The City of God · Chapter
Of the violation of the consecrated and other Christian virgins to which they were subjected in captivity, and to which their own will gave no consent; and whether this contaminated their souls. explained
Augustine addresses the accusation that Christian virgins were violated during the sack of Rome, arguing that virtue resides in the soul and that bodily violation without consent of the will does not defile the soul.
What happens
Augustine addresses the accusation that Christian virgins were violated during the sack of Rome, arguing that virtue resides in the soul and that bodily violation without consent of the will does not defile the soul. He acknowledges the shame that arises from such acts but insists that the will remains pure if it does not consent.
Themes in this chapter
Morality and Virtue vs. Pagan Corruption
Augustine defends Christian chastity as a virtue of the soul, arguing that bodily violation without consent does not corrupt the soul, countering pagan accusations of moral failure.
Sin, Grace, and Redemption
The chapter explores the nature of sin and guilt, asserting that only the will's consent can make an act sinful, and that forced acts do not impute guilt to the victim.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author and defender of Christian virtue, arguing that chastity is a virtue of the soul, not the body, and that forced violation does not contaminate the soul if the will remains unshaken.
Key passages
“But truly, with respect to this, it is not Christian faith, nor piety, nor even the virtue of chastity, which is hemmed into any difficulty: the only difficulty is so to treat the subject as to satisfy at once modesty and reason.”
Augustine says that the real challenge is not that Christian faith or chastity is threatened by these violations, but rather how to discuss the topic without offending modesty while still being rational.
Augustine frames the discussion as a pastoral and rhetorical challenge, not a doctrinal crisis.
“Let this, therefore, in the first place, be laid down as an unassailable position, that the virtue which makes the life good has its throne in the soul, and thence rules the members of the body, which becomes holy in virtue of the holiness of the will; and that while the will remains firm and unshaken, nothing that another person does with the body, or upon the body, is any fault of the person who suffers it, so long as he cannot escape it without sin.”
Augustine establishes that true virtue resides in the soul and governs the body through the will; as long as the will does not consent, no external act done to the body can be considered the fault of the person who suffers it.
This is the core argument: bodily violation does not defile the soul if the will remains pure.