BOOK XIV.

CHAPTER I.

We have already said in the previous books that God wished to create human beings from one man, so that the human race would be united not only by the likeness of nature, but also by a certain necessity of kinship, being bound together into the concordant unity of peace. Nor would this race have died off in each individual, had not the first two—one of whom was created from nothing, the other from him—merited that fate through disobedience. By them, such a great sin was committed that human nature was changed for the worse, and the obligation of sin and the necessity of death were transmitted even to their descendants. The reign of death over men dominated so completely that it drove everyone headlong into the second death, which has no end, as a deserved penalty, had not the undeserved grace of God liberated some from it. And because of this, it has come about that although so many great nations throughout the world live with diverse rites and customs and are distinguished by a manifold variety of languages, weapons, and clothing, there nevertheless existed no more than two certain types of human society, which we could deservedly call two cities, according to our scriptures. One is indeed of men living according to the flesh, the other according to the spirit.