在《上帝之城》中，奧古斯丁將古希臘–羅馬的公民德性視為奴性的恐懼的產物，認為他們所追求的榮譽只是統治慾的面具而已。同時，他指出，古希臘–羅馬哲學中所追求的「無情」非但不是善，反而就是最壞的，因為它是一種心靈不能被任何情感所觸動的麻木狀態。他創造性地用「純潔的恐懼」來表示上帝之城的公民必然以此迴避罪、防範罪的意志，並認為奴性的恐懼是對初人的不服從的正義懲罰，而潔淨的恐懼的本質則是服從，它是上帝賜予的禮物，將會永遠長存。

ugustine argues that Greco-Roman civic virtue is the product of the servile fear in his The City of God, and that their pursuit of glory is simply the mask for the lust for domination. Defining apatheia as a condition that the mind cannot be touched by any emotion, he also shows that apatheia, a good life Greco-Roman philosophy pursuits, is the worst of all vices rather than goodness. The uniqueness of Augustine’s account of fear is his usage of clean fear as signifying the act of will by which the citizens of the city of God could necessarily keep away from sin. For him, the servile fear is a just retribution which the first human beings received for their disobedience, while the clean fear, a gift from God and obedience as its essence, will be eternal.