Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>It is also believed that it was by the help of the gods that\r\nthe successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, enjoyed peace\r\nduring his entire reign, and shut the gates of Janus, which\r\nare customarily kept open<a id=\"FNanchor_126_126\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_126_126\">[126]</a> during war. And it is supposed\r\nhe was thus requited for appointing many religious observances\r\namong the Romans. Certainly that king would have\r\ncommanded our congratulations for so rare a leisure, had he\r\nbeen wise enough to spend it on wholesome pursuits, and,\r\nsubduing a pernicious curiosity, had sought out the true God\r\nwith true piety. But as it was, the gods were not the authors\r\nof his leisure; but possibly they would have deceived him less\r\nhad they found him busier. For the more disengaged they\r\nfound him, the more they themselves occupied his attention.\r\nVarro informs us of all his efforts, and of the arts he employed\r\nto associate these gods with himself and the city; and in its\r\nown place, if God will, I shall discuss these matters. Meanwhile,\r\nas we are speaking of the benefits conferred by the\r\ngods, I readily admit that peace is a great benefit; but it is\r\na benefit of the true God, which, like the sun, the rain, and\r\nother supports of life, is frequently conferred on the ungrateful\r\nand wicked. But if this great boon was conferred on\r\nRome and Pompilius by their gods, why did they never afterwards\r\ngrant it to the Roman empire during even more meritorious\r\nperiods? Were the sacred rites more efficient at<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_99\">[Pg 99]</a></span>\r\ntheir first institution than during their subsequent celebration?\r\nBut they had no existence in Numa's time, until he\r\nadded them to the ritual; whereas afterwards they had\r\nalready been celebrated and preserved, that benefit might\r\narise from them. How, then, is it that those forty-three, or\r\nas others prefer it, thirty-nine years of Numa's reign, were\r\npassed in unbroken peace, and yet that afterwards, when the\r\nworship was established, and the gods themselves, who were\r\ninvoked by it, were the recognised guardians and patrons of\r\nthe city, we can with difficulty find during the whole period,\r\nfrom the building of the city to the reign of Augustus, one\r\nyear—that, viz., which followed the close of the first Punic\r\nwar—in which, for a marvel, the Romans were able to shut\r\nthe gates of war?<a id=\"FNanchor_127_127\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_127_127\">[127]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK THIRD.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-210"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d231a44b719f963a499f43497962dca4fd8707347f342c04b3e4821caa37d1e0","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_127_127","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_127_127","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_127_127\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_127_127\"><span class=\"label\">[127]</span></a> The year of the Consuls T. Manlius and C. Atilius, <span class=\"smcap\">a. u. c.</span> 519.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_127_127","text_sha256":"80d2e7aacc351fcc303caf70fe974729e99a5b6f60beaa9f8f3156a130121155","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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