TWO CITIES & THE GOOD LIFE
As I see that I have still to discuss the fit destinies of
the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, I must first explain,
so far as the limits of this work allow me, the reasonings by
which men have attempted to make for themselves a happiness in
this unhappy life, in order that it may be evident… how the
empty dreams of the philosophers differ from the hope which God
gives to us... Philosophers have expressed a great variety of
diverse opinions regarding the ends of goods and of evils, and
this question they have eagerly canvassed, that they might, if
possible, discover what makes a man happy. For the end of our
good is that for the sake of which other things are to be desired,
while it is to be desired for its own sake; and the end of evil
is that on account of which other things are to be shunned, while
it is avoided on its own account. Thus, by the end of good, we
at present mean, not that by which good is destroyed, so that
it no longer exists, but that by which it is finished, so that
it becomes complete; and by the end of evil we mean, not that
which abolishes it, but that which completes its development.
These two ends, therefore, are the supreme good and the supreme
evil; and, as I have said, those who have in this vain life professed
the study of wisdom have been at great pains to discover these
ends, and to obtain the supreme good and avoid the supreme evil
in this life. And although they erred in a variety of ways, yet
natural insight has prevented them from wandering from the truth
so far ….
The same may be said of those three kinds of life, the life
of studious leisure and search after truth, the life of easy engagement
in affairs, and the life in which both these are mingled. When
it is asked, which of these should be adopted, this involves no
controversy about the end of good, but inquires which of these
three puts a man in the best position for finding and retaining
the supreme good. For this good, as soon as a man finds it, makes
him happy; but lettered leisure, or public business, or the alternation
of these, do not necessarily constitute happiness. Many, in fact,
find it possible to adopt one or other of these modes of life,
and yet to miss what makes a man happy…
…What shall I say of that virtue which is called prudence?
Is not all its vigilance spent in the discernment of good from
evil things, so that no mistake may be admitted about what we
should desire and what avoid? And thus it is itself a proof that
we are in the midst of evils, or that evils are in us; for it
teaches us that it is an evil to consent to sin, and a good to
refuse this consent. And yet this evil, to which prudence teaches
and temperance enables us not to consent, is removed from this
life neither by prudence nor by temperance. And justice, whose
office it is to render to every man his due, whereby there is
in man himself a certain just order of nature, so that the soul
is subjected to God, and the flesh to the soul, and consequently
both soul and flesh to God -- does not this virtue demonstrate
that it is as yet rather laboring towards its end than resting
in its finished work? For the soul is so much the less subjected
to God as it is less occupied with the thought of God; and the
flesh is so much the less subjected to the spirit as it lusts
more vehemently against the spirit. So long, therefore, as we
are beset by this weakness, this plague, this disease, how shall
we dare to say that we are safe? and if not safe, then how can
we be already enjoying our final beatitude? Then that virtue which
goes by the name of fortitude is the plainest proof of the ills
of life, for it is these ills which it is compelled to bear patiently.
And this holds good, no matter though the ripest wisdom co-exists
with it.
…Salvation, such as it shall be in the world to come,
shall itself be our final happiness. And this happiness these
philosophers refuse to believe in, because they do not see it,
and attempt to fabricate for themselves a happiness in this life,
based upon a virtue which is as deceitful as it is proud….
In our present wretched condition we frequently mistake a
friend for an enemy, and an enemy for a friend. And if we escape
this pitiable blindness, is not the unfeigned confidence and mutual
love of true and good friends our one solace in human society,
filled as it is with misunderstandings and calamities? And yet
the more friends we have, and the more widely they are scattered,
the more numerous are our fears that some portion of the vast
masses of the disasters of life may light upon them. For we are
not only anxious lest they suffer from famine, war, disease, captivity,
or the inconceivable horrors of slavery, but we are also affected
with the much more painful dread that their friendship may be
changed into perfidy, malice, and injustice.
THE SOCIAL LIFE & JUSTICE
…We give a much more unlimited approval to [the] idea
that the life of the wise man must be social. For how could the
city of God … either take a beginning or be developed, or
attain its proper destiny, if the life of the saints were not
a social life? But who can enumerate all the great grievances
with which human society abounds in the misery of this mortal
state? Who can weigh them? Hear how one of their comic writers
makes one of his characters express the common feelings of all
men in this matter: "I am married; this is one misery. Children
are born to me; they are additional cares." What shall I
say of the miseries of love, which Terence also recounts -- "slights,
suspicions, quarrels, war to-day, peace to-morrow?" Is not
human life full of such things? Do they not often occur even in
honorable friendships? On all hands we experience these slights,
suspicions, quarrels, war, all of which are undoubted evils; while,
on the other hand, peace is a doubtful good, because we do not
know the heart of our friend, and though we did know it to-day,
we should be as ignorant of what it might be tomorrow.
