Augustine in His Own Words
On the City of God 339 call it that—whose Founder and Ruler is Christ, for no one can deny that this is people's real wealth. This name [of Christ], with its varied meanings, is perhaps not quite in tune with our language, but this at least is certain: True justice reigns in that City of which Holy Scripture says: "Glorious things are said of you, O City of God" (Ps 86:3).
(22) But concerning the subject under discussion, however deserving of praise they say the republic once was or still is, the fact remains that by the testimony of their most well-informed writers it had, long before Christ's coming, become a "sink of iniquity." Never a true republic, it had fallen through the foulness of its morals.43
Kingdoms as Bands of Robbers
Augustine debunks the myth of empire at numerous junctures. He notes that one would think that the Empire would instill in its inhabitants a sense of peace and security, but, in fact, its happiness is as fragile as glass. He goes on to mock Roman claims of justice, noting that the Empire is little more than organized crime draped in the artifice of legitimacy. From On the City of God, Book 4:
(3) I would first like to find an answer to this question: Is it reasonable and wise to glory in the extent and greatness of the Empire when you can in no way prove that there is any real happiness in people perpetually living amid the horrors of war, perpetually wading in blood? Does it matter whether it is the blood of their fellow citizens or the blood of their enemies? It is still human blood, in those perpetually haunted by the gloomy specter of fear and driven by murderous passions. The happiness arising from such conditions is a thing of glass, of mere glittering brittleness. One can never shake off the horrible dread that it may suddenly shatter into shards. In order to be perfectly clear on this point, we must not be carried away by hollow verbal blasts and allow our judgment to be confused by the high-sounding words of prattlers about nations, kingdoms, and provinces. . . .
(4) In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized brigandage? For what are bands of brigands but petty kingdoms? They also are groups of people, under the rule of a leader, bound together by a common agreement, dividing their booty according to a settled principle. If this band of criminals, by recruiting more criminals, acquires enough power to occupy
43. Civ. Dei 2.19–22 (CCL 47:50–55); trans. Zema and Walsh, FOTC 8:102–13. On the centrality of this passage, see Robert Dodaro, Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), esp. 10–26, 72–114.