Noah Lin
11 April 2021
Prof. Torgerson
Fall of Rome Spring ‘21
OROSIUS’ THE SEVEN BOOKS OF HISTORY AGAINST THE PAGANS
Roman historian Paulus Orosius’ The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
presents a narrative of his empire’s history centered around progress towards prosperity under
Christianity. Thus, this work attempts to disprove contemporary Pagan belief in a universal
framework unrelated to Christian divinity. One of Orosius’ key strategies in achieving this
objective is refuting Pagan claims that Roman hardship contradicts the supposed will of Christ
by reframing negative times in Roman history as mankind being “reproved with justice” (6). In
doing so, Orosius manages to recontextualize negativity as part of the broader struggle for
widespread belief in Christ. One example of such effort is seen in Book Seven when Orosius
explains the hardship of barbaric violence in Spain as punishment for those too “stubborn” to
“believe in God’s Gospel” (358).
An integral element in the Pagan argument opposing the proposition of Christian divinity
is the barbaric violence suffered by many Romans after Christ, the “solace of true religion” (5).
In the case of such violence in the Spanish region of the empire, Orosius re-explains these
negative times as demonstrative of “God’s wrath”(358) rather than His absence or
incompetence.
Orosius introduces the topic of barbaric violence in Spain by declaring that he is seizing
the “great opportunity” to speak about the “secret conscience” in “the mind of each and
everyone”(357). The author admits, “The Spains have been invaded; slaughters and devastations
have been endured; indeed, it is nothing new” (357). Orosius transitions into his argument by
first reiterating to the reader that these struggles, like all things, are “the mercy of God” (358)
and reminding them of God’s “warning: ‘When they shall persecute in one city, flee into
another,’ ” (358). Having established this premise, the author is then able to reframe the
negativity surrounding the barbarians as a sort of divine purification.
Orosius begins painting this new picture with a simile that equates the barbarians to
“mercenaries, helpers, and defenders” (358) of God. This comparative rhetoric implies that what
is really taking place through such violence is the riddance of those who “did not give way to
God’s wrath” and were “justly caught and overwhelmed by God’s exceeding anger” (358) as a
result.
However, the author does not stop here as he then also incorporates the interests of the
barbarians in order to place the whole issue of Germanic conflict in an entirely new light.
Orosius writes that these invaders “demanded a very small fee as a reward for their services and
for the transportation of burdens” and soon after “cherish[ed] the Romans as comrades and
friends” (358). Further, the author attributes the acceptance of these people into the empire to the
sole fact that “the churches of Christ were replete with Huns, Suebi, Vandals… and with
innumerable and different peoples” (358). In essence, Orosius’ personification of Christ enables
him to replace the typical understanding of Germanic conflict and accommodation as fueled by
various cultural, economic, and militaristic motivations with a new one centered around God’s
will. This new narrative illustrates the hardship of those who fail to follow God and the fortune
of those who obey Him. Thus, as theorized, what Orosius is doing is reframing negative history
as God’s reproval of mankind. Romans’ struggle with the Germanics in the Spains is repainted in
a way that clearly refutes claims of the Christian faith’s limitation. And ultimately, Orosius fits
this hardship into his far larger puzzle of mankind’s progress towards overall submission to
Christian divinity.
Orosius, Paulus. The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari,
The Cathoric University of America Press, 2002.