E01041: Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God (1.1), states that during the sack of Rome in 410, Christians and pagans alike successfully sought asylum at the shrines of the apostles, not named, but evidently the apostles *Peter and *Paul (S00036 and S00008), and of the martyrs. Written in Latin in Hippo Regius (North Africa), c. 413.

Augustine of Hippo, City of God 1.1

Augustine claims that the very people who blame Christians for misfortunes befalling Rome were saved from the hands of barbarians during the sack of Rome (AD 410) only because they found asylum in shrines of martyrs and Apostles.

Testantur hoc martyrum loca et basilicae apostolorum, quae in illa uastatione urbis ad se confugientes suos alienos que receperunt. testantur hoc martyrum loca et basilicae apostolorum, quae in illa uastatione urbis ad se confugientes suos alienos que receperunt. Huc usque cruentus saeuiebat inimicus, ibi accipiebat limitem trucidatoris furor, illo ducebantur a miserantibus hostibus, quibus etiam extra ipsa loca pepercerant, ne in eos incurrerent, qui similem misericordiam non habebant.
 
'The places of the martyrs and the basilicas of the apostles bear witness to this; for in the sack of the city they were open both for ours [sc. Christians] and strangers [to the faith]. To their very threshold the bloodthirsty enemy raged; there his murderous fury received a limit. Thither did such of the enemy as had any pity convey those to whom they had given quarter, lest any less mercifully disposed might fall upon them.'

Augustine goes on to argue (City of God 1.7) that the behaviour of barbarians who spared those sheltering in the shrines of martyrs has to be attributed to the name of Christ, not to the mercy of the barbarians.

Text: Dombart and Kalb 1955. Translation: Dods 1887, adapted.