If a citizen of the City of God should come to rule, he has a
number of responsibilities. He first has the duty to earthly peace
like any other ruler. He also must rule in the most Christian
fashion possible, i.e., with an eye to mercy and charity. If he
loves God he will be a member of a community which has the
love of God as its raison d’etre. However, because of the
essential sinfulness of the City of Man, a Christian society
similar to the City of God is impossible, unless the Church rules.
Augustine states that at no time in the history of the world of men
will a temporal state have only citizens of the City of God as its
citizens.
Augustine’s contribution, in addition to answering those who
saw Christianity the reason for the fall of Rome, consisted in
taking a Platonic view of the world to its logical conclusion, in
the light of Christian theology, to his City of God. Etienne
Gilson’s analogy sums up Augustine’s concept of that commu
nity.
“To understand the origin of social life, let us look at it in the
process of formation in a public spectacle, let us say, a theatrical
presentation. When the spectators gather to attend the perfor
mance, they are unknown to one another and do not form a
society. But if one of the actors plays his role with great talent,
those who like his acting are completely carried away and even
find in it the greatest pleasure the theatrical art has to offer. But
they do more than love the actor who gives them such pleasure;
a kind of mutual sympathy grows up at once between those who
admire him. If the spectators love one another, they obviously do
so, not for themselves, but because of the actor whom they love
with a common love. The proof of this can be seen in the fact that
the more we like an actor the more we applaud so as to induce the
other spectators to admire him. We want to add to the number of
his admirers, so we arouse the indifferent; and if any one should
dare to disagree with us, we hate the contempt he feels for the
object of our affections. Hence, love of an object spontaneously
gives birth to a society which embraces all those whose love is
centered in that object, and excludes all who turn away from it.
This conclusion— and its application is universal— is verified in
a peculiar way in the case of love for God. He who loves God is,
by that very fact, brought into a social relationship with all those
who love Him...”
150 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State