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Q. SEPTIMI FLORENTIS 

TERTVLLIANI 

APOLOGETICVS 



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SEPTIMI FLORENTIS 

TERTVLLIANI 

APOLOGETICVS 

The text of Oehler 
Annotated, witli an Introduction, by 

JOHN E. B. MAYOR, M.A. 

Professor of Latin in the University of Cambridge 
Fellow and President of St John s College 

With a translation by 
ALEX. SOUTER, B.A. 

Regius Professor of Humanity in the University of Aberdeen 
Late Scholar of Gonville and Caius College 



Cambridge : 

at the University Press 

1917 



T 

\Q 



STOR 



- 3L-I9 



PREFACE 

THE late Professor John E. B. Mayor, during his tenure of 
the professorship of Latin at Cambridge, frequently lectured 
on the Apology of Tertullian in the Divinity Schools. About 
the year 1892 he wrote out his notes in a copy of Oehler s 
earlier edition (Halle, 1849), that had been interleaved with 
sheets of paper about twice the size of the pages of the book 
itself. These notes were added to from time to time down to 
the year 1907, if not later, and they formed the matter of his 
lectures. Already in 1893 he began to publish them in The 
Journal of Philology, but the publication never went beyond 
the end of the fifth chapter. 

After his death on December 1, 1910, his executors considered 
the advisability of publishing the whole of the notes, and 
honoured me with the request to edit them for publication. 
I had heard the lectures throughout two or more terms of my 
undergraduate period at Cambridge, and had been profoundly 
influenced by them. I therefore felt it binding on me to 
suspend my own work and perform this act of pietas. 

The executors first arranged with Mr E. S. Payne of Clifton, 
Bristol, for a copy of the notes as a basis for the proposed 
publication. Though the Professor s handwriting is beautifully 
clear, it is at the same time so microscopic that this was no 
light task to perform. Mr Payne also verified many of the 
references, and appended a number of useful remarks on the 
notes themselves. 

It may be at once admitted that only the Professor himself, 
or some one equally learned, could edit these notes in a satis 
factory manner. I am fully conscious of my own unfitness 
for the task, which has been very heavy. I have felt it necessary 
to compare Mr Payne s copy with the original MS, in which 
work I received valued help from the friend of thirty years, 
Mr James Taylor of the Aberdeen Centre for the Training of 
Teachers; but this is only part of what was required. I have 
had to put the notes in correct sequence, to reduce to order 
the somewhat chaotic state of the references and quotations 
within the notes themselves, to supply references never filled 



vi PREFACE 

in, and to cut out references or quotations given twice in the 
same note. I have brought the references to the works of 
Tertullian that have appeared in the Vienna edition, into 
conformity with that edition, as the Professor himself would 
have wished. In the few cases where references have in some 
way baffled me, I have placed a point of interrogation within 
brackets as a danger signal. It is not often that I have added 
anything of my own. When this has been done, I felt sure 
that Prof. Mayor himself would have made the addition prior 
to publication. Such additions are enclosed within square 
brackets, and the editor s initials are appended. 

The notes were not intended by their author to constitute 
a complete commentary, but rather to form a useful supplement 
to those already published, such as Havercamp s and Oehler s. 
They provide, however, so vast a body of illustration, both 
of the subject-matter and of the language of the Apology, that 
not only are they to be regarded as a commentary, but as by 
far the best commentary ever published. Nevertheless, as 
Tertullian is the most difficult of all Latin prose writers, and 
the notes are not of a type intended for schoolboys, it has 
been deemed advisable to add an English translation of the 
text. This translation has had the inestimable advantage of 
thorough revision by the veteran brother of the commentator, 
Emeritus-Professor Joseph B. Mayor, of King s College, London, 
who has spared no pains to make the whole book as perfect as 
possible. 

The Provost of King s, Dr M. R. James, has given kind 
help in cases of extreme difficulty. I am also indebted to my 
assistant, Mr Robert Weir, formerly of Pembroke College, 
Oxford, for help in the reading of the proofs and the verifi 
cation of references. Nor must I forget the extreme care of 
the press readers. 

Prof. Mayor s introduction, with the notes on chapters I 
to V, has been reprinted from The Journal of Philology by kind 
permission of the editors. I have ventured to add a biblio 
graphy of the chief works on Tertullian. which have appeared 
since that article was published. I have also compiled the index. 

A. SOUTER. 

THE UNIVERSITY, 
ABERDEEN. 

22nd November, 1916. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE . . v vi 

ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA . . . . . viii 

INTRODUCTION ix xx 

TEXT 2146 

TRANSLATION . 3147 

NOTES ON READINGS. . . . . . . 148 

NOTES . 149486 

INDEX 487496 



ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 

page 13, line 24. For It is read * Is it, and add ? at end of sentence. 
16 v , 7. Read damnandi. 
19 30. For * the emperor read a general. 
,. 43. For in read on. 
.., 21 4. Omit could have. 
27 ., 8. For their divine character is preserved read the divine 

is kept in reserve. 

.., 131 ,, 18, For equanimity read -endurance. 
135 ,. 12. For commentators read gar biers. 
237 ,, 18. A full stop should be placed after 2, and Hav. separated 

from it. 

279 6. Mr R. Weir has found the reference to be xi 13. 
287 12. The reference to John 16, 13 should be added, and 

cf. C. H. Turner in Journ. Theol. Stud, xiv (1912-13), 

p. 563. His article Tertullianea. I, pp. 556-564, 

was accidentally omitted from the Bibliograplry. 
297 5. The reference is wrong. 
311 19. After 13 add 1. 
,, 313 24. Add another example of pascua (sing.), Gen. 47, 4 (in 

Lyons Heptateuch). 
320 35. For vn read 7. 
322 21. Before* 163 add 97. 
325 ,. 1. The passage of Prudentius Peris teph. intended is x 919-920. 

The Vincent. intended is perhaps Vincent of Beauvais. 
332 5. Omit n. 

, 38. There should be a space between Plin. and inscr. 
337 10. For 7 7 read 4 8. For 7 3 read 13 13. 
373 13. Delete ? 
405 29. For * OBA read ORO. 

429 8. Add [add Aug. Serm. 393, Ps.- Aug. Serm. 261, 3. A.S.]. 
450 28f. lexx. etc. refer to SCRVPVLOSITAS, line 16. 
465 , 27. For 22 read 23. 



INTRODUCTION 

In my Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature (Cambr. 

1875, pp. 163 6) I collected the titles of the principal editions 
of Tertullian, and of works or essays published in illustration 
of him and his writings. I now add : 

J. P. Condamin, De Q. S. F. Tertulliano, uexatae religionis 
patrono, et praecipuo apud Latinos Christianae linguae artifice. 
Bar-le-Duc 1877. 8vo. 

Q. S. F. T. libellus de spectaculis. Ad cod. Agobardinum 
denuo collatum recensuit, adnotationes criticas nouas addidit 
Ern. Klussmann. Lips. 1877. Large 8vo. 

id. Adnotationes crit. ad Tert. de spect. in Gymnasium 
lenense ipsis Non. Oct. anni 1876 bonis litteris dedicandum 
pientissimis notis prosequuntur Director et Collegae Gymnasii 
Rudolphopolitani. Rudolphopoli, Froebel. (Reviewed by H. 
Ronsch in Liter. Centralblatt, 31 March 1877.) 

Is. Pelet, Essai sur 1 apologetique de Tertullien. Strasb. 
1868. 8vo. Keim, Die Zeit des T. apol. in his Aus dem 
Urchristenthum i (Zurich 1878) 1748. In the Zeitschr. f. 
oest. Gymn. 1869, pp. 348368 W. Hartel reviewed Ebert s 
dissertation on Tertullian s relation to Minucius Felix. 

The same Hartel in his Patristische Studien I (Wien, 
Tempsky, 1890, pp. 58. 8vo) wrote : Zu Tert. de spect. de idol. 

Dr Ernst Noeldechen, who in 1890 published : Tert. darge- 
stellt von E. N. Gotha, Perthes. 8vo, pp. viii 496 ; also wrote 
in Brieger s Zeitschr. f. Kirchengeschichte XI, on Tert. de cor., 
and many other essays on this father in other periodicals. 

Dr Aug. Oxe, Prolegomena de carmine aduersus Marcionitas. 
Leipz. Fock. 1888. 8vo, pp. 51. Cf. Ztschr. f. wiss. Theol. 

1876, pp. 113120, 154158. 

R. A. Lipsius, Die Quellen der altesten Ketzergeschichte, 
Leipz. 1875, pp. 6483. 

a5 



x INTRODUCTION 

G. R. Hauschild, Die Grundsatze und Mittel der Sprach-. 

bildung bei Tertullian. Leipz. 1876. 4to. The same : Tertul- 

lians Psychologic und Erkenntnisstheorie. Frankf. 1880. 4 to. 

P. Schwenk, Uber die Zeit des Minucius Felix (Jahrbb. f. 

prot. Theol. 1883 n. 2). 

Fr. Wilhelm, De Minucii Felicis Octauio et Tertulliani 
apologetico. Bresl. Philol. Abhandl. 1887. 

The first part of the Vienna edition of Tertullian, prepared 
by ReifTerscheid, appeared, completed by Wissowa, in 1890, but 
it does not contain the Apology; however it is so far helpful 
that it gives an instalment of cognate pieces, spect., idol., ad 
nat., test. an. 

[The third part of the Vienna edition of Tertullian, edited 
by Emil Kroymann, appeared in 1906. It contains pat., 
earn, resurr., adu. Hermog., adu. Val., adu. omn. haer., adu. 
Prax., adu. Marc, (see Eb. Nestle in Philologus, LXVII (1908), 
477 479). The second and fourth parts, to be edited by E. 
Kroymann and H. Hoppe, are as yet (1916) unpublished. A.S.] 
See Engelmann, Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum. 8th 
ed. by E. Preuss. n 1882, pp. 663666, and TeufM-Schwabe, 
Gesch. d. rom. Lit. 5 373. 

[J. Schmidt, Ein Beitrag zur Chronologie der Schriften 
Tertullian s und der Proconsuln von Afrika (Rheinisches 
Museum, XLVI (1891), 7798). 

A. Harnack, Die griechische Uebersetzung des Apologeticus 
Tertullian s (Texte und Untersuchungen, vm 4), Leipzig, 1892. 
M. Klussmann, Excerpta Tertullianea in Isidori Hispalensis 
Etymologiis, Hamburg, 1892. 

A. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristl. Lit. bis Eusebius, i, 
Leipzig, 1893, 667687, n (2), Leipzig, 1904, 256296. 

E. Noeldechen, Tertullians Gegen die Juden, auf Einheit, 
Echtheit und Entstehung gepriift (Texte und L T ntersuchungen, 
xii 2), Leipzig, 1894. 

M. Schanz, Die Abfassungszeit des Octavius des Minucius 
Felix (Rheinisches Museum, L (1895), 114136). 
H. Gomperz, Tertullianea, Vienna, 1895. 
E. Norden, De Minucii Felicis aetate et genere dicendi, 
Oreifswald, 1897, 



INTRODUCTION xi 

K. Holl, Tertullian als Schriftsteller (Preussische Jahrbiicher, 
LXXXVIII (1897), 262278). 

E. Kroymann, Die Tertullianiiberlieferimg in Italien (Sit- 
zungsberichte d. kaiserl. Akad. in Wien, cxxxvni (3), 1898). 

P. Monceaux, Chronologic des oeuvres de Tertullien (Revue 
de Philologie, xxn (1898), 7792). 

E. Kroymann, Kritische Vorarbeiten fur den 3. und 4. Band 
der neuen Tertullian- Ausgabe (Sitzungsberichte d. kais. Akad. 
in Wien, CXLIII (6), 1901). 

A. Ehrhard, Die altchristliche Literatur und ihre Erforschung, 
v. 18841900, Freiburg, 1901. 

F. Kotek, Anklange an Ciceros De Natura Deorum bei 
Minucius Felix und Tertullian, Vienna, 1901. 

P. Monceaux, Histoire litteraire de FAfrique chretienne, 
i, Tertullien et les Origines, Paris, 1901. 

H. Waitz, Die pseudotertullianische Gedicht adv. Marcionem, 
Darmstadt, 1901. 

C. Callewaert, Le Codex Fuldensis, le meilleur ms. de 
I Apologeticum de Tertullien (Revue d Histoire et de Litterature 
Religieuses, vn (1902), 322353). 

H. Hoppe, Syntax und Stil des Tertullian, Leipzig, 1903. 

0. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, 
n, Freiburg i. B. 1903, 332394. 

S. Turmel, Tertullien (La Pensee Chretienne), Paris, 1904. 

M. Schanz, Geschichte der romischen Literatur, 3. Teil, 
2 Aufl. Munich, 1905, 280351. 

A. d Ales, La Theologie de Tertullien, Paris, 1905. 

A. Engelbrecht, Neue lexikalische und semasiologische 
Beitrage aus Tertullian (Wiener Studien, xxvm (1906), 142 
159). 

G. Rauschen, Tertulliani Apologetici Recensio Nova, Bonn, 
1906 (ed. alt. 1912). 

A. Souter, A Tenth-Century Fragment of Tertullian s 
Apology (Journal of Theological Studies, vm (19061907), 
297300). 

H. Goelzer, Le Style de Tertullien (Journal des Savants 
(1907), 202211). 

R. Heinze, Tertullians Apologeticum, Leipzig, 1910. 



xii INTRODUCTION 

P. Henen, Index verborum quae Tertulliani apologetico 
continentur, Louvain and Paris, 1910 (from Musee Beige, vols. 

XIII, XIV, XV). 

J. P. Waltzing, L Apologetique de Tertullien...Traduction 
litterale suivie d un commentaire historique, Louvain, 191 1 1 . 

A. Bill, Zur Erklarung und Textkritik des 1. Buchs Ter- 
tullians Adv. Marc. (Texte und Untersuchungen, xxxvni, 2), 
Leipzig, 1911. 

J. P. Waltzing, Les trois principaux MSS de 1 Apologetique 
de Tertullien (Musee Beige, xvi (1912), 181241). 

H. Schrors, Zur Textgeschichte und Erklarung von Ter- 
tullians Apologetikum (Texte und Untersuchungen, XL, 4), 
Leipzig, 1914. 

E. Lofstedt, Tertullian s Apologeticum textkritisch unter- 
sucht. Lund and Leipzig, 1915. 

J. Moffatt, The Theology of Tertullian (intended for publi 
cation in 1916). 

See R. Klussmann, Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum et 
Graecorum et Latinorum, n (2), Leipzig, 1913, 280287, and 
Teuffel, Gesch. d. rom. Lit. 6 , Leipz. 1913, 373. A. S.] 

To scholars whose reading is confined to the handful of 
writers, barely filling a single shelf, which are counted as Latin 
classics, I would venture to offer a few reasons for following 
Scaliger, Casaubon, Gataker, Bentley, Wasse, Haupt, Bernays, 
in widening their ken to the entire range of Latin authors, of 
whatever creed or profession, down to the contemporaries of 
Bede and Alcuin. Even such a self-taught giant as Madvig 
often shews pitiable weakness from the limits to which he 
restricted himself 2 . 

When a Greek or Roman philosopher or rhetorician became 
a Christian (fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani), he did not at once 
forget all the learning of the past. A very large part of what 

1 Has a large bibliography on pp. 336 356. 

2 At the Leyden tercentenary Madvig told me that he had read no Greek 
or Latin theological author but Josephus, and that only for information 
respecting ancient warfare. He was however a diligent student of the New 
Testament, as may be seen by his copy in the Cambridge Divinity Library. 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

we know of ancient religion, a very large number of perfectly 
classical words, have been preserved to us only by the fathers 1 . 
Look at the fragments of Seneca, collect the fragments of 
Varro, and you will see that it is not safe to say to Christian 
authors: non licet esse uos. I have found abundant evidence 
in patristic Greek and Latin for many words known to the 
lexicons only by citations in glossaries. Ronsch, Paucker, 
Georges, supply students of Romance languages with hundreds 
of words hitherto unregistered, the parents of a numerous 
Italian, Spanish, French progeny. 

Again, many of the chief classics, as Pindar and Thucydides, 
are very difficult 2 , or (as tragic choruses) very corrupt. Many of 
the fathers write very simply, and might serve admirably for 
the neglected discipline of the ear; even as Cicero and the 
younger Pliny pursued their studies by the aid of readers. It 
is certain that an entire volume of either Chrysostom (Dio to 
name a heathen or John) could be read carefully in shorter 
time than is spent on the study of the few hundred lines of the 
Agamemnon. And the path through the former would be all 
luminous, through the latter dark with corruptions and conjec 
tures and despairing interpretations. Many of the best scholars, 
as in England Pearson, John Davies, Wasse (much of whose 
work remains in manuscript), Routh, Kaye, F. Field, Chr. 
Wordsworth, Lightfoot, have devoted their best energies to the 
elucidation of the fathers. As a rule patristic and biblical texts 
are preserved in earlier manuscripts than those of heathen 
classics ; so that palaeographers must necessarily sit at the feet 
of divines. 

For the order of study, I would say : Leave to the infallible 
oracles of monthly magazines sweeping hypotheses, no whit less 
hazardous than those of Father Hardouin. First become 
thoroughly familiar with the ancients themselves, before you 

1 In the Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology n (Cambr. 1855) 82 
I shewed that liic esto (also hie sum) the correlative of the istic sum ( I am 
with you, i.e. I am attending ) of Cicero and Terence, is to be gleaned from 
Augustine. 

2 This remark was once made to me by Mr By water. He said: "one 
could read a very large part of such a writer as Plutarch, in the time that is 
occupied on the small volume of Thucydides." 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

listen to guesses about them It is characteristic of the sobriety 
of Englishmen, that our scholars, as Lardner, Routh, Kaye, 
Clinton, Lightfoot, have followed in the modest steps of Tille- 
mont, content to collect evidence for the reader s information, 
not without a guiding clue. 

A once popular book, of solid but unobtrusive learning, now 
forgotten 1 , by an accomplished Cambridge scholar (Biography 
of the Early Church. By R. W. Evans. 2nd ed. London 1859. 
2 vols. sm. 8vo), if read with the authorities cited in the notes, 
will form an excellent introduction to patristic study. Listen to 
this character of Tertullian s apology (i 336 8) : 

Its power is far superior to that of any former defence. Tertullian 
not only surpassed his predecessors in information and talent, but 
was peculiarly fitted by temper to treat such a subject. No one 
could express in such forcible language the indignant sense of in 
justice, or represent its detail in a more lively manner. None could 
press his arguments so closely, and few had so learned an acquaintance 
with heathenism, and could expose its follies with more bitter sarcasm 
(Apol. 42), or whip its wickedness with a heavier lash (Apol. 35). 
The subject too, while it gave free scope to the range of his argu 
mentative powers, neither allured him, nor compelled him to sophis 
tical subtilties. The free and elastic vigour of a mind that had still 
half its strength in reserve pervades the composition ; and if we put 
the mere mechanism of style out of the question, and consider the 
copiousness, the variety, the interest of the matter, the skilmlness 
of selection of topics, and the powerful grasp with which they are 
handled, together with the greatness of the occasion, it will not be 
too much to say, that it is the noblest oration among all which 
antiquity has left us.... In what a state of mind do we rise up from 
it! Its brilliant pictures are glowing before our eyes, its deep tone 
of declamation is sounding in our ears, its imploring, its condemning, 
its expostulating accents have touched our feelings to the quick.... 
Heaven and hell have been moved, and have entered into a mortal 
struggle, of which we are now enjoying the fruits, in a victory which 
has decided the fate of mankind for all eternity. What literary 
gew-gaws do the finest orations of Cicero and Demosthenes appear 

1 Dr Thompson once lamented to me the change of taste for the worse: 
"When you wanted to make a present to a young lady, that was the kind of 
book to give: but now they take no interest in such things." 



INTRODUCTION xv 

after this ! How do we put them away as childish things, and feel 
ashamed that we should set such value on the vituperative filth 
which is poured forth upon Aeschines and Antony, political rivals 
on the narrow stage of a corner of this little world. 

I believe that of those who have really grappled with 
Tertullian s difficulties, few will challenge this verdict of a 
most competent judge. 

I can conceive few more valuable aids to classical scholar 
ship than a digest, not on the plan of the Dutch uariorum 
editors, nor yet on the scissors-and-paste plan of Dindorf, of 
all that is permanently valuable in commentaries and miscel 
laneous remarks on the Christian apologists, say to 500 A.D. 
The work should appear by itself, and would have a permanent 
value, whatever manuscripts might spring to light. Critics and 
commentators should be read in order of time and each allowed 
credit for his contributions I would not ruthlessly clip away 
even the biographical confidences with which old scholars en 
livened their learning ; no quotation should be repeated, but 
the entire composite note should be fused into unity, references 
being reduced to one uniform pattern. Each special subject, as 
the calumny about Thyestean feasts, should be exhausted in 
some one note, and cross references given. The editor would 
be in excellent company for some years, and would learn some 
thing of the meaning of catholic communion, as he forgathered 
with the Spanish Jesuit La Cerda, the French jurists Didier 
Herauld (Heraldus) and Nic. Rigault, with Le Nourry and Tille- 
mont and Ceillier, Mosheim and Semler, Oehler and Ebert. 
Kaye and Blunt 1 and Pusey 2 , Neander and Oehler (sic) and 
Bohringer and Noldechen 3 . Perhaps no two men ever more 
thoroughly mastered every detail in the field of the early apolo- 

1 Right Use of the Early Fathers. Here p. 432 Lightfoot might have 
found, cited from Theoph. ad Autol. I 1 f., a far more apt parallel to Philem. 11 , 
than that which he cites from c. 12 of the same book. 

2 Notes (ascribed by Kaye to Dodgson) on Dodgson s excellent translation 
in the Library of the Fathers. It is interesting to learn that the citations 
in these notes were verified by one who left us, J. B. Morris. 

3 On this latest monograph see Liidemann in Theol. Jahresber. hrsg. v. R. A. 
Lipsius, x, 1891, pp. 128 9. Lipsius, alas, is no more, but this annual, of 
unrivalled excellence, is continued by his Jena colleagues. 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

gists than Le Nourry (whose Apparatus, Par. 1715, is reprinted 
in Migne and in Oehler) and Christian Kortholt (15 Jan. 
163f 31 March 1694), whose Paganus obtrectator (Kiel 
1698 4to, 2nd ed. Lubeck 1703 4to), comment, on lust. M., 
Athenag., Theophil., Tatian (ibid. 1675 fol. profundae erudi- 
tionis, says Walch); de persecutionibus ecclesiae primaeuae 5 
(Kiel 1689 4to) and other works (see the Bodleian catalogue 
and Joecher) are in my judgement still necessary to the student. 
If Mr Carstens, in a slight article in the Allg. deutsche Bio 
graphic xvi (Leipz. 1882) 726 says that K. s books "have been 
long overtaken by the advance of science and have no longer 
any importance," I comfort myself by the remembrance that 
this Biography is weakest in the lives and works of scholars. 
I should like to cross-examine Mr Carstens on Kortholt. 
Of works on the other apologists that of Semisch on Justin 
and Keim s Celsus, are, so far as I know, the most helpful. 

Beside printed sources, my ideal editor should inquire for 
manuscripts 1 . My mouth watered when I read Blunt s casual 

1 [May I again call attention to the fact that there is a tenth-century MS 
of chapters 38, 39 and part of 40 of the Apologeticus in the Kantons-Bibliothek 
at Zurich (Rheinau xcv), which is closely related to the lost Fulda MS (Journal 
of Theological Studies, vin (19061907), pp. 297300)? This fact has been 
overlooked by Rauschen and others. Also, why has it been left to me to point 
out that the MS containing "Tertulliani Quaedam," alluded to by Oehler, 
vol. i, p. xxi, after Montfaucon Bibl. bibl. torn, i, p. 1134, as in the catalogue 
of the library of St Germain-des-Pres, and doubtless identical with the MS of 
the Apologeticus at Petrograd, also alluded to by Oehler (p. xii), is still as a 
matter of fact at Petrograd (Q. v. 1, No. 40), having been brought there by 
Peter Dubrowsky? It is of the ninth century, is probably the oldest existing 
MS of the Apologeticus, and is mentioned in K. Gillert s catalogue, printed in 
the Neues Archiv, v (1880), 241265, 597617, vi (1881), 497512, and 
described (with a photograph of one page) in A. Staerk, Les Manuscrits Latins 
du V e au XIII e Siecle conserve s a la Bibliothegue Imperial?, de Saint-Peter -sbourg 
(2 tomes, St Petersbourg, 1910), Tome i, p. 130, Tome n, planche 57. Further, 
Kroymann, the new Vienna editor of Tertullian, is entirely ignorant of the 
Luxemburg MS of Tertullian, no. 75 (saec. xv ex.), though it appears to have 
been used by Semler, and a catalogue of the Luxemburg collection was published 
in 1894. The MS contains earn. Chr., earn, resurr., cor. mil., mart., paenit., 
uirg. uel., hab. mul., cult.. fern., ad ux. i and n, de fug. in pers., Soap., exh. 
cast., monog., pall., pat. Dei (sic), adu. Prax., adu. Val., adu. Marc., adu. lud., 
adu. omn. haer., praescr. her., adu. Hermog. The contents thus bear a striking 
resemblance to those of certain Italian MSS, e.g.Vat.Urb.64 (saec. xv), described 
by Kroymann in the first article mentioned on p. xi, pp. 4, 5. A. S.] 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

remark that Rigault s glossary is convenient for annotation. 
This book and Blunt s manuscript lectures on the early fathers 
should certainly be secured for the university which he adorned. 
The Germans are no doubt the most active workers in the 
patristic vineyard; but how few of them are scholars like 
Burton or Blunt, Kaye or Field! 

LANGUAGE. 

Of existing glossaries to Tertullian, those of Rigault, 
Semler (also in Migne) and (the best) Oehler, all are necessary. 
[The language of Tertullian, so far as comprised in the two 
already published volumes of the Vienna edition, has been 
completely recorded on slips for the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. 
A complete index to the Apologeticus has been made by Henen : 
see the additions to the Bibliography. A. S.] General lexicons 
of independent value are Faber 1 (best ed. by Leichius, Francof. 
1749, fol.), a favorite with Dr Westcott; Rob. Stephens (ed. 
Gesner, 4 vols. 1749; the ed. of Ant. Birr, Basil. 1740, fol. 
4 vols., has inedited notes of Henry Stephens) ; Forcellini, 
two editions of which are still incomplete, that by De Vit 
(lexicon and glossary and a large part of the valuable Ono- 
masticon have appeared), and that by Corradini (incorporating 
Klotz) ; Scheller (3rd ed. Leipz. 18045, 5 vols. 8vo ; I have 
Madvig s copy), translated, without the instructive and pathetic 
preface, by Riddle for the Oxford Press (fol.) ; Klotz ; (Freund s 
book, which has supplied the basis of ninety-nine hundredths 
of the lexicons sold in England for many years, is, after the 
letter C, a most careless compilation from Forcellini) ; and, 
fullest of all in vocabulary, and necessary as a supplement 
even to Forcellini, Georges. [This honour now belongs to 
Nouveau Dictionnaire Latin- Frangais...pa,i E. Benoist et H. 
Goelzer, Paris 1893, for the whole alphabet, to the 8th edition 
of Georges by his son H. Georges, Hannover and Leipzig, 
1912 1916, for three quarters, and to the Thesaurus Linguae 
Latinae, Leipzig, 1900 ff., for A Dimico, F Familia. A. S.] 

1 Of Faber, Gesner, Forcellini, Scheller, I said something in the Journal 
of Classical and Sacred Philology n (Cambr. 1855), 277290. 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

Of the adaptations of Freund I have for many years employed 
two copies of Kiddle- White, and (of late) two copies of Lewis- 
Short, as a basis for annotations; but young scholars, who 
use a lexicon not so much to add to or correct its statements, 
as to learn the usage of the language, ought to employ Gesner 
or Forcellini or Scheller habitually. For a portion of the 
alphabet (from D K) by far the completest storehouse is the 
Thesaurus der klassischen Latinitat, begun by Georges, and 
continued from D onwards by Gustav Miihlmann (Leipz. 
185468). 

Any of the old Latin-English lexicons, from Cooper to the 
complete editions of Ainsworth, give far more racy, homespun 
English for the Latin words, than the books which now com 
mand the market. Lewis-Short has an improved orthography 
and some additions from Georges and various commentaries; 
also a few articles (e.g. cum conj. and prep., sui, suus) are care 
fully and independently executed; but in some points the 
changes from Riddle- White are for the worse. 

In the Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature I recorded 
under each author the then aids (indexes cet.) to the study of 
his language; it is well to remember that the Delphin 
classics (Valpy s reprint is very accurate, and adds many useful 
commentaries to the original quartos) and also Lemaire s supply 
complete indexes to many authors. Merguet is about half way 
through the Herculean task of a concordance to Cicero; he 
and others have brought out three rival lexicons to Caesar: 
Teubner s press is engaged on lexicons to Livy and Tacitus 1 . 
In Teubner s bibliotheca some authors, chiefly technical, as 
Cassius Felix, lulius Valerius cet., are furnished with indexes. 
The Berlin Monumenta Germaniae historica and the Vienna 
library of the fathers have indeed indexes, but in many cases 
by no means exhaustive ; e.g. not Reifferscheid, but Forcellini, 
informs us that the rare word bacula (dim. of baca) occurs 
thrice in Arnobius. Of late years the French have returned to 
the field in which they reigned supreme in the 16th and 17th 

1 [Fiigner s Lexicon Limanum advanced no farther than B, but Gerber 
and Greef s Lexicon Taciteum is complete. The Scriptores Historiae Augustae 
have been done by Lessing, and other authors by others. A. S.] 



INTRODUCTION xix 

centuries. Thus : Henri Goelzer, fitude lexicographique et 
grammaticale de la Latinite de Saint Jerome (Paris, Hachette, 
1884), and (a perfect model in its way) Max Bonnet, Le Latin 
de Gregoire de Tours (ibid. 1890). The Archiv fur lat. 
Lexikographie, published since 1884 by Teubner, has, thanks to 
the self-sacrifice of the publisher and the editor Ed. WolfHin, 
done a great work in surveying the whole field of Latin letters, 
and training readers to gather in the whole mass of Latin words. 
There too may be seen reviews of all new books and articles 
bearing on the subject. 

There is yet an opening for two lexicons, of moderate 
compass, but of great value to critics, lexicographers and 
grammarians. 

(A) We possess two lexicons of terminations in Greek, but, 
to my knowledge, none in Latin. [The want was supplied in 
1904 by 0. Gradenwitz, Later uli Vocum Latinarum: Voces 
Latinas et a fronte et a tergo ordinandas curauit (Leipzig). A. S.] 
I refer to: (I) Henrici Hoogeveen, opus postumum exhibens 
dictionarium analogicum linguae graecae (Cambr. typis acad. 
1800. 4to), a book recommended by the late Dr Thompson ; 
and (II) Etymologisches Worterbuch der griechischen Sprache 
zur Uebersicht der Wortbildung nach den Endsylben geordnet 
von Dr Wilhelm Pape (Berl. 1836, 8vo). 

(B) Faber and Gesner frequently record under one word 
other words with which it is liable to be confounded by scribes ; 
they also cite lexicographical collections in commentaries and 
journals. Whoever has traced with attention the course of 
lexicography knows that almost every word well treated by any 
lexicon owes its good fortune to some exhaustive note of N. 
Heins, or J. F. Gronov, or Bentley cet. The indexes to such 
books as Drakenborch s Livy and Duker s Florus will shew how 
the thing should be done. To go down the whole course of 
classical learning, from such treasuries as Gruter s Fax 
Artium, to the aduersaria of Madvig and the lectiones of 
Cobet, would be the making of any young scholar. 

The most useful commentary, on the whole, is Oehler s. 
Herauld also and Rigault should be read, and Dr Pusey. La 
Cerda is copious in parallels. Pamelius takes a polemical 



XX 



INTRODUCTION 



rather than a literary interest in his author, but his index of 
things is the completest of all; Rigault also and Oehler are 
good. Kaye, Ebert (literary history) and Bohringer will well 
repay the labour of perusal. 

My notes are not exhaustive, but are intended chiefly as a 
supplement to earlier commentaries. May they prove that there 
is much in Tert. of interest to any student, though no more of 
a technical theologian than was Jakob Bernays. 



TERTVLLIANI APOLOGETICVS 



TERTVLLIANI APOLOGETICVS 

1. Si non licet uobis, Romani imperii antistites, in aperto 
et edito, in ipso fere uertice ciuitatis praesidentibus ad iudi- 
candum palam dispicere et coram examinare quid sit liquido in 
causa Christianorum, si ad hanc solam speciem auctoritas 
uestra de iustitiae diligentia in publico aut timet aut erubescit 5 
inquirere, si denique, quod proxime accidit, domesticis iudiciis 
nimis operata infestatio sectae huius obstruit defensioni, liceat 
ueritati uel occulta uia tacitarum litterarum ad aures uestras 
peruenire. Nihil de causa sua deprecatur, quia nee de con- 
dicione miratur. Scit se peregrinam in terris agere, inter 10 
extraneos facile inimicos inuenire, ceterum genus, sedem, 
spem, gratiam, dignitatem in caelis habere. Unum gestit 
interdum, ne ignorata damnetur. Quid hie deperit legibus in 
suo regno dominantibus, si audiatur ? An hoc magis gloriabitur 
potestas eorum, quo etiam auditam damnabunt ueritatem? 15 
Ceterum inauditam si damnent, praeter inuidiam iniquitatis 
etiam suspicionem merebuntur alicuius conscientiae, nolentes 
audire quod auditum damnare non possint. Hanc itaque 
primam causam apud uos collocamus iniquitatis odii erga 
nomen Christianorum. Quam iniquitatem idem titulus et 20 
onerat et reuincit qui uidetur excusare, ignorantia scilicet. 
Quid enim iniquius, quam ut oderint homines quod ignorant, 
etiam si res meretur odium? Tune etenim meretur, cum 
cognoscitur an mereatur. Vacante autem meriti notitia, unde 



TERTULLIAN S DEFENCE OF THE CHRISTIANS 
AGAINST THE HEATHEN 

CHAP. I. If it is not permitted even to you, who are the 
governors of the Roman Empire, seated on a lofty and con 
spicuous tribunal, which I might almost call the very summit of 
our state ; if, I say, even you may not openly investigate and 
judge in the presence of both parties, what are the real facts in 
the case of the Christians ; if in this instance alone your authority 
is either afraid or ashamed to make public inquiry with regard 
to the scrupulous observance of justice; if, finally, as has 
recently happened, the persecution of this sect, having been 
too much exercised in trials connected with households, has 
blocked up the way to defence , then let the truth be permitted 
to reach your ears, if only by the hidden path of silent literature- 
She asks no mercy in her case, because she does not feel any 
surprise either as to her circumstances. She knows that her 
part is that of a foreigner upon earth, that amongst aliens she 
easily finds enemies, while she has her race, her home, hope, 
welcome and honour in heaven. One thing only does she 
eagerly desire in the meantime, namely that she be not con 
demned without being known. What loss is herein inflicted on 
the laws, which are absolute masters in their own realm, if she 
should be heard ? Or will this make them boast all the more of 
their power, in that they condemn the truth even when they 
have heard it? Further, if they should condemn it unheard, 
besides the odium attached to unfair dealing, they will also earn 
the suspicion of a certain complicity, by their refusal to hear 
what, if heard, they could not condemn. This then is the first 
proof that we lay before you of the injustice of your hatred 
towards the name of Christian. This unfairness is at once 
exaggerated and refuted by the same plea that seems to excuse 
it, namely ignorance. For what could be more unfair than that 
men should hate that of which they know nothing, even if the 
fact deserve this hatred? For then only does the fact deserve 
hatred, when it is already ascertained whether it deserves it. 
In default of the knowledge of its deserts, whence can the justice 

12 



4 TERTVLLIANI 

odii iustitia defenditur, quae non de euentu, sed de conscientia 
probanda est? Cum ergo propterea oderunt homines, quia 
ignorant quale sit quod oderunt, cur non liceat eiusmodi illud 
esse, quod non debeant odisse? Ita utrumque ex alterutro 
redarguimus, et ignorare illos, dum oderunt, et iniuste odisse, 5 
dum ignorant. Testimonium ignorantiae est, quae iniquitatem 
dum excusat, condemnat, cum omnes qui retro oderant, quia 
ignorabant quale sit quod oderant, simul desinunt ignorare, 
cessant et odisse. Ex his fiunt Christiani, utique de conperto, 
et incipiunt odisse quod fuerant, et profiteri quod oderant, et 10 
sunt tanti quanti et denotamur. Obsessam uociferantur 
ciuitatem ; in agris, in castellis, in insulis Christianos ; omnem 
sexum, aetatem, condicionem, etiam dignitatem transgredi ad 
hoc nomen quasi detrimento maerent, nee tamen hoc modo ad 
aestimationem alicuius latentis boni promouent animos. Non 15 
licet rectius suspicari, non libet propius experiri. Hie tantum 
curiositas humana torpescit. Amant ignorare, cum alii gau- 
deant cognouisse. Quanto magis hos Anacharsis denotasset 
inprudentes de prudentibus iudicantes quam inmusicos de 
musicis ! Malunt nescire, quia iam oderunt. Adeo quod 20 
nesciant praeiudicant id esse quod, si sciant, odisse non poterant, 
quando, si nullum odii debitum deprehendatur, optimum 
utique sit desinere iniuste odisse, si uero de merito constet, non 
modo nihil odii detrahatur, sed amplius adquiratur ad per- 
seuerantiam, etiam iustitiae ipsius auctoritate. Sed non ideo, 25 
inquit, bonum, quia multos conuertit: quanti enim ad malum 
performantur ? quanti transfugae in peruersum? Quis negat? 
tamen quod uere malum est, ne ipsi quidem, quos rapit, 
defendere pro bono audent. Omne malurn aut timore aut 
pudore natura perfudit. Denique malefici gestiunt latere, 30 
deuitant apparere, trepidant deprehensi, negant accusati, ne 
torti quidem facile aut semper confitentur, certe damnati 
maerent. Dinumerant in semetipsos mentis malae impetus, 



APOLOGETICVS 1 



of hatred be defended, seeing that it is to be tested not by the 
verdict passed but by a good conscience? When therefore men 
hate because they do not know the character of what they hate, 
what is to hinder the thing hated from being of the sort they 
ought not to hate ? So we refute either position from the other, 
showing that in hating they do not know, and that in not 
knowing, their hatred is unjust. It is an evidence of the 
ignorance, which, while it is made the excuse, is really the 
condemnation of injustice, when all who hated in the past, 
because they did not know the character of that which they 
hated, cease to hate as soon as they cease to be ignorant. It 
is from this class that Christians are produced, of course from 
conviction, and begin to hate what they had been, and to pro 
fess what they hated, and are indeed as numerous as we who 
are branded with that name. They cry aloud that the state 
is besieged : that (even) in the country-districts, in the (walled) 
villages, in the islands, you will find Christians. They mourn 
as for a loss that all, without distinction of sex, age, circumstances, 
or even position, are deserting to this name. And yet even in 
this very way they do not carry on their minds to the appraise 
ment of some good hidden therein ; they do not care 1 to form 
a truer conjecture upon a closer inquiry, they have no pleasure 
in trying it at closer quarters. In this sphere alone is human 
curiosity apathetic; they delight to be ignorant, while others 
rejoice to have learned. How much more severely would 
Anacharsis have condemned these men, as specimens of the 
unwise judging the wise, than as the unmusical judging the 
musical ! They had rather be ignorant, because they already 
hate; such a strong suspicion have they that what they are 
ignorant of is that which, if they knew it, they could not hate ; 
since, if no duty to hate were discovered, it would of course be 
best to cease to hate unjustly, but if there were no doubt as to 
desert, not only would there be no withdrawal of hatred, but 
persistence would gain greater force, even through the sanction 
of justice itself. But it is not therefore good, they say, because 
it makes many converts : for how many are fashioned for evil ! 
how many deserters are there to what is wrong ? Who denies 
it? Yet what is truly evil, even those who are in its clutches 
do not dare to defend as good. Nature has stamped on every 
evil thing the character either of fear or of shame. Accordingly 
evil-doers are eager to hide, they shrink from showing themselves, 
they tremble when caught, deny their guilt when charged, and 
even when tortured do not readily or always confess. To 
be sure when condemned they mourn, and they either sum up 
1 Reading libet (J. B. M.). 



6 TERTVLLIANI 

uel fato uel astris imputant; nolunt enim suum esse, quia 
malum agnoscunt. Christianus uero quid simile? Neminem 
pudet, neminem paenitet. nisi plane retro non fuisse. Si 
denotatur, gloriatur; si accusatur, non defendit; interrogatus 
uel ultro confitetur, damnatus gratias agit. Quid hoc mali est, 5 
quod naturalia mali non habet, timorem, pudorem, tergiuersa- 
tionem, paenitentiam, deplorationem ? Quid? hoc malum est, 
cuius reus gaudet ? cuius accusatio uotum est et poena f elicitas ? 
Non potes dementiam dicere, qui reuinceris ignorare. 

2. Si certum est denique nos nocentissimos esse, cur a 10 
uobis ipsis aliter tractamur quam pares nostri, id est ceteri 
nocentes, cum eiusdem noxae eadem tractatio deberet inter- 
uenire? Quodcunque dicimur, cum alii dicuntur, et proprio 
ore et mercenaria aduocatione utuntur ad innocentiae suae 
commendationem. Respondendi, altercandi facultas patet, 15 
quando nee liceat indefensos et inauditos omnino damnari. 
Sed Christianis solis nihil permittitur loqui quod causam purget, 
quod ueritatem defendat, quod iudicem non faciat iniustum, 
sed illud solum expectatur quod odio publico necessarium est, 
confessio nominis, non examinatio criminis : quando, si de 20 
aliquo nocente cognoscatis, non statim confesso eo nomen 
homicidae uel sacrilegi uel incesti uel public! hostis, ut de 
nostris elogiis loquar, contenti sitis ad pronuntiandum, nisi et 
consequentia exigatis, qualitatem facti, numerum, locum, 
modum, tempus, conscios, socios. De no bis nihil tale, cum 25 
aeque extorqueri oporteret quod cum falso iactatur, quot 
quisque iam infanticidia degustasset, quot incesta contenebras- 
set, qui coci, qui canes adfuissent. quanta illius praesidis 
gloria, si eruisset aliquem, qui centum iam infantes comedisset ! 
Atquin inuenimus inquisitionem quoque in nos prohibitam. 30 
Plinius enim Secundus cum prouinciam regeret, damnatis 



APOLOGETICVS 1, 2 7 

against themselves, or ascribe to their destiny or their star the 
outbursts of an evil mind. For they are unwilling to acknow 
ledge as their own what they recognise to be bad. But the 
Christian does nothing of the kind. No (Christian) feels shame, 
or regret, except of course that he was so late in becoming 
one. If he is defamed, he rejoices ;. if he is prosecuted, he does 
not defend himself; if he is questioned, he at once confesses, 
if he is condemned, he returns thanks. What evil can there be 
in this which has none of the characters of evil, either fear, 
or shame, prevarication, regret, or despair ? What ? is there evil 
in that, which causes pleasure to the person accused of it, 
whose prosecution is his dearest wish, and who finds his 
happiness in his punishment? You cannot call it madness, 
since you are proved to know nothing about it. 

