flaccus, thought (Festus - epitomata of Ver-rius Raccus - De Verb. Sign., 11). Hermeneia is of course derived from Hermes.
37. Saturn on the Capitol. Legend said that Saturn was driven out of Crete by Jupiter, and settled on the hill Saturnia, which was later called the Capitol when Jupiter took it over; cf. Bk IV, 23.
38. As Trivia.
39. cf.Bk Iv, 11.
40. Ceres, Vesta: cf.Bk Iv, ion.The Great Mother: cf.Bk VI, 7; Bk II, 4n.
41. cf.Bk iv, 10.
42.Xenophanes (sixth century) wrote a philosophic poem on Nature of which only fragments survive. He attacked polytheism and anthropomorphic conceptions of deity, and ridiculed those who professed knowledge about divine matters.
43. Euhemerism, cf.Bk Iv, 27n.
44. cf.Bk Iv, 10.
45. The Eleusiman cult. The mysteries of Demeter and Persephone seem to have arisen from a local fertility rite connected with the autumn sowing at Eleusis in Attica some twelve miles from Athens. After the union of Eleusis with Athens (about 600 b.c.) this rite somehow developed into a ceremony of initiation, the principal features of which were a procession from Athens to Eleusis, a ceremonial bath of purification in the sea, and some kind of performance in a darkened hall, consisting of ‘doings, sayings, and showings’.
46. cf.Bk Iv, 8n.
47. cf.Bk Iv, 11n; Bk VI, 9.
48. cf.Bkrv, 11.
49. Unknown. Venilia in Bk IV, 11 appears to be a different deity (cf.n.there).
50. The three degrees of the soul are first distinguished in Aristotle’s De Anima.
51. cf.ch.13n.
52. cf.Bk Iv, 10.
53. Altor and Rusor are unknown elsewhere.
54. cf.Bk n, 7n.
55. cf.Bk Iv, 8n.
56. Vesta = Gk. Hestias, the hearth, from an Indo-European root vas = burn; cf.Bk rv, 10n.
57. Attis (cf.Bk VI, 7n.) was a foreign divinity (a Phrygian god associated with Cybele) and Varro had no reason to treat of him in his Roman Antiquities.
58. Porphyry of Tyre (A.D.Z33~c.300): a pupil of Plotinus and a leading exponent of Neoplatonism. He wrote an attack on Christianity, Against the Christians, which is often mentioned by the Christian Fathers.
59. cf.ch.19.
60. There is here a play on the Latin noun mundus (the world) and the adjective immundus (impure).
61. Aen., 8, 319f.; cf.ch.15.
62. cf.Bk IV, 2711.
63. cf.ch.7; 10.
64. Samothrace. The mysteries of the Cabin, non-Hellenic deities, were probably (like Dionysus) from Phyrgia. The centre of their worship was Samothrace, where rites of initiation were performed at the festival of Cabiria, but their cult was observed on other islands and on the mainland, and it became widespread in the Hellenistic age. Primarily gods of fertility, they were often called the ‘Great Gods’; but they also extended their protection to sailors and in later times they were assimilated with the Dioscuri because their functions overlapped in this regard.
65. sc. Jupiter and Neptune.
66. cf.ch.24.
67. cf.Bk v, 15 and Bk x, 1.
68. Bk m, 9.
69. Liv., 40, 29; Plut, Num., 22; Plin., 13, 13, 84s.
70. Such practices were permitted. We have no record of legislation against magical practices as such until the time of Diocletian, whose laws were reinforced by edicts of Constantine forbidding all nocturnal ceremonies and all forms of divination concerned with individuals.
1. cf.Wisd., 7, 24ff.
2. cf.Bk vi, 511.
3. Thales, born c.624 B.c. As a statesman he helped to organize Ionian resistance to Persia. He is reputed to have foretold the solar eclipse of 23 May 585, the day of the battle of the Halys, and to have introduced to Greece Egyptian mensuration. His cosmological speculations make him the father of natural science. Water, in his theory, is the fundamental and eternal substance from which all things are derived, and to which they return. His works are not extant
4. Anaximander of Miletus (b.610 B.c.), author of the first Greek prose treatise. In his theory the source of all things is ‘the Infinite’, an indefinite and unlimited substance capable of modification into the various forms of matter. St Augustine seems to have misunderstood this, perhaps by a confusion with Anaxagoras (see n.6) but he is right about Anaximander’s teachings of innumerable worlds. Anaximander seems to have been the first to hold that the earth is spherical, thus revolutionizing astronomy. He is also credited with the introduction of the sundial into Greece, and with the drawing of the first map of the world.
5. Anaximenes of Miletus (fl.c. 500 B.c.), taught that air is rarefied into fire, condensed into cloud, water, earth, stone. The earth is flat (a retrogression in astronomy) and the heavenly bothes are flakes of fire exhaled from the earth.
6. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c.500-c.430 B.c.), teacher and friend of Pericles. Accounts of his teaching vary, but St Augustine seems right on the fundamental point, a radical pluralism of an infinitely complex matter, derived from an infinity of ‘seeds’, homogeneous for each distinct substance. The universe is controlled by a Supreme Intelligence, independent of matter, and in this he is perhaps the originator of the mind-matter dualism. Another ‘flat-earther’.
7. Diogenes of Appollonia (fl. c 440 B.C.) revived the teaching of Anaximenes (he can hardly have been a pupil) about air and its rarefaction and condensation. He made important contributions to physiology. In astronomy he followed Anaximenes and Anaxagoras.
8. Archelaus (fi. fifth century) seems to have combined the ‘seeds’ of An axagoras with the ‘air’ of Anaximenes and Diogenes.
9. Aristippus of Cyrene, founder of the Cyrenaic school, was probably not the companion of Socrates, but the grandson of that Aristippus. He taught that immediate pleasure was the only end of action; but he seems to have distinguished between pleasures, since some ultimately cause pain. Man must be selective about his pleasures; and since this involves self-control, we find an approach here to the teaching of Epicurus (cf. Bk XIV, 2n.). Antisthenes (fl 400 B.C.); pupil of Socrates. The reputed founder of the Cynic school (cf. Bk XIV, 20n.), he taught that virtue, and resulting happiness, depended on freedom from wants and desires.
