Julia Hudson - Leaves, mice, and barbarians: the providential message of incidents in the De Ordine and De Ciuitate Dei.

The development of Augustine’s understanding of the theological value of Roman history can be illuminated by comparing his discussion of trivial incidents in the opening book of the De Ordine with his contemplation on the barbarian attacks against the Roman Empire in the De Ciuitate Dei, I-V. 

In his early philosophical dialogue, Augustine dwelled on various trivial phenomena that suggested the apparent disruption of the natural or well-established order, such as leaves blocking the drain and mice prompting philosophical disputation. In the course of the dialogue, these apparent anomalies were discovered to comply fully with the universal order of creation and to be designed to bring the protagonists to God. In a similar vein, in the De Ciuitate Dei Augustine presents the devastation of Rome by the barbarians in 410, and the religious controversy fuelled by it, as a wake-up call to the divine governance of Roman history. The leaves, mice, and barbarians all emerge as heralds of the City of God, the similarity of the rhetorical strategy highlighting the depth and scope of Augustine’s mature understanding of the theological meaning of apparently disruptive historical events, and of the importance of the Roman past for the universal drama of salvation.