CHAP. II. Again, supposing it to be true that we are 
criminals of deepest dye, why are we treated differently by 
you from our fellows, I mean all other criminals, since the same 
guilt ought to meet with the same treatment? When others 
are called by whatever name is applied to us, they employ both 
their own voices and the services of a paid pleader to set forth 
their innocence. They have every opportunity of answering 
and cross- questioning, since it is not even legal that persons 
should be condemned entirely undefended and unheard. But 
the Christians alone are not permitted to say anything to clear 
themselves of the charge, to uphold the truth, to prevent in 
justice in the judge. The one thing looked for is that which 
is demanded by the popular hatred, the confession of the name, 
not the weighing of a charge. Whereas, if you were inquiring 
into the case of some criminal, you would not be satisfied to 
give a verdict, immediately on his confession of the crime of 
homicide or sacrilege or incest or treason, to speak of the charges 
levelled against us, unless you also demanded an account of the 
accessory facts, the character of the act, the frequency of its 
repetition, the place, the manner, the time, who were privy to 
it, who were accomplices in it. In our case no such procedure 
is followed, although there was an equal necessity to sift by 
investigation the false charges that are bandied about, how 
many slaughtered babes each had already tasted, how many 
times he had committed incest in the dark, what cooks, what 
dogs had been present (on the occasion). Oh what fame would 
that governor have acquired, if he had ferreted out some one, 
who had already eaten up a hundred infants! But we find 
that in our case even such inquiry is forbidden. For Plinius 
Secundus, when he was in command of a province, after con- 



TERTVLLIANI 

quibusdam Christianis, quibusdam gradu pulsis, ipsa tamen 
multitudine perturbatus, quid de cetero ageret, consuluit tune 
Traianum imperatorem, adlegans praeter obstinationem non 
sacrificandi nihil aliud se de sacramentis eorum conperisse 
quam coetus antelucanos ad canendum Christo et deo, et ad 5 
confoederandam disciplinam, homicidium, adulterium, fraudem, 
perfidiam et cetera scelera prohibentes. Tune Traianus rescrip- 
sit hoc genus inquirendos quidem non esse, oblatos uero puniri 
oportere. sententiam necessitate confusam! Negat in 
quirendos ut innocentes, et mandat puniendos ut nocentes. 10 
Parcit et saeuit, dissimulat et animaduertit. Quid temetipsam, 
censura, circumuenis ? Si damnas, cur non et inquiris ? si non 
inquiris, cur non et absoluis? Latronibus uestigandis per 
uniuersas prouincias militaris statio sortitur. In reos maiestatis 
ef publicos hostes omnis homo miles est; ad socios, ad conscios 15 
usque inquisitio extenditur. Solum Christianum inquiri non 
licet, ofTerri licet, quasi aliud esset actura inquisitio quam 
oblationem. Damnatis itaque oblatum quern nemo uoluit 
requisitum, qui, puto, iam non ideo meruit poenam, quia 
nocens est, sed quia non requirendus inuentus est. Itaque nee 20 
in illo ex forma malorum iudicandorum agitis erga nos, quod 
ceteris negantibus tormenta adhibetis ad confitendum, solis 
Christianis ad negandum, cum, si malum esset, nos quidem 
negaremus, uos uero confiteri tormentis compelleretis. Neque 
enim ideo non putaretis requirenda quaestionibus scelera, 25 
quia certi essetis admitti ea ex nominis confessione, qui hodie de 
confesso homicida, scientes homicidium quid sit, nihilominus 
ordinem extorquetis admissi. Quo peruersius, cum prae- 
sumatis de sceleribus nostris ex nominis confessione, cogitis 
tormentis de confessione decedere, ut negantes nomen pariter 30 



APOLOGETICVS 2 9 

demning some Christians, and having dislodged others from the 
stand they had taken up 1 , was nevertheless greatly troubled 
by their very numbers, and then consulted the Emperor Trajan 
as to what he should do in future, stating that, apart from the 
obstinate refusal to sacrifice, he had found out nothing else 
about their mysteries, save meetings before dawn to sing to 
Christ and to 2 God, and to establish one common rule of life, 
forbidding murder, adultery, fraud, treachery and other crimes. 
Then Trajan replied that such people were not indeed to be 
sought out, but that if they were brought before the court they 
ought to be punished. self-contradictory verdict which says 
they are not to be sought out, because they are innocent, and 
yet orders them to be punished as criminals ; which spares while 
it rages, which shuts the eye to crime and yet chastises it. Why, 
judgment, dost thou cheat thyself? If thou condemnest, 
why dost thou not also denounce ? If thou dost not denounce, 
why not also acquit ? For the tracking of brigands the soldiers 
on outpost duty cast lots throughout all the provinces. Against 
those charged with treason and the enemies of the state, every 
man is a soldier. The investigation is made wide enough to 
take in accomplices and others who are privy to it. The 
Christian alone may not be sought out, but he may be brought 
into court, as if searching out had any other object than 
prosecution! You condemn therefore, when prosecuted, one 
whom no one desired to be sought out, one, I suppose, who 
already deserved punishment, not because he was guilty, 
but because, though not to be inquired after, he was found. 
Thus not in that matter either do you act towards us 
according to the rule for trying malefactors : namely that to 
others you apply torture when they deny, to make them con 
fess, to Christians alone you apply it to make them deny. And 
yet, if it were a crime (with which we were charged), we indeed 
should deny our guilt, but you by tortures would compel us to 
confess it. Nor indeed could you think that crimes were not to 
be investigated by questionings, on the ground that you were 
assured by the confession of the name that they had been com 
mitted. For even to-day, though you know what murder is, 
you nevertheless extort from a confessed murderer the whole 
train of circumstances touching the act. Wherefore it is with 
the greater perverseness that when you make up your minds 
beforehand about our crimes from the confession of the name, 
you seek to compel us by tortures to go back from our confession, 
with the result that in denying the name we at the same time 

1 See G. A. T. Davies in Journ. Theol Stud. (April) 1913. 

2 So the MSS, but surely ut as to should be read (cf. Plin. etc.). 



10 TERTVLLIANI 

utique negemus et scelera, de quibus ex confessione nominis 
praesumpseratis. Sed, opinor, non uultis nos perire, quos 
pessimos creditis. Sic enim soletis dicere homicidae Nega, 
laniari iubere sacrilegum, si confiteri perseuerauerit. Si non 
ita agitis circa nos nocentes, ergo nos innocentissimos iudicatis, 5 
cum quasi innocentissimos non uultis in ea confessione per- 
seuerare, quam necessitate, non iustitia damnandam a uobis 
sciatis. Vociferatur homo : Christianus sum. Quod est dicit ; 
tu uis audire quod non est. Veritatis extorquendae praesides 
de nobis solis mendacium elaboratis audire. Hoc sum, inquit, 10 
quod quaeris an sim. Quid me torques in peruersum? Con- 
fiteor, et torques: quid faceres, si negarem? Plane aliis 
negantibus non facile fidem accommodatis : nobis, si negaueri- 
mus, statim creditis. Suspecta sit uobis ista peruersitas, ne 
qua uis lateat in occulto, quae uos aduersus formam, aduersus 15 
naturam iudicandi, contra ipsas quoque leges ministret. Nisi 
fallor enim, leges malos erui iubent, non abscondi, confesses 
damnari praescribunt, non absolui. Hoc senatusconsulta, hoc 
principum mandata denniunt. Hoc imperium, cuius ministri 
estis, ciuilis, non tyrannica dominatio est. Apud tyrannos 20 
enim tormenta etiam pro poena adhibebantur : apud uos soli 
quaestioni tempera tur. Vestram illis seruate legem usque ad 
confession em necessariam, et iam si confessione praeueniantur, 
uacabunt: sententia opus est: debito poenae nocens expun- 
gendus est, non eximendus. Denique nemo ilium gestit 25 
absoluere. Non licet hoc uelle, ideo nee cogitur quisquam 
negare. Christianum hominem omnium scelerum reum, 
deorum, imperatorum, legum, morum, naturae totius inimicum 
existimas, et cogis negare, ut absoluas quern non poteris 
absoluere nisi negauerit. Praeuaricaris in leges. Vis ergo 30 
neget se nocentem, ut eum facias innocentem, et quidem 
inuitum iam, nee de praeterito reum. Unde ista peruersitas, 
ut etiam illud non recogitetis, sponte confesso magis credendum 



APOLOGETIC VS 2 11 

of course deny the crimes also, about which you presumed us 
guilty from the confession of the name. But, methinks, you 
do not wish us to perish, though you believe us to be the worst 
of men. For is it your wont to say to a murderer, Deny the 
fact? or to order a sacrilegious person to be torn with scourges, 
if he continue to confess? If you do not act so in the case of us 
criminals, you must judge us to be entirely innocent, when you 
will not have us as innocent persons to persevere in such a 
confession, as you know has to be condemned by you of neces 
sity and not from justice. A man cries out : I am a Christian. 
He tells what he is ; you wish to hear what he is not. Though 
presiding to extract the truth, from us alone you strive to hear 
falsehood. I am, he says, that which you ask whether I am : 
why do you torture me to make me give a wrong answer ? You 
reward my confession with torture ; what would you have done, 
if I had denied ? It is quite evident that, when others deny, 
you do not readily credit them : while, if we deny, you immedi 
ately believe our assertion. You ought to suspect this perversity, 
lest some power lurk in secret that makes tools of you against 
all rule, against the nature of judicial trial, even against the 
laws themselves. For unless I am mistaken, the laws order 
that malefactors should be rooted out, not concealed ; they lay 
down that those who confess should be condemned, not ac 
quitted. This is ordained by decrees of the senate, by the edicts 
of emperors. The government whose servants you are is the 
rule of a fellow-citizen, not of a tyrant. For with tyrants 
tortures were employed also as punishment ; with you they are 
kept within bounds for the sole purpose of inquiry. Retain for 
them your law up to the point of necessary confession. And 
if (tortures) are anticipated by confession, they will be super 
fluous. A verdict is needed : the guilty man must be struck off 
the roll of the accused by the punishment which is his due, and 
not saved from punishment. No one, in short, cares to acquit 
him ; it is not allowable to wish this : consequently no guilty man 
is compelled to deny his guilt. But a Christian man you believe 
to be guilty of all crimes, an enemy of gods; emperors, laws, 
morals, the whole teaching of nature, and yet you compel him 
to deny, in order that you may acquit one whom you will not 
be able to acquit unless from his denial. You are guilty of 
unfair dealing against the laws. You wish him therefore to 
deny his guilt, that you may make him out to be innocent, and 
that too unwilling as he now is, and no longer arraigned for the 
past. Whence comes this perversity, that you should fail to 
reflect even on this fact, that more credence should be given to 
one who voluntarily confesses than to one who denies under com- 



12 TERTVLLIANI 

esse quam per uim neganti? uel ne compulsus riegare non ex 
fide negarit et absolutus ibidem post tribunal de uestra rideat 
aemulatione iterum Christianus? Cum igitur in omnibus nos 
aliter dispom tis quam ceteros nocentes, ad unum coritendendo, 
ut de eo nomine excludamur (excludimur enim si faciamus 5 
quae faciunt non Christiani), intellegere potestis non scelus 
aliquod in causa esse, sed nomen, quod quaedam ratio aemulae 
operationis insequitur, hoc primum agens, ut hgmines nolint 
scire pro certo quod se nescire pro certo sciunt. Ideo et credunt 
de nobis quae non probantur, et nolunt inquiri, ne probentur 10 
non esse quae malunt credidisse, ut nomen illius aemulae 
rationis inimicum praesumptis, non probatis criminibus de 
sua sola confessione damnetur. Ideo torquemur confitentes et 
punimur perseuerantes et absoluimur negantes, quia nominis 
proelium est. Denique quid de tabella recitatis ilium Chris- 15 
tianum? Cur non et homicidam? Si homicida Christianus, 
cur non et incestus uel quodcunque aliud esse nos creditis ? In 
nobis solis pudet aut piget ipsis nominibus scelerum pro- 
nuntiare? Christianus si nullius criminis nomine reus est, 
ualde incestum, si solius nominis, crimen est. 20 

3. Quid? quod ita plerique clausis oculis in odium eius 
inpingunt, ut bonum alicui testimonium ferentes admisceant 
nominis exprobrationem. Bonus uir Gaius Seius, tantum quod 
Christianus. Item alius : Ego miror Lucium Titium sapientem 
uirum repente factum Christianum. Nemo retractat, ne ideo 25 
bonus Gaius et prudens Lucius, quia Christianus, aut ideo Christi 
anus, quia prudens et bonus. Laudant quae sciunt, uituperant 
quae ignorant, et id quod sciunt eo quod ignorant inrumpunt, 
cum sit iustius occulta de manifestis praeiudicare quam mani- 
festa de occultis praedamnare. Alii, quos retro ante hoc 30 
nomen uagos, uiles, improbos nouerant, ex ipso denotant quod 
laudant. Caecitate odii in suffragium inpingunt: Quae mulier! 



APOLOGETICVS 2, 3 13 

pulsion? or whether one who has been forced to deny should 
not have denied sincerely, and after acquittal on the spot, 
leaving the court, should once more claim to be a Christian, 
and laugh at your vain effort to prove him other ? Since there 
fore in every way you treat us differently from all other criminals, 
by aiming at this one thing, that we may be shut out from that 
name, for we are shut out if we do things which Christians do 
not do, you can understand that there is no crime in question, 
but just the name, which is harassed by the scheming of a kind 
of rival agency, its first aim being that men should be unwilling 
to know for certain that of which they certainly know them 
selves to be ignorant. Consequently they not only believe what 
is not proved with regard to us, but they are unwilling that 
inquiry should be made, lest those things should be proved not 
to be, which they had rather should be believed to be, so that 
the hostile name of that rival agency should be condemned 
merely by its own confession, on the presumption, not the proof 
of crime. Accordingly we are tortured when, we confess, and 
punished when we persist, and acquitted if we deny, just 
because it is a battle about a name. Finally, you also read 
out from the charge-sheet that a man is a Christian. Why not 
also style him a murderer? If a Christian is a murderer, why 
not also one guilty of incest or any other crime you believe us 
to be guilty of ? It is in our case only that you are ashamed or 
reluctant to give a verdict on the mere names of the crimes 1 . 
If a Christian is guilty of no specific crime, it is a very guilty 
sort of crime, if one of the name only ! 

CHAP. III. Again, many people are so blinded with pre 
judice that even when they are bearing witness to a man s 
excellence, they mingle with it a taunt against the name of 
Christian. So-and-so is a good fellow, were it not that he is 
a Christian. So another says I marvel that a philosopher like 
So-and-so should have so suddenly turned Christian. No one 
reflects whether the fact that So-and-so is good or wise is due to 
his Christianity, or the fact that So-and-so is a Christian results 
from his being wise and good. They praise what they know, 
and blame what they do not know, and that which they know 
they spoil because they are really ignorant of it. Surely 
it were a juster course to prejudge things hidden from things 
evident, than to precondemn the evident from the hidden. 
Others characterize in their very praises those they formerly 
knew, before they received the name of Christian, as vagabonds, 
worthless and wicked. Through their blind hatred they become 
1 J. B. M. conjecture? scelera. 



14 TERTVLLIANI 

quam lasciua, quam festiua ! Quis iuuenis ! quam lasciuus, 
quam amasius ! Facti sunt Christian! ! Ita nomen emenda- 
tioni imputatur. Nonnulli etiam de utilitatibus suis cum 
odio isto paciscuntur, contenti iniuria, dum ne domi habeant 
quod oderunt. Uxorem iam pudicam maritus iam non zelo- 5 
typus, filium iam subiectum pater retro patiens abdicauit, 
seruum iam fidelem dominus olim mitis ab oculis relegauit; ut 
quisque hoc nomine emendatur, offendit. Tanti non est bonum 
quanti odium Christianorum. Nunc igitur, si nominis odium 
est, quis nominum reatus? Quae accusatio uocabulorum, TO 
nisi si aut barbarum sonat aliqua uox nominis, aut infaustum 
aut maledicum aut inpudicum? Christianus uero, quantum 
interpretatio est, de unctione deducitur. Sed et cum perperam 
Chrestianus pronuntiatur a uobis (nam nee nominis certa est 
notitia penes uos), de suauitate uel benignitate conpositum est. 15 
Oditur itaque in hominibus innocuis etiam nomen innocuum. 
At enim secta oditur in nomine utique sui auctoris. Quid 
noui, si aliqua disciplina de magistro cognomentum sectatoribus 
suis inducit ? Nonne philosophi de auctoribus suis nuncupantur 
Platonici, Epicurei, Py thagorici ? etiam a locis conuenticulorum 20 
et stationum suarum Stoici, Academici? aeque medici ab 
Erasistrato et grammatici ab Aristarcho, coci etiam ab Apicio ? 
nee tamen quemquam offendit professio nominis cum institutione 
transmissa ab institutore. Plane, si qui probauit malam sectam 
et ita malum et auctorem, is probabit et nomen malum dignum 25 
odio de reatu sectae et auctoris, ideoque ante odium nominis 
conpetebat prius de auctore sectam recognoscere uel auctorem 
de secta. At nunc utriusque inquisitione et agnitione neglecta 
nomen detinetur, nomen expugnatur, et ignotam sectam, 
ignotum et auctorem uox sola praedamnat, quia nominantur, 30 
non quia reuincuntur. 

4. Atque adeo quasi praefatus haec ad sugillandam odii 
erga nos publici iniquitatem, iam de causa innocentiae consistam, 



APOLOGETICVS 3, 4 15 

vehement supporters. What a fine woman! How merry, 
how debonair! What a fine fellow, what a sport, what a 
gallant! They have become Christians. Thus is the name 
applied to their reformation. Some even make a bargain with 
this hatred at the cost of their interests, ready to put up with 
harm, provided that what they hate is not mixed up with their 
home-life. A husband now no longer jealous has turned out of 
doors his now chaste wife : a father, patient in the past, has 
disinherited his now obedient son : a once forgiving master has 
banished from his sight a now faithful servant. In each case 
the reform effected by the name of Christian is the ground of 
offence. Goodness is not of such account as hatred of the 
Christians. Now therefore if it is a name that is hated what 
charge can there be against a name, what prosecution of words, 
unless it be that a particular utterance of a word has a barbarous 
or ill-omened or a scurrilous or immodest sound? The name 
Christian indeed, so far as its meaning is concerned, is derived 
from anointing. And even when it is wrongly pronounced 
Chreestian by you for neither is there any real knowledge 
of the name among you it is made up from sweetness or kind 
ness. And thus even an innocent name gets hated in the case of 
innocent men. But indeed there can be no doubt that the sect 
is hated in the name of its Founder. What novelty is there in 
a school of thought bringing on its followers a name taken from 
its teacher? Are not philosophers named after their founders, 
e.g. Platonists, Epicureans, Pythagoreans? or even from their 
places of meeting and their stations, as Stoics or Academics? 
so too physicians from Erasistratus, and grammarians from 
Aristarchus, and even cooks from Apicius? And yet the pro 
fession of a name, handed down with the institution from the 
founder himself, causes no offence. To be sure, if any one should 
prove a sect to be evil, and thus the originator also to be evil, 
he will prove the name to be likewise evil, worthy of hatred 
from the guilt attaching to the sect and its founder. Hence, 
before hating the name, it were fitting first to convict the sect 
from the character of the founder, or the founder from the 
character of the sect. But, as matters are, though the in 
vestigation and examination of both are neglected, the name is 
laid hold of, the name is made the object of attack, and a mere 
word prejudges a sect and its founder (though both are equally 
unknown) simply because they bear a name, not because they 
are convicted of guilt. 

CHAP. IV. Having then made this sort of preface by way of 
hammering into men s heads the unfairness of the popular hatred 



1(3 TERTVLLIANI 

nee tantum refutabo quae no bis obiciuntur, sed etiam in ipsos 
retorquebo qui obiciunt, ut ex hoc quoque sciant homines in 
Christianis non esse quae in se nesciunt esse, simul uti erubescant 
accusantes non dico pessimi optimos, sed iam, ut uolunt, 
conpares suos. Respondebimus ad singula quae in occulto 5 
admittere dicimur, quae illos palam admittentes inuenimus, in 
quibus scelesti, in quibus uani, in quibus damnandis, in quibus 
inridendi deputamur. Sed quoniam, cum ad omnia occurrit 
ueritas nostra, postremo legum obstruitur auctoritas aduersus 
earn, ut aut nihil dicatur retractandum esse post leges aut ingratis 10 
necessitas obsequii praeferatur ueritati, de legibus prius concur - 
ram uobiscum ut cum tutoribus legum. Iam primum cum dure 
definitis dicendo : Non licet esse uos ! et hoc sine ullo retractatu 
humaniore praescribitis, uim prontemini et iniquam ex arce 
dominationem, si ideo negatis licere, quia uultis, non quia debuit 15 
non licere. Quodsi, quia non debet, ideo non uultis licere, sine 
dubio id non debet licere quod male fit, et utique hoc ipso 
praeiudicatur licere quod bene fit. Si bonum inuenero esse 
quod lex tua prohibuit, nonne ex illo praeiudicio prohibere me 
non potest quod, si malum esset, iure prohiberet? Si lex tua 20 
errauit, puto, ab homine concepta est; neque enim de caelo 
ruit. Miramini hominem aut errare potuisse in lege condenda 
aut resipuisse in reprobanda? Non enim et ipsius Lycurgi 
leges a Lacedaemoniis emendatae tantum auctori suo doloris 
incusserunt, ut in secessu inedia de semetipso iudicarit? 25 
Nonne et uos cotidie experimentis inluminantibus tenebras 
antiquitatis totam illam ueterem et squalentem siluam legum 
nouis principalium rescriptorum et edictorum securibus truncatis 
et caeditis? Nonne uanissimas Papias leges, quae ante liberos 
suscipi cogunt quam luliae matrimonium contrahi, post tantae 30 
auctoritatis senectutem heri Seuerus, constantissimus principum, 
exclusit? Sed et indicates in partes secari a creditor! bus leges 



APOLOGETICVS 4 17 

towards us, I will now join issue as to the question of innocence, 
and will not only rebut the charges against us, but will even 
cause them to recoil on the very men who make them ; that from 
this also men may know that Christians are free from those 
failings, of the existence of which in themselves their critics are 
unconscious ; and that they may at the same time blush, while 
they accuse us I do not say the worst accusing the best, but 
rather (as they themselves would have it) ordinary persons 
accusing their fellows. We will meet each of the secret scandals 
laid to our charge by appealing to the same acts committed 
openly, acts in which we are held to show ourselves wicked, 
empty-headed, worthy of condemnation and of ridicule. But 
since when the truth of our cause meets you at every turn, the 
authority of the laws is at last set up against it, so that either 
it is said that nothing is to be reconsidered after the laws have 
decided, or the necessity of obedience is unwillingly preferred to 
truth, it is upon the laws that I will first join issue with you, as 
their guardians. In the first place then, when you harshly lay 
down the law by your phrase Your existence is forbidden, 
and enjoin this without any gentler reservation, you make no 
secret of violence and tyranny as belonging to your stronghold, 
if you deny us the right to exist because such is your will, not 
because it was fitting that we should be outlawed. If however 
you wish this not to be allowed because it is not right, no doubt 
an evil action ought not to be allowed ; and of course this very 
fact involves a previous judgment that a good action is legal. 
If I shall find something to be good, which your law has for 
bidden, is it not, by this previous determination, disabled from 
forbidding me that which, if it were evil, it would justly forbid? 
If your law has made a mistake, I suppose it is because it was 
framed by a man, for it certainly did not fall from heaven. 
Do you wonder either that a man should have made a mistake 
in framing a law, or should have come to his senses again when 
he finds in it matter for emendation ? Did not even the improve 
ments made by the Spartans in the laws of Lycurgus himself 
cause him such pain that he determined to resign office and 
starve himself to death? Do not even you too, as daily ex 
perience throws light upon the darkness of antiquity, lop and 
cut down all the wild growth of that ancient forest of statutes 
with the new axes of imperial rescripts and edicts? Did not 
Severus, that most determined of emperors, as it were but 
yesterday, abrogate the ridiculous Papian laws, which enforced 
the bringing up of children before the Julian laws enforced the 
contracting of marriage, laws whose antiquity gave them such 
high authority ? Nay there were even laws authorizing that those 



M. T. 



18 TERTVLLIANI 

erant. consensu tamen publico crudelitas postea erasa est, in 
pudoris notam capitis poena conuersa est. Bonorum adhibita 
proscriptio suffundere maluit hominis sanguinem quam 
effundere. Quot adhuc uobis repurgandae latent leges, quas 
neque annorum numerus neque conditorum dignitas commendat, 5 
sed aequitas sola? et ideo cum iniquae recognoscuntur, merito 
damnantur, licet damnent. Quomodo iniquas dicimus ? Immo, 
si nomen puniunt, etiam stultas : si uero facta, cur de solo 
nomine puniunt facta, quae in aliis de admisso, non de nomine 
probata defendunt ? Incestus sum, cur non requirunt ? Infanti- 10 
cidia cur non extorquent? In deos, in Caesares aliquid com- 
mitto, cur non audior qui habeo quo purger? Nulla lex uetat 
discuti quod prohibet admitti, quia neque iudex iuste ulciscitur, 
nisi cognoscat admissum esse quod non licet, neque ciuis 
fldeliter legi obsequitur ignorans quale sit quod ulciscitur lex. 15 
Nulla lex sibi soli conscientiam iustitiae suae debet, sed eis a 
quibus obsequium expectat. Ceterum suspecta lex est quac 
probari se non uult, inproba autem, si non probata dominetur. 

5. Ut de origine aliquid retractemus eiusmodi legum, 
uetus erat decretum, ne qui deus ab imperatore consecraretur 20 
nisi a senatu probatus. Scit M. Aemilius de deo suo Alburno. 
Pacit et hoc ad causam nostram, quod apud uos de human o 
arbitratu diuinitas pensitatur. Nisi homini deus placuerit, 
deus non erit ; homo iam deo propitius esse debebit. Tiberius 
ergo, cuius tempore nomen Christianum in saeculum introiuit, 25 
adnuntiata sibi ex Syria Palaestina, quae illic ueritatem ipsius 
diuinitatis reuelauerant, detulit ad senatum cum praerogatiua 
suffragii sui. Senatus, quia non ipse probauerat, respuit, 
Caesar in sententia mansit, comminatus periculum accusatoribus 
Christianorum. Consulite commentarios uestros, illic reperietis 30 
primum Neronem in hanc sectam cum maxime Romae orientem 



APOLOGETICVS 4, 5 19 

sentenced under them should be cut in pieces by their creditors, 
yet was this cruelty afterwards blotted out by public consent, 
the punishment of death being converted into a mark of dis 
grace. By the resort to a public sale of property they preferred 
to raise the blush of shame rather than to shed blood. How 
many laws still lie hidden for you to purify, laws which neither 
antiquity nor the dignity of their framers, but only their fairness 
(if such there be) commends? and therefore when they are 
recognised to be unfair, though condemning, they are deservedly 
condemned. But how do we call them unfair? Nay, if they 
punish the mere name, we call them foolish also. If however 
it is deeds that they punish, why, in our case, do they punish 
deeds on the ground merely of the name, which in other cases 
they maintain must be proved by the act and not from the name 
given to the accused ? I am guilty of incest : why do they not 
inquire into it? of infanticide, why do they not extort a con 
fession ? I commit some offence against the gods or the Caesars ; 
why am I not heard, when I am able to clear myself? No law 
forbids the investigation of that which is prohibited, because 
neither can any judge rightly exact punishment unless he 
knows that an illegal offence has been committed ; nor can any 
citizen loyally obey the law, if ignorant of the nature of that 
which is punished by the law. The law is not only bound to 
satisfy itself as to its own intrinsic justice; it must also satisfy 
those from whom it looks for obedience. A law excites suspicion 
if it is not willing to be tested, and it is wicked if, after being 
disapproved, it claims despotic power. 

CHAP. V. And now to treat somewhat more fully of the 
origin of laws of this kind, there was an old decree that no 
god should be consecrated by the emperor without the approval 
of the senate. M. Aemilius learnt this in the case of his god 
Alburnus. This, too, makes in our favour, because among you 
divinity is weighed out by human caprice. Unless a god shall 
have been acceptable to man, he shall not be a god : man must 
now be propitious to a god. Accordingly Tiberius, in whose 
time the Christian name first made its appearance in the world, 
laid before the senate tidings from Syria Palaestina which had 
revealed to him the truth of the divinity there manifested, and 
supported the motion by his own vote to begin with. The 
senate rejected it because it had not itself given its approval. 
Caesar held to his own opinion and threatened danger to the 
accusers of the Christians. Consult your records : you will there 
find that Nero was the first emperor who wreaked his fury in 
the blood of Christians, when our religion was just springing 

22 



20 TERTVLLIANI 

Caesariano gladio ferocisse. Sed tali dedicatore damnationis 
nostrae etiam gloriamur. Qui enim scit ilium, intellegere potest 
non nisi grande aliquod bonum a Nerone damnatum. Temp- 
tauerat et Domitianus, portio Neronis de crudelitate, sed qua 
et homo, facile coeptum repressit, restitutis etiam quos rele- 5 
gauerat. Tales semper nobis insecutores, iniusti, impii, turpes, 
quos et ipsi damnare consuestis, a quibus damnatos restituere 
soliti estis. Ceterum de tot exinde principibus ad hodiernum 
diuinum humaimmque sapientibus edite aliquem debellatorem 
Christianorum ! At nos e contrario edimus protectorem, si 10 
litterae M. Aurelii grauissimi imperatoris requirantur, quibus 
illam Germanicam sitim Christianorum forte militum pre- 
cationibus impetrato imbri discussam contestatur. Sicut non 
palam ab eiusmodi hominibus poenam dimouit, ita alio modo 
palam dispersit, adiecta etiam accusatoribus damnatione, et 15 
quidem tetriore. Quales ergo leges istae quas aduersus nos soli 
exercent impii, iniusti, turpes, truces, uani, dementes? quas 
Traianus ex parte frustratus est uetando inquiri Christianos, 
quas nullus Hadrianus, quamquam omnium curiositatum 
explorator, nullus Vespasianus, quamquam ludaeorum deb el- 20 
lator, nullus Pius, nullus Verus inpressit. Facilius utique 
pessimi ab optimis quibusque, ut ab aemulis, quam a suis sociis 
eradicandi iudicarentur. 

6. Nunc religiosissimi legum et paternorum institutorum 
protectores et ultores respondeant uelim de sua fide et honore 25 
et obsequio erga maiorum consulta, si a nullo desciuerunt, si 
in nullo exorbitauerunt, si non necessaria et aptissima quaeque 
disciplinae oblitterauerunt. Quonam illae leges abierunt sump- 
turn et ambitionem comprimentes ? quae centum aera non 
amplius in coenam subscribi iubebant nee amplius quam unam 30 
inferri gallinam, et earn non saginatam, quae patricium, quod 
decem pondo argenti habuisset, pro magno ambitionis titulo 



APOLOGETICVS 5, 6 21 

up in Rome. But we even glory in being first dedicated to 
destruction by such a monster. For whoever knows him can 
understand that It could only have been something of supreme 
excellence that could have called forth the condemnation of 
Nero. Domitian too had tried the same experiment as Nero, 
with a large share of Nero s cruelty, but inasmuch as he retained 
something of humanity also, he was easily able to change his 
course, even restoring those whom he had banished. Such have 
always been our persecutors, unjust, impious and treacherous, 
whom even ye yourselves have been wont to condemn and to 
reinstate those who were condemned by them. But out of so 
many emperors who reigned from that time to the present, men 
versed in knowledge, human and divine, show us one who set 
himself to destroy the Christians. We on the other hand can 
show you a protector, if the letters of the honoured emperor 
M. Aurelius be searched, in which he testifies that the famous 
drought in Germany was put a stop to by the rain which fell 
in answer to the prayers of the Christians who happened to be 
in his army. Thus, although he did not openly abolish punish 
ment incurred by such men, yet in another way he openly 
neutralized it, adding also a condemnation, and indeed a more 
shocking one, for their prosecutors. Of what sort then are 
these laws, which are put into force against us by the impious, 
the unjust, the base, the cruel, the foolish, the mad, and by 
them alone ? Laws which Trajan made less effective by for 
bidding Christians to be sought out; to which no Hadrian, 
although an investigator of all curiosities, no Vespasian, 
although conqueror of the Jews, no Pius, no Verus ever set 
his mark. Certainly the worst of men would be more readily 
sentenced to death by all the best, as their enemies, than by 
their own accomplices. 

CHAP. VI. Now I should like these scrupulous champions 
and avengers of laws and ancestral institutions to answer with 
regard to their own loyalty, respect and obedience towards the 
decrees of their ancestors, whether they have abandoned none, 
whether they have transgressed in none, whether they have 
not .abolished what were the necessary and most appropriate 
elements of their rule of life. What has become of those laws 
which checked extravagance and ostentation? those which 
ordered that not more than a hundred pence should be allowed 
for a dinner, that not more than one fowl and that not specially 
fattened should be served, which removed a patrician from the 
senate, because he had ten pounds weight of wrought silver, 
on the ground that this was a notable proof of ostentation, 



22 TERTVLLIANI 

senatu submouebant, quae theatra stuprandis rnoribus orientia 
statim destruebant, quae dignitatum et honestorum natalium 
insignia non temere nee inpune usurpari sinebant ? Video enim 
et centenarias coenas a centenis iam sestertiis dicendas, et in 
lances (parum est si senatorum et non libertinorum uel adhuc 5 
flagra rumpentium) argentaria metalla producta. Video et 
theatra nee singula satis esse nee nuda ; nam ne uel hieme 
uoluptas inpudica frigeret, primi Lacedaemonii penulam ludis 
excogitauerunt. Video et inter matronas atque prostibulas 
nullum de habitu discrimen relictum. Circa feminas quidem 10 
etiam ilia maiorum instituta ceciderunt quae modestiae, quae 
sobrietati patrocinabantur, cum aurum nulla norat praeter 
unico digito quern sponsus obpignorasset pronubo anulo, cum 
mulieres usque adeo uino abstinerentur, ut matronam ob 
resignatos cellae uinariae loculos sui inedia necarint, sub Romulo 15 
uero quae uinum attigerat, inpune a Metennio marito trucidata 
sit. Idcirco et oscula propinquis offerre etiam necessitas erat, 
ut spiritu iudicarentur. Ubi est ilia felicitas matrimoniorum 
de moribus utique prosperata, qua per annos ferme sexcentos 
ab urbe condita nulla repudium domus scripsit ? At nunc in 20 
feminis prae auro nullum leue est membrum. prae uino nullum 
liberum est osculum, repudium uero iam et uotum est, quasi 
matrimonii fructus. Etiam circa ipsos deos uestros quae 
prospecte decreuerant patres uestri, idem uos obsequentissimi 
rescidistis. Liberum Patrem cum mysteriis suis consules 25 
senatus auctoritate non modo urbe, sed uniuersa Italia elimina- 
uerunt. Serapidem et Isidem et Arpocratem cum suo cyno- 
cephalo Capitolio prohibitos inferri, id est curia deorum pulsos, 
Piso et Gabinius consules non utique Christiani euersis etiam 
aris eorum abdicauerunt, turpium et otiosarum superstitionum 30 
uitia cohibentes. His uos restitutis summam maiestatem 
contulistis. Ubi religio. ubi ueneratio maioribus debita a 
uobis? Habitu, uictu, instructu, sensu, ipso denique serinone 



APOLOGETICVS 6 23 

which proceeded at once to destroy theatres as they rose for the 
corruption of morals, which did not allow the badges of office 
or noble birth to be employed lightly or with impunity ? (I ask 
these questions) for I see dinners, which can only be called 
centuries from the 100,000 sesterces they cost, and whole mines 
of silver worked out into plates, a small thing if they were the 
property of senators only and not of freedmen or of those who 
are still liable to be flogged. I see too that one theatre, or a 
theatre open to the sky, is not enough for each town ; for 
doubtless it was to prevent their immodest pleasure from being- 
too cold in winter, that the Spartans first invented their 
cloak for the sports. I see too that there is no difference left 
between the dress of matrons and that of prostitutes. Indeed 
with regard to women even those customs of our ancestors have 
fallen into disuse, which protected modesty and sobriety, in an 
age when no woman knew aught of gold save on the one finger 
which the bridegroom had claimed for himself with the wedding 
ring, and when women abstained from wine to such a degree, 
that her relatives put a matron to death by starvation for 
breaking open the bins of the wine-cellar. Under Romulus 
indeed one who had touched wine was put to death with im 
punity by her husband Metennius. For the same reason they 
were also even obliged to offer kisses to their kinsfolk, that they 
might be judged by their breath. Where is now that happiness 
of married life so successful in point of morals at any rate, the 
result of which was that for about six hundred years after the 
foundation of Rome a writing of divorce was unknown? But 
now in the case of women every part of the body is weighted 
with gold, no kiss is free owing to wine, and divorce is now 
the object of prayer, as the natural fruit of marriage. Even 
with regard to your gods themselves the wise decrees of your 
ancestors with their application to the future have been re 
scinded by you, the very people who plume yourselves on 
your obedience to them. The consuls on the authority of 
the senate banished Father Bacchus with his mysteries not 
only from the capital but from the whole of Italy. Serapis 
and Isis and Harpocrates with their dog-headed attendant 
were forbidden the Capitol, in other words were expelled 
from the parliament of the gods, their altars overturned and 
themselves banished by the consuls Piso and Gabinius, who 
were assuredly no Christians, with a view to check the vices 
arising from their base and idle superstitions. But these you 
have restored, and conferred on them the highest dignity. Where 
is your religion, where the respect you owe to your ancestors? 
In dress, in food, in household arrangements, in feeling, even in 



24 TERTVLLIANI 

proauis renuntiastis. Laudatis semper antiquitatem, et noue 
de die uiuitis. Per quod ostenditur, dum a bonis maiorum 
instittitis deceditis, ea uos retinere et custodire quae non 
debuistis, cum quae debuistis non custodistis. Ipsum adhuc 
quod uidemini fidelissime tueri a patribus traditum, in 5 
quo principaliter reos transgressiom s Christianos destinastis, 
studium dico deorura colendorum, de quo maxime errauit 
antiquitas, licet Serapidi iam Romano aras restruxeritis, licet 
Baccho iam Italico furias uestras immoletis, suo loco ostendam 
proinde despici et neglegi et destrui a uobis aduersus maiorum 10 
auctoritatem. Nunc enim ad illam occultorum facinorum 
infamiam respondebo, ut uiam mihi ad manifestiora purgem. 

7. Dicimur sceleratissimi de sacramento infanticidii et 
pabulo inde, et post conuiuium incesto, quod euersores luminum 
canes, lenones scilicet tenebrarum, libidinum impiarum in uere- 15 
cundiam procurent. Dicimur tamen semper, nee uos quod 
tarn diu dicimur eruere curatis. Ergo aut eruite, si creditis, 
aut nolite credere, qui non eruistis. De uestra uobis dissimu 
lations praescribitur non esse quod nee ipsi audetis eruere. 
Longe aliud munus carnifici in Christianos imperatis, non ut 20 
dicant quae faciunt, sed ut negent quod sunt. Census istius 
disciplinae, ut iam edidimus, a Tiberio est. Cum odio sui 
coepit ueritas. Simul atque apparuit, inimica est. Tot hostes 
eius quot extranei, et quidem proprie ex aemulatione ludaei, 
ex concussione milites, ex natura ipsi etiam domestici nostri. 25 
Cotidie obsidemur, cotidie prodimur, in ipsis plurimum coetibus 
et congregationibus nostris opprimimur. Quis umquam taliter 
uagienti infanti superuenit? Quis cruenta, ut inuenerat, 
Cyclopum et Sirenum ora iudici reseruauit? Quis uel in 
uxoribus aliqua inmunda uestigia deprehendit ? Quis talia 30 
facinora cum inuenisset, celauit aut uendidit ipsos trahens 



APOLOGETICVS 6, 7 25 

language itself you have abandoned your ancestors. You are 
always praising old times, but you change your position from 
day to day. By this it is shown that, in departing from the 
good customs of your ancestors, you retain and preserve those 
which you ought not, while you have not preserved those which 
you ought. Even the very thing that you still seem most faith 
fully to guard, as handed down by your ancestors, that in which 
most of all you have marked the Christians as guilty of trans 
gression, I mean zeal in the worship of the gods, (concerning 
which early ages made the greatest mistakes,) although you have 
built up again the altars to Serapis, now become a Roman, 
although you present the frantic orgies of your worship to 
Bacchus, now an Italian, I will show in the proper place that 
these are alike looked down upon and slighted and undermined 
by you against the authority of your ancestors. But now I will 
reply to that evil reputation for secret crimes, to clear my way 
for the more open ones. 

CHAP. VII. We are called abominable from the sacrament 
of infanticide and the feeding thereon, as well as the incestuous 
intercourse, following the banquet, because the dogs, that over 
turn the lamps, (our pimps forsooth of the darkness) bring 
about the shamelessness engendered by our impious lusts. 
Yet we are but called so on each occasion, and you take no pains 
to bring to light what we have been so long charged with. There 
fore either prove the fact, if you believe it, or refuse to believe it, 
you who have not proved it. For your want of straightforward 
ness a preliminary objection is raised against you, that that 
cannot be true which not even you yourselves dare to search out. 
It is quite a different duty that you lay upon the executioner 
against the Christians, namely, not that they should say of what 
they are guilty, but that they should deny what they are. The 
beginning of this teaching, as I have already stated, dates from 
Tiberius. Truth from the first was accompanied by hatred of 
herself: from her first appearance she is an enemy. She has 
as many enemies as there are strangers to her, the Jews indeed 
quite specially so from jealousy, the soldiers from their violence, 
and even the very members of our households from natural ill- 
feeling. We are daily besieged, we are daily betrayed, even 
in our very meetings and assemblies we are frequently surprised. 
Who ever came upon an infant wailing under such circumstances? 
Who ever kept for the judge the bloodstained faces of Cyclopes 
and Sirens just as he had found them? Who detected even on 
our wives any trace of impurity ? Who when he had discovered 
such crimes, concealed them or sold his concealment of them, 



26 TERTVLLIANI 

homines? Si semper latemus, quando proditum est quod 
admittimus? immo a quibus prodi potuit? Ab ipsis enim reis 
non utique, cum uel ex forma omnibus mysteriis silentii fides 
debeatur. Samothracia et Eleusinia reticentur, quanto magis 
talia quae prodita interim etiam humanam animaduersionem 5 
prouocabunt, dum diuina seruatur? Si ergo non ipsi prodi- 
tores sui, sequitur ut extranei. Efc unde extraneis notitia, 
cum semper etiam piae initiationes arceant profanes et arbitris 
caueant? Nisi si impii minus metuunt. Natura famae omnibus 
nota est. Vestrum est: Fama malum qua non aliud uelocius 10 
nllum. Cur malum fama? quia uelox? quia index? an quia 
plurimum mendax? quae ne tune quidem, cum aliquid ueri 
adfert, sine mendacii uitio est, detrahens, adiciens, demutans 
de ueritate. Quid? quod ea illi condicio est, ut non nisi cum 
mentitur perseueret et tamdiu uiuit quamdiu non probat, 15 
siquidem, ubi probauit, cessat esse et quasi officio nuntiandi 
functa rem tradit, et exinde res tenetur, res nominatur. Nee 
quisquam dicit uerbi gratia, Hoc Romae aiunt factum, aut, 
Fama est ilium prouinciam sortitum, sed, Sortitus est ille pro- 
uinciam, et, Hoc factum est Romae. Fama, nomen incerti, 20 
locum non habet ubi certum est. An uero famae credat nisi 
inconsideratus ? Quia sapiens non credit incerto. Omnium 
est aestimare, quantacunque ilia ambitione difTusa sit, quanta- 
cunque asseueratione constructa, quod ab uno aliquando 
principe exorta sit necesse est. Exinde in traduces linguarum 25 
et aurium serpit, et ita modici seminis uitium cetera rumoris 
obscurat, ut nemo recogitet, ne primum illud os mendacium 
seminauerit, quod saepe fit aut ingenio aemulationis aut arbitrio 
suspicionis aut non noua sed ingenita quibusdam mentiendi 
uoluptate. Bene autem quod omnia tempus reuelat, testibus 30 
etiam uestris prouerbiis atque sententiis, ex dispositione naturae, 
quae ita ordinauit, ut nihil diu lateat, etiam quod fama non 



APOLOC4ETICVS 7 27 

with the very offenders in his grasp ? If we are always in hiding, 
when was the crime we commit betrayed ? nay rather, by whom 
could it be betrayed ? Assuredly not by the accused themselves, 
since even according to rule all mysteries are bound to be loyally 
concealed. Silence is preserved with regard to the mysteries of 
Samothrace and Eleusis ; how much more with regard to such 
as if betrayed will sometimes even call forth human punishment, 
while their divine character is preserved ! unless therefore they 
are themselves their own betrayers, it follows that the betrayers 
must be outsiders. And, if so, whence do the outsiders obtain 
the knowledge, since even religious initiations always exclude 
the profane and take precautions against the presence of eye 
witnesses, unless it be that the impious are bolder than others ? 
The nature of rumour is known to all. One of your (own) 
writers says: Rumour, than which no other evil is swifter. 
Why is rumour an evil? because it is swift? because it gives 
information? or is it because it is very often lying? Even 
when it brings some truth with it, it is not exempt from 
the flaw of falsehood, as it takes away from, adds to, and 
alters the truth. What are we to say of the fact that its 
character is such that it does not persist without lying and 
it lives only as long as it cannot prove its truth ; since when it 
has proved it, it ceases to exist and as though it had done its 
work of reporting hands down the matter, and thereafter it is 
held to be fact, and is so called. Nor does anyone for example 
remark : They say this has happened at Rome, or The rumour 
is that he has obtained the province (by lot), but He has 
obtained the province, and: This has happened at Rome. 
Rumour, a name belonging to uncertainty, has no place where 
certainty exists. Would anyone indeed, unless he were devoid 
of sense, believe rumour? A wise man does not trust what is 
uncertain. Anyone can judge that, however great may be the 
extent to which the story is spread, however great the confidence 
with which it has been built up, still it must have sprung at 
some time or other from a single root. From that it creeps 
into the branches of tongues and ears. And a fault in the 
little seed is so concealed by the shield 1 of rumour, that no one 
reflects whether that first mouth may not have sown the lie, 
a thing that often happens either through the inventiveness of 
jealousy or the humour of suspicion or the pleasure in lying, 
which is not new but inborn in some people. It is a good thing 
that time reveals everything, as even your proverbs and maxims 
testify, by the arrangement of nature, which has so ordered it 
that nothing is concealed for long, even that which rumour has 
1 Reading caetra with Schrors. 



