City of God (Penguin Classics), page 152
10. None nearer to us than the Platonists: cf. De Ver. Rel.,7, ‘if these men (viz. the Platonists) could have had this life over again with us.… They would have become Christians, with the change of a few words and statements.’ Minucius Felix says much the same in Octovius, ch. 21; and Gement of Alexandria (Strom., 1, 21) quotes Numenius of Apamea: ‘What, after all, is Flato but Moses in Attic Greek?’
11. cf. Bk VII, 34.
12. cf. ch. 27; Bk XII, 11; Plut., Alex., 27.
13. Tusc. Disp., 1, 13, 29.
14. Epicurus (341–270 B.C.) accepted the atomic theory of Leucippus and Democritus (fl c. 420 B.C.).
Stoics held that the universe, at the end of each cycle (the series of which is infinite) is dissolved into the divine fire.
15. Rom. 1, 19f.
16. Epicurus held that ‘the criteria of truth were the feelings, the preconceptions and the experiences’ (Diog. Laert. 10, 20, 31). In Stoic theory perceptions arise from impressions; their repetition produces experience, and from experience concepts are formed.
17. cf. Gorg., 470D; 508B.
18. Diogenes Laertius (1, 122) describes the diffusion of philosophy among the Magi of Asia Minor, ‘the gymnosophists’ of India (cf. Bk X, 32; XIV, 17; XV 20), the Celts, the Galatians, the Druids, and in North Africa.
19. Col. 2, 8.
20. Rom. 1, 19f.
21. Acts 17, 28, referring to Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus and the Phaenomena of Aratus.
22. Rom. 1, 21f.
23. In some of my books: De Doetr. Christ., 2, 43. St Augustines revokes the idea in Retract, 2, 4. For Plato’s supposed acquaintance with Scripture, cf. Justin Martyr (Apol., 1, 60), Origen (C. Cels., 4, 39), Eusebius (Praep. Ev., 11, 9, 2), Cyril of Alexandria (C. Jul., 29), Clement of Alexandria (Strom., 1, 22).
24. Jeremiah was called to a prophetic ministry c. 626 B.C. (Jer. 1, 2); Plato lived 428–347. ‘About a century’ is something of an understatement on St Augustine’s part. For the translation of the Septuagint see Bk XV, 13.
25. Gen. 1, 1f.
26. Tim., 31B.
27. Tim., 32B.
28. Exod. 3, 14.
29. cf. e.g., Rp., 2, 380D-381C
30. cf. Bk IV 30n.
31. They are usually called ‘Neoplatonists’.
32. Plotinus (c. A.D. 205-c. 270): born in Egypt, and settled in Rome in 244;the chief Neoplatonist teacher. Reality, in his doctrine, is to be found in thespiritual world accessible to reason; the material world is in comparison unreal, created by the soul through the imposition of ‘forms’. The ascendingdegrees of reality are: matter - soul - reason - God (who is pure existence). Themoral aim for man is to achieve purification through discipline, and thus toascend to the spiritual world through love of the Divine.
Iamblichus (d. c. A.D. 325): Syrian mystic, pupil of Porphyry. Part of his account of Pythagoreanism survives; cf. Bk VII, 25n.
33. cf. Bk IV, 2n.
34. cf. Rp., 4,716D-717B; 8,828A-D.
35. cf. Rp., 2, 379A.
36. cf. Bk II, 14.
37. cf. Bk IV, 26.
38. cf. Bk II, 11.
39. cf. Eph. 2,2.
40. cf. Bk IV, 2.
41. cf. Plat., Apol., 31D.
42. Tim., 32B; cf. ch. 11.
43. De Deo Socr., 3.
44. De Deo Socr., 12; 14.
45. De Deo Socr., 6.
46. De Deo Socr., 13.
47. De Deo Socr., 7; 8
48. Contrary to reason. According to Cicero (Tusc. Disp., 4, 6, 11), Zeno denned a disturbance (a pathos, as he termed it) as something opposed to right reason, contrary to the nature of the mind that is affected by it
49. De Deo Socr., 13.
50. De Deo Socr., 12.
51. Plat, Symp., 203A; cf. Apul., De Deo Socr., 4; 6.
52. Virg., Aen., 7, 338.
53. Virg., Aen., 4,492f.
54. Virg., Ecl., 8, 98.
55. Cic, De Leg.; Plin., 28, 2,17.
56. Apologia (De Magia) .
57. cf. Plat, Symp., 203 A, quoted in ch. 18.
58. Hermes Trismegistus: a legendary figure, to whom various religio-philosophical works (Hermetica) were attributed in the second century. A Latin version of one of them, Ascleptus, was wrongly ascribed to Apuleius.
59. Asclep., 23.
60. Asclep., 23.
61. Asclep., 24.
62. Rom. 1, 21ff.
63. Ps. 49, 20.
64. Jer. 16, 20.
65. Zech. 13, 2.
66. Is. 19, 1.
67. Luke 2, 25; 36–38; 1, 41ff.
68. Matt.16, 16.
69. Matt. 8, 29, (cf. Bk IX, 21).
70. Eph., 4, 14.
71. Asclep., 37.
72. Ps. 96, 1.
73. cf. 1 Pet. 2, 5.
