Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This same book, <i>De Republica</i>, advocates the cause of justice<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_332\">[Pg 332]</a></span>\r\nagainst injustice with great force and keenness. The pleading\r\nfor injustice against justice was first heard, and it was\r\nasserted that without injustice a republic could neither increase\r\nnor even subsist, for it was laid down as an absolutely\r\nunassailable position that it is unjust for some men to rule\r\nand some to serve; and yet the imperial city to which the\r\nrepublic belongs cannot rule her provinces without having\r\nrecourse to this injustice. It was replied in behalf of justice,\r\nthat this ruling of the provinces is just, because servitude may\r\nbe advantageous to the provincials, and is so when rightly\r\nadministered,—that is to say, when lawless men are prevented\r\nfrom doing harm. And further, as they became worse and\r\nworse so long as they were free, they will improve by subjection.\r\nTo confirm this reasoning, there is added an eminent\r\nexample drawn from nature: for \"why,\" it is asked, \"does\r\nGod rule man, the soul the body, the reason the passions and\r\nother vicious parts of the soul?\" This example leaves no\r\ndoubt that, to some, servitude is useful; and, indeed, to serve\r\nGod is useful to all. And it is when the soul serves God\r\nthat it exercises a right control over the body; and in the\r\nsoul itself the reason must be subject to God if it is to govern\r\nas it ought the passions and other vices. Hence, when a\r\nman does not serve God, what justice can we ascribe to him,\r\nsince in this case his soul cannot exercise a just control over\r\nthe body, nor his reason over his vices? And if there is no\r\njustice in such an individual, certainly there can be none in a\r\ncommunity composed of such persons. Here, therefore, there\r\nis not that common acknowledgment of right which makes\r\nan assemblage of men a people whose affairs we call a republic.\r\nAnd why need I speak of the advantageousness, the\r\ncommon participation in which, according to the definition,\r\nmakes a people? For although, if you choose to regard the\r\nmatter attentively, you will see that there is nothing advantageous\r\nto those who live godlessly, as every one lives who\r\ndoes not serve God but demons, whose wickedness you may\r\nmeasure by their desire to receive the worship of men though\r\nthey are most impure spirits, yet what I have said of the\r\ncommon acknowledgment of right is enough to demonstrate\r\nthat, according to the above definition, there can be no people,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_333\">[Pg 333]</a></span>\r\nand therefore no republic, where there is no justice. For if\r\nthey assert that in their republic the Romans did not serve\r\nunclean spirits, but good and holy gods, must we therefore\r\nagain reply to this evasion, though already we have said\r\nenough, and more than enough, to expose it? He must be\r\nan uncommonly stupid, or a shamelessly contentious person,\r\nwho has read through the foregoing books to this point, and\r\ncan yet question whether the Romans served wicked and\r\nimpure demons. But, not to speak of their character, it is\r\nwritten in the law of the true God, \"He that sacrificeth unto\r\nany god save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_657_657\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_657_657\">[657]</a>\r\nHe, therefore, who uttered so menacing a commandment\r\ndecreed that no worship should be given either to\r\ngood or bad gods.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-538"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"488a00b34593cfacd31309ccff3cfdd71a4475001285fcd171029b7ad0cf141d","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_657_657","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_657_657","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_657_657\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_657_657\"><span class=\"label\">[657]</span></a> Ex. xxii. 20.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_657_657","text_sha256":"a36a1f5bb4914936b714ac6e3d92e6ee12f5c1dc061c971968d0254ca25d29c1","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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