{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>And therefore those who admit that these are evils, as the\r\nPeripatetics do, and the Old Academy, the sect which Varro\r\nadvocates, express a more intelligible doctrine; but theirs\r\nalso is a surprising mistake, for they contend that this is a\r\nhappy life which is beset by these evils, even though they be\r\nso great that he who endures them should commit suicide to\r\nescape them. \"Pains and anguish of body,\" says Varro, \"are\r\nevils, and so much the worse in proportion to their severity;\r\nand to escape them you must quit this life.\" What life, I\r\npray? This life, he says, which is oppressed by such evils.\r\nThen it is happy in the midst of these very evils on account\r\nof which you say we must quit it? Or do you call it happy<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_306\">[Pg 306]</a></span>\r\nbecause you are at liberty to escape these evils by death?\r\nWhat, then, if by some secret judgment of God you were\r\nheld fast and not permitted to die, nor suffered to live without\r\nthese evils? In that case, at least, you would say that\r\nsuch a life was miserable. It is soon relinquished, no doubt,\r\nbut this does not make it not miserable; for were it eternal,\r\nyou yourself would pronounce it miserable. Its brevity,\r\ntherefore, does not clear it of misery; neither ought it to be\r\ncalled happiness because it is a brief misery. Certainly there\r\nis a mighty force in these evils which compel a man—according\r\nto them, even a wise man—to cease to be a man that he\r\nmay escape them, though they say, and say truly, that it is\r\nas it were the first and strongest demand of nature that a\r\nman cherish himself, and naturally therefore avoid death, and\r\nshould so stand his own friend as to wish and vehemently\r\naim at continuing to exist as a living creature, and subsisting\r\nin this union of soul and body. There is a mighty force in\r\nthese evils to overcome this natural instinct by which death\r\nis by every means and with all a man's efforts avoided, and\r\nto overcome it so completely that what was avoided is desired,\r\nsought after, and if it cannot in any other way be obtained,\r\nis inflicted by the man on himself. There is a mighty force\r\nin these evils which make fortitude a homicide,—if, indeed,\r\nthat is to be called fortitude which is so thoroughly overcome\r\nby these evils, that it not only cannot preserve by patience\r\nthe man whom it undertook to govern and defend, but is\r\nitself obliged to kill him. The wise man, I admit, ought to\r\nbear death with patience, but when it is inflicted by another.\r\nIf, then, as these men maintain, he is obliged to inflict it on\r\nhimself, certainly it must be owned that the ills which compel\r\nhim to this are not only evils, but intolerable evils. The\r\nlife, then, which is either subject to accidents, or environed\r\nwith evils so considerable and grievous, could never have been\r\ncalled happy, if the men who give it this name had condescended\r\nto yield to the truth, and to be conquered by valid\r\narguments, when they inquired after the happy life, as they\r\nyield to unhappiness, and are overcome by overwhelming\r\nevils, when they put themselves to death, and if they had not\r\nfancied that the supreme good was to be found in this mortal<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_307\">[Pg 307]</a></span>\r\nlife; for the very virtues of this life, which are certainly its\r\nbest and most useful possessions, are all the more telling\r\nproofs of its miseries in proportion as they are helpful against\r\nthe violence of its dangers, toils, and woes. For if these are\r\ntrue virtues,—and such cannot exist save in those who have\r\ntrue piety,—they do not profess to be able to deliver the men\r\nwho possess them from all miseries; for true virtues tell no\r\nsuch lies, but they profess that by the hope of the future\r\nworld this life, which is miserably involved in the many and\r\ngreat evils of this world, is happy as it is also safe. For if\r\nnot yet safe, how could it be happy? And therefore the\r\nApostle Paul, speaking not of men without prudence, temperance,\r\nfortitude, and justice, but of those whose lives were\r\nregulated by true piety, and whose virtues were therefore true,\r\nsays, \"For we are saved by hope: now hope which is seen\r\nis not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?\r\nBut if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience\r\nwait for it.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_628_628\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_628_628\">[628]</a> As, therefore, we are saved, so we are made\r\nhappy by hope. And as we do not as yet possess a present,\r\nbut look for a future salvation, so is it with our happiness,\r\nand this \"with patience;\" for we are encompassed with evils,\r\nwhich we ought patiently to endure, until we come to the\r\nineffable enjoyment of unmixed good; for there shall be no\r\nlonger anything to endure. Salvation, such as it shall be in\r\nthe world to come, shall itself be our final happiness. And\r\nthis happiness these philosophers refuse to believe in, because\r\nthey do not see it, and attempt to fabricate for themselves a\r\nhappiness in this life, based upon a virtue which is as deceitful\r\nas it is proud.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK NINETEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-500"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"ff2d2de3379c57fd85cb9ea48528e0ead108826c99dd4888bfdad91b73a1daaf","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"ROM","chapter":8,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Rom. viii. 24","verse":24,"verse_end":24}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_628_628","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_628_628","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_628_628\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_628_628\"><span class=\"label\">[628]</span></a> Rom. viii. 24.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_628_628","text_sha256":"7e2cc0672a4803dc39aede45c379d04006aa99f28485202bcc9d454822d2548b","verified":false,"work_id":null}