The first chapter looks to books 11--14 for Augustine’s account of the earthly city’s origin and essence. Reading Augustine’s exegesis of John 8:44 as the true origin story of the earthly city, I argue that he uses the devil’s fall to highlight the irony of the earthly city’s rebellion: the devil, as he puts it, is “both deceived and deceiving” (ciu. 11.13). Showing that the earthly city only exists by falling away from communion with God, Augustine reveals it to be a counterfeit rival: a parody of the city of God that has no originality beyond its capacity to distort and destroy. Turning to the psychological reasoning that defines the earthly city, I argue that Augustine’s goal in presenting his readers with the logic of amor sui is psychagogic: by developing a psychology that his readers cannot but find in their own thoughts and behaviors, he chastens them. Implicating his readers in the dynamics of the earthly city, he aims to move them toward humility: toward the need for God.