St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H.
About this Item
Title
St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H.
Author
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
Publication
London :: Printed by George Eld,
1610.
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Subject terms
Christianity and other religions -- Early works to 1800.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A22641.0001.001
Cite this Item
"St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A22641.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 16, 2024.
Pages
Whether the Taxes that the holy Virgins suffered against their wills in their captiuities, could pollute the vertues of their minde. CHAP. 15.
O But they thinke they giue the Christians a foule blow, when they aggra∣uate the disgrace of their captiuitie, by vrging the rapes which were wrought not onely vpon maried and mariageable persons, but euen vpon some Votaresses also: Here are wee not to speake of faith, or godlinesse, or of the vertue of chastitie, but our discourse must runne a narrow course, (a) betwixt
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shame and reason. (b) Nor care wee so much to giue an answer vnto stran∣gers in this, as to minister comfort vnto our fellow Christians. Bee this therefore granted as our first position, that that power by which man liueth well, resting enthroned, and established in the minde, commands euery mem∣ber of the body, and the body is sanctified by the sanctification of the will: which sactimonie of the will, if it remaine firme and inuiolate, what way * 1.1 soeuer the body bee disposed of or abused, (if the partie enduring this abuse cannot auoide it (d) without an expresse offence) this sufferance layeth no crime vpon the soule. But because euery body is subiect to suffer the effects both of the furie, and the lusts of him that subdueth it that which it suffereth in this latter kinde, though it bee not a destroyer of ones chastitie, yet is it a procurer of ones shame: Because otherwise, it might bee thought, that that was suffered with the consent of the minde, which it may bee could not bee suffered without some delight of the flesh: And therefore as for those, who to auoide this did voluntarily destroy themselues, what humaine heart can choose but pittie them? yet as touching such as would not doe so, fear∣ing by auoyding others villanie, to incurre their owne damnation, hee that imputes this as a fault vnto them, is not vnguiltie of the faulte of folly.
L. VIVES.
BEtweene (a) shame and reason] for shame saith that the very violation of the body is to bee called euill; but Reason denyes it. (b) Nor care we] This we will speake as a comforting vnto our Christian women that endured these violences. (c) In the minde] The Platonists place the soule and hir powers in the head, as in a Tower, sitting there, as the commander of our actions, and the ouer-seer of our labours, as Claudian saith. (d) Without sinne,] for if wee can auoyde it without sinne, we ought to endeuour this auoydance with all our powers.