http://www.archive.org/details/city_of_god_ds_librivox
LibriVox recording of The City of God, by Saint Augustine of
Hippo. Read by Darren Slider.
Rome having been stormed and sacked by the Goths under
Alaric their king, the worshipers of false gods, or pagans,
as we commonly call them, made an attempt to attribute this
calamity to the Christian religion, and began to blaspheme
the true God with even more than their wonted bitterness and
acerbity. It was this which kindled my zeal for the house of
God, and prompted me to undertake the defense of the city of
God against the charges and misrepresentations of its
assailants. This work was in my hands for several years,
owing to the interruptions occasioned by many other affairs
which had a prior claim on my attention, and which I could
not defer. However, this great undertaking was at last
completed in twenty-two books. Of these, the first five
refute those who fancy that the polytheistic worship is
necessary in order to secure worldly prosperity, and that
all these overwhelming calamities have befallen us in
consequence of its prohibition. In the following five books
I address myself to those who admit that such calamities
have at all times attended, and will at all times attend,
the human race, and that they constantly recur in forms more
or less disastrous, varying only in the scenes, occasions,
and persons on whom they light, but, while admitting this,
maintain that the worship of the gods is advantageous for
the life to come. In these ten books, then, I refute these
two opinions, which are as groundless as they are
antagonistic to the Christian religion. But that no one
might have occasion to say, that though I had refuted the
tenets of other men, I had omitted to establish my own, I
devote to this object the second part of this work, which
comprises twelve books, although I have not scrupled, as
occasion offered, either to advance my own opinions in the
first ten books, or to demolish the arguments of my
opponents in the last twelve. Of these twelve books, the
first four contain an account of the origin of these two
cities—the city of God, and the city of the world. The
second four treat of their history or progress; the third
and last four, of their deserved destinies. And so, though
all these twenty-two books refer to both cities, yet I have
named them after the better city, and called them The City
of God.
(Summary by the author in his Retractationes (Excerpt from
book ii. 43, as translated by Marcus Dods)
M4B audiobook of complete book
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Artist/Composer: Augustine of Hippo, St.
Date: 2008-03-30
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; literature; audiobooks; philosophy;
religion; theology; augustine; Christianity; monotheism
1 01a - City of God 47:06 2 01b - City of God 48:44 3 02a - City of God 40:51 4 02b - City of God 46:55 5 03a - City of God 43:15 6 03b - City of God 44:52 7 04a - City of God 43:38 8 04b - City of God 41:47 9 05a - City of God 54:07 10 05b - City of God 48:02 11 06a - City of God 30:10 12 06b - City of God 30:06 13 07a - City of God 47:01 14 07b - City of God 45:31 15 08a - City of God 45:45 16 08b - City of God 50:48 17 09a - City of God 27:33 18 09b - City of God 30:08 19 10a - City of God 55:30 20 10b - City of God 59:00 21 11a - City of God 24:51 22 11b - City of God 32:40 23 11c - City of God 38:10 24 12a - City of God 29:43 25 12b - City of God 31:09 26 12c - City of God 26:25 27 13a - City of God 27:29 28 13b - City of God 30:09 29 13c - City of God 25:09 30 14a - City of God 22:32 31 14b - City of God 29:42 32 14c - City of God 27:00 33 14d - City of God 23:48 34 15a - City of God 27:40 35 15b - City of God 30:41 36 15c - City of God 34:31 37 15d - City of God 28:04 38 16a - City of God 31:51 39 16b - City of God 32:27 40 16c - City of God 31:23 41 16d - City of God 38:44 42 17a - City of God 31:48 43 17b - City of God 29:14 44 17c - City of God 28:17 45 17d - City of God 27:53 46 18a - City of God 28:21 47 18b - City of God 29:59 48 18c - City of God 25:01 49 18d - City of God 31:44 50 18e - City of God 31:33 51 18f - City of God 28:18 52 19a - City of God 34:01 53 19b - City of God 28:30 54 19c - City of God 33:19 55 19d - City of God 26:39 56 20a - City of God 26:54 57 20b - City of God 34:23 58 20c - City of God 32:52 59 20d - City of God 36:37 60 20e - City of God 30:40 61 21a - City of God 30:25 62 21b - City of God 37:11 63 21c - City of God 41:26 64 21d - City of God 39:05 65 22a - City of God 31:48 66 22b - City of God 42:06 67 22c - City of God 37:57 68 22d - City of God 45:05 69 22e - City of God 41:14