Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This, then, is the place where I should fulfil the promise I<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_331\">[Pg 331]</a></span>\r\ngave in the second book of this work,<a id=\"FNanchor_656_656\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_656_656\">[656]</a> and explain, as briefly\r\nand clearly as possible, that if we are to accept the definitions\r\nlaid down by Scipio in Cicero's <i>De Republica</i>, there never was\r\na Roman republic; for he briefly defines a republic as the\r\nweal of the people. And if this definition be true, there\r\nnever was a Roman republic, for the people's weal was never\r\nattained among the Romans. For the people, according to\r\nhis definition, is an assemblage associated by a common\r\nacknowledgment of right and by a community of interests.\r\nAnd what he means by a common acknowledgment of right\r\nhe explains at large, showing that a republic cannot be administered\r\nwithout justice. Where, therefore, there is no\r\ntrue justice there can be no right. For that which is done\r\nby right is justly done, and what is unjustly done cannot be\r\ndone by right. For the unjust inventions of men are neither\r\nto be considered nor spoken of as rights; for even they themselves\r\nsay that right is that which flows from the fountain of\r\njustice, and deny the definition which is commonly given by\r\nthose who misconceive the matter, that right is that which is\r\nuseful to the stronger party. Thus, where there is not true\r\njustice there can be no assemblage of men associated by a\r\ncommon acknowledgment of right, and therefore there can\r\nbe no people, as defined by Scipio or Cicero; and if no\r\npeople, then no weal of the people, but only of some promiscuous\r\nmultitude unworthy of the name of people. Consequently,\r\nif the republic is the weal of the people, and there is\r\nno people if it be not associated by a common acknowledgment\r\nof right, and if there is no right where there is no justice,\r\nthen most certainly it follows that there is no republic where\r\nthere is no justice. Further, justice is that virtue which\r\ngives every one his due. Where, then, is the justice of man,\r\nwhen he deserts the true God and yields himself to impure\r\ndemons? Is this to give every one his due? Or is he who\r\nkeeps back a piece of ground from the purchaser, and gives it\r\nto a man who has no right to it, unjust, while he who keeps\r\nback himself from the God who made him, and serves wicked\r\nspirits, is just?</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-537"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"7b9ac38016e5fec19ec44c699303eb37b5247cee8e5363975df1e7ebea273841","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_656_656","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_656_656","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_656_656\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_656_656\"><span class=\"label\">[656]</span></a> Ch. <a class=\"pgexternal\" href=\"file:///public/vhost/g/gutenberg/html/files/45304/45304-h/45304-h.htm#chap221\" id=\"id-2289272070545490915\">21</a>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_656_656","text_sha256":"b352b06eeafd5970dbf8a075573dd7fc15de981e4c30d66aee55adee0c625822","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_656_656