Augustine ─ De Civitate Dei Books XIII & XIV

After completing the first ten books of De Civitate Dei , in which Augustine sought to refute the claim that pagan deities had ensured that Rome enjoyed unbroken success and prosperity in this life and guaranteed its citizens a blessed life after death, Augustine devoted the remaining twelve books to discuss the origins, development and destiny of the two cities of Babylon and Jerusalem, with the predominant emphasis on the city of God. In this volume, the seventh in Peter Walsh's series, Augustine turns to the problem of death as punishment for the sin of disobedience, resumes his attack on the Platonists and pursues a range of topics which emerge from consideration of Adam's sin. This is the only edition of these books in English which provides not only a text but also a detailed commentary on one of the most influential documents in the history of western Christianity.

P.G. Walsh was Senior Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Humanity at the University of Glasgow. He is editor of Augustine, De bono coniugali and De sancta uirginitate (Oxford), translator of Paulinus of Nola (Letters, Poems) and of Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms (Ancient Christian Writers). He is also editor of many volumes of Livy, including separate editions of Books XXXVI to XL in the Aris & Phillips Classical Texts series. Livy is a main source of Augustine in these books of The City of God.