Note 9 — Chapter III

St. Augustine, who was then living, gives us an idea of the impression that the capture of Rome made upon the minds of contemporaries, in an extraordinary work of his called The City of God. He undertakes to refute the argument of the pagans that the fall of the city was due to the anger of their old gods, who were believed to have withdrawn their protection on account of the insults heaped upon them by the Christians, who regarded them as demons. He points out that the gods whom Æneas had brought, according to tradition, from Troy had been unable to protect the city from its enemies and asks why any reliance should be placed upon them when transferred to Italian soil. His elaborate refutation of pagan objections shows us that heathen beliefs still had a strong hold upon an important part of the population and that the question of the truth or falsity of the pagan religion was still a living one in Italy.