Who ought to be, or who are more friendly than those who live
in the same family? And yet who can rely even upon this friendship,
seeing that secret treachery has often broken it up, and produced
enmity as bitter as the amity was sweet, or seemed sweet by the
most perfect dissimulation? ...[This] allusion is made by the
divine saying, "A man's foes are those of his own household,"
-- words which one cannot hear without pain; for though a man
have sufficient fortitude to endure it with equanimity, and sufficient
sagacity to baffle the malice of a pretended friend, yet if he
himself is a good man, he cannot but be greatly pained at the
discovery of the perfidy of wicked men, whether they have always
been wicked and merely feigned goodness, or have fallen from a
better to a malicious disposition. If, then, home, the natural
refuge from the ills of life, is itself not safe, what shall we
say of the city, which, as it is larger, is so much the more filled
with lawsuits civil and criminal, and is never free from the fear,
if sometimes from the actual outbreak, of disturbing and bloody
insurrections and civil wars?
What shall I say of these judgments which men pronounce on men,
and which are necessary in communities, whatever outward peace
they enjoy? Melancholy and lamentable judgments they are, since
the judges are men who cannot discern the consciences of those
at their bar, and are therefore frequently compelled to put innocent
witnesses to the torture to ascertain the truth regarding the
crimes of other men.
… [T]he ignorance of the judge frequently involves an innocent
person in suffering… If such darkness shrouds social life,
will a wise judge take his seat on the bench or no? Beyond question
he will. For human society, which he thinks it a wickedness to
abandon, constrains him and compels him to this duty. And he thinks
it no wickedness that innocent witnesses are tortured regarding
the crimes of which other men are accused; or that the accused
are put to the torture, so that they are often overcome with anguish,
and, though innocent, make false confessions regarding themselves,
and are punished; or that, though they be not condemned to die,
they often die during, or in consequence of, the torture; or that
sometimes the accusers, who perhaps have been prompted by a desire
to benefit society by bringing criminals to justice, are themselves
condemned through the ignorance of the judge, because they are
unable to prove the truth of their accusations though they are
true, and because the witnesses lie, and the accused endures the
torture without being moved to confession.
These numerous and important evils he does not consider sins;
for the wise judge does these things, not with any intention of
doing harm, but because his ignorance compels him, and because
human society claims him as a judge. But though we therefore acquit
the judge of malice, we must none the less condemn human life
as miserable. And if he is compelled to torture and punish the
innocent because his office and his ignorance constrain him, is
he a happy as well as a guiltless man? Surely it were proof of
more profound considerateness and finer feeling were he to recognize
the misery of these necessities, and shrink from his own implication
in that misery; and had he any piety about him, he would cry to
God "From my necessities deliver Thou me."
THE MISERY OF WARS, EVEN OF THOSE CALLED JUST
[The] state or city comes the world, the third circle of human
society -- the first being the house, and the second the city.
And the world, as it is larger, so it is fuller of dangers, as
the greater sea is the more dangerous. And here, in the first
place, man is separated from man by the difference of languages.
For if two men, each ignorant of the other's language, meet, and
are not compelled to pass, but, on the contrary, to remain in
company, dumb animals, though of different species, would more
easily hold intercourse than they, human beings though they be.
For their common nature is no help to friendliness when they are
prevented by diversity of language from conveying their sentiments
to one another; so that a man would more readily hold intercourse
with his dog than with a foreigner. But the imperial city has
endeavored to impose on subject nations not only her yoke, but
also her language, as a bond of peace, so that interpreters, far
from being scarce, are numberless. This is true; but how many
great wars, how much slaughter and bloodshed, have provided this
unity!
And though these [wars] are past, the end of these miseries has
not yet come. For though there have never been wanting, nor are
yet wanting, hostile nations beyond the empire, against whom wars
have been and are waged, yet, supposing there were no such nations,
the very extent of the empire itself has produced wars of a more
obnoxious description -- social and civil wars -- and with these
the whole race has been agitated, either by the actual conflict
or the fear of a renewed outbreak. If I attempted to give an adequate
description of these manifold disasters, these stern and lasting
necessities, though I am quite unequal to the task, what limit
could I set?
