Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>That liberty, in truth, which this man wanted, so that\r\nhe did not dare to censure that theology of the city, which\r\nis very similar to the theatrical, so openly as he did the\r\ntheatrical itself, was, though not fully, yet in part possessed\r\nby Annæus Seneca, whom we have some evidence to show to\r\nhave flourished in the times of our apostles. It was in part\r\npossessed by him, I say, for he possessed it in writing, but\r\nnot in living. For in that book which he wrote against\r\nsuperstition,<a id=\"FNanchor_243_243\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_243_243\">[243]</a> he more copiously and vehemently censured\r\nthat civil and urban theology than Varro the theatrical and\r\nfabulous. For, when speaking concerning images, he says,\r\n\"They dedicate images of the sacred and inviolable immortals\r\nin most worthless and motionless matter. They give them<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_253\">[Pg 253]</a></span>\r\nthe appearance of man, beasts, and fishes, and some make\r\nthem of mixed sex, and heterogeneous bodies. They call\r\nthem deities, when they are such that if they should get\r\nbreath and should suddenly meet them, they would be held\r\nto be monsters.\" Then, a while afterwards, when extolling\r\nthe natural theology, he had expounded the sentiments of\r\ncertain philosophers, he opposes to himself a question, and\r\nsays, \"Here some one says, Shall I believe that the heavens\r\nand the earth are gods, and that some are above the moon\r\nand some below it? Shall I bring forward either Plato or the\r\nperipatetic Strato, one of whom made God to be without a\r\nbody, the other without a mind?\" In answer to which he\r\nsays, \"And, really, what truer do the dreams of Titus Tatius,\r\nor Romulus, or Tullus Hostilius appear to thee? Tatius declared\r\nthe divinity of the goddess Cloacina; Romulus that of\r\nPicus and Tiberinus; Tullus Hostilius that of Pavor and Pallor,\r\nthe most disagreeable affections of men, the one of which\r\nis the agitation of the mind under fright, the other that of the\r\nbody, not a disease, indeed, but a change of colour.\" Wilt\r\nthou rather believe that these are deities, and receive them\r\ninto heaven? But with what freedom he has written concerning\r\nthe rites themselves, cruel and shameful! \"One,\"\r\nhe says, \"castrates himself, another cuts his arms. Where\r\nwill they find room for the fear of these gods when angry,\r\nwho use such means of gaining their favour when propitious?\r\nBut gods who wish to be worshipped in this fashion should\r\nbe worshipped in none. So great is the frenzy of the mind\r\nwhen perturbed and driven from its seat, that the gods are\r\npropitiated by men in a manner in which not even men of\r\nthe greatest ferocity and fable-renowned cruelty vent their\r\nrage. Tyrants have lacerated the limbs of some; they never\r\nordered any one to lacerate his own. For the gratification of\r\nroyal lust, some have been castrated; but no one ever, by\r\nthe command of his lord, laid violent hands on himself to\r\nemasculate himself. They kill themselves in the temples.\r\nThey supplicate with their wounds and with their blood. If\r\nany one has time to see the things they do and the things\r\nthey suffer, he will find so many things unseemly for men of\r\nrespectability, so unworthy of freemen, so unlike the doings<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_254\">[Pg 254]</a></span>\r\nof sane men, that no one would doubt that they are mad, had\r\nthey been mad with the minority; but now the multitude of\r\nthe insane is the defence of their sanity.\"</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SIXTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-458"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"39e3c37a7cad087a8565ace80735975af16c88d93cd550ddf3c5dba5c899c286","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_243_243","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_243_243","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_243_243\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_243_243\"><span class=\"label\">[243]</span></a> Mentioned also by Tertullian, <i>Apol.</i> 12, but not extant.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_243_243","text_sha256":"b220f5cf045438cdbedc96197cd1cc52561a011ac3dd3fdf1d74ce918d0c4470","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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