28 TERTVLLIANI 

distulit. Merito igitur fa ma tamdiu conscia sola est scelerum 
Christianorum. Hanc indicem aduersus nos profertis, quae 
quod aliquando iactauit tantoque spatio in opinionem corro- 
borauit usque adhuc probare non ualuit, ut fidem naturae 
ipsius appellem aduersus eos qui talia credenda esse prae- 5 
sumunt. 

8. Ecce proponimus horum facinorum mercedem. Vitam 
aeternam repromittunt. Credite interim. De hoc enim quaero, 
an et qui credideris tanti habeas ad earn tali conscientia per- 
uenire. Veni, demerge ferrum in infantem nullius inimicum, 10 
nullius reum, omnium filium, uel, si alterius officium est, tu 
modo adsiste morienti homini antequam uixit, fugientem 
animam nouam expecta, excipe rudem sanguinem, eo panem 
tuum satia, uescere libenter. Interea discumbens dinumera 
loca, ubi mater, ubi soror; nota diligenter, ut, cum tenebrae 15 
ceciderint caninae, non erres. Piaculum enim admiseris nisi 
incestum feceris. Talia initiatus et consignatus uiuis in aeuum. 
Cupio respondeas, si tanti aeternitas. Aut si non, ideo nee 
credenda. Etiamsi credideris, nego te uelle; etiamsi uolueris, 
nego te posse. Cur ergo alii possint, si uos non potestis ? cur 20 
non possitis, si alii possunt? Alia nos, opinor, natura; Cyno- 
paene aut Sciapodes? Alii ordines dentium, alii ad incestam 
libidinem nerui? Qui ista credis de homine, potes et facere. 
Homo es et ipse, quod et Christianus. Qui non potes facere, 
non debes credere. Homo est enim et Christianus et quod et 25 
tu. Sed ignorantibus subicitur et inponitur. Nihil enim tale 
de Christian is asseuerari sciebant obseruandum utique sibi et 
omni uigilantia inuestigandum. Atquin uolentibus initiari 
moris est, opinor, prius patrem ilium sacrorum adire, quae 
praeparanda sint describere. Turn ille : Infans tibi necessarius 30 
adhuc tener, qui nesciat mortem, qui sub cultro tuo rideat; 
item panis, quo sanguinis uirulentiam colligas ; praeterea 



APOLOGETICVS 7, 8 29 

not spread abroad. Justly therefore, has rumour and rumour 
alone had for so long any knowledge of the crimes of the Chris 
tians. This is the informer you produce against us, one which 
as yet has not been able to prove what it has so long thrown 
put and what in so long a period of time it has strengthened 
into a settled opinion. But now to appeal to the credit of 
nature herself against those who dare to assume that such 
stories are to be believed. 

CHAP. VIII. Lo, I set before you the reward of such crimes ; 
they promise everlasting life. Believe it for the moment! 
About this I ask whether even you who have believed think 
it worth while to attain it at the price of such a (guilty) 
conscience. Come, plunge the sword into an infant who is 
no one s enemy, guilty of no crime, the child of all: or if 
such bloodshed is another s duty, do you merely stand by a 
human being dying before he has really lived ; wait for the flight 
of the new life ; catch the scarce-formed blood ; with it soak your 
bread, and enjoy your meal. Meantime, as you recline, count 
the places and mark where your mother, where your sister is; 
make a careful note, so that when the dogs have put out the 
lights, you may not make a mistake. For you will be guilty 
of sin if you fail to commit incest: Thus initiated and sealed, 
you live for ever. Please tell me, whether eternity is worth 
such a price ; if it is not so, it ought not to be believed to be so. 
Even if you believed it, I deny that you wished it; even if you 
wished it, I deny that you could do it. Why then should others 
be capable of doing what you cannot do? why could not you 
do it if others can? We, I suppose, are of another nature- 
monstrosities with heads of dogs or with feet so large as to shade 
us; with teeth differently arranged, and with organs different 
from other men, for the gratification of incestuous lust! You 
who believe such things about a fellow man can also do them 
yourself. You too are a human being, as the Christian is too. 
You who are incapable of the deeds, ought not to believe them 
possible. For the Christian also is a human being as you are. 
But perhaps the ignorant alone are tricked and decoyed into our 
religion: for they knew that no such statement was made 
about the Christians : but they must assuredly look to the matter 
and study it with all care. And yet, it is the custom, I fancy, 
for those who wish to be initiated, first to approach the father 
of the rites, and to write down what has to be prepared. Then 
he says: You have need of a little child, still soft, with no 
knowledge of death, who will smile under your knife; also 
bread, in which to gather the blood sauce ; further, candlesticks 



30 TERTVLLIANI 

candelabra et lucernae et canes aliqui et offulae, quae illos 
ad euersionem luminum extendant : ante omnia cum matre 
et sorore tua uenire debebis. Quid, si noluerint uel nullae 
f uerint ? quid denique singulares Christiani ? Non erit, opinor, 
legitimus Christianus nisi frater aut films. Quid nunc, et si 5 
ista omnia ignaris praeparantur ? Certe postea cognoscunt et 
sustinent et ignoscunt. Timent plecti, si proclament, qui 
defendi merebuntur,- qui etiam ultro perire malint quam sub 
tali conscientia uiuere. Age nunc timeant, cur etiam per- 
seuerant? Sequitur enim, ne ultra uelis id te esse quod, si 10 
prius scisses, non fuisses. 

9. Haec quo magis refutauerim, a uobis fieri ostendam 
partirn in aperto, partim in occulto, per quod forsitan et de 
nobis credidistis. Infantes penes Africam Saturno immola- 
bantur palam usque ad proconsulatum Tiberii, qui eosdem 15 
sacerdotes in eisdem arboribus templi sui obumbratricibus 
scelerum uotiuis crucibus exposuit, teste militia patriae nostrae, 
quae id ipsum munus illi proconsuli fun eta est. Sed et nunc 
in occulto perseueratur hoc sacrum facinus. Non soli uos con- 
temnunt Christiani, nee ullum scelus in perpetuum eradicatur 20 
aut mores suos aliqui deus mutat. Cum propriis filiis Saturnus 
non pepercit, extraneis utique non parcendo perseuerabat, quos 
quidem ipsi parentes sui offerebant et libentes respondebant et 
infantibus blandiebantur, ne lacrimantes immolarentur. Et 
tamen multum homicidio parricidium differt. Maior aetas apud 25 
Gallos Mercurio prosecatur. Remitto fabulas Tauricas theatris 
suis. Ecce in ilia religiosissima urbe Aeneadarum piorum est 
lupiter quidam quern ludis suis humano sanguine proluunt. 
Sed bestiarii, inquitis. Hoc, opinor, minus quam hominis? 
An hoc turpius, quod mali hominis? certe tamen de homicidio 30 
funditur. louem Christianum et solum patris filium de 
crudelitate ! Sed quoniam de infanticidio nihil interest sacro 
an arbitrio perpetretur, licet parricidium homicidio intersit, 



APOLOGETICVS 8, 9 31 

and lamps and some dogs and little morsels of meat, to make 
them strain and overturn the lamps ; above all you will have 
to come with your mother and sister. What if they refuse or if 
you have none ? What in a word are solitary Christians to do ? 
Every lawful Christian will be, I suppose, either a brother or 
a son. What now, even if all these things are prepared for those 
who know nothing about them? At any rate they learn it 
later, and endure it and pardon it! You will say they fear 
punishment, though, if they declared the facts, they would 
deserve every protection, and though they would rather suffer 
death than live with such a consciousness of guilt! Suppose, 
however, that they are still afraid, why do they still continue 
to be Christians ? For it follows that you no longer wish to be 
that which you would never have become if you "had known 
beforehand. 

CHAP. IX. To refute these charges more effectively, I will 
show that these crimes are perpetrated by you both in public 
and in secret, which is perhaps the reason that you have come to 
believe them about us also. Babes were sacrificed publicly to 
Saturn in Africa till the proconsulate of Tiberius, who exposed 
the same priests on the same trees that overshadow the crimes 
of their temple, on dedicated crosses, as is attested by the 
soldiery of my father 1 , which performed that very service for 
that proconsul. But even now this accursed crime is in secret 
kept up. It is not the Christians only who despise you; nor 
is any crime rooted out once for all, nor does any god change 
his character. Since Saturn did not spare his own children, 
of course he stuck to his habit of not sparing those of other 
people, whom indeed their own parents offered of themselves, 
being pleased to answer the call, and fondled the infants, lest 
they should weep when being sacrificed. And yet a parent s 
murder of his child is far worse than simple homicide. Among 
the Gauls adults are sacrificed to Mercury. I leave the fables 
about the Taurians to the theatres to which they belong. Lo, 
in that deeply religious city of the pious descendants of Aeneas 
there is a certain Jupiter whom at his own games they drench 
with human blood. But, say you, only that of a criminal con 
demned to the beasts. This, I suppose, is of less value than that 
of a human being. Or is this the viler, because it is that of an 
evil man ? At any rate it is the blood of homicide that is shed. 
What a Christian is Jupiter, the only son of his father in point 
of cruelty ! But since, in a case of infanticide, it matters not 
whether it is carried out as a sacred rite or out of mere caprice 
1 Reading patris nostri. 



32 TERTVLLIANI 

conuertar ad populum. Quot uultis ex his circumstantibus 
et in Christianorum sanguinem hiantibus, ex ipsis etiam uobis 
iustissimis et seuerissimis in nos praesidibus apud conscientias 
pulsem, qui natos sibi liberos enecent? Siquidem et de genere 
necis difTert, utique crudelius in aqua spiritum extorquetis aut 5 
frigori et fami et canibus exponitis. Ferro enim mori aetas 
quoque maior optauerit. Nobis uero semel homicidio inter- 
dicto etiam conceptum utero, dum adhuc sanguis in hominem 
delibatur, dissoluere non licet. Homicidii festinatio est pro- 
hibere nasci, nee refert natam quis eripiat animam an nascentem 10 
disturbet. Homo est et qui est futurus ; etiam fructus omnis 
iam in semine est. De sanguinis pabulo et eiusmodi tragicis 
ferculis legite, necubi relatum sit (est apud Herodotum, opinor), 
defusum brachiis sanguinem ex alterutro degustatum nationes 
quasdam foederi conparasse. Nescio quid et sub Catilina 15 
degustatum est. Aiunt et apud quosdam gentiles Scytharum 
defunctum quemque a suis comedi. Longe excurro. Hodie 
istic Bellonae sacratus sanguis de femore proscisso in palmulam 
exceptus et esui datus signat. Item illi qui munere in arena 
noxiorum iugulatorum sanguinem recentem de iugulo decur- 20 
rentem exceptum auida siti comitiali morbo medentes auferunt, 
ubi sunt ? item illi qui de arena f erinis obsoniis coenant, qui de 
apro, qui de ceruo petunt? Aper ille quem cruentauit, con- 
luctando detersit. Ceruus ille in gladiatoris sanguine iacuit. 
Ipsorum ursorum aluei appetuntur cruditantes adhuc de uis- 25 
ceribus humanis. Euctatur proinde ab homine caro pasta de 
homine. Haec qui editis, quantum abestis a conuiuiis Christian 
orum? Minus autem et illi faciunt qui libidine fera humanis 
membris inhiant, quia uiuos uorant? minus humano sanguine 
ad spurcitiam consecrantur, quia futurum sanguinem lambunt ? 30 
Non edunt infantes plane, sed magis puberes. Erubescat error 



APOLOGETICVS 9 33 

(although it does matter whether it is child-murder or homicide) 
I will appeal to the people. How many of those standing around 
and panting for the blood of the Christians, aye even of your 
selves, magistrates most just and severe against us, should I prick 
in their consciences, for putting to death the children born to 
them? Since there is a difference also in the manner of the 
death, it is assuredly more cruel to suffocate them by drowning 
or to expose them to cold and starvation and the dogs; for 
even an older person would prefer to die by the sword. But 
to us, to whom homicide has been once for all forbidden, it is 
not permitted to break up even what has been conceived in the r\ / 
womb, while as yet the blood is being drawn (from the parent , 
body) for a human life. Prevention of birth is premature murder^ 
and it makes no difference~whether it is a life already born that 
one snatches away, or a life in the act of being born that one 
destroys; that which is to be a human-being is also human; 
the whole fruit is already actually present in the seed. With 
regard to banquets of blood and such like tragic dishes, you may 
read whether it is not somewhere stated (it is in Herodotus, 
I think) that certain tribes had arranged the tasting of blood 
drawn from the arms of both sides to signify ratification of a 
treaty. Something of the same kind was tasted also under 
Catiline. They say that among certain tribesmen of the 
Scythians also each dead person becomes food for his own 
relations. But I am wandering too far. On this very day, 
in this very country, blood from a wounded thigh, caught in 
a palm of the hand and given to her worshippers to drink, 
marks the votaries 1 of Bellona. Again, what of those who, by 
way of healing epilepsy, at the gladiatorial show, drain with 
eager thirst the blood of slaughtered criminals, while it is still 
fresh and flowing down from the throat? Or what of those, 
who dine on bits of wild-beast from the arena, who seek a slice 
of boar or stag ? That boar in the struggle wiped off the blood 
from him whom he had first stained with gore; that stag 
wallowed in a gladiator s blood. The paunches of the very 
bears are eagerly sought, while they are yet gorged with un 
digested human flesh ; thus flesh that has been fed on man is 
forthwith vomited by man. You that eat such things, how far 
removed you are from the feasts of the Christians! But are 
those others less guilty, who with savage lust gloat over human 
bodies, because they devour them alive ? are they any the less 
dedicated to filth by human blood, because they lick up what 
is about to become blood ? they do not absolutely eat infants, 
but rather those that are grown up. Your crimes ought to 
1 Reading sacratos. 

3 



M. T. 



34 TERTVLLIANI 

uester Christian is, qui ne animalium quidem sanguinem in 
epulis esculentis habemus, qui propterea suffocatis quoque et 
morticinis abstinemus, ne quo modo sanguine contaminemur 
uel intra uiscera sepulto. Denique inter temptamenta Chris- 
tianorum botulos etiam cruore distensos admouetis, certissimi 5 
scilicet inlicitum esse penes illos per quod exorbitare eos uultis. 
Porro quale est, ut quos sanguinem pecoris horrere confiditis, 
humano inhiare credatis, nisi forte suauiorem eum experti? 
Quern quidem et ipsum proinde examinatorem Christianorum 
adhiberi oportebat ut foculum, ut acerram. Proinde enim 10 
probarentur sanguinem humanum adpetendo quemadmodum 
sacrificium respuendo, alioquin negandi si non gustassent, 
quemadmodum si immolassent, et utique non deesset uobis in 
auditione custodiarum et damnatione sanguis humanus. Proinde 
incesti qui magis quam quos ipse lupiter docuit? Persas curn 15 
suis matribus misceri Ctesias refert. Sed et Macedones suspecti, 
quia, cum primum Oedipum tragoediam audissent, ridentes 
incesti dolorem, "RXavve, dicebant, et? ryv fjujrepa. lam nunc 
recogitate quantum liceat erroribus ad incesta miscenda, 
suppeditante materias passiuitate luxuriae. Imprimis nlios 20 
exponitis suscipiendos ab aliqua praetereunte misencordia 
extranea, uel adoptandos melioribus parentibus emancipatis. 
Alienati generis necesse est quandoque memoriam dissipari, et 
simul error inpegerit, exinde iam tradux proficiet incesti serpente 
genere cum scelere. Tune deinde quocunque in loco, domi, 25 
peregre, trans freta comes est libido, cuius ubique saltus facile 
possunt alicubi ignaris nlios pangere uel ex aliqua seminis 
portione, ut ita sparsum genus per commercia humana concurrat 
in memorias suas, neque eas caecus incesti sanguinis agnoscat. 
Nos ab isto euentu diligentissima et fidelissima castitas sepsit, 30 
quantumque ab stupris et ab omni post matrimonium excessu, 
tantum et ab incesti casu tuti sumus. Quidam multo securiores 
totam uim hums erroris uirgine continentia depellunt, senes 



APOLOGETICVS 9 35 

blush before us Christians, who do not reckon the blood even of 

animals among articles of food, who abstain even from things 

strangled and from such as die of themselves, lest we should in 

any way be polluted even by blood which is buried within the 

body. Again, among the trials of the Christians you offer them 

sausages actually filled with blood, being of course perfectly 

aware that the means you wish to employ to get them 

to abandon their principles is in their eyes impermissible. 

Further, how absurd it is for you to believe that they, who 

you are assured, abhor the blood of beasts, are panting for the 

blood of man, unless perchance you have found the former more 

palatable! Indeed this thirst for blood, like the little altar 

and the incense-box, should have been itself applied as a means 

of testing the Christians. For they would then be distinguished 

by their desire for human blood, in the same way as by their 

refusal to sacrifice; being otherwise deserving of rejection, if 

they had refused to taste, just as if they had sacrificed. And 

you would at any rate have had no lack of human blood at 

the hearing and condemnation of prisoners. Again, who are 

more incestuous than those whom Jupiter himself has taught? 

Ctesias records that the Persians have sexual intercourse with 

their own mothers. The Macedonians, too, are suspect, because 

on first hearing the tragedy of Oedipus, they ridiculed his grief 

at the incest of which he had been guilty, saying : II montait 

sa mere. And now reflect what an opening is left to mistakes 

to bring about incestuous unions, for which the wide range of 

profligacy supplies opportunity. In the first place there is 

your exposure of your children, to be brought up by some 

passing stranger out of pity, and your surrender of them to be 

adopted by parents better than yourselves. The memory of 

a progeny thus cast off must some time or other be lost, and 

when once the error has rooted itself, the transmission of the 

incest will proceed farther and farther, as the family grows 

gradually with the crime. In the second place, everywhere, at 

home, abroad, across the seas, lust is in attendance, whose 

promiscuous impulses can easily beget children to you unawares 

in some place or other, even from however small a portion of 

the seed, so that a family, which has thus become scattered, 

may through the varied intercourse of men meet its own past, 

and may yet fail to recognise in it the mixtures of incestuous 

blood. We on the contrary are guarded from this result by 

a scrupulously faithful chastity, and we are as safe from the 

chance of incest as we are from debauchery and every excess 

in wedded life. Some are even much safer, as they withstand 

all possibility of this mistake by virgin continence, old men in 

32 



36 TERTVLLIANI 

pueri. Haec in uobis esse si consideraretis, proinde in Christ- 
ianis non esse perspiceretis. Idem oculi renuntiassent utrum- 
que. Sed caecitatis duae species facile concummt, ut qui non 
Tiident quae sunt, uidere uideantur quae non sunt. Sic per 
omnia ostendam. Nunc de manifestioribus dicam. 5 

10. Deos, inquitis, non colitis, et pro imperatoribus sacri- 
ficia non penditis. Sequitur ut eadem ratione pro aliis non 
sacrificemus, quia nee pro nobis ipsis, semel deos non colendo. 
Itaque sacrilegii et maiestatis rei conuenimur. Summa haec 
causa, immo tota est, et utique digna cognosci, si non prae- 10 
sumptio aut iniquitas iudicet, altera quae desperat, altera quae 
recusat ueritatem. Deos uestros colere desinimus ex quo illos 
non esse cognoscimus. Hoc igitur exigere debetis, uti pro- 
bemus non esse illos deos, et idcirco non colendos, quia tune 
demum coli debuissent, si dei fuissent. Tune et Christiani 15 
puniendi, si quos non colerent, quia putarent non esse, constaret 
illos deos esse. Sed nobis, inquitis, dei sunt. Appellamus et 
prouocamus a uobis ad conscientiam uestram : ilia nos iudicet, 
ilia nos damnet, si poterit negare omnes istos deos uestros 
homines fuisse. Si et ipsa inficias ierit, de suis antiquitatum 20 
instruments reuincetur, de quibus eos didicit, testimonium 
perhibentibus ad hodiernum et ciuitatibus in quibus nati sunt, 
et regionibus in quibus aliquid operati uestigia reliquerunt, in 
quibus etiam sepulti demonstrantur. Nunc ergo per singulos 
decurram, tot ac tantos, nouos, ueteres, barbaros, Graecos, 25 
Romanes, peregrines, captiuos, adoptiuos, proprios, communes, 
masculos, feminas, rusticos, urbanos, nauticos, militares? 
Otiosum est etiam titulos persequi, ut colligam in conpendium, 
et hoc non quo cognoscatis, sed recognoscatis. Certe enim 
oblitos agitis. Ante Saturnum deus penes uos nemo est, ab 30 
illo census totius uel potioris et notions diuinitatis. Itaque 
quod de origine constiterit, id et de posteritate conueniet. 
Saturnum itaque, si quantum litterae decent, neque Diodorus 



APOLOGETICVS 9, 10 37 

years, children in innocence. If you considered such to be the 
case among yourselves, you would in consequence see clearly 
that it was not the case among the Christians. The same eyes 
would have reported both alike. But the two kinds of blind 
ness easily combine: those who do not see what really is, 
naturally think they see what is not. I will show this to be 
the case throughout. Now I will speak about more open sins. 

CHAP. X. You accuse us of refusing to worship the gods, 

and to spend money on sacrificing for the emperors. It follows 

that we refuse to sacrifice for others on the same principle that 

we refuse even to sacrifice for ourselves, viz. by refusing once 

for all to worship the gods. Consequently we are charged with 

sacrilege and treason. This is the main point in the case, nay it 

is the whole case, and certainly worthy of investigation, if neither 

prejudice nor unfairness is to be the judge, the one despairing 

of the truth, the other objecting to it. We cease to worship 

your gods, from the moment we learn that they are no gods. 

This therefore is what you ought to demand, that we should 

prove that they are no gods, and therefore not to be worshipped, 

because then only would it have been our duty to worship them, 

if they had been gods. Then too the Christians would have 

deserved punishment, if it were certain that those whom they 

did not worship, because they thought they had no existence, 

were gods after all. But to us, you say, they are gods. We 

make application and appeal from you to your conscience ; let 

that judge us, let that condemn us, if it is able to deny that all 

these gods of yours were human beings. If conscience shall 

itself contest this, it will be refuted from its own documents of 

ancient times, from which it has learned of them, for they give 

evidence preserved to our day both of the communities in which 

they were born and of the districts in which they did some work 

of which they have left traces, and in which they are shown 

actually to have been buried. Now shall I run over them one by 

one, so many and so great as they are, new, old, barbarian, Greek, 

Roman, strangers, captives, adopted, individual, common, male, 

female, country, city, naval, military? It needs leisure even 

to follow out their titles, even to sum up all in brief, not that you 

may learn but that you may be reminded of them : for certainly 

you play the part of those that have forgotten. Previous to 

Saturn there is no god among you, from him dates the origin of 

all deity or at least of the more powerful and better known 

divinity. Therefore what is established with regard to the 

origin, will be valid also with regard to the later time. With 

regard to Saturn therefore, if we make appeal to what we can 



38 TERTVLLIANI 

Graecus aut Thallus neque Cassius Seuerus aut Cornelius Nepos 
neque ullus commentator eiusmodi antiquitatum aliud quam 
hominem promulgauerunt, si quantum rerum argumenta, 
nusquam inuenio fideliora quam apud ipsam Italiam, in qua 
Saturn us post multas expeditiones postque Attica hospitia 5 
consedit, exceptus a lano, uel lane, ut Salii uolunt. Mons 
quern incoluerat, Saturnius dictus, ciuitas quam depalauerat, 
Saturnia usque nunc est, tota denique Italia post Oenotriam 
Saturnia cognominabatur. Ab ipso primum tabulae et imagine 
signatus nummus, et inde aerario praesidet. Tamen si homo 10 
Saturnus, utique ex homine, et quia ab homine, non utique de 
caelo et terra. Sed cuius parentes ignoti erant, facile fuit 
eorum filium dici quorum et omnes possumus uideri. Quis 
enim non caelum ac terrain matrem ac patrem uenerationis et 
honoris gratia appellet ? uel ex consuetudine humana, qua ignoti 15 
uel ex inopinato adparentes de caelo superuenisse dicuntur. 
Proinde Saturno repentino ubique caelitem contigit dici ; nam 
et terrae filios uulgus uocat quorum genus incertum est. Taceo 
quod ita rudes adhuc homines agebant, ut cuiuslibet noui uiri 
adspectu quasi diuino commouerentur, cum hodie iam politi 20 
quos ante paucos dies luctu publico mortuos sint confessi, in 
deos consecrent. Satis iam de Saturno, licet paucis. Etiam 
louem ostendemus tarn hominem quam ex homine, et deinceps 
totum generis examen tarn mortale quam seminis sui par. 

11. Et quoniam sicut illos homines fuisse non audetis 25 
negare, ita post mortem deos factos instituistis adseuerare, 
causas quae hoc exegerint retractemus. Inprimis quidem 
necesse est coricedatis esse aliquem sublimiorem deum et 
mancipem quendam diuinitatis, qui ex hominibus deos fecerit. 
Nam neque sibi illi sumere potuissent diuinitatem, quam non 30 
habebant, nee alius praestare earn non habentibus nisi qui 
proprie possidebat. Ceterum si nemo esset qui deos faceret, 
frustra praesumitis deos factos auferendo factorem. Certe 



APOLOGBTICVS 10, 11 39 

learn from literature, neither the Greek Diodorus nor Thallus 
nor Cassius Severus nor Cornelius Nepos, nor any other recorder 
of such ancient beliefs, has proclaimed him anything but a man ; 
if to proofs from facts, I find nowhere more reliable proofs than 
in Italy itself, in which Saturn after many expeditions and after 
a residence in Attica took up his abode, having been welcomed 
by Janus, or Janes, as the Salii prefer to call him. The moun 
tain which he had inhabited was called Saturnian, the city, the 
bounds of which he had marked out with stakes, is even to this 
day Saturnia, finally the whole of Italy was named Saturnian, 
in succession to the name Oenotria. With him it was that 
accounts began and the impress of a human figure upon a coin, 
and thus it is that he presides over the treasury. But if Saturn 
was a man, he was of course sprung from a man, and because 
he was sprung from a man, it follows that he did not come from 
heaven or earth. But when a man s parents were unknown, it 
was easy to call him a son of those whose sons we also can all 
of us be considered ; for who would not call heaven and earth 
father and mother respectively out of reverence and respect? 
even in accordance with human custom, by which unknown 
persons or those who appear unexpectedly are said to have 
come upon us from heaven. Thus it is that Saturn who appeared 
suddenly happened everywhere to be called divine ; indeed the 
common people call those also sons of earth whose origin is 
uncertain. I say nothing of the fact that till then men were 
so unsophisticated, that they were stirred by the appearance 
of any new man, as if it were divine, since to-day men who are 
already cultivated deify those who a few days before they 
confessed by a public funeral were dead. Enough now about 
Saturn, though in few words. We will show that even Jupiter 
was himself as much man as he was sprung from man, and that 
in succession the whole swarm of his descendants were as mortal 
as they were like the seed from which they sprang. 

CHAP. XI. And since you have established the custom of 
maintaining that they were deified after death, in spite of the 
fact that you dare not deny them to have been men, let us 
review the causes that have led to this result. In the first 
place of course, you must admit that there is some -superior 
god, a sort of proprietor of deity, who has made gods out of 
men. For neither could they have taken to themselves a 
deity which they did not possess, nor could anyone else have 
offered it to those who did not possess it unless he possessed it 
in his own right. If there was no one to make them gods, it is 
in vain that you assume their deification to have taken place, 



40 TERTVLLIANI 

quidem si ipsi se facere potuissent, nunquam homines fuissent, 
possidentes scilicet condicionis melioris potestatem. Igitur si 
est qui faciat deos, reuertor ad causas examinandas faciendorum 
ex hominibus deorum, nee ullas inuenio, nisi si ministeria et 
auxilia officiis diuinis desiderauit ille magnus deus. Primo 5 
indignum est, ut alicuius opera indigeret, et quidem mortui, 
cum dignius ab initio deum aliquem fecisset qui mortui erat 
operam desideraturus. Sed nee operae locum uideo. Totum 
enim hoc mundi corpus siue innatum et infectum secundum 
Pythagoram, siue natum factumue secundum Platonem, semel 10 
utique in ista constructions dispositum et instructum et ordi- 
natum cum omni rationis gubernaculo inuentum est. Imper- 
fectum non potuit esse quod perfecit omnia. Nihil Saturnum 
et Saturniam gentem expectabat. Vani erunt homines, nisi 
certi sint a primordio et pluuias de caelo ruisse et sidera radiasse 15 
et lumina floruisse et tonitrua mugisse et ipsum louem quae 
in manu eius inponitis fulmina timuisse, item omnem frugem 
ante Liberum et Cererem et Mineruam, immo ante ilium aliquem 
principem hominem de terra exuberasse, quia nihil continendo 
et sustinendo homini prospectum post hominem potuit inferri. 20 
Denique inuenisse dicuntur necessaria ista uitae, non instituisse. 
Quod autem inuenitur, fuit, et quod fuit, non ems deputabitur 
qui inuenit, sed eius qui instituit; erat enim antequam in- 
ueniretur. Ceterum si propterea Liber deus quod uitem demon- 
strauit, male cum Lucullo actum est, qui primus cerasia ex 25 
Ponto Italiae promulgauit, quod non est propterea consecratus 
ut frugis nouae auctor, qui ostensor. Quamobrem si ab initio 
et instructa et certis exercendorum officiorum suorum rationibus 
dispensata uniuersitas constitit, uacat ex hac parte causa 
adlegendae humanitatis in diuinitatem, quia quas illis stationes 30 
et potestates distribuistis, tarn fuerunt ab initio quam et fuissent 
etiamsi deos istos non creassetis. Sed conuertimini ad causam 
aliam, respondentes conlationem diuinitatis meritorum re- 
munerandorum fuisse rationem. Et hinc conceditis, opinor, 
ilium deum deificum iustitia praecellere, qui non temere nee 35 



APOLOGETICVS 11 41 

while you deny the maker. Of course if they had been able to 
make themselves gods, they would never have been men, 
possessing as they did the command of a higher state. There 
fore, if there is anyone who makes gods, I return to my 
examination of the causes for making gods out of men, and 
I can find none, unless it be that that great god desired servants 
and helpers in discharge of his divine duties. But to begin with 
it is unworthy of him that he should need the service of anyone, 
especially of a dead man, since, if he were likely to need the 
service of a dead person, it would have been a worthier course to 
have made some god from the first. But I see no room for 
such aid either. For the whole body of the world, whether 
unborn or unmade, as Pythagoras believed, or born and made, 
as Plato believed, was surely found to have been once for all 
arranged and equipped and ordered in its present structure 
entirely under the guidance of reason. That could not be 
imperfect which has perfected all things. Nothing was waiting 
for Saturn and Saturn s race. Men will show themselves fools 
if they are not convinced that, from the beginning, rains fell 
from heaven, stars twinkled, the greater lights have shown their 
power, thunders have roared, and Jove himself has feared the 
thunderbolts which you place in his hand ; moreover every sort 
of crop sprang forth in abundance from the soil before the days 
of Bacchus and Ceres and Minerva, nay even before that first 
man, if there were such, because nothing devised for the pre 
servation and support of man could be introduced later than his 
own appearance. Lastly, the gods are said to have discovered, 
not to have originated, these necessaries of life. That however 
which is discovered, existed, and that which existed will not be 
counted as his who discovered it, but as his who originated it; 
for it existed before it was found. But if Bacchus is a god 
because he pointed out the vine, Lucullus, who first made 
cherries from Pontus known to Italy, has been unfairly treated, 
in that he was not for that reason deified, as the originator 
of a new kind of fruit, because he pointed it out. Wherefore, 
if the universe has existed from the beginning, both equipped 
and furnished with definite plans for carrying out its functions, 
this reason for promoting humanity to divinity falls to the 
ground, because the positions and powers that you have divided 
amongst them existed as much from the beginning, as they 
would also have existed, even if you had not appointed these 
gods of yours. But you turn to another reason, and reply that 
divinity was conferred upon them by way of rewarding their 
deserts. And hence you grant, I suppose, that that god- 
making deity excels in justice, since he apportioned so great 



42 TERTVLLIANI 

indigne nee prodige tantum praemium dispensarit. Volo 
igitur merita recensere, .an eiusmodi sint, ut illos in caelum 
extulerint et non potius in imum tartarum merserint, quern 
carcerem poenarum infernarum cum uultis adfirmatis. Illuc 
enim abstrudi solent impii quique in parentes et incesti in 5 
sorores et maritarum adulteri et uirginum raptores et puerorum 
contaminatores et qui saeuiunt et qui occidunt et qui furantur 
et qui decipiunt et qaicunque similes sunt alicuius dei uestri, 
quern neminem integrum a crimine aut uitio probare poteritis, 
nisi hominem negaueritis. Atquin ut illos homines fuisse non 10 
possitis negare, etiam istae notae accedunt quae nee deos postea 
factos credi permittunt. Si enim uos tali bus puniendis prae- 
sidetis, si conmercium, colloquium, conuictum malorum et 
turpium probi quique respuitis, horum autem pares deus ille 
maiestatis suae consortio adsciuit, quid ergo damnatis quorum 15 
collegas adoratis? Suggillatio est in caelo uestra iustitia. 
Deos facite criminosissimos quosque, ut placeatis deis uestris. 
Illorum est honor consecratio coaequalium. Sed ut omittam 
huius indignitatis retractatum, probi et integri et boni fuerint. 
Quot tamen potiores uiros apud inferos reliquistis ! aliquem de 20 
sapientia Socratem, de iustitia Aristiden, de militia Themisto- 
clem, de sublimitate Alexandrum, de felicitate Polycraten, de 
copia Croesum, de eloquentia Demosthenen. Quis ex illis deis 
uestris grauior et sapientior Catone, iustior et militarior Scipione ? 
quis sublimior Pompeio, felicior Sylla, copiosior Crasso, elo- 25 
quentior Tullio? Quanto dignius istos deos ille adsumendos 
expectasset, praescius utique potiorum? Properauit, opinor. 
et caelum semel clusit, et nunc utique melioribus apud inferos 
musitantibus erubescit. 

12. Gesso iam de isto, ut qui sciam me ex ipsa ueritate 30 
demonstraturum quid non sint, cum ostendero quid sint. 
Quantum igitur de deis uestris, nomina solurnmodo uideo 
quorundam ueterum mortuorum et fabulas audio et sacra de 
fabulis recognosco : quantum autem de simulacris ipsis, nihil 
aliud reprehendo quam materias sorores esse uasculorum 35 



APOLOGETICVS 11, 12 43 

a reward neither rashly nor unworthily nor wastefully. I wish 
therefore to review their merits, to see whether they are of such 
a kind as to warrant their elevation to heaven, and not rather 
their abasement to the lowest hell, which, when you please, you 
affirm to be a prison of infernal punishment. For it is there 
that are wont to be thrust away all that were undutiful to 
parents, guilty of incest towards sisters, adulterers of wives, 
abductors of maidens, polluters of boys, and those who rage, 
kill, steal, deceive, and whoever are like some god of your 
own, not one of whom you will be able to prove free from taint of 
crime or fault, unless you deny his humanity. But, to make it 
impossible for you to deny that they were men, there are also 
these characteristics which do not allow the belief that they 
became gods afterwards either. For if you sit in judgment 
for the punishment of such, if all the good among you reject 
the intercourse, the conversation, the company, of the evil and 
the base, and yet that great god has admitted their fellows 
into a partnership in his own majesty why then do you 
condemn those whose fellows you worship? Your justice 
implies chastisement in heaven. To please your gods you 
must convert your worst criminals into gods ! The deification 
of their equals is a compliment to them. But to omit further 
consideration of this disgrace, suppose they were honest and 
pure and good ; yet how many better men have you left in the 
lower world ! a Socrates distinguished for wisdom, an Aristides 
for justice, a Themistocles for generalship, an Alexander for 
glory, a Polycrates for good fortune, a Croesus for wealth, a 
Demosthenes for eloquence. Which of those gods of yours is 
worthier and wiser than Cato, a juster man or a better soldier 
than Scipio, who more eminent than Pompey, more fortunate 
than Sulla, wealthier than Crassus, more eloquent than Cicero ? 
How much more worthily would he have waited to adopt these 
as gods, especially as he had foreknowledge of these better ones 
to come ! He was in a hurry, I suppose, and closed the doors 
of heaven once for all, and is doubtless blushing now when he 
hears the complaints of better men grumbling in the lower 
world. 

CHAP. XII. I say no more now about this point, knowing 
that the truth itself will enable me to prove to you what they 
are not, when I have shown you what they are. With regard 
then to your gods, I see only the names of certain dead men of 
old time, about whom I hear tales, and I recognise sacred rites 
derived from the tales. With regard, however, to the images 
themselves, I have no fault to find except that the materials 



44 TERTVLLIANI 

instrumentorumque communium uel ex isdem uasculis et 
instrumentis quasi fatum consecratione mutantes licentia 
artis transfigurante, et quidem contumeliosissime et in ipso 
opere sacrilege, ut reuera nobis maxime, qui propter ipsos deos 
plectimur, solatium poenarum esse possit quod eadem et ipsi 5 
patiuntur ut fiant. Crucibus et stipitibus inponitis Christianos. 
Quod simulacrum non prius argilla deformat cruci et stipiti 
superstructa ? in patibulo primum corpus dei uestri dedicatur. 
Ungulis deraditis latera Christianorum. At in deos uestros 
per omnia membra ualidius incumbunt asciae et runcinae et 10 
scobinae. Ceruices ponimus. Ante plumbum et glutinum et 
gomphos sine capite sunt dei uestri. Ad bestias impellimur. 
Certe quas Libero et Cybele et Caelesti applicatis. Ignibus 
urimur. Hoc et illi a prima quidem massa. In metalla 
damnamur. Inde censentur dei uestri. In insulis relegamur. 15 
Solet et in insula aliqui deus uester aut nasci aut mori. Si per 
haec constat diuinitas aliqua, ergo qui puniuntur, consecrantur, 
et numina erunt dicenda supplicia. Sed plane non sentiunt 
has iniurias et contumelias fabrications suae dei uestri, sicut 
nee obsequia. impiae uoces, o sacrilega conuicia ! Infren- 20 
dite, inspumate ! Idem estis qui Senecam aliquem pluribus et 
amarioribus de uestra superstitione perorantem reprehendistis. 
Igitur si statuas et imagines frigidas mortuorum suorum 
simillimas non adoramus, quas milui et mures et araneae 
intellegunt, nonne laudem magis quam poenam merebatur 25 
repudium agniti erroris? Possumus enim uideri laedere eos 
quos certi sumus omnino non esse? Quod non est, nihil ab 
ullo patitur, quia non est. 

13. Sed nobis dei sunt, inquis. Et quomodo uos e con- 
trario impii et sacrilegi et inreligiosi erga deos uestros deprc- 30 
hendimini, qui, quos praesumitis esse, neglegitis, quos timetis, 
destruitis, quos etiam uindicatis, inluditis? Recognoscite si 
mentior. Primo quidem, cum alii alios colitis, utique quos 



APOLOGETICVS 12, 13 45 

are sisters to ordinary vessels and tools, or are made from the 
same vessels and tools, changing their destiny as it were by 
dedication, the wantonness of art transforming them, and that 
too in the most insulting way involving a sacrilege in the work 
itself. Thus it may be in truth a solace especially to us who are 
punished on account of the gods themselves, a solace, I say, 
in our punishment, that they themselves also go through the 
same experience for their making. You place the Christians 
on crosses and stakes : what image is not first moulded in soft 
clay laid on a cross and a stake ? it is on a gibbet that the body 
of your god is consecrated first of all. You tear the sides of 
the Christians with claws, but upon your gods axes and planes 
and files are more vigorously applied all over their bodies. 
Wela^d^w^i^ournecks : your gods are without a head until 
lead anoTgiue~and nails have been applied. We are cast out 
to wild-beasts, to the very beasts which form the train of 
Bacchus and Cybele and the Carthaginian goddess of Heaven. 
We are cast into the fire : so also are they, while the ore from 
which they are taken is refined. We are condemned to the 
mines and quarries : it is from thence your gods get their origin. 
We are banished to islands : in an island also it is usual for some 
god of yours either to be born or to die. If any divinity is thus 
confirmed, then those who are punished are deified, and punish 
ments will have to be spoken of as tokens of divinity. But 
clearly your gods do not feel these injuries and insults involved 
in their formation, as neither do they feel the homage they 
receive. Oh the impious words, the sacrilegious abuse ! gnash 
your teeth at them, and foam with rage! You are the same 
people who blamed Seneca when with more bitterness and at 
greater length he argued against your superstition. Conse 
quently, if we do not worship cold statues and figures, which 
have a strong likeness to the dead they represent, images of 
which kites and mice and spiders have a correct idea, did not 
the renouncing of a discovered error deserve praise rather than 
punishment? For can we be thought to inflict injury on those 
who, we feel sure, do not exist at all? That which does not 
exist, can suffer nothing from any one, because it has no 
existence. 

