sappho@SRI-NIC.ARPA (08/06/86)
But the worshippers and lovers of those gods, whom they delighted to imitate in their criminal wickedness, are unconcerned about the utter corruption of their country. '... The laws should punish offenses against another's property, not offenses against a man's own personal character. No one should be brought to trial except for an offense, or threat of offense, against another's property, house, or person; but anyone should be free to do as he likes about his own, or with his own, or with others, if they consent.... It is a good thing to have imposing houses luxuriously furnished, where lavish banquets can be held, where people can, if they like, spend night and day in debauchery, and eat and drink till they are sick: to have the din of dancing everywhere, and theatres full of fevered shouts of degraded pleasure and of every kind of cruel and degraded indulgence. Anyone who disapproves of this kind of happiness should rank as a public enemy: anyone who attempts to change or get rid of it should be hustled out of hearing by the freedom-loving majority: he should be kicked out, and removed from the land of the living....' St. Augustine, City of God Lynn Gazis sappho@sri-nic ------- -------