{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>At that time, indeed, so many wars were everywhere engaged\r\nin, that through scarcity of soldiers they enrolled for\r\nmilitary service the <i>proletarii</i>, who received this name, because,\r\nbeing too poor to equip for military service, they had\r\nleisure to beget offspring.<a id=\"FNanchor_148_148\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_148_148\">[148]</a> Pyrrhus, king of Greece, and at\r\nthat time of wide-spread renown, was invited by the Tarentines\r\nto enlist himself against Rome. It was to him that Apollo,\r\nwhen consulted regarding the issue of his enterprise, uttered\r\nwith some pleasantry so ambiguous an oracle, that whichever\r\nalternative happened, the god himself should be counted\r\ndivine. For he so worded the oracle,<a id=\"FNanchor_149_149\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_149_149\">[149]</a> that whether Pyrrhus\r\nwas conquered by the Romans, or the Romans by Pyrrhus,\r\nthe soothsaying god would securely await the issue. And\r\nthen what frightful massacres of both armies ensued! Yet\r\nPyrrhus remained conqueror, and would have been able now\r\nto proclaim Apollo a true diviner, as he understood the oracle,\r\nhad not the Romans been the conquerors in the next engagement.\r\nAnd while such disastrous wars were being waged, a\r\nterrible disease broke out among the women. For the pregnant\r\nwomen died before delivery. And Æsculapius, I fancy, excused\r\nhimself in this matter on the ground that he professed to be\r\narch-physician, not midwife. Cattle, too, similarly perished;<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_117\">[Pg 117]</a></span>\r\nso that it was believed that the whole race of animals was\r\ndestined to become extinct. Then what shall I say of that\r\nmemorable winter in which the weather was so incredibly\r\nsevere, that in the Forum frightfully deep snow lay for forty\r\ndays together, and the Tiber was frozen? Had such things\r\nhappened in our time, what accusations we should have heard\r\nfrom our enemies! And that other great pestilence, which\r\nraged so long and carried off so many; what shall I say of\r\nit? Spite of all the drugs of Æsculapius, it only grew worse\r\nin its second year, till at last recourse was had to the Sibylline\r\nbooks,—a kind of oracle which, as Cicero says in his <i>De\r\nDivinatione</i>, owes significance to its interpreters, who make\r\ndoubtful conjectures as they can or as they wish. In this\r\ninstance, the cause of the plague was said to be that so many\r\ntemples had been used as private residences. And thus\r\nÆsculapius for the present escaped the charge of either ignominious\r\nnegligence or want of skill. But why were so many\r\nallowed to occupy sacred tenements without interference, unless\r\nbecause supplication had long been addressed in vain to\r\nsuch a crowd of gods, and so by degrees the sacred places were\r\ndeserted of worshippers, and being thus vacant, could without\r\noffence be put at least to some human uses? And the temples,\r\nwhich were at that time laboriously recognised and restored\r\nthat the plague might be stayed, fell afterwards into disuse,\r\nand were again devoted to the same human uses. Had they\r\nnot thus lapsed into obscurity, it could not have been pointed\r\nto as proof of Varro's great erudition, that in his work on\r\nsacred places he cites so many that were unknown. Meanwhile,\r\nthe restoration of the temples procured no cure of the\r\nplague, but only a fine excuse for the gods.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK THIRD.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-240"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"671f0c296d7814b6699a95e46c27f3551276697029a6a8b4c99c4e61e69c2e34","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_149_149","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_149_149","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_149_149\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_149_149\"><span class=\"label\">[149]</span></a> The oracle ran: \"Dico te, Pyrrhe, vincere posse Romanos.\"</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_149_149","text_sha256":"7729bf5336ccc0fb4b68687bff80647494a915b75d73044f9733fb2e1ce4d9fc","verified":false,"work_id":null}