Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Nor were there wanting at that time very heavy disasters\r\nwithin the city itself. For the Tiber was extraordinarily\r\nflooded, and destroyed almost all the lower parts of the city;\r\nsome buildings being carried away by the violence of the\r\ntorrent, while others were soaked to rottenness by the water\r\nthat stood round them even after the flood was gone. This\r\nvisitation was followed by a fire which was still more destructive,\r\nfor it consumed some of the loftier buildings round\r\nthe Forum, and spared not even its own proper temple, that of<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_119\">[Pg 119]</a></span>\r\nVesta, in which virgins chosen for this honour, or rather for\r\nthis punishment, had been employed in conferring, as it were,\r\neverlasting life on fire, by ceaselessly feeding it with fresh\r\nfuel. But at the time we speak of, the fire in the temple was\r\nnot content with being kept alive: it raged. And when the\r\nvirgins, scared by its vehemence, were unable to save those\r\nfatal images which had already brought destruction on three\r\ncities<a id=\"FNanchor_150_150\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_150_150\">[150]</a> in which they had been received, Metellus the priest,\r\nforgetful of his own safety, rushed in and rescued the sacred\r\nthings, though he was half roasted in doing so. For either\r\nthe fire did not recognise even him, or else the goddess of fire\r\nwas there,—a goddess who would not have fled from the fire\r\nsupposing she had been there. But here you see how a man\r\ncould be of greater service to Vesta than she could be to him.\r\nNow if these gods could not avert the fire from themselves,\r\nwhat help against flames or flood could they bring to the state\r\nof which they were the reputed guardians? Facts have shown\r\nthat they were useless. These objections of ours would be\r\nidle if our adversaries maintained that their idols are consecrated\r\nrather as symbols of things eternal, than to secure the\r\nblessings of time; and that thus, though the symbols, like all\r\nmaterial and visible things, might perish, no damage thereby\r\nresulted to the things for the sake of which they had been\r\nconsecrated, while, as for the images themselves, they could be\r\nrenewed again for the same purposes they had formerly served.\r\nBut with lamentable blindness, they suppose that, through the\r\nintervention of perishable gods, the earthly well-being and temporal\r\nprosperity of the state can be preserved from perishing.\r\nAnd so, when they are reminded that even when the gods remained\r\namong them this well-being and prosperity were blighted,\r\nthey blush to change the opinion they are unable to defend.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK THIRD.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-243"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2edec4148e169140119f5d878e2a7e8b86fba4b4058d3534325325b2ec51821e","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_150_150","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_150_150","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_150_150\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_150_150\"><span class=\"label\">[150]</span></a> Troy, Lavinia, Alba.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_150_150","text_sha256":"d450754f96036726b560b41504e2d4c89789a848938cbfff8c5a57ba640c2662","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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