The City of God, Volume I by Saint of Hippo Augustine
3. _How there is no reason which can be shown for the selection of
1572 words | Chapter 185
certain gods, when the administration of more exalted offices
is assigned to many inferior gods._
What is the cause, therefore, which has driven so many select gods
to these very small works, in which they are excelled by Vitumnus
and Sentinus, though little known and sunk in obscurity, inasmuch
as they confer the munificent gifts of life and sensation? For the
select Janus bestows an entrance, and, as it were, a door[247] for
the seed; the select Saturn bestows the seed itself; the select Liber
bestows on men the emission of the same seed; Libera, who is Ceres
or Venus, confers the same on women; the select Juno confers (not
alone, but together with Mena, the daughter of Jupiter) the menses,
for the growth of that which has been conceived; and the obscure
and ignoble Vitumnus confers life, whilst the obscure and ignoble
Sentinus confers sensation;--which two last things are as much more
excellent than the others, as they themselves are excelled by reason
and intellect. For as those things which reason and understand are
preferable to those which, without intellect and reason, as in the
case of cattle, live and feel; so also those things which have
been endowed with life and sensation are deservedly preferred to
those things which neither live nor feel. Therefore Vitumnus the
life-giver,[248] and Sentinus the sense-giver,[249] ought to have
been reckoned among the select gods, rather than Janus the admitter
of seed, and Saturn the giver or sower of seed, and Liber and Libera
the movers and liberators of seed; which seed is not worth a thought,
unless it attain to life and sensation. Yet these select gifts are
not given by select gods, but by certain unknown, and, considering
their dignity, neglected gods. But if it be replied that Janus has
dominion over all beginnings, and therefore the opening of the way
for conception is not without reason assigned to him; and that
Saturn has dominion over all seeds, and therefore the sowing of the
seed whereby a human being is generated cannot be excluded from his
operation; that Liber and Libera have power over the emission of
all seeds, and therefore preside over those seeds which pertain to
the procreation of men; that Juno presides over all purgations and
births, and therefore she has also charge of the purgations of women
and the births of human beings;--if they give this reply, let them
find an answer to the question concerning Vitumnus and Sentinus,
whether they are willing that these likewise should have dominion
over all things which live and feel. If they grant this, let them
observe in how sublime a position they are about to place them. For
to spring from seeds is in the earth and of the earth, but to live
and feel are supposed to be properties even of the sidereal gods.
But if they say that only such things as come to life in flesh, and
are supported by senses, are assigned to Sentinus, why does not that
God who made all things live and feel, bestow on flesh also life
and sensation, in the universality of His operation conferring also
on fœtuses this gift? And what, then, is the use of Vitumnus and
Sentinus? But if these, as it were, extreme and lowest things have
been committed by Him who presides universally over life and sense to
these gods as to servants, are these select gods then so destitute
of servants, that they could not find any to whom even they might
commit those things, but with all their dignity, for which they are,
it seems, deemed worthy to be selected, were compelled to perform
their work along with ignoble ones? Juno is select queen of the gods,
and the sister and wife of Jupiter; nevertheless she is Iterduca,
the conductor, to boys, and performs this work along with a most
ignoble pair--the goddesses Abeona and Adeona. There they have also
placed the goddess Mena, who gives to boys a good mind, and she is
not placed among the select gods; as if anything greater could be
bestowed on a man than a good mind. But Juno is placed among the
select because she is Iterduca and Domiduca (she who conducts one
on a journey, and who conducts him home again); as if it is of any
advantage for one to make a journey, and to be conducted home again,
if his mind is not good. And yet the goddess who bestows that gift
has not been placed by the selectors among the select gods, though
she ought indeed to have been preferred even to Minerva, to whom, in
this minute distribution of work, they have allotted the memory of
boys. For who will doubt that it is a far better thing to have a good
mind, than ever so great a memory? For no one is bad who has a good
mind;[250] but some who are very bad are possessed of an admirable
memory, and are so much the worse, the less they are able to forget
the bad things which they think. And yet Minerva is among the select
gods, whilst the goddess Mena is hidden by a worthless crowd. What
shall I say concerning Virtus? What concerning Felicitas?--concerning
whom I have already spoken much in the fourth book,[251] to whom,
though they held them to be goddesses, they have not thought fit to
assign a place among the select gods, among whom they have given a
place to Mars and Orcus, the one the causer of death, the other the
receiver of the dead.
