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The Church Fathers · c. 440–450
On the Government of God
De Gubernatione Dei
Salvian of Marseilles · c. 400–c. 490
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What it is
An argument that the barbarians are overrunning the empire because Roman Christians are more corrupt than the pagans they despise, with the taxes and the arena as evidence.
Why it lasted
The fiercest social criticism to survive from late antiquity, and a rare voice speaking for the provincial poor.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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