{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But, some one will interpose, these are the fables of poets,\r\nnot the deliverances of the gods themselves. Well, I have\r\nno mind to arbitrate between the lewdness of theatrical entertainments\r\nand of mystic rites; only this I say, and history\r\nbears me out in making the assertion, that those same entertainments,\r\nin which the fictions of poets are the main attraction,\r\nwere not introduced in the festivals of the gods by the\r\nignorant devotion of the Romans, but that the gods themselves\r\ngave the most urgent commands to this effect, and indeed extorted\r\nfrom the Romans these solemnities and celebrations in\r\ntheir honour. I touched on this in the preceding book, and\r\nmentioned that dramatic entertainments were first inaugurated\r\nat Rome on occasion of a pestilence, and by authority of the\r\npontiff. And what man is there who is not more likely to\r\nadopt, for the regulation of his own life, the examples that are\r\nrepresented in plays which have a divine sanction, rather than\r\nthe precepts written and promulgated with no more than\r\nhuman authority? If the poets gave a false representation\r\nof Jove in describing him as adulterous, then it were to be expected\r\nthat the chaste gods should in anger avenge so wicked\r\na fiction, in place of encouraging the games which circulated\r\nit. Of these plays, the most inoffensive are comedies and\r\ntragedies, that is to say, the dramas which poets write for\r\nthe stage, and which, though they often handle impure subjects,\r\nyet do so without the filthiness of language which characterizes\r\nmany other performances; and it is these dramas which\r\nboys are obliged by their seniors to read and learn as a part\r\nof what is called a liberal and gentlemanly education.<a id=\"FNanchor_96_96\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_96_96\">[96]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-132"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"97fe36fe8dfe85ea7a61b2b67ae07f34fc27634d7141ed00aeac69e23818b65a","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_96_96","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_96_96","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_96_96\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_96_96\"><span class=\"label\">[96]</span></a> This sentence recalls Augustine's own experience as a boy, which he bewails\r\nin his <i>Confessions</i>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_96_96","text_sha256":"9ea66a24a59c41d37df0f116a7e24ae833e9d2de771196c1e32771e1b1e2ab82","verified":false,"work_id":null}