Since, therefore, we see that even the select gods themselves work
together with the others, like a senate with the people, in all those
minute works which have been minutely portioned out among many gods;
and since we find that far greater and better things are administered
by certain gods who have not been reckoned worthy to be selected
than by those who are called select, it remains that we suppose that
they were called select and chief, not on account of their holding
more exalted offices in the world, but because it happened to them
to become better known to the people. And even Varro himself says,
that in that way obscurity had fallen to the lot of some father
gods and mother goddesses,[252] as it falls to the lot of men. If,
therefore, Felicity ought not perhaps to have been put among the
select gods, because they did not attain to that noble position
by merit, but by chance, Fortune at least should have been placed
among them, or rather before them; for they say that that goddess
distributes to every one the gifts she receives, not according to
any rational arrangement, but according as chance may determine.
She ought to have held the uppermost place among the select gods,
for among them chiefly it is that she shows what power she has. For
we see that they have been selected not on account of some eminent
virtue or rational happiness, but by that random power of Fortune
which the worshippers of these gods think that she exerts. For that
most eloquent man Sallust also may perhaps have the gods themselves
in view when he says: "But, in truth, fortune rules in everything;
it renders all things famous or obscure, according to caprice rather
than according to truth."[253] For they cannot discover a reason
why Venus should have been made famous, whilst Virtus has been
made obscure, when the divinity of both of them has been solemnly
recognised by them, and their merits are not to be compared. Again,
if she has deserved a noble position on account of the fact that she
is much sought after--for there are more who seek after Venus than
after Virtus--why has Minerva been celebrated whilst Pecunia has been
left in obscurity, although throughout the whole human race avarice
allures a far greater number than skill? And even among those who are
skilled in the arts, you will rarely find a man who does not practise
his own art for the purpose of pecuniary gain; and that for the sake
of which anything is made, is always valued more than that which is
made for the sake of something else. If, then, this selection of gods
has been made by the judgment of the foolish multitude, why has not
the goddess Pecunia been preferred to Minerva, since there are many
artificers for the sake of money? But if this distinction has been
made by the few wise, why has Virtus been preferred to Venus, when
reason by far prefers the former? At all events, as I have already
said, Fortune herself--who, according to those who attribute most
influence to her, renders all things famous or obscure according to
caprice rather than according to the truth--since she has been able
to exercise so much power even over the gods, as, according to her
capricious judgment, to render those of them famous whom she would,
and those obscure whom she would; Fortune herself ought to occupy the
place of pre-eminence among the select gods, since over them also she
has such pre-eminent power. Or must we suppose that the reason why
she is not among the select is simply this, that even Fortune herself
has had an adverse fortune? She was adverse, then, to herself, since,
whilst ennobling others, she herself has remained obscure.
