{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>There is, then, nothing to hinder the gods from mingling in\r\na bodily form with men, from seeing and being seen, from\r\nspeaking and hearing. And if the demons do thus mix with\r\nmen, as I said, and are not polluted, while the gods, were they\r\nto do so, should be polluted, then the demons are less liable to\r\npollution than the gods. And if even the demons are contaminated,\r\nhow can they help men to attain blessedness after\r\ndeath, if, so far from being able to cleanse them, and present\r\nthem clean to the unpolluted gods, these mediators are themselves\r\npolluted? And if they cannot confer this benefit on\r\nmen, what good can their friendly mediation do? Or shall\r\nits result be, not that men find entrance to the gods, but that\r\nmen and demons abide together in a state of pollution, and\r\nconsequently of exclusion from blessedness? Unless, perhaps,\r\nsome one may say that, like sponges or things of that sort, the\r\ndemons themselves, in the process of cleansing their friends,\r\nbecome themselves the filthier in proportion as the others\r\nbecome clean. But if this is the solution, then the gods, who\r\nshun contact or intercourse with men for fear of pollution, mix\r\nwith demons who are far more polluted. Or perhaps the\r\ngods, who cannot cleanse men without polluting themselves,\r\ncan without pollution cleanse the demons who have been contaminated\r\nby human contact? Who can believe such follies,\r\nunless the demons have practised their deceit upon him? If\r\nseeing and being seen is contamination, and if the gods, whom\r\nApuleius himself calls visible, \"the brilliant lights of the\r\nworld,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_348_348\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_348_348\">[348]</a> and the other stars, are seen by men, are we to believe\r\nthat the demons, who cannot be seen unless they please, are\r\nsafer from contamination? Or if it is only the seeing and not\r\nthe being seen which contaminates, then they must deny that\r\nthese gods of theirs, these brilliant lights of the world, see\r\nmen when their rays beam upon the earth. Their rays are\r\nnot contaminated by lighting on all manner of pollution, and\r\nare we to suppose that the gods would be contaminated if\r\nthey mixed with men, and even if contact were needed in\r\norder to assist them? For there is contact between the earth<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_374\">[Pg 374]</a></span>\r\nand the sun's or moon's rays, and yet this does not pollute\r\nthe light.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK NINTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-660"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"84cc862987cbad67c9031521e2766a2bea35270c0338de9d2bffc63ddeb954a2","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_348_348","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_348_348","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_348_348\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_348_348\"><span class=\"label\">[348]</span></a> Virgil, <i>Georg.</i> i. 5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_348_348","text_sha256":"36f2fa2b5ace49d9fb996889e453ca66d803cca3f7083ff75bf7950fc69ad903","verified":false,"work_id":null}