Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>For, as far as this life of mortals is concerned, which is\r\nspent and ended in a few days, what does it matter under\r\nwhose government a dying man lives, if they who govern do\r\nnot force him to impiety and iniquity? Did the Romans at\r\nall harm those nations, on whom, when subjugated, they imposed\r\ntheir laws, except in as far as that was accomplished\r\nwith great slaughter in war? Now, had it been done with\r\nconsent of the nations, it would have been done with greater\r\nsuccess, but there would have been no glory of conquest, for\r\nneither did the Romans themselves live exempt from those\r\nlaws which they imposed on others. Had this been done\r\nwithout Mars and Bellona, so that there should have been no\r\nplace for victory, no one conquering where no one had fought,\r\nwould not the condition of the Romans and of the other\r\nnations have been one and the same, especially if that had been\r\ndone at once which afterwards was done most humanely and\r\nmost acceptably, namely, the admission of all to the rights of\r\nRoman citizens who belonged to the Roman empire, and if\r\nthat had been made the privilege of all which was formerly\r\nthe privilege of a few, with this one condition, that the\r\nhumbler class who had no lands of their own should live at\r\nthe public expense—an alimentary impost, which would have\r\nbeen paid with a much better grace by them into the hands\r\nof good administrators of the republic, of which they were\r\nmembers, by their own hearty consent, than it would have\r\nbeen paid with had it to be extorted from them as conquered\r\nmen? For I do not see what it makes for the safety, good\r\nmorals, and certainly not for the dignity, of men, that some\r\nhave conquered and others have been conquered, except that\r\nit yields them that most insane pomp of human glory, in\r\nwhich \"they have received their reward,\" who burned with\r\nexcessive desire of it, and carried on most eager wars. For\r\ndo not their lands pay tribute? Have they any privilege of\r\nlearning what the others are not privileged to learn? Are<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_209\">[Pg 209]</a></span>\r\nthere not many senators in the other countries who do not\r\neven know Rome by sight? Take away outward show,<a id=\"FNanchor_212_212\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_212_212\">[212]</a> and\r\nwhat are all men after all but men? But even though the\r\nperversity of the age should permit that all the better men\r\nshould be more highly honoured than others, neither thus\r\nshould human honour be held at a great price, for it is smoke\r\nwhich has no weight. But let us avail ourselves even in\r\nthese things of the kindness of God. Let us consider how\r\ngreat things they despised, how great things they endured,\r\nwhat lusts they subdued for the sake of human glory, who\r\nmerited that glory, as it were, in reward for such virtues; and\r\nlet this be useful to us even in suppressing pride, so that, as\r\nthat city in which it has been promised us to reign as far\r\nsurpasses this one as heaven is distant from the earth, as\r\neternal life surpasses temporal joy, solid glory empty praise,\r\nor the society of angels the society of mortals, or the glory of\r\nHim who made the sun and moon the light of the sun and\r\nmoon, the citizens of so great a country may not seem to\r\nthemselves to have done anything very great, if, in order to\r\nobtain it, they have done some good works or endured some\r\nevils, when those men for this terrestrial country already obtained,\r\ndid such great things, suffered such great things. And\r\nespecially are all these things to be considered, because the\r\nremission of sins which collects citizens to the celestial country\r\nhas something in it to which a shadowy resemblance is found\r\nin that asylum of Romulus, whither escape from the punishment\r\nof all manner of crimes congregated that multitude with\r\nwhich the state was to be founded.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FIFTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-393"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"5910547ba7fe784ba09ef6fb796d648706bc4dc0bb9f24c91bcfc4cd8c28971d","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_212_212","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_212_212","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_212_212\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_212_212\"><span class=\"label\">[212]</span></a> <i>Jactantia.</i></p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_212_212","text_sha256":"3859e8a9f18cd12b0d3b1bfb31709b8782121d242a7452fb070a9bdb40d9755e","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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