{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>As therefore it was not impossible to God to create such\r\nnatures as He pleased, so it is not impossible to Him to\r\nchange these natures of His own creation into whatever He\r\npleases, and thus spread abroad a multitude of those marvels\r\nwhich are called monsters, portents, prodigies, phenomena,<a id=\"FNanchor_862_862\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_862_862\">[862]</a>\r\nand which if I were minded to cite and record, what end\r\nwould there be to this work? They say that they are called\r\n\"monsters,\" because they <i>demonstrate</i> or signify something;\r\n\"portents,\" because they <i>portend</i> something; and so forth.<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_432\">[Pg 432]</a></span><a id=\"FNanchor_863_863\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_863_863\">[863]</a>\r\nBut let their diviners see how they are either deceived, or\r\neven when they do predict true things, it is because they\r\nare inspired by spirits, who are intent upon entangling the\r\nminds of men (worthy, indeed, of such a fate) in the meshes\r\nof a hurtful curiosity, or how they light now and then upon\r\nsome truth, because they make so many predictions. Yet,\r\nfor our part, these things which happen contrary to nature,\r\nand are said to be contrary to nature (as the apostle, speaking\r\nafter the manner of men, says, that to graff the wild olive\r\ninto the good olive, and to partake of its fatness, is contrary\r\nto nature), and are called monsters, phenomena, portents, prodigies,\r\nought to demonstrate, portend, predict that God will\r\nbring to pass what He has foretold regarding the bodies of\r\nmen, no difficulty preventing Him, no law of nature prescribing\r\nto Him His limit. How He has foretold what He\r\nis to do, I think I have sufficiently shown in the preceding\r\nbook, culling from the sacred Scriptures, both of the New and\r\nOld Testaments, not, indeed, all the passages that relate to\r\nthis, but as many as I judged to suffice for this work.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-FIRST.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-679"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"3bc5870d50bf4edcaf1279d8bdfda3a4022ba63c829af69dac03e3066baef422","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_863_863","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_863_863","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_863_863\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_863_863\"><span class=\"label\">[863]</span></a> The etymologies given here by Augustine are, \"monstra,\" a monstrando;\r\n\"ostenta,\" ab ostendendo; \"portenta,\" a portendendo, <i>i.e.</i> præostendendo;\r\n\"prodigia,\" quod porro dicant, <i>i.e.</i> futura prædicant.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_863_863","text_sha256":"82cbb92fd30e6237de897f1beacd6e2f5505922f9ac7bfe889cc66ec3d86cd2c","verified":false,"work_id":null}