Unlike other ethical theories, Divine Command Theory does not have a main proponent or a specific time period. In terms of our dated philosophical discussion, we are jumping from Aristotle (384 BCE-322 SC) to Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Obviously, this section will not explain in detail what happened in the intervening approximately 1 SCIO years. However, there are some important highlights that will make understanding Aquinas easier. After the death of Aristotle, Athens and Ancient Greece began to decline in influence in some ways as the Roman Empire began to expand its influence. Obviously, we mark the change from "before current era" to "current era" by the life and death of Jesus. In the hundred or so years after Jesus' death, Christianity was a start-up cult that had yet ta be codified nor have the major influence in society that it does now. The rise and fall of the Library of Alexandra plays a major role in Aristotle's influence in Western Philosophy. The complete works of Aristotle were preserd and available in the Library of Alexandria (in Egypt), or so we believe, but the library had several periods of decline as well as fires and military attacks. The traditional account is that when the Library was definitely destroyed in 27 S CE, the works of Aristotle became no longer available to Western Philosophers, while some access ta the works of Plato remained. One of the major early Christian philosophers and theologians was St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). St. Augustine did not begin life as a Christian, but rather was a well-known profligate and hedonist In his Confessions, he famously recounts praying to Gad, "'grant me chastity but not yet" (8k VIII Ch 17 97). Augustine was also a Manichean, which is a religion that believes there is a good god and an evil god continuously fighting each other for dominion. The Manicheans attacked Christians, because on the Manichean view there is no free will. Rather, if a person does something good, it is because the good god made them; if they do something evil, it is because the evil god made them. When he converted to Christianity, Augustine defended Christianity against the Manicheans by defending the Christian notion of free will. At the time, the Manichean argument for determinism was that God had perfect foreknowledge of all our actions, and hence one could not act except in the way that God's knowledge would require. On this view, Gad would have (for example) known that Judas would betray Jesus at the time of Aristotle. Since God's knowledge of this action is perfect, and precedes Judas' action, Judas could not have done anything but betray Jesus and hence was not free in betraying Jesus. Augustine is perhaps most famous for his defense affree will against this Manichean argument. Augustine's argument hinges on the idea that we as humans are placing restrictions on God that apply to us and our