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But I have still some things to say in confutation of those who refer
the disasters of the Roman republic to our religion, because it
prohibits the offering of sacrifices to the gods. For this end I must
recount all, or as many as may seem sufficient, of the disasters which
befell that city and its subject provinces, before these sacrifices
were prohibited; for all these disasters they would doubtless have
attributed to us, if at that time our religion had shed its light upon
them, and had prohibited their sacrifices. I must then go on to show
what social well-being the true God, in whose hand are all kingdoms,
vouchsafed to grant to them that their empire might increase. I must
show why He did so, and how their false gods, instead of at all
aiding them, greatly injured them by guile and deceit. And, lastly,
I must meet those who, when on this point convinced and confuted by
irrefragable proofs, endeavor to maintain that they worship the gods,
not hoping for the present advantages of this life, but for those which
are to be enjoyed after death. And this, if I am not mistaken, will
be the most difficult part of my task, and will be worthy of the
loftiest argument; for we must then enter the lists with the
philosophers, not the mere common herd of philosophers, but the most
renowned, who in many points agree with ourselves, as regarding the
immortality of the soul, and that the true God created the world, and
by His providence rules all He has created. But as they differ from
us on other points, we must not shrink from the task of exposing their
errors, that, having refuted the gainsaying of the wicked with such
ability as God may vouchsafe, we may assert the city of God, and
true piety, and the worship of God, to which alone the promise of
true and everlasting felicity is attached. Here, then, let us
conclude, that we may enter on these subjects in a fresh book.
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