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St. Augustine
On Christian Doctrine
IntraText CT - Text
BOOK II.
chap. 20. The superstitious nature of human institutions
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chap
.
20
.
The
superstitious
nature
of
human
institutions
All
the
arrangements
made
by
men
to
the
making
and
worshipping
of
idols
are
superstitious
,
pertaining
as
they
do
either
to
the
worship
of
what
is
created
or
of
some
part
of
it
as
God
,
or
to
consultations
and
arrangements
about
signs
and
leagues
with
devils
,
such
,
for
example
,
as
are
employed
in
the
magical
arts
,
and
which
the
poets
are
accustomed
not
so
much
to
teach
as
to
celebrate
.
And
to
this
class
belong
,
but
with
a
bolder
reach
of
deception
,
the
books
of
the
haruspices
and
augurs
.
In
this
class
we
must
place
also
all
amulets
and
cures
which
the
medical
art
condemns
,
whether
these
consist
in
incantations
,
or
in
marks
which
they
call
characters
,
or
in
hanging
or
tying
on
or
even
dancing
in
a
fashion
certain
articles
,
not
with
reference
to
the
condition
of
the
body
,
but
to
certain
signs
hidden
or
manifest
;
and
these
remedies
they
call
by
the
less
offensive
name
of
physica
,
so
as
to
appear
not
to
be
engaged
in
superstitious
observances
,
but
to
be
taking
advantage
of
the
forces
of
nature
.
Examples
of
these
are
the
earrings
on
the
top
of
each
ear
,
or
the
rings
of
ostrich
bone
on
the
fingers
,
or
telling
you
when
you
hiccup
to
hold
your
left
thumb
in
your
right
hand
.
To
these
we
may
add
thousands
of
the
most
frivolous
practices
,
that
are
to
be
observed
if
any
part
of
the
body
should
jump
,
or
if
,
when
friends
are
walking
arm-in-arm
,
a
stone
,
or
a
dog
,
or
a
boy
,
should
come
between
them
.
And
the
kicking
of
a
stone
,
as
if
it
were
a
divider
of
friends
,
does
less
harm
than
to
cuff
an
innocent
boy
if
he
happens
to
run
between
men
who
are
walking
side
by
side
.
But
it
is
delightful
that
the
boys
are
sometimes
avenged
by
the
dogs
;
for
frequently
men
are
so
superstitious
as
to
venture
upon
striking
a
dog
who
has
run
between
them
,
not
with
impunity
however
,
for
instead
of
a
superstitious
remedy
,
the
dog
sometimes
makes
his
assailant
run
in
hot
haste
for
a
real
surgeon
.
To
this
class
,
too
,
belong
the
following
rules
:
To
tread
upon
the
threshold
when
you
go
out
in
front
of
the
house
;
to
go
back
to
bed
if
any
one
should
sneeze
when
you
are
putting
on
your
slippers
;
to
return
home
if
you
stumble
when
going
to
a
place
;
when
your
clothes
are
eaten
by
mice
,
to
be
more
frightened
at
the
prospect
of
coming
misfortune
than
grieved
by
your
present
loss
.
Whence
that
witty
saying
of
Cato
,
who
,
when
consulted
by
a
man
who
told
him
that
the
mice
had
eaten
his
boots
,
replied
, "
That
is
not
strange
,
but
it
would
have
been
very
strange
indeed
if
the
boots
had
eaten
the
mice
."
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