Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But what shall men do who cannot find anything wise to\r\nsay, because they are interpreting foolish things? Saturn\r\nhas a pruning-knife. That, says Varro, is on account of\r\nagriculture. Certainly in Saturn's reign there as yet existed\r\nno agriculture, and therefore the former times of Saturn are\r\nspoken of, because, as the same Varro interprets the fables,\r\nthe primeval men lived on those seeds which the earth produced\r\nspontaneously. Perhaps he received a pruning-knife<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_283\">[Pg 283]</a></span>\r\nwhen he had lost his sceptre; that he who had been a king,\r\nand lived at ease during the first part of his time, should\r\nbecome a laborious workman whilst his son occupied the\r\nthrone. Then he says that boys were wont to be immolated\r\nto him by certain peoples, the Carthaginians for instance;\r\nand also that adults were immolated by some nations, for\r\nexample the Gauls—because, of all seeds, the human race\r\nis the best. What need we say more concerning this most\r\ncruel vanity? Let us rather attend to and hold by this, that\r\nthese interpretations are not carried up to the true God,—a\r\nliving, incorporeal, unchangeable nature, from whom a blessed\r\nlife enduring for ever may be obtained,—but that they end\r\nin things which are corporeal, temporal, mutable, and mortal.\r\nAnd whereas it is said in the fables that Saturn castrated\r\nhis father Cœlus, this signifies, says Varro, that the divine\r\nseed belongs to Saturn, and not to Cœlus; for this reason,\r\nas far as a reason can be discovered, namely, that in heaven<a id=\"FNanchor_274_274\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_274_274\">[274]</a>\r\nnothing is born from seed. But, lo! Saturn, if he is the son\r\nof Cœlus, is the son of Jupiter. For they affirm times without\r\nnumber, and that emphatically, that the heavens<a id=\"FNanchor_275_275\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_275_275\">[275]</a> are\r\nJupiter. Thus those things which come not of the truth, do\r\nvery often, without being impelled by any one, themselves\r\noverthrow one another. He says that Saturn was called\r\nΚρόνος, which in the Greek tongue signifies a space of time,<a id=\"FNanchor_276_276\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_276_276\">[276]</a>\r\nbecause, without that, seed cannot be productive. These and\r\nmany other things are said concerning Saturn, and they are\r\nall referred to seed. But Saturn surely, with all that great\r\npower, might have sufficed for seed. Why are other gods\r\ndemanded for it, especially Liber and Libera, that is, Ceres?—concerning\r\nwhom again, as far as seed is concerned, he\r\nsays as many things as if he had said nothing concerning\r\nSaturn.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-521"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"1d3ebf218c6346c2c1a94dd4e45db619f9517a7887bf91a6974f1a798f8a694c","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_274_274","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_274_274","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_274_274\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_274_274\"><span class=\"label\">[274]</span></a> Cœlo.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_274_274","text_sha256":"cca0b2dd2bd328e3f6f4591e26167934de4b6ae508c504ce0068e1b19ad1da83","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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