About three centuries after Plato’s death, Greece was conquered
by Rome, which built a vast empire. The Roman Empire lasted for
several centuries. During the third century A.D. Christianity
spread in the Roman Empire and in 333 A.D the Roman Emperor,
Constantine, declared Christianity as the State religion of his
Empire. But the Empire then began to break up due to the
invasions of the various Germanic tribes from northern Europe.
Then began a period of confusion and anarchy, State religion,
Christianity, was threatened with extinction due to the paganism
of the Germanic tribes. At this time the Christian Church was
assailed and challenged by various kinds of heresies. The early
Church Fathers strove to save the Christian religion and church
from these religious and political threats. One of them was St.
Augustine (354-430 A.D.) Augustine was the bishop of Hippo, in
North Africa, which was then a province of the Roman Empire. He
was a prolific writer. Among his many books was one on which he
spent more than t