Having traced out this arc of Augustine’s psychagogic argument, in the fourth chapter, I situate his retelling of Roman history within it. Here, I argue that Augustine’s engagement with the Roman literati -- those invested in the project of making Rome just through myth-making -- has an important function within his argument: it helps detach his readers from an excessive attachment to Rome so that he can later resituate patriotic love within its proper context. Zeroing in on books 2--5, I argue that Augustine’s retelling of familiar Roman stories is designed to highlight the distortion in the way they were originally told. Examining his subsequent retelling of the whole Roman story, I argue that his objective is to underscore the presence of amor sui in all stages of Roman history, even as its increase led to greater decline. Yet, in doing this, Augustine leaves us with problem: are we to read this retelling as proof that the political sphere is the realm of sin? Reading the history in light of its psychagogic purpose, I argue that the answer is no. Rather, Augustine thinks that the disfunction that exists must be revealed, lest people succumb to the myth that Rome is the eternal city.