Chapters
1. Chapter 1
2. BOOK I.
3. BOOK II.
4. BOOK III.
5. BOOK IV.
6. BOOK V.
7. BOOK VI.
8. BOOK VII.
9. BOOK VIII.
10. BOOK IX.
11. BOOK X.
12. BOOK XI.
13. BOOK XII.
14. BOOK XIII.
15. 1. _Of the adversaries of the name of Christ, whom the barbarians for
16. 2. _That it is quite contrary to the usage of war, that the victors
17. 3. _That the Romans did not show their usual sagacity when they
18. 4. _Of the asylum of Juno in Troy, which saved no one from the
19. 5. _Cæsar's statement regarding the universal custom of an enemy when
20. 6. _That not even the Romans, when they took cities, spared the
21. 7. _That the cruelties which occurred in the sack of Rome were in
22. 8. _Of the advantages and disadvantages which often indiscriminately
23. 9. _Of the reasons for administering correction to bad and good
24. 10. _That the saints lose nothing in losing temporal goods._
25. 11. _Of the end of this life, whether it is material that it be long
26. 12. _Of the burial of the dead: that the denial of it to Christians
27. 13. _Reasons for burying the bodies of the saints._
28. 14. _Of the captivity of the saints, and that divine consolation
29. 15. _Of Regulus, in whom we have an example of the voluntary
30. 16. _Of the violation of the consecrated and other Christian
31. 17. _Of suicide committed through fear of punishment or dishonour._
32. 18. _Of the violence which may be done to the body by another's
33. 19. _Of Lucretia, who put an end to her life because of the outrage
34. 20. _That Christians have no authority for committing suicide in any
35. 21. _Of the cases in which we may put men to death without incurring
36. 22. _That suicide can never be prompted by magnanimity._
37. 23. _What we are to think of the example of Cato, who slew himself
38. 24. _That in that virtue in which Regulus excels Cato, Christians
39. 25. _That we should not endeavour by sin to obviate sin._
40. 26. _That in certain peculiar cases the examples of the saints are
41. 27. _Whether voluntary death should be sought in order to avoid sin._
42. 28. _By what judgment of God the enemy was permitted to indulge
43. 29. _What the servants of Christ should say in reply to the
44. 30. _That those who complain of Christianity really desire to
45. 31. _By what steps the passion for governing increased among
46. 32. _Of the establishment of scenic entertainments._
47. 33. _That the overthrow of Rome has not corrected the vices of
48. 34. _Of God's clemency in moderating the ruin of the city._
49. 35. _Of the sons of the church who are hidden among the wicked,
50. 36. _What subjects are to be handled in the following discourse._
51. 1. _Of the limits which must be put to the necessity of replying
52. 2. _Recapitulation of the contents of the first book._
53. 3. _That we need only to read history in order to see what
54. 4. _That the worshippers of the gods never received from them any
55. 5. _Of the obscenities practised in honour of the mother of
56. 6. _That the gods of the pagans never inculcated holiness of life._
57. 7. _That the suggestions of philosophers are precluded from having
58. 8. _That the theatrical exhibitions publishing the shameful actions
59. 9. _That the poetical licence which the Greeks, in obedience to
60. 10. _That the devils, in suffering either false or true crimes to
61. 11. _That the Greeks admitted players to offices of state, on
62. 12. _That the Romans, by refusing to the poets the same licence in
63. 13. _That the Romans should have understood that gods who desired
64. 14. _That Plato, who excluded poets from a well-ordered city, was
65. 15. _That it was vanity, not reason, which created some of the
66. 16. _That if the gods had really possessed any regard for
67. 17. _Of the rape of the Sabine women, and other iniquities
68. 18. _What the history of Sallust reveals regarding the life of the
69. 19. _Of the corruption which had grown upon the Roman republic
70. 20. _Of the kind of happiness and life truly delighted in by those
71. 21. _Cicero's opinion of the Roman republic._
72. 22. _That the Roman gods never took any steps to prevent the
73. 23. _That the vicissitudes of this life are dependent not on
74. 24. _Of the deeds of Sylla, in which the demons boasted that he
75. 25. _How powerfully the evil spirits incite men to wicked actions,
76. 26. _That the demons gave in secret certain obscure instructions in
77. 27. _That the obscenities of those plays which the Romans
78. 28. _That the Christian religion is health-giving._
79. 29. _An exhortation to the Romans to renounce paganism._
80. 1. _Of the ills which alone the wicked fear, and which the world
81. 2. _Whether the gods, whom the Greeks and Romans worshipped in
82. 3. _That the gods could not be offended by the adultery of Paris,
83. 4. _Of Varro's opinion, that it is useful for men to feign
84. 5. _That it is not credible that the gods should have punished the
85. 6. _That the gods exacted no penalty for the fratricidal act of
86. 7. _Of the destruction of Ilium by Fimbria, a lieutenant of Marius._
87. 8. _Whether Rome ought to have been entrusted to the Trojan gods?_
88. 9. _Whether it is credible that the peace during the reign of Numa
89. 10. _Whether it was desirable that the Roman empire should be
90. 11. _Of the statue of Apollo at Cumæ, whose tears are supposed to
91. 12. _That the Romans added a vast number of gods to those introduced
92. 13. _By what right or agreement the Romans obtained their first
93. 14. _Of the wickedness of the war waged by the Romans against
94. 15. _What manner of life and death the Roman kings had._
