Text & Translation of Book VII
Text & Translation of Book VII
This chapter provides the text and translation for Book VII of St. Augustine's The City of God, which resumes his analysis of Terentius Varro's Res Diuinae with a systematic scrutiny of his choice of the select gods, since worship of them occupies the preponderant part of the Roman religion. It records the catalogue of the twenty most important deities and challenges the appropriateness of the selection, suggesting that Vitumnus (life-giver) and Sentinus (sensation-giver) play more important roles than many of the twenty. Statues of the gods in human form, Varro argues, indicate the close relationship between the human and the divine mind. Augustine argues strongly against this view, claiming that such portrayals in human shape convey an unworthy notion of the gods. It also offers further detail of Varro's theology, in which the world is composed of mind and body, and the mind is God.
Keywords: Book VII, St. Augustine, The City of God, Terentius Varro, deities, Vitumnus, Sentinus, divine mind
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