But, say they, the wise man will wage just wars. As if he
would not all the rather lament the necessity of just wars, if
he remembers that he is a man; for if they were not just he would
not wage them, and would therefore be delivered from all wars.
For it is the wrongdoing of the opposing party which compels the
wise man to wage just wars; and this wrong-doing, even though
it gave rise to no war, would still be matter of grief to man
because it is man's wrong-doing. Let every one, then, who thinks
with pain on all these great evils, so horrible, so ruthless,
acknowledge that this is misery. And if any one either endures
or thinks of them without mental pain, this is a more miserable
plight still, for he thinks himself happy because he has lost
human feeling.
EVERY NATURE DESIRES PEACE, EVEN THE FIERCE
Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and
to our common nature, will recognize that if there is no man who
does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does
not wish to have peace. For even they who make war desire nothing
but victory -- desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with
glory. For what else is victory than the conquest of those who
resist us? And, when this is done, there is peace. It is therefore
with the desire for peace that wars are waged, even by those who
take pleasure in exercising their warlike nature in command and
battle. And hence it is obvious that peace is the end sought for
by war. For every man seeks peace by waging war, but no man seeks
war by making peace. For even they who intentionally interrupt
the peace in which they are living have no hatred of peace, but
only wish it changed into a peace that suits them better. They
do not, therefore, wish to have no peace, but only one more to
their mind.
And in the case of sedition, when men have separated themselves
from the community, they yet do not effect what they wish, unless
they maintain some kind of peace with their fellow-conspirators.
And therefore even robbers take care to maintain peace with their
comrades, that they may with greater effect and greater safety
invade the peace of other men. And if an individual happens to
be of such unrivalled strength, and to be so jealous of partnership,
that he trusts himself with no comrades, but makes his own plots,
and commits depredations and murders on his own account, yet he
maintains some shadow of peace with such persons as he is unable
to kill, and from whom he wishes to conceal his deeds. In his
own home, too, he makes it his aim to be at peace with his wife
and children, and any other members of his household; for unquestionably
their prompt obedience to his every look is a source of pleasure
to him. And if this be not rendered, he is angry, he chides and
punishes; and even by this storm he secures the calm peace of
his own home, as occasion demands. For he sees that peace cannot
be maintained unless all the members of the same domestic circle
be subject to one head, such as he himself is in his own house.
And therefore if a city or nation offered to submit itself to
him, to serve him in the same style as he had made his household
serve him, he would no longer lurk in a brigand's hiding-places,
but lift his head in open day as a king, though the same covetousness
and wickedness should remain in him. And thus all men desire to
have peace with their own circle whom they wish to govern as suits
themselves. For even those whom they make war against they wish
to make their own, and impose on them the laws of their own peace.
For the most savage animals... encompass their own species with
a ring of protecting peace. They cohabit, beget, produce, suckle,
and bring up their young, though very many of them are not gregarious,
but solitary -- not like sheep, deer, pigeons, starlings, bees,
but such as lions, foxes, eagles, bats. For what tigress does
not gently purr over her cubs, and lay aside her ferocity to fondle
them? What kite, solitary as he is when circling over his prey,
does not seek a mate, build a nest, hatch the eggs, bring up the
young birds, and maintain with the mother of his family as peaceful
a domestic alliance as he can? How much more powerfully do the
laws of man's nature move him to hold fellowship and maintain
peace with all men so far as in him lies, since even wicked men
wage war to maintain the peace of their own circle, and wish that,
if possible, all men belonged to them, that all men and things
might serve but one head, and might, either through love or fear,
yield themselves to peace with him! It is thus that pride in its
perversity apes God. It abhors equality with other men under Him;
but, instead of His rule, it seeks to impose a rule of its own
upon its equals. It abhors, that is to say, the just peace of
God, and loves its own unjust peace; but it cannot help loving
peace of one kind or other. For there is no vice so clean contrary
to nature that it obliterates even the faintest traces of nature.
He, then, who prefers what is right to what is wrong, and what
is well-ordered to what is perverted, sees that the peace of unjust
men is not worthy to be called peace in comparison with the peace
of the just. And yet even what is perverted must of necessity
be in harmony with, and in dependence on, and in some part of
the order of things, for otherwise it would have no existence
at all...
