even in this world: Christian Emperors, if virtuous, have been happy even if not fortunate, and
Constantine and Theodosius were fortunate as well; again, the Jewish kingdom lasted as long as
the Jews adhered to the truth of religion.
There is a very sympathetic account of Plato, whom he places above all other philosophers. All
others are to give place to him: "Let Thales depart with his water, Anaximenes with the air, the
Stoics with their fire, Epicurus with his atoms." * All these were materialists; Plato was not.
Plato saw that God is not any bodily thing, but that all things have their being from God, and
from something immutable. He was right, also, in saying that perception is not the source of
truth. Platonists are the best in logic and ethics, and nearest to Christianity. "It is said that
Plotinus, that lived but lately, understood Plato the best of any." As for Aristotle, he was Plato's
inferior, but far above the rest. Both, however, said that all gods are good, and to be
worshipped.
As against the Stoics, who condemned all passion, Saint Augustine holds that the passions of
Christians may be causes of virtue; anger, or pity, is not to be condemned per se, but we must
inquire into its cause.
Platonists are right about God, wrong about gods. They are also wrong in not acknowledging
the Incarnation.
There is a long discussion of angels and demons, which is connected with the Neoplatonists.
Angels may be good or bad, but demons are always bad. To angels, knowledge of temporal
things (though they have it) is vile. Saint Augustine holds with Plato that the sensible world is
inferior to the eternal.
Book XI begins the account of the nature of the City of God. The City of God is the society of
the elect. Knowledge of God is obtained only through Christ. There are things that can be
discovered by reason (as in the philosophers), but for all further religious knowledge we must
rely on the Scriptures. We ought not to seek to understand time and space before the world was
made: there was no time before the Creation, and there is no place where the world is not.
Everything blessed is eternal, but not everything eternal is blessed --e.g., hell and Satan. God
foreknew the sins of devils, but also their
* The City of God, VIII, 5.