Geneva Classical Academy – Summer Reading
Greco-Roman History – 8th Grade
As the title of our class suggests, we will be focusing our studies primarily on the history of the Greeks and the Romans. We will be exploring what made them so great, why we consider them to be so influential upon the course of Western history, and what led to the downfall of their respective civilizations.
As you will recall from the grammar timeline, the Western Roman Empire fell in 476. You should also remember from your time at Geneva the story of Saint Augustine. Augustine lived from 354 to 430, and most of you have read about him in P. de Zeeuw’s Augustine: The Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste.
You remember the tale of the unbelieving boy who stripped his father’s pear tree of its fruit, spent a night with the pigs as his punishment, was converted to Christianity in his thirties, and who went on to defend the true teachings of the faith and to establish himself as one of the most important fathers of the early church.
At the grammar level, you read about Augustine. Now, at the dialectic level, you are reading the very words of Augustine himself.
Augustine spent about fourteen years, from 413 to 427, writing his City of God. It is a massive work which is divided into twenty-two books. Your assignment this summer is to read selections from the first five books.
Why Augustine?
Augustine lived and wrote during a period of history known as the Late Roman Empire. Though most historians date the fall of the Western Roman Empire to 476, Rome was clearly already suffering and facing major disintegration during the life of Augustine. No longer was Rome the force that it had been in the days of Caesar Augustus and Trajan. The Rome of Augustine’s day was riddled with problems, both internal and external, and the cracks were beginning to show. In 410, the weakness of Rome was made readily evident.
In 410, Rome, a city whose inhabitants had long called it urbs aeterna (the eternal city), was sacked. Alaric, leader of a band a Visigoths, led the attack. Many pagans (non-Christians) blamed Christians and the rise of Christianity—which had become the official religion of Rome in 381, just twenty-nine years prior to the sacking—for the sack and for the many difficulties the Romans were facing. Thus, in 413 Augustine set out to respond to the many criticisms that these pagans were leveling against both Christians and Christianity.
In his City of God, Augustine’s goal is to prove that it is not, in fact, the fault of Christianity that Rome has been sacked. In making his argument, he spends much of his time discussing Roman history, critiquing pagan philosophy, and defending Christianity and the teachings of Scripture.
As you read the following selections, answer the corresponding questions with one-paragraph, typed responses. Be sure to incorporate specific examples from the text in your responses. You should also be prepared to present your answers to the class. You will need to carefully read and reread. You will also want a dictionary handy as you read. There will be words you don’t recognize, and you’ll need to look them up.
Make sure you have carefully read and you understand my introduction to this work before you attempt to answer these questions. What I’ve written will substantially help you in understanding the general context of Augustine’s work.
Book I, Chapter 1, Paragraph 1 – According to this paragraph, what is Augustine’s goal with this work? What does he mean by the conceptCity of God? Where does it exist? What is its relationship to the City of Man (though he doesn’t use the phrase City of Man in this paragraph, it is implicit in the paragraph).
Book I, Chapter 3, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Is his argument strong? Why or why not?
Book I, Chapter 8, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book I, Chapter 11, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book I, Chapter 29, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book I, Chapter 35, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Again, though he is speaking of the City of God and the City of Man, he does not use the phrase City of Man. What is the relationship between the two cities? What do they represent? Are members of the City of God part of the City of Man? If so, how? If not, why not?
Book II, Chapter 3, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book III, Chapters30-31, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Is his argument strong? Why or why not?
Book IV, Chapter 33, Paragraph 1 – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book V, Chapter 9, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book V, Chapter 24, – What is Augustine’s primary argument in this paragraph? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Remember to read thoughtfully and reread thoughtfully as you contemplate and respond to Augustine’s arguments.
Remember, you are only required to read these selections from the first five books. However, if you just can’t put Augustine down, please feel free to read more.
Enjoy your reading!
Mr. Strawbridge