Origins -- St. Augustine -- Joachim of Fiore -- Augustinian variations -- The Renaissance interlude -- Bossuet and Vico: the doorway to modernity -- Hegel--history as providence transfigured -- The cult of progress -- Disillusion and history: traditionalism and the pessimistic vision -- Karl Marx: revolutionary praxis as the road to utopia -- Friedrich Nietzsche and the twilight of history -- Through a glass darkly -- Embers: Soloviev and Berdyaev.