Letters (Epistulae)

Therefore, when the Church was afflicted by these straits, whoever thinks that all things ought to have been endured rather than asking that God's help be brought through Christian emperors, pays too little attention to the fact that no good account could have been given for this negligence.

V 19 For what they say, that laws against their impieties are not just...

The fifth part of this work, containing the preface and six indices, will follow within two years.

...serves because he is a man, and he serves in another way because he is also a king; for because he is a man, he serves by living faithfully, but because he is also a king, he serves by sanctioning laws that command just things and prohibit the contrary with appropriate vigor, just as Hezekiah served by removing the groves and temples of the idols and those high places which were built against the commands of God.

Scriptural references: Ps 2:1-2; Ps 2:10-11; 4 Kgs 18:4.

A note for the reader: St. Augustine, Letter 185, section II, part 4.