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"Bach tells us what it's like to be the universe, Mozart tells us what it's like to be human, and Beethoven tells us what it's like… to be Beethoven."

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About "being on the right side of History"

St. Augustine would be very wary of the modern slogan "be on the right side of history."

While he certainly believes that history is under divine providence, he sharply rejects the idea that any earthly political movement can confidently identify itself with history's final moral verdict.

His mature view—especially in De civitate Dei (The City of God)—cuts in a quite different direction from Hegelian or progressive readings.

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1. Providence, yes — but not worldly inevitability

Augustine holds that:

• God governs history.

• Events unfold according to providence.

• History has an ultimate end in the Last Judgment, not in political or social progress.

But for Augustine:

• humans do not have transparent access to God's plan,

• and no empire, party, or reform movement can claim to embody history's destination.

So he would resist the idea that one can now declare:

"we are the side that history will vindicate."

That sounds, to him, like presumption.

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2. Two cities, intermingled in time

In City of God (Books XI–XVIII especially), Augustine distinguishes:

• the City of God (defined by love of God to the contempt of self),

• the earthly city (defined by love of self to the contempt of God).

These two "cities" are mixed together throughout history; you cannot simply map them onto particular states, factions, or eras.

That makes any easy appeal to "history's right side" suspect: history is not a straightforward moral sorting machine before the end.

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3. Against triumphalist progress narratives

Augustine wrote partly to rebut Roman claims that Christianity had disrupted the Empire's destiny. He dismantles the pagan idea that Rome's history revealed divine favor and also avoids Christian versions of imperial triumphalism.

For him:

• empires rise and fall for complex reasons,

• worldly success is not a reliable sign of righteousness,

• suffering does not mean being on the "wrong side."

This undermines the assumption that historical outcomes themselves certify moral correctness.

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4. Where Augustine does locate judgment

Augustine would relocate the moral tribunal:

• not to future generations,

• not to the arc of social development,

• but to God's final judgment.

Human history can show patterns and lessons, but its ultimate meaning is eschatological, not progressive.

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📌 In brief

If Augustine heard someone say "we're on the right side of history," he would likely respond:

• ✔️ History is governed by God.

• ❌ But you cannot equate any present cause with history's final verdict.

• ❌ Do not infer righteousness from success or inevitability.

• ⚖️ Live justly now, in humility, leaving ultimate judgment to God.

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