Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>We need not at present give a careful and copious exposition\r\nof the doctrine of Scripture, the sum of Christian knowledge, regarding\r\nthese passions. It subjects the mind itself to God, that\r\nHe may rule and aid it, and the passions, again, to the mind,\r\nto moderate and bridle them, and turn them to righteous uses.\r\nIn our ethics, we do not so much inquire whether a pious soul\r\nis angry, as why he is angry; not whether he is sad, but what\r\nis the cause of his sadness; not whether he fears, but what he\r\nfears. For I am not aware that any right thinking person\r\nwould find fault with anger at a wrongdoer which seeks his\r\namendment, or with sadness which intends relief to the\r\nsuffering, or with fear lest one in danger be destroyed. The\r\nStoics, indeed, are accustomed to condemn compassion.<a id=\"FNanchor_336_336\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_336_336\">[336]</a> But\r\nhow much more honourable had it been in that Stoic we have\r\nbeen telling of, had he been disturbed by compassion prompting\r\nhim to relieve a fellow-creature, than to be disturbed by\r\nthe fear of shipwreck! Far better, and more humane, and\r\nmore consonant with pious sentiments, are the words of Cicero\r\nin praise of Cæsar, when he says, \"Among your virtues none\r\nis more admirable and agreeable than your compassion.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_337_337\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_337_337\">[337]</a>\r\nAnd what is compassion but a fellow-feeling for another's\r\nmisery, which prompts us to help him if we can? And this\r\nemotion is obedient to reason, when compassion is shown\r\nwithout violating right, as when the poor are relieved, or the\r\npenitent forgiven. Cicero, who knew how to use language,\r\ndid not hesitate to call this a virtue, which the Stoics are not\r\nashamed to reckon among the vices, although, as the book\r\nof that eminent Stoic, Epictetus, quoting the opinions of Zeno\r\nand Chrysippus, the founders of the school, has taught us,\r\nthey admit that passions of this kind invade the soul of the\r\nwise man, whom they would have to be free from all vice.<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_360\">[Pg 360]</a></span>\r\nWhence it follows that these very passions are not judged by\r\nthem to be vices, since they assail the wise man without\r\nforcing him to act against reason and virtue; and that, therefore,\r\nthe opinion of the Peripatetics or Platonists and of the Stoics\r\nis one and the same. But, as Cicero says,<a id=\"FNanchor_338_338\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_338_338\">[338]</a> mere logomachy\r\nis the bane of these pitiful Greeks, who thirst for contention\r\nrather than for truth. However, it may justly be asked,\r\nwhether our subjection to these affections, even while we\r\nfollow virtue, is a part of the infirmity of this life? For\r\nthe holy angels feel no anger while they punish those whom\r\nthe eternal law of God consigns to punishment, no fellow-feeling\r\nwith misery while they relieve the miserable, no fear\r\nwhile they aid those who are in danger; and yet ordinary\r\nlanguage ascribes to them also these mental emotions, because,\r\nthough they have none of our weakness, their acts resemble\r\nthe actions to which these emotions move us; and thus even\r\nGod Himself is said in Scripture to be angry, and yet without\r\nany perturbation. For this word is used of the effect of His\r\nvengeance, not of the disturbing mental affection.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK NINTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-634"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"b7d77985242d76c8ee367068ea6972fb96bfbc92f4d8f2aee25b6214063f1286","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_338_338","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_338_338","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_338_338\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_338_338\"><span class=\"label\">[338]</span></a> <i>De Oratore</i>, i. 11, 47.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_338_338","text_sha256":"0fc961921603c622b94b4ee1ad012bbd4e46f0bd60f0bccd0a2df5fad1b64274","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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