{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Seeing that this is so,—seeing that the filthy and cruel\r\ndeeds, the disgraceful and criminal actions of the gods, whether\r\nreal or feigned, were at their own request published, and were\r\nconsecrated, and dedicated in their honour as sacred and\r\nstated solemnities; seeing they vowed vengeance on those who\r\nrefused to exhibit them to the eyes of all, that they might be\r\nproposed as deeds worthy of imitation, why is it that these\r\nsame demons, who, by taking pleasure in such obscenities, acknowledge\r\nthemselves to be unclean spirits, and by delighting\r\nin their own villanies and iniquities, real or imaginary, and by\r\nrequesting from the immodest, and extorting from the modest,\r\nthe celebration of these licentious acts, proclaim themselves\r\ninstigators to a criminal and lewd life;—why, I ask, are they\r\nrepresented as giving some good moral precepts to a few of\r\ntheir own elect, initiated in the secrecy of their shrines? If<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_86\">[Pg 86]</a></span>\r\nit be so, this very thing only serves further to demonstrate the\r\nmalicious craft of these pestilent spirits. For so great is the\r\ninfluence of probity and chastity, that all men, or almost all\r\nmen, are moved by the praise of these virtues; nor is any\r\nman so depraved by vice, but he hath some feeling of honour\r\nleft in him. So that, unless the devil sometimes transformed\r\nhimself, as Scripture says, into an angel of light,<a id=\"FNanchor_110_110\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_110_110\">[110]</a> he could not\r\ncompass his deceitful purpose. Accordingly, in public, a bold\r\nimpurity fills the ear of the people with noisy clamour; in\r\nprivate, a feigned chastity speaks in scarce audible whispers to\r\na few: an open stage is provided for shameful things, but on\r\nthe praiseworthy the curtain falls: grace hides, disgrace flaunts:\r\na wicked deed draws an overflowing house, a virtuous speech\r\nfinds scarce a hearer, as though purity were to be blushed at,\r\nimpurity boasted of. Where else can such confusion reign,\r\nbut in devils' temples? Where, but in the haunts of deceit?\r\nFor the secret precepts are given as a sop to the virtuous,\r\nwho are few in number; the wicked examples are exhibited\r\nto encourage the vicious, who are countless.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-180"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"9a03ab7f92d64acec8b9422a6340421bbdbb565970b24cd92c84b60478b6c834","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":"2CO","chapter":11,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"2 Cor. xi. 14","verse":14,"verse_end":14}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_110_110","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_110_110","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_110_110\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_110_110\"><span class=\"label\">[110]</span></a> 2 Cor. xi. 14.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_110_110","text_sha256":"fffb24ce8bf9636ca954d35e7db104abd50d735cb3e41ecf70420a16e91fa4ea","verified":false,"work_id":null}