95. 16. _Of the first Roman consuls, the one of whom drove the other
96. 17. _Of the disasters which vexed the Roman republic after the
97. 18. _The disasters suffered by the Romans in the Punic wars, which
98. 19. _Of the calamity of the second Punic war, which consumed the
99. 20. _Of the destruction of the Saguntines, who received no help
100. 21. _Of the ingratitude of Rome to Scipio, its deliverer, and of
101. 22. _Of the edict of Mithridates, commanding that all Roman
102. 23. _Of the internal disasters which vexed the Roman republic, and
103. 24. _Of the civil dissension occasioned by the sedition of
104. 25. _Of the temple of Concord, which was erected by a decree of
105. 26. _Of the various kinds of wars which followed the building of
106. 27. _Of the civil war between Marius and Sylla._
107. 28. _Of the victory of Sylla, the avenger of the cruelties of
108. 29. _A comparison of the disasters which Rome experienced during
109. 30. _Of the connection of the wars which with great severity and
110. 31. _That it is effrontery to impute the present troubles to Christ
111. 1. _Of the things which have been discussed in the first book._
112. 2. _Of those things which are contained in Books Second and Third._
113. 3. _Whether the great extent of the empire, which has been
114. 4. _How like kingdoms without justice are to robberies._
115. 5. _Of the runaway gladiators whose power became like that of
116. 6. _Concerning the covetousness of Ninus, who was the first who
117. 7. _Whether earthly kingdoms in their rise and fall have been
118. 8. _Which of the gods can the Romans suppose presided over the
119. 9. _Whether the great extent and long duration of the Roman empire
120. 10. _What opinions those have followed who have set divers gods
121. 11. _Concerning the many gods whom the pagan doctors defend as
122. 12. _Concerning the opinion of those who have thought that God is
123. 13. _Concerning those who assert that only rational animals are
124. 14. _The enlargement of kingdoms is unsuitably ascribed to Jove;
125. 15. _Whether it is suitable for good men to wish to rule more
126. 16. _What was the reason why the Romans, in detailing separate gods
127. 17. _Whether, if the highest power belongs to Jove, Victoria also
128. 18. _With what reason they who think Felicity and Fortune
129. 19. _Concerning Fortuna Muliebris._[169]
130. 20. _Concerning Virtue and Faith, which the pagans have honoured
131. 21. _That although not understanding them to be the gifts of God,
132. 22. _Concerning the knowledge of the worship due to the gods,
133. 23. _Concerning Felicity, whom the Romans, who venerate many gods,
134. 24. _The reasons by which the pagans attempt to defend their
135. 25. _Concerning the one God only to be worshipped, who, although
136. 26. _Of the scenic plays, the celebration of which the gods have
137. 27. _Concerning the three kinds of gods about which the pontiff
138. 28. _Whether the worship of the gods has been of service to the
139. 29. _Of the falsity of the augury by which the strength and
140. 30. _What kind of things even their worshippers have owned they
141. 31. _Concerning the opinions of Varro, who, while reprobating the
142. 32. _In what interest the princes of the nations wished false
143. 33. _That the times of all kings and kingdoms are ordained by the
144. 34. _Concerning the kingdom of the Jews, which was founded by the
145. 1. _That the cause of the Roman empire, and of all kingdoms, is
146. 2. _On the difference in the health of twins._
147. 3. _Concerning the arguments which Nigidius the mathematician drew
148. 4. _Concerning the twins Esau and Jacob, who were very unlike each
149. 5. _In what manner the mathematicians are convicted of professing
150. 6. _Concerning twins of different sexes._
151. 7. _Concerning the choosing of a day for marriage, or for planting,
152. 8. _Concerning those who call by the name of fate, not the
153. 9. _Concerning the foreknowledge of God and the free will of man,
154. 10. _Whether our wills are ruled by necessity._
155. 11. _Concerning the universal providence of God in the laws of
156. 12. _By what virtues the ancient Romans merited that the true God,
157. 13. _Concerning the love of praise, which, though it is a vice, is
158. 14. _Concerning the eradication of the love of human praise,
159. 15. _Concerning the temporal reward which God granted to the
160. 16. _Concerning the reward of the holy citizens of the celestial
161. 17. _To what profit the Romans carried on wars, and how much they
162. 18. _How far Christians ought to be from boasting, if they have done
163. 19. _Concerning the difference between true glory and the desire
164. 20. _That it is as shameful for the virtues to serve human glory
165. 21. _That the Roman dominion was granted by Him from whom is all
166. 22. _The durations and issues of war depend on the will of God._
167. 23. _Concerning the war in which Radagaisus, king of the Goths, a
168. 24. _What was the happiness of the Christian emperors, and how far
169. 25. _Concerning the prosperity which God granted to the Christian
170. 26. _On the faith and piety of Theodosius Augustus._
171. 1. _Of those who maintain that they worship the gods not for the
172. 2. _What we are to believe that Varro thought concerning the gods
173. 3. _Varro's distribution of his book which he composed concerning
174. 4. _That from the disputation of Varro, it follows that the
175. 5. _Concerning the three kinds of theology according to Varro,
176. 6. _Concerning the mythic, that is, the fabulous, theology, and
