The City of God

Augustine often turns to Virgil’s Aeneid, one of Rome’s founding myths, for examples and support. What role does Virgil play in Augustine’s imagination and philosophy?

Augustine builds his argument through frequent reiteration and through a wealth of examples both historical and literary. What might Augustine’s style of argument reveal about the people he’s writing to? 

What might you glean about the nature and shape of pre-Christian Roman society from Augustine’s description of its many gods? What, judging by the pantheon we learn about here, seems to have been important to pagan Romans?