Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>It is recorded that the very learned pontiff Scævola<a id=\"FNanchor_174_174\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_174_174\">[174]</a> had\r\ndistinguished about three kinds of gods—one introduced by\r\nthe poets, another by the philosophers, another by the statesmen.\r\nThe first kind he declares to be trifling, because many\r\nunworthy things have been invented by the poets concerning\r\nthe gods; the second does not suit states, because it contains\r\nsome things that are superfluous, and some, too, which it would\r\nbe prejudicial for the people to know. It is no great matter\r\nabout the superfluous things, for it is a common saying of\r\nskilful lawyers, \"Superfluous things do no harm.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_175_175\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_175_175\">[175]</a> But what\r\nare those things which do harm when brought before the\r\nmultitude? \"These,\" he says, \"that Hercules, Æsculapius,\r\nCastor and Pollux, are not gods; for it is declared by learned\r\nmen that these were but men, and yielded to the common<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_167\">[Pg 167]</a></span>\r\nlot of mortals.\" What else? \"That states have not the\r\ntrue images of the gods; because the true God has neither\r\nsex, nor age, nor definite corporeal members.\" The pontiff is\r\nnot willing that the people should know these things; for he\r\ndoes not think they are false. He thinks it expedient, therefore,\r\nthat states should be deceived in matters of religion;\r\nwhich Varro himself does not hesitate even to say in his\r\nbooks about things divine. Excellent religion! to which the\r\nweak, who requires to be delivered, may flee for succour; and\r\nwhen he seeks for the truth by which he may be delivered, it\r\nis believed to be expedient for him that he be deceived. And,\r\ntruly, in these same books, Scævola is not silent as to his\r\nreason for rejecting the poetic sort of gods,—to wit, \"because\r\nthey so disfigure the gods that they could not bear comparison\r\neven with good men, when they make one to commit\r\ntheft, another adultery; or, again, to say or do something else\r\nbasely and foolishly; as that three goddesses contested (with\r\neach other) the prize of beauty, and the two vanquished by\r\nVenus destroyed Troy; that Jupiter turned himself into a\r\nbull or swan that he might copulate with some one; that a\r\ngoddess married a man, and Saturn devoured his children;\r\nthat, in fine, there is nothing that could be imagined, either\r\nof the miraculous or vicious, which may not be found there,\r\nand yet is far removed from the nature of the gods.\" O chief\r\npontiff Scævola, take away the plays if thou art able; instruct\r\nthe people that they may not offer such honours to the immortal\r\ngods, in which, if they like, they may admire the crimes\r\nof the gods, and, so far as it is possible, may, if they please,\r\nimitate them. But if the people shall have answered thee,\r\nYou, O pontiff, have brought these things in among us, then\r\nask the gods themselves at whose instigation you have ordered\r\nthese things, that they may not order such things to be offered\r\nto them. For if they are bad, and therefore in no way to be\r\nbelieved concerning the majority of the gods, the greater is the\r\nwrong done the gods about whom they are feigned with impunity.\r\nBut they do not hear thee, they are demons, they\r\nteach wicked things, they rejoice in vile things; not only do\r\nthey not count it a wrong if these things are feigned about\r\nthem, but it is a wrong they are quite unable to bear if they<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_168\">[Pg 168]</a></span>\r\nare not acted at their stated festivals. But now, if thou\r\nwouldst call on Jupiter against them, chiefly for that reason\r\nthat more of his crimes are wont to be acted in the scenic\r\nplays, is it not the case that, although you call him god\r\nJupiter, by whom this whole world is ruled and administered,\r\nit is he to whom the greatest wrong is done by you, because\r\nyou have thought he ought to be worshipped along with them,\r\nand have styled him their king?</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FOURTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-327"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4ffa36cfbc113012f0e7f029d18d9a3f25c0d57f0561e10fdaaeea5e5e5e8b2a","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_175_175","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_175_175","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_175_175\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_175_175\"><span class=\"label\">[175]</span></a> Superflua non nocent.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_175_175","text_sha256":"ddfa79a5b75de20db20083b465216631bb775ec9c11f8b2263f29fa5fe6b7977","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_175_175