177. 7. _Concerning the likeness and agreement of the fabulous and
178. 8. _Concerning the interpretations, consisting of natural
179. 9. _Concerning the special offices of the gods._
180. 10. _Concerning the liberty of Seneca, who more vehemently
181. 11. _What Seneca thought concerning the Jews._
182. 12. _That when once the vanity of the gods of the nations has been
183. 1. _Whether, since it is evident that Deity is not to be found in
184. 2. _Who are the select gods, and whether they are held to be
185. 3. _How there is no reason which can be shown for the selection of
186. 4. _The inferior gods, whose names are not associated with infamy,
187. 5. _Concerning the more secret doctrine of the pagans, and
188. 6. _Concerning the opinion of Varro, that God is the soul of the
189. 7. _Whether it is reasonable to separate Janus and Terminus as
190. 8. _For what reason the worshippers of Janus have made his image
191. 9. _Concerning the power of Jupiter, and a comparison of Jupiter
192. 10. _Whether the distinction between Janus and Jupiter is a proper
193. 11. _Concerning the surnames of Jupiter, which are referred not to
194. 12. _That Jupiter is also called Pecunia._
195. 13. _That when it is expounded what Saturn is, what Genius is, it
196. 14. _Concerning the offices of Mercury and Mars._
197. 15. _Concerning certain stars which the pagans have called by the
198. 16. _Concerning Apollo and Diana, and the other select gods whom
199. 17. _That even Varro himself pronounced his own opinions regarding
200. 18. _A more credible cause of the rise of pagan error._
201. 19. _Concerning the interpretations which compose the reason of
202. 20. _Concerning the rites of Eleusinian Ceres_.
203. 21. _Concerning the shamefulness of the rites which are celebrated
204. 22. _Concerning Neptune, and Salacia, and Venilia_.
205. 23. _Concerning the earth, which Varro affirms to be a goddess,
206. 24. _Concerning the surnames of Tellus and their significations,
207. 25. _The interpretation of the mutilation of Atys which the
208. 26. _Concerning the abomination of the sacred rites of the Great
209. 27. _Concerning the figments of the physical theologists, who
210. 28. _That the doctrine of Varro concerning theology is in no part
211. 29. _That all things which the physical theologists have referred
212. 30. _How piety distinguishes the Creator from the creatures, so
213. 31. _What benefits God gives to the followers of the truth to
214. 32. _That at no time in the past was the mystery of Christ's
215. 33. _That only through the Christian religion could the deceit of
216. 34. _Concerning the books of Numa Pompilius, which the senate
217. 35. _Concerning the hydromancy through which Numa was befooled
218. 1. _That the question of natural theology is to be discussed with
219. 2. _Concerning the two schools of philosophers, that is, the
220. 3. _Of the Socratic philosophy._
221. 4. _Concerning Plato, the chief among the disciples of Socrates,
222. 5. _That it is especially with the Platonists that we must carry
223. 6. _Concerning the meaning of the Platonists in that part of
224. 7. _How much the Platonists are to be held as excelling other
225. 8. _That the Platonists hold the first rank in moral philosophy
226. 9. _Concerning that philosophy which has come nearest to the
227. 10. _That the excellency of the Christian religion is above all
228. 11. _How Plato has been able to approach so nearly to Christian
229. 12. _That even the Platonists, though they say these things
230. 13. _Concerning the opinion of Plato, according to which he defined
231. 14. _Of the opinion of those who have said that rational souls are
232. 15. _That the demons are not better than men because of their
233. 16. _What Apuleius the Platonist thought concerning the manners
234. 17. _Whether it is proper that men should worship those spirits
235. 18. _What kind of religion that is which teaches that men ought to
236. 19. _Of the impiety of the magic art, which is dependent on the
237. 20. _Whether we are to believe that the good gods are more willing
238. 21. _Whether the gods use the demons as messengers and
239. 22. _That we must, notwithstanding the opinion of Apuleius, reject
240. 23. _What Hermes Trismegistus thought concerning idolatry, and from
241. 24. _How Hermes openly confessed the error of his forefathers, the
242. 25. _Concerning those things which may be common to the holy angels
243. 26. _That all the religion of the pagans has reference to dead
244. 27. _Concerning the nature of the honour which the Christians
245. 1. _The point at which the discussion has arrived, and what remains
246. 2. _Whether among the demons, inferior to the gods, there are any
247. 3. _What Apuleius attributes to the demons, to whom, though he
248. 4. _The opinion of the Peripatetics and Stoics about mental
249. 5. _That the passions which assail the souls of Christians do not
250. 6. _Of the passions which, according to Apuleius, agitate the
251. 7. _That the Platonists maintain that the poets wrong the gods by
252. 8. _How Apuleius defines the gods who dwell in heaven, the demons
253. 9. _Whether the intercession of the demons can secure for men the
254. 10. _That, according to Plotinus, men, whose body is mortal, are
255. 11. _Of the opinion of the Platonists, that the souls of men become
256. 12. _Of the three opposite qualities by which the Platonists
257. 13. _How the demons can mediate between gods and men if they have
258. 14. _Whether men, though mortal, can enjoy true blessedness._
259. 15. _Of the man Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and men_.
