City of God:

Book Fifteen

HAVING TREATED IN THE FOUR PRECEDING BOOKS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TWO CITIES, THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY, AUGUSTINE EXPLAINS THEIR GROWTH AND PROGRESS IN THE FOUR BOOKS WHICH FOLLOW; AND, IN ORDER TO DO SO, HE EXPLAINS THE CHIEF PASSAGES OF THE SACRED HISTORY WHICH BEAR UPON THIS SUBJECT. IN THIS FIFTEENTH BOOK HE OPENS THIS PART OF HIS WORK BY EXPLAINING THE EVENTS RECORDED IN GENESIS FROM THE TIME OF CAIN AND ABEL TO THE DELUGE.

CHAPTER 1 -- OF THE TWO LINES OF THE HUMAN RACE WHICH FROM THE FIRST TO LAST DIVIDE IT.

CHAPTER 2 -- OF THE CHILDREN OF THE FLESH AND THE CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE.

CHAPTER 3 -- THAT SARAH'S BARRENNESS WAS MADE PRODUCTIVE BY GOD'S GRACE.

CHAPTER 4 -- OF THE CONFLICT AND PEACE OF THE EARTHLY CITY.

CHAPTER 5 -- OF THE FRATRICIDAL ACT OF THE FOUNDER OF THE EARTHLY CITY, AND THE CORRESPONDING CRIME OF THE FOUNDER OF ROME.

CHAPTER 6 -- OF THE WEAKNESSES WHICH EVEN THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF GOD SUFFER DURING THIS EARTHLY PILGRIMAGE IN PUNISHMENT OF SIN, AND OF WHICH THEY ARE HEALED BY GOD'S CARE.

CHAPTER 7 -- OF THE CAUSE OF CAIN'S CRIME HIS OBSTINACY, WHICH NOT EVEN THE WORD OF GOD COULD SUBDUE.

CHAPTER 8 -- WHAT CAIN'S REASON WAS FOR BUILDING A CITY SO EARLY IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE.

CHAPTER 9 -- OF THE LONG LIFE AND GREATER STATURE OF THE ANTEDILUVIANS.

CHAPTER 10 -- OF THE DIFFERENT COMPUTATION OF THE AGES OF THE ANTEDILUVIANS, GIVEN BY THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS AND BY OUR OWN.

CHAPTER 11 -- OF METHUSELAH'S AGE, WHICH SEEMS TO EXTEND FOURTEEN YEARS BEYOND THE DELUGE.

CHAPTER 12 -- OF THE OPINION OF THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IN THESE PRIMITIVE, TIMES MEN LIVED SO LONG AS IS STATED.

CHAPTER 13 -- WHETHER, IN COMPUTING YEARS, WE OUGHT TO FOLLOW THE HEBREW OR THE SEPTUAGINT.

CHAPTER 14 -- THAT THE YEARS IN THOSE ANCIENT TIMES WERE OF THE SAME LENGTH AS OUR OWN.

CHAPTER 15 -- WHETHER IT IS CREDIBLE THAT THE MEN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGE ABSTAINED FROM SEXUAL INTERCOURSE UNTIL THAT DATE AT WHICH IT IS RECORDED THAT THEY BEGAT CHILDREN.

CHAPTER 16 -- OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN BLOOD-RELATIONS, IN REGARD TO WHICH THE PRESENT LAW COULD NOT BIND THE MEN OF THE EARLIEST AGES.

CHAPTER 17 -- OF THE TWO FATHERS AND LEADERS WHO SPRANG FROM ONE PROGENITOR.

CHAPTER 18 -- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ABEL, SETH, AND ENOS TO CHRIST AND HIS BODY THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER 19 -- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ENOCH'S TRANSLATION.

CHAPTER 20 -- HOW IT IS THAT CAIN'S LINE TERMINATES IN THE EIGHTH GENERATION, WHILE NOAH, THOUGH DESCENDED FROM THE SAME FATHER, ADAM, IS FOUND TO BE THE TENTH FROM HIM.

CHAPTER 21 -- WHY IT IS THAT, AS SOON AS CAIN'S SON ENOCH HAS BEEN NAMED, THE GENEALOGY IS FORTHWITH CONTINUED AS FAR AS THE DELUGE, WHILE AFTER THE MENTION OF ENOS, SETH'S SON, THE NARRATIVE RETURNS AGAIN TO THE CREATION OF MAN.

CHAPTER 22 -- OF THE FALL OF THE SONS OF GOD WHO WERE CAPTIVATED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN, WHEREBY ALL, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF EIGHT PERSONS, DESERVEDLY PERISHED IN THE DELUGE.

CHAPTER 23 -- WHETHER WE ARE TO BELIEVE THAT ANGELS, WHO ARE OF A SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE, FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN, AND SOUGHT THEM IN MARRIAGE, AND THAT FROM THIS CONNECTION GIANTS WERE BORN.

CHAPTER 24 -- HOW WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND THIS WHICH THE LORD SAID TO THOSE WHO WERE TO PERISH IN THE FLOOD: "THEIR DAYS SHALL BE 120 YEARS."

CHAPTER 25 -- OF THE ANGER OF GOD, WHICH DOES NOT INFLAME HIS MIND, NOR DISTURB HIS UNCHANGEABLE TRANQUILLITY.

CHAPTER 26 -- THAT THE ARK WHICH NOAH WAS ORDERED TO MAKE FIGURES IN EVERY RESPECT CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER 27 -- OF THE ARK AND THE DELUGE, AND THAT WE CANNOT AGREE WITH THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE BARE HISTORY, BUT REJECT THE ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION, NOR WITH THOSE WHO MAINTAIN THE FIGURATIVE AND NOT THE HISTORICAL MEANING.

 

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