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Augustine's "City of God" and the Modern Historical ConsciousnessAuthor(s): Ernest L. FortinSource: The Review of Politics, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul., 1979), pp. 323-343Published by: Cambridge University Press for the University of Notre Dame du lac on behalf of Review of PoliticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1407234 .Accessed: 27/05/2013 13:20

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Augustine's City of God and theModern Historical Consciousness

Ernest L. FortinContemporary ugustinian cholarships distinguishedmong

other waysby its emphasis n Augustine's lleged ontribution othe development f the modemnotion f history. xceptfor fewsporadic eferencesoa possible heology f history n the City ofGod, one finds ittle n the iterature f the nineteenth nd early-twentieth enturies oindicate hat he content f that workmightbe of particular elevance o the problem t hand.' The same snot true f the post-World ar I period,whichwitnessed suddensurge f nterest n this hitherto eglectedubject, o such n extentthat there has scarcely een a major treatment f Augustine'sthought ritten ince hat ime whichdoes not dwell on it at con-siderable ength. Augustine, angdonGilkey asrecently sserted,is "the father f the historical onsciousness,"2he first uthor o

exhibit n awareness f the fundamentally istorical haracter fhuman xistence, heonly arly Christian riter o have broughtthe wholeof history ithin he compass f a "purposive nity."3

It was normal erhaps hat, n the midst f what wasperceivedas a crisis f major proportions ngulfing he whole of Westerncivilization-witness heextraordinary uccess f Spengler's eclineof the West r Ferrero'sWords o the Deaf, to mention wo of themostwidely ead books f the twenties-scholarly ttention houldhave been drawn o the waningyears f the Roman empire ndthe upheavals hatprecipitated ts demise.Here was a great ivil-ization hat had not onlygoneunder but had bequeathed o pos-terity well-documentedecord f its own breakdown, he onlycorpse ufficiently ellpreserved o end tself o a dissection. mongthe ancientwriters owhom ne might urn or nformation boutthis ritical eriod, onewas better uited han Augustine, hohad

himself een prompted y the dramatic vents f his day to medi-1 H.-I. Marrou, "Geschichtsphilosophie," n Reallexicomfiir Antike und

Christentum, ol. 10 (forthcoming).2 L. Gilkey, eaping the Whirlwind New York, 1956), p. 175. Cf. ibid.,

p. 162: "With Augustine he Western, nd so the modern, ense of temporalpassage comes to definitive nd formative xpression"; . 163: "With him(Augustine) begins he tradition f philosophy f history."

3 Ibid., p. 164.

323

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324 THE REVIEWOF POLITICS

tate on the fate of empires nd the destiny f the human race.Fromhim one couldhopeto learn omething bout what conceiv-

ably lay in store for us: whether he dislocations f our owntroubled imeswere the necessary relude o a larger nd morepowerful nity r whether hey ortended return o the barbarismthat had onceplunged urope ntodarkness or enturies; hether,as Ferrero ut t, our fate was "that of the generations f Caesarand Augustus r that of the generations f Diocletian nd Con-stantine."4

Yet the conflicting esults o which his ntensive esearch ven-tually ed suggest hat the quarry may be more elusive han hadbeen anticipated. Heinrich cholz's earlier ase for the presenceof an incipient hilosophy f history n Augustine5 as counteredby U.A. Padovani's contention hat, since Augustine's nifyingprinciple s derived romRevelation, isviews re best describedas a theology ather hana philosophy f history.6 cholz'sHege-lian account f the City of God was followed omeyears ater by

Kamlah's Heideggerian r individualistic nterpretation f thesame work,' tself oon to be challenged y Ratzinger's orcefulinsistence n the properly cclesial nd sacramental imension fAugustine's hought.8 he protracted ebate,whatever lse maybe said about t, has had at least one notable ffect. t securedaccreditation or the notion f a theology f history n academiccircles nd enshrined t as a kind of theological ocuscommunis,decked ut with he aura of a tradition upposedly ating ack tothe earlyChristian enturies nd the authority f no less a figurethan Augustine imself.

To be sure, ewpeoplewouldgo so far as to say that Augus-tine's peculations n this heme measure p to modem tandards.By comparison o our own fully eveloped enseof history, heyremain eficient nd represent t best feeble nticipation f what

4G. Ferrero, Words o the Deaf, trans. B. R. Redman (New York, 1926),p. 159.

5 H. Scholz,Glaubeund Unglatibe n der Weltgeschichte Leipzig, 1911).6 U. A. Padovani, La Citta di Dio di Sant'Agostino: eologia non filo-

sofia della storia," Rivista di filosolfia eo.scolastica, upplemento peciale alvol. XXIII (Milano, 1931), pp. 220-263.7 W. Kamlah, Christentum nd Geschichtlichkeit, nd ed. (Cologne-Stutt-

gart, 1951).8 J. Ratzinger, olk und Haus Gottes n Augustins ehre von der Kirche

(Munich, 1954); idem, "Herkunft nd Sinn der Civitas-Lehre Augustins,"Augustinus agister, ol. 2 (Paris, 1954), 965-979.


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AUGUSTINEAND HISTORY 325

was to emergewith otal clarity nly t a much ater date. Whatis still acking n them, Gilkey ellsus, is an appreciation f "thecreativity f freedom n time nd above ll the ense hat hecourseof history tself, he destiny' f ts nstitutional tructures, an con-stitute n intrinsic art of the unfoldingmeaning f history."9Accordingly, the consciousnessf history had to] shift eforethis nitial enseof history's eaning nder God [couldbecome]the modem onsciousnessf history." t is all the more emarkablethat, n spite of these manifest hortcomings, ugustine houldhave been able to view time nd the historical

rocesss

"linear,teleological,nd meaningful,"0' hereby ndowing hemwith anintelligibility.. which hey ad not possessedefore."" To him,more than to anyone lse,belongs he honor of having aid thegroundwork or moreperfect nderstanding f this ll-importantconcept.