74. Ps. 115, 5.
75. 1 Cor. 10, 20.
76. Ps. 96, 1ff.
77. Jer. 16, 20.
78. cf. Col. 1, 16.
79. cf. Phil. 3, 19; Col. 3, 2.
80. Asclep., 24; cf. ch. 23.
81. Asclep., 37.
82. cf. Bk VI, 10n.
83. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, martyred A.D. 258.
84. cf. Conf., 6, 2. By the second century the Christian agape, a holy meal of fellowship, seems to have become a funeral feast, like the pagan silicernium, or a memorial supper at the tomb of a departed Christian.
85. cf. Bk VI, 10n.
86. cf. ch. 5; Bk XII, 11.
1. cf. Lact, Div. Inst., 2, 14, 6; 4, 27, 14f.
2. Il, 1, 222. But means ‘divine power’ and can be used of any divine or semi-divine being. The pejorative sense of ‘demon’ comes in with Christian writers.
3. Apul., De Deo Socr., 4 (cf. Plat, Symp., 203A).
4. De Deo Socr., 12.
5. cf. Bk VIII, 17.
6. Aulus Gellius. After spending his youth in Rome, Gellius went to Athens c. 140, where he studied philosophy and compiled his Nodes Atticae, a kind of ‘commonplace book’, a collection of brief essays and miscellaneous pieces of information.
7. 19, 1.
8. cf. Bk VIII, 3.
9. Epictetus (c. A.D. 60–140). His doctrines are recorded by Arrian in the Diatribas and the Enchiridion.
10. Zeno of Citium (fl. c. 300 B.C.) founded the Stoic school; cf. n. on Bk XIV, 2. Chrysippus (c. 280–204 B.C.) was the third head of the Stoics. He completed and systematized their teachings.
11. Aen., 4, 449 (‘the tears’ are Dido’s).
12. cf. Seneca (De Clem., 2, 5): ‘Compassion is the vice of a feeble soul.’
13. Pro Lig., 12, 37.
14. De Or., 1, 11, 47.
15. cf. ch. 3.
16. De Deo Socr., 10; cf. Hom. Il., 1, 195ff.
17. De Deo Socr., 13; cf. Bk VIII, 17.
18. Cat., 1, 2.
19. Enn 4, 3, 12.
20. De Deo Socr., 15.
21. De Deo Socr., 22.
22. cf. ch. 8.
23. De Deo Socr., 4.
24. cf. ch. 8.
25. cf. ch. 11.
26. The Stoics.
27. Phil. 2, 7.
28. Heb.2,7(Ps.8, 5).
29. Phil. 2, 6.
30.De Deo Socr., 4 (cf. Plat, Symp., 203A).
31. cf. Tim., 28c.
32. Apul., De Deo Socr., 3.
33. Apul., De Deo Socr., 3, 33.
34.De Deo Socr., 2.
35. Virg., Georg., 1, 5f.
36. Enn., 1, 6, 8; 1, 2, 3 (conflated and freely rendered).
37.1 Tim: 2, 5.
38. cf. Bk II, 11.
39. cf. Plat., Crat., 398B (deriving daimôn from daemon, ‘knowing’).
40.1 Cor. 8,1.
41. Mark 1, 24; Matt. 8,29.
42. Matt. 4,11.
43. Tim. 40.
44. Ps. 50, 1.
45. Ps. 136, 2.
46. Ps. 95, 3.
47. Ps. 96, 4.
48. Ps. 96, 4.
49. Mark 1, 24.
50. Ps. 82, 6.
51.1 Cor. 8, 5f.
1. Rom. 1, 21.
2. cf. Col. 1, 16.
3. Eph. 6, 5.
4. Virg., Aen., 1,12.
5. cf. 2 Chron. 30,9; Ecclus. 2,13; Judith 7,20.
6. cf. ch. 3.
7. John 1, 6ff.
8. lohn 1,16.
9. Rom. 1,21.
10. cf. 1 Cor. 3, 16f.
11. cf. Hebr. 12,4.
12. cf. Ps. 116,15.
13. cf. Retract, 2, 13, 19, where St Augustine prefers a derivation from religare, ‘to bind’, cf. ch. 1.
14. Matt 22, 37f.
15.’cf.’ Ps. 73. 28.
16. Exod. 22, 20.
17. Gen. 4, 4f.
18. Ps. 16, 2.
19. Ps. 51, 18f.
20. Ps. 50,12f.
21. Mic. 6, 6f.
22. Hebr. 13, 16.
23. Hos. 6, 6.
24. Matt. 22,40.
25. cf. Rom. 6,11.
26. Ecclus. 30, 23.
27. cf. Rom. 6, 16f.
