28. Ep. 1*A.1–3 (BA 46B:54–58); trans. Eno, FOTC 81:14–16.
On the City of God 327 scribed and defended although, where it was more opportune, I have undertaken the defense in the first ten, as well as the refutation in the last twelve.
If, however, you would prefer to have more than two volumes, then you must have five, of which the first will contain the first five books in which I dispute those who claim that the worship, not of the gods, but of demons, helps to achieve happiness in this world; the second group of five is aimed [against those] who think that the many gods such as we have mentioned above, or of whatever kind of gods, must be worshiped with ceremonies and sacrifices on account of the life to come after death. Then the next three volumes which follow must have four books each. This section has been so arranged by us that four demonstrate the origins of that city, and an equivalent number, its progress, or as we prefer to say, its development, and the last four, its appointed ends.
(2) If you are as eager to read these books as you were to get hold of them, you will know of how much assistance they are from your own experience rather than from my assurance. Concerning the work On the City of God, which our brothers in Carthage do not yet have, I ask you kindly to give it to those who want to copy it—not to many at the same time, but only to one or two, and they will pass it on to others; you will also arrange how to give it to your friends, whether they are Christians who want to learn or people still held by some superstition, from which they will seem to be able to be freed by the grace of God through this effort of mine.
(3) Accordingly in my letters, if the Lord is willing, I shall frequently take the trouble to ask you how far you have gotten in your reading; as a learned man, you are not unaware of how helpful re-reading a section can be in understanding what is read; for the difficulty of understanding is non-existent or certainly very slight where there is facility in reading and this becomes so much the greater the more it is repeated; by persistence, as it were, [something becomes more mature which through lack of attention] had remained immature.28
Theme of the Two Cities
Magnum Opus et Arduum
Augustine dedicated On the City of God to his friend Marcellinus, who had first brought the issues so forcefully to his attention. Marcellinus was tragically executed in
28. Ep. 1*A.1–3 (BA 46B:54–58); trans. Eno, FOTC 81:14–16.