CHAP. XIII. But to us they are gods, you say. If that 
be so, how is it that you on the contrary are found impious, 
sacrilegious, and irreligious towards your gods ? you who neglect 
those whose existence you take for granted, who destroy those 
whom you fear, who mock even those whom you avenge? 
Consider if my statement is false. In the first place, when 



46 TERTVLLIANI 

non colitis, offenditis. Praelatio alterius sine alterius contumelia 
non potest procedere, quia nee electio sine reprobatione. lam 
ergo contemnitis quos reprobatis, quos reprobando offendere 
non timetis. Nam, ut supra praestrinximus, status dei cuiusque 
in senatus aestimatione pendebat. Deus non erat quern homo 5 
consultus noluisset et nolendo damnasset. Domesticos deos, 
quos Lares dicitis, domestica potestate tractatis pignerando, 
uenditando, demutando aliquando in caccabulum de Saturno, 
aliquarido in trullam de Minerua, ut quisque contritus atque 
contusus est, dum diu colitur, ut quisque dominus sanctiorem 10 
expertus est domesticam necessitatem. Publicos aeque publico 
iure foedatis, quos in hastario uectigales habetis. Sic Capi- 
tolium, sic olitorium forum petitur ; sub eadem uoce praeconis, 
sub eadem hasta, sub eadem adnotatione quaestoris diuinitas 
addicta conducitur. Sed enim agri tributo onusti uiliores, 15 
hominum capita stipendio censa ignobiliora (nam hae sunt 
notae captiuitatis), dei uero qui magis tributarii, magis sancti, 
immo qui magis sancti, magis tributarii. Maiestas quaestuaria 
efficitur. Circuit cauponas religio mendicans. Exigitis mer- 
cedem pro solo templi, pro aditu sacri. Non licet deos gratis 20 
nosse; uenales sunt. Quid omnino ad honorandos eos facitis 
quod non etiam mortuis uestris conferatis? Aedes proinde, 
aras proinde. Idem habitus et insignia in statuis. Ut aetas, 
ut ars, ut negotium mortui fuit, ita deus est. Quo differt 
ab epulo louis silicernium? a simpulo obba? ab haruspice 25 
pollinctor? Nam et haruspex mortuis apparet. Sed digne 
imperatoribus defunctis honorem diuinitatis dicatis, quibus et 
uiuentibus eum addicitis. Accepto ferent dei uestri, immo 
gratulabuntur, quod pares eis fiant domini sui. Sed cum 
Larentinam publicum scortum, uelim saltim Laidem aut 30 
Phrynen, inter lunones et Cereres et Dianas adoretis, cum 
Simonem Magum statua et inscriptione Sancti Dei inaugu- 
ratis, cum de paedagogiis aulicis nescio quern synodi deum 



APOLOGETICVS 13 47 

some of you are worshipping one god ; some another, of course 
you slight the feelings of those whom you do not worship: 
preference of one is impossible without insult to another, since 
one cannot even choose without implied blame. It follows 
therefore that you lightly esteem those of whom you disapprove, 
and whom you do not fear to offend by your disapproval. For, 
-as I hinted above, the position of each god depended on the 
opinion of the senate. He was no god, whom a man, when 
consulted, had declined to deify, and by his refusal had con 
demned. Your household gods, whom you call Lares, you deal 
with according to your household rights, pledging, advertising, 
changing them, sometimes from a Saturn into a cooking-pot, 
sometimes from a Minerva into a ladle, as each god happens to 
be worn and damaged with long adoration, as each master has 
found a more sacred deity in his domestic need. Your public 
gods you profane equally by public authority, while you keep 
them as sources of revenue in the auction-catalogue. Thus the 
Capitol, thus the vegetable market is attended by the bidders ; 
under the same voice of the crier, under the same spear, under 
the same entry made by the quaestor, divinity is knocked down 
to the highest bidder. But indeed lands charged with tribute 
are cheaper, and persons rated at a tax are less noble (for these 
are the marks of serfdom) : but the gods who bring in more 
tribute are more holy, or rather those who are more holy, bring 
in more tribute. Their majesty is made a matter of profit. 
Keligion goes begging about the taverns. You demand pay 
ment for the ground on which a temple stands, for permission 
to approach the sacred place; you cannot be acquainted with 
the gods for nothing, they have their price. What do you do 
at all to honour them, which you do not also bestow on your 
dead? Both alike have their temples and altars. The dress 
is the same, the ornaments on their dress the same. The 
god corresponds in age, skill, and business to the dead man. 
What difference is there between a funeral feast and a banquet 
to Jupiter ? between a sacrificial and a funeral chalice ? an under 
taker and a soothsayer? for a soothsayer also attends upon 
the dead. But you worthily confer the honour of divinity on 
-emperors when dead, since even in their lifetime you assign it 
to them. Your gods will give you credit for it, nay rather they 
will thank you for making their masters equal to them. But 
when you worship Larentina, a common whore would it were 
at least a Lais or a Phryne , among the Junos and the Cereses 
and the Dianas, when you hallow the name of Simon Magus 
with the statue and inscription of a holy god, when you make 
some court page a member of the college of gods ; although the 



48 TERTVLLIANI 

facitis, licet non nobiliores dei ueteres, tamen contumeliam a 
uobis deputabunt hoc et aliis licuisse quod solis antiquitas 
contulit. 

14. Volo et ritus uestros recensere : non dico quales sitis 
in sacrificando, cum enecta et tabidosa et scabiosa quaeque 5 
mactatis, cum de opimis et integris superuacua quaeque 
truncatis, capitula et ungulas, quae domi quoque pueris uel 
canibus destinassetis, cum de decima Herculis nee tertiam 
partem in aram eius inponitis (laudabo magis sapientiam, quod 
de perdito aliquid eripitis), sed conuersus ad litteras uestras, 10 
quibus informamini ad prudentiam et liberalia officia, quanta 
inuenio ludibria ! deos inter se propter Troianos et Achiuos ut 
gladiatorum paria congresses depugnasse, Venerem humana 
sagitta sauciatam, quod nlium suum Aenean paene interfectum 
ab eodem Diomede rapere uellet, Martem tredecim mensibus 15 
in uinculis paene consumptum, louem, ne eandem uim a ceteris 
caelitibus experiretur, opera cuiusdam monstri liberatum, et 
nunc flentem Sarpedonis casum, nunc foede subantem in 
sororem sub commemoratione non ita dilectarum iampridem 
amicarum. Exinde quis non poeta ex auctoritate principis 20 
sui dedecorator inuenitur deorum? Hie Apollinem Admeto 
regi pascendis pecoribus addicit, ille Neptuni structorias operas 
Laomedonti locat. Est et ille de lyricis (Pindarum dico) qui 
Aescolapium canit auaritiae merito, quia medicinam nocenter 
exercebat, fulmine iudicatum. Malus luppiter, si fulmen illius 25 
est, impius in nepotem, inuidus in artificem. Haec neque uera 
prodi neque falsa confingi apud religiosissimos oportebat. Nee 
tragici quidem aut comici parcunt, ut non aerumnas uel errores 
domus alicuius dei praefentur. Taceo de philosophis, Socrate 
contentus, qui in contumeliam deorum quercum et hircum et 30 
canem deierabat. Sed propterea damnatus est Socrates, quia 



APOLOGETICVS 13, 14 49 

old gods are no nobler, yet they will consider it an insult paid 
to them from you, that this privilege, which antiquity con 
ferred on them alone, has been allowed to others also. 

CHAP. XIV. I am unwilling 1 to go further and review your 
sacred rites. I do not say what is your method in sacrificing, 
which leads you to slaughter every worn-out, putrefying and 
mangy creature, to cut off all the useless parts from the prime and 
sound beasts, the little heads and the hoofs, which even at home 
you would have set apart for slaves or dogs, your placing on 
Hercules altar of not even a third part of the tithe that is due 
to him. I will rather praise your wisdom in rescuing something 
of what is in danger of being lost. But when I turn to your 
literature, whence you derive instruction in practical wisdom, 
and the duties of gentlemen, what ridiculous situations do I 
find! gods engaged like pairs of gladiators and fighting des 
perately together on account of the Trojans and the Achaeans, 
Venus wounded by an arrow from a human hand, because she 
wished to snatch her son Aeneas, when almost killed, from the 
same Diomede (who had wounded herself) ; Mars reduced almost 
to a shadow by thirteen months in chains, Jupiter rescued by 
the agency of some monster from meeting the same violence at 
the hands of the other divinities, and at one time weeping the 
misfortune of Sarpedon, at another burning with shameful lust 
for his sister, and telling her the w r hile of the mistresses in the 
long past, none of them so much loved as she. Since that time 
what poet may not be found calumniating the gods, on the 
authority of the chief of his craft ? One makes over Apollo to 
king Admetus to feed his flocks, another lets out Neptune s 
services in building to Laomedon. There is also the great lyric 
poet (I mean Pindar), who sings that Aesculapius was deservedly 
punished with a thunderbolt by reason of his greed, which made 
him practise the healing art injuriously. Jupiter is evil, if 
the thunderbolt is his, devoid of natural feeling for his grandson, 
and jealous of the skilled practitioner. Such stories ought 
never to have been revealed if true; if false, ought never to 
have been invented, among really religious people. Nor do the 
writers of tragedies or comedies refrain from publishing in their 
prologues the sorrows or wanderings of the family of some god. 
I say nothing of the philosophers, being quite content with 
Socrates, who, in mockery of the gods, swore by the oak and 
the goat and the dog. But (say you) Socrates was condemned 
for that very reason, because he tried to do away with the gods. 

1 Reading Nolo. 
M. T. 4 



50 TERTVLLIANI 

deos destruebat. Plane olim, id est semper, ueritas odio est. 
Tamen cum paenitentia sententiae Athenienses et criminatores 
Socratis postea afflixerint et imaginem eius auream in templo 
collocarint, rescissa damnatio testimonium Socrati reddidit. 
Sed et Diogenes nescio quid in Herculem ludit, et Romanus 5 
Cynicus Varro trecentos loues, siue lupitros dicendos, sine 
capitibus introducit. 



15. Cetera lasciuiae ingenia etiam uoluptatibus uestris per 
deorum dedecus operantur. Dispicite Lentulorum et Hostili- 
orum uenustates, utrum mimos an deos uestros in iocis et 10 
strophis rideatis: moechum Anubin, et masculum Lunam, et 
Dianam flagellatam, et louis mortui testamentum recitatum, 
et tres Hercules famelicos inrisos. Sed et histrionum litterae 
omnem foeditatem eorum designant. Luget Sol filium de caelo 
iactatum laetantibus uobis, et Cybele pastorum suspirat 15 
fastidiosum non erubescentibus uobis, et sustinetis louis elogia 
cantari, et lunonem, Venerem, Mineruam a pastore iudicari. 
Ipsum quod imago dei uestri ignominiosum caput et famosum 
uestit, quod corpus inpurum et ad istam artem effeminatione 
productum Mineruam aliquam uel Herculem repraesentat, 20 
nonne uiolatur maiestas et diuinitas constupratur laudantibus 
uobis? Plane religiosiores estis in cauea, ubi super sanguinem 
humanum, super inquinamenta poenarum proinde saltant dei 
uestri argumenta et historias noxiis ministrantes, nisi quod et 
ipsos deos uestros saepe noxii induunt. Vidimus aliquando 25 
castratum Attin. ilium deum ex Pessinunte, et qui uiuus 
ardebat, Herculem induerat. Risimus et inter ludicras meri- 
dianorum crudelitates Mercurium mortuos cauterio examinan- 
tem, uidimus et louis fratrem gladiatorum cadauera cum malleo 
deducentem. Singula ista quaeque adhuc inuestigare quis 30 
posset? Si honorem inquietant diuinitatis, si maiestatis 
uestigia obsoletant, de contemptu utique censentur tarn eorum 
qui eiusmodi factitant quam eorum quibus factitant. Sed 



APOLOGETICVS 14, 15 51 

Plainly! because the truth has long, or rather always, been an 
object of hatred. Nevertheless, when the Athenians, from 
remorse for the sentence they had passed, not only afterwards 
punished the prosecutors of Socrates but also placed a golden 
statue of him in a temple, the reversal of the condemnation 
gave a new testimony to Socrates. But Diogenes too made 
some witticism at Hercules expense, and the Roman Cynic, 
Varro, introduces a whole host of headless Joves (or Jupiters 
as they ought perhaps to be called). 



CHAP. XV. The rest of your licentious wits also work for 
your pleasures through the dishonour of the gods. Examine 
the farces of the Lentuli and Hostilii, and consider whether it is 
the buffoons or your gods whose jokes and tricks you are laughing 
at; such subjects as an adulterous Anubis, a masculine Moon, 
Diana scourged, the will of the deceased Jupiter read aloud, 
and three starving Herculeses held up to ridicule. Moreover 
the writings of the playwrights also give form to all their 
nlthiness. The Sun-god mourns his son cast from heaven, while 
you rejoice, and Cybele sighs for her disdainful shepherd, while 
you are no whit ashamed, and you can endure to listen to the 
song which tells the sins of Jupiter, and the trial of Juno, 
Venus and Minerva by the shepherd. What of the fact that 
a mask representing a god of yours covers the head of a branded 
and notorious person, that an unclean body prolonged for this 
accomplishment by emasculation represents a Minerva or a 
Hercules is not their majesty outraged and their divinity 
prostituted, while you applaud ? You are clearly more religious 
in the amphitheatre, where your gods in like manner dance on 
human blood, on the marks of punishments undergone, pro 
viding plots and narratives for criminals, save and except that 
criminals often put on the character of your gods themselves 
also. We have sometimes witnessed the mutilation of Attis, 
the famous god of Pessinus, and a man who was burning alive 
had personated Hercules. We have laughed too amidst the 
sportive atrocities of the midday combatants, at Mercury testing 
apparent deaths with a branding-iron; we have likewise seen 
Jupiter s brother dragging down the corpses of gladiators with 
a hammer in his hand (to finish those who \vere not quite dead). 
But who could even inquire into these absurdities one by one? 
If they disquiet the honour of the gods, if they obliterate all 
traces of divinity, surely they take their rise in the contempt 
both of those who practise such things and of those for whom 
they practise them. But those you will say are mere shows. 

42 



52 TERTVLLIANI 

ludicra ista sint. Ceterum si adiciam, quae non minus con- 
scientiae omnium recognoscent, in templis adulteria conponi, 
inter aras lenocinia tractari, in ipsis plerumque aedituorum et 
sacerdotum tabernaculis sub isdem uittis et apicibus et purpuris 
thure flagrante libidinem expungi, nescio, ne plus de uobis dei 5 
uestri quam de Chris tianis querantur. Certe sacrilegi de uestris 
semper adprehenduntur. Christiani enim templa nee interdiu 
norunt; spoliarent forsitan ea et ipsi, si et ipsi ea adorarent. 
Quid ergo colunt qui talia non colunt? lam quidem intellegi 
subiacet ueritatis esse cul tores qui mendacii non sint, nee err are 10 
amplius in eo in quo errasse se recognoscendo cessauerunt. 
Hoc prius capite et omnem hinc sacramenti nostri ordinem 
haurite, repercussis ante tamen opinionibus falsis. 

16. Nam et, ut quidam, somniastis caput asininum esse 
deum nostrum. Hanc Cornelius Tacitus suspicionem eiusmodi 15 
dei inseruit. Is enim in quinta historiarum suarum bellum 
ludaicum exorsus ab origine gentis etiam de ipsa tarn origine 
quam de nomine et religione gentis quae uoluit argumentatus 
ludaeos refert Aegypto expedites siue, ut putauit, extorres 
uastis Arabiae in locis aquarum egentissimis, cum siti macera- 20 
rentur, onagris, qui forte de pastu potum petituri aestimabantur, 
indicibus fontis usos ob earn gratiam consimilis bestiae super- 
ficiem consecrasse. Atque ita inde praesumptum opinor nos 
quoque ut ludaicae religionis propinquos eidem simulacro 
initiari. At enim idem Cornelius Tacitus, sane ille mendaciorum 25 
loquacissimus, in eadem historia refert Gneum Pompeium, cum 
Hierusalem cepisset proptereaque templum adisset speculandis 
ludaicae religionis arcanis, nullum illic reperisse simulacrum. 
Et utique, si id colebatur quod aliqua effigie repraesentabatur, 
nusquam magis quam in sacrario suo exhiberetur, eo magis, 30 
quia nee uerebatur extraneos arbitros, quamquam uana cultura. 
Solis enim sacerdotibus adire licitum; etiam conspectus 
ceterorum uelo oppanso interdicebatur. Vos tamen non 



APOLOGETICVS 15, 16 53 

If however I were to add what will be equally admitted by 
the consciences of all that adulteries are arranged in the 
temples, that panders ply their trade among the altars, that often 
in the very rooms of sacristans and priests, under the same fillets 
and sacred caps and purple vestments, lust is satisfied while the 
incense is burning, I know not whether your gods may not find 
more reason to complain about you than about the Christians. 
Certainly those guilty of sacrilege are always of your number. 
For the Christians do not know the temples even by day. 
Perhaps they might also rob them themselves, if they them 
selves also did reverence to them. What then do they worship 
who do not worship such things ? Already indeed it is easy 
to be understood that those are worshippers of the truth who 
are not worshippers of a lie, and that they no longer err in a 
matter in which the recognition of previous error taught them 
to give it up. Grasp this fact first, and thence gather the 
whole order of our mystery, first however rejecting certain 
false notions. 



CHAP. XVI. For you, too, like some others, have dreamed 
that an ass s head is the object of our worship. The fancy of 
such a deity was put into their minds by Cornelius Tacitus, who in 
the fifth of his Histories, having begun his account of the Jewish 
War with an account of the origin of the race, and having also 
discussed at his pleasure alike the origin itself and the name and 
religion of the race, records that the Jews, having been freed 
or, as he thought, exiled from Egypt, when they were weakened 
through thirst in the deserts of Arabia, where water was very 
scarce, employed some wild asses to guide them to a spring, 
thinking that they would probably be seeking water after food, 
and on that account consecrated the form of a similar animal. 
And hence I think it was presumed that we, too, being thus allied 
to the Jewish religion were taught to do reverence to the same 
image. But indeed it is the same Cornelius Tacitus, truly the 
most inventive of romancers, who in the same history records 
that Gnaeus Pompeius, after capturing Jerusalem and thus 
going to the temple to investigate the secrets of the Jewish 
religion, found no image therein. And to be sure, if the 
object of worship was represented by some figure, this would 
have been most appropriately shown in its own shrine, the 
rather that the worship, however vain, had no fear of strangers 
to witness it ; only the priests were allowed to approach, while 
the gaze of the rest was forbidden by a curtain spread out over 
it. And yet you will not deny that you pay divine honours to 



54 TERTVLLIANI 

negabitis et iumenta omnia et totos cantherios cum sua Epona 
coli a uobis. Hoc forsitan inprobamur, quod inter cultores 
omnium pecudum bestiarumque asinarii tantum sumus. Sed 
et qui crucis nos religiosos putat, consecraneus erit noster. 
Cum lignum aliquod propitiatur, uiderit habitus, cum materiae 5 
qualitas eadem sit, uiderit forma, dum id ipsum dei corpus 
sit. Et tamen quanto distinguitur a crucis stipite Pallas 
Attica, et Ceres Pharia, quae sine effigie rudi palo et informi 
ligno prostant? Pars crucis est omne robur quod erecta 
statione defigitur. Nos, si forte, integrum et totum deum 10 
colimus. Diximus originem deorum uestrorum a plastis de 
cruce induci. Sed et Victorias adoratis, cum in tropaeis cruces 
intestina sint tropaeorum. Religio Romanorum tota castrensis 
signa ueneratur, signa iurat, signa omnibus deis praeponit. 
Omnes illi imaginum suggestus in signis monilia crucum sunt ; 15 
siphara ilia uexillorum et cantabrorum stolae crucum sunt. 
Laudo diligentiam. Noluistis incultas et nudas cruces con- 
secrare. Alii plane humanius et uerisimilius solem credunt 
deum nostrum. Ad Persas, si forte, deputabimur, licet solem 
non in linteo depictum adoremus, habentes ipsum ubique in 20 
suo clypeo. Denique inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos ad 
orientis regionem precari. Sed et plerique uestrum adfectatione 
aliquando et caelestia adorandi ad solis ortum labia uibratis. 
Aeque si diem solis laetitiae indulgemus, alia longe ratione quam 
religione solis secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem Saturni otio 25 
et uictui decernunt exorbitantes et ipsi a ludaico more, quern 
ignorant. Sed noua iam dei nostri in ista proxime ciuitate 
editio publicata est, ex quo quidam frustrandis bestiis mer- 
cenarius noxius picturam proposuit cum eiusmodi inscription e: 
DEUS CHRISTIANORUM ONOKOIHTHS. Is erat auribus asininis, 30 
altero pede ungulatus, librum gestans et togatus. Risimus et 
nomen et formam. Sed illi debebant adorare statim biforme 
numen, quia et canino et leonino capite commixtos, et de 
capro et de ariete cornutos, et a lumbis hircos, et a cruribus 



APOLOGETICVS 16 55 

all beasts of burden, as well as to asses, heads and bodies both, 
along with their own goddess Epona. Perhaps our fault consists 
in the fact that amongst the worshippers of cattle and beasts 
of all kinds we worship the ass alone. 

But he too who thinks that we adore the cross will be our 
fellow-worshipper. When some piece of wood is propitiated, no 
matter for the fashion as long as the quality of the material is 
the same, no matter for the form as long as the god is bodily 
in the image. And yet what a great difference there is between 
the upright of a cross and the Athenian Pallas or the Egyptian 
Ceres, who stand forth formless, a rough stake, a shapeless bit 
of wood ! Every piece of wood that is fixed in the ground in 
an erect position is part of a cross; we, perhaps, worship an 
unmutilated and complete god. I have said that the sculptors 
of your gods make a beginning with a cross : but you also 
worship Victories, although, in trophies, crosses form the 
inside part. The whole religion of the Koman camp consists 
in worshipping the standards, in swearing by the standards, and 
in setting the standards above all the gods. All those rows of 
images on the standards are but as necklaces of crosses ; those 
pennons on the ensigns and banners are the robes of crosses. 
I commend your scrupulous attitude : you would not dedicate 
crosses that were bare and undraped. Others, certainly with 
greater semblance of nature and of truth, believe the sun to 
be our god. If so, we shall perhaps be classed with the Persians, 
although we do not worship a representation of the sun on a 
linen cloth, since everywhere we have the sun himself within 
his own hemisphere. Lastly the suspicion arises from the 
knowledge that we turn to the east in prayer. But many of 
you too with an affectation of sometimes worshipping heavenly 
bodies move your lips towards the rising sun. Likewise if we 
give rein to joy on Sundays, in a far different way from sun 
worship, we are only second to those who devote Saturday 
(Sabbath) to idleness and feasting, and who also deviate from 
the Jewish custom of which they are ignorant. But recently in 
this city, what is really a new representation of our god has 
been made public, since a certain criminal, hired to trick the 
wild beasts, exhibited a picture with an inscription to the 
following effect: The Christian God, the Offspring of an Ass. 
He had asses ears, one foot hoofed, was dressed in the toga and 
carried a book. We laughed both at the name and the figure. 
But they were bound to worship at once a two-formed divinity, 
because they have welcomed, as gods, creatures with heads both 
of dog and of lion, with the horns of a goat and a ram, others 
with goats bodies from the loins downwards, and like serpents 



56 TERTVLLIANI 

serpentes, et planta uel tergo alites deos receperunt. Haec ex 
abundant!, ne quid rumoris inrepercussum quasi de conscientia 
praeterissemus. Quae omnia conuersi iam ad demonstrationem 
religionis nostrae repurgauimus. 

17. Quod colimus, deus unus est, qui to tarn molem istam 5 
cum omni instrumento elementorum, corporum, spirituum 
uerbo quo iussit, ratione qua disposuit, uirtute qua potuit, 
de nihilo expressit, in ornamentum maiestatis suae, unde et 
Graeci nomen mundo KOO-JJLOV accommodauerunt. Inuisibilis 
est, etsi uideatur; incomprehensibilis, etsi per gratiam reprae- 10 
sentetur; inaestimabilis, etsi humanis sensibus aestimetur. 
Ideo uerus et tantus est. Ceterum quod uideri communiter, 
quod comprehendi, quod aestimari potest, minus est et oculis 
quibus occupatur, et manibus quibus contaminatur, et sensibus 
quibus inuenitur : quod uero inmensum est, soli sibi notum est. 15 
Hoc quod est, deum aestimari facit, dum aestimari non capit. 
Ita eum uis magnitudinis et notum hominibus obicit et ignotum. 
Et haec est summa delicti nolentium recognoscere quern igno- 
rare non possunt. Vultis ex operibus ipsius tot ac tali bus, 
quibus continemur, quibus sustinemur, quibus oblectamur, 20 
etiam quibus exterremur, uultis ex animae ipsius testimonio 
conprobemus? Quae licet carcere corporis pressa, licet in- 
stitutionibus prauis circumscripta, licet libidinibus et con- 
cupiscentiis euigorata, licet falsis deis exancillata, cam tamen 
resipiscit, ut ex crapula, ut ex somno, ut ex aliqua ualitudine, 25 
et sanitatem suam patitur, deum nominat, hoc solo, quia 
proprie uerus hie unus. Deus bonus et magnus, et Quod deus 
dederit omnium uox est. ludicem quoque contestatur ilium 
Deus uidet, et Deo commendo, et Deus mihi reddet. testi- 
monium animae naturaliter Christianae! Denique pronuntians 30 
haec non ad Capitolium, sed ad caelum respicit. Nouit enim 
sedem dei uiui ab illo, et inde descendit. 



APOLOGETICVS 16, 17 57 

from the legs, and with wings on the foot or the back. I have 
stated these methods more fully, to avoid passing over, as it 
were purposely, any rumour without rebutting it. All these 
false opinions we have now cleared away and proceed to turn 1 
to the proof of our religion. 

CHAP. XVII. The object of our worship is one God, who 
through the word by which he commanded (that they should 
exist), the reason by which he arranged them, the power by 
which he could (carry out his will), fashioned out of nothing all 
this mass with all its apparatus of elements, bodies and spirits, 
for an ornament to his own greatness, whence it is that the 
Greeks also have applied the name /coaxes (ornament) to the 
universe. He is invisible, though he may be seen; incompre 
hensible, though he is represented to men through his grace; 
inestimable, though he can be estimated through the human 
senses ; therefore is he the true and the mighty God. What is 
capable, however, of being generally seen, of being grasped, of 
being valued, is less both than the eyes by which it is caught, 
than the hands by which it is touched, and the thoughts by 
which it is discovered ; but that which is immeasurable is known 
only to itself. This is what makes God valued, while yet he 
is incapable of valuation. Thus it is that the power of his 
greatness presents him as both known and unknown to men. 
And this is the substance of their offence, that they refuse to 
recognise him of whom they cannot be ignorant. Do you wish 
that we should prove this from his own works, so many and of 
such a character, by which we are restrained, upheld, delighted; 
nay even by which we are terrified, or should we prove it even 
from the evidence of the soul itself? Although weighed down 
by the prison of the body, though confined by evil customs, 
though emasculated by lusts and passions, though enslaved to 
false gods, yet, when it recovers its senses, as after surfeit, as 
after sleep, as after some illness, when it becomes conscious of its 
own health, it names God, for the sole reason that he alone is 
by nature the true God. Good God, Great God and Which 
may God grant are expressions used by all. That he is also a 
judge is attested by the words: God sees, I commend to 
God, and God will recompense me. evidence of the 
natural Christianity of the soul! For when uttering these 
words it looks not to the Capitol, but to the sky. It knows 
indeed the place of abode of the living God; from him and 
from there 2 it descended. 

1 Conuersuri, the certain emendation of J. B. M. for conuersi of MSS. 

2 A stop at uiui. 



58 TERTVLLIANI 

18. Sed quo plenius et inpressius tarn ipsum quam dis- 
positiones eius et uoluntates adiremus, adiecit instrumentum 
litteraturae, si qui uelit de deo inquirere, et inquisito inuenire, 
et inuento credere, et credito deseruire. Viros enim iustitiae 
innocentia dignos deum nosse et ostendere a primordio in 5 
saeculum emisit spiritu diuino inundates, quo praedicarent 
deum unicum esse, qui uniuersa condiderit, qui hominem de 
humo struxerit (his enim est uerus Prometheus, qui saeculum 
certis temporum dispositionibus et exitibus ordinauit), exinde 
quae signa nmiestatis suae iudicantis ediderit per imbres, per 10 
ignes, quas demerendo sibi disciplinas determinauerit, quae 
ignoratis et desertis et obseruatis his praemia destinarit, ut 
qui producto aeuo isto iudicaturus sit suos cultores in uitae 
aeternae retributionem, profanes in ignem aeque perpetem et 
iugem, suscitatis omnibus ab initio defunctis et reformatis et 15 
recensitis ad utriusque meriti dispunctionem. Haec et nos 
risimus aliquando. De uestris sumus. Fiunt, non nascuntur 
Christiani. Quos diximus praedicatores, prophetae de officio 
praefandi uocantur. Voces eorum itemque uirtutes, quas ad 
fidem diuinitatis edebant, in thesauris litterarum manent, nee 20 
istae latent. Ptolemaeorum eruditissimus, quern Philadelphum 
snpernominant, et omnis litteraturae sagacissimus, cum studio 
bibliothecarum Pisistratum, opinor, aemularetur, inter cetera 
memoriarum, quibus aut uetustas aut curiositas aliqua ad 
famam patrocinabatur, ex suggestu Demetri Phalerei gram- 25 
maticorum tune probatissimi, cui praefecturam mandauerat, 
libros a ludaeis quoque postulauit, proprias atque uernaculas 
litteras, quas soli habebant. Ex ipsis enim et ad ipsos semper 
prophetae perorauerant, scilicet ad domesticam dei gentem ex 
patrum gratia. Hebraei retro qui nunc ludaei. Igitur et 30 
litterae Hebraeae et eloquium. Sed ne notitia uacaret, hoc 
quoque a ludaeis Ptolemaeo subscriptum est septuaginta et 
duobus interpretibus indultis, quos Menedemus quoque philoso- 



APOLOGETICVS 18 59 

CHAP. XVIII. But that we might more fully and more 
seriously approach to himself as well as to his arrangements 
and purposes, he added a literary document, in case any 
one should wish to inquire about God, and having inquired to 
find him, and having found him to believe on him, and having 
believed to serve him. For from the beginning he hath sent 
into the world men overflowing with the divine spirit, and worthy 
by their justice and innocence to know God and to make him 
known, in order that they might preach him as the only god 
who founded the universe, and formed man from the soil, for 
this is the true Prometheus, who ordered the world by fixed 
arrangements and endings of seasons, who afterwards pro 
claimed signs of his majesty in judgment by water and fire, 
who laid down statutes for the gaining of his favour ; who has 
appointed rewards for those that know not, those that neglect, 
and those that keep his laws; in order that when this world 
shall have come to an end 1 he may adjudge his worshippers to 
the reward of eternal life, and the irreligious to a fire no less con 
tinuous and lasting, having raised all those that have died from 
the beginning and given them a new form and called to an 
account for the recompense of each man s deserts. We too 
once laughed at this : we sprang from your ranks ; Christians 
are made Christians, and not born such. Those whom we have 
called preachers are namecT prophets from their office of fore 
telling. Their words and likewise their wonderful deeds, which 
they performed to produce belief in the Godhead, remain in the 
storehouses of literature, nor are these now hidden. Ptolemy, 
surnamed Philadelphus, a most learned king with a keen 
appreciation of all literature, in his zeal for libraries, in which, 
I suppose, he rivalled Pisistratus, amongst other historical 
monuments, which were rendered famous either by antiquity 
or curiosity of some kind, at the instance of Demetrius 
of Phalerum, the most approved grammarian of the time, to 
whom he had entrusted the chief care of the matter, asked 
books from the Jews also, writings peculiar to themselves 
and in their own language. For the prophets were always 
taken from among themselves and had always addressed 
themselves as being a people belonging to God in accordance 
with the favour shown to their fathers. Hebrews was the name 
formerly given to those now called Jews. Consequently both 
their literature and language are Hebrew. But that there 
might be no deficiency of knowledge, this also was granted by 
the Jews to Ptolemy, seventy-two translators being allowed, 
whom Menedemus also, the philosopher, a champion of (divine) 
1 Read prodacto with J. E. B. M. 



60 TERTVLLIANI 

phus, prouidentiae uindex, de sententiae communione suspexit. 
Adfirmauit haec uobis etiam Aristaeus. Ita in Graecum stilum 
exaperta monumenta reliquit. Hodie apud Serapeum Ptolemaei 
bibliothecae cum ipsis Hebraicis litteris exhibentur. Sed et 
ludaei palam lectitant. Vectigalis libertas ; uulgo aditur 5 
sabbatis omnibus. Qui audierit, inueniet deum; qui etiam 
studuerit intellegere, cogetur et credere. 

19. Primam instrumentis istis auctoritatem summa anti- 
quitas uindicat. Apud uos quoque religionis est instar, fidem 
de temporibus adserere. [Auctoritatem litteris praestat anti- TO 
quitas sumrna. Primus enim prophetes Moyses, qui mundi 
conditionem et generis humani pullulationem et mox ultricem 
iniquitatis illius aeui uim cataclysmi de praeterito exorsus est, 
per uaticinationem usque ad suam aetatem et deinceps per res 
suas futurorum imagines edidit, penes quern et temporum ordo 15 
digestus ab initio supputationem saeculi praestitit. Superior 
inuenitur annis circiter trecentis quam ille antiquissimus penes 
uos Danaus in Argos transuenisset, Troiano denique proelio ad 
mille annos ante est, utide et ipso Saturno. Secundum enim 
historiam Thalli, qua relatum est bellum Assyriorum et Satur- 20 
num Titanorum regem cum loue dimicasse, ostenditur bellum 
cccxx et duobus annis Iliacum exitum antecessisse. Per hunc 
Moysen etiam ilia lex propria ludaeis a deo missa est. Deinceps 
multa et alii prophetae uetustiores litteris uestris. Nam et qui 
ultimo cecinit, aut aliquantulo praecucurrit aut certe concurrit 25 
aetate sapientiae auctoribus, etiam latoribus legis. Cyri enim 
et Darii regno fuit Zacharias, quo in tempore Thales, physicorum 
princeps, sciscitanti Croeso nihil certum de diuinitate respondit, 
turbatus scilicet uocibus prophetarum. Solon eidem regi finem 
longae uitae intuendum praedicauit non aliter quam prophetae. 30 
Adeo respici potest tain iura uestra quam studia de lege deque 
diuina doctrina concepisse. Quod prius est, hoc sit semen 



APOLOGETICVS 18, 19 61 

providence, admired, in consequence of their community of 
view (on this subject). Aristaeus also has declared this to you. 
So he (Ptolemy) left these records behind, made accessible in 
the Greek idiom. To this very day the libraries of Ptolemy 
are shown in the Serapeum with the Hebrew literature itself. 
But the Jews too read it publicly : this liberty they have on 
payment of a tax, and there is common access to them every 
Sabbath. He who listens will find God: he also who is at 
pains to understand will be compelled to believe also. 

CHAP. XIX. The first authority is claimed for these sacred 
books by their extreme antiquity. Among you also the claiming 
of belief on the score of time amounts to a religion. [Authority 
is given to literature by extreme age. For the prophet Moses, 
who began from the past his account of the creation of the world 
and the growth of the human race and afterwards the power of 
the flood which avenged the unrighteousness of that age, was 
the first to proclaim by prophecy down to his own time, and 
then through his own exploits, representations of the things to 
be, (was the first) also in whom a chronological order arranged 
from the beginning has given us a calculation of time. He is 
found to be about three hundred years earlier than the date 
at which Danaus, the most ancient (hero) known to you, crossed 
to Argos, he is found to be about a thousand years earlier than 
the Trojan war, which means that he is as much earlier than 
Saturn himself. For according to Thallus history, in which it 
is recorded that Bel 1 , king of the Assyrians, and Saturn, king 
of the Titans, fought with Jupiter, it can be shown that Bel 
antedated the destruction of Troy by three hundred and twenty- 
two years. It was through this Moses also that the Jews 
received from God that law peculiar to themselves. After his 
time in succession much was recorded by other prophets also 
who are older than your records ; for even he who prophesied 
last either preceded somewhat or was at least contemporaneous 
with your philosophers, and even with your lawgivers. For in 
the reigns of Cyrus and Darius lived Zechariah, at which time 
Thales, the earliest of the natural philosophers, stirred no doubt 
by the words of the prophets, could give no definite answer 
about the Godhead to the questions of Croesus. To the same 
king Solon declared, in much the same words as the prophets, 
that he must look to the end of a long life. So clearly can it 
be seen from a backward glance that he (Solon) derived both 
your laws and your philosophy from the Jewish law and the 
divine teaching. What comes first must of necessity be the 

1 Reading Belum. 



62 TERTVLLIANI 

necesse est. Inde quaedam nobiscum uel prope nos habetis. 
De sophia amor eius philosophia uocitatus est, de prophetia 
affectatio eius poeticam uaticinationem deputauit. Gloriae 
homines si quid inuenerant, ut proprium facerent, adultera- 
uerunt. Etiam fructibus a semine degenerare contigit. Multis 5 
adhuc de uetustate modis consisterem diuinarum litterarum, si 
non maior auctoritas illis ad fidem de ueritatis suae uiribus 
quam de aetatis annalibus suppetisset. Quid enim potentius 
patrocinabitur testimonio earum, nisi dispunctio cotidiana 
saeculi totius, cum dispositiones regnorum, cum casus urbium, 10 
cum exitus gentium, cum status temporum ita omnibus re 
spondent, quemadmodum ante milia annorum praenuntiaban- 
tur? Unde et spes nostra, quam ridetis, animatur, et fiducia, 
quam praesumptionem uocatis, corroboratur. Idonea est enim 
recognitio praeteritorum ad disponendam fiduciam futurorum. 15 
Eadem uoces praedicauerunt utramque partem, eadem litterae 
notauerunt. Unum est tempus apud illas quod apud nos 
separari uidetur. Ita omnia quae supersunt improbata, pro- 
bata sunt nobis, quia cum illis quae probata sunt tune futuris 
praedicabantur. Habetis, quod sciam, et uos Sibyllam, 20 
quatinus appellatio ista uerae uatis dei ueri passim super 
ceteros qui uaticinari uidebantur usurpata est. Sunt uestrae 
Sibyllae nomen de ueritate mentitae, quemadmodum et dei 
uestri.] Omnes itaque substantias omnesque materias, origines, 
ordines, uenas ueterani cuiusque stili uestri, gentes etiam 25 
plerasque et urbes insignes historiarum et canas mernoriarum, 
ipsas denique effigies litterarum, indices custodesque rerum et 
(puto adhuc minus dicimus) ipsos inquam deos uestros, ipsa 
templa et oracula et sacra unius interim prophetae scriniuin 
saeculis uincit, in quo uidetur thesaurus collocatus totius ludaici 3 
sacramenti et inde iam nostri. Si quern audistis interim 
Moysen, Argiuo Inacho pariter aetate est. Quadringentis 
paene annis (nam et septem minus) Danaum, et ipsum apud 
uos uetustissimum, praeuenit, mille circiter cladem Priami 



APOLOGETICVS 19 63 

seed. Hence it is that you have certain tenets either in common 
with us or like ours. It is from sophia (wisdom) that the love 
of it has got the name philosophy, and from prophecy that 
the imitation of it has borrowed the divination of the poets. 
If men found anything that was glorious, they corrupted it to 
make it their own. Even fruits have degenerated from the 
quality of the seed. In many further ways I might join issue 
on the antiquity of the sacred writings, were it not that they 
derive a greater weight of credibility from the strength of their 
truth than from the records of their age. For what will support 
its evidence more powerfully than the daily testing of a whole 
age, when the arrangements of kingdoms, the fall of cities, the 
destruction of nations, the situations at particular times, corre 
spond exactly to the prophecies about them made thousands of 
years before? Hence our hope, at which you laugh, receives 
fresh life, and our confidence, which you call assurance, is 
strengthened. For it is natural that an examination of the past 
should lead us to put confidence in the future. The same 1 
words prophesied both past and future, the same writings have 
signified them. Time, which among us seems to be divided into 
parts, is but one in those writings. Consequently all that remains 
unverified is already for us verified, because it was prophesied 
along with those events which were then in the future and have 
(since) been verified. You also have, if I am not mistaken, a 
Sibyl. I mention her because this name of the true prophetess 
of the true God has been everywhere used beyond all others, 
who seemed to have the gift of prophecy, as 2 your Sibyls have 
falsely employed the name instead of the true one, even as your 
gods also have done.] All beings therefore and all materials, 
beginnings, arrangements, channels of each ancient writing of 
yours, likewise very many races and cities distinguished in 
history and hoary in records, further the very forms of the 
letters, the indicators and guardians of facts, and I believe 
that as yet I have been putting it too feebly your very gods 
I say, the very temples and oracles and sacred rites, are some 
times centuries antedated by one prophet s book, in which the 
treasure of the whole Jewish religion, and hence of ours also, 
seems to have been placed. If meantime you have heard of 
some Moses, he is as old as the Argive Inachus : by almost four 
hundred years actually seven less he precedes Danaus who 
is himself too the oldest among you, and he is about a thousand 

1 Reading eaedem. 

2 Reading sicut. [Others read habemus nos and sciunt, which seem to make 
better sense, especially if we read sciant <autem> or sed before sicut. "But let 
your Sibyls know that they have taken a false name from the true one." ,T. B. M.] 



64 TERTVLLIANI 

antecedit, possem etiam dicere quingentis amplius et Homerum, 
habens quos sequar. Ceteri quoque prophetae etsi Moysi 
postumant, extremissimi tamen eorum non retrosiores repre- 
henduntur primoribus uestris sapientibus et legiferis et historicis ? 
Haec quibus ordinibus probari possint non tarn difficile est nobis 5 
exponere quam enorme, nee arduum, sed interim loiigum. 
Multis instrumentis cum digitorum supputariis gesticulis 
adsidendum est, reseranda antiquissimarum etiam gentium 
archiua, Aegyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Phoenicum, aduocandi 
municipes eorum per quos notitia subministrata est, aliqui 10 
Manethon Aegyptius et Berosus Chaldaeus, sed et Hieromus 
Phoenix, Tyri rex, sectatores quoque ipsorum Mendesius 
Ptolemaeus et Menander Ephesius et Demetrius Phalereus et rex 
luba et Apion et Thallus et si quis istos aut probat aut reuincit, 
ludaeus losephus, antiquitatum ludaicarum uernaculus uindex, 15 
Graecorum etiam censuales conferendi, ut quae quando sint 
gesta aut concatenationes temporum aperiantur, per quae 
luceant annalium numeri; peregrinandum est in historias et 
litteras orbis. Et tamen quasi partem iam probationis in- 
tulimus, cum per quae probari possint aspersirnus. Verum 20 
differre praestat, uel ne minus persequamur festinando uel 
diutius euagemur persequendo. 

20. Plus iam offerimus pro ista dilatione maiestatem scrip- 
turarum, si non uetustate diuinas probamus, si dubitatur 
antiquitas. Nee hoc tardius aut aliunde discendum. Coram 25 
sunt quae docebunt, mundus et saeculum et exitus. Quicquid 
agitur, praenuntiabatur ; quicquid uidetur, audiebatur. Quod 
terrae uorant urbes, quod insulas maria fraudant, quod externa 
atque interna bella dilaniant, quod regnis regna conpulsant, 
quod fames et lues et locales quaeque clades et frequentiae 30 
plerumque mortium uastant, quod humiles sublimitate, 
sublimes humilitate mutantur, quod iustitia rarescit, iniquitas 
increbrescit, bonarum omnium disciplinarum cura torpescit, 
quod etiam officia temporum et elementorum munia exorbitant, 



APOLOGETICVS 19, 20 65 

years earlier than the overthrow of Priam; I might also add 
and Homer too by more than 500 years, seeing I have authorities 
for this statement. With regard to the other prophets also, 
although they are later than Moses, are not the very latest of 
them nevertheless found to be earlier than your earliest philo 
sophers, legislators and historians ? By what successions these 
statements can be proved it is not so much a difficult as it is 
an immense task for us to set forth, nor is it really difficult, but 
at this stage it would take too long. We should have to settle 
ourselves down to many documents with calculating movements 
of the fingers, we should have to unlock the archives even of 
the most ancient peoples, the Egyptians, the Chaldaeans, the 
Phoenicians. We should have to call in fellow-citizens of those 
by whom this knowledge has been supplied, some Egyptian 
Manetho and some Chaldean Berosus, but also Hiram the 
Phoenician, king of Tyre; their successors also, Ptolemy of 
Mendes and Menander of Ephesus and Demetrius of Phalerum 
and King Juba and Apion and Thallus, and either to confirm 
or refute these, the Jew Josephus, the native champion of 
Jewish antiquities. The census-books of the Greeks must also 
be compared, that what things were done at what time or the 
sequence of events may be made known, so as to throw light 
on the chronology of historical events ; we must make excursions 
into the histories and literature of the world. And yet we have 
already brought forward about half of our proof, when we have 
given a sprinkling of the means by which they can be proved. 
But it is better to postpone (our proof), lest we should either 
accomplish less in our haste or digress too far in our treatment. 

