{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>However, if we look at this a little more closely, we see\r\nthat no one lives as he wishes but the blessed, and that no\r\none is blessed but the righteous. But even the righteous\r\nhimself does not live as he wishes, until he has arrived where\r\nhe cannot die, be deceived, or injured, and until he is assured\r\nthat this shall be his eternal condition. For this nature demands;\r\nand nature is not fully and perfectly blessed till it\r\nattains what it seeks. But what man is at present able to\r\nlive as he wishes, when it is not in his power so much as to\r\nlive? He wishes to live, he is compelled to die. How, then,\r\ndoes he live as he wishes who does not live as long as he<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_44\">[Pg 44]</a></span>\r\nwishes? or if he wishes to die, how can he live as he wishes,\r\nsince he does not wish even to live? Or if he wishes to die,\r\nnot because he dislikes life, but that after death he may live\r\nbetter, still he is not yet living as he wishes, but only has the\r\nprospect of so living when, through death, he reaches that\r\nwhich he wishes. But admit that he lives as he wishes,\r\nbecause he has done violence to himself, and forced himself\r\nnot to wish what he cannot obtain, and to wish only what he\r\ncan (as Terence has it, \"Since you cannot do what you will,\r\nwill what you can\"<a id=\"FNanchor_122_122\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_122_122\">[122]</a>), is he therefore blessed because he is\r\npatiently wretched? For a blessed life is possessed only by\r\nthe man who loves it. If it is loved and possessed, it must\r\nnecessarily be more ardently loved than all besides; for whatever\r\nelse is loved must be loved for the sake of the blessed\r\nlife. And if it is loved as it deserves to be,—and the man\r\nis not blessed who does not love the blessed life as it deserves,—then\r\nhe who so loves it cannot but wish it to be eternal.\r\nTherefore it shall then only be blessed when it is eternal.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FOURTEENTH.[1]","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-87"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"9e83558d201338ff35cb5b3e5e0228c49cf177bf15035d607b5b3e82b390860c","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_122_122","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_122_122","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_122_122\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_122_122\"><span class=\"label\">[122]</span></a> <i>Andr.</i> ii. 1, 5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_122_122","text_sha256":"453e38382a3f7e04d5ab32084b84837de2e51362ff4496eece584fa697aa1452","verified":false,"work_id":null}