[78] Crantor, an Academic philosopher quoted by Cicero, _Tusc. Quæst._ iii. 6.
[98] That is to say, it was an obvious and indisputable transgression.
[103] Cicero, _Tusc. Quæst._ iii. 6 and iv. 9. So Aristotle.
[106] An error which arose from the words, "The eyes of them both were opened," Gen. iii. 7.--See _De Genesi ad lit._ ii. 40.
[108] This doctrine and phraseology of Augustine being important in connection with his whole theory of the fall, we give some parallel passages to show that the words are not used at random: _De Genesi ad lit._ xi. 41; _De Corrept. et Gratia_, xi. 31; and especially _Cont. Julian._ iv. 82.
[111] The one word being the Latin form, the other the Greek, of the same adjective.
[112] By Diogenes Laertius, vi. 69, and Cicero, _De Offic._ i. 41.
[121] The position of Calama is described by Augustine as between Constantine and Hippo, but nearer Hippo.--_Contra Lit. Petil._ ii. 228. A full description of it is given in Poujoulat's _Histoire de S. Augustin_, i. 340, who says it was one of the most important towns of Numidia, eighteen leagues south of Hippo, and represented by the modern Ghelma. It is to its bishop, Possidius, we owe the contemporary _Life of Augustine_.
[124] Compare Basil's _Homily on Paradise_, and John Damascene, _De Fide Orthod._ ii. 11.
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.
1. _Of the two lines of the human race which from first to last divide it._
OF the bliss of Paradise, of Paradise itself, and of the life of our first parents there, and of their sin and punishment, many have thought much, spoken much, written much. We ourselves, too, have spoken of these things in the foregoing books, and have written either what we read in the Holy Scriptures, or what we could reasonably deduce from them. And were we to enter into a more detailed investigation of these matters, an endless number of endless questions would arise, which would involve us in a larger work than the present occasion admits. We cannot be expected to find room for replying to every question that may be started by unoccupied and captious men, who are ever more ready to ask questions than capable of understanding the answer. Yet I trust we have already done justice to these great and difficult questions regarding the beginning of the world, or of the soul, or of the human race itself. This race we have distributed into two parts, the one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God. And these we also mystically call the two cities, or the two communities of men, of which the one is predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil. This, however, is their end, and of it we are to speak afterwards. At present, as we have said enough about their origin, whether among the angels, whose numbers we know not, or in the two first human beings, it seems suitable to attempt an account of their career, from the time when our two first parents began to propagate the race until all human generation shall cease. For this whole time or world-age, in which the dying give place and those who are born succeed, is the career of these two cities concerning which we treat.