{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>As for those miracles which history ascribes to the gods\r\nof the heathen,—I do not refer to those prodigies which at\r\nintervals happen from some unknown physical causes, and\r\nwhich are arranged and appointed by Divine Providence, such\r\nas monstrous births, and unusual meteorological phenomena,\r\nwhether startling only, or also injurious, and which are said\r\nto be brought about and removed by communication with\r\ndemons, and by their most deceitful craft,—but I refer to\r\nthese prodigies which manifestly enough are wrought by their\r\npower and force, as, that the household gods which Æneas\r\ncarried from Troy in his flight moved from place to place;\r\nthat Tarquin cut a whetstone with a razor; that the Epidaurian\r\nserpent attached himself as a companion to Æsculapius on his\r\nvoyage to Rome; that the ship in which the image of the\r\nPhrygian mother stood, and which could not be moved by a\r\nhost of men and oxen, was moved by one weak woman, who<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_406\">[Pg 406]</a></span>\r\nattached her girdle to the vessel and drew it, as proof of her\r\nchastity; that a vestal, whose virginity was questioned, removed\r\nthe suspicion by carrying from the Tiber a sieve full of water\r\nwithout any of it dropping: these, then, and the like, are by\r\nno means to be compared for greatness and virtue to those\r\nwhich, we read, were wrought among God's people. How\r\nmuch less can we compare those marvels, which even the laws\r\nof heathen nations prohibit and punish,—I mean the magical\r\nand theurgic marvels, of which the great part are merely\r\nillusions practised upon the senses, as the drawing down of\r\nthe moon, \"that,\" as Lucan says, \"it may shed a stronger\r\ninfluence on the plants?\"<a id=\"FNanchor_407_407\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_407_407\">[407]</a> And if some of these do seem to\r\nequal those which are wrought by the godly, the end for\r\nwhich they are wrought distinguishes the two, and shows that\r\nours are incomparably the more excellent. For those miracles\r\ncommend the worship of a plurality of gods, who deserve\r\nworship the less the more they demand it; but these of ours\r\ncommend the worship of the one God, who, both by the testimony\r\nof His own Scriptures, and by the eventual abolition of\r\nsacrifices, proves that He needs no such offerings. If, therefore,\r\nany angels demand sacrifice for themselves, we must\r\nprefer those who demand it, not for themselves, but for God,\r\nthe Creator of all, whom they serve. For thus they prove\r\nhow sincerely they love us, since they wish by sacrifice to\r\nsubject us, not to themselves, but to Him by the contemplation\r\nof whom they themselves are blessed, and to bring us to Him\r\nfrom whom they themselves have never strayed. If, on the\r\nother hand, any angels wish us to sacrifice, not to one, but to\r\nmany, not, indeed, to themselves, but to the gods whose angels\r\nthey are, we must in this case also prefer those who are the\r\nangels of the one God of gods, and who so bid us to worship\r\nHim as to preclude our worshipping any other. But, further,\r\nif it be the case, as their pride and deceitfulness rather indicate,\r\nthat they are neither good angels nor the angels of good\r\ngods, but wicked demons, who wish sacrifice to be paid, not to\r\nthe one only and supreme God, but to themselves, what better\r\nprotection against them can we choose than that of the one\r\nGod whom the good angels serve, the angels who bid us<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_407\">[Pg 407]</a></span>\r\nsacrifice, not to themselves, but to Him whose sacrifice we\r\nourselves ought to be?</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-714"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f1c34859dbdb8ad29b4dfa8d1b3eb2744bc60f13cee70d0365bf587c63ed90bc","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_407_407","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_407_407","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_407_407\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_407_407\"><span class=\"label\">[407]</span></a> <i>Pharsal.</i> vi. 503.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_407_407","text_sha256":"c9192458e86d63b77890d86488237138ef307b26279cd154bb40f14ac5bce3b6","verified":false,"work_id":null}