{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>It is to no purpose, therefore, that that famous fiction about\r\nthe potter's wheel is brought forward, which tells of the answer\r\nwhich Nigidius is said to have given when he was perplexed\r\nwith this question, and on account of which he was called\r\n<i>Figulus</i>.<a id=\"FNanchor_186_186\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_186_186\">[186]</a> For, having whirled round the potter's wheel with\r\nall his strength, he marked it with ink, striking it twice with\r\nthe utmost rapidity, so that the strokes seemed to fall on the\r\nvery same part of it. Then, when the rotation had ceased,\r\nthe marks which he had made were found upon the rim of the\r\nwheel at no small distance apart. Thus, said he, considering\r\nthe great rapidity with which the celestial sphere revolves,\r\neven though twins were born with as short an interval between\r\ntheir births as there was between the strokes which I gave this\r\nwheel, that brief interval of time is equivalent to a very great\r\ndistance in the celestial sphere. Hence, said he, come whatever\r\ndissimilitudes may be remarked in the habits and fortunes\r\nof twins. This argument is more fragile than the vessels\r\nwhich are fashioned by the rotation of that wheel. For if\r\nthere is so much significance in the heavens which cannot be\r\ncomprehended by observation of the constellations, that, in the\r\ncase of twins, an inheritance may fall to the one and not to\r\nthe other, why, in the case of others who are not twins, do\r\nthey dare, having examined their constellations, to declare such\r\nthings as pertain to that secret which no one can comprehend,\r\nand to attribute them to the precise moment of the birth of each\r\nindividual? Now, if such predictions in connection with the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_182\">[Pg 182]</a></span>\r\nnatal hours of others who are not twins are to be vindicated on\r\nthe ground that they are founded on the observation of more extended\r\nspaces in the heavens, whilst those very small moments\r\nof time which separated the births of twins, and correspond\r\nto minute portions of celestial space, are to be connected with\r\ntrifling things about which the mathematicians are not wont\r\nto be consulted,—for who would consult them as to when he is\r\nto sit, when to walk abroad, when and on what he is to dine?—how\r\ncan we be justified in so speaking, when we can point\r\nout such manifold diversity both in the habits, doings, and\r\ndestinies of twins?</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FIFTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-351"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"a04efca2418c3fe4c687aad5060ac3f2bcd8a8a272dc34a7a6eb096bbd402206","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_186_186","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_186_186","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_186_186\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_186_186\"><span class=\"label\">[186]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i> the potter.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_186_186","text_sha256":"59248434ad55e3a26700a31a443933551eb9927609fa7a8bd40ac622c1750ce9","verified":false,"work_id":null}