Gilkey's ubtle nalysis everthelesseavesunanswered num-ber of basicquestions hat ontinue operplex heassiduous eader

of Augustine nd of the iterature f Christian ntiquity. We neednot oncern urselves ith he ssue f the uperiority f the modemover hepremodern onception f history, nasmuch s anydecisionin that egard resupposeshat ne has achieved n adequategraspof both ositions-a askwhich learly iesbeyond hemodest copeof the present tudy nd perhaps eyond he reach of all but thegreatest alents. My own more imited uestion s whether hemodem conception o which Gilkey oints s the culmination fan intellectual evelopment riginated y Augustine id in factemerge n the basis of Augustine's ovelapproach o history rwhether t should not rather e seen s a radicaldeparture rom t.

It is worth oting, irst f all, that Augustine imself mploysthe wordhistory nly paringly certainly uch ess frequently hansomewidely irculated ranslations f his works might ead us tothink) nd that whenhe does, t s without eferenceoan overall

meaning ithwhich he course f human ventsmight e invested.The only hematic iscussion f t to occur nywhere n his works,that of the De Doctrina Christiana, efines istory n traditionalterms s the accurate nd useful arration f past events: historia

9 L. Gilkey,Reaping the Whirlwind, . 175. Cf. ibid., p. 174: "In theend, Augustine s not even nterested n the kind or level of order nd justiceamong ocial institutions."

10 Ibid., p. 163.11 Ibid., p. 162.


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facta narrat ideliter tque utiliter.12 s opposed othe false rt ofsoothsaying,t does not pretend o tell us what ought o be donebut only what has been done and hence cannot be undone. Assuch, t is not unlike he account hat onemight iveof the worldaround us or what s sometimes alled natural history.13 o theextent o which rammarians esort o it to explicate iterary exts,it bears omerelationship o the iberal rts;14 ut since ts func-tion smerely o record he ctions f human beings, t s not tselfan art or a product f the humanmind;15 nd since he objects owhich t addressestself

ertaino the realm f

bodily erception,it cannot be reckoned s a science ither.16 Moreover, he nfor-mation hat t supplies s not altogether eliable. Historians ftencontradict ne another r deliberatelyeek o mislead heir eaders.It stands o reason hat,when uchcontradictions ccur, nly hefacts hat ccordwith SacredScripture re to be credited.17 etits mportance s far from egligible, or t not nfrequently hedslight n the events f sacred history nd furnishes s with store

of examples romwhich here s occasional rofit obe derived.s8At no point n the discussion o we encounter hefaintest llusionto some humanly ecipherable lan which careful tudy f thepast couldhelp to unveil.

Granted hat Augustine everuses the word history n thatprecise ense, ne may be tempted o argue that the reality sso-ciatedwith t in the modernmind s not foreign o his thought.Even this, however, s open to serious uestion. Seen from heperspective f the Bible,human eventsno doubt form art of aprovidential rder hat ompriseshewhole f history;19 ut n theabsence f any specific nowledge f the workings f divine prov-idence, ne is at a loss to sayhowthey re related o one anotheror to the pre-establishednd to which hey upposedly onduce.Anyone ontemplating he sequence f these vents s struck irstand last not by ts rationality ut ts patent rrationality. iviliza-

tions lourish t one moment nd then vanish ust as mysteriously.12 De Doctrina Christiana 2.28.44.13 Ibid., 2.29.45.14 Cf. De Ordine 2.12.37; Epist. 101.2.15 De Doctrina Christiana 2.28.44.16 Ibid., 2.27.41.17 De Civ. Dei 18.40. Cf. Contra Faust. Manich. 18.4; Epist. 101.2.18 De Doctrina Christiana 2.28.42; De Vera Religione 26.49.19 Cf. De Ciu. Dei 5.11.


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AUGUSTINEANDHISTORY 327

While we have it on the authority f Scripture hat all powerwielded y human beings ltimately omesfrom God, the reasons

forwhich n the ourse f time t passed rom ne people oanotherhavenot been mparted o us. What smore, here sno correlationbetween ust or unjust uleon the one hand and earthly rosperityor misfortune n the other. Constantine, he first hristian m-peror, njoyed long reign nd the certainly o lesspiousJoviana very hort ne.20 God grants ominion to whomhe pleases,"to Augustus ne day and to Caligulaor Nerothe next, ormotiveswhich, hough ever njust, emain mpenetrable; o much o thateven after he fact human reason s unable to determine hy hedoes t or howprecisely hathe does contributes o the furtheranceof the goal that he pursues monghuman beings.21

Any attempt o reduce he total uccession f temporal ventsto the unity f an intelligible rder s further hwarted y the factthat these vents, o the degree o which heyhave their ourcein, or are decisivelynfluenced y, the undetermined umanwill,

are largely namenable o scientific reatment. hat there s sucha thing s free choice s attested o by the common practice fenacting aws, engaging n exhortation, estowing raise andblame, nd administering ewards nd punishments, oneof whichwouldmakesense f human beingswerenot accountable or heiractions.22 t can likewise e shown hat his reedom as ts ourcein God himself, ho confers n all creatures hepowernot only oact but to act n accordancewith heir ropermode,whether t benatural r voluntary.23What s not completely lear s how, despite heir adical on-tingency, uman cts are used by God for purposes owhich heyare not ntrinsically rdered. The leastthat an be said in answerto this admittedly omplex uestion s that there s nothing on-tradictory n the assertion hat rational gent may be the deter-minate ause of events hat others erceive s fortuitous. may,for

xample, rrange meetingetween wo

strangersho have

20 Ibid., 5.25. Jovian's reign asted less than eight months, rom June363 to February 64.

21 Ibid., 5.21; cf. 5.19 and 4.33. On the limits f historical nowledgeaccording to Augustine, ee A. W. Ziegler, "Die Grenzen geschichtlicherErkenntnis: Beitriige zur augustinischen Geschichtstheologie," ugustinusMagister, ol. 2 (Paris, 1954), 981-989.

22 De Civ.Dei 5.9.2and 5.10.2.23 Ibid., 5.9,4.


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no reason osuspect hatwhat they aketo be a chance ncounterwasin fact premeditated ysomeone lse.The analogy s of courseimperfect, ince,havingno final ontrol ver the doings f others,I can never e sure that he plan will succeed. Either ne of thetwo parties nvolved ould turn down my nvitation r sufferheart ttack efore he projectedmeeting ookplace. Not so withGod, the supreme uler nd architect f the universe, howeavesinto the fabric f history pattern whichfrom higher antagepoint may yet prove to be coherent: rchitectus edificat ermachinas ransituras omummanentem.24 ut to

saythis s to

admit hat he rationality f the divine lan s not n the materialsusedbut n the mind f the user, r, essmetaphoricallytated, hatthe teleologyn question emains xtrinsic o the events hemselves.No analysis f these vents ill ver ead to the discovery f an endwhich s at once present nd operative n the process rom hebeginning nd destined o be progressivelyctualized hrough t.

