The City of God

“And it was not because Troy lost Minerva that Troy perished. What loss did Minerva herself first incur, that led to her own disappearance? Was it, perhaps, the loss of her guards? There can be no doubt that their death made her removal possible—the image did not preserve the men; the men were preserving the image. Why then did they worship her, to secure her protection for their country and its citizens? She could not guard her own keepers.” 

Augustine’s pugnacious attitude and rhetorical fire is apparent right from the start. Here, he draws on the famous foundational story of the fall of Troy to address the ludicrousness of idol-worship. Augustine often refers to events both historical and legendary in the course of his arguments, appealing to Roman identity on a mythic as well as a civic level.

“This sanctuary was not the temple of any common god of the lower orders of deities, but that of the sister and wife of Jove himself, the queen of all the gods. Now contrast it with the memorial shrines of our apostles. To the former were taken the spoils from the burning temples and gods, not to be given to the vanquished, but to be divided among the victors; to the latter was carried, with honour and most scrupulous reverence, all that belonged to those places which was found elsewhere. There, freedom was lost; here, it was preserved. There, captives were confined; here, enslavement was forbidden. There, men were herded by foes who exercised their power by sending them into slaver; here, they were conducted by foes who showed their pity by setting them free.” 

Augustine’s use of parallelism reflects the general shape of his argument. Here, he juxtaposes pagan temples with apostles’ shrines, making a matter-of-fact comparison between the ways these different religious sites operate. His reference to what any citizen might see is part of his rhetorical strategy: This is not just a theological tract, but an appeal to common sense.

“Thus the wicked, under pressure of affliction, execrate God and blaspheme; the good, in the same affliction, offer up prayers and praises. This shows that what matters is the nature of the sufferer, not the nature of the sufferings. Stir a cesspit, and a foul stench arises; stir a perfume, and a delightful fragrance ascends. But the movement is identical.” 

This passage gives a good example of one of Augustine’s go-to techniques: pungent metaphor. The image here links smell to speech: a potent comparison, considering the commonalities of smell and hearing (both perceptions of something powerful but invisible). What a person emits, Augustine suggests, reveals their true nature.