260. 16. _Whether it is reasonable in the Platonists to determine that
261. 17. _That to obtain the blessed life, which consists in partaking
262. 18. _That the deceitful demons, while promising to conduct men to
263. 19. _That even among their own worshippers the name "demon" has
264. 20. _Of the kind of knowledge which puffs up the demons._
265. 21. _To what extent the Lord was pleased to make Himself known to
266. 22. _The difference between the knowledge of the holy angels and
267. 23. _That the name of gods is falsely given to the gods of the
268. 1. _That the Platonists themselves have determined that God alone
269. 2. _The opinion of Plotinus the Platonist regarding enlightenment
270. 3. _That the Platonists, though knowing something of the Creator
271. 4. _That sacrifice is due to the true God only._
272. 5. _Of the sacrifices which God does not require, but wished to
273. 6. _Of the true and perfect sacrifice._
274. 7. _Of the love of the holy angels, which prompts them to desire
275. 8. _Of the miracles which God has condescended to adhibit, through
276. 9. _Of the illicit arts connected with demonolatry, and of which
277. 10. _Concerning theurgy, which promises a delusive purification of
278. 11. _Of Porphyry's epistle to Anebo, in which he asks for
279. 12. _Of the miracles wrought by the true God through the ministry
280. 13. _Of the invisible God, who has often made Himself visible,
281. 14. _That the one God is to be worshipped not only for the sake
282. 15. _Of the ministry of the holy angels, by which they fulfil
283. 16. _Whether those angels who demand that we pay them divine
284. 17. _Concerning the ark of the covenant, and the miraculous signs
285. 18. _Against those who deny that the books of the Church are to
286. 19. _On the reasonableness of offering, as the true religion
287. 20. _Of the supreme and true sacrifice which was effected by the
288. 21. _Of the power delegated to demons for the trial and
289. 22. _Whence the saints derive power against demons and true
290. 23. _Of the principles which, according to the Platonists,
291. 24. _Of the one only true principle which alone purifies and renews
292. 25. _That all the saints, both under the law and before it, were
293. 26. _Of Porphyry's weakness in wavering between the confession of
294. 27. _Of the impiety of Porphyry, which is worse than even the
295. 28. _How it is that Porphyry has been so blind as not to recognise
296. 29. _Of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the
297. 30. _Porphyry's emendations and modifications of Platonism._
298. 31. _Against the arguments on which the Platonists ground their
299. 32. _Of the universal way of the soul's deliverance, which Porphyry
300. 1. _Of this part of the work, wherein we begin to explain the origin
301. 2. _Of the knowledge of God, to which no man can attain save
302. 3. _Of the authority of the canonical Scriptures composed by the
303. 4. _That the world is neither without beginning, nor yet created
304. 5. _That we ought not to seek to comprehend the infinite ages of
305. 6. _That the world and time had both one beginning, and the one
306. 7. _Of the nature of the first days, which are said to have had
307. 8. _What we are to understand of God's resting on the seventh day,
308. 9. _What the Scriptures teach us to believe concerning the creation
309. 10. _Of the simple and unchangeable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy
310. 11. _Whether the angels that fell partook of the blessedness which
311. 12. _A comparison of the blessedness of the righteous, who have not
312. 13. _Whether all the angels were so created in one common state of
313. 14. _An explanation of what is said of the devil, that he did not
314. 15. _How we are to understand the words, "The devil sinneth from
315. 16. _Of the ranks and differences of the creatures, estimated by
316. 17. _That the flaw of wickedness is not nature, but contrary to
317. 18. _Of the beauty of the universe, which becomes, by God's
318. 19. _What, seemingly, we are to understand by the words, "God
319. 20. _Of the words which follow the separation of light and
320. 21. _Of God's eternal and unchangeable knowledge and will, whereby
321. 22. _Of those who do not approve of certain things which are a part
322. 23. _Of the error in which the doctrine of Origen is involved._