It follows hat hefuture ourse f human history s totally n-

predictable.Historywill come to an end at the appointed ime,not because of anything hat human beings ave done or may yetdo, but because Godwill have chosen o bring t to a close.25Asfar s anyone antell, ts ompletions n no way elatedoemer-gent oliticaltructuresr the eneraltate fhuman ffairs t anygivenmoment. hisobviouslyoesnot rule ut the possibilityfsubstantialnd even spectacular"stupenda) dvancesn knowl-edge nd the arts s time oeson. But f, s Augustinergues,thegains egisterednthis imited ront re s likely obeused ordestructive s for onstructive urposes,26ne fails o seehowtheycouldprovide reliable tandard ywhich o measure he progressaccomplishedythe human ace n the course f ts onghistory.

As the xample f ome f Augustine's ellow hristians emon-strates, owever, t is possible o deny hat he historical rocess sinherently eleologicalnd still ling to a melioristic iew of thedevelopment f human society. That Augustine imself onsis-tently efused o do so is evident rom he ater booksof the Cityof God, whoseteaching ar exceeds he original ntention f the

24 Sermo 362.7.25 Cf. De Civ. Dei 18.53.1.26 Ibid., 12.24.3.


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AUGUSTINE ANDHISTORY 329

work,whichwas to deal with he crisis rovoked y the sack ofRome at the hands f Alaric'sVisigothsn the year 10. Althoughin the opinion f some modern cholars he psychologicalmpactproducedby the incident was out of proportion o the actualdamagewrought y the barbarians r their hort-lived ccupancyof the city,27 ts ignificanceould not be underestimated. ot theleast nteresting f its corollaries as that t lent new credence othe frequently eardcharge hat Christians ore a major hare ofthe blame for the mounting nstability nd teetering ortunes fthe Roman

Empire.Rome had fallen ecause t had

betrayedts

tutelary eities. The latest atastrophe as but one more ign ofthe displeasure f the gods, kind of udgment f Jove,who hadretaliated y dealing n appropriate ashionwith his once loyaldevotees.28

In its popular orm he ccusation ould carcely e thought ocarry much weightwith he pagan elite,most f whom had longsince eased to take the existence f the avenging odsseriously.29Its real substance n the other and was anything ut trivial; orbeneath hecrudepolytheistic arb n which t paraded urked hesuspicion hat, s a universal eligion niting r attempting o uniteall people n the worship f the one true God, Christianity addone a disserviceothe city. By denying heultimate mportanceof the political ife n favor f the belief n a heavenly nd moreperfect ity, t undermined ublic-spiritednessnd made it vir-tually mpossibleoexactfrom rdinary itizens hesingle-mindeddevotion o the common oodthat had characterized he Romanpolity t its best.30

The argument ouldbe met on its ownground ypointing utthat the evilsof the present imewere not without recedent n

27 See, for example,T. E. Mommsen, St. Augustine nd the ChristianIdea of Progress,." reprinted in Medieval and Renaissance Studies '(Ithaca,1959), pp. 265-267. R. A. Markus, The Roman Empire n Early Christian

Historiography,"ownside

Review,81

(1963),340-341.

28 Retractationes 2.43.1; De Civ. Dei 1.1 and 3; 2.3; 4.1-2; 6, Pref., tc.29 Cf. De Civ. Dei 2.3: "There are indeed among them some who are

thoroughly ell educated men and have a taste for history, n which he thingsI speak of are open to their bservation; ut in order to irritate neducatedpeople against us, they feign gnorance f these events nd do what they anto make the vulgar believe that those disasters, hich n certain places andat certain imes uniformly efall all mankind, re the result of Christianity,which s being verywhere iffused nd is possessed f a renown nd brilliancythat quite eclipsetheir wn gods." See also ibid., 4.1.

30 Cf. Epist. 91.1; 138.2.9.


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earlierRoman history. ome had hardly verbeen withoutwar,civilor otherwise. incethe major portion f these vils ntedatedthe rise of Christianity, hey ould not reasonably e traced backto it.31 Besides, ther mpires ad suffered similar ate n thepast, ven hough herewasno evidence hat hey adforsaken hecult of their wn gods.32 n order osubstantiate hepoint, how-ever,more nformation asneeded, nd Augustine, lways busyman, commissioned newly ecruited isciple, he SpanishpriestOrosius, ocompile rom ll available ources listof the disastersthat had

plaguedRoman

politicalife

throughoutost of its

notoriously urbulent istory.The results f this nquiry re contained n Orosius'Seven

Booksof History gainst hePagans,whichhas the distinction fbeingnot only hefirst ut perhaps hemost nusual history f theworld ver written.33 hereas ugustine's ainconcernwaswiththe city f God,Orosius oncentrated n what mayfairly e calledthe city f the devil.34His relatively hort work, which enjoyedenormous opularity uring he Middle Ages,35 s barely morethan a litany f the evilsknown o have been perpetrated r en-dured yhuman eings ince he beginning f recorded ime. vena superficial eading f the bookreveals, owever, hat n discharg-ing his obligation rosiuswent wellbeyond hecall of duty. Thegist of his thesis, hich eans heavily n Eusebiusbut also pridesitself n having utdonehim, s that, ar from oding ll for theempire, hristianity as directly esponsibleorthe untold bless-ings that had accrued oit in recent imes.36 ts auspicious irthunderAugustus ad coincidedwith n era of unprecedented eace

31 De Civ. Dei 1.2; 1.36, passim.32 Cf. ibid., 4.7.33 For the comprehensive scope of Orosius' Historiae adversum Paganos,

see I. 1: "I intend to speak of the period from the founding of the worldto the founding of the City (Rome); then up to the principate of Caesar andthe birth of Christ . . . down to our own time."

34 Cf. Otto ofFreising,

Chronicon sive Historia de DuabusCivitatibus,ed. A. Hofmeister (Hanover and Leipzig, 1912), p. 9.

35 Cf. H.-I. Marrou, "Saint Augustin, Orose et l'augustinisme historique,"La storiografia ltomedievale, Settimane di studio del Centro, taliano di studisull'Alto medioevo, 17 (Spoleto, 1970), 64-65.

36 The point is already adumbrated in the Prologue: "I found the daysof the past not only equally oppressive as these but also the more wretched themore distant they are from the solace of the true religion." See also 5.1;7.6; 7.43. In 2.14, Orosius goes so far as to say that not only is Sicily at peacefor the first ime ever but even Etna "now only smokes harmlessly s if to givefaith to its former activity."


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and held out the promise f even greater enefits or hefuture.37Indeed, all of human history p to that time could be seen as a

lengthy reparation or the advent nd eventual riumph f thenewfaith. With little oaxing, he ife pansof the great mpiresof the past could be fitted nto a neat pattern hichrevealed hehand of God at work n their midst. To the east, heBabylonianempire assimilated orpresent urposes o the Assyrian mpire)had lasted 1,400years; to the north nd south, he Macedonianand Carthaginian mpires, 00 years ach; to the west,Rome wasalreadymore han 1,000years ld.38 In time, hepersecutionsowhich hefirst enerations f Christians ere ubjected ad abated.The empire ad not only eenfit o sanction he new religion uthad becomeofficially hristian nder Theodosius.Furthermore,there was little ikelihood hat these accomplishments ould beannulled ysubsequent etbacks r the regressiono a lessdesirablestage of human development. ust s the plaguesvested n theEgyptians ad stopped t ten, o the persecutionsnflicted n the

earlyChristians ad ceased at the samenumber.39 n the mean-time, he Old Testament rophecies elating o the blessings fthe messianicgeweregradually eing ulfilled: wordswerebeingturned ntoplowshares;ustice nd peacewere n the verge f forg-ing a lasting lliance; under he aegisof the new emperors, hekingdom f God was about to be inaugurated, ot ust n heaven,as some ess worldly-mindedpologists or he Christian aith hadpredicted, ut here on earth.40

True, nnocent eoplewere tillmadeto suffer njustly nd thewicked ccasionallynjoyed ndeserved rosperity. ut this meantonly hat the former ould go to heaven little ooner nd thelatter o hell a little ater.41 Orosiushimself, ho had managed

37 Hist. adv. Paganos 3.8; 5.1; 6.1; 6.17; 6.19-20; 6.22; 7.2, et passim.SinceE. Peterson, er Monotheismus ls politischer roblem Leipzig,1935),p. 88, Orosius'political heology s often eferred o as an "Augustus heology."Cf. F.

Dvornik, EarlyChristian nd

Byzantineolitical

Philosophy,ol. 2

(Washington, 1966), p. 725; H.-I. Marrou, "Saint Augustin, Orose etl'augustinisme istorique," . 81.

38 Hist. adv. Paganos 5.2.39 Ibid., 7.27.40 Cf. ibid., 5.1-2; 7-41.41 Ibid., 7.41: "For what oss s it to the Christian ho s eager for ternal

life to be taken away from his world at any time and by whatevermeans?Moreover,what gain is it to the pagan in the midst of Christians, bdurateagainst he faith, f he protracts is day a little onger, incehe, whosecon-version s despaired f, s destined o die?"


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332 THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

to escape from his own troubled Spain to more peaceful shores,could afford o remain undaunted. Had he not discovered newhome in North Africa, where he joyfully ound himself a Romanamong Romans, a Christian mong Christians, nd a man amongmen"--something hat would never have been possible before.42What more was needed to prove that things were getting betterand would continue to do so as time went on?

However plausible Orosius' simpleminded cheme may haveappeared to some of his contemporaries nd to his innumerablereaders in the centuries hat followed, t did not meet with theapproval of Augustine, who never once mentions his collaboratorin the elevenbooksof the City of God that remained o be written43and even seemsto go out of his way to reject the position orwhichhe had opted. Traces of his dissatisfaction ith the work of hisdisciplemay be detected n Book XVIII, where Augustine xplicitlytakes ssue with those who would equate the triumph f Christianitywith the realization of the famous messianic prophecies of Isaiah

and of Psalm 72. "I do not think," he says,it can be rashly sserted r believed, s somehave done and stilldo, that until he time of the Antichrist he Church will no longerhave to suffer ny persecutions eyond hosewhich t has alreadysuffered, hat is to say, ten. . . . Nor do I share the view thatthese persecutions ere prophetically ignified y what happenedin Egypt, howevernicely nd ingeniously hesetwo sets of eventsmay have been related o each other, ot by the Spirit who speaksthrough he prophets, ut by the conjecture f the human mind,which sometimes its the truth nd sometimes misses t.44

Not only from he time of Christ but from hat of Abel the Churchhas gone forth n pilgrimage, mid both the persecutions f theworld and the consolations of God; and so it will be "until theend of time."45 As far as the prospects for the future are con-cerned, they remain as uncertain s always; for "in the very greatmutability f human affairs, o people has even been granted uchsecurity s would free t from he dread of invasionshostile o this

42 Ibid., 5.2.43 In the Prologue Orosius notes that Augustinewas in the process of

completing he eleventh ook of the City of God when his own Seven Booksappeared.

44 De Civ. Dei 18.52.1.45 Ibid., 18.51,2.


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AUGUSTINE AND HISTORY 333

life."46 Neither s it true that the rise and decline of the greatworld empires fall into anything ike the symmetrical attern nto

which Orosius had unscrupulously ried to nudge them. The Assy-rian empire, for example, endured, not 1,400 years, but 1,240years or, if one includes the reign of Belus, 1,305 years.47 Nojuggling f the historical ata will allowus to uncover n intimationof rational design n this random succession f worldly powers.

The same skepticism ervades Augustine's reinterpretation fthe notion of a "Christian era"-tempora christiana-which hadrecently een injected into the debate as a term of derogation bythe pagan adversaries f Christianity.48 rosius had seized uponit not only to vindicate the Christian faith--others had done asmuch-but to bolster his own incremental onception of the de-velopment f Roman history: "Behold how under Christian kingsand in these Christian imes (tempora christiana) civil wars, evenwhen they prove unavoidable, are brought o a happy issue. Thevictory has been won, the city stands intact, the tyrant has been

laid low."49 Augustine s a good deal more cautious. Howeverbeneficial he may have considered he spread of Christianity o bein other respects, e certainly id not think hat it carried with itany guarantee of earthly prosperity. t has been proposed, mostrecently y R. A. Markus, that Augustine, oo,had once succumbedto a "triumphant" ssessment f the emergence f Christianity ndviewed the present ge as the long-awaited fulfillment f the OldTestament prophecies, nly to retract himself n his later writingsand subject his initial understanding f the tempora christiana o a"drastic devaluation" n the ight of the reverses f the first ecadesof the fifth entury.50 Whether or not this is the case remainssomewhat debatable.51 There is little reason to believe that Au-

46 Ibid., 17.13.47 Ibid., 4.6 and 18.21. Cf. Marrou, "Saint Augustin, Orose et 1'augus-

tinisme historique," p. 75; E. Corsini, Introduzione alle "Storie" di Orosio

(Turin, 1968), pp.203-204.

48 Cf. P. Courcelle, "Propos antichritiens rapportis par saint Augustin,"Recherches augustiniennes, 1 (Paris, 1958), 178-183.

49 Hist. adv. Paganos 7.33.50 R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St.

Augustine (Cambridge, 1970), p. 35.51 See the recent discussion of Markus's thesis by G. Madec, "Tempora

christiana: Expression du triomphalisme chritien ou rcrimination palenne,"in Scientia Augustiniana: Studien iiber Augustinus, den Augustinismus undden Augustinerorden, ds. P. Mayer and W. Eckermann (Wurzburg, 1975),pp. 112-136.


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gustine ever sought to endow the Christian empire with quasi-messianic attributes, nd even less reason to believe that he had

second thoughts bout ascribing a temporal meaning to the pro-phetic utterances f the Old Testament.52 I know of no text inwhich he denies that any of these prophecies refer to temporalevents. What he does deny, n his early s well as in his ater works,is that they contain only glad tidings. The truth of the matter,as he sees it, is that both happy and unhappy events have beenforetold by the prophets nd the Gospel. Commenting gain onthe convulsions f his time, he writes:

These things houldmake us weep but not wonder; and we oughtto cry unto God that, not for ur merit ut according ohis mercy,he may deliver us from uch great evils. For, what else was to beexpectedby the human race, seeing hat these hingswere so longago foretold oth by the prophets nd in the Gospel? We oughtnot, herefore, e so inconsistent s to believe hese criptures henthey re read by us, and to complainwhen they re fulfilled. tis rather hose who refused o believe when

theyread or heard

these hings n Scripturewho ought to becomebelievers ow thatthey behold the word fulfilled. Just s this great pressure f theLord God's olive-press rings orth he dregs of unbelievingmur-murs and blasphemies, o, too, it should produce a steady out-pouring of pure oil in the confessions nd prayers f believers.For, to those who never tire of hurling heir mpiouscomplaintsat the Christian aith nd claim that, prior to the time when thisdoctrine was proclaimed hroughout he world, the human racewas not

subjectedto such

greatevils, an answer can readily be

given from he Gospel. Indeed, as the Lord says, That servantwho does not know his master's will and does what deservesbeating hall receive light beating,whereas he servantwho doesknow his master's will and does what deserves beating shallreceive severebeating" Luke 22:47-48). Is it surprising hat,in these Christian imes christianis emporibus), his world, ikethe servant who knowshis master'swill and yet does what deservesa beating hould be punished everely? These people notice therapidity with which the Gospel is propagated, ut not the per-versity ith which t is despisedby many.53

If the new times, hen, are not necessarily etter r more peacefulthan the old, one cannot claim for Christianity he politically

52 For examples f Old Testament rophecies hat maybe thought o havebeen realized n New Testament imes, ee De Civ. Dei 18.46-50.

53 Epist. 111.2.See alsoDe Catechizandis udibus27.53-54;Sermo81.7-9;SermoDenis 24.10-13; Madec, "Tempora christiana," p. 124-125.


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AUGUSTINEANDHISTORY 335

redemptive olethat Orosius nd his mentor, usebius,had as-signed o it.

The attractiveness f Eusebius'Reichstheologiend its Orosiananalogue s that t offered hat wasfar nd awaythe most legantsolution etdevised o the problem f the Christian's nvolvementin Roman public ife. As long as this nvolvement ntailed herisk of complicity n a manifestly niquitous ule, the Christianconscience ould feel ustified n adopting n attitude f uncom-promising pposition o it. One is reminded n this onnection fthe bitter nvectivesf an earlier eneration f Christian xtremists,represented re-eminently y Hippolytus f Rome,who had beentaught y the Book of Revelation o identify he Roman Empirewith he harlot seated upon the even hills" nd "drunk with hebloodof the saints nd martyrs f Jesus."54Under such adverseconditions,t mightwellbe askedwhat ndeed he Church had todo with Caesar. The accession f a Christian, r of omeone artialto Christianity, o the mperial hrone ad brought bout a com-

plete reversal f the situation. ittle wonder hat this unexpectedturn f events hould have been hailed s the most mportant ile-stone n the history f Christianity incethe birth f Christ.55 fpublic affairswere henceforth o be administered n accordancewith herules f strict ustice, f wars were destined o disappearaltogether, f the onlywars remaining o be wagedwere demon-strably ust wars, nd if the newly onverted mpirewas but anearthly eflection f God's eternal kingdom,56 ny qualms thatone might have had about lending ne's support o it could belaid to rest. The conflict etween he moral deal of the Sermonon the Mount and the harsh necessities f the political ife hadhappily ome to an end.

One finds t somewhat asier o sympathize ith Eusebius' n-thusiastic, f seemingly ncritical, ndorsement f Constantine nd

54 Cf. Hippolytus In Danielem 4.8-9. J. W. Swain, "The Theory of theFour Monarchies: Opposition History under the Roman Empire," ClassicalPhilology, 35 (1940), 1-21; R. A. Markus, "The Roman Empire in EarlyChristian Historiography," . 342; idem, Saeculum, pp. 48-49.

