{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>What shall I say of these judgments which men pronounce\r\non men, and which are necessary in communities, whatever\r\noutward peace they enjoy? Melancholy and lamentable\r\njudgments they are, since the judges are men who cannot\r\ndiscern the consciences of those at their bar, and are therefore\r\nfrequently compelled to put innocent witnesses to the torture\r\nto ascertain the truth regarding the crimes of other men.\r\nWhat shall I say of torture applied to the accused himself?\r\nHe is tortured to discover whether he is guilty, so that, though\r\ninnocent, he suffers most undoubted punishment for crime that\r\nis still doubtful, not because it is proved that he committed it,\r\nbut because it is not ascertained that he did not commit it.\r\nThus the ignorance of the judge frequently involves an innocent\r\nperson in suffering. And what is still more unendurable—a\r\nthing, indeed, to be bewailed, and, if that were possible, watered\r\nwith fountains of tears—is this, that when the judge puts the\r\naccused to the question, that he may not unwittingly put an\r\ninnocent man to death, the result of this lamentable ignorance\r\nis that this very person, whom he tortured that he might not\r\ncondemn him if innocent, is condemned to death both tortured\r\nand innocent. For if he has chosen, in obedience to the\r\nphilosophical instructions to the wise man, to quit this life\r\nrather than endure any longer such tortures, he declares that\r\nhe has committed the crime which in fact he has not committed.\r\nAnd when he has been condemned and put to\r\ndeath, the judge is still in ignorance whether he has put to\r\ndeath an innocent or a guilty person, though he put the\r\naccused to the torture for the very purpose of saving himself\r\nfrom condemning the innocent; and consequently he has\r\nboth tortured an innocent man to discover his innocence, and\r\nhas put him to death without discovering it. If such darkness\r\nshrouds social life, will a wise judge take his seat on\r\nthe bench or no? Beyond question he will. For human\r\nsociety, which he thinks it a wickedness to abandon, constrains\r\nhim and compels him to this duty. And he thinks it no<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_310\">[Pg 310]</a></span>\r\nwickedness that innocent witnesses are tortured regarding the\r\ncrimes of which other men are accused; or that the accused\r\nare put to the torture, so that they are often overcome with\r\nanguish, and, though innocent, make false confessions regarding\r\nthemselves, and are punished; or that, though they be not\r\ncondemned to die, they often die during, or in consequence of,\r\nthe torture; or that sometimes the accusers, who perhaps\r\nhave been prompted by a desire to benefit society by bringing\r\ncriminals to justice, are themselves condemned through the\r\nignorance of the judge, because they are unable to prove the\r\ntruth of their accusations though they are true, and because\r\nthe witnesses lie, and the accused endures the torture without\r\nbeing moved to confession. These numerous and important\r\nevils he does not consider sins; for the wise judge does these\r\nthings, not with any intention of doing harm, but because his\r\nignorance compels him, and because human society claims\r\nhim as a judge. But though we therefore acquit the judge\r\nof malice, we must none the less condemn human life as\r\nmiserable. And if he is compelled to torture and punish the\r\ninnocent because his office and his ignorance constrain him, is\r\nhe a happy as well as a guiltless man? Surely it were proof\r\nof more profound considerateness and finer feeling were he to\r\nrecognise the misery of these necessities, and shrink from his\r\nown implication in that misery; and had he any piety about\r\nhim, he would cry to God, \"From my necessities deliver Thou\r\nme.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_633_633\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_633_633\">[633]</a></p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-504"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"3891888781bd3ebce2417e74415b61dab64fd314a59ef1ad72d38cac6b84e1e9","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"PSA","chapter":25,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. xxv. 17","verse":17,"verse_end":17}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_633_633","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_633_633","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_633_633\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_633_633\"><span class=\"label\">[633]</span></a> Ps. xxv. 17.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_633_633","text_sha256":"b53de87b3a1b42490f702dd6dce9b632a450a0cb19b4ad77960010ab78b633c9","verified":false,"work_id":null}