CHAP. XX. In place of this deferred proof I now offer you 
something more, the majesty of the Scriptures, if we cannot 
prove them to be divine because of their age, if their age is 
questionable. Nor is this to be learnt slowly or from some other 
source ; your instructors are before your eyes ; the world and 
the age and the course of history. Whatsoever is taking place, 
was prophesied; whatsoever is now seen, was heard of: the 
swallowing up of cities by the earth, the encroachment on islands 
by the sea, the slaughters caused by foreign and domestic wars, 
the clash of kingdoms upon kingdoms, the devastation produced 
by famine and pestilence, and all local disasters and the great 
frequency of deaths; the humble are exalted and the lofty 
abased; the growing infrequency of justice, the growing fre 
quency of injustice, the decay of the care for all noble lessons, 
the deviations in the functions of the seasons and the duties 
of the elements, the disturbance in the shape of natural objects 

5 



M. T. 



66 TERTVLLIANI 

quod et monstris et portentis naturalium forma turbatur, 
prouidenter scripta sunt. Dum patimur, leguntur; dum 
recognoscimus, probantur. Idoneum, opinor, testimonium 
diuinitatis ueritas diuinationis. Hinc igitur apud nos futu- 
rorum quoque fides tuta est, iam scilicet probatorum, quia cum 5 
illis, quae cotidie probantur, praedicebantur. Eaedem uoces 
sonant, eaedem litterae notant, idem spiritus pulsat, unum 
tempus est diuinationi futura praefanti. Apud homines, si 
forte, distinguitur, dum expungitur, dum ex future praesens, 
dehinc ex praesenti praeteritum deputatur. Quid delin- 10 
quimus, oro uos, futura quoque credentes, qui iam didicimus 
illi per duos gradus credere? 

21. Sed quoniam edidimus antiquissimis ludaeorum in- 
strumentis sectam istam esse sufhiltam quam aliquanto 
nouellam, ut Tiberiani temporis, plerique sciunt, profitentibus 15 
nobis quoque, fortassean hoc nomine de statu eius retractetur, 
quasi sub umbraculo insignissimae religionis, certe licitae, 
aliquid propriae praesumptionis abscondat, uel quia praeter 
aetatem neque de uictus exceptionibus neque de solemnitatibus 
dierum neque de ipso signaculo corporis neque de consortio 20 
nominis cum ludaeis agimus, quod utique oporteret si eidem deo 
manciparemur ? Sed et uulgus iam scit Christum ut hominum 
aliquem, qualem ludaei iudicauerunt, quo facilius quis nos 
hominis cultores existimauerit. Verum neque de Christo 
erubescimus, cum sub nomine eius deputari et damnari iuuat, 25 
neque de deo aliter praesumimus. Necesse est igitur pauca de 
Christo ut deo. Dudum ludaeis erat apud deum gratia ubi et 
insignis iustitia et fides originalium auctorum; unde illis et 
generis magnitude et regni sublimitas floruit et tanta felicitas, 
ut de dei uocibus, quibus edocebantur, de promerendo deo et 30 
non offendendo praemonerentur. Sed quanta deliquerint, 
fiducia patrum inflati ad declinandum, deriuantes a disciplina 
in profanum modum, etsi ipsi non confiterentur, probaret exitus 
hodiernus ipsorum. Dispersi, palabundi, et soli et caeli sui 



APOLOGETICVS 20, 21 67 

both by prodigies and by portents, (all) are written (down) with 
foresight. While we experience them, they are being read; 
while we examine them, they are being proved true. The truth 
of prophecy is, I think, a reliable evidence of divinity. There 
fore it is thus that amongst us the belief also in future events 
is safe, being already of course proved true, because they were 
prophesied along with those things that are daily verified ; the 
same words sound, the same letters mark them, the same spirit 
impels them, time is an unity to prophecy when foretelling the 
future. Among men perhaps it is marked off into periods, 
while it is being completed, while the present is calculated from 
the future, then the past from the present. What is our sin, 
I pray you, in believing the future also, as we have already 
learned through two stages to believe it ? 

CHAP. XXI. But since we have stated that this sect is 
supported by most ancient Jewish documents, though very 
many know on our own declaration also that it is comparatively 
new, belonging as it does to the time of Tiberius, perchance 
on this ground a further inquiry may be made into its nature, 
viz. that it conceals some of its own arrogance under the shadow 
of a most famous religion, or one that is at any rate permitted 
by law, or because in addition to the question of its age we have 
no relation with the Jews either with regard to distinctions of 
meats, or the sanctity of special days or the distinctive bodily 
mark itself or the sharing of the name with them, which would 
of course be our duty if we were the property of the same god. 
Even the common people now know Christ as a human being, 
such as the Jews judged him (to be), so that it is easier for any 
one to believe that we are worshippers of a man. But we are 
neither ashamed of Christ, seeing that we rejoice to be reckoned 
as his servants and condemned with him, nor is our idea of God 
different from that of the Jews. We must therefore say some 
thing about Christ as God. The Jews had long enjoyed favour 
with God, for among them the justice and loyalty of their 
ancestors at the beginning were remarkable; whence the 
greatness of their race and the glory of their kingdom flourished 
and so great happiness, that from the words of God, by which 
they were taught, they were warned beforehand as to the 
gaining of his favour and the avoidance of his displeasure. 
But how greatly they transgressed, being puffed up by con 
fidence in their fathers to leave the true path, and profanely 
turning aside from their training ! Even if they themselves did 
not admit the fact, their ruinous situation to-day would prove 
it. Scattered in all directions, straggling, exiles from their own 

52 



68 TERTVLLIANI 

extorres uagantur per orbem sine homine, sine deo rege, quibus 
nee aduenarum iure terrain patriam saltim uestigio salutare 
conceditur. Cum haec illis sanctae uoces praeminarentur, 
eadem semper omnes ingerebant fore uti sub extimis curriculis 
saeculi ex omni iam gente et populo et loco cultores sibi ad- 5 
legeret deus multo fideliores in quos gratiam transferred 
pleniorem quidem ob disciplinae auctions capacitatem. Venit 
igitur qui ad reformandam et inluminandam earn uenturus a 
deo praenuntiabatur, Christus ille filius dei. Huius igitur 
gratiae disci plinaeque arbiter et magister, inluminator atque 10 
deductor generis huniani filius dei adnuntiabatur : non quidem 
ita genitus, ut erubescat in filii nomine aut de patris semine. 
Non de sororis incesto nee de stupro filiae aut coniugis alienae 
deum patrem passus est squamatum aut cornutum aut plu- 
matum, amatorem in auro conuersum Danaidis. louis ista sunt 15 
numina uestra. Ceterum dei filius nullam de impudicitia habet 
matrem ; etiam quam uidetur habere, non nupserat. Sed prius 
substantiam edisseram, et ita natiuitatis qualitas intellegetur. 
Iam ediximus deum uniuersitatem hanc mundi uerbo et ratione 
et uirtute molitum. Apud uestros quoque sapientes AOFON, 20 
id est sermonem atque rationem, constat artificem uideri 
uniuersitatis. Hunc enim Zeno determinat factitatorem, qui 
cuncta in dispositione formauerit; eundem et fatum uocari et 
deum et animum louis et necessitatem omnium rerum. Haec 
Cleanthes in spiritum congerit, quern permeatorem uniuersitatis 25 
adfirmat. Et nos autem sermoni atque rationi itemque uirtuti, 
per quae omnia molitum deum ediximus, propriam substantiam 
spiritum inscribimus, cui et sermo insit pronuntianti et ratio 
adsit disponenti et uirtus praesit perficienti. Hunc ex deo 
prolatum didicimus et prolatione generatum et idcirco filium 30 
dei et deum dictum ex imitate substantiae. Nam et deus 
spiritus. Et cum radius ex sole porrigitur, portio ex summa; 
sed sol erit in radio, quia solis est radius nee separatur sub- 
stantia sed extenditur. Ita de spiritu spiritus et de deo deus 
ut lumen de lumine accensum. Manet integra et indefecta 35 
materiae matrix, etsi plures inde traduces qualitatis mutueris: 



APOLOGETICVS 21 69 

soil and sky, they wander over* the world without either man or 
God for their king; they are not allowed even as strangers to 
greet the land of their fathers even to the extent of stepping on 
it. While holy voices threatened them with this beforehand, at 
the same time all were continually urging, that in the last stages 
of time God would then choose for himself from every race, 
community and region worshippers much more faithful to whom 
to transfer his favour, which would be actually fuller by reason 
of the capacity of a more developed teaching. He came there 
fore, that being, Christ, the Son of God, who it was foretold 
would come from God to reform and illuminate the world. 
The Son of God therefore was announced as ruler and master 
of this grace and dispensation, the enlightener and the leader 
of the human race, not indeed born under such circumstances, 
that he should blush at the name of son or at his father s seed ; 
it was not through incestuous connexion with a sister nor through 
the debauching of a daughter or of another s wife that he got 
a god for father, a lover scaly or horned or feathered or changed 
into a shower of gold, like Danae s. These shameful deeds of 
Jupiter are the gods you worship. But the Son of God has his 
mother as the result of no unchastity ; even she, whom he seems 
to have (for mother), had not married. But I will first explain 
his nature, and thus the character of his birth will be understood. 
We have already proclaimed that God constructed this totality 
of the universe by word and reason and power. Among your 
philosophers also it is a settled belief that Logos, which means 
word and reason, is the fashioner of the universe. For Zeno 
lays it down that this maker, who fashioned everything in order, 
is the same that is called also fate and god and the mind of 
Jupiter and the inevitableness of all things. These Cleanthes 
combines in the Spirit, which he maintains pervades the 
universe. And we also ascribe Spirit as its true essence to 
word and reason and likewise to power, by which we have pro 
claimed that God has constructed every thing, in which are present 
both word when declaring and reason when arranging and power 
when accomplishing. We have learnt that this Spirit came 
forth from God and by this forth-coming is begotten and has 
therefore been called Son of God, and God from unity of 
nature. For Spirit is also God. Also, when a ray is projected 
from the sun, it is a part of the whole ; but the sun will be in 
the ray, because the ray belongs to the sun and is not separated 
from it by nature but stretches out from it. Spirit comes from 
Spirit and God from God as light is kindled from light. The 
parent-stem remains whole and unlessened in substance, even 
if you borrow a number of offshoots of its character from it : 



70 TERTVLLIANI 

ita et quod de deo profectum est, deus est et del films et unus 
ambo. Ita et de spiritu spiritus et de deo deus modulo alternum 
numerum, gradu non statu fecit, et a matrice non recessit sed 
excessit. Iste igitur del radius, ut retro semper praedicabatur, 
delapsus in uirginem quandam et in utero eius caro figuratus 5 
nascitur homo deo mixtus. Caro spiritu instructa nutritur, 
adolescit, adfatur, docet, operatur et Christus est. Recipite 
interim hanc fabulam, similis est uestris, dum ostendimus 
quomodo Christus probetur et qui penes uos eiusmodi fabulas 
aemulas ad destructionem ueritatis istiusmodi praeministra- 10 
uerint. Sciebant et ludaei uenturum esse Christum, scilicet 
quibus prophetae loquebantur. Nam et nunc aduentum eius 
expectant, nee alia magis inter nos et illos conpulsatio est 
quam quod iam uenisse non credunt. Duobus enim aduentibus 
eius significatis, prirno, qui iam expunctus est in humilitate 15 
conditionis humanae, secundo, qui concludendo saeculo imminet 
in sublimitate diuinitatis exertae, primum non intellegendo 
secundum, quern manifestius praedicatum sperant, unum 
existimauerunt. Ne enim intellegerent pristinum, credituri, si 
intellexissent, et consecuturi salutem, si credidissent, meritum 20 
fuit delictum eorum. Ipsi legunt ita scriptum mulctatos se 
sapientia et intellegentia et oculorum et aurium fruge. Quern 
igitur hominem solummodo praesumpserant de humilitate, 
sequebatur uti magum aestimarent de potestate, cum ille 
uerbo daemonia de hominibus excuteret, caecos reluminaret, 25 
leprosos purgaret, paralyticos restringeret, mortuos denique 
uerbo redderet uitae, elementa ipsa famularet compescens pro- 
cellas et freta ingrediens, ostendens se esse uerbum dei, id est 
AOFON, illud primordiale, primogenitum, uirtute et ratione 
comitatum et spiritu fultum, eundem qui uerbo omnia et 30 
faceret et fecisset. Ad doctrinam uero eius, qua reuincebantur 
magistri primoresque ludaeorum, ita exasperabantur, maxime 
quod ingens ad eum multitudo deflecteret, ut postremo oblatum 



APOLOGETICVS 21 71 

so also that which has come forth from God, is God and the 
Son of God, and both are one. So the Spirit that comes from 
Spirit and the God that comes from God brought about the 
number two, as regards the measure (of the possession of 
being), in grade not in unchangeable condition, and it did 
not separate from the source, but came out from it. This 
ray, therefore, of God, as was always foretold 1 in the past, 
coming down into a certain virgin and being formed into flesh 
in her womb, is born man mixed with God. The flesh having 
been informed with breath is nourished, grows up, speaks, 
teaches, works, and is Christ. Meantime accept this story, 
which is like your own, while I show how he is proved to be 
Christ and who they are among you who have previously 
supplied hostile tales of that kind to destroy a truth of this 
kind. The Jews too knew that Christ was to come, seeing that 
it was to them that the prophets used to speak. For even now 
they are looking out for his arrival, nor is there any greater 
cause of disagreement between us and them than the fact that 
they do not believe that he has already come. For as two 
advents of his have been indicated, the first, which has already 
been fulfilled (in every predicted detail), in the humility of his 
human creation, the second, which precedes the end of the world, 
in the loftiness of the manifested Godhead, they by misunder 
standing the first, have thought the second, which (having been 
more clearly prophesied 2 ) they expect, to be the only one. It 
was the desert of their transgression that they should not under 
stand the original advent, for if they had understood, they would 
have believed, and if they had believed they would have attained 
safety. They themselves read it thus written, that they have 
lost their wisdom and understanding and the use of their eyes 
and ears. It followed therefore that he whom they had assumed 
to be merely man because of his humility, they regarded as a 
magician from his power, when by a word he cast out demons 
from men, restored light to the blind, cleansed the lepers, 
braced up the paralytic again, and even by a word restored 
the dead to life, ruled the elements themselves, quelling storms 
and walking upon seas, showing that he was the word of God 
(that is the Logos), that original, first-born word, attended 
by power and reason and supported by spirit, the selfsame 
who was both making and had made everything by a word. 
At his teaching, however, by which the teachers and leading 
men among the Jews were refuted, they were so angered, 
especially because a vast crowd was turning aside to him, 
that in the end they prosecuted him, and by the violence of 
1 Read jmiedicebatur. 2 Read praedictum. 



72 TERTVLLIANI 

Pontio Pilato, Syriarn tune ex parte Rom ana procuranti, 
uiolentia sufTragiorum in crucem lesum dedi sibi extorserint. 
Praedixerat et ipse ita facturos; parum si non et prophetae 
retro. Et tamen suffixus multa mortis illius propria ostendit 
insignia. Nam spiritum cum uerbo sponte dimisit, praeuento 5 
carnificis officio. Eodem momento dies medium orbem sig- 
nante sole subducta est. Deliquium utique putauerunt qui 
id quoque super Christo praedicatum non scierunt. Et tamen 
eum mundi casum relatum in arcanis uestris habetis. Tune 
ludaei detractum et sepulchre conditum magna etiam militari 10 
manu custodiae diligentia circumsederunt, ne, quia praedixerat 
tertia die resurrecturum se a morte, discipuli furto amoliti 
cadauer fallerent suspectos. Sed ecce tertia die concussa 
repente terra, et mole reuoluta quae obstruxerat sepulchrum, et 
custodia pauore disiecta, nullis apparentibus discipulis nihil in 15 
sepulchro repertum est praeterquam exuuiae sepulti. Nihilo- 
minus tamen primores, quorum intererat et scelus diuulgare 
et populum uectigalem et famularem sibi a fide reuocare, 
subreptum a discipulis iactitauerunt. Nam nee ille se in 
uulgus eduxit, ne impii errore liberarentur, ut et fides, non 20 
mediocri praemio destinata, difficultate constaret. Cum dis 
cipulis autem quibusdam apud Galilaeam, ludaeae regionem, 
ad quadraginta dies egit docens eos quae docerent. Dehinc 
ordinatis eis ad ofncium praedicandi per orbem circumfusa 
nube in caelum est receptus, multo uerius quam apud uos 25 
adseuerare de Romulo Proculi "Solent. Ea omnia super Christo 
Pilatus, et ipse iam pro sua conscientia Christianus, Caesari 
tune Tiberio nimtiauit. Sed et Caesares credidissent super 
Christo, si aut Caesares non essent necessarii saeculo, aut si 
et Christian! potuissent esse Caesares. Discipuli quoque 30 
diffusi per orbem ex praecepto magistri dei paruerunt, qui 
et ipsi a ludaeis insequentibus multa perpessi utique pro 
fiducia ueritatis libenter Romae postremo per Neronis saeuitiam 



APOLOGETICVS 21 73 

their partisanship forcibly obtained from Pontius Pilate, who 
at that time was governing Syria on behalf of the Romans, 
Jesus surrender for crucifixion. He himself also had foretold 
that they would do so ; a small thing, if the prophets had 
not also foretold it earlier. And further, on being crucified he 
displayed many signs peculiar to that death. For he released 
his spirit of his own accord with a word, anticipating the duty 
of the executioner. At the same moment daylight was with 
drawn, though the sun was then marking the middle of his 
course. Those who did not know that this also had been 
prophesied 1 with regard to Christ, thought that it was an eclipse ; 
and yet you have that overshadowing of the sky recorded in 
your secret records. Then the Jews took him down, laid him in 
a tomb, and further surrounded it with a large band of soldiers, 
to guard it carefully, lest his disciples might remove the corpse 
by stealth, because he had foretold that on the third day he 
would rise again from death, and thus escape those who suspected 
them. But lo, on the third day there was a sudden earthquake 
and the massive stone which had blocked the entrance to the 
tomb was rolled back; the guard dispersed in panic, though 
no disciples appeared, and nothing was found in the tomb 
except the grave clothes. Nevertheless, the rulers, whose 
interest it was both to spread a wicked tale and to recall from 
the faith their tributaries and dependents, spread abroad the 
report that he had been stolen by his disciples. For neither 
did he show himself to the crowd, lest the irreligious might be 
freed from their mistake, and also in order that belief, which is 
destined to receive no little reward, should be strengthened by 
difficulty. However with certain disciples he lived in Galilee, 
a district of Judea, for forty days, teaching them what they 
were to teach. Then, having ordained them to the duty of 
preaching throughout the world, he was taken up to heaven in 
a cloud, much more truly than people like Proculus are wont 
to assert among you about Romulus. All these things with 
reference to Christ, Pilate, who himself also in his own con 
science was now a Christian, reported to the then emperor 
Tiberius. But even the emperors would have believed on 
Christ, if either emperors had not been necessary to the world 
or if it had been possible for Christians too to be emperors. 
His disciples also scattered throughout the world in accordance 
with the order of their teacher God. They themselves too 
having gladly suffered much at the hands of persecuting Jews, 
of course for their confidence in the truth, at last through the 
cruelty of Nero sowed the seed of Christian martyrdom at Rome. 
1 Read praedictum. 



74 TERTVLLIANI 

sanguinem Christianum seminauerunt. Sed monstrabimus 
uobis idoneos testes Christi ipsos illos quos adoratis. Multum 
est si eos adhibeam ut credatis Christianis propter quos non 
creditis Christianis. Interim hie est ordo nostrae institutionis, 
hunc edidimus et sectae et nominis censum cum suo auctore. 5 
Nemo iam infamiam incutiat, nemo aliud existimet, quia nee 
fas est ulli de sua religione mentiri. Ex eo enim quod aliud 
a se coli dicit quam colit, negat quod colit, et culturam et 
honorem in alterum transfert, et transferendo iam non colit 
quod negauit. Dicimus, et palam dicimus, et uobis torquentibus 10 
lacerati et cruenti uociferamur: Deum colimus per Christum. 
Ilium hominem putate, per eum et in eo se cognosci et coli deus 
uult. Ut ludaeis respondeamus, et ipsi dominum per hominem 
Moysen colere didicerunt: ut Graecis occurram, Orpheus 
Pieriae, Musaeus Athenis, Melampus Argis, Trophonius Boeotiae 15 
initiationibus homines obligauerunt : ut ad uos quoque domina- 
tores gentium adspiciam, homo fuit Pompilius Numa, qui 
Romanes operosissimis superstitionibus onerauit. Licuerit et 
Christo commentari diuinitatem, rem propriam, non qua rupices 
et adhuc feros homines multitudini tot numinum demerendorum 20 
attonitos efficiendo ad humanitatem temperaret, quod Numa, 
sed qui iam expolitos et ipsa urbanitate deceptos in agnitionem 
ueritatis ocularet. Quaerite igitur si uera est ista diuinitas 
Christi. Si ea est qua cognita ad bonum quis reformat-in, 
sequitur ut falsae renuntietur, conperta inprimis ilia omni 25 
ratione quae delitiscens sub nominibus et imaginibus mor- 
tuorum quibusdam signis et miraculis et oraculis fidem 
diuinitatis operatur. 

22. Atque adeo dicimus esse substantial quasdam spiri- 
tales. Nee nouum nomen est. Sciunt daemones philosophi, 30 
Socrate ipso ad daemonii arbitrium exspectante. Quidni ? cum 
et ipsi daemonium a pueritia adhaesisse dicatur, dehortatorium 
plane a bono. Omnes sciunt poetae; etiam uulgus indoctum 
in usum maledicti frequentat. Nam et Satanan, principem 
huius mali generis, proinde de propria conscientia animae eadem 35 



APOLOGETICVS 21, 22 75 

But we will show you that the very persons whom you worship 
are reliable witnesses of Christ. It is a great point, if, to make 
you believe the Christians, I can employ those on whose account 
you now disbelieve them. Meantime this is the order of our 
teaching, this the beginning both of our sect and name together 
with that of its founder. Let no one now charge us with 
dishonour, let no one believe any other thing than this, because 
it is not permitted to any one to tell lies about his own religion. 
For from the moment that a man says anything is worshipped 
by him other than what he worships, he denies what he worships, 
and transfers both worship and honour to another, and by 
transferring he now no longer worships that which he denied. 
We affirm and affirm openly and, torn and bleeding, as we are, 
under your torture, AVC cry aloud, We worship God through 
Christ. Suppose him to be a man: it is through him and in 
him that God desires himself to be known and worshipped. But 
to reply to the Jews, they themselves too were taught to worship 
the Lord through the man Moses: and to meet the objections 
of the Greeks, Orpheus at Pieria, Musaeus at Athens, Melampus 
at Argos, Trophonius in Boeotia bound men by initiations : to 
turn my attention to you also, the rulers of the nations, Numa 
Pompilius, who loaded the Komans with most irksome super 
stitions, was a man. Let it be allowed to Christ to imagine 
divinity to be his own possession, not as a mere name by which 
he was to tone down to a true humanity a barbarous herd, by 
making them awe-struck at the crowd of so many divine powers 
that had to be appeased, as Numa did, but so as to open to the 
recognition of the truth the eyes of men already refined and 
deceived by their very refinement. Seek then and see whether 
this divinity of Christ be true. If it is that on the learning 
of which any one is reformed and becomes good, it follows that 
the unreal (divinity) must be given up, as all that method in 
particular has been found out, which hiding itself under names 
and representations of dead persons does by certain signs and 
wonders and oracles work belief in its own divinity. 

CHAP. XXII. And further we say that there are certain 
spiritual substances ; nor is the name unusual. The philosophers 
are familiar with daemons, since Socrates himself waited on the 
will of a daemon. Why not? A daemon is said to have 
actually attached itself to him since boyhood, evidently to 
dissuade him from good. All the poets know them, even the 
untaught rabble makes constant use of them for cursing; for 
they utter even the name of Satan, the chief of this evil class, 
as it were from the soul s innate knowledge, with the same 



76 TERTVLLIANI 

execramenti uoce pronuntiat. Angelos quoque etiam Plato non 
negauit. Utriusque nominis testes esse uel magi adsunt. Sed 
quomodo de angelis quibusdam sua sponte corruptis corruptior 
gens daemonum euaserit, damnata a deo cum generis auctoribus 
et cum eo quern diximus principe, apud litteras sanctas ordo 5 
cognoscitur. Nunc de operatione eorum satis erit exponere. 
Operatio eorum est hominis euersio. Sic malitia spiritalis a 
primordio auspicata est in hominis exitium. Itaque corporibus 
quidem et ualitudines infligunt et aliquos casus acerbos, animae 
uero repentinos et extraordinarios per uim excessus. Suppetit 10 
illis ad utramque substantiam hominis adeundam subtilitas et 
tenuitas sua. Multum spiritalibus uiribus licet, ut inuisibiles 
et insensibiles in effectu potius quam in actu suo appareant, si 
poma, si fruges nescio quod aurae latens uitium in flore prae- 
cipitat, in germine exanimat, in pubertate conuulnerat, ac si 15 
caeca ratione temptatus ae r pestilentes haustus suos offundit. 
Eadem igitur obscuritate contagionis adspiratio daemonum et 
angelorum mentis quoque corruptelas agit furoribus et amentiis 
foedis aut saeuis libidinibus cum erroribus uariis, quorum iste 
potissimus quo deos istos captis et circumscriptis hominum 20 
mentibus commendat, ut et sibi pabula propria nidoris et 
sanguinis procuret simulacris imaginibus oblata. Et quae illi 
accuratior pascua est, quam ut hominem e cogitatu uerae 
diuinitatis auertat praestigiis falsis? Quas et ipsas quomodo 
operetur expediam. Omnis spiritus ales est. Hoc angeli et 25 
daemones. Igitur memento ubique sunt ; totus orbis illis locus 
unus est ; quid ubi geratur tam facile sciunt quam adnuntiant. 
Velocitas diuinitas creditur, quia substantia ignoratur. Sic et 
auctores interdum uideri uolunt eorum quae adnuntiant. Et 
sunt plane malorum nonnunquam, bonorum tamen nunquam. 30 
Dispositiones etiam dei et tune prophetis contionantibus excer- 
punt et nunc lectionibus resonantibus carpunt. Ita et hinc 
sumentes quasdam temporum sortes aemulantur diuinitatem, 
dum furantur diuinationem. In oraculis autem quo ingenio 
ambiguitates temperent in euentus sciunt Croesi, sciunt Pyrrhi. 35 



APOLOGETICVS 22 77 

word of cursing. Plato also did not deny the existence of 
angels : even the magi are ready to bear witness to both names 
(i.e. spirits and angels). Nay we learn in sacred literature the 
story how, from certain angels polluted of their own free-will, 
a yet more polluted race of spirits arose, condemned by God 
along with the founders of their stock and along with him whom 
we have called the chief. Now it will be enough to explain 
the course of their work. Their business is the destruction of 
man ; thus did the wickedness of spirits begin at the beginning 
of things with a view to the ruin of man. Therefore while it 
is true that they inflict on bodies both diseases and some severe 
accidents, they also inflict on the soul sudden and strange 
aberrations of violent madness. Their wonderful subtilty and 
fineness of texture give them access to both parts of man. 
Spiritual agencies have great power, so that being invisible and 
intangible 1 they show themselves rather in their effect than in 
their action; if fruit, if ground-crops are through some secret 
fault in the atmosphere nipt in the bud, killed in the seed, 
seriously damaged when ripe, and if the air attacked in some 
hidden way exhales its pestilential draughts. Then by the same 
obscure contagion the breathing of daemons and of angels (upon 
us) works corruptions of the mind also, in attacks of raving 
madness and disgraceful paroxysms of folly or cruel lusts 
attended by various errors, of which the most signal is this by 
which it recommends these gods to the enthralled and deluded 
minds of men, that it may obtain for itself also proper diets of 
fumes and blood, offered to statues and images. And what 
more exquisite pasture could it have than by its deceptive 
legerdemain to turn away man from thinking on true divinity ? 
How it works these very tricks I will explain. Every spirit is 
winged. So are angels and daemons. Consequently in a moment 
they are everywhere, to them the whole world is one place ; 
what is being done in any place it is as easy for them to know as 
to report. Their swiftness is believed to betoken divinity, be 
cause their substance is unknown. Thus they sometimes wish 
to be regarded as the authors also of what they report; and 
they certainly are so at times in the case of evil, but never of 
good things. Even the counsels of God they in the old days 
picked up from the words of the prophets, and in these days 
they gather them from the lessons of Scripture they hear. So it 
is that gleaning from them certain responses with regard to dates 
they enviously ape the divinity, while they steal the oracles of 
God. In the sphere of oracles, moreover, people like Croesus and 
Pyrrhus know with what ingenuity they adapt ambiguities to 
1 The reference is to all the senses other than sight. 



78 TERTYLLIANI 

Ceterum testudinem decoqui cum carnibus pecudis Pythius eo 
modo renuntiauit quo supra diximus; memento apud Lydiam 
fuerat. Habent de incolatu aeris et de uicinia siderum et de 
commercio nubium caelestes sapere paraturas, ut et pluuias, 
quas iam sentiunt, repromittant. Benefici plane et circa curas 5 
ualitudinum. Laedunt enim primo, dehinc remedia praecipiunt 
ad miraculum noua siue contraria, post quae desinunt laedere, et 
curasse creduntur. Quid ergo de ceteris ingeniis uel etiam uiri- 
bus fallaciae spiritalis edisseram? phantasmata Castorum, et 
aquam cribro gestatam, et nauem cingulo promotam, et barbam 10 
tactu inrufatam, ut numina lapides crederentur, ut deus uerus 
non quaereretur? 

23. Porro, si et magi phantasmata edunt et iam defunc- 
torum infamant animas, si pueros in eloquium oraculi elidunt, 
si multa miracula circulatoriis praestigiis ludunt, si et somnia 15 
immittunt habentes semel inuitatorum angelorum et daemonum 
adsistentem sibi potestatem, per quos et caprae et mensae 
diuinare consuerunt, quanto magis ea potestas de suo arbitrio 
et pro suo negotio studeat totis uiribus operari quod alienae 
praestat negotiationi ! Aut si eadem et angeli et daemones 20 
operantur quae et dei uestri, ubi est ergo praecellentia diuinitatis, 
quam utique superiorem omni potestate credendum est? Non 
ergo dignius praesumetur ipsos esse qui se deos faciant, cum 
eadem edant quae faciant deos credi, quam pares angelis et 
daemonibus deos esse? Locorum differentia distinguitur, 25 
opinor, ut a templis deos existimetis quos alibi deos non dicitis ; 
ut aliter dementire uideatur qui sacras turres peruolat, aliter 
qui tecta uiciniae transilit, et alia uis pronuntietur in eo qui 
genitalia uel lacertos, alia qui sibi gulam prosecat. Compar 
exitus furoris et una ratio est instigationis. Sed hactenus 30 



APOLOGETICVS 22, 23 79 

events. But it was in the way we have mentioned above that 
the Pythian Apollo reported the boiling of a tortoise with the 
flesh of a sheep ; a moment had taken him to Lydia. From the 
fact that they inhabit the air and from the neighbourhood of 
the stars and from their dealings with the clouds they are able 
to have knowledge of the preparations in heaven, so that they 
can even promise rains which they already feel. They are also 
clearly sorcerers 1 in their treatments of disease. For they first 
injure, and then prescribe remedies to excite wonder, whether 
simply new or absolutely opposed to the usual practices, after 
which they cease to injure, and are (thus) believed to have 
effected a cure. Why then should I speak of other subtilties 
or even powers of spiritual deception? the appearances of the 
Castors, and the water borne in a sieve, and the ship propelled 
by a girdle, and the beard made red at a touch, so that stones 
might be believed to be divinities, and the true God should not 
be sought after ? 

CHAP. XXIII. Moreover, if magicians also call forth 
apparitions and dishonour the souls of those already dead, if 
they put children to death to get an oracular utterance, if they 
perform many wonders with mountebank trickery, if they also 
let loose dreams, having to stand by them the power of angels 
and spirits once for all invited, through whom both goats and 
tables have been wont to give oracles, how much more would 
that power of its own initiative and on behalf of its own business 
exert itself with all its strength to carry out the same work, 
which it performs to serve the business of another ! Or if both 
angels and daemons work the same things as your gods also 
work, where then lies the preeminence of divinity, which must 
of course be believed to be superior to every (other) power? 
Will it not then be more fitting to assume that it is the persons 
themselves who make themselves gods, since they display the 
same actions which produce belief in divinity, than to imagine 
that the gods are merely on a level with angels and daemons? 
A distinction is made, I suppose, according to the difference of 
localities, so that from their temples you judge those to be gods, 
whom in other places you do not call gods ; so that one who 
flies through sacred towers is considered to suffer from one kind 
of madness, while one who leaps over the houses in the neigh 
bourhood is considered to suffer from another, and one power 
is declared to exist in him who cuts off his organs of generation 
or his arms, and another in him who cuts off his tongue. The 
result of the madness is alike in both cases and there is one 

1 Reading Venefici. (For the confusion, cf. Aug. serm. 103 2.) 



80 TERTVLLIANI 

uerba ; iam hinc demonstratio rei ipsius, qua ostendemus unam 
esse utriusque nominis qualitatem. Edatur hie aliqui ibidem 
sub tribunalibus uestris quern daemone agi constet. lussus a 
quolibet Christiano loqui spiritus ille tarn se daemonem confite- 
bitur de uero quam alibi dominum de falso. Aeque producatur 5 
aliquis ex his qui de deo pati existimantur, qui aris inhalantes 
numen de nidore concipiunt, qui ructando curantur, qui anhe- 
lando praefantur. Ista ipsa Virgo Caelestis pluuiarum pollici- 
tatrix, ipse iste Aesculapius medicinarum demonstrator, aliam 
diem morituris Socordio et Tenatio et Asclepiodoto summini- 10 
straturi, nisi se daemones confessi fuerint Christiano mentiri non 
audentes, ibidem illius Christiani procacissimi sanguinem 
fundite! Quid isto opere manifestius? Quid hac probatione 
fidelius? Simplicitas ueritatis in medio est. Virtus illi sua 
adsistit ; nihil suspicari licebit. Magia aut aliqua eiusmodi 15 
fallacia fieri dicitis? Non dicetis, si oculi uestri et aures 
permiserint uobis. Quid autem inici potest aduersus id quod 
ostenditur nuda sinceritate ? Si altera parte uere dei sunt, cur 
sese daemonia mentiuntur? An ut nobis obsequantur? Iam 
ergo subiecta est Christianis diuinitas uestra, nee diuinitas 20 
deputanda est quae subdita est homini et, si quid ad p dedecus 
facit, aemulis suis. Si altera parte daemones sunt uel angeli, 
cur se alibi pro deis agere respondent? Nam sicut illi qui dei 
habentur daemones se dicere noluissent, si uere dei essent, 
scilicet ne se de maiestate deponerent, ita et isti, quos directo 25 
daemonas nostis, non auderent alibi pro deis agere, si aliqui 
omnino dei essent, quorum nominibus utuntur. Vererentur 
enim abuti maiestate superiore sine dubio et timendorum. 
Adeo nulla est diuinitas ista quam tenetis, quia, si esset, neque 
a daemoniis adfectaretur in confessione neque a deis negaretur. 30 
Cum ergo utraque pars concurrit in confessionem deos esse 
negans, agnoscite unum genus esse, id est daemonas, uerum 
utrobique. Iam deos quaerite. Quos enim praesumpseratis, 
daemonas esse cognoscitis. Eadem uero opera nostra ab 



APOLOGETICVS 23 81 

method only of incitement. But enough of words; from this 
point onward there must be a presentation of the thing itself, 
by which we shall show that the nature of gods and daemons 
is one. Let any one be produced in this very place under your 
tribunals, who it is well known is under the influence of a 
daemon ; that spirit, if ordered by any Christian to speak, will 
as readily confess itself a daemon, because it is true, as elsewhere 
a god because it is untrue. Let someone likewise be brought 
forward from among those who are thought to be under the 
influence of a god, men who by breathing on altars acquire 
a divine power from the odour of the sacrifice, who are cured 
by exhaling, and force an utterance as they pant. This very 
Maiden of the Heavens, the promiser of rains, this very Aescu 
lapius, the discoverer of cures, the ministers of another day to 
Socordius, Tenatius and Asclepiodotus, men doomed to die 
unless they confess themselves daemons, not daring to lie to 
a Christian, forthwith shed the blood of that most insolent 
Christian ! What could be more evident than a fact like this ? 
what more trustworthy than this demonstration? The sim 
plicity of truth is for all eyes to see, its own excellence supports 
it, suspicion is impossible. Do you say this result comes from 
magic or some deception of that kind? You will not say it, 
(even) if your eyes and ears allow you. But what can be in 
sinuated against that which is set forth in its naked simplicity ? 
If, on the one hand, they are truly gods, why do they say falsely 
that they are daemons ? is it that they may please us ? If so, 
then your divinity is already subject to Christians, and that is 
not to be considered divinity which is subject to a man, and 
(if aught can add to the disgrace) to its actual foes. If on the 
other hand they are daemons or angels, why do they answer 
that they play the part of gods elsewhere? For, just as those 
who are considered gods would have refused to call themselves 
daemons, if they had been truly gods, of course lest they should 
depose themselves from their high dignity, so also these whom 
you know at once to be daemons, would not dare elsewhere to 
pose as gods, if those gods whose names they usurp were gods of 
any sort at all, since they would be afraid to misuse those higher 
dignities which, without doubt, they would also have to dread. 
Therefore this divinity which you hold fast is non-existent: 
for, if it existed, it would neither be claimed by spirits in con 
fession, nor denied by gods. Since then both sides agree to our 
admission, denying that the gods exist, you must recognise that 
there is one class only, viz. daemons, but that it is on both sides. 
You must now seek for fresh gods, since those you had assumed 
to exist, you learn are daemons. But by this same aid from us, 



M. T. 



-82 TERTVLLIANI 

eisdem dels uestris non tantum hoc detegentibus quod neque 
ipsi del sint neque ulli alii, etiam illud in continenti cognoscitis, 
qui sit uere deus, et an ille et an unicus quern Christiani pro- 
fitemur, et an ita credendus colendusque, ut fides, ut disciplina 
disposita est Christianorum. Dicent ibidem : Et quis ille 5 
Christus cum sua fabula? si homo communis conditionis? si 
magus? si post mortem de sepulchro a discipulis subreptus? 
si nunc denique penes inferos? si non in caelis potius, et inde 
uenturus cum totius mundi motu, cum orbis horrore, cum 
planctu omnium, sed non Christianorum, ut dei uirtus et dei 10 
spiritus et sermo et sapientia et ratio et dei films ? Quodcunque 
ridetis, rideant et illi uobiscum ; negent Christum omnem ab 
aeuo animam restituto corpore iudicaturum, dicant hoc pro 
tribunali, si forte, Minoem et Rhadamanthum secundum con- 
sensum Platonis et poetarum hoc esse sortitos ; suae saltim 15 
ignominiae et damnationis notam refutent. Renuntiant se 
immundos spiritus esse, quod uel ex pabulis eorum, sanguine 
et fumo et putidis rogis pecorum, et impuratissimis linguis 
ipsorum uatum intellegi debuit: renuant ob malitiam prae- 
damnatos se in eundem iudicii diem cum omnibus cultoribus 20 
et operationibus suis. Atquin omnis haec nostra in illos 
dominatio et potestas de nominatione Christi ualet et de com- 
memoratione eorum quae sibi a deo per arbitrum Christum 
imminentia exspectant. Christum timentes in deo et deum in 
Christo subiciuntur seruis dei et Christi. Ita de contactu 25 
deque afflatu nostro, contemplatione et repraesentatione ignis 
illius correpti etiam de corporibus nostro imperio excedunt 
inuiti et dolentes et uobis praesentibus erubescentes. Credite 
illis, cum uerum de se loquuntur, qui mentientibus creditis. 
Nemo ad suum dedecus mentitur, quin potius ad honorem. 30 
Magis fides proxima est aduersus semetipsos confitentes quam 
pro semetipsis negantes. Haec denique testimonia deorum 
uestrorum Christianos facere consuerunt; quam plurimum illis 
credendo in Christo domino credimus. Ipsi litterarum nos- 
trarum fidem accendunt, ipsi spei nostrae fidentiam aedificant. 35 
Colitis illos, quod sciam, etiam de sanguine Christianorum. 



APOLOGETICVS 23 83 

from these same gods of yours, who reveal not only this, that 
neither they themselves nor any others are gods, you immedi 
ately learn this also, namely who is truly God, and whether it 
is he and he alone whom we Christians profess to believe, and 
whether he ought to be believed and worshipped as the belief 
and teaching of the Christians is laid down. They will say at 
the same time : And who is that Christ with his story ? was he 
a man of ordinary condition ? was he a magician ? was he after 
death stolen from the tomb by his disciples ? Is he now at last 
among the shades below ? Is he not rather in the heavens, and 
to come thence with a movement of the whole universe, with 
trembling of the world, with mourning of all (but not of the 
Christians), as the power of God and the breath and word and 
wisdom and reason of God, and the Son of God ? Whatsoever 
you laugh at, let them also (i.e. the daemons) laugh at it with 
you; let them deny that Christ will judge every soul that has 
been since the beginning of time, each having its body restored 
to it. Let them say that instead of this tribunal a Minos perhaps 
and a Rhadamanthus, according to the agreement of Plato and 
the poets, were allotted to this duty; let them at least 
repudiate the stigma of their own disgrace and condemnation. 
They report that they are unclean spirits, a fact which ought 
to have been understood even from their diet, blood and smoke 
and the putrid sacrifices of cattle, and the polluted tongues of the 
soothsayers themselves. Let them deny that on account of their 
wickedness they were fore-ordained to the same day of judgment 
with all their worshippers and agencies. Yet all this rule and 
power of ours over them derives its strength from the naming 
of Christ, and from the mention of those things which they look 
for as impending over them from God, through Christ the Judge. 
Fearing Christ in God and God in Christ, they are subject to the 
servants of God and Christ. Thus from our touch and from our 
breath being carried away by the thought and vision of that fire, 
they even leave the bodies of men at our order, unwilling and 
discomfited and ashamed at your presence. Believe them when 
they speak the truth about themselves, ye who believe them 
when they lie. No one lies to bring disgrace, but rather to 
bring honour upon himself. Credence is more readily given to 
those who confess against themselves than to those who deny 
in defence of themselves. Further these testimonies from your 
own gods have been wont to make Christians ; because, the more 
we believe them, the more we believe in Christ as Lord. They 
themselves excite belief in our scriptures, they themselves build 
up trust in our hope. To the best of my belief, you even pro 
pitiate them with the blood of Christians. They would therefore 

62 



84 TERTVLLIANI 

Nollent itaque uos tarn fructuosos, tarn officiosos sibi amittere, 
uel ne a uobis quandoque a Christianis fugentur, si illis sub 
Christiano, uolente uobis ueritatem probare, mentiri liceret. 

