Augustine and Ignorance: Two Roman Cases in the City of God
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2025.sp.iss.09Keywords:
Augustine, ignorance, pagans, pre–Christian Romans, exempla, Varro, De civitate Dei, De consensu evangelistarumAbstract
This paper argues that Augustine is consciously careful when associating Romans of pre–Christian times with ignorance in De civitate Dei. After proposing three types of Augustinian ignorance based on De libero arbitrio, I examine the case of exemplary pagan Romans in De civitate Dei, Book V, where their inherited deep ignorance leads to a positive assessment. Then, I examine the negative perception of Varro, representing erudite pagan Romans in the same work, linking it to Augustine’s views on the ascent of the soul to God. Lastly, a comparative analysis of Augustine’s Varro in De consensu evangelistarum, Book I and his “updated” Varro in De civitate Dei, Books VII and XIX shows that he deliberately reverted Varro to a state of ignorance after he reviewed Varro’s identification of Jupiter with the God of the Jews.
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