Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>—that is, into the bosom of Tellus, or the earth. Although\r\nhere, also, they will have it that there are some differences,\r\nand think that in the earth herself Terra is one thing, Tellus\r\nanother, and Tellumo another. And they have all these as\r\ngods, called by their own names, distinguished by their own\r\noffices, and venerated with their own altars and rites. This\r\nsame earth also they call the mother of the gods, so that even\r\nthe fictions of the poets are more tolerable, if, according, not\r\nto their poetical but sacred books, Juno is not only the sister\r\nand wife, but also the mother of Jove. The same earth they\r\nworship as Ceres, and also as Vesta; while yet they more\r\nfrequently affirm that Vesta is nothing else than fire, pertaining\r\nto the hearths, without which the city cannot exist; and\r\ntherefore virgins are wont to serve her, because as nothing is\r\nborn of a virgin, so nothing is born of fire;—but all this<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_148\">[Pg 148]</a></span>\r\nnonsense ought to be completely abolished and extinguished by\r\nHim who is born of a virgin. For who can bear that, while\r\nthey ascribe to the fire so much honour, and, as it were,\r\nchastity, they do not blush sometimes even to call Vesta\r\nVenus, so that honoured virginity may vanish in her handmaidens?\r\nFor if Vesta is Venus, how can virgins rightly\r\nserve her by abstaining from venery? Are there two Venuses,\r\nthe one a virgin, the other not a maid? Or rather, are there\r\nthree, one the goddess of virgins, who is also called Vesta,\r\nanother the goddess of wives, and another of harlots? To\r\nher also the Phenicians offered a gift by prostituting their\r\ndaughters before they united them to husbands.<a id=\"FNanchor_167_167\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_167_167\">[167]</a> Which of\r\nthese is the wife of Vulcan? Certainly not the virgin, since\r\nshe has a husband. Far be it from us to say it is the harlot,\r\nlest we should seem to wrong the son of Juno and fellow-worker\r\nof Minerva. Therefore it is to be understood that\r\nshe belongs to the married people; but we would not wish\r\nthem to imitate her in what she did with Mars. \"Again,\"\r\nsay they, \"you return to fables.\" What sort of justice is\r\nthat, to be angry with us because we say such things of their\r\ngods, and not to be angry with themselves, who in their\r\ntheatres most willingly behold the crimes of their gods?\r\nAnd,—a thing incredible, if it were not thoroughly well\r\nproved,—these very theatric representations of the crimes\r\nof their gods have been instituted in honour of these same\r\ngods.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FOURTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-291"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"7ccb4d77c81bcd193146fd955bb4af82f6db35afb6d07a1c49052e8c235b1ea9","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_167_167","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_167_167","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_167_167\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_167_167\"><span class=\"label\">[167]</span></a> Eusebius, <i>De Præp. Evang.</i> i. 10.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_167_167","text_sha256":"ddb4d7ca17d892e589856fdd5677270e75290852dd920c37006bdd7b1ed09624","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_167_167