{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But what kind of distinction is this which he makes between\r\nthe religious and the superstitious man, saying that the gods\r\nare feared<a id=\"FNanchor_238_238\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_238_238\">[238]</a> by the superstitious man, but are reverenced<a id=\"FNanchor_239_239\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_239_239\">[239]</a> as\r\nparents by the religious man, not feared as enemies; and that\r\nthey are all so good that they will more readily spare those\r\nwho are impious than hurt one who is innocent? And yet he\r\ntells us that three gods are assigned as guardians to a woman\r\nafter she has been delivered, lest the god Silvanus come in\r\nand molest her; and that in order to signify the presence of\r\nthese protectors, three men go round the house during the night,\r\nand first strike the threshold with a hatchet, next with a pestle,\r\nand the third time sweep it with a brush, in order that these\r\nsymbols of agriculture having been exhibited, the god Silvanus\r\nmight be hindered from entering, because neither are trees cut\r\ndown or pruned without a hatchet, neither is grain ground\r\nwithout a pestle, nor corn heaped up without a besom. Now\r\nfrom these three things three gods have been named: Intercidona,\r\nfrom the cut<a id=\"FNanchor_240_240\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_240_240\">[240]</a> made by the hatchet; Pilumnus, from the\r\npestle; Diverra, from the besom;—by which guardian gods the\r\nwoman who has been delivered is preserved against the power\r\nof the god Silvanus. Thus the guardianship of kindly-disposed\r\ngods would not avail against the malice of a mischievous god,\r\nunless they were three to one, and fought against him, as it\r\nwere, with the opposing emblems of cultivation, who, being an\r\ninhabitant of the woods, is rough, horrible, and uncultivated.\r\nIs this the innocence of the gods? Is this their concord?\r\nAre these the health-giving deities of the cities, more ridiculous\r\nthan the things which are laughed at in the theatres?</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SIXTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-453"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e55601226b0178d32b30a263400b3ce663eabbf4bf7abda9beb00851b0076b9a","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_239_239","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_239_239","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_239_239\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_239_239\"><span class=\"label\">[239]</span></a> <i>Vereri.</i></p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_239_239","text_sha256":"15579bda36e8d3db21a23cef42e48c77d12730fe44d6eda166d8b32531b6dd6c","verified":false,"work_id":null}