THE HABITS OF THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
… As to these three modes of life, the contemplative, the
active, and the composite, although, so long as a man's faith
is preserved, he may choose any of them without detriment to his
eternal interests, yet he must never overlook the claims of truth
and duty. No man has a right to lead such a life of contemplation
as to forget in his own ease the service due to his neighbor;
nor has any man a right to be so immersed in active life as to
neglect the contemplation of God. The charm of leisure must not
be indolent vacancy of mind, but the investigation or discovery
of truth, that thus every man may make solid attainments without
grudging that others do the same. And, in active life, it is not
the honors or power of this life we should covet, since all things
under the sun are vanity, but we should aim at using our position
and influence, if these have been honorably attained, for the
welfare of those who are under as, in the way we have already
explained. It is to this the apostle refers when he says, "He
that desireth the [office of a bishop] desireth a good work."
…
Wherefore, as the life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed
life of man is God, of whom the sacred writings of the Hebrews
say, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord."
Miserable, therefore, is the people which is alienated from God.
Yet even this people has a peace of its own which is not to be
lightly esteemed, though, indeed, it shall not in the end enjoy
it, because it makes no good use of it before the end. But it
is our interest that it enjoy this peace meanwhile in this life;
for as long as the two cities are commingled, we also enjoy the
peace of Babylon. For from Babylon the people of God is so freed
that it meanwhile sojourns in its company. And therefore the apostle
also admonished the Church to pray for kings and those in authority,
assigning as the reason, "that we may live a quiet and tranquil
life in all godliness and love." And the prophet Jeremiah,
when predicting the captivity that was to befall the ancient people
of God, and giving them the divine command to go obediently to
Babylonia, and thus serve their God, counseled them also to pray
for Babylonia, saying, "In the peace thereof shall ye have
peace," -- the temporal peace which the good and the wicked
together enjoy.[Above selections from Augustine's City of
God]
CHRISTIANS AND WAR
Do not think that it is impossible for any one to please God while
engaged in active military service. Among such persons was the
holy David, to whom God gave so great a testimony; among them
also were many righteous men of that time; among them was also
that centurion who said to the Lord: "I am not worthy that
Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and
my servant shall be healed: for I am a man under authority, having
soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and
to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and
he doeth it;" and concerning whom the Lord said: "Verily,
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
Among them was that Cornelius to whom an angel said: "Cornelius,
thine alms are accepted, and thy prayers are heard," when
he directed him to send to the blessed Apostle Peter, and to hear
from him what he ought to do, to which apostle he sent a devout
soldier, requesting him to come to him. Among them were also the
soldiers who, when they had come to be baptized by John -- the
sacred forerunner of the Lord, and the friend of the Bridegroom,
of whom the Lord says: "Among them that are born of women
there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist," --
and had inquired of him what they should do, received the answer,
"Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be
content with your wages." Certainly he did not prohibit them
to serve as soldiers when he commanded them to be content with
their pay for the service.
They occupy indeed a higher place before God who, abandoning all
these secular employments, serve Him with the strictest chastity;
but "every one," as the apostle says, "hath his
proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that."
Some, then, in praying for you, fight against your invisible enemies;
you, in fighting for them, contend against the barbarians, their
visible enemies. Would that one faith existed in all, for then
there would be less weary struggling, and the devil with his angels
would be more easily conquered; but since it is necessary in this
life that the citizens of the kingdom of heaven should be subjected
to temptations among erring and impious men, that they may be
exercised, and "tried as gold in the furnace," we ought
not before the appointed time to desire to live with those alone
who are holy and righteous, so that, by patience, we may deserve
to receive this blessedness in its proper time.
Think, then, of this first of all, when you are arming for the
battle, that even your bodily strength is a gift of God; for,
considering this, you will not employ the gift of God against
God. For, when faith is pledged, it is to be kept even with the
enemy against whom the war is waged, how much more with the friend
for whom the battle is fought! Peace should be the object of your
desire; war should be waged only as a necessity, and waged only
that God may by it deliver men from the necessity and preserve
them in peace. For peace is not sought in order to the kindling
of war, but war is waged in order that peace may be obtained.
Therefore, even in waging war, cherish the spirit of a peacemaker,
that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back
to the advantages of peace; for our Lord says: "Blessed are
the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God."
If, however, peace among men be so sweet as procuring temporal
safety, how much sweeter is that peace with God which procures
for men the eternal felicity of the angels! Let necessity, therefore,
and not your will, slay the enemy who fights against you. As violence
is used towards him who rebels and resists, so mercy is due to
the vanquished or the captive, especially in the case in which
future troubling of the peace is not to be feared. [Above selections
from Augustine's Letter to Boniface, Letter 189 (A.D. 418)]
[Some have] said that the Christian doctrine and preaching were
in no way consistent with the duties and rights of citizens, because
among its precepts we find: "Recompense to no man evil for
evil," and, "Whosoever shall smite thee on one cheek,
turn to him the other also; and if any man take away thy coat,
let him have thy cloak also; and whosoever will compel thee to
go a mile with him, go with him two," -- all which are affirmed
to be contrary to the duties and rights of citizens; for who would
submit to have anything taken from him by an enemy, or forbear
from retaliating the evils of war upon an invader...?
