Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>\"But,\" says Cicero, \"Homer invented these things, and\r\ntransferred things human to the gods: I would rather transfer\r\nthings divine to us.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_172_172\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_172_172\">[172]</a> The poet, by ascribing such crimes to\r\nthe gods, has justly displeased the grave man. Why, then, are\r\nthe scenic plays, where these crimes are habitually spoken of,\r\nacted, exhibited, in honour of the gods, reckoned among things\r\ndivine by the most learned men? Cicero should exclaim, not\r\nagainst the inventions of the poets, but against the customs of\r\nthe ancients. Would not they have exclaimed in reply, What\r\nhave we done? The gods themselves have loudly demanded\r\nthat these plays should be exhibited in their honour, have\r\nfiercely exacted them, have menaced destruction unless this\r\nwas performed, have avenged its neglect with great severity,\r\nand have manifested pleasure at the reparation of such neglect.\r\nAmong their virtuous and wonderful deeds the following is\r\nrelated. It was announced in a dream to Titus Latinius, a\r\nRoman rustic, that he should go to the senate and tell them\r\nto recommence the games of Rome, because on the first day\r\nof their celebration a condemned criminal had been led to\r\npunishment in sight of the people, an incident so sad as to\r\ndisturb the gods who were seeking amusement from the\r\ngames. And when the peasant who had received this intimation\r\nwas afraid on the following day to deliver it to the\r\nsenate, it was renewed next night in a severer form: he\r\nlost his son, because of his neglect. On the third night\r\nhe was warned that a yet graver punishment was impending,\r\nif he should still refuse obedience. When even thus\r\nhe did not dare to obey, he fell into a virulent and horrible\r\ndisease. But then, on the advice of his friends, he gave\r\ninformation to the magistrates, and was carried in a litter\r\ninto the senate, and having, on declaring his dream, immediately\r\nrecovered strength, went away on his own feet whole.<a id=\"FNanchor_173_173\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_173_173\">[173]</a>\r\nThe senate, amazed at so great a miracle, decreed that the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_166\">[Pg 166]</a></span>\r\ngames should be renewed at fourfold cost. What sensible\r\nman does not see that men, being put upon by malignant\r\ndemons, from whose domination nothing save the grace of\r\nGod through Jesus Christ our Lord sets free, have been compelled\r\nby force to exhibit to such gods as these, plays which,\r\nif well advised, they should condemn as shameful? Certain it\r\nis that in these plays the poetic crimes of the gods are celebrated,\r\nyet they are plays which were re-established by decree\r\nof the senate, under compulsion of the gods. In these plays\r\nthe most shameless actors celebrated Jupiter as the corrupter\r\nof chastity, and thus gave him pleasure. If that was a fiction,\r\nhe would have been moved to anger; but if he was delighted\r\nwith the representation of his crimes, even although fabulous,\r\nthen, when he happened to be worshipped, who but the devil\r\ncould be served? Is it so that he could found, extend, and\r\npreserve the Roman empire, who was more vile than any\r\nRoman man whatever, to whom such things were displeasing?\r\nCould he give felicity who was so infelicitously worshipped,\r\nand who, unless he should be thus worshipped, was yet more\r\ninfelicitously provoked to anger?</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FOURTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-325"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"b1a087766bd0fc5a0c8182c8759ea8a2cf565df782197c5971e2ed3e1fffd4fb","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_173_173","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_173_173","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_173_173\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_173_173\"><span class=\"label\">[173]</span></a> Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, <i>De Divin.</i> 26.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_173_173","text_sha256":"df80b515960f1a8a5e20c62aca68be0ff71952f38225e0211a396c16c512cf64","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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