Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Nevertheless, when we declare the miracles which God has<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_421\">[Pg 421]</a></span>\r\nwrought, or will yet work, and which we cannot bring under\r\nthe very eyes of men, sceptics keep demanding that we shall\r\nexplain these marvels to reason. And because we cannot do\r\nso, inasmuch as they are above human comprehension, they\r\nsuppose we are speaking falsely. These persons themselves,\r\ntherefore, ought to account for all these marvels which we\r\neither can or do see. And if they perceive that this is impossible\r\nfor man to do, they should acknowledge that it cannot\r\nbe concluded that a thing has not been or shall not be because\r\nit cannot be reconciled to reason, since there are things now\r\nin existence of which the same is true. I will not, then,\r\ndetail the multitude of marvels which are related in books,\r\nand which refer not to things that happened once and passed\r\naway, but that are permanent in certain places, where, if any\r\none has the desire and opportunity, he may ascertain their\r\ntruth; but a few only I recount. The following are some of\r\nthe marvels men tell us:—The salt of Agrigentum in Sicily,\r\nwhen thrown into the fire, becomes fluid as if it were in\r\nwater, but in the water it crackles as if it were in the\r\nfire. The Garamantæ have a fountain so cold by day that\r\nno one can drink it, so hot by night no one can touch it.<a id=\"FNanchor_860_860\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_860_860\">[860]</a>\r\nIn Epirus, too, there is a fountain which, like all others,\r\nquenches lighted torches, but, unlike all others, lights quenched\r\ntorches. There is a stone found in Arcadia, and called asbestos,\r\nbecause once lit it cannot be put out. The wood of a certain\r\nkind of Egyptian fig-tree sinks in water, and does not float\r\nlike other wood; and, stranger still, when it has been sunk\r\nto the bottom for some time, it rises again to the surface,\r\nthough nature requires that when soaked in water it should\r\nbe heavier than ever. Then there are the apples of Sodom,\r\nwhich grow indeed to an appearance of ripeness, but, when\r\nyou touch them with hand or tooth, the peel cracks, and they\r\ncrumble into dust and ashes. The Persian stone pyrites burns\r\nthe hand when it is tightly held in it, and so gets its name<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_422\">[Pg 422]</a></span>\r\nfrom fire. In Persia, too, there is found another stone called\r\nselenite, because its interior brilliancy waxes and wanes with\r\nthe moon. Then in Cappadocia the mares are impregnated\r\nby the wind, and their foals live only three years. Tilon,\r\nan Indian island, has this advantage over all other lands,\r\nthat no tree which grows in it ever loses its foliage.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-FIRST.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-664"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f4458c6befdc33d4ae62075eb61c0ed11cf51aea5b3dec24f52ba743f2e37069","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_860_860","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_860_860","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_860_860\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_860_860\"><span class=\"label\">[860]</span></a> Alluded to by Moore in his <i>Melodies</i>:\r\n</p>\n<div class=\"poetry-container\">\n<div class=\"poem\"><div class=\"stanza\">\n<span class=\"i6\">\"The fount that played<br/></span>\n<span class=\"i0\">In times of old through Ammon's shade,<br/></span>\n<span class=\"i0\">Though icy cold by day it ran,<br/></span>\n<span class=\"i0\">Yet still, like souls of mirth, began<br/></span>\n<span class=\"i0\">To burn when night was near.\"<br/></span>\n</div></div></div>\n</div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_860_860","text_sha256":"87dcc86d311dc4e6b8ae58037e8c16e10e1a4f4362ec53b19e04fcf5daa2261b","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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