24. Omnis ista confessio illorum qua se deos negant esse 
quaque non alium deum respondent praeter unum, cui nos 5 
mancipamur, satis idonea est ad depellendum crimen laesae 
maxime Romanae religionis. Si enim non sunt dei pro certo, 
nee religio pro certo est: si religio non est, quia nee dei pro 
certo, nee nos pro certo rei sumus laesae religionis. At e con- 
trario in uos exprobratio resultauit, qui mendacium colentes 10 
ueram religionem ueri dei non modo neglegendo, quin insuper 
expugnando, in uerum committitis crimen uerae inreligiositatis. 
Nunc ut constaret illos deos esse, nonne conceditis de aestima- 
tione communi aliquem esse sublimiorem et potentiorem, uelut 
principem mundi perfectae potentiae et maiestatis? Nam et 15 
sic plerique disponunt diuinitatem, ut imperium summae 
dominationis esse penes unum, officia eius penes multos uelint, 
ut Plato louem magnum in caelo comitatum exercitu describit 
deorum pariter et daemonum. Itaque oportere et procurantes 
et praefectos et praesides pariter suspici. Et tarn en quod 20 
facinus admittit qui magis ad Caesarem promerendum et 
operam et spem suam transfert nee appellationem dei ita ut 
imperatoris in aliquo principe confitetur, cum capitale esse 
iudicetur alium praeter Caesarem et dicere et audire? Colat 
alius deum, alius louem, alius ad caelum manus supplices tendat, 25 
alius ad aram Fidei, alius, si hoc putatis, nubes numeret orans, 
alius lacunaria, alius suam animam deo suo uoueat, alius hirci. 
Videte enim ne et hoc ad inreligiositatis elogium concurrat, 
adimere libertatem religionis et interdicere optionem diuinitatis, 
ut non liceat mihi colere quern uelim, sed cogar colere quern 30 
nolim. Nemo se ab inuito coli uolet, ne homo quidem. Atque 
adeo et Aegyptiis permissa est tarn uanae superstitionis potestas 



APOLOGETICVS 23, 24 85 

be unwilling to lose those who are so profitable and so dutiful 
to them as you are, if only that they might not be driven away 
from you one day by the Christians, if it were in their power 
to speak falsely in the presence of a Christian who wished to 
prove the truth to you. 

CHAP. XXIV. All this confession of theirs, by which they 
deny that they are gods and by which they answer that there 
is no other God but one, whose servants we are, is sufficient to 
refute the charge of signal violation of the Roman religion. 
For if there are assuredly no gods, then assuredly there is no 
religion either; and if there is no religion, because assuredly 
there are no gods either, assuredly neither can we be charged 
with violation of religion. On the contrary the reproach has 
recoiled on yourselves, who, worshipping a lie, commit the crime 
of real irreligion against the truth, not only by neglecting the true 
worship of the true God, but by attacking it also. Now, even 
though it were allowed that those gods exist, do you not coincide 
with the general opinion that there is one higher and more 
powerful, a sort of head of the universe of absolute power and 
sovereignty? For very many also distribute the divine power 
in such a way as to wish the rule of the highest lordship to be in 
the hands of one, while his functions are in the hands of many, as 
Plato describes the great Jupiter in heaven, attended by a host 
alike of gods and of daemons, and held it thus to be right that 
the procurators and prefects and governors (in general) should 
be alike respected 1 . And yet what crime is committed by him 
who applies both his exertions and his hope rather to the 
winning of favour with Caesar, and does not allow the name 
God, just as he would not allow the name Emperor in the case 
of any leading man, since it is judged a capital offence both to 
use and to listen to the use of the name for any one but Caesar ? 
Let one worship God, another Jupiter; let one hold out suppliant 
hands to the sky, another to the altar of Fides; let one, if such 
is your opinion, count the clouds while he prays, another the 
panels of the ceiling; let one dedicate to his God his own life, 
another the life of a goat. Beware, too, lest this also should 
be combined with the charge of irreligion, the taking away of 
the liberty of worship and ^the forbidding of the choice of a god, 
so that I should be prevented from worshipping him whom I will, 
but should be compelled to worship (another) against my will. 
No being, not even a man, will desire to be worshipped by an 
unwilling person; and yet even the Egyptians were allowed 
the power of such a foolish superstition, for the deification of 
1 Joining to previous sentence, as grammar requires. 



86 TERTVLLIAN1 

auibus et bestiis consecrandis et capite damnandis qui aliqueni 
huiusmodi deum occiderit. Unicuique etiam prouinciae et 
ciuitati suus deus est, ut Syriae Astartes, ut Arabiae Dusares, 
ut Noricis Belenus, ut Africae Caelestis, ut Mauritania^ reguli 
sui. Roman as, ut opinor, prouincias edidi, nee tamen Romanes 5 
deos earum, quia Romae non magis coluntur quam qui per 
ipsam quoque Italiam municipali consecratione censentur: 
Casiniensium Deluentinus, Narniensium Visidianus, Ascula- 
norum Ancharia, Volsiniensium Nortia, Ocriculanorum Valentia, 
Sutrinorum Hostia ; Faliscorum in honorem Patris Curis et 10 
accepit cognomen luno. Sed nos soli arcemur a religionis 
proprietate. Laedimus Romanes nee Romani habemur qui 
non Romanorum deum colimus. Bene quod omnium deus 
est, cuius uelimus aut nolimus omnes sumus. Sed apud uos 
quoduis colere ius est praeter deum uerum, quasi non hie 15 
magis omnium sit deus cuius omnes sumus. 

25. Satis quidem mihi uideor probasse de falsa et uera 
diuinitate, cum demonstraui quemadmodum probatio consistat, 
non modo disputationibus, nee argumentationibus, sed ipsorum 
etiam testimoniis quos deos creditis, ut nihil iam ad hanc 20 
causam sit retractandum. Quoniam tamen Romani nominis 
proprie mentio occurrit, non omittam congressionem, quam 
prouocat ilia praesumptio dicentium Romarios pro merito 
religiositatis diligentissimae in tantum sublimitatis elatos, ut 
orbem occuparint, et adeo deos esse, ut praeter ceteros floreant 25 
qui illis omcium praeter ceteros faciant. Scilicet ista merces 
a Romanis deis pro gratia expensa est. Sterculus et Mutunus 
et Larentina prouexit imperium. Peregrinos enim deos non 
putern extraneae genti magis fautum uoluisse quam suae, et 
patrium solum, in quo nati, adulti, nobilitati sepultique sunt, 30 
transfretanis dedisse. Viderit Cybele, si urbem Romanam ut 
memoriam Troiani generis adamauit, uernaculi sui scilicet 
aduersus Achiuorum arma protecti, si ad ultores transire 
prospexit, quos sciebat Graeciam Phrygiae debellatricem sub- 
acturos. Itaque maiestatis suae in urbem conlatae grande 35 
documentum nostra etiam aetate proposuit, cum Marco Aurelio 



APOLOGETICVS 24, 25 87 

birds and beasts, and the condemnation to death of any one 
who had killed a god of this sort. Each province also and 
city-state has its own god, as Syria has Astartes, as Arabia 
Dusares, as the Norici have Belenus, as Africa has Caelestis, 
Mauretania its own chieftains. It is a list of Roman provinces 
that I have given, I think, and yet their gods are not Roman, 
because they are not more worshipped at Rome than those who 
throughout Italy itself also are ranked as gods from municipal 
consecration : Deluentinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia, 
Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocricu- 
lum, Hostia of Sutrium, Juno of the Falisci, who also received 
the surname (Curritis) in honour of Father Curis. But we 
alone are debarred from a religion of our own. We offend the 
Romans and are not considered Romans because we do not 
worship the- god of the Romans. It is well that there is a God 
of all, to whom willy nilly we all belong. But among you it 
is .lawful to worship anything except the true God, as if He to 
whom we all belong were not rather the God of all. 

CHAP. XXV. I think I have now given sufficient proof 
about true and false divinity, since I have shown how the proof 
holds together, not only by discussions or reasonings, but also 
by the evidence of those very beings whom you believe to be 
gods, so that nothing now needs to be revised for the present 
purpose. Since, however, a special reference has been made to 
the Roman name, I will not pass over the controversy, provoked 
by the prejudiced assertion that the Romans owing to their 
scrupulous piety have been raised to such a height of glory, 
as to have gained dominion over the world, and to have proved 
the existence of their gods by the fact that those flourish beyond 
all others who beyond all others are mindful of their duty to 
them. This reward was paid, forsooth, by the Roman gods 
in gratitude. The extension of the empire was due to 
Sterculus and Mutunus and Larentina! For I could not 
suppose that foreign gods wished more favour shown to a 
foreign race than to their own, and gave the land of their 
fathers, in which they were born, grew up, were ennobled and 
were buried, to those from across the sea. Let Cybele see to it, 
if she learned to love the city of Rome as the memorial of the 
Trojan race, her own native race forsooth, which she had 
guarded against the arms of the Greeks, if she had the fore 
thought to desert to the avengers, who, she knew, would subdue 
Greece, the vanquisher of Phrygia. Therefore even in our time 
she has exhibited a signal proof of honour conferred on Rome, 
when on the removal of Marcus Aurelius from the conduct of 



88 TERTVLLIANI 

apud Sirmium reipublicae exempto die sexto decimo Kalen- 
darum Aprilium archigallus ille sanctissimus die nono Kalen- 
darum earundem, quo sanguinem inpurum lacertos quoque 
castrando libabat, pro salute imperatoris Marci iam intercept! 
solita aeque imperia mandauit. nuntios tardos ! o somni- 5 
culosa diplomata! quorum uitio excessum imperatoris non 
ante Cybele cognouit, ne deam talem riderent Christiani. Sed 
non statim et lupiter Cretam suam Romanis fascibus concuti 
sineret, oblitus antrum illud Idaeum et aera Corybantia et 
iocundissimum illic nutricis suae odorem. Nonne omni Capi- 10 
tolio tumulum ilium suum praeposuisset, ut ea potius orbi 
terrae praecelleret quae cineres louis texit? Vellet luno 
Punicam urbem posthabita Samo dilectam ab Aeneadarum 
gente deleri? Quod sciam 

hie illius arma, *5 

Hie currus fuit, hoc regnum dea gentibus esse, 
Si qua fata sinant, iam turn tenditque fouetque. 
Misera ilia coniunx louis et soror aduersus fata non ualuit! 
Plane 

Fato stat lupiter ipse. 20 

Nee tantum tamen honoris fatis Roman i dicauerunt dedentibus 
sibi Carthaginem aduersus destinatum uotumque lunonis quan 
tum prostitutissimae lupae Larentinae. Plures deos uestros 
regnasse certum est. Igitur si conferendi imperii tenent potes- 
tatem, cum ipsi regnarent, a quibus acceperant earn gratiam? 25 
Quern coluerat Saturnus et lupiter? Aliquem, opinor, Ster- 
culum. Sed postea Romani cum indigenis suis, etiam si qui 
non regnauerunt? Tamen regnabantur ab aliis nondum 
cultoribus suis, ut qui nondum dei habebantur. Ergo aliorum 
est regnum dare, quia regnabatur multo ante quam isti dei 30 
inciderentur. Sed quam uanum est fastigium Romani nominis 
religiositatis meritis deputare, cum post imperium siue adhuc 
regnum religio profecerit. Age iam, rebus religio profecerit? 
Nam etsi a Numa concepta est curiositas superstitiosa, nondum 
tamen aut simulacris aut templis res diuina apud Romanos 35 
constabat. Frugi religio et pauperes ritus et nulla Capitolia 



APOLOGETICVS 25 89 

public affairs, by death, at Sirmium on the seventeenth of March, 
that most holy high-priest (of Cybele) on the twenty-fourth of 
that same March, on which he made a libation of impure blood, 
mutilating his arms also, none the less issued the usual orders 
for the safety of the emperor Marcus, though his life was already 
ended. Oh slothful messengers ! Oh sleepy despatches ! whose 
fault it was that Cybele had no earlier news of the emperor s 
demise, so as to prevent the ridicule of such a goddess by the 
Christians. But even Jupiter would not immediately have 
allowed his own Crete to be upset by the Roman fasces, for 
getting the Idaean cave and the Corybantic cymbals and the 
pleasing odour of his nurse there. Would he not have preferred 
his own grave there to any Capitol, so that the land which 
covered the ashes of Jupiter should rather rule over the world ? 
Would Juno have wished that the Carthaginian city, which she 
loved next to Samos, should be destroyed by the race of the 
sons of Aeneas (above all others) ? To the best of my knowledge : 

Here stood her chariot: here, if Heav n were kind, 
The seat of awful empire she design d. 

The unhappy wife and sister of Jupiter could not prevail against 
the fates ! It is evident Jupiter himself depends on destiny. 
Yet the Romans have not offered so much honour to the fates 
which gave up Carthage to them against the will and prayer 
of Juno, as they have to the common whore Larentina. It is 
certain that a number of your gods were kings. Therefore, if 
they have the power of conferring rule, from whom had they 
received it, when they themselves reigned? Whom had Saturn 
and Jupiter worshipped ? Some Sterculus, I suppose. But 
what did the Romans do later with their native gods, even 
if some did not reign? Yet the country was ruled by others, 
not yet their worshippers, seeing they were not yet regarded 
as gods. Consequently it is the prerogative of others to confer 
a kingdom, because kingly rule existed much earlier than these 
gods had their names engraved. But how foolish it is to 
attribute the glory of the Roman name to the deserts of piety, 
when your religion has developed since the time of the Empire 
or even since the time of the kingdom! Come now, has the 
crrowth of the state led to the advance of piety? No; for 
although Numa first formulated superstitious curiosity, never 
theless it was not till later that the divine element among 
the Romans consisted either of images or of temples; piety 
was frugal and the ceremonies were inexpensive, and there was 
no Capitol striving to reach the sky, but only improvised 
altars made of turf, and vessels which were still of common 



90 TERTVLLIANI 

certantia ad caelum, sed temeraria de cespite altaria, et uasa 
adhuc Samia, et nidor ex illis, et deus ipse nusquam. Nondum 
enim tune ingenia Graecorum atque Tuscorum fmgendis simu- 
lacris urbem inundauerant. Ergo non ante religiosi Roman! 
quam magni, ideoque non ob hoc magni, quia religiosi. Atquin 5 
quomodo ob religionem magni, quibus magnitudo de inreligiosi- 
tate prouenit? Ni fallor enim, omne regnum uel imperium 
bellis quaeritur et uictoriis propagatur. Porro bella et uictoriae 
captis et euersis plurimum urbibus constant. Id negotium sine 
deorum iniuria non est. Eaedem strages moenium et tern- 10 
plorum, pares caedes ciuium et sacerdotum, nee dissimiles 
rapinae sacrarum diuitiarum et profanarum. Tot igitur 
sacrilegia Romanorum quot tropaea, tot de deis quot de 
gentibus triumphi, tot nianubiae quot manent adhuc simulacra 
captiuorum deorum. Et ab hostibus ergo suis sustinent adorari 15 
et illis imperium sine fine decernunt quorum magis iniurias 
quam adolationes remunerasse debuerant. Sed qui nihil 
sentiunt tarn impune laeduntur quam frustra coluntur. Certe 
non potest fidei conuenire, ut religionis mentis excreuisse 
uideantur qui, ut suggessimus, religionem aut laedendo creuerunt 20 
aut crescendo laeserunt. Etiam illi quorum regna conflata sunt 
in imperii Romani summam, cum ea amitterent, sine religionibus 
non fuerunt. 

26. Videte igitur, ne ille regna dispenset cuius est et orbis 
qui regnatur et homo ipse qui regnat, ne ille uices dominationum 25 
ipsis temporibus in saeculo ordinarit qui ante omne tempus fuit 
et saeculum corpus temporum fecit, ne ille ciuitates extollat aut 
deprimat sub quo fuit sine ciuitatibus aliquando gens hominum. 
Quid erratis? prior est quibusdam deis suis siluestris Roma, 
ante regnauit quam tantum ambitum Capitolii extrueret. 30 
Regnauerant et Babylonii ante Pontifices, et Medi ante Quin- 
decimuiros, et Aegyptii ante Salios, et Assyrii ante Lupercos, 
et Amazones ante Virgines Vestales. Postremo si Romanae 



APOLOGETICVS 25, 26 91 

pottery, and the sacrificial odour from them, and the god him 
self nowhere to be seen. For at that time the talents of 
the Greeks and Etruscans had not yet flooded the capital to 
execute commissions for statues. Consequently the Romans 
were not religious before they were great, and therefore their 
religion was not the cause of their greatness. Further, how 
can it be on account of religion that they are great, seeing it 
was the want of religion which made them great? For unless 
I am mistaken, every kingdom or empire is gained by wars and 
extended by victories. Again, wars and victories are generally 
at the cost of the capture and destruction of cities. That 
business cannot be carried out without harm to gods. Walls 
and temples are involved in common ruin, citizens and priests 
are alike slaughtered, and there is no difference in the plundering 
of sacred and profane wealth. Therefore the sacrilegious acts 
of the Romans are as many in number as their trophies ; they 
have triumphed as often over gods as over nations, their spoils 
in war are no more numerous than the images of captive gods 
that still remain. They therefore endure to be worshipped 
even by their enemies, and they decree an empire without end 
to those whose injuries, rather than their acts of worship 1 , they 
should have repaid. But those who are without feeling, it is 
as harmless to injure, as it is idle to worship. Certainly it is 
beyond belief, that those should have progressed on account of 
their religious merits, who, as we have hinted, have either grown 
by injury done to religion or have inflicted injury on religion 
by their growth. Even those whose kingdoms have been com 
bined to make up the sum of the Roman Empire, were not with 
out religions at the time when they lost their kingdoms. 

CHAP. XXVI. See therefore, whether it is not he who 
regulates kingdoms, whose is both the world that is ruled, and 
the man himself that rules ; whether it is not he that fixed the 
alternations of power at their actual dates in the world s history, 
who was before all time and made the history of the world the 
embodiment of time and seasons; whether it is not he who 
raises or crushes states, under whom the race of men existed at 
one time without states. Why are you led astray? Rome in 
her rude state is older than certain of its gods, it ruled before it 
raised such a wide circuit as the Capitol. The Babylonians too 
had reigned before the pontiffs, and the Medes before the 
Quindecimviri, and the Egyptians before the Salii, the Assyrians 
before the Luperci, the Amazons before the Vestal Virgins. 
Finally, if it is the religious rites of Rome that confer kingdoms, 

1 Spell correctly adulationes. 



92 TERTVLLIANI 

religiones regna praestant, mmquam retro ludaea regnasset 
despectrix communium istarum diuinitatum, cuius et deum 
uictimis et templum donis et gentem foederibus aliquamdiu 
Roman! honorastis, numquam dominaturi eius, si deo non 
deliquisset ultimo in Christum. 5 

27. Satis haec aduersus intentationem laesae diuinitatis, 
quo non uideamur laedere earn quam ostendimus non esse. 
Igitur prouocati ad sacrificandum obstruimus gradum pro fide 
conscientiae nostrae, qua certi sumus ad quos ista perueniant 
officia sub imaginum prostitutione et humanorum nominum 10 
consecratione. Sed quidam dementiam existimant, quod, cum 
possimus et sacrificare in praesenti et inlaesi abire manente 
apud animum proposito. obstinationem saluti praeferamus. 
Datis scilicet consilium, quo uobis abutamur; sed agnoscimus, 
unde talia suggerantur, quis totum hoc agitet, et quomodo 15 
nunc astutia suadendi nunc duritia saeuiendi ad constantiam 
nostram deiciendam operetur. Ille scilicet spiritus daemoniacae 
et angelicae paraturae, qui noster ob diuortium aemulus et ob 
dei gratiam inuidus de mentibus uestris aduersus nos proeliatur 
occulta inspiratione modulatis et subornatis ad omnem quam 20 
in primordio exorsi sumus et iudicandi peruersitatem et saeuiendi 
iniquitatem. Nam licet subiecta sit nobis tota uis daemonum 
et eiusmodi spirituum, ut nequam tamen et serui metu non- 
nunquam contumaciam miscent, et laedere gestiunt quos alias 
uerentur. Odium enim etiam timor spirat. Praeterquam et 25 
desperata condicio eorum ex praedamnatione solatium reputat 
fruendae interim malignitatis de poenae mora. Et tamen 
adprehensi subiguntur et condicioni suae succidunt, et quos de 
longinquo oppugnant, de proximo obsecrant. Itaque cum uice 
rebellantium ergastulorum siue carcerum uel metallorum uel 30 
hoc genus poenalis seruitutis erumpunt aduersus nos, in quorum 
potestate sunt, certi et inpares se esse et hoc magis perditos, 
ingratis resistimus ut aequales et repugnamus perseuerantes in 
eo quod oppugnant et illos nunquam magis detriumphamus 
quam cum pro fidei obstinatione damnamur. 35 



APOLOGETICVS 26, 27 93 

Judea would never have reigned in the past, since she disdained 
all these ordinary divinities ; and yet ye Romans for some time 
honoured her God with victims, her temple with gifts and her 
people with treaties, nor would you ever have ruled over her, if 
she had not sinned against God and finally against Christ also. 

CHAP. XXVII. This meets the charge of injury to your 
gods, since we -cannot be supposed to injure that which we 
have shown to be non-existent. Therefore when we are 
challenged to sacrifice, we make a stand against it on the 
strength of our conscience, whereby we are assured who those 
are to whom these services extend under the profanation of 
images and the deification of human names. But some think 
it madness that, when we might both sacrifice at the time and 
depart uninjured, while retaining our own private opinions, we 
should prefer stubbornness to safety. Forsooth you are giving 
us advice how to take advantage of you ; but we recognise the 
source of such hints, who it is that prompts all this, and how 
at one time by cunning advice, at another by harsh cruelty, 
he is working towards the overthrow of our firmness. Assuredly 
that spirit of daemonic 1 and angelic nature, which, being our 
enemy on account of its separation (from God) and being 
jealous on account of the favour of God (shown to us), wars 
against us from the fortress of your minds, which by a secret 
influence are regulated and equipped for all that perversity of 
judgment and unfairness of cruelty which we began to describe 
at the outset. For although all the power of daemons and spirits 
of that kind is subject to us, yet like worthless people and slaves 
they sometimes mingle obstinacy with fear, and are eager to 
injure those, of whom at another time they are afraid : for even 
fear breathes hatred. Furthermore their hopeless state, arising 
from the fact of their being foredoomed, gleans from the delay 
of punishment the solace of enjoying their evil disposition during 
the meantime. And yet when they are seized they are subdued 
and yield to their fate, and those whom they attack afar off, they 
supplicate when they are nigh. Therefore when, like rebellious 
slaves, confined in barracoons or prisons or mines or quarries 
or suffering any other penal servitude of this kind, they break 
out against us in whose power they are, knowing full well both 
.that they are ill-matched and that they are thus all the more 
undone, we resist them against our will as equals and attack 
them in return, continuing in that which they attack, and we 
never triumph over them more than when we are condemned for 
the persistence of our belief. 

1 Read daemonicae, probably the only form known to Tertullian. 



94 TERTVLLIANI 

28. Quoniam autem facile iniquum uideretur liberos 
homines inuitos urgeri ad sacrificandum (nam et alias diuinae 
rei faciundae libens animus indicitur), certe ineptum existi- 
maretur, si quis ab alio cogeretur ad honorem deorum, quos 
ultro sui causa placare deberet, ne prae manu esset iure libertatis 5 
dicere : Nolo mihi louem propitium ; tu quis es ? Me conueniat 
lanus iratus ex qua uelit f ronte ; quid tibi mecum est ? Forma ti 
estis ab isdem utique spiritibus, uti nos pro salute imperatoris 
sacrificare cogatis, et inposita est tarn uobis necessitas cogendi 
quam nobis obligatio periclitandi. Ventum est igitur ad 10 
secundum titulum laesae augustioris maiestatis, siquidem 
maiore formidine et callidiore timiditate Caesarem obseruatis 
quam ipsum de Olympo louem. Et merito, si sciatis. Quis 
enim ex uiuentibus quilibet non mortuo potior? Sed nee hoc 
uos ratione facitis potius quam respectu praesentaneae potes- 15 
tatis : adeo et in isto inreligiosi erga deos uestros deprehendemini, 
cum plus timoris humano dominio dicatis. Citius denique apud 
uos per omnes deos quam per unum genium Caesaris peieratur. 

29. Constet igitur prius, si isti, quibus sacrificatur, salutem 
imperatoribus uel cuilibet homini inpertire possunt, et ita nos 20 
crimini maiestatis addicite, si angeli aut daemones substantia 
pessimi spiritus beneficium aliquod operantur, si perditi con- 
seruant, si damnati liberant, si denique, quod in conscientia 
uestra est, mortui uiuos tuentur. Nam utique suas primo 
statuas et imagines et aedes tuerentur, quae, ut opinor, Caesarum 25 
milites excubiis salua praestant. Puto autem, eae ipsae materiae 
de metallis Caesarum ueniunt, et tota templa de nutu Caesaris 
constant. Multi denique dei habuerunt Caesarem iratum. 
Facit ad causam, si et propitium, cum illis aliquid liberalitatis 
aut priuilegii confert. Ita qui sunt in Caesaris potestate, cuius 30 
et toti sunt, quomodo habebunt salutem Caesaris in potestate, 
ut earn praestare posse uideantur, quarn facilius ipsi a Caesare 
consequantur ? Ideo ergo committimus in maiestatem impera- 



APOLOGETICVS 28, 29 95 

CHAP. XXVIII. Since however it might easily seem unjust 
that free men should be forced against their will to perform 
sacrifice (for at other times also a willing mind is enjoined for 
the performance of religious duty), it would assuredly be thought 
absurd, if any one were compelled by another to pay respect to 
gods, whom he was bound to appease for his own sake without 
any urging, lest it might at once be open to him to say by the 
right of freedom: I do not want Jupiter to be propitious to 
me ; who are you ? Let Janus meet me with angry looks from 
any face he likes ; what business have you with me ? You were 
framed of course by the same spirits to compel us to sacrifice for 
the safety of the emperor, and the necessity for coercion was 
as much imposed OH you as the obligation of incurring danger 
by refusal was imposed on us. We have come then to the 
second charge, that of injury done to a more sacred majesty, 
since you worship the Caesar with greater dread and more 
calculating fear than you do Olympian Jove himself. And 
deservedly, if you only knew. For who among the living is 
not better than any dead man you like ? But even this is not 
done by you from reason, so much as from regard to authority 
which acts on the spur of the moment ; to such a degree in this 
matter also will you be found irreligious towards your gods, in 
showing more dread of human power. Finally among you a 
man will sooner commit perjury by all the gods than by the 
one genius of Caesar. 

CHAP. XXIX. First then let it be agreed, whether these to 
whom sacrifice is offered can confer safety on the emperors or 
on any other man, and then charge us with treason, if angels 
or daemons, in essence most depraved, work any benefit, if the 
lost save, if those that are condemned acquit, if finally, the 
dead (such as ye know your gods to be) are guardians of the 
living. If so, they would first at all events guard their own 
statues and images and temples, which I believe the soldiers of 
the Caesars keep safe by night pickets. I think moreover 
that the very materials of these come from the mines of the 
Caesars, and that the erection of whole temples depends on 
the will of the Caesar. Further, many gods have experienced 
the wrath of Caesar. It supports my case, if they have also 
found him propitious, when he confers upon them some free 
gift or privilege. How then can they, who are in the power of 
the Caesar, and who entirely belong to him, have the safety of 
the Caesar in their power, so as to appear able to grant that 
(safety), which they themselves would more easily gain from 
the Caesar? Therefore it is that we oft end against the majesty 



96 TERTVLLIANI 

toris, quia illos non subicimus rebus suis, quia non ludimus de 
officio salutis ipsorum qui earn non putamus in manibus esse 
plumbatis. Sed uos inreligiosi, qui earn quaeritis ubi non est, 
petitis a quibus dari non potest, praeterito eo in cuius est potes- 
tate. Insuper eos debellatis qui earn sciunt petere, qui etiam 5 
possunt impetrare, dum sciunt petere. 

30. Nos enim pro salute imperatorum deum inuocamus 
aeternum, deum uerum, deum uiuum, quern et ipsi imperatores 
propitium sibi praeter ceteros malunt. Sciunt quis illis dederit 
imperium, sciunt, qua homines, quis et ariimam, sentiunt eum 10 
esse deum solum in cuius solius potestate suiit, a quo sint 
secundi, post quern primi, ante omnes et super omnes deos. 
Quidni ? cum super omnes homines, qui utique uiuunt et mortuis 
antistant. Recogitant quousque uires imperii sui ualeant, et 
ita deum intellegunt ; aduersus quern ualere non possunt, per 15 
eum ualere se cognoscunt. Caelum denique debellet imperator, 
caelum captiuum triumpho suo inuehat, caelo mittat excubias, 
caelo uectigalia irnponat. Non potest. Ideo magnus est quia 
caelo minor est. Illius enim est ipse cuius et caelum est et 
omnis creatura. Inde est imperator unde et homo antequam 20 
imperator, inde potestas illi unde et spiritus. Illuc suspicientes 
Christiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis, capite nudo, quia 
non erubescimus, denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus, 
precantes sumus semper pro omnibus imperatoribus. Vitam 
illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus 25 
fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, 
quaecunque hominis et Caesaris uota sunt, haec ab alio orare 
non possum quam a quo me scio consecuturum, quoniam et 
ipse est qui solus praestat et ego sum cui impetrare debetur, 
famulus eius, qui eum solus obseruo, qui propter disciplinam 30 
eius occidor, qui ei offero opimam et maiorem hostiam quam 
ipse mandauit, orationem de carne pudica, de anima innocenti, 
de spiritu sancto profectam, non grana thuris unius assis, 
Arabicae arboris lacrimas, nee duas meri guttas, nee sanguinem 
reprobi bouis mori optantis, et post omnia inquinamenta etiam 35 



APOLOGETICVS 29, 30 97 

of the emperors, because we do not subject them to their own 
creatures, because we do not make sport of the duty of (praying 
for) their safety, since we do not think that it lies in hands 
soldered with lead. But you are the irreligious people, who seek 
it where it is not, ask it of those who cannot give it, passing 
over him in whose power it is. Furthermore you persecute 
those who know how to ask it, who can also obtain it, since 
they know how to ask. 

CHAP. XXX. For we invoke on behalf of the safety of the 
emperors a God who is everlasting, a God who is real, a God 
who is living, whom even the emperors themselves prefer should 
be propitious to them beyond all others. They know who gave 
them empire, they know, as human beings, who gave them life 
also, they feel that he is the only God, in whose power alone 
they are, to whom they are second, after whom they are first, 
before all and above all gods. Why not? since they are above 
all men, who of course are alive and take precedence of the dead. 
They reflect how far the strength of their empire extends, and 
thus they understand God ; they recognise that they are strong 
through him, against whom they have no strength. Let the 
emperor then subdue heaven, let him lead heaven captive in 
his triumph, let him set his watch, let him impose his 
tribute on heaven. He cannot; he is great for the reason 
that he is only less than heaven. For he himself belongs to 
Him whose are both heaven and all created things. He derives 
his position of emperor from the same source from which 
he derived his humanity before he became emperor. He gets 
his power from the source from which he gets his breath. 
Thither the Christians look up, with hands spread out because 
innocent, with head uncovered, because we are not ashamed, 
finally without a prompter, because we pray from the heart. 
We pray always for all the emperors, that they may have a long 
life, a safe rule, a family free from danger, courageous armies, 
a faithful senate, loyal subjects, a peaceful world, all that a man 
and a Caesar pray for. These things I cannot pray for from 
any one else than from him from whom I know I shall get them, 
since he himself alone can give them, and I am he to whom the 
obtaining is due, his slave, who alone worship him, who on 
account of his teaching am put to death, who offer him a rich 
and greater victim than he himself commanded, prayer arising 
from a pure body, from an innocent soul, from the Holy Spirit, 
not grains of incense costing a penny, the tears of an Arabian 
tree, nor two drops of unmixed wine, nor the blood of an un 
sound ox, anxious for death, and after all these stains a conscience 



M. T. 



98 TERTVLLIANI 

conscientiam spurcam : ut mirer, cum hostiae probantur penes 
uos a uitiosissimis sacerdotibus, cum cuiuis praecordia potius 
uictimarum quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinantur. Sic 
itaque nos ad deum expanses ungulae fodiant, cruces suspendant, 
ignes lambant, gladii guttura detruncent, bestiae insiliant : 5 
paratus est ad omne supplicium ipse habitus orantis Christiani. 
Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam deo supplicantem 
pro imperatore. Hoc erit crimen, ubi ueritas dei et deuotio est. 

31. Adolati nunc sumus imperatori et mentiti uota quae 
diximus, ad euadendam scilicet uim. Plane proficit ista fallacia. 10 
Admittitis nos enim probare quodcunque defendimus. Qui ergo 
putaueris nihil nos de salute Caesarum curare, inspice dei uoces, 
litteras nostras, quas neque ipsi supprimimus et plerique casus 
ad extraneos transferunt. Scitote ex illis praeceptum esse nobis 
ad redundantiam benignitatis etiam pro inimicis deum orare et 15 
persecutoribus nostris bona precari. Qui magis inimici et per- 
secutores Christianorum quam de quorum maiestate conuenimur 
in crimen? Sed etiam nominatim atque manifeste, Orate, 
inquit, pro regibus et pro principibus et potestatibus, ut omnia 
tranquilla sint uobis. Cum enim concutitur imperium, concussis 20 
etiam ceteris membris eius utique et nos, licet extranei a turbis 
aestimemur, in aliquo loco casus inuenimur. 

32. Est et alia maior necessitas nobis orandi pro impera- 
toribus, etiam pro omni statu imperii rebusque Romanis, qui 
uim maximam uniuerso orbi imminentem ipsamque clausulam 25 
saeculi acerbitates horrendas comminantem Romani imperii 
commeatu scimus retardari. Itaque nolumus experiri, et dum 
precamur ditTerri, Romanae diuturnitati fauemus. Sed et 
iuramus, sicut non per genios Caesarum, ita per salutem eorum, 
quae est augustior omnibus geniis. Nescitis genios daemonas 3 
dici et inde diminutiua uoce daemonia? Nos iudicium dei 
suspicimus in imperatori bus, qui gentibus illos praefecit. Id in 
eis scimus esse quod deus uoluit, ideoque et saluum uolumus 
esse quod deus uoluit et pro magno id iuramento habemus. 



APOLOGETTCVS 30, 31, 32 99 

also that is foul ; so that I wonder, when the victims are tested 
among you by vicious priests, when any one judges the hearts 
rather of the victims than of the sacrificers themselves. There 
fore let hooks thus dig into us while our hands are spread out to 
God, let crosses suspend us, let fires play about us, let swords 
behead us, let wild-beasts leap upon us ; the very attitude of 
the praying Christian is ready for every kind of capital punish 
ment. This is your duty, ye excellent governors, wrench out 
a soul that is praying to God for the emperor. The crime will 
be found there, where is the truth of a God and piety to him. 

CHAP. XXXI. Now they tell us that we have fawned upon 
the emperor and uttered lying prayers, of course with the 
view of escaping violence. Clearly this deception is to our 
benefit ; for you allow that we make good whatever point we 
defend. You therefore who have thought that we care nothing 
for the safety of the Caesars, look into our Scripture, the oracles 
of God, which we ourselves do not conceal and many accidents 
bring into the hands of strangers. Know from these that we 
are taught to the point of superfluity of kindness even to pray 
God for our enemies and to entreat benefits for our perse 
cutors. Who are to a greater extent enemies and persecutors 
of the Christians than those about whose majesty we are 
arraigned? But even by name and clearly: Pray, says (the 
scripture), for kings and for chiefs and for powers, that all 
things may be at peace for you. For when the empire is 
shattered, and when the other parts of it also are shattered, 
we too of course, although the crowd considers us foreigners, 
are involved in some quarter of the disaster. 

CHAP. XXXII. There is also another greater necessity for 
us to pray for emperors, even for the whole state of the Empire 
and the fortunes of Rome, since we know that the great force 
which is threatening the whole world and the end itself of world- 
history which threatens terrible afflictions is being kept back 
by the respite granted to the Roman empire. Therefore we 
are unwilling to experience this, and while we pray for its post 
ponement we are favouring the long continuance of Rome. But 
we also swear, though not by the genii of the Caesars, yet by 
their safety, which is more divine than any genii. Do you not 
know that genii is a name for daemones and for daemonia, a 
diminutive word derived from it? We look up to the judgment 
of God in the emperors, for He set them over the races of the 
world. We know that that is in them which God willed, and 
so we wish that also to be safe which God willed, and we consider 

72 



100 TERTVLLIANI 

Ceterum daemonas, id est genios, adiurare consueuimus, ut 
illos de hominibus exigamus, non deierare, ut eis honorem 
diuinitatis conferamus. 

33. Sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate 
Christiana in imperatore ? quern necesse est suspiciamus ut 5 
eum quern dominus noster elegit, ut merito dixerim : Noster 
est magis Caesar, a nostro deo cons ti tutus. Itaque ut meo 
plus ego illi operor in salutem, siquidem non solum ab eo postulo 
earn qui potest praestare, aut quod talis postulo qui merear 
impetrare, sed etiam quod temperans maiestatem Caesans infra 10 
deum magis ilium commendo deo, cui soli subicio. Subicio 
autem cui non adaequo. Non enim deum imperatorem dicam, 
uel quia mentiri nescio, uel quia ilium deridere non audeo, uel 
quia nee ipse se deum uolet dici. Si homo sit, interest homini 
deo cedere. Satis habeat appellari imperator. Grande et hoc 15 
nomen est, quod a deo traditur. Negat ilium imperatorem qui 
deum dicit; nisi homo sit non est imperator. Hominem se 
esse etiam triumphans in illo sublimissimo curru admonetur. 
Suggeritur enim ei a tergo: Respice post te! Hominem te 
memento ! Et utique hoc magis gaudet tanta se gloria corus- 20 
care, ut illi admonitio condicionis suae sit necessaria. Minor 
erat, si tune deus diceretur, quia non uere diceretur. Maior 
est qui reuocatur, ne se deum existimet. 

34. Augustus, imperii formator, ne dominum quidem dici 
se uolebat ; et hoc enim dei est cognomen. Dicam plane 25 
imperatorem dominum, sed more communi, sed quando non 
cogor, ut dominum dei nice dicam. Ceterum liber sum illi. 
Dominus enim meus unus est, deus omnipotens aeternus, idem 
qui et ipsius. Qui pater patriae est, quomodo dominus est? 
Sed et gratius est nomen pietatis quam potestatis. Etiam 30 
familiae magis patres quam domini uocantur. Tanto abest ut 
imperator deus debeat dici, quod non potest credi non modo 



APOLOGETICVS 32, 33, 34 101 

that to be a great oath. But demons, that is genii, we have 
been accustomed to adjure, in order to drive them out of men, 
not to swear by them, in order to confer the honour of divinity 
upon them. 

CHAP. XXXIII. But why should I say more about the 
religious attitude and the loyalty of the Christians towards the 
emperor? We are bound to look up to him as the one whom 
our Lord has chosen. I should be justified in saying: the 
Caesar is more ours (than yours), as having been appointed by 
our God. Accordingly, as he is mine, I work more for his safety, 
since I not only ask it from Him who is able to grant it, or 
because I who ask it am such an one as deserves to obtain it, 
but also because by lowering the greatness of the Caesar as 
compared with that of God, I commend him the more to God, 
to whom alone I subject him. But I subject him to Him, to 
whom I do not make him equal. For I will not call the emperor 
God, whether it is because I am unable to lie, or whether I do 
not dare to mock him, or because he himself will not even wish 
to be called God. If he be a man, it is man s interest to yield 
to God ; let him be content to be styled emperor. This also is 
a great name, bestowed upon him by God. He who calls the 
Caesar God, denies him to be what he is, an emperor ; unless 
he be a man, he is not emperor. That he is a man he is reminded 
even when he is riding in his triumphal chariot. For a hint 
comes to him from the rear: Look behind you! Eemember 
that you are a man ! And surely he is all the more carried away 
by the thought of his resplendent glory, that a reminder of his 
lot is necessary to him. He were smaller (than he is), if he 
were then called God, because he would not be truly so called. 
He who is recalled to himself lest he should think himself 
God, is the greater. 

CHAP. XXXIV. Augustus, the creator of the empire,, 
refused even to be called Lord: for this too is a surname of 
God. Of course I shall call the emperor lord, but with the 
usual spelling, and only when I am not forced to call him Lord 
with a capital, in place of God. But I am free so far as he is 
concerned ; for I have but one Master, the almighty and eternal 
God, the same who is also his God. How can he who is father 
of his native city be its lord? Moreover, the name which 
suggests affectionate care is more pleasing than that which 
suggests authority. Even of a household men are called fathers 
rather than lords. So far is it from being a right of the emperor 
to be called God, which is incredible [except] by a flattery that 



102 TERTVLLIANI 

turpissima sed et perniciosa adolatione. Tamquam si habens 
imperatorem alterum appelles, nonne maximam et inexorabilem 
offensam contrahes eius quern habuisti, etiam ipsi timendam 
quern appellasti? Esto religiosus in deum, qui uis ilium pro- 
pi tium imperatori. Desine alium deum credere atque ita et 5 
hunc deum dicere cui deo opus est. Si non de mendacio 
erubescit adulatio eiusmodi hominem deum appellans, timeat 
saltim de infausto. Maledictum est ante apotheosin deum 
Caesar em nuncupari. 

35. Propterea igitur publici hostes Christiani, quia impera- 10 
toribus neque uanos neque mentientes neque temerarios honores 
dicant, quia uerae religionis homines etiam sollemnia eorum 
conscientia potius quam lasciuia celebrant. Grande uidelicet 
officium focos et toros in publicum educere, uicatim epulari, 
ciuitatem tabernae habitu abolefacere, uino lutuni cogere, 15 
cateruatim cursitare ad iniurias, ad inpudentias, ad libidinis 
inlecebras. Sicine exprimitur publicum gaudium per dedecus 
publicum? Haecine solemnes dies principum decent, quae alios 
dies non decent? Qui obseruant disciplinam de Caesaris 
respectu, hi earn propter Caesarem deserunt, et malorum 20 
morum licentia pietas erit, occasio luxuriae religio deputabitur ? 
nos merito danmandos ! Cur enim uota et gaudia Caesarum 
casti et sobrii et probi expungimus? cur die laeto non laureis 
postes obumbramus nee lucernis diem infringimus? Honesta 
res est solemnitate publica exigente induere domui tuae habitum 25 
alicuius noui lupanaris. Velim tamen in hac quoque religione 
secundae maiestatis, de qua in secundum sacrilegium conuenimur 
Christiani non celebrando uobiscum solemnia Caesarum quo 
more celebrari nee modestia nee uerecundia nee pudicitia per- 
mittunt, sed occasio uoluptatis magis quam digna ratio per- 30 
suasit, fidem et ueritatem uestram demonstrare, ne forte et 
isthic deteriores Christianis deprehendantur qui nos nolunt 
Romanes haberi, sed ut hostes principum Romanorum. Ipsos 



APOLOGETICVS 34, 35 103 

is not merely base but baneful. It is just as if having an 
emperor, you were to call another [by the same title] ; will you 
not bring upon you the great and implacable hatred of the 
existing emperor, a hatred to be dreaded even by him to whom 
you have given the title? Be loyal towards God, you who 
wish Him to be propitious to the emperor. Cease to believe 
in another god, and so to describe him as a god, who has 
need of God. If such a flattery, calling a man a god, is not 
ashamed of the falsehood, let it at least be afraid of the ill-luck 
of so doing. It is the opposite of a blessing to call the Caesar 
god before his deification. 

CHAP. XXXV. On these grounds then the Christians are 
regarded as public enemies, because they do not offer to the 
emperors either useless or lying or ill-advised honours, because 
men of true religion celebrate even their regular festivals 
conscientiously rather than wantonly. It is forsooth an im 
portant duty, to bring out hearths and couches into the public 
street, to feast parish by parish, to efface the city under the 
guise of a tavern, to produce mud by wine 1 , to run about in 
crowds for the committal of outrages, insults and incitements 
to lust. Is it thus that public joy is expressed by public 
disgrace? Does such behaviour become the festal days of 
emperors, which befits not other days ? Shall those who observe 
order out of regard to Caesar, abandon it on account of Ca.esar, 
and shall loyalty grant a licence for immorality, and religion 
give occasion to indulgence? Verily we deserve to be con 
demned! For why do we, chaste, sober and honest people, 
fulfil the vows and joys of the Caesars? Why on the festal 
day do we not cover over our door-posts with bay garlands 
or violate the day with lamps ? Is it an honourable practice, 
when a public festival demands, to clothe your house with 
the garb of some new brothel ? I should like however to show 
your faithfulness and truth in the matter of this cult also 
of a second majesty, with reference to which we Christians 
are arraigned on a second charge of sacrilege, because we do 
not celebrate in your company the annual festivals of the 
Caesars in a manner in which neither sense of fitness nor 
modesty nor chastity allows them to be celebrated, but which 
the opportunity of pleasure rather than any worthy reason has 
prompted, lest perchance here too those who are unwilling that 
we should be considered Romans, but only as enemies of the 
Roman emperors, should be found worse than the Christians. 
I appeal to the citizens of Rome themselves, to the native 
1 J. B. M. reading uinum luto, thicken your mud with wine. 



