St Augustine' City of God vs the Rot of the Roman Empire (April 19, 2022)

This is the second lecture within Matt Ehret's trilogy on Universal history. The first lecture probed the growth of the oligarchical system via a network of cults throughout the Babylonian empire as it transitioned to Persia as a seat of a globally extended empire. Within the context, the story was told of a small nucleus of humanist resistance which emerged in the wake of a new form of government and culture established by the figure of Solon of Athens and the Ionian city states that waged a miraculous freedom struggle against Persia’s vast hordes of mercenaries and slaves. It was through Solon’s example of a living philosopher king which inspired all later humanist factions within Ancient Greece and beyond sought to emulate in later generations- not the least of which was Socrates' student Plato who created his Academy specifically for that purpose. In this lecture second lecture, we pick up where we left off by reviewing the reality shock faced by the Persian-centered oligarchy upon its defeat under the hand of a student trained by leaders of Plato's academy- Alexander the Great. Upon the dissolution of Alexander's empire into factionalized zones of influence, the oligarchy and their network of cults required safer terrain from which to operate and thus the 250 year alliance between Carthage and the Roman Republic in the west had to be destroyed. With this schism which culminated with the 3rd Punic War, Rome become ripe to host the oligarchical parasite and its network of ruling cults. By following through the transition of Rome from a republic into an empire spreading its system of decadence, slavery and war across the world, a context is created to both understand the internal failures intrinsic to that parasitical system that led to its eventual collapse and also the emergence of the Christian movement. After presenting this historic backdrop, a better appreciation for St. Augustine's life and work during the last days of the western Roman empire can occur as we focus on Augustine's 'Republic' aka: 'The City of God'.