28. Rom. 12, 1.
29. Ps. 73,28.
30. Phil. 2,7.
31. Rom. 3f,
32. Ps. 87, 3.
33. cf. Gal. 3,19.
34. Exod. 22, 20.
35. Gen. 15, 17; cf. Retract., 2, 69, 3. St Augustine corrects himself; this was a vision, not a miracle.
36. cf. Serm., 8; Enarr. in Ps., 77,17.
37. cf. Adv. Faust. Man., 12, 30.
38. 2 Kings 18,4.
39. Theurgy: divination bringing man into contact with deity either by raising the visionary in an ecstasy, 01 by bringing down the divinity by means of magical aits.
40. cf. Bk VII, 25n.
41. cf. Bk VII, 35n.
42. Magic secured indirect revelation, in which the divinity appeared in some material object (e.g. a flame, in lychnomancy’), or through a medium in a trance. Sorcery (goetia) secured indirect revelation by the use of material things, without the divinity being present in them. cf. A. J. Festugière, La Révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Paris, second edition, 1950, I, p. 283f.
43. cf. ch. 28.
44.2 Cor. 1l, 14.
45. Virg.,Ceorg., 4, 411.
46. Anebo, an Egyptian priest, mentioned by Eusebius (Praep. Ev., 5, 7). A reply to Porphyry (De Mystcriis) is attributed to lamblichus.
47. A Stoic writer of the first century ají. No works extant
48. cf. Bk VI, 10.
49. Exod. 33, 13.
50. cf. Acts 7, 53; Gal. 3, 19.
51. Legendary law-giver of Sparta to whom were ascribed the reforms which changed the character of that state c. 600 B.C.
52. Enn. 3, 2, 13.
53. The Platonic ‘idea’.
54. Matt. 6, 28f.
55. cf. Acts. 7, 53.
56. Enn., 1, 6, 7.
57. Val. Max., 1, 8, 7.
58. Liv., 1, 36.
59. Val. Max., 1, 8, 2.
60. Ovid., Fast., 4, 305f.
61. Val. Max., 8, 1, 5.
62. Phars., 6, 506, cf. Virg., Eel., 8, 69.
63. cf. Acts 7, 23; Gal. 3, 19.
64. Exod. 13, 21; 40, 34f.
65. Josh. 3, 16f.
66. 1 Sam. 46.
67. cf. ch. 14.
68. Epicureans.
69. Ps. 73, 28.
70. Cyrenaics.
71. Stoics.
72. cf. Ps. 103, 20.
73. Ps. 103, 20.
74. cf. Exod. 22, 20; Judg. 13, 16; Rev. 19, 20; 22, 8f.
75. Acts 14, 7ff.
76. cf. ch. 11.
77. Phil. 2, 6f.
78. 1 Tim. 2, 5.
79. cf. Rev. 6, 11.
80. cf. Hebr. 12, 4.
81. ‘Hero’ and Hera are unconnected. Heros is unknown. St Augustine evidently connects Hera with aêr(‘air’).
82. cf. Eph. 2, 2.
83. Aen., 7, 310.
84. Aen., 3, 438f.
85.1 Tim. 2, 5.
86. Rom. 8, 3.
87. Principles or ‘beginnings’ (Gk. archai). The Trinity of Neoplatonism is thus described by Cyril of Alexandria (c. Jul., 8): ‘Plato said that the substance of God issues in three subsistences (hypostaseis, ‘persons’): the supreme God being the Good; after him, in the second place, the Creator (the Demiurge); then, in the third place, the Soul of the World.’
88. cf. Enn., 45, 1.
89. Enn., 45, 6.
90. The Rule of Faith, cf. Bk xv, ch. 711.
91. The ‘Modalist Monarchians’ of the third century, who explained the three Persons as successive modes of divine activity.
92. John 1, 3.
93. John 1, 14.
94. John, 6, 57; 61; 64.
95. Christ… the ‘principle’: Christ’s answer to the question, ‘Who are you?’ is ambiguous in the Greek of John 8, 25. It could mean either ‘What I told you at the beginning’ or ‘Why do I speak to you at all?’ The Vulgate introduces another ambiguity, since princtpium (translating tên archên, ‘at the start’ or ‘at all’) could be nominative, as St Augustine takes it, making the reply ‘I am the beginning (principle).’
96. cf. Acts 7, 53; Gal. 3, 19.
97. Ps. 73, 28. St Augustine goes on to paraphrase and expound verses 17 to 28 of this psalm.
98. Ps. 84, 3.
99. Ps. 119, 81.
100. Matt 23, 26.
101. Rom. 8, 24f.
102. Ps. 73, 26f.
103. cf. ch. 9.
104. cf. Bk IX, 8; De Deo Socr., 12.
105. Christ is represented: The fourth Eclogue of Virgil, addressed to the consul Pollio, predicts a golden age of peace under a new-born child who will have the virtues of his father. Christian writers supposed that Virgil had been inspired to speak of the birth of Christ and the coming of the Christian era. Virgil was probably thinking of the expected child of Octavian and Scribonia.