101 TERTVLLIANI 

Quirites, ipsam uernaculam septem collium plebem conuenio, 
an alicui Caesari suo parcat ilia lingua Romana? Testis est 
Tiberis, et scholae bestiarum. lam si pectoribus ad translucen- 
dum quandam specularem materiam natura obduxisset, cuius 
non praecordia insculpta apparent noui ac noui Caesaris scenam 5 
congiario diuidundo praesidentis ? Etiam ilia hora qua ad- 
clamant : 

De nostris annis augeat tibi lupiter annos! 
Haec Christianus tarn enuntiare non nouit quam de nouo 
Caesare optare. Sed uulgus, inquis. Ut uulgus, tamen 10 
Romani, nee ulli magis depostulatores Christianorum quam 
uulgus. Plane ceteri ordines pro auctoritate religiosi ex fide. 
Nihil hosticum de ipso senatu, de equite, de castris, de palatiis 
ipsis spirat. Unde Cassii et Nigri et Albini? unde qui inter 
duas laurus obsident Caesarem? unde qui faucibus eius ex- 15 
primendis palaestricam exercent? unde qui armati palatium 
inrumpunt, omnibus tot Sigeriis atque Partheniis audaciores? 
De Romania, nisi fallor, id est de non Christianis. Atque adeo 
omnes illi sub ipsa usque impietatis eruptione et sacra faciebant 
pro salute imperatoris et genium eius deierabant, alii foris alii 20 
intus, et utique publicorum hostium nomen Christianis dabant. 
Sed et qui nunc scelestarum partium socii aut plausores cotidie 
reuelantur, post uindemiam parricidarum racematio superstes, 
quam recentissimis et ramosissimis laureis postes praestruebant, 
quam elatissimis et clarissimis lucernis uestibula nebulabant, 25 
quam cultissimis et superbissimis toris forum sibi diuidebant, 
non ut gaudia publica celebrarent, sed ut uota propria iam 
ediscerent in aliena sollemnitate et exemplum atque imaginem 
spei suae inaugurarent, nomen principis in corde mutantes. 
Eadem officia dependunt et qui astrologos et aruspices et 3 
augures et magos de Caesarum capite consultant, quas artes 
ut ab angelis desertoribus proditas et a deo interdict-as ne suis 
quidem causis adhibent Christiani. Cui autem opus est per- 



APOLOGETICVS 35 105 

populace of the seven hills, I charge you to say whether that 
Koman tongue spares any Caesar belonging to it 1 . Witness 
not the Tiber only but the training-schools of wild beasts as well. 
Again, if nature had drawn over our breasts some transparent 
substance through which the light could pass, who is there 
whose heart would not appear to be engraved with the likeness 
of one new Caesar after another, presiding over the distribution 
of a dole ? Even at that hour at which they shout : 
May Jupiter add years to thine from ours! 

These words the Christian is just as unable to utter as he is to 
pray for this in the case of a new Caesar. But it is the mob, you 
say. Though it is the mob, yet they are Romans, and none 
demand the Christians for punishment more eagerly than the 
mob. No doubt the other classes of society, in proportion 
to their authority, are religious from conviction; nothing 
hostile breathes from the senate itself, from the knights, from 
the army, from the palace itself. Whence come the Cassii and 
the Nigri and the Albini? Whence those who besiege Caesar 
between the two bay- trees? Whence those who practise gym 
nastic exercises in order to strangle him? W T hence those who 
rush armed into the palace, more reckless than all the number of 
the Sigerii and Parthenii ? All come from among the Romans, if 
I am not mistaken, that is, from among the pagans. And yet all 
these traitors up to the actual outbreak of disloyalty were both 
sacrificing for the safety of the emperor and swearing by his 
genius, some out of doors, others within, and of course they 
were giving the name of public enemies to the Christians. 
But even those who are now daily revealed as the accomplices 
or abettors of criminal factions, the gleanings that still remain 
after the vintage of parricides, how they decked out their doors 
with the freshest and most luxuriant bay-trees, how they 
darkened their porches with the tallest and brightest lamps, 
with what elegant and splendid couches did they divide up the 
market-place among themselves, not that they might celebrate 
the joy of the people, but that they might now learn 
private prayers in a ceremony connected with another and 
might install both a copy and a picture of their hope, while 
changing mentally the name of the emperor! These same 
dutiful services are paid also by those who consult astrologers 
and soothsayers and augurs and magicians about the lives of 
the Caesars, which arts, as having been introduced by the 
apostate angels and forbidden by God, the Christians never 
employ even for their own concerns. Moreover, who needs to 

1 not?. 



106 TERTVLLIANI 

scrutari super Caesaris salute, nisi a quo aliquid aduersus illam 
cogitatur uel optatur, aut post illam speratur et sustinetur? 
Non enim ea mente de caris consulitur qua de dominis. Aliter 
curiosa est sollicitudo sanguinis, aliter seruitutis. 

36. Si haec ita sunt, ut hostes deprehendantur qui Romani 5 
uocabantur, cur nos, qui hostes existimamur, Romani negamur? 
Non possumus et Romani non esse et hostes esse, cum hostes 
reperiantur qui Romani habebantur. Adeo pietas et religio et 
fides imperatoribus debita non in huiusmodi officiis consistit 
quibus et hostilitas magis ad uelamentum sui potest fungi, sed 10 
in his moribus quibus diuinitas imperat tarn uere quam circa 
omnes necesse habent exhiberi. Neque enim haec opera bonae 
mentis solis imperatoribus debentur a nobis. Nullum bonum 
sub exceptione personarum administramus, quia nobis prae- 
stamus, qui non ab homine aut laudis aut praemii expensum 15 
captamus, sed a deo exactore et remuneratore indifferentis 
benignitatis. Idem sumus imperatoribus qui et uicinis nostris. 
Male enim uelle, male facere, male dicere, male cogitare de 
quoquam ex aequo uetamur. Quodcunque non licet in impera- 
torem, id nee in quemquam : quod in neminem, eo forsitan 20 
magis nee in ipsum qui per deum tantus est. 

37. Si inimicos, ut supra diximus, iubemur diligere, quern 
habemus odisse? Item si laesi uicem referre prohibemur, ne 
de facto pares simus, quern possumus laedere? Nam de isto 
ipsi recognoscite. Quotiens enim in Christianos desaeuitis, 25 
partim animis propriis, partim legibus obsequentes? Quotiens 
etiam praeteritis uobis suo iure nos inimicum uulgus inuadit 
lapidibus et incendiis? Ipsis Bacchanalium furiis nee mortuis 
parcunt Christian is, quin illos de requie sepulturae, de asylo 
quodam mortis, iam alios, iam nee totos auellant, dissecent, 30 
distrahant. Quid tamen de tarn conspiratis umquam denotatis, 



APOLOGETICVS 35, 36, 37 107 

inquire into the safety of Caesar, except he who meditates or 
desires something against it, or who hopes and waits for some 
thing to follow after? For one does not consult about friends 
with the same feeling as about masters. The solicitude of 
kinship is of a different nature from that of servitude. 

CHAP. XXXVI. If this is so, that those are found out to be 
enemies who were called Komans, why are we, who are but 
thought to be enemies, denied to be Romans? We cannot be 
at the same time non-Romans and enemies, since those who \vere 
considered Romans are found to be enemies. The fact is that 
the loyalty and worship and faith that are due to the emperors 
do not consist in services such as even enmity can perform 
rather as a cloak to itself, but in those habits, which are as 
truly demanded by the godhead as they must be shown 
towards mankind in general. For indeed it is not to the 
emperors alone that such services of good will are due from us. 
No benefit that we accomplish pays any regard to special 
individuals, because it is to ourselves that we perform it, and 
we do not snatch at payment from a man either of praise or 
of reward, but from God, who exacts and rewards impartial 
kindness. We are the same to the emperors as w T e are to our 
neighbours. For we are forbidden to wish evil, to do evil, to 
say evil, to think evil, about any one without distinction. 
Whatsoever is not permitted against the emperor, neither is 
it permitted against any one; and what is permitted against 
no one, is perhaps all the more forbidden against him whom 
God has made so great. 

CHAP. XXXVII. If we are ordered, as we said above, to 
love our enemies, whom have we left to hate ? Likewise, if when 
injured we are forbidden to retaliate, lest by our action we should 
put ourselves on the level of our enemy, whom can we injure? 
For consider this matter yourselves. How often do you rage 
fiercely against the Christians in obedience partly to your 
own feelings, partly to the laws? How often also, passing 
you over, does the hostile rabble of its own right attack us 
with stones and fires? With the very rage of Bacchanals, 
they do not spare Christians even when they are dead, nay from 
the rest of the tomb, from the sort of refuge that death affords, 
they would drag them away, cut them up, tear them to pieces, 
when they are already decomposed, when already not even 
entire. Yet what instance did you ever note 1 of our retaliation 

1 Reading denotastis. 



108 TERTVLLIANI 

de tarn animatis ad mortem usque pro iniuria repensatum, 
quando uel una nox pauculis faculis largiter ultionis posset 
operari, si malum malo dispungi penes nos liceret? Sed absit 
ut aut igni humano uindicetur diuina secta aut doleat pati in. 
quo probatur. Si enim et hostes exertos, non tantum uindices 5 
occultos agere uellemus, deesset nobis uis mimeroruni et 
copiarum? Plures nimirurn Mauri et Marcomanni ipsique 
Parthi, uel quantaecunque unius tamen loci et suorum finmm 
gentes quam totius orbis. Hesterni sumus, et uestra omnia 
impleuimus, urbes, insulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, 10 
castra ipsa, tribus, decurias, palatium, senatum, forum; sola 
uobis reliquimus templa. Cui bello non idonei, non prompti 
fuissemus, etiam inpares copiis, qui tarn libenter trucidamur, 
si non apud istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret quam occidere ? 
Potuimus et inermes nee rebelles, sed tantummodo discordes 15 
solius diuortii inuidia aduersus uos dimicasse. Si enim tanta 
uis hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus a 
uobis, suffudisset utique dominationem uestram tot qualium- 
cumque ciuium amissio, immo etiam et ipsa destitutione 
punisset. Procul dubio expauissetis ad solitudinem uestram, 20 
ad silentium rerum et stuporem quendam quasi mortui orbis. 
Quaesissetis quibus imperaretis. Plures hostes quam ciues uobis 
remansissent. Nunc enim pauciores hostes habetis prae multi- 
tudine Christianorum, paene omnium ciuitatium paene omnes 
ciues Christianos habendo. Sed hostes maluistis uocare generis 25 
humani potius quam erroris humani. Quis autem uos ab illis 
occultis et usquequaque uastantibus mentes et ualitudines 
uestras hostibus raperet, a daemoniorum incursibus dico, quae 
de uobis sine praemio, sine mercede depellimus? Suffecisset 
hoc solum nostrae ultioni, quod uacua exinde possessio inmundis 30 
spiritibus pateret. Porro nee tanti praesidii conpensationem 
cogitantes non modo non molestum uobis genus, uerum etiam 



APOLOGETICVS 37 109 

upon you for injuries inflicted on us who are so united and so 
stout-hearted even to death, when even a single night with 
a few little torches could effect abundant vengeance, if it were 
allowable amongst us to wipe out wrong with wrong? But 
a truce to the thought that a sect actuated by the spirit of 
God should either be avenged by the torch of man or should 
shrink from suffering that by which it is tested. For if we 
wished to play the part also of declared enemies, and not merely 
that of secret avengers, should we lack the force of numbers 
and of troops ? The Moors and the Marcomani and the Parthians 
themselves, or any races of whatsoever size, which are limited 
nevertheless to one place and to their own territory, are I suppose 
more numerous than we are whose region is coextensive with 
the whole world ! We are but of yesterday, yet we have filled 
all that is yours, cities, islands, fortified towns, country towns, 
centres of meeting, even camps, tribes, classes of public atten 
dants, the palace, the senate, the forum ; we have left you only 
your temples. For what war should we not have been fitted 
and ready, even if we had been unequal in forces, we, who are 
so willing to be butchered, if it had not been more permissible 
according to this teaching of ours to be slain than to slay? We 
could also, unarmed, and not rebellious but merely disagreeing, 
have fought against you, using only the weapon of the ill-will 
which our separation creates. For if such a mass of men as 
we are had broken off from you and gone to some distant corner 
of the world, the loss of so many citizens, of whatever sort, 
would assuredly have shamed your rule, nay rather would have 
punished it even by the very fact of its desertion. Without 
doubt you would have been panic-stricken at your solitude, 
at the silence of business and the death-like stupefaction of 
the world; you would have had to seek subjects to rule over. 
More enemies would have remained to you than subjects. Now 
as a matter of fact you have fewer enemies, in consequence of 
the multitude of the Christians, owing to the fact that nearly 
all the citizens you have in nearly all the cities are Christian. 
But you have chosen to call them enemies of the human race 
rather than of human error. Moreover, who would have 
snatched you from those secret enemies that everywhere play 
havoc with your minds and health ? I mean from the incursions 
of spirits, which we drive from you, without reward and without 
price. This alone would have been sufficient for our vengeance, 
that an empty tenement was then left open to unclean spirits. 
Further, without even a thought of the compensation required 
for so great a protection, you have preferred to consider as 
enemies a class which is not only harmless to you, but even 



110 TERTVLLIANI 

necessarium hostes iudicare maluistis, quia sumus plane, non 
generis humani tamen, sed potius erroris. 

38. Proinde nee paulo lenius inter licitas factiones sectam 
istam deputari oportebat, a qua nihil tale committitur quale de 
inlicitis factionibus timeri solet? Nisi fallor enim, prohiben- 5 
darum factionum causa de prouidentia constat modestiae 
publicae, ne ciuitas in partes scinderetur, quae res facile comitia, 
concilia, curias, contiones, spectacula etiam aemulis studiorum 
conpulsationibus inquietaret, cum iam et in quaestu habere 
coepissent uenalem et mercenariam homines uiolentiae suae 10 
operam. At enim nobis ab omni gloriae et dignitatis ardore 
frigentibus nulla est necessitas coetus, nee ulla magis res aliena 
quam publica. Unam omnium rempublicam agnoscimus, mun- 
dum. Aeque spectaculis uestris in tan turn renuntiamus in 
quantum originibus eorum, quas scimus de superstitione con- 15 
ceptas, cum et ipsis rebus, de quibus transiguntur, praetersumus. 
Nihil est nobis dictu, uisu, auditu cum insania circi, cum 
inpudicitia theatri, cum atrocitate arenae, cum xysti uanitate. 
Quo uos offendimus, si alias praesumimus uoluptates? Si 
oblectari nouisse nolumus, nostra iniuria est, si forte, non 20 
uestra. Sed reprobamus quae placent uobis. Nee uos nostra 
delectant. Sed licuit Epicureis aliquam decernere uoluptatis 
ueritatem, id est animi aequitatem, et ampla negotia Chris- 
tianae. 

39. Edam iam nunc ego ipse negotia Christianae factionis, 25 
ut qui mala refutauerim, bona ostendam. Corpus sumus de 
conscientia religionis et disciplinae unitate et spei foedere. 
Coimus in coetum et congregationem, ut ad deum quasi manu 
facta precationibus ambiamus orantes. Haec uis deo grata 
est. Oramus etiam pro imperatoribus, pro ministris eorum et 3 
potestatibus, pro statu saeculi, pro rerum quiete, pro mora 
finis. Coimus ad litterarum diuinarum commemorationem, si 
quid praesentium temporum qualitas aut praemonere cogit 
aut recognoscere. Certe fidem sanctis uocibus pascimus, spem 



APOLOGETIC VS 37, 38, 39 111 

necessary, people that palpably are enemies, yet not indeed 
of the human race, but rather of error. 

CHAP. XXXVIII. Furthermore was not a somewhat gentler 
attitude also more fitting, namely the enrolment of this sect 
among the legal associations, seeing it commits no such crime 
as is wont to be feared from illegal associations? For unless 
I am mistaken, the reason for preventing associations derives 
its force from forethought as to public order, lest the state should 
be split up into factions. This result would easily disturb the 
elections, the assemblies, the senates, public meetings, even the 
shows, by the rival clash of partisanship, since even already 
men had begun to regard their deeds of violence as for sale 
and hire, and a means of earning a livelihood. But to us who 
are dead to all the zeal for fame and position, there is no need 
for meeting together, nor is tEere anytnTng more foreign to us 
than affairs of state. We recognise the world as one common 
wealth belonging to all. Your shows likewise we shun just 
as much as their beginnings, which we know arise from super 
stition, since we pass by even the events themselves which are 
their occasion. We have nothing to say, or see or hear, in 
connexion with the madness of the circus, the immodesty of 
the theatre, the ferocity of the arena, the vain-glory of the 
gymnasium. In what do we offend you, if we prefer different 
pleasures? If we refuse to be taught how to enjoy pleasure, 
it is our loss, perhaps, not yours. But we reject what pleases 
you, nor do our pleasures delight you. But the Epicureans 
were permitted to maintain some reality of pleasure, that is 
calm of mind, and for the Christian s pleasure there are great 
tasks. 

CHAP. XXXIX. I will now at once proclaim the actual 1 
occupations of the Christian association, in order that I who 
rejected the idea that they were evil may show that they are 
good. We are a corporation with a common knowledge of 
religion, a common rule of life, and an union of hope. We 
come together for meeting and assembly, in order that having 
formed a band as it were to come before God we may encompass 
him with prayers. This violence is pleasing to God. We pray 
also for the emperors, for their ministers and those in authority, 
for the state of the world, for general quiet, for the postponement 
of the end. We meet to call one another to remembrance of 
the Scripture, if the aspect of affairs requires us either to be 
forewarned or to be reminded of anything. In any case we feed 
1 ipsa, J. B. M. ipse cett. 



112 TERTVLLIANI 

erigimus, fiduciam figimus, disciplinam praeceptorum nihilo- 
minus inculcationibus densamus; ibidem etiam exhortationes, 
castigationes et censura diuina. Nam et iudicatur magno cum 
pondere, ut apud certos de dei conspectu, summumque futuri 
iudicii praeiudicium est, si quis ita deliquerit, ut a communi- 
catione orationis et conuentus et omnis sancti commercii 
relegetur. Praesident probati quique seniores, honorem istum 
non pretio, sed testimonio adepti. Neque enim pretio ulla res 
dei constat. Etiam si quod arcae genus est, non de honoraria 
summa quasi redemptae religionis congregatur. Modicam 10 
unusquisque stipem menstrua die, uel cum uelit, et si modo 
uelit, et si modo possit, apponit; nam nemo compellitur, sed 
sponte confert. Haec quasi deposita pietatis sunt. Nam inde 
non epulis nee potaculis nee ingratiis uoratrinis dispensatur, sed 
egenis alendis humandisque et pueris ac puellis re ac parentibus 15 
destitutis, iamque domesticis senibus, item naufragis, et si qui 
in metallis, et si qui in insulis uel in custodiis, dumtaxat ex 
causa dei sectae, alumni confessionis suae fiunt. Sed eiusmodi 
uel maxime dilectionis operatio notam nobis inurit penes 
quosdam. Vide, inquiunt, ut inuicem se diligant ; ipsi enim 20 
inuicem oderunt: et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati; ipsi 
enim ad occidendum alterutrum paratiores erunt. Sed et quod 
fratres nos uocamus, non alias, opinor, insaniunt quam quod 
apud ipsos omne sanguinis nomen de affectione simulatum est. 
Fratres autem etiam uestri sumus, iure naturae matris unius, 25 
etsi uos parum homines, quia mali fratres. At quanto dignius 
fratres et dicuntur et habentur qui unum patrem deum agno- 
uerunt, qui unum spiritum biberint sanctitatis, qui de unq utero 
ignorantiae eiusdem ad unam lucem expauerint ueritatis. Sed 
eo fortasse minus legitimi existimamur, quia nulla de nostra 3 
fraternitate tragoedia exclamat, uel quia ex substantia familiari 
fratres sumus, quae penes uos fere dirimit fraternitatem. Itaque 
qui animo animaque miscemur, nihil de rei communicatione 
dubitamus. Omnia indiscreta sunt apud nos praeter uxores. 
In isto loco consortium soluimus in quo solo ceteri homines 35 
consortium exercent, qui non amicorum solummodo matrimonia 



APOLOGETICVS 39 113 

our belief on holy words, we raise our hope, we strengthen our 
confidence, we clinch the teaching none the less by driving 
home precepts. There too are pronounced exhortations, correc 
tions and godly judgments. For our judgment too is delivered 
with great weight, as among those who are sure that they are 
acting under the eye of God, and there is the greatest anticipa 
tion of the future judgment, if any one has so sinned, as to be 
banished from the communion of prayer and assembly and all 
holy fellowship. We are governed by the most approved elders, 
who have obtained this office not by purchase, but on testimony ; 
for indeed nothing of God is obtainable by money. Even if 
we have a kind of treasury, this is not filled up from a sense of 
obligation, as of a hired religion. Each member adds a small 
sum once a month, or when he pleases, and only if he is willing 
and able ; for no one is forced, but each contributes of his own 
free will. These are the deposits as it were made by devotion. 
For that sum is disbursed not on banquets nor drinking bouts 
nor unwillingly on eating-houses, but on the supporting and 
burying of the poor, and on boys and girls deprived of property 
and parents, and on aged servants of the house, also on ship 
wrecked persons, and any, who are in the mines or on islands 
or in prisons, provided it be for the cause of God s religion, 
who thus become pensioners of their confession. But the 
working of that kind of love most of all brands us with a mark 
of blame in the eyes of some. See, they say, how they love 
one another ; for they themselves hate one another ; * and how 
they are ready to die for one another ; for they will be more 
ready to kill one another. But also they rage at us for calling 
one another brethren, for no other reason, I suppose, than 
because among themselves every name indicating blood relation 
ship is assumed from affection. But we are also your brothers, 
by right of nature, the one mother, although you are little 
deserving of the name men, because you are evil brothers. But 
how much more worthily are those both called and considered 
brethren who have recognised one Father, namely God, who have 
imbibed one spirit of holiness, who from one womb of the same 
ignorance have quaked before one light of truth ! But we are 
perhaps regarded as less legitimate for the reason that no 
tragedy proclaims aloud our brotherliness, or because we are 
brothers as the result of household possessions, which among 
you generally break up the relationship of brothers. And so 
we, who are united in heart and soul, have no hesitation about 
sharing a thing. Among us all things are common except wives. 
In this matter alo~ne we dissolve partnership, in ^which alone 
all other men practise partnership, who not only use the wives 

M. T. 8 



114 TERTVLLIANI 

usurpant, sed et sua amicis patientissime subministrant ; ex 
ilia, credo, maiorum et sapientissimorum disciplina, Graeci 
Socratis et Roman! Catonis, qui uxores suas amicis communi- 
cauerunt, quas in matrimonium duxerant liberorum causa et 
alibi creandorum, nescio quidem an inuitas. Quid enim de 5 
castitate curarent, quam mariti tarn facile donauerant? 
sapientiae Atticae, o Romanae grauitatis exemplum : lenones 
philosophus et censor ! Quid ergo minim, si tanta caritas con- 
uiolatur? Nam et coenulas nostras praeterquarn sceleris 
infames ut prodigas quoque suggillatis. De nobis scilicet 10 
Diogenis dictum est: Megarenses obsonant quasi crastina die 
morituri, aedificant uero quasi numquam morituri. Sed 
stipulam quis in alieno oculo facilius perspicit quam in suo 
trabem. Tot tribubus et curiis et decuriis ructantibus acescit 
aer : Saliis coenaturis creditor erit necessarius : Herculanarum 15 
decimarum et polluctorum sumptus tabularii supputabunt: 
Apaturiis, Dionysiis, mysteriis Atticis cocorum dilectus indicitur : 
ad fumum coenae Sarapiacae sparteoli excitabuntur. De solo 
triclinio Christianorum retractatur. Coena nostra de nomine 
rationem sui ostendit. Id uocatur quod dilectio penes Graecos. 20 
Quantiscumque sumptibus constet, lucrum est pietatis nomine 
facere sumptum. siquidem inopes quosque refrigerio isto 
iuuamus, non qua penes uos parasiti adfectant ad gloriam 
famulandae libertatis sub auctoramento uentris inter con- 
tumelias saginandi, sed qua penes deum maior est contemplatio 25 
mediocrium. Si honesta causa est conuiuii, reliquum ordinem 
disciplinae de causa aestimate. Quod sit de religionis officio, 
nihil uilitatis, nihil inmodestiae admittit. Non prius discum- 
bitur quam oratio ad deum praegustetur. Editur quantum 
esurientes capiunt, bibitur quantum pudicis utile est. Ita 30 
saturantur, ut qui meminerint etiam per noctem adorandum 
deum sibi esse; ita fabulantur, ut qui sciant dominum audire. 
Post aquam manualem et lumina, ut quisque de scripturis 
sanctis uel de proprio ingenio potest, prouocatur in medium deo 
canere ; hinc probatur quomodo biberit. Aeque oratio con- 35 
uiuium dirimit. Inde disceditur non in cateruas caesionum 
nee in classes discursationum nee in eruptiones lasciuiarum, 



APOLOGETICVS 39 115 

of friends, but also most patiently supply their own to their 
friends, in accordance, I believe, with the well-known teaching 
of ancient sages and philosophers, the Greek Socrates and the 
Roman Cato, who shared their wives with friends, those wives 
whom they had married, perhaps with their consent, to bear 
children in other households also. For what care could they 
have for chastity, which their husbands had given away so 
lightly ! What an example of Athenian philosophy, of Roman 
seriousness ! A philosopher and a censor both acting the part 
of procurers ! What wonder is it then that so great affection is 
outraged ! For you also revile our little dinners as extravagant 
also in addition to being disgraced by crime. It was about us of 
course that Diogenes uttered his saying: The Megarians buy 
food as if they were to die to-morrow, but they build as if they 
were never to die ! But one sees a mote more easily in another s 
eye than a beam in one s own. The air becomes sour with so 
many tribes, parishes and guilds belching. The Salii will need 
a money-lender when they are to dine : the public accountants 
will sum up the expenditure of the tithes and offerings to 
Hercules ; at the Apaturia, the Dionysia, and the Attic mysteries 
a levy of cooks is proclaimed, at the smoke of a Sarapis banquet 
the firemen will be aroused. It is only the dining-room of the 
Christians that is objected to. Our dinner shows its significance 
by its name : it is called by the name which amongst the Greeks 
means affection. Whatsoever be its cost, it is a gain to incur 
expense in the name of religion, since by this refreshment we 
help those who are in need, not in the way that among you 
parasites eagerly strive for the glory of enslaving their freedom at 
the price of a belly that has to be filled amid insults ; but in the 
way that with God greater regard is paid to them of low degree. 
If the purpose of our entertainment is honourable, form your 
estimate of the remainder of our rule from its motive. As it is 
concerned with our religious duty, it allows nothing base, 
nothing disorderly. We do not recline until we have first 
partaken of prayer to God ; only so much is eaten as to satisfy 
hunger ; only as much is drunk as becomes the chaste. Appetite 
is satisfied so far as is consistent with the remembrance that 
they have to worship God even in the night ; they talk as those 
who know that the Master is listening/ After the bringing in of 
water for washing the hands, and lights, each is invited to sing 
publicly to God as he is able from his knowledge of holy scripture 
or from his own mind ; thus it can be tested how he has drunk. 
In like manner prayer closes the feast. The meeting then 
breaks up, not into riotous bands for assaulting the innocent, 
nor into disturbances in the streets, nor for outbursts of 

82 



116 TERTVLLIANI 

sed ad eandem curam modestiae et pudicitiae, ut qui non tarn 
coenam coenauerint quam disciplinam. Haec coitio Christia- 
norum merito sane inlicita, si inlicitis par, merito damnanda, 
si quis de ea queritur eo titulo quo de factionibus querela est. 
In cuius perniciem aliquando conuenimus ? Hoc sumus con- 5 
gregati quod et dispersi, hoc uniuersi quod et singuli, neminem 
laedentes, neminem contristantes. Cum probi, cum boni 
coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda, 
sed curia. 

40. At e contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum 10 
est qui in odium bonorum et proborum conspirant, qui aduersum 
sanguinem innocentium conclamant, praetexentes sane ad odii 
defensionem illam quoque uanitatem, quod existiment omnis 
publicae cladis, omnis popularis incommodi Christianos esse in 
causam. Si Tiberis ascendit in rnoenia, si Nilus non ascendit 15 
in arua, si caelum stetit, si terra mouit, si fames, si lues, statim 
Christianos ad leonem ! adclamatur. Tantos ad unum ? Oro 
uos, ante Tiberium, id est ante Christi aduentum, quantae clades 
orbem et urbes ceciderunt? Legimus Hieran, Anaphen et 
Delon et Rhodon et Co insulas multis cum milibus hominum 20 
pessum abisse. Memorat et Plato maiorem Asiae uel Africae 
terram Atlantico mari ereptam. Sed et mare Corinthium 
terrae motus ebibit, et uis undarum Lucaniam abscisam in 
Siciliae nomen relegauit. Haec utique non sine iniuria in- 
colentium accidere potuerunt. Ubi uero tune, non dicam 25 
deorum uestrorum contemptores Christiani, sed ipsi dei ues.tri, 
cum totum orbem cataclysmus aboleuit, uel, ut Plato putauit, 
campestre solummodo? Posteriores enim illos clade diluuii 
contestantur ipsae urbes in quibus nati mortuique sunt, etiam 
quas condiderunt ; neque enim alias hodiernum manerent nisi 30 
et ipsae posthumae cladis illius. Nondum ludaeum ab Aegypto 
examen Palaestina susceperat nee iam illic Christianae sectae 
origo consederat, cum regiones adfines eius Sodoma et Gomorra 
igneus imber exussit. Olet adhuc incendio terra, et si qua 



APOLOGETICVS 39, 40 117 

lasciviousness, but to the same care for orderliness and modesty, 
as those who have fed, not so much on meats as on instruction 
in righteousness. This meeting together of Christians would 
have been deservedly illegal, I admit, if it were the same as 
the illegal, deservedly to be condemned, if any one complains of 
it with the same accusation as is made about clubs. For whose 
ruin have we ever met? We are the same when gathered 
together as we are when scattered, we are as a body what we 
are also as individuals, injuring no one, paining no one. When 
worthy, when good men come together, when the pious and 
pure are gathered together, it is to be called not a club, but a 
council chamber. 

CHAP. XL. But on the contrary the name of faction is to 
be applied to those who conspire to foment hatred against good 
and worthy persons, who cry aloud against the blood of the 
innocent, pretending forsooth in defence of their hatred that 
foolish excuse besides, that the Christians are to blame for 
every public disaster, every misfortune that happens to the 
people. If the Tiber rises to the walls, if the Nile does not 
rise to the fields, if the sky is rainless, if there is an earthquake, 
a famine, a plague, immediately the cry arises, The Christians 
to the lion ! What ! so many to one (lion) ? I pray you tell 
me: before the time of Tiberius, that is, before the coming 
of Christ, how many disasters smote the world or particular 
cities? We read that Hiera, Anaphe and Delos and Rhodes 
and Ophiusa 1 were ruined with many thousands of persons. 
Plato also mentions that a land greater than Asia or Africa 
was snatched away by the Atlantic Ocean. But an earth 
quake also drained the Corinthian sea, and the force of the 
waves cut off Lucania and banished it to bear the name of 
Sicily. These things of course could not happen without harm 
to the inhabitants. But where were at that time, I will not 
say, the Christians who think nothing of your gods, but your 
gods themselves, when a flood overwhelmed the whqle world, or, 
as Plato supposed, only the plains? For, that your gods are 
later than the catastrophe of the flood, is attested by the very 
cities in which they were born and died, or even which they 
founded ; for otherwise they would not have remained to-day, 
if they had not been later than that disaster. Palestine had not 
yet received its Jewish swarm from Egypt, nor yet had the 
beginning of the Christian sect settled there, when a shower of 
fire burnt up the neighbouring regions of Sodom and Gomorrha. 

1 Reading Ophiusam for Co insulas. 



118 TERTVLLIANI 

illic arborum poma, conantur oculis tenus, ceterum contacta 
cinerescunt. Sed nee Tuscia iam tune atque Campania de 
Christianis querebantur, cum Yulsinios de caelo, Pompeios de 
suo monte perfudit ignis. Nemo adhuc Komae deum uerum 
adorabat cum Hannibal apud Cannas per Eomanos anulos 5 
caedes suas modio metiebatur. Omnes dei uestri ab omnibus 
colebantur, cum ipsum Capitolium Senones occupauerant. Et 
bene quod, si quid aduersi urbibus accidit, eaedem clades 
templorum quae et moenium fuerunt, ut iam hoc reuincam non 
ab eis euenire, quia et ipsis euenit. Semper humana gens male 10 
de deo meruit. Primo quidem ut inofficiosa eius, quern cum 
intellegeret ex parte, non requisiuit, sed et alios insuper sibi 
commentata quos coleret; dehinc quod non inquirendo inno- 
centiae magistrum et nocentiae iudicem et exactorem omnibus 
uitiis et criminibus inoleuit. Ceterum si requisisset, seque- 15 
batur, ut cognosceret requisitum et recognitum obseruaret et 
obseruatum propitium magis experiretur quam iratum. Eundem 
igitur nunc quoque scire debet iratum quern et retro semper, 
priusquam Christiani nominarentur. Cuius bonis utebatur ante 
editis quam sibi deos fingeret, cur non ab eo etiam mala intellegat 20 
euenire cuius bona esse non sensit? Illius rea est cuius et 
ingrata. Et tamen si pristinas clades comparernus, leuiora 
nunc accidunt, ex quo Christianos a deo orbis accepit. Ex 
eo enim et innocentia saeculi iniquitates temperauit et depre- 
catores dei esse coeperunt. Denique cum ab imbribus aestiua 25 
hiberna sus{)endunt et annus in cura est, uos quidem cotidie 
pasti statimque pransuri, balneis et cauponiis et lupanaribus 
operantibus, aquilicia loui immolatis, nudipedalia populo 
denuntiatis, caelum apud Capitolium quaeritis, nubila de 
laquearibus exspectatis, auersi ab ipso et deo et caelo : nos 30 
uero ieiuniis aridi et omni continentia expressi, ab omni uitae 
fruge dilati, in sacco et cinere uolutantes inuidia caelum tun- 



APOLOGETICVS 40 119 

The land still smells of fire, and if any tree bears fruit there, 
it can only be looked at, but when touched it turns to ashes. 
But neither did Tuscany nor Campania even in those days com 
plain about the Christians when fire from heaven flooded 
Vulsinii, and fire from its own mountain Pompeii. No one 
as yet worshipped the true God at Rome, when Hannibal by 
means of the Roman rings measured by bushel the extent of 
the slaughter he had inflicted at Cannae. All your gods were 
worshipped by all, when the Senones had seized the Capitol 
itself. And fortunately any misfortune that happened to cities 
involved temples in the same disasters as the city walls, which 
enables me now to prove that such disasters do not come from 
the gods, because they come upon themselves also. The human 
race has always deserved ill of God: in the first place indeed 
as neglecting its duty towards him, whom though it understood 
partly, it did not search out, but also devised for itself other 
deities besides to worship ; in the second place because, by not 
seeking out the teacher of uprightness and judge and avenger 
of guilt, it has grown in all vices and crimes. But if it had 
sought him out, it would have followed that, when it had 
sought him, it might learn to know him, and when it recognised 
him it might worship him, and when it had worshipped him 
it might find him by experience to be propitious rather than 
wrathful. Therefore we ought now also to know that the same 
god is angry, as always in the past also, before Christians 
received their name. Seeing that it enjoyed his blessings, which 
were displayed before it fashioned gods for itself, why should 
it not understand that evils also come from him, to whom it 
was not conscious that the blessings belonged ? It is guilty of 
that towards which it is also ungrateful. And yet if we were 
to compare the disasters of old, those of the present day are 
slighter, since God gave the Christians as his gift to the world. 
For from that time uprightness has moderated the injustices 
of the world and likewise men have begun to be intercessors 
with God. For example, when summer weather keeps the 
winter from rains, and the crops are a subject of anxiety, you 
to be sure, feeding daily and yet immediately ready to resume 
your meals, while the baths, the taverns and the brothels are 
busy, sacrifice offerings to Jupiter for rain, order the people 
to go for a season with bare fe^t, seek the heaven at the 
Capitol, and watch for clouds from its panelled roofs, turning 
away both from God himself and from heaven itself. But 
we, parched with fastings and pinched with every sort of self- 
restraint, separated from all bread necessary to life, wallowing 
in sackcloth and ashes, importune heaven with reproach, we 



120 TERTVLLIANI 

dimus, deum tangimus, et cum misericordiam extorserimus, 
lupiter honoratur. 

41 . Vos igitur inportuni rebus humanis, uos rei publicorum 
incommodorum inlices semper, apud quos deus spernitur, 
statuae adorantur. Etenim credibilius haberi debet eum irasci 5 
qui neglegatur quam qui coluntur, aut nae illi iniquissimi, si 
propter Christianos etiam cultores suos laedunt, quos separare 
deberent a meritis Christianorum. Hoc, inquitis, et in deum 
uestrum repercutere est, si quod et ipse patiatur, propter 
profanos etiam suos cultores laedi. Admittite prius disposi- 10 
tiones eius, et non retorquebitis. Qui enim semel aeternum 
indicium destinauit post saeculi finem, non praecipitat dis- 
cretionem, quae est condicio iudicii, ante saeculi finem. Aequalis 
est interim super omne hominum genus et indulgens et increpans. 
Communia uoluit esse et commoda profanis et incommoda suis, 15 
ut pari consortio omnes et lenitatem eius et seueritatem ex- 
periremur. Quia haec ita didicimus apud ipsum, diligimus 
lenitatem, metuimus seueritatem, uos contra utramque de- 
spicitis : et sequitur ut omnes saeculi plagae nobis, si forte, in 
admonitionem, uobis in castigationem a deo obueniarit. Atquin 20 
nos nullo modo laedimur; inprimis quia nihil nostra refert in 
hoc aeuo nisi de eo quam celeriter excedere, dehinc, quia si 
quid aduersi infligitur, uestris meritis deputatur. Sed etsi aliqua 
nos quoque praestringunt ut uobis cohaerentes, laetamur magis 
recognitione diuinarum praedicationum, confirmantium scilicet 25 
fiduciam et fidem spei nostrae. Sin uero ab eis quos colitis 
omnia uobis mala eueniunt nostri causa, quid colere perse- 
ueratis tarn ingratos, tarn iniustos, qui magis uos in dolore 
Christianorum iuuare et adserere debuerant, quos separare 

deberent a meritis Christianorum? 30 



42. Sed alio quoque iniuriarum titulo postulamur, et in- 
fructuosi in negotiis dicimur. Quo pacto homines uobiscum 
degentes, eiusdem uictus, habitus, instructus, eiusdem ad 
uitam necessitatis ? Neque enim Brachmanae aut Indorum 



APOLOGETICVS 40, 41, 42 121 

touch the heart of God, and when we have wrested mercy 
(from Him), Jupiter gets the honour. 

CHAP. XLI. You therefore are dangerous to human affairs, 
you are to blame for public misfortunes, drawing them always 
upon us, since you despise God and worship statues. For surely 
it is more likely that one who is neglected should get angry 
rather than those who are worshipped. Otherwise they are 
indeed most unfair, if on account of the Christians they injure 
their own worshippers also, whom they ought to keep unaffected 
by the deserts of the Christians. This, you say, is to retort 
on your own god also, if he himself allows his own worshippers 
also to be injured on account of the profane. Learn first his 
plans, and you will not then retort. For He who has once for 
all ordained an everlasting judgment after the end of the world, 
does not hasten the separation, which is a circumstance of the 
judgment, before the end of the world. Meanwhile he deals 
impartially with the whole human race, both as indulging and 
reproving ; he wished that good and evil should be shared alike 
by his own servants and by the wicked, so that, by an equal 
partnership, all might have experience both of his gentleness 
and of his sternness. Because we have thus learnt these things 
in his own company, we love his gentleness and we fear his 
sternness, while you on the contrary despise both; and it 
follows that all the plagues of the world come from God on us, 
it may be, for warning, but on you for punishment. And yet we 
are not really injured at all, in the first place because we have 
no concern in this life except to depart from it as speedily as 
possible, in the second place because, if any misfortune is brought 
upon us, it is attributed to your deserts. But even if some 
troubles touch us also as being connected with you, we rejoice 
more in the recognition of the divine prophecies, which of 
course strengthen the assurance and confidence of our hope. 
But if it be the case that all these evils come upon you on our 
account from those whom you worship, why do you continue 
to worship beings so ungrateful and so unjust, whose duty it 
was rather to help and defend you in the suffering coming from 
the Christians, since it was their duty to keep you apart from 
the deserts of the Christians ? 

CHAP. XLII. But we are arraigned also on a different 
charge of injuries inflicted, and we are said to be unprofitable 
in business matters. How can this be true of men who live 
with you, who enjoy the same food, have the same manner of 
life, and dress, the same requirements for life? For we are 



122 TERTVLLIANI 

gymnosophistae sumus, siluicolae et exules uitae. Meminimus 
gratiam debere nos deo, domino, creator! : millum fructuni 
operum eius repudiamus : plane temperamus, ne ultra moduni 
aut perperam utainur. Itaque non sine foro, non sine macello, 
non sine balneis, tabernis, officinis, stabulis, nundinis uestris 5 
ceterisque cominerciis cohabitamus in hoc saeculo. Nauigamus 
et nos uobiscum et militamus et rusticamur et mercatus proinde 
miscemus, artes, opera nostra publicamus usui uestro. Quomodo 
infructuosi uidemur negotiis uestris, cum quibus et de quibus 
uiuimus, non scio. Sed si caerimonias tuas non frequento, 10 
attamen et ilia die homo sum. Non lauor diluculo Saturnalibus, 
ne et noctem et diem perdam, attamen lauor honesta hora et 
salubri, quae mihi et calorem et sanguinem seruet; rigere et 
pallere post lauacrum mortuus possum. Non in publico 
Liberalibus discumbo, quod bestiariis supremam coenantibus 15 
mos est, attamen ubi de copiis tuis coeno. Non emo capiti 
coronam. Quid tua interest, emptis nihilominus floribus 
quomodo utar? Puto gratius esse liberis et solutis et undique 
uagis. Sed etsi in coronam coactis, nos coronam naribus 
nouimus ; uiderint qui per capillum odorantur. Spectaculis 20 
non conuenimus; quae tamen apud illos coetus uenditantur 
si desiderauero, liberius de propriis locis sumam. Thura plane 
non emimus. Si Arabiae queruntur, sciant Sabaei pluris et 
carioris suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam deis 
fumigandis. Certe, inquitis, templorum uectigalia cotidie 25 
decoquunt: stipes quotusquisque iam iactat? Non enim 
sufficimus et hominibus et deis uestris mendicantibus opem 
ferre, nee putamus aliis quam petentibus inpertiendum. 
Denique porrigat manum lupiter et accipiat, cum interim 
plus nostra misericordia insumit uicatim quam uestra religio 3 
tempi atim. Sed cetera uectigalia gratias Christianis agent ex 
fide dependentibus debitum, qua alieno fraudando abstinemus, 
ut, si ineatur quantum uectigalibus pereat fraude et mendacio 



APOLOGETICVS 42 123 

neither Brahmins nor Indian gymnosophists, dwellers in the 
forests, and exiles from ordinary life. We remember the gratitude 
we owe to God our Lord and Creator; we reject no fruit of his 
works ; though it is true we refrain from the excessive or wrong 
use of them. Consequently we cannot dwell together in the 
world, without the market-place, without the shambles, without 
your baths, shops, factories, taverns, fairs and other places of 
resort. We also sail with you and serve in the army and we 
till the ground and engage in trade as you do, we join our 
crafts, we lend our services to the public for your profit. How 
we can seem unprofitable to your business affairs, when we live 
with you and by you, I do not know. But if I do not frequent 
your rites, nevertheless even on your holiday I am a human 
being. I do not bathe at dawn on the days of the Saturnalia, 
lest I should lose both night and day; nevertheless I bathe at a 
proper and healthful hour, which will keep me warm and ruddy ; 
I can be stiff and sallow enough after my last bath when 
dead. I do not recline at table in public at the Liberalia, as is 
the custom of those who contend with the beasts when par 
taking of the last meal of their lives ; yet I dine anywhere 1 on 
your supplies. I do not buy a garland for my head. What 
difference does it make to you, how I employ flowers which are 
none the less purchased ? I think they are more pleasing when 
free and unbound and trailing everywhere. But even if we 
have them combined into a garland, we know a garland by the 
nose; let those who have perfumed locks see to it. W^e do 
not meet together at the public shows : if nevertheless I want 
what is advertised at those meetings, I will take them more 
freely from their own places. We absolutely refrain from buying 
incense ; if the Arabias complain, let the Sabaeans know that 
their wares are used in greater quantity and at greater cost 
for the burial of Christians than for the fumigating of gods. 
Exactly, you say, the revenues of the temples are daily 
failing; how few people now cast in pieces of money! Yes, 
for we are not able to bring help both to men and to your gods 
when they beg, nor do we think that we ought to share with 
others than those who ask. So, let Jupiter himself hold out 
his hand and receive his share, while meantime our pity spends 
more street by street than your religion does temple by temple. 
But your other revenues will give thanks to the Christians, who 
pay down what they owe, in accordance with the belief by which 
we abstain from appropriating what is another s, so that, if the 
question is raised how much is lost to the revenues through the 
dishonesty and lying of your returns, a calculation can easily 

1 ubiubi. 



