30. Civ. Dei, praef. (CCL 47:1–2); trans. Zema and Walsh, FOTC 8:17–18.
413 on trumped-up charges of collusion in a failed coup. When Augustine speaks here of this work as a "great and hard task" (magnum opus et arduum), he is referring not to its eventual bulk, but to the complexity of argumentation and depth of learning that such a refutation required. From On the City of God, preface:
My dear Marcellinus: This work which I have begun makes good my promise to you. In it I am undertaking nothing less than the task of defending the glorious City of God against those who prefer their own gods to its Founder. I shall consider it both in its temporal stage here below (where it journeys as a pilgrim among sinners and lives by faith) and as solidly established in its eternal abode—that blessed goal for which we patiently hope "until justice be turned into judgment" (Ps 93:15), but which, one day, is to be the reward of excellence in a final victory and a perfect peace. The task, I realize, is a great and hard one, but God will help me. I know, of course, what ingenuity and force of arguments are needed to convince proud men of the power of humility. Its loftiness is above the pinnacles of earthly greatness, which are shaken by the shifting winds of time—not by reason of human arrogance, but only by the grace of God. For in Scripture, the King and Founder of the City that I have undertaken to speak of revealed to His people the judgment of divine law: "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble" (Jas 4:6). Unfortunately the swollen spirit of human pride claims for itself this high prerogative, which belongs to God alone, and longs and loves to hear repeated in its own praise [Vergil's] line: "To be merciful to the conquered and beat the haughty down."29 Hence, insofar as the general plan of the treatise demands and my ability permits, I must speak also of the earthly city—of that city which lusts to dominate the world and which, though nations bend to its yoke, is itself dominated by its passion for dominion.30
The Two Cities: Biblical Basis
We saw how Augustine, in the opening paragraph of individual books of his Confessions, gradually unfurled the motif of confession. In a similar way in On the City of God, Augustine gradually unfurls the "two cities" theme, notably in the introductions or conclusions to individual books. Here are several key instances. This first one appears at the opening of Book 11 where, after hundreds of pages, Augustine finally brings the "two cities" theme front-and-center and here notes its biblical basis in the Psalms. From On the City of God, Book 11:
29. Vergil, Aeneid 6.853. 30. Civ. Dei, praef. (CCL 47:1–2); trans. Zema and Walsh, FOTC 8:17–18.