Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>There is no ground, then, for representing the gods (by\r\nwhom, as they say, that empire stood, though they are proved\r\nto have been conquered by the Greeks) as being enraged at the\r\nTrojan perjury. Neither, as others again plead in their defence,\r\nwas it indignation at the adultery of Paris that caused\r\nthem to withdraw their protection from Troy. For their\r\nhabit is to be instigators and instructors in vice, not its\r\navengers. \"The city of Rome,\" says Sallust, \"was first built\r\nand inhabited, as I have heard, by the Trojans, who, flying\r\ntheir country, under the conduct of Æneas, wandered about\r\nwithout making any settlement.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_121_121\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_121_121\">[121]</a> If, then, the gods were\r\nof opinion that the adultery of Paris should be punished, it\r\nwas chiefly the Romans, or at least the Romans also, who\r\nshould have suffered; for the adultery was brought about by\r\nÆneas' mother. But how could they hate in Paris a crime\r\nwhich they made no objection to in their own sister Venus,\r\nwho (not to mention any other instance) committed adultery\r\nwith Anchises, and so became the mother of Æneas? Is it\r\nbecause in the one case Menelaus<a id=\"FNanchor_122_122\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_122_122\">[122]</a> was aggrieved, while in\r\nthe other Vulcan<a id=\"FNanchor_123_123\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_123_123\">[123]</a> connived at the crime? For the gods, I\r\nfancy, are so little jealous of their wives, that they make no\r\nscruple of sharing them with men. But perhaps I may be<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_94\">[Pg 94]</a></span>\r\nsuspected of turning the myths into ridicule, and not handling\r\nso weighty a subject with sufficient gravity. Well, then, let\r\nus say that Æneas is not the son of Venus. I am willing to\r\nI admit it; but is Romulus any more the son of Mars? For\r\nwhy not the one as well as the other? Or is it lawful for\r\ngods to have intercourse with women, unlawful for men to\r\nhave intercourse with goddesses? A hard, or rather an incredible\r\ncondition, that what was allowed to Mars by the law\r\nof Venus, should not be allowed to Venus herself by her own\r\nlaw. However, both cases have the authority of Rome; for\r\nCæsar in modern times believed no less that he was descended\r\nfrom Venus,<a id=\"FNanchor_124_124\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_124_124\">[124]</a> than the ancient Romulus believed himself the\r\nson of Mars.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK THIRD.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-197"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"b3b5f9fc9d787cb9b7f0467775ab77205818db116fec8aa156ce2bceeaaa8ec3","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_123_123","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_123_123","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_123_123\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_123_123\"><span class=\"label\">[123]</span></a> Venus' husband.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_123_123","text_sha256":"08cba835d000c83330f926ab453ff5de513908ffa493b11473b3046923a4cea9","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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