124 TERTVLLIANI 

uestrarum professionum, facile ratio haberi possit, unius speciei 
querela conpensata pro commodo ceterarum rationum. 

43. Plane confitebor, quinam, si forte, uere de sterilitate 
Christianorum conquer! possint. Prim! erunt lenones, per- 
ductores, aquarioli, turn sicarii, uenenarii, magi, item aruspices, 5 
arioli, mathematici. His infructuosos esse magnus est fructus. 
Et tamen quodcunque dispendium est rei uestrae per hanc 
sectam, cum aliquo praesidio conpensari potest. Quanti 
habetis, non dico qui iam de uobis daernonia excutiant, non 
dico iam qui pro uobis quoque uero deo preces sternant, quia 10 
forte non creditis, sed a quibus nihil timere possitis? 

44. At enim illud detrimentum reipublicae tarn grande 
quam uerum nemo circumspicit, illam iniuriam ciuitatis nullus 
expendit, cum tot iusti impendimur, cum tot innocentes ero- 
gamur. Vestros enim iam contestamur actus, qui cotidie 15 
iudicandis custodiis praesidetis, qui sententiis elogia dispungitis. 
Tot a uobis nocentes uariis criminum elogiis recensentur : quis 
illic sicarius, quis manticularius, quis sacrilegus aut corruptor 
aut lauantium praedo, quis ex illis etiam Christianus adscribitur ? 
aut cum Christian! suo titulo offeruntur, quis ex illis etiam talis 20 
quales tot nocentes? De uestris semper aestuat career, de 
uestris semper metalla suspirant, de uestris semper bestiae 
saginantur, de uestris semper munerarii noxiorum greges 
pascunt. Nemo illic Christianus, nisi plane tantum Chris 
tianus, aut si et aliud, iam non Christianus. 25 

45. Nos ergo soli innocentes. Quid mirum, si necesse est? 
Enimuero necesse est. Innocentiam a deo edocti et perfecte 
earn nouimus, ut a perfecto magistro reuelatam, et fideliter 
custodimus, ut ab incontemptibili dispectore mandatam. Vobis 
autem humana aestimatio innocentiam tradidit, humana item 30 
dominatio imperauit; inde nee plenae nee adeo timendae estis 



APOLOGETICVS 42-45 125 

be made, as a complaint of one sort is balanced by the gain 
coming from all other calculations. 

CHAP. XLIII. I will readily confess what sort of people can 
perhaps truly complain of the unprofitableness of the Christians. 
First will come the procurers, the pimps, the bullies, then the 
assassins, the poisoners, the magicians; likewise the diviners, 
the soothsayers, the astrologers. To be unprofitable to these 
is great profit. And yet whatsoever loss there is to your 
property through this sect, can be balanced by some protection 
afforded by them. At what price do you value, I do not say, 
those who have the power to drive out evil spirits from you 
now I d n ot now say those who offer their prayers for you 
also before the true God, because perhaps you do not believe 
in Him, but those from whom you have nothing to fear? 

CHAP. XLIV. But indeed there is a loss to the state, as 
great as it is real, to which no one pays any regard, an injury 
to the state of which no one takes account, when in our persons 
so many just men are wasted, so many innocent men are 
squandered away. For we now appeal to your records of pro 
ceedings, ye who daily preside over the trials of prisoners, who 
by passing sentences erase the charges out of the calendar. So 
many guilty persons are examined by you on various charges : 
what assassin there, what cutpurse, what sacrilegious person 
or debaucher or thief of the baths, is there among them who 
is also described as a Christian? Or, when Christians are pro 
secuted on their specific charge (i.e. the charge of Christianity), 
who among them is also such as so many criminals are? It 
is with your own people that the prisons are always steaming, 
your own people who make the mines re-echo to their sighs, the 
wild beasts are always stuffed with the same, and from among 
them too the givers of shows always find herds of criminals to 
feed. No one there is a Christian, unless he is nothing but a 
Christian; or, if he be also anything else, he is already no 
longer a Christian. 

CHAP. XLV. We alone therefore are free from guilt. What 
wonder, if it is inevitable ? For indeed it is inevitable. Taught 
innocence by God, we both know it perfectly, seeing it has been 
revealed by a perfect teacher, and guard it faithfully, as com 
mitted to us by an observer who cannot be slighted. But to 
you man s judgment has handed down uprightness, man s 
tyranny, too, has commanded it: thence it is that you belong 
to a discipline which is neither complete nor really to be feared 



126 TERTVLLIANI 

disciplinae ad innocentiae ueritatem. Tanta est prudentia 
hoininis ad demonstrandum bonuin quanta auctoritas ad 
exigendum; tarn ilia falli facilis quam ista contemni. Atque 
adeo quid plenius, dicere : Non occides, an docere : Ne irascaris 
quidem ? Quid perfectius, prohibere adulterium, an etiam ab 5 
oculorum solitaria concupiscentia arcere? Quid eruditius, de 
maleficio, an et de maliloquio interdicere? Quid instructius, 
iniuriam non permittere, an nee uicem iniuriae sinere? Dum 
tamen sciatis ipsas leges quoque uestras quae uidentur ad 
innocentiam pergere de diuina lege, ut antiquiore forma, 10 
mutuatas. Diximus iam de Moysi aetate. Sed quanta 
auctoritas legum humanarum, cum illas et euadere homini 
contingat et plerumque in admissis delitiscenti, et aliquando 
contemnere ex uoluntate uel necessitate delinquent!? Recogi- 
tate ea etiam pro breuitate supplicii cuiuslibet, non tamen 15 
ultra mortem remansuri. Sic et Epicurus omnem cruciatum 
doloremque depretiat, modicum quidem contemptibilem pro- 
nimtiando, magnum uero non diuturnum. Enimuero nos qui 
sub deo omnium speculatore dispungimur, quique aeternam ab 
eo poenam prouidemus merito, soli innocentiae occurrimus, et 20 
pro scientiae plenitudine et pro latebrarum difficultate et pro 
magnitudine cruciatus non diuturni, uerum sempiterni, euni 
timentes quern timere debebit et ipse qui timentes iudicat, 
deum, non proconsulem timentes. 

46. Constitimus, ut opinor, aduersus omnium criminum 25 
intentationem, quae Christianorum sanguinem flagitat. Osten- 
dimus to turn statum nostrum, et quibus modis probare possimus 
ita esse sicut ostendimus, ex fide scilicet et antiquitate diuinarum 
litterarum, item ex confessione spiritualium potestatum. Qui 
nos reuincere audebit, non arte uerborum, sed eadem forma qua 30 
probationem constituimus, de ueritate? Sed dum unicuique 
manifestatur ueritas nostra, interim incredulitas, dum de bono 
sectae huius obducitur, quod usui iam et de commercio innotuit, 
non utique diuinum negotium existimat, sed magis philosophiae 
genus. Eadem, inquit, et philosophi monent atque profitentur, 35 



APOLOGETICVS 45, 46 127 

in view of the reality of innocence. A man s knowledge for 
the pointing out of what is really good, is just as great as his 
authority for exacting it: the former is just as easily deceived 
as the latter is slighted. And further which is the more com 
prehensive, to say: Thou shalt do no murder, or to teach: 
* Do not even become angry ? What is more absolute, to forbid 
adultery, or even to bar man from the solitary desire of the 
eyes? Which shows a deeper experience, the prohibition from 
evil-doing, or the further prohibition from evil-speaking? 
Which shows better instruction, not to permit injury, or not 
even to allow retaliation for injury? Provided, however, you 
know that your very laws also, which seem to tend in the direc 
tion of uprightness, have borrowed their form from the divine 
law as the older pattern. We have spoken already about the 
age of Moses. But how little is the authority of human laws, 
since a man has a chance both to escape them, and very often 
to lie hid in his crimes, and sometimes to set them at nought, 
sinning involuntarily 3 or of necessity ? Reflect also on them in 
view of the shortness of any punishment, which will not in any 
case last beyond death. So also Epicurus makes light of all 
torture and pain, by declaring indeed that if slight it is con 
temptible, while if great it will not last long. In very truth 
we who are examined before God who searches all, we who look 
forward to everlasting punishment from Him as our due, are 
the only ones who attain uprightness, both in view of the 
fullness of knowledge and in view of the difficulty of con 
cealment and in view of the greatness of the torture, which 
is not lasting only but everlasting, fearing Him, whom even he 
himself who judges the fearful will have to fear, that is, fearing 
God, not the pro-consul. 

CHAP. XL VI. We have maintained our ground, I think, 
against the denunciation of all charges, which clamours for the 
blood of the Christians. We have shown our whole position, 
and in what ways we can prove it to be such as we have shown, 
by the trustworthiness, of course, and the antiquity of our 
sacred writings, and also from the confession of spiritual powers. 
Who will dare to refute us, not by skill in words, but by the same 
method, by which we established our proof, namely on the ground 
of truth ? But while our truth is displayed to every man, mean 
time unbelief, confounded as it is by the goodness of this sect, 
which has now become known to experience, as well as from 
intercourse with it, does not of course regard it as a divine 
question, but rather as a kind of philosophy. Philosophers also, 

1 inuoluntate. 



128 TERTVLLIANI 

innocentiam, iustitiam, patientiam, sobrietatem, pudicitiam. 
Cur ergo quibus comparamur de disciplina, non proinde illis 
adaequamur a(J licentiam impunitatemque disciplinae ? uel cur 
et illi, ut pares nostri, non urgentur ad officia quae nos non 
obeuntes periclitamur ? Quis enim philosophum sacrificare 5 
aut deierare aut lucernas meridie uanas proferre conpellit? 
Quinimmo et deos uestros palam destruunt et superstitiones 
uestras commentariis quoque accusant laudantibus uobis. 
Plerique etiam in principes latrant sustinentibus uobis, et 
facilius statuis et salariis remunerantur quam ad bestias pro- 10 
nuntiantur. Sed merito. Philosophi enim non Christiani 
cognominantur. Nomen hoc philosophorum daemonia non 
fugat. Quidni? cum secundum deos philosophi daemonas 
deputent. Socratis uox est: Si daemonium permittat. Idem 
et cum aliquid de ueritate sapiebat deos negans, Aesculapio 15 
tamen gallinaceum prosecari iam in fine iubebat, credo ob 
honorem patris eius, quia Socratem Apollo sapientissimum 
omnium cecinit. Apollinem inconsideratum ! Sapientiae 
testimonium reddidit ei uiro qui negabat deos esse. In quantum 
odium flagrat ueritas, in tantum qui earn ex fide praestat ofTendit ; 20 
qui autem adulterat et adfectat, hoc maxime nomine gratiam 
pangit apud insectatores ueritatis. Quam inlusores et corrup- 
tores inimice philosophi adfectant ueritatem et adfectando 
corrumpunt, ut qui gloriam captant, Christiani et necessario 
appetunt et integre praestant, ut qui saluti suae curant. Adeo 25 
neque de scientia neque de disciplina, ut putatis, aequamur. 
Quid enim Thales ille princeps physicorum sciscitanti Croeso 
de diuinitate certum renuntiauit, commeatus deliberandi saepe 
frustratus? Deum quilibet opifex Christianus et inuenit et 
ostendit et exinde totum quod in deum quaeritur re quoque 30 
adsignat; licet Plato adfirmet factitatorem uniuersitatis neque 
inueniri facilem et inuentum enarrari in omnes difficilem. 
Ceterum si de pudicitia prouocemus, lego partem sententiae 
Atticae, in Socratem corruptorem adolescentium pronuntiatum. 



APOLOGETICVS 46 129 

they say, give the same advice and make the same professions, 
uprightness, justice, endurance, sobriety, chastity. Why then 
are we not similarly made equal to them in the freedom and 
impunity accorded to our teaching, if we are compared with 
them in teaching? Or why are they also as our equals not 
forced to perform duties, the non-performance of which by us 
results in our trial? For who forces a philosopher to sacrifice, 
or to swear, or to expose useless lamps at midday ? Nay rather, 
they both openly demolish your gods and they even blame your 
superstitions in their writings, and you praise them for it. Very 
many of them even bark at the emperors, while you submit to 
it, and they are more readily rewarded with statues and salaries 
than sentenced to the wild-beasts. And deservedly; for they 
are surnamed philosophers not Christians. This name philo 
sophers does not put daemons to flight. Why should it be 
otherwise, since philosophers consider that daemons come next 
after the gods ? It is a saying of Socrates : If the daemon 
permit. He also, when he showed something of true wisdom 
in denying the gods, yet just at the close of his life ordered 
a cock to be sacrificed to Aesculapius, I believe out of respect to 
his father, because Apollo declared Socrates the wisest of men. 
Oh ill-advised Apollo! He gave a testimonial for wisdom to 
that man who denied the existence of the gods. With what 
soever vehemence truth is hated 1 , in that degree does he offend 
who sets it forth as the result of his belief; he however who 
adulterates, while pretending love for it, gains favour most of all 
on this account among the persecutors of the truth. Philosophers 
affect the truth by mockery and corruption with hostile intent, 
and by imitation corrupt it like those who snatch at praise, 
Christians both seek after the truth of necessity and display 
it in its purity, like those who care for their own salvation. 
So neither in knowledge nor in morality are we on a level, as 
you suppose. For what certainty was there in the reply which 
Thales, the first of natural philosophers, made to Croesus when 
he questioned him with regard to divinity, although he had 
often employed to no purpose the extension of time allowed him 
for deliberation? But any Christian labourer both finds and 
sets forth God and then ascribes to him in deed all that is sought 
for in God, although Plato asserts that the maker of the universe 
is not easily found and when found is with difficulty explained 
to the multitude. Moreover if we make our appeal on the 
point of chastity, I read that a part of the Athenian sentence 
was pronounced 2 against Socrates as a corrupter of youth. 

1 Read odio. z pronuntiatam. 

M. T. 9 



130 TERTVLLIANI 

Sexum nee femineum mutat Christianus. Noui et Phrynen 
meretricem Diogenis supra recumbentis ardori subantem, audio 
et quendam Speusippum de Platonis schola in adulterio perisse. 
Christianus uxori suae soli masculus nascitur. Democritus 
excaecando semetipsum, quod mulieres sine concupiscentia 5 
aspicere non posset et doleret si non esset potitus, incontinentiam 
emendatione profitetur. At Christianus saluis oculis feminas 
non uidet; animo aduersus libidinem caecus est. Si de pro- 
bitate defendam, ecce lutulentis pedibus Diogenes superbos 
Platonis toros alia superbia deculcat: Christianus nee in 10 
pauperem superbit. Si de modestia certem, ecce Pythagoras 
apud Thurios, Zenon apud Prienenses tyrannidem adfectant : 
Christianus uero nee aedilitatem. Si de aequanimitate con- 
grediar, Lycurgus apocarteresin optauit, quod leges eius Lacones 
emendassent: Christianus etiam damnatus gratias agit. Si de 15 
fide conparem, Anaxagoras depositum hostibus denegauit: 
Christianus et extra fidelis uocatur. Si de simplicitate con- 
sistam, Aristoteles familiarem suum Hermian turpiter loco 
excedere fecit: Christianus nee inimicum suum laedit. Idem 
Aristoteles tarn turpiter Alexandro regendo potius adolatur, 20 
quam Plato a Dionysio uentris gratia uenditatur. Aristippus 
in purpura sub magna grauitatis superficie nepotatur, et 
Hippias dum ciuitati insidias disponit, occiditur. Hoc pro suis 
omni atrocitate dissipatis nemo unquam temptauit Christianus. 
Sed dicet aliquis etiam de nostris excedere quosdam a regula 25 
disciplinae. Desinunt tamen Christiani haberi penes nos, 
philosophi uero illi cum talibus factis in nomine et honore 
sapientiae perseuerant. Adeo quid simile philosophus et 
Christianus? Graeciae discipulus et caeli? famae negotiator 
et uitae ? uerborum et factorum operator, et rerum aedificator 30 
et destructor ? amicus et inimicus erroris ? ueritatis interpolator 
et integrator et expressor, et furator eius et custos ? 

47. Antiquior omnibus ueritas, nisi fallor, et hoc mihi 



APOLOGETICVS 46, 47 131 

Nor does the Christian change the female sex [i.e. the 
natural use of the woman]. I know the harlot Phryne 
ministered to the lustful embraces of Diogenes. I am in 
formed too that a certain Speusippus of Plato s school died 
in the act of adultery. A Christian remembers his sex when 
thinking of his wife alone. Demqcritus, by blinding himself 
because he could not look on women without lust and was 
pained if he did not possess them, declares his incontinency 
by his attempted cure. But the Christian, though he preserve 
his sight, sees no women, because he is blinded against lust 
in his heart. If I were to defend him on the score of 
humility, behold Diogenes with muddy feet tramples down 
the proud couches of Plato with a pride of his own ; a 
Christian shows no arrogance even towards the poor. If I were 
to contend on the score of moderation, behold Pythagoras at 
Thurii, and Zeno at Priene, both aim at a tyranny, but the 
Christian does not even aspire to a magistracy in a country- 
town. If I were to meet you on the ground of equanimity, 
Lycurgus chose death by starvation, because the Spartans 
altered his laws ; a Christian even when condemned gives thanks. 
If I draw a comparison in loyalty, Anaxagoras denied a deposit 
made by the enemy; a Christian even among strangers is 
called faithful. If I were to take my stand on sincerity, 
Aristotle disgracefully ousted his intimate friend Hermias : a 
Christian does not injure even his enemy. The same Aristotle 
by ruling Alexander so disgracefully, rather fawns upon him, 
as Plato is praised by Dionysius for gluttony. Aristippus 
lives the life of a profligate in purple under a great appearance 
of gravity, and Hippias is killed while planning treachery 
against the state. No Christian ever attempted this revenge 
for his own friends though scattered abroad with all possible 
cruelty. But it will be said that some even from amongst our 
own people deviate from the rule of discipline ; they then 
cease to be regarded as Christians among us, whereas those 
philosophers in spite of such deeds continue in the name and 
respect accorded to wisdom. Further, what likeness is there 
between the philosopher and the Christian, the disciple of 
Greece and the disciple of heaven, the trader in reputation 
and the trader in salvation, the doer of words and the worker of 
deeds, the builder up and the destroyer of things, the friend 
and the enemy of error, the corrupter and the restorer and 
exponent of truth, its thief and its guardian? 

CHAP. XLVII. Truth is older than everything else, if I mis- 

92 



132 TERTVLLIANI 

proficit antiquitas praestructa diuinae litteraturae, quo facile 
credatur thesaurum earn fuisse posteriori cuique sapientiae. 
Et si non onus iam uoluminis temperarem, excurrerem in hanc 
quoque probationem. Quis poetarum, quis sophistarum, qui 
non omnino de prophetarum fonte potauerit? Inde igitur 5 
philosophi sitim ingenii sui rigauerunt, ut quae de nostris 
habent, ea nos conparent illis. Inde, opinor, et a quibusdam 
philosophia quoque eiecta est, a Thebaeis dico, et a Spartiatis 
et Argiuis, dum ad nostra conantur, et homines gloriae, ut 
diximus, et eloquentiae solius libidinosi, si quid in sanctis 10 
scripturis oifenderunt digestis, ex proprio instituto curiositatis 
ad propria opera uerterunt, neque satis credentes diuina esse, 
quo minus interpolarent, neque satis intellegentes, ut adhuc 
tune subnubila, etiam ipsis ludaeis obumbrata, quorum propria 
uidebantur. Nam et si qua simplicitas erat ueritatis, eo magis 15 
scrupulositas humana fidem aspernata mutabat, per quod in 
incertum miscuerunt etiam quod inuenerant certum. Inuentum 
enim solummodo deum non ut inuenerant disputauerunt, ut 
et de qualitate et de natura eius et de sede disceptent. Alii 
incorporalem adseuerant, alii corporalem, ut tarn Platonici 20 
quam Stoici; alii ex atomis, alii ex numeris, qua Epicurus et 
Pythagoras, alius ex igni, qua Heraclito uisum est : et Platonici 
quidem curantem rerum, contra Epicurei otiosum et inexer- 
citum, et ut ita dixerim, neminem humanis rebus; positum 
uero extra mundum Stoici, qui figuli modo extrinsecus torqueat 25 
molem hanc ; intra mundum Platonici, qui gubernatoris exemplo 
intra id maneat quod regat. Sic et de ipso mundo natus 
innatusue sit, decessurus mansurusue sit, uariant. Sic et de 
animae statu, quam alii diuinam et aeternam, alii dissolubilem 
contendunt, ut quis sensit, ita et intulit aut reformauit. Nee 30 
mirum, si uetus instrumentum ingenia philosophorum interuer- 



APOLOGETICVS 47 133 

take not, and the antiquity of the divine literature already 
established is so far helpful to my argument in that it makes 
it credible that this was the storehouse for all later wisdom. 
And if I were not now reducing the size of this book, I might 
run on to prove this also. What poet, what philosopher is 
there, who has not drunk at all from the fountain of the 
prophets? It is from thence therefore that the philosophers 
have watered the thirst of their genius, that what they have 
taken from our writings may put us on a level with them. 
Thence, too, I fancy, philosophy was even banished by 
certain peoples, as by the Thebans, the Spartans and the 
Argives. While they are striving to imitate our doctrines, 
being both greedy as men with a lust, as we have said, of 
fame and of eloquence only, anything they took offence at 
in the holy scriptures, such is their inquisitiveness, they 
have at once rewritten it to suit their own fancy, neither 
sufficiently believing their divine character, which would 
prevent them from garbling them, nor yet sufficiently under 
standing them, as being even then somewhat obscure, and 
darkened even to the Jews themselves, whose property they 
were believed to be. For even when the truth was in simple 
form, all the more did that cavilling spirit of man, dis 
daining belief, begin to falter, and thus they confounded in 
uncertainty even that which they had found certain. For 
having found only that there was a God, they disputed about 
him not as they found him revealed, but as to his character, 
his nature and abode. Some aver that he is incorporeal, 
others corporeal, as the Platonists and Stoics respectively; 
some think him to consist of atoms, others of numbers, as was 
thought by Epicurus and Pythagoras (respectively), others of 
fire, as Heraclitus thought : "and the Platonists indeed (believe 
him) to take care of the world, but the Epicureans on the 
contrary hold him to be inactive and unemployed, and, if 
I may say so, non-existent as far as human affairs are concerned, 
while the Stoics believe him to be situated outside the world, 
where, like a potter, he makes this mass to revolve from without, 
but the Platonists that he was inside the universe, and that 
he remains inside that which he directs like a steersman. In 
the same way they differ also about the universe itself, as to 
whether it was created or uncreated, whether it will die or last 
for ever; so also about the condition of the soul, which some 
maintain is divine and eternal, and others perishable, as each 
thought, so he either introduced a new opinion or modified an 
old one. Nor can any wonder that the ingenuity of philosophers 



134 TERTVLLIANI 

terunt. Ex horum semine etiam nostram hanc nouitiolam 
paraturam uiri quidam suis opinionibus ad philosophicas 
sententias adulterauerunt et de una uia obliques rnultos et 
inexplicabiles tramites sciderunt. Quod ideo suggesserim, ne 
cui nota uarietas sectae huius in hoc quoque nos philosophis 5 
adaequare uideatur et ex uarietate defensionum iudicet ueri- 
tatem. Expedite autem praescribimus adulteris nostris illam 
esse regulam ueritatis quae ueniat a Cliristo transmissa per 
comites ipsius, quibus aliquanto posteriores diuersi isti corn- 
men tatores probabuntur. Omnia aduersus ueritatem de ipsa 10 
ueritate constructa sunt, operantibus aemulationem istam 
spiritibus erroris. Ab his adulteria huiusmodi salutaris dis- 
ciplinae subornata, ab his quaedam etiam fabulae inmissae 
quae de similitudine fidem infirmarent ueritatis uel earn sibi 
potius euincerent, ut quis ideo non putet Christianis credendum 15 
quia nee poetis nee philosophis, uel ideo magis poetis et philo 
sophis existimet credendum quia non Christianis. Itaque 
ridemur praedicantes deum iudicaturum. Sic enim et poetae 
et philosophi tribunal apud inferos ponunt. Et gehennam si 
comminemur, quae est ignis arcani subterraneam ad poenam 20 
thesaurus, proinde decachinnamur. Sic enim et Pyriphlegethon 
apud mortuos amnis est. Et si paradisum nominemus, locum 
diuinae amoenitatis recipiendis sanctorum spiritibus destinatum, 
maceria quadam igneae illius zonae a notitia orbis communis 
segregatum, Elysii campi fidem occupauerunt. Unde haec, oro 25 
uos, philosophis aut poetis tarn consimilia ? Nonnisi de nostris 
sacramentis. Si de nostris sacramentis, ut de prioribus, ergo 
fideliora sunt nostra magisque credenda, quorum imagines 
quoque fidem inueniunt. Si de suis sensibus, iam ergo sacra- 
menta nostra imagines posteriorum habebuntur, quod rerum 30 
forma non sustinet. Nunquam enim corpus umbra aut 
ueritatem imago praecedit. 

48. Age iam, si qui philosophus adfirmet, ut ait Laberius 
de sententia Pythagorae, hominem fieri ex mulo, colubram ex 



APOLOGETICVS 47, 48 135 

has perverted the Old Testament. Certain men from their 
stock have by their opinions falsified even this more modern 
Testament of ours after the views of philosophers, and from 
the one way have caused many oblique and intricate paths to 
diverge. I should like to make this remark, lest any one should 
think that the notorious variety in our sect should seem to 
put us on an equality with the philosophers in this respect 
also, and condemn truth out of the variety of defences 1 . We, 
however, at once lay down to the corrupters of our faith 
that the rule of the truth is that which comes from Christ, 
passed on through his followers, somewhat later than whom 
these different commentators will be proved to have existed. 
Everything against the truth is built up from the tiuth itself, 
this rivalry being due to the spirits of error. By them the 
corruptions of this sort of wholesome teaching are instigated, 
by these even certain fables have been let loose, such as by 
their likeness should weaken belief in the truth or win it rather 
for themselves, leading a man to suppose that he must not 
believe the Christians for the reason that he must not believe 
either poets or philosophers, or should think that he must put 
more belief in poets and philosophers because he can put none 
in Christians. Thus we are laughed at when we preach that 
God will judge. For so do both poets and philosophers place 
a tribunal in the world, below. And if we were to threaten 
a hell, which is a storehouse of secret fire for subterranean 
punishment, we are similarly laughed to scorn. For so also 
is Pyriphlegethon a river among the dead. And if we were 
to name paradise, a place of celestial delight appointed to 
receive the spirits of the saints, separated from the knowledge 
of the common world by a sort of wall consisting of that fiery 
zone, if so, the Elysian fields have already anticipated the belief. 
Whence comes it, I pray you, that these things are so like the 
poets or philosophers ? Only from our mysteries ; if from our 
mysteries, then, as being taken from the earlier, ours are more 
reliable and more to be believed, whose copies even find credence ; 
if from their own inventions, our mysteries will then be regarded 
as copies of the later, which is not borne out by the plan of 
things ; for never does the shadow precede (in time) the body 
or the copy the reality. 

CHAP. XLVIII. Come now, if any philosopher were to 
assert, as Laberius does with regard to the doctrine of Pythagoras, 

1 But with defectionem uindicet ueritatis should claim that the truth has 
failed. 



136 TERTVLLIANI 

muliere, et in earn opinionem omnia argumenta eloquii uirtute 
distorserit, nonne consensum mouebit et fidem infiget etiam ab 
animalibus abstinendi propterea? Persuasum quis habeat, 
ne forte bubulam de aliquo proauo suo obsonet? At enim 
Christianus si de homine hominem ipsumque de Gaio Gaium 5 
reducem repromittat, lapidibus magis, nee saltim coetibus a 
populo exigetur. Si quaecunque ratio praeest animarum 
human arum reciprocandarum in corpora, cur non in eandem 
substantiam redeant, cum hoc sit restitui, id esse quod fuerat ? 
lam non ipsae sunt quae fuerant, quia non potuerunt esse quod 10 
non erant, nisi desinant esse quod fuerant. Multis etiam locis ex 
otio opus erit, si uelimus ad hanc partem lasciuire, quis in quam 
bestiam reformari uideretur. Sed de nostra magis defensione, 
qui proponimus multo utique dignius credi hominem ex homine 
rediturum, quemlibet pro quolibet, dum hominem, ut eadem 15 
qualitas animae in eandem restauraretur conditioner^ etsi non 
effigiem. Certe quia ratio restitutionis destinatio iudicii est, 
necessario idem ipse qui fuerat exhibebitur, ut boni seu contrarii 
meriti iudicium a deo referat. Ideoque repraesentabuntur et 
corpora, quia neque pati quicquam potest anima sola sine materia 20 
stabili, id est carne, et quod omnino de iudicio dei pati debent 
animae, non sine carne meruerunt intra quam omnia egerunt.. 
Sed quomodo, inquis, dissoluta materia exhiberi potest? Con- 
sidera temetipsum, o homo, et fidem rei inuenies. Recogita 
quid fueris antequam esses. Utique nihil. Meminisses enim, 25 
si quid fuisses. Qui ergo nihil fueras priusquam esses, idem 
nihil factus cum esse desieris, cur non possis rursus esse de 
nihilo eiusdem ipsius auctoris uoluntate qui te uoluit esse de 
nihilo ? Quid noui tibi eueniet ? Qui non eras, factus es ; cum 
terum non eris, fies. Redde si potes rationem qua factus es, 30 



APOLOGETICVS 48 137 

that a man is made out of what was once a mule, and the snake 
out of what was once a woman, and should by force of eloquence 
have twisted all arguments to support that opinion, will he not 
gain assent and establish belief in abstaining even from animal 
food for that reason? Would any one be fully persuaded to 
abstain, lest perchance in buying beef he should be purchasing 
a bit of some ancestor of his ? But indeed, if a Christian were 
to promise that man would be made again from man and that 
very Gaius would be reproduced from Gaius, the people will 
rather insist on stoning him, and will not even come to hear 
him. If there rules any method for the reincarnation of souls, 
why should they not return into the same nature, since resto 
ration means this, to be that which it had been? Now they 
are not the very souls that they had been, because they have 
not been able to be that which they were not, unless they were 
to cease to be that which they had been. There will be need also 
for many topics treated in a leisurely way, if we would be playful 
in this direction, for instance, what kind of beast any particular 
person might appear likely to be changed into. But we are more 
concerned with our defence ; we lay it down that it is of course 
a much more worthy belief that man should be refashioned 
from man, given person for any given person, as long as it be 
a human being, so that the same kind of soul may be reinstated 
into the same rank, even if it be not into the same outward 
form. Assuredly, because the reason of restoration is what is 
appointed by judgment, of necessity the very same man, who 
had existed before, will be brought before the judgment seat, 
that he may receive from God the verdict on his good or evil 
deserts. Hence the bodies also will be again presented, both 
because the soul alone apart from material substance, that is 
the flesh, cannot suffer anything, and because whatsoever souls 
are doomed to suffer from the judgment of God, they have not 
deserved it apart from that flesh, within which they did every 
thing. But how, you say, can matter that has suffered 
dissolution be made to appear ? Consider thyself, man, 
and thou wilt find it not incredible. Reflect what thou wert, 
before thou hadst a being: assuredly naught; for if thou 
hadst been aught thou wouldst remember it. Thou therefore 
who wast nothing before thou wert, and who also becamest 
nothing, when thou didst cease to be, why couldst thou not 
be brought again to life from nothingness by the will of the 
very same Author, who willed that thou shouldest be from 
naught ? What novelty will happen to thee ? Thou who wert 
not, earnest into being : when a second time thou shalt not be, 



138 TERTVLLIANI 

et tune require qua fies. Et tamen facilius utique fies quod 
fuisti aliquando, quia aeque non difficile factus es quod nun- 
quam fuisti aliquando. Dubitabitur, credo, de dei uiribus, qui 
tantum corpus hoc mundi de eo quod non fuerat non minus 
quam de morte uacationis et inanitatis inposuit, animatum 5 
spiritu omnium animarum animatore, signatum et ipsum 
humanae resurrectionis exemplum in testimonium uobis. Lux 
cotidie interfecta respleridet et tenebrae pari uice decedendo 
succedunt, sidera defuncta uiuescunt, tempora ubi finiuntur 
incipiunt, fructus consummantur et redeunt, certe semina non 10 
nisi corrupta et dissoluta fecundius surgunt, omnia pereundo 
seruantur, omnia de interitu reformantur. Tu homo, tantum 
nomen, si intellegas te uel de titulo Pythiae discens, dominus 
omnium morientium et resurgentium, ad hoc morieris, ut 
pereas? Ubicumque resolutus fueris, quaecunque te materia 15 
destruxerit, hauserit, aboleuerit, in nihilum prodegerit, reddet 
te. Eius est nihilum ipsum cuius et totum. Ergo, inquitis, 
semper moriendum erit et semper resurgendum ? Si ita rerum 
dominus destinasset, ingratis experireris conditionis tuae legem. 
At nunc non aliter destinauit quam praedicauit. Quae ratio 20 
uniuersitatem ex diuersitate conposuit, ut omnia aemulis sub- 
stantiis sub unitate constarent ex uacuo et solido, ex animali 
et inanimali, ex conprehensibili et inconprehensibili, ex luce 
et tenebris, ex ipsa uita et morte: eadem aeuum quoque ita 
destinata et distincta condicione conseruit, ut prima haec pars, 25 
ab exordio rerum quam incolimus, temporaK aetate ad finem 
defluat, sequens uero, quam expectamus, in infmitam aeterni- 
tatem propagetur. Cum ergo finis et limes, medius qui interhiat, 
adfuerit, ut etiam ipsius mundi species transferatur aeque 
temporalis, quae illi dispositioni aeternitatis aulaei uice oppansa 30 
est, tune restituetur omne humanum genus ad expungendum 
quod in isto aeuo boni seu mali meruit, et exinde pendendum 



APOLOGETICVS 48 139 

thou shalt come into being. Give, if thou canst, a reason 
why thou wast created, and then ask how thou wilt come to 
be. And yet thou wilt of course more easily become what 
thou at one time wast, because with equal ease thou becamest 
what thou wast never at any time. There will be doubt felt, 
I believe, about the strength of God, who planted (in the void) 
this so great body of the universe from that which had never 
been, as well as from the death of emptiness and void, animated 
by the spirit which gives life to all souls, itself also stamped by 
the example of human resurrection for evidence to you. Light, 
though daily destroyed, shines again, and the shades of night 
in like manner departing come up in its place, stars die and 
come to life again, the seasons when they are ending are begin 
ning, fruits are brought to perfection and again return ; as 
suredly seeds, unless they decay and fall to pieces, do not spring 
up in rich fruitfulness, all things are preserved by perishing, all 
things are formed again from death. Thou, man, a name of 
such might, if thou wouldst understand thyself, learning even 
from the inscription of the Pythian priestess, thou who art lord 
of all that die and rise again, wilt thou die to this end, so as to 
perish for ever? Into whatever substance thou shalt have been 
resolved, whatsoever material has destroyed thee, swallowed 
thee up, effaced thee, wasted thee to nothing, it will give thee 
back (to life). Nothingness itself belongs to him to whom the 
whole also belongs. Therefore, you say, one must always 
be dying and always rising again. If the Lord of the world 
had so appointed, it would have been against your will that 
you would experience that law of your creation. But as 
matters are, he has appointed it exactly as he declared. That 
same Keason which constructed the universe out of diversity, 
so that all things should consist of rival substances under the 
bond of unity, as of empty and solid, of animate and inanimate, 
of things tangible and intangible, of light and darkness, of life 
itself and death, the same Eeason has also so disposed the 
whole course of existence as to make time consist of two parts 
so determined and distinct, that this first part in which we dwell 
should flow down in an age of time from the beginning of things 
to the end, but that the second part which we await should be 
extended to an endless eternity. When therefore the end and 
mid boundary, which yawns between, has come, so that even 
the fashion of the universe itself has passed away, which is 
equally a matter of time, spread like a curtain in front of that 
system of eternity, then will the whole human race be restored 
to settle what of good or evil it has earned in this life, and there- 



140 TERTVLLIANI 

in immensam aeternitatis perpetuitatem. Ideoque nee mors 
iam, nee rursus ac rursus resurrectio, sed erimus idem qui 
nunc, nee alii post, dei quidem cultores apud deum semper, 
superinduti substantia propria aeternitatis: profani uero, et 
qui non integre ad deum, in poena aeque iugis ignis, habentes 5 
ex ipsa natura eius diuinam scilicet subministrationem in- 
corruptibilitatis. Nouerunt et philosophi diuersitatem arcani 
et publici ignis. Ita longe alius est qui usui humano, alius 
qui iudicio dei apparet, siue de caelo fulmina stringens, siue 
de terra per uertices montium eructans ; non enifn absuinit 10 
quod exurit, sed dum erogat, reparat. Adeo manent montes 
semper ardentes, et qui de caelo tangitur, saluus est, ut nullo 
iam igni decinerescat. Et hoc erit testimonium ignis aeterni, 
hoc exemplum iugis iudicii poenam nutrientis. Montes uruntur 
et durant. Quid nocentes et dei hostes? 15 

49. Hae sunt quae in nobis solis praesumptiones uocantur, 
in philosophis et poetis summae scientiae et insignia ingenia. 
Illi prudentes, nos inepti; illi honorandi, nos inridendi, immo 
eo amplius et puniendi. Falsa nunc sint quae tuentur et 
merito praesumptio, attamen necessaria ; inepta, attamen 20 
utilia; siquidem meliores fieri coguntur qui eis credunt, metu 
aeterni supplicii et spe aeterni refrigerii. Itaque non expedit 
falsa dici nee inepta haberi quae expedit uera praesumi. Nullo 
titulo damnari licet omnino quae prosunt. In uobis itaque 
praesumptio est haec ipsa quae damnat utilia. Proinde nee 25 
inepta esse possunt ; certe etsi falsa et inepta, nulli tamen noxia. 
Nam et multis aliis similia quibus nullas poenas inrogatis, uanis 
et fabulosis, inaccusatis et inpunitis, ut innoxiis. Sed in 
eiusmodi enim, si utique, inrisui iudicandum est, non gladiis 
et ignibus et crucibus et bestiis, de qua iniquitate saeuitiae non 30 
modo caecum hoc uulgus exsultat et insultat, sed et quidam 



APOLOGETICVS 48, 49 141 

after to pay it down through an endless eternity. And there 
fore it is neither death at once, nor a recurring resurrection, but 
we shall be the same as now, nor different afterwards; wor 
shippers of God indeed and ever with God, clothed upon with 
the special nature of eternity ; but the profane and those who 
are not perfect before God, in the punishment of an equally 
lasting fire, having from its very nature a supply, divine of 
course, of imperishable quality. The philosophers also know 
the difference between a secret and a common fire. Thus that 
which is for human use is far different from that which ministers 
to the judgment of God, whether it draws down thunderbolts 
from heaven, or belches fire from the earth through the 
mountain craters; for it consumes not what it burns, but 
renews even while it destroys. Thus the mountains endure 
though always burning, and he who is stricken with fire from 
heaven is safe from being reduced to ashes by any other fire. 
And this will be a witness of eternal fire, this, an example of 
everlasting judgment, continually feeding its own punishment: 
the mountains are burned and yet endure. What shall we say 
of the guilty and of the enemies of God ? 

CHAP. XLIX. These are the things which in us alone are 
called vain assumptions, but in the philosophers and poets are 
instances of the highest knowledge and of extraordinary ability. 
They are wise, we are foolish; they are worthy of honour, we 
of ridicule, nay more than that, of punishment too. Let the 
opinions we hold be false and deserving of the name of prejudice, 
but yet they are necessary; let them be foolish, but yet they 
are advantageous, since those who believe them are constrained 
to become better men, from fear of everlasting punishment and 
hope of everlasting refreshment. Therefore it is inexpedient 
that those things should be called false, or regarded as foolish, 
which it is expedient should be presumed to be true; on no 
ground whatever ought that to be condemned which is bene 
ficial. It is in you therefore that we find this very prejudice 
which condemns the useful. Hence our belief cannot be foolish, 
and, assuredly, even if it were false and foolish, it is nevertheless 
injurious to no one; for it is like many other things on which 
you inflict no penalties, unreal and fictitious things, which are not 
prosecuted nor punished, as being harmless ; but indeed against 
such errors judgment ought to be pronounced, if at all, by ridicule, 
not by swords and fires and crosses and wild-beasts ; in which 
unjust cruelty not only this blind rabble exults and insults, but 
certain of your own selves also, who aim at popularity with the 



142 TERTVLLIANI 

uestrum, quibus fauor uulgi de iniquitate captatur, gloriantur. 
Quasi non to turn quod in nos potestis nostrum sit arbitrium. 
Certe, si uelim, Christianus sum. Tune ergo me damnabis, si 
damnari uelim; cum uero quod in me potes, nisi uelim, non 
potes, iam meae uoluntatis est quod potes, non tuae potestatis. 5 
Proinde et uulgus uane de nostra uexatione gaudet. Proinde 
enim nostrum est gaudium, quod sibi uindicat, qui malumus 
damnari quam a deo excidere: contra illi, qui nos oderunt, 
dolere, non gaudere debebant, consecutis nobis quod elegimus. 

50. Ergo, inquitis, cur querimini quod uos insequamur, si 10 
pati uultis, cum diligere debeatis per quos patimini quod uultis ? 
Plane uolumus pati, uerum eo more, quo et bellum miles. Nemo 
quidem libens patitur, cum et trepidare et periclitari sit necesse. 
Tamen et proeliatur omnibus uiribus, et uincens in proelio gaudet 
qui de proelio querebatur, quia et gloriam consequitur et prae- 15 
dam. Proelium est nobis quod prouocamur ad tribