Read City of God (Penguin Classics) Online
Authors: Saint Augustine
32
. Phil. 3, 7f.
33
. Matt. 19, 28.
34
. Ps. 102, 27; Hebr. 1,12.
35
. 1 Cor. 4, 7.
36
. 1 Tim. 1, 5.
37
. 1 John 4, 7.
38
. 2 Cor. 5, 10.
39
. Ps. 74, 12.
40
. The Apostles’ Creed.
41
. Eph. 4, 9.
42
. cf. Is. 5, 6.
43
. Matt. 10, 22.
44
. 1 Sam. 2, 27–36.
45
. St Augustine corrects himself on this point in Retract, 11, 69. The statement that “Samuel was not among the sons of Aaron” should rather have been put in this way: “Samuel was not the son of a priest.” The regular custom was for priests to be succeeded by their sons. Samuel’s father is in fact listed among the sons of Aaron, but in the same way as all the people are called ‘sons of Israel’. The present passage is somewhat opaque, but St Augustine’s argument goes like this: The prophecy to Eli remained unfulfilled in its direct application, inasmuch as the Aaronic priesthood continued. But it had a temporary fulfilment in Samuel’s succession to the priesthood, since he was not ‘a son of Aaron’ (or, rather, not a son of a priest). This event was itself a prophecy of the supersession of the Jewish priesthood by the Christian; and so in this event, concerned with the old covenant, the words of the prophet pointed to the new covenant.
46
. Fs. 17, 8.
47
. Is. 10, 22.
48
. Rom. 11, 5.
49
. cf Rom. 9, 28; Is. 10, 23.
50
. Ps. 12, 6.
51
. Ps. 84, 10.
52
.1 Tim. 2, 5.
53
.1 Pet. 2, 9.
54
.1 Cor. 10, 17.
55
. John 6, 51.
56
. Matt 24, 15.
57
. i.e. an event or action with an ulterior meaning; cf. Bk XVI, 37n.
58
.1 Sam. 24, 1–6.
59
.1 Sam. 13, 13f.
60
. Hebr. 12, 24.
61
. Luke 19, 10.
62
. Eph. 1, 4.
63
.1 Sam. 15, 23–9. The last sentence is not in the Hebrew, nor in LXX.
64
.1 Tim. 2, 5.
65
. Ps. 110, 1.
66
. John 1, 47.
67
. cf. Gal. 1, 24.
68
. cf. Gal. 4, 21–31.
69
. Gen. 21, 10.
70
. Gal. 4, 24.
71
. cf. 2 Cor. 3,1 sf.
72
. 1 Sam. 7. 9–12- (LXX. ‘Old and new Mizpah’ is in the Hebrew ‘Mizpah and Shen’.)
73
. The Hebrew word means ‘watch-tower’.
74
. 2 Sam. 7, 8–16.
75
. A popular etymology; the Hebrew word sholôm=’peace’.
76
. Ps. 72, 8.
77
.1 Cor. 3, 17.
78
. The
LXX
title for the books of Samuel and Kings.
79
. Fs. 89 (LXX 88), 3f; cf. n.124.
80
. Ps. 89, 19–29.
81
. cf. Phil. 12, 7.
82
. 2 Sam. 7, 14f.
83
. Ps. 105, 15.
84
. Ps. 89, 3off.
85
. Acts 9, 4.
86
. Ps. 89, 33–7.
87
. Ps. 89, 38 (LXX; Hebrew: ‘You have been enraged with your anointed.’)
88
. Ps. 89, 39–45.
89
. cf. Gal. 4.
90
. Ps. 89, 46.
91
. Ps. 13, 1.
92
. cf Bk XX, 29.
93
. Ps. 89, 46f. (
substantia
; LXX,
hypostasis
, taken by St Augustine as ‘essential being’).
94
. Ps. 144, 4.
95
. Rom. 6, 9.
96
. John 10, 18.
97
. 2 Sam. 7, 19; 29.
98
. cf. Eph. 2, 20; 1 Pet. 3, 5; Rev. 21, 3; 1 Cor. 15, 28.
99
. 2 Sam. 7, 11; 27.
100
. Ps. 127, 1.
101
.2 Sam. 7, 10f.
102
. Judg. 3, 30.
103
. cf. Gal. 4, 26.
104
. cf. Bk XVI, 39 and n.
105
. Ps. 110 (LXX 109); Matt. 22, 43.
106
. Haggai and Zechariah in the
LXX
version of Psalms.
107
. 1 Kings 13, 2.
108
. Christian
centos
(‘patchworks’) were constructed from the classical works; e.g. an epic on the life of Christ composed of material from Virgil’s
Aencid
in the fourth century.
109
. Ps. 45, 1–9.
110
. Ps. 45, 10–17.
111
. Ps. 48, 2.
112
. Ps. 18, 43f.
113
. Impossible. Probably ‘stronghold’, or ‘dry place’.
114
. cf. Gen. 11, 10; Bk XVI, 4.
