{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Wherefore let us go on to consider what virtues of the\r\nRomans they were which the true God, in whose power are\r\nalso the kingdoms of the earth, condescended to help in\r\norder to raise the empire, and also for what reason He did so.\r\nAnd, in order to discuss this question on clearer ground, we\r\nhave written the former books, to show that the power of\r\nthose gods, who, they thought, were to be worshipped with\r\nsuch trifling and silly rites, had nothing to do in this matter;\r\nand also what we have already accomplished of the present\r\nvolume, to refute the doctrine of fate, lest any one who might\r\nhave been already persuaded that the Roman empire was not\r\nextended and preserved by the worship of these gods, might\r\nstill be attributing its extension and preservation to some kind\r\nof fate, rather than to the most powerful will of God most\r\nhigh. The ancient and primitive Romans, therefore, though\r\ntheir history shows us that, like all the other nations, with\r\nthe sole exception of the Hebrews, they worshipped false gods,\r\nand sacrificed victims, not to God, but to demons, have nevertheless\r\nthis commendation bestowed on them by their historian,\r\nthat they were \"greedy of praise, prodigal of wealth, desirous\r\nof great glory, and content with a moderate fortune.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_193_193\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_193_193\">[193]</a> Glory\r\nthey most ardently loved: for it they wished to live, for it\r\nthey did not hesitate to die. Every other desire was repressed\r\nby the strength of their passion for that one thing. At length\r\ntheir country itself, because it seemed inglorious to serve, but\r\nglorious to rule and to command, they first earnestly desired\r\nto be free, and then to be mistress. Hence it was that, not\r\nenduring the domination of kings, they put the government\r\ninto the hands of two chiefs, holding office for a year, who\r\nwere called consuls, not kings or lords.<a id=\"FNanchor_194_194\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_194_194\">[194]</a> But royal pomp<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_199\">[Pg 199]</a></span>\r\nseemed inconsistent with the administration of a ruler (<i>regentis</i>),\r\nor the benevolence of one who consults (that is, for the\r\npublic good) (<i>consulentis</i>), but rather with the haughtiness of\r\na lord (<i>dominantis</i>). King Tarquin, therefore, having been\r\nbanished, and the consular government having been instituted,\r\nit followed, as the same author already alluded to says in his\r\npraises of the Romans, that \"the state grew with amazing\r\nrapidity after it had obtained liberty, so great a desire of\r\nglory had taken possession of it.\" That eagerness for praise\r\nand desire of glory, then, was that which accomplished those\r\nmany wonderful things, laudable, doubtless, and glorious according\r\nto human judgment. The same Sallust praises the\r\ngreat men of his own time, Marcus Cato, and Caius Cæsar,\r\nsaying that for a long time the republic had no one great in\r\nvirtue, but that within his memory there had been these two\r\nmen of eminent virtue, and very different pursuits. Now,\r\namong the praises which he pronounces on Cæsar he put\r\nthis, that he wished for a great empire, an army, and a new\r\nwar, that he might have a sphere where his genius and virtue\r\nmight shine forth. Thus it was ever the prayer of men of\r\nheroic character that Bellona would excite miserable nations\r\nto war, and lash them into agitation with her bloody scourge,\r\nso that there might be occasion for the display of their\r\nvalour. This, forsooth, is what that desire of praise and\r\nthirst for glory did. Wherefore, by the love of liberty in the\r\nfirst place, afterwards also by that of domination and through\r\nthe desire of praise and glory, they achieved many great things;\r\nand their most eminent poet testifies to their having been\r\nprompted by all these motives:</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FIFTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-375"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"bc91b69bad31662d02501367d2fd4a6121190fddb7b6d82fb71fdc63010bb366","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_193_193","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_193_193","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_193_193\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_193_193\"><span class=\"label\">[193]</span></a> Sallust, <i>Cat.</i> vii.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_193_193","text_sha256":"8c1f0dfc4d88f9ae207daa8b1069680a7f86559b3390309e873f5033c57c2452","verified":false,"work_id":null}