"5 For a detailed account of the initial enthusiasm provoked by the Chris-tianization of the Empire and the subsequent reaction against it, see G. Wil-liams, "Christology and Church-State Relations in the Fourth Century,"Church History, 0, no. 3 and 20, no. 4 '(1951), 3-33 and 3-26.

56 Cf. Eusebius Laus Constantini 1.6; 3.5-6, passim, and the discussionby E. Cranz, "Kingdom and Polity in Eusebius of Caesarea," Harvard Theo-logical Review, 45 (1952), 47-66.


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the Christian mpire. After ll, he had witnessed heatrocities fthe reign f Diocletian he wassixteenwhen he emperor ccededto the throne) nd had been forced o spend ome ime n jail as ayoungman. Given hisclosenesso the new eat of power, owever,it is hard to imagine hat he couldhave been totally lind to thedarker ide of his hero'spolicies.There s much o be said for hesuggestion hat Eusebius' naivete was more apparent han real,since yhisown dmission e had "relatedwhatever ight edoundto the glory, nd ... suppressedll that ould end o the discredit,of religion."'57 rosius' nly xcusewas his gnorance r hismonu-mental hallowness.

Unfortunately, hat both of them propounded s a final n-swer o the perennially exed uestion f the relation f Christianityto civil ociety ould be seen, nd was in fact een by Augustine,as a new and more nsidious anger or t least two reasons.Thefirst s that, by binding Christianity o the promise f temporalrewards, t nevitably astdoubts n the genuinenessf one's senti-

ments n regard o t.58 A believermaybe attracted oChristianityfor a variety f human reasons, ut ultimately he faith hat sdemanded f him cannot be accepted orany motive ther hanthe faith tself. The fundamental mbiguity f the Eusebian orthe Orosian cheme s that t rendered hristianity qually ppeal-ing to believers nd nonbelievers.Without iving ts claim todivine ruth s much s a second hought, nemight ookupontheChurch s a viable olution o some f the most rgent ocialprob-lemsof the day. Properly rganized nd supported, t could bepressed nto service o counteract he forces hat threatened hedissolutionf an inordinatelyarge nd unwieldy olitical tructure.Its spirit f moderation nd law-abidingness aslikely o improvethe manners f society, articularly t a time when he traditionalsources f morality ere howing igns f unmistakable eakness.

57 Edward Gibbon,The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, hap. 16,with references o EusebiusHist. Eccl., 8.2, and De Martyr. alest. 12. Cf.Gibbon, hap. 18: "The courtly ishop, who had celebrated n an elaboratework he virtues nd piety f his hero, observes prudent ilence n the sub-ject of these tragic events." The year in which Constantine onvoked heCouncilof Nicaea was also that n which he had his own son and his sister'sson murdered. Orosius is candid enough to say that this was done for"unknown easons,"Hist. adv. Paganos 7.28.

58 Cf. De Civ. Dei 4.33; 5.25; 1.8,2,with G. Bardy's emarks n this textin Saint Augustin, a cit4 de Dieu, Bibliothique ugustinienne, ol. 33 (Paris,1959), 767-769.


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Laws are effective o the extent o which they re accompaniedby habits f decency nd self-restraint n the part of most itizens;left othemselves,hey eldom nspire irtue nd are even ess ca-pableof containing ice. Yet it waspainfully bvious hat neithereducation or pagan religion, hetwo principal gencies n whichgovernments ad formerly elied or hispurpose, as adequatetothe task. A universal nd despotic mpire s not the most uitablelocusof moral education, nd the old religion f the city, whichhad been on the wane for years,was not about to be revived.

Much more could beexpected

rom he newreligion,

hichaddressed tself o everybody egardless f language, thnic ack-ground, r local tradition. Christians ad long rejected he deathat they onstituted separate ace or a triton enos.59Unlikeother religious roups, hey were not given to living n iso-lation r to withdrawing rom ociety ltogether. ne found hemeverywhere, ingling reely ith herest f the population, haringtheir ustoms, heir ress, nd, within rescribedimits, heir en-eral way of life.60The moral eaching o which hey ubscribedenjoined hepractice f public s well as of private irtue. Oncegenerally ccepted, t could be counted n to curb heselfish as-sions and propagate entiments f truth, ustice, nd harmonyamong a people who would regard hemselvess the commonchildren f the one true God. Thanks o its nfluence, he dissen-sions acking he mpire ere ess pt to erupt ntobloody trife. nGibbon'smemorable ords, a prudent magistrate ight bservewith pleasure nd eventually upport he progress f a religionwhich iffused mong hepeople pure, enevolent,nd universalsystem f ethics, dapted oevery uty nd every ondition f ife,recommended s the will and reasonof the supreme eity, ndenforced y the sanction f eternal ewards nd punishments."61

The cost n the other ide of the political edgerwas,all thingsconsidered,minimal. Even the disparagement f military alor,

which t other moments nd under different ircumstancesouldonly ethought f as a liability, adsuddenly urned nto distinctasset, avoring heends o which n its elf-interest,mperial olicyhad to be committed. y the same token, mperors ad little o

59 The designation ad been applied to Christians n someearly exts, .g.,Praed. Petri, rg. ; Clement f Alex.,Stromata, .5,41, nd Aristides pol. 2.

60 Cf. De Civ. Dei 19.17.61 Declineand Fall of the Roman Empire, hap. 20.


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338 THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

fear from religion hichderived he nstitution f civilgovern-ment rom hewillof God,frowned pon edition, nd discouragedworldly mbitionwith s much vigor s it extolled he virtue fobedience o one's divinely anctioned ulers. f even under thereign f Nero St. Paul had preached he duty of unconditionalsubmission o tyrants, ow much more willingwould Christiansbe to acquiescen the rule of a princewho was at the sametimepatron nd a defender. he new alliance wasclearly dvantageousto both parties. By a miraculous onvergence,t served he bestinterests f both heaven nd earth.

Littlemorewas required o lay bare the essential eakness fany purely olitical efense f Christianity. t is significant hatthe City of God devotes arelymore than two short hapters oConstantine nd Theodosius, hemost renowned f the Christianemperors, nd that, n reviewing heir reigns, ugustine tressestheir rivate irtues o the virtual xclusion f their olitical ir-tues.62The conversion f the Roman Empire,which others ad

acclaimed s a crucial urning oint n the history f the Church,is dismissed s a mere episode n an ongoing rocessno singlemoment f which s to be privileged ver ny othermoment. Justas Augustine acitly ejects heByzantine heology f Eusebius, ohe passes ver n silence he o-called ugustus heology f Orosius,with ts typical mphasis n the providential onnection etweenthe pax romana nd the emergence f Christianity. he birth fChrist nderAugustus s dulyrecorded, ut n a single ine and asa chronologicaloincidence romwhichno prognosis an be maderegarding he future ourse f human vents.63

There s yet another, erhapsmore cogent easonfor which,upon reflection, usebius' mperial heologyn any of its formsappeared fraught with peril. If, as Eusebius nd Orosius eemto have beenpersuaded, olitical nstitutions re bound o improvewith assing f time nd if, longwith his mprovement,heevilsto which

hey nvariably averise are to vanish from he

scene,one wonders what s to become of human excellence nd virtueonce the process eaches ts completion. ater generations ouldbe spared the trouble f overcoming he obstacles hat had pre-viously tood n the path of right ction. The success f their n-

62 De Civ. Dei 5.25 and 26. Cf. Y.-M. Duval, "L'loge de Thxodosedansla Citi de Dieu (5.26.1)," Recherches ugustiniennes, (Paris, 1966), 135-179.

63 De Civ. Dei 18.46; cf. ibid., 3.30.


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deavorswouldbe assuredwithout heir aving omakeany of theefforts equired f their essfortunate redecessors. ne could ookforward o the day when one need not shoulder he burden ofvirtue n order o reap its rewards.

Augustine's uestion s whether irtue an still e calledvirtueif successs alwaysguaranteed. here s surely othing rong nfollowing charted ourse of action whose outcome s never ndoubt, ut there s nothing articularly loriousn it either.Whatgives o virtue ts distinctively uman haracter s precisely heun-

certaintyith which n all

interestingases one is

compelledo

act. Peopleare at best responsible or hegoodness r badness ftheir eeds, otfor heir esults. heymaydeserve o be successful,but whether r not they re depends n large measure n circum-stances hat ie beyond heir ontrol nd may not even be knownto them t the time f action. A just udge who has done every-thing n his power o ascertain hefacts f the case cannot e heldto accountfor unwittingly ondemning n innocent erson, ow-

everwronghis udgmentmay be.64 The paradox s that were tnot for he possibilityf evil,virtue tself ould be in seriouseop-ardy. Prudence oses ts raison d'etre once one is relieved f theneed to discern ight romwrong, s doesmoderation nce all theimpediments o the ccomplishmentf what has been udgedrightare removed.65 he function f virtue s not to do awaywith vilbut to conquer t.66 Evenas it doesso, ts victory s never ecure;for as long s the vices gainstwhich t struggles esist, hebattleremains recarious, nd evenwhen defeated hey o not permittriumph f carefree ase."67

Nowhere s this nner trugglemore pparent han when thedeliberations ear on the use of force s a meansof opposing n-justice. For the sake of preserving he purity f one's soul, onewoulddoubtless refer o see an end to all wars, ut even this willnever be more than a pious wish. A weak justice s hardly n

apppropriate esponseo the njustices f the world. t only eadsto greater njustice y llowing hewicked o prevail ver he ust.68Complete eaceis not part of man's mortal ondition. t belongsto that other ife" which lone s free rom hecorruption f sin

64 Cf. De Civ. Dei 19.6.65 Ibid., 19.4.4.66 Ibid., 19.4.3.67 Ibid., 19.27.68 Ibid., 19.7.


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and death nd n which othing ither n ourselves r n others illbe at war with any of us.69

Against hebackground f these deas one s in a better ositionto measure he gulf hat eparates heAugustinian rom hemodemview of history. he philosophy f history ame into being withKant at the end of the eighteenth entury nd the earlyyears fthe nineteenth

enturyn the wake of Rousseau's

poch-makingattack n bourgeoismorality. ts basic thrust as not only o re-store enuinemorality ut to insure hat ts exercise ould not beobstructed y oppressive olitical tructures. ith typicalmodernrealism t assumed hat humangoodwillalone could not be relieduponto overturn hese vil tructures nd that henecessary eformwould come about only hrough he operation f a hidden tele-ology" at work n the historical rocess. Progresswas assured

neither y the simplediffusion f scientific nowledge, s othershad oncethought, orby the deliberate ursuit f moral purposeson the part of human beings, ut by the free nterplay f theessentiallymmoral r self-regarding assions.70 y their ncessantpreying n oneanother uman eings ad created situation romwhich hey ould extricate hemselvesnly by desisting rom nyfurther ttempt t aggrandizement t the expense f their ellowhumanbeings.71Wars woulddiminish n frequency nd intensity,

69 Ibid., 19.27; cf. Enar. in Psalm. 148.1-2.70 Cf. I. Kant, The Idea for a UniversalHistory rom Cosmopolitan

Point of View,Fourth hesis, n ImmanuelKant, On History, d. L. W. Beck,(Indianapolis, 1963), p. 15: '"Thus man expects pposition n all sides be-cause, in knowing imself, e knows hat he, on his own part, s inclined oopposeothers. This opposition t is which wakens ll his powers, rings imto conquer his inclination o lazinessand, propelled by vainglory, ust forpower, nd avarice, to achieve a rank among his fellowswhom he cannottolerate ut from whom he cannot withdraw." dem, Perpetual Peace, First

Supplement, bid., p.106: "The

guaranteef

perpetual eaceis

nothingess

than that great artist, nature (natura daedala rerum). In her mechanicalcoursewe see that her aim is to produce harmony mongmen, gainst heirwill and indeed through heir discord. As a necessity orking ccording olaws we do not know, we call it destiny. But, considering ts design n worldhistory, e call it 'providence,' nasmuch s we discern n it the profoundwisdom of a higher cause which predetermines he course of nature anddirects t to the objective inalend of the human race."

71Idea for a UniversalHistory, . 16: "Man wishes oncord;but Natureknows etter what is good for the race; she wills discord. He wishes o livecomfortably nd pleasantly; Nature wills that he should be plunged from


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not because their rrationality ffended mankind's moral sense,but because heywereproving vermore ostly nd suicidal.72Aninvisible and of nature ad seen to it that heantagonisms hichcharacterize uman ntercourse ould constrain ven evildoers oaccept civic onstitution ecognizingherights f all human be-ings and granting o each individual s much freedom s is con-sistent ith he freedom f others.73 he conflict etween rivateand publicmorality nce resolved, o one would run the risk fbeingpunished or omplying ith unconditionally indingmorallaw.7.4

To be sure, he whole process, lthough morally esirable, idnot of tself eadto a higher egree f morality; or, hefree ocietythat t was calculated o produce ould still heoreticallye madeup entirely f devils.75 o that xtent, ant's solution alledfor

sloth and passivecontentment nto labor and trouble, n order that he mayfind means of extricating imself rom hem. The natural urges to this, thesourcesof unsociableness nd mutual opposition rom which so many evilsarise, drive men to new exertions f their forces nd thus to the manifolddevelopment f their capacities."

72 Ibid., SeventhThesis,p. 18: "The friction mong men, the inevitableantagonism, hich s a mark of even the largest ocieties nd politicalbodies,is used by Nature as a means to establish condition f quiet and security.Through war, through he taxing nd never-ending ccumulation f armament,through he want which any state, ven in peacetime,must suffer nternally,Nature forces hem o make at first nadequate nd tentative ttempts; inally,after devastations, evolutions,nd even complete xhaustion, he brings hemto that which reason ould have told them t the beginning nd with far ess

sad experience, o wit, to step from he lawlesscondition f savages nto aleague of nations."73 Ibid., Fifth Thesis, p. 16: "The highest urpose of Nature, which s

the development f all the capacitieswhich can be achievedby mankind, sattainable nly n society, nd more pecificallyn the society ith the greatestfreedom. Such a society s one in which there s an all-pervasive ppositionamong the members, ogether ith the most exact definition f freedom ndfixing f its limits o that t may be consistent ith he freedom f others."

74 Perpetual Peace, Appendix , p. 117: "Taken objectively,morality sin itself ractical, eing the totality f unconditionally andatory aws accord-

ingto which we

oughtto act. It would

obviouslye

absurd,fter

grantingauthority o the concept f duty, o pretend hat we cannot do our duty, orin that case this concept would tself rop out of morality ultra posse nemoobligatur). Consequently, here can be no conflict f politics, s a practicaldoctrine f right, with ethics, s a theoretical octrine f right."

75 Perpetual Peace, First Supplement, p. 111-112: "Now the republicanconstitution s the only one entirely itting o the rights f man. But it is themost difficult o establish nd even harder to preserve, o that many say arepublicwould have to be a nation of angels,becausemen with their elfishinclinations re not capable of a constitution f such sublime orm. But pre-ciselywith hese nclinations ature omes o the aid of the generalwill estab-


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series f correctiveshat others fter im wouldattempt osupply.But f the goodcitizen eed not be a goodman, at least here wasnothing o prevent he good man from eing t the same timegoodcitizen. One was henceforth pared he gnominy f havingto suffer njustly t the hands of an immoral ociety.

Augustine as at once more hopeful or hedestiny f the ndi-vidual nd less hopeful or hat f society t large. To repeatwhatwassaidearlier, heCity f Godwasfirst onceived s an effort orefurbish hearguments y whichChristian pologetics ad tradi-tionally ought o reconcileChristianity ith the legitimate e-mands of the political ife. It soon becameapparent, owever,that the ncisive ssuewas not whether ivil society ould surviveChristianity ut whether hristianity tself ould survive ts nte-gration nto civil ociety. he problemwas the more cute as thenewfaith wasnever nvisaged s a purely rivate oncern ut wasrather alled upon oplaywithin ociety role imilar othat whichhad once devolved ponpaganreligion. efore he workwas com-

pleted, he onventional efense ithwhich t beganhad developedinto a highly riginal ttack n someof Augustine's ellow hris-tians nd a far more probing nalysis f the political mplicationsof the Christian aith han ny that had hitherto eenundertaken.

The solution doptedby Eusebius nd his followers as basedon the assumption hat a converted oman empire ould ive upto the ethical tandards f the Gospel r that perfectlyust socialorder was possible.Augustine estroyed he ground f the argu-ment y nsisting hatno society adever onformed othe require-ments f strict ustice r waslikely o do so. The very otion f aChristian olity,whether t be upheld eriously r for reasons fexpediency,s at best a comforting nd at worst fatal llusion.Christianwisdom nd politicalpower are not only distinct utalwaysmore r ess t odds with ach other n accordancewith hevicissitudesf history nd the mostly vil nclinations f the humanheart. Some

regimesmaybe

superioro others ut there s no rea-

son to think hat heregime nderwhich ne happens o livewilllishedon reason,which s revered ven though mpotent n practice. Thus itis only question f a goodorganization f the state which doeslie in man'spower), whereby he powers of each selfish nclination re so arranged nopposition hat one moderates r destroys he ruinous ffect f the other. Theconsequence or reason s the same as if none of them existed, nd man isforced o be a good citizen ven f not morally good man. The problem forganizing state, however ard it may seem,can be solvedeven for a raceof devils, f only they re intelligent."


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necessarily e followed y a better ne, or, more mportantly, hatany of them s at all capableof fulfilling an's onging orwhole-ness.76 In short, he history f which he City of God speaks sanything ut an inside history. ts goal remains ranscendent ndwholly ndependent f any observablemprovementn the politicalsphere.

In view of Augustine's essimism egarding he perfectibilityof human nstitutions nd the structural oundations f society,one is entitled o ask what, f anything, hemodemphilosophy fhistory westo him. The one point on whichboth viewswouldappear to be in agreement, ven though t is never xplicitly is-cussedby Kant, concerns he inear nd nonrepeatable haracterof the historical rocess. That this central remise hould havebeen so easily aken orgranted y modemphilosophers f historyis perhaps n indirect ribute o the persuasive owerof the Cityof God. But then he notion hat history akes ts course long astraight ine can hardly e considered n Augustinian nnovation.

It underlies he whole of the biblical ccount f human xistence,for which both Kantian and Hegelianphilosophy ere ntendedas a substitute. ne is still eft o wonder n what specific enseAugustinemight ualify s the first hilosopher f history r thefather f the modern historical onsciousness.

Is Cf. De Civ. Dei 2.21; 19.21 and 24.

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