{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Varro has not spoken of that Atys, nor sought out any\r\ninterpretation for him, in memory of whose being loved by\r\nCeres the Gallus is mutilated. But the learned and wise\r\nGreeks have by no means been silent about an interpretation\r\nso holy and so illustrious. The celebrated philosopher Porphyry\r\nhas said that Atys signifies the flowers of spring, which\r\nis the most beautiful season, and therefore was mutilated\r\nbecause the flower falls before the fruit appears.<a id=\"FNanchor_281_281\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_281_281\">[281]</a> They\r\nhave not, then, compared the man himself, or rather that\r\nsemblance of a man they called Atys, to the flower, but his\r\nmale organs,—these, indeed, fell whilst he was living. Did\r\nI say fell? nay, truly they did not fall, nor were they plucked\r\noff, but torn away. Nor when that flower was lost did any\r\nfruit follow, but rather sterility. What, then, do they say\r\nis signified by the castrated Atys himself, and whatever remained<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_292\">[Pg 292]</a></span>\r\nto him after his castration? To what do they refer\r\nthat? What interpretation does that give rise to? Do they,\r\nafter vain endeavours to discover an interpretation, seek to\r\npersuade men that that is rather to be believed which report\r\nhas made public, and which has also been written concerning\r\nhis having been a mutilated man? Our Varro has very properly\r\nopposed this, and has been unwilling to state it; for it\r\ncertainly was not unknown to that most learned man.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-536"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"286fd901f422f140612879b6e291e175f10b85a277fbb23bbd131b3e950937e5","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_281_281","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_281_281","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_281_281\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_281_281\"><span class=\"label\">[281]</span></a> In the book <i>De Ratione Naturali Deorum</i>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_281_281","text_sha256":"c0154e2e2193615f3b03eef0aa49be262f4b136932eaaefe6e1e2cbeb5466c70","verified":false,"work_id":null}