HKB
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Often appears with: theatre and performance · sexual immorality · public prostitution · moderation, luxury, and excess · marriage and betrothal · luxury and wealth-seeking · anti-christian moral critique
Usually: description (1) · temptation (1) · censure (1) · indignation (1)
“What sane man would compare a republic such as this, I will not say to the Roman empire, but to the palace of Sardanapalus, the ancient king who was so abandoned to pleasures, that he caused it to be inscribed on his tomb, that now that he was dead, he possessed only those things which he had swallowed and consumed by his appetites while alive?” Augustine (Aurelius Augustine), Saint of Hippo, The City of God, Volume I · vivid
Augustine describes the happiness sought by critics of Christianity as wealth, domination, sexual license, theaters, prostitutes, lavish banquets, and tolerance of wrongdoing, comparing it to Sardanapalus’ self-indulgent reign.
20. _Of the kind of happiness and life truly delighted in by those who inveigh against the Christian religion._ But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still b…