[I answer that] these things are done only that a wicked man may
be overcome by kindness, or rather that the evil which is in the
wicked man may be overcome by good, and that the man may be delivered
from the evil -- not from any evil that is external and foreign
to himself, but from that which is within and is his own, under
which he suffers loss more severe and fatal than could be inflicted
by the cruelty of any enemy from without. He, therefore, who is
overcoming evil by good, submits patiently to the loss of temporal
advantages, that he may show how those things, through excessive
love of which the other is made wicked, deserve to be despised
when compared with faith and righteousness; in order that so the
injurious person may learn from him whom he wronged what is the
true nature of the things for the sake of which he committed the
wrong, and may be won back with sorrow for his sin to that concord,
than which nothing is more serviceable to the State, being overcome
not by the strength of one passionately resenting, but by the
good-nature of one patiently bearing wrong.
Wherefore a righteous and pious man ought to be prepared to endure
with patience injury from those whom he desires to make good,
so that the number of good men may be increased, instead of himself
being added, by retaliation of injury, to the number of wicked
men.
These precepts concerning patience ought to be always retained
in the habitual discipline of the heart, and the benevolence which
prevents the recompensing of evil for evil must be always fully
cherished in the disposition. At the same time, many things must
be done in correcting with a certain benevolent severity, even
against their own wishes, men whose welfare rather than their
wishes it is our duty to consult and the Christian Scriptures
have most unambiguously commended this virtue in a magistrate.'
For in the correction of a son, even with some sternness, there
is assuredly no diminution of a father's love; yet, in the correction,
that is done which is received with reluctance and pain by one
whom it seems necessary to heal by pain. And on this principle,
if the commonwealth observe the precepts of the Christian religion,
even its wars themselves will not be carried on without the benevolent
design that, after the resisting nations have been conquered,
provision may be more easily made for enjoying in peace the mutual
bond of piety and justice.
For the person from whom is taken away the freedom which he abuses
in doing wrong is vanquished with benefit to himself; since nothing
is more truly a misfortune than that good fortune of offenders,
by which pernicious impunity is maintained, and the evil disposition,
like an enemy within the man, is strengthened. But the perverse
and forward hearts of men think human affairs are prosperous when
men are concerned about magnificent mansions, and indifferent
to the ruin of souls; when mighty theatres are built up, and the
foundations of virtue are undermined; when the madness of extravagance
is highly esteemed, and works of mercy are scorned; when, out
of the wealth and affluence of rich men, luxurious provision is
made for actors, and the poor are grudged the necessaries of life;
when that God who, by the public declarations of His doctrine,
protests against public vice, is blasphemed by impious communities,
which demand gods of such character that even those theatrical
representations which bring disgrace to both body and soul are
fitly performed in honour of them. If God permit these things
to prevail, He is in that permission showing more grievous displeasure:
if He leave these crimes unpunished, such impunity is a more terrible
judgment. When, on the other hand, He overthrows the props of
vice, and reduces to poverty those lusts which were nursed by
plenty, He afflicts in mercy. And in mercy, also, if such a thing
were possible, even wars might be waged by the good, in order
that, by bringing under the yoke the unbridled lusts of men, those
vices might be abolished which ought, under a just government,
to be either extirpated or suppressed.
For if the Christian religion condemned wars of every kind, the
command given in the gospel to soldiers asking counsel as to salvation
would rather be to cast away their arms, and withdraw themselves
wholly from military service; whereas the word spoken to such
was, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely,
and be content with your wages," the command to be content
with their wages manifestly implying no prohibition to continue
in the service. Wherefore, let those who say that the doctrine
of Christ is incompatible with the State's well-being, give us
an army composed of soldiers such as the doctrine of Christ requires
them to be; let them give us such subjects, such husbands and
wives, such parents and children, such masters and servants, such
kings, such judges -- in fine, even such taxpayers and tax-gatherers,
as the Christian religion has taught that men should be, and then
let them dare to say that it is adverse to the State's well-being;
yea, rather, let them no longer hesitate to confess that this
doctrine, if it were obeyed, would be the salvation of the commonwealth.
[Selections from Augustine's Letter to Marcellinus,
Letter 138 (A.D. 412)]
