Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Thus the founder of the earthly city was a fratricide.\r\nOvercome with envy, he slew his own brother, a citizen of\r\nthe eternal city, and a sojourner on earth. So that we cannot\r\nbe surprised that this first specimen, or, as the Greeks say,\r\narchetype of crime, should, long afterwards, find a corresponding\r\ncrime at the foundation of that city which was destined\r\nto reign over so many nations, and be the head of this earthly\r\ncity of which we speak. For of that city also, as one of their\r\npoets has mentioned, \"the first walls were stained with a\r\nbrother's blood,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_137_137\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_137_137\">[137]</a> or, as Roman history records, Remus was\r\nslain by his brother Romulus. And thus there is no difference\r\nbetween the foundation of this city and of the earthly\r\ncity, unless it be that Romulus and Remus were both citizens\r\nof the earthly city. Both desired to have the glory of founding\r\nthe Roman republic, but both could not have as much\r\nglory as if one only claimed it; for he who wished to have<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_55\">[Pg 55]</a></span>\r\nthe glory of ruling would certainly rule less if his power were\r\nshared by a living consort. In order, therefore, that the\r\nwhole glory might be enjoyed by one, his consort was removed;\r\nand by this crime the empire was made larger indeed,\r\nbut inferior, while otherwise it would have been less, but\r\nbetter. Now these brothers, Cain and Abel, were not both\r\nanimated by the same earthly desires, nor did the murderer\r\nenvy the other because he feared that, by both ruling, his own\r\ndominion would be curtailed,—for Abel was not solicitous to\r\nrule in that city which his brother built,—he was moved by\r\nthat diabolical, envious hatred with which the evil regard the\r\ngood, for no other reason than because they are good while\r\nthemselves are evil. For the possession of goodness is by no\r\nmeans diminished by being shared with a partner either permanent\r\nor temporarily assumed; on the contrary, the possession\r\nof goodness is increased in proportion to the concord and\r\ncharity of each of those who share it. In short, he who is\r\nunwilling to share this possession cannot have it; and he who\r\nis most willing to admit others to a share of it will have the\r\ngreatest abundance to himself. The quarrel, then, between\r\nRomulus and Remus shows how the earthly city is divided\r\nagainst itself; that which fell out between Cain and Abel\r\nillustrated the hatred that subsists between the two cities, that\r\nof God and that of men. The wicked war with the wicked;\r\nthe good also war with the wicked. But with the good, good\r\nmen, or at least perfectly good men, cannot war; though,\r\nwhile only going on towards perfection, they war to this extent,\r\nthat every good man resists others in those points in\r\nwhich he resists himself. And in each individual \"the flesh\r\nlusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_138_138\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_138_138\">[138]</a>\r\nThis spiritual lusting, therefore, can be at war with the carnal\r\nlust of another man; or carnal lust may be at war with the\r\nspiritual desires of another, in some such way as good and\r\nwicked men are at war; or, still more certainly, the carnal\r\nlusts of two men, good but not yet perfect, contend together,\r\njust as the wicked contend with the wicked, until the health\r\nof those who are under the treatment of grace attains final\r\nvictory.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FIFTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-105"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"8c0997b154559da0e8e150be24eaf235fcca9909743f7b980086d6c1a4633233","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_137_137","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_137_137","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_137_137\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_137_137\"><span class=\"label\">[137]</span></a> Lucan, <i>Phar.</i> i. 95.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_137_137","text_sha256":"ee26734389c8c998219569ce29213baab1c028487c8c569aedaac3abdbd67de6","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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