323. 24. _Of the divine Trinity, and the indications of its presence
324. 25. _Of the division of philosophy into three parts._
325. 26. _Of the image of the supreme Trinity, which we find in some
326. 27. _Of existence, and knowledge of it, and the love of both._
327. 28. _Whether we ought to love the love itself with which we love
328. 29. _Of the knowledge by which the holy angels know God in His
329. 30. _Of the perfection of the number six, which is the first of
330. 31. _Of the seventh day, in which completeness and repose are
331. 32. _Of the opinion that the angels were created before the world._
332. 33. _Of the two different and dissimilar communities of angels,
333. 34. _Of the idea that the angels were meant where the separation
334. 1. _That the nature of the angels, both good and bad, is one and
335. 2. _That there is no entity_[521] _contrary to the divine, because
336. 3. _That the enemies of God are so, not by nature but by will,
337. 4. _Of the nature of irrational and lifeless creatures, which in
338. 5. _That in all natures, of every kind and rank, God is glorified._
339. 6. _What the cause of the blessedness of the good angels is, and
340. 7. _That we ought not to expect to find any efficient cause of the
341. 8. _Of the misdirected love whereby the will fell away from the
342. 9. _Whether the angels, besides receiving from God their nature,
343. 10. _Of the falseness of the history which allots many thousand
344. 11. _Of those who suppose that this world indeed is not eternal,
345. 12. _How these persons are to be answered, who find fault with the
346. 13. _Of the revolution of the ages, which some philosophers believe
347. 14. _Of the creation of the human race in time, and how this was
348. 15. _Whether we are to believe that God, as He has always been
349. 16. _How we are to understand God's promise of life eternal,
350. 17. _What defence is made by sound faith regarding God's
351. 18. _Against those who assert that things that are infinite_[550]
352. 19. _Of worlds without end, or ages of ages._[556]
353. 20. _Of the impiety of those who assert that the souls which enjoy
354. 21. _That there was created at first but one individual, and that
355. 22. _That God foreknew that the first man would sin, and that He at
356. 23. _Of the nature of the human soul created in the image of God._
357. 24. _Whether the angels can be said to be the creators of any, even
358. 25. _That God alone is the Creator of every kind of creature,
359. 26. _Of that opinion of the Platonists, that the angels were
360. 27. _That the whole plenitude of the human race was embraced in the
361. 1. _Of the fall of the first man, through which mortality has
362. 2. _Of that death which can affect an immortal soul, and of that
363. 3. _Whether death, which by the sin of our first parents has passed
364. 4. _Why death, the punishment of sin, is not withheld from those
365. 5. _As the wicked make an ill use of the law, which is good, so
366. 6. _Of the evil of death in general, considered as the separation
367. 7. _Of the death which the unbaptized_[580] _suffer for the
368. 8. _That the saints, by suffering the first death for the truth's
369. 9. _Whether we should say that the moment of death, in which
370. 10. _Of the life of mortals, which is rather to be called death
371. 11. _Whether one can both be living and dead at the same time._
372. 12. _What death God intended, when He threatened our first parents
373. 13. _What was the first punishment of the transgression of our
374. 14. _In what state man was made by God, and into what estate he
375. 15. _That Adam in his sin forsook God ere God forsook him, and
376. 16. _Concerning the philosophers who think that the separation of
377. 17. _Against those who affirm that earthly bodies cannot be made
378. 18. _Of earthly bodies, which the philosophers affirm cannot be in
379. 19. _Against the opinion of those who do not believe that the
380. 20. _That the flesh now resting in peace shall be raised to a
381. 21. _Of Paradise, that it can be understood in a spiritual sense
382. 22. _That the bodies of the saints shall after the resurrection be
383. 23. _What we are to understand by the animal and spiritual body; or
384. 24. _How we must understand that breathing of God by which "the
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