As we saw earlier, Augustine’s analysis of politics departs from the fact that
some human beings can guide the lives of others by the threat and employment
of force. Their authority to do so is ordained by God, Augustine says, to humble
those who are subject to it and to control their desires for earthly happiness. Even
the good need this discipline, Augustine thinks. Sometimes it is imposed by subjecting
them to the bad; to this end, God makes use even of men like Nero.
What is true of the subjection of some people to others is equally true, Augustine
thinks, of the subjection of populations to empires. He says:
God, therefore, the author and giver of happiness, because he is the only true God,
himself gives earthly kingdoms to both good men and bad. He does not do this
rashly, or as it were at random, for he is God, not Fortune. Rather he acts in accordance
with an order of things and times which is hidden from us, but entirely
known to him.