{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>For what flood of eloquence can suffice to detail the miseries\r\nof this life? Cicero, in the <i>Consolation</i> on the death of his\r\ndaughter, has spent all his ability in lamentation; but how\r\ninadequate was even his ability here? For when, where,\r\nhow, in this life can these primary objects of nature be possessed\r\nso that they may not be assailed by unforeseen accidents?\r\nIs the body of the wise man exempt from any pain\r\nwhich may dispel pleasure, from any disquietude which may\r\nbanish repose? The amputation or decay of the members of\r\nthe body puts an end to its integrity, deformity blights its\r\nbeauty, weakness its health, lassitude its vigour, sleepiness or\r\nsluggishness its activity,—and which of these is it that may\r\nnot assail the flesh of the wise man? Comely and fitting attitudes\r\nand movements of the body are numbered among the\r\nprime natural blessings; but what if some sickness makes the\r\nmembers tremble? what if a man suffers from curvature of\r\nthe spine to such an extent that his hands reach the ground,\r\nand he goes upon all-fours like a quadruped? Does not this\r\ndestroy all beauty and grace in the body, whether at rest or in\r\nmotion? What shall I say of the fundamental blessings of\r\nthe soul, sense and intellect, of which the one is given for the\r\nperception, and the other for the comprehension of truth?<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_303\">[Pg 303]</a></span>\r\nBut what kind of sense is it that remains when a man becomes\r\ndeaf and blind? where are reason and intellect when\r\ndisease makes a man delirious? We can scarcely, or not at\r\nall, refrain from tears, when we think of or see the actions and\r\nwords of such frantic persons, and consider how different from\r\nand even opposed to their own sober judgment and ordinary\r\nconduct their present demeanour is. And what shall I say of\r\nthose who suffer from demoniacal possession? Where is their\r\nown intelligence hidden and buried while the malignant spirit\r\nis using their body and soul according to his own will? And\r\nwho is quite sure that no such thing can happen to the wise\r\nman in this life? Then, as to the perception of truth, what\r\ncan we hope for even in this way while in the body, as we read\r\nin the true book of Wisdom, \"The corruptible body weigheth\r\ndown the soul, and the earthly tabernacle presseth down the\r\nmind that museth upon many things?\"<a id=\"FNanchor_625_625\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_625_625\">[625]</a> And eagerness,\r\nor desire of action, if this is the right meaning to put upon\r\nthe Greek ὁρμή, is also reckoned among the primary advantages\r\nof nature; and yet is it not this which produces those\r\npitiable movements of the insane, and those actions which we\r\nshudder to see, when sense is deceived and reason deranged?</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-497"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"958670c76761178dd0b05dd56ffec17d89bc129698cad6cb6efdc01fee45a248","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"WIS","chapter":9,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Wisdom ix. 15","verse":15,"verse_end":15}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_625_625","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_625_625","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_625_625\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_625_625\"><span class=\"label\">[625]</span></a> Wisdom ix. 15.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_625_625","text_sha256":"e449b648567722ad5258b59f05da592bcb4b36ad27edab56fad7fb8b46fb56a9","verified":false,"work_id":null}