{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Now, therefore, let us see how it is that they dare\r\nto ascribe the very great extent and duration of the Roman\r\nempire to those gods whom they contend that they worship\r\nhonourably, even by the obsequies of vile games and the\r\nministry of vile men: although I should like first to inquire\r\nfor a little what reason, what prudence, there is in wishing\r\nto glory in the greatness and extent of the empire, when\r\nyou cannot point out the happiness of men who are always\r\nrolling, with dark fear and cruel lust, in warlike slaughters\r\nand in blood, which, whether shed in civil or foreign war, is\r\nstill human blood; so that their joy may be compared to glass\r\nin its fragile splendour, of which one is horribly afraid lest it\r\nshould be suddenly broken in pieces. That this may be more\r\neasily discerned, let us not come to nought by being carried\r\naway with empty boasting, or blunt the edge of our attention\r\nby loud-sounding names of things, when we hear of peoples,\r\nkingdoms, provinces. But let us suppose a case of two men;\r\nfor each individual man, like one letter in a language, is as it\r\nwere the element of a city or kingdom, however far-spreading\r\nin its occupation of the earth. Of these two men let us suppose\r\nthat one is poor, or rather of middling circumstances; the\r\nother very rich. But the rich man is anxious with fears,\r\npining with discontent, burning with covetousness, never\r\nsecure, always uneasy, panting from the perpetual strife of\r\nhis enemies, adding to his patrimony indeed by these miseries\r\nto an immense degree, and by these additions also heaping\r\nup most bitter cares. But that other man of moderate wealth\r\nis contented with a small and compact estate, most dear to<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_139\">[Pg 139]</a></span>\r\nhis own family, enjoying the sweetest peace with his kindred\r\nneighbours and friends, in piety religious, benignant in mind,\r\nhealthy in body, in life frugal, in manners chaste, in conscience\r\nsecure. I know not whether any one can be such a fool, that\r\nhe dare hesitate which to prefer. As, therefore, in the case of\r\nthese two men, so in two families, in two nations, in two kingdoms,\r\nthis test of tranquillity holds good; and if we apply\r\nit vigilantly and without prejudice, we shall quite easily see\r\nwhere the mere show of happiness dwells, and where real\r\nfelicity. Wherefore if the true God is worshipped, and if He\r\nis served with genuine rites and true virtue, it is advantageous\r\nthat good men should long reign both far and wide. Nor is\r\nthis advantageous so much to themselves, as to those over\r\nwhom they reign. For, so far as concerns themselves, their\r\npiety and probity, which are great gifts of God, suffice to give\r\nthem true felicity, enabling them to live well the life that\r\nnow is, and afterwards to receive that which is eternal. In\r\nthis world, therefore, the dominion of good men is profitable, not\r\nso much for themselves as for human affairs. But the dominion\r\nof bad men is hurtful chiefly to themselves who rule, for\r\nthey destroy their own souls by greater licence in wickedness;\r\nwhile those who are put under them in service are not hurt\r\nexcept by their own iniquity. For to the just all the evils\r\nimposed on them by unjust rulers are not the punishment\r\nof crime, but the test of virtue. Therefore the good man,\r\nalthough he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he\r\nreigns, is a slave, and that not of one man, but, what is far\r\nmore grievous, of as many masters as he has vices; of which\r\nvices when the divine Scripture treats, it says, \"For of whom\r\nany man is overcome, to the same he is also the bond-slave.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_158_158\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_158_158\">[158]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FOURTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-276"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"527093208b3983d454d5952e9e367991694277d00be610b9642bf88693e3ac79","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":[{"book":"2PE","chapter":2,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"2 Pet. ii. 19","verse":19,"verse_end":19}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_158_158","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_158_158","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_158_158\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_158_158\"><span class=\"label\">[158]</span></a> 2 Pet. ii. 19.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_158_158","text_sha256":"77ffb20965ecd72d4c173ab2d379dc44662101567e66011c871b8d2ec547cedd","verified":false,"work_id":null}