115
. Ps. 17, 44ft.
116
. Rom. 10, 17.
117
. Ps. 87; 5.
118
. Ps. 110, 1f.
119
. cf. Ps. 112, 10.
120
. cf. Gen. 14, 18.
121
. Ps. 22, 16f; cf. Matt. 27, 35; John 19, 24.
122
. Ps. 22, 27f
123
. Ps. 3, 5.
124
. Ps. 40 in
LXX
and hence in St Augustine’s text; Ps. 41 in the Hebrew Bible and English Versions.
125
. Ps. 41, 5ff.
126
. Ps. 41, 9.
127
. John 13, 18; 26.
128
. John 6, 70f.
129
. Matt, 25, 35; 40.
130
. Ps. 16 (
Lxx
15), 19f.
131
. Ps. 68 (
Lxx
67), 20.
132
. The Latin is ambiguous; ‘escape of’ or ‘escape from’.
133
. Matt. 1, 21.
Jesus
is the Greek form of
Joshua
, which in Hebrew (Yeh
ō
shûa’, Yeshûa’) means, probably, Yahweh is salvation.’
134
. Ps. 69 (
LXX
68) 21; cf. Matt. 27, 34; 48.
135
. Ps. 69, 22f.
136
. Ps. 32, 1.
137
. ch. 8.
138
. Sall. Cat, 11, 8.
139
. Wisd. 2, 12–21.
140
. Ecclus. 36, 1–5.
141
. Prov. 1, 11ff.
142
. Matt. 21, 38.
143
. 1 Sam. 2, 5. cf. ch. 4.
144
. Prov. 9, 1–5.
145
.1 Cor. 1, 27.
146
. Prov. 9, 6.
147
. Eccl. 8, 15.
148
. Ps. 40 (
Lxx
39) 6.
149
. Eccl. 7, 2; 4.
150
. Eccl. 10, 16f.
151
: Rom. 5, 5.
152
. Ps. 25, 3.
153
. 1, 4(
Lxx
).
154
. 7, 7.
155
. 1 Kings 19, 10; 14; 17.
156
. Capture of Samaria by Sargon II of Assyria, 721
B.C.
; end of the Kingdom of Israel. First deportation of Judeans to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, 596
B.C.
Fall of Jerusalem and second deportation, 586
B.C.
Capture of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia, 538
B.C.
; Jews allowed to return. The return from Exile began in 537
B.C.
; the building of the second Temple 520–516. Jerusalem was captured by the Romans under Pompey, 63
B.C.
Judea became part of the Roman province of Syria.
157
. Matt. 11, 13.
l
. Augustine depends largely on the
Chronicle
of Eusebius, translated and continued by Jerome (ed. R. Helm C.G.S., 47) The obelus symbol (†) indicates this dependence in the account of the early empires and cheir kings.
2
. cf. Bk IV, 6; XVI, 17. It would be tedious to attempt a detailed annotation of St Augustine’s sketch of ancient history. His sources show the vagueness of antiquity about the great empires of the East; Assyria and Babylon are generally – and understandably – confused. But a few dates may be of service.
The First Babylonian Empire began towards the end of the third millenium
B.C.
, and, for nearly a thousand years, the centre of power was in the South of Mesopotamia. By 1000
B.C.
this power was crumbling; Egypt was dominant, and in the North of Mesopotamia the Assyrians (racially indistinguishable from the Babylonians) were asserting themselves, with their capital at Nineveh. By the middle of the ninth century the Mesopotamian Empire had its political centre in the North. This Assyrian Empire collapsed before the New Babylonian Empire founded by Nabopalassar in 625
B.C.
, and Nineveh fell in 612. In 538 Babylon in its turn fell to Cyrus, the Persian, who had started the Persian rise to empire with the overthrow of the Medes (northern allies of Babylon) in 549.
3
. Sicyon was never a great power; in early times it was dependent on Argos. It attained independence and international importance under a series of ‘tyrants’ in the seventh and sixth centuries
B.C
., and its list of ancient monarchs seems to have acquired for Sicyon some of the renown properly belonging to Mycenae and Argos in the Heroic Age; and its reputation was enhanced by its prominence in the Achaean League of the third century.
4
. Sall., Cat., 8,
7ff
.
5
. cf. Bk XVI, 17.
6
. cf. Bk XVI, ch. 4. Justinus (1, 2) ad Diodorus Siculus (2, 7) attribute the building of Babylon to Semiramis. The Greek fables about Semiramis, representing her as the Assyrian equivalent of Catherine of Russia, came from Diodorus, who based this account on Ctesias, the Greek historian of Persia (fourth century
B.C.
). The historical Semiramis was probably a Babylonian princess, Sammuramat, wife of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad v, and queen-regent 810–805
B.C.
for her son Adad-Niram III. It appears that she introduced the worship of Nebo into Nineveh.
7
. Pausanias (2, 19, 5) says that he was credited with the invention of fire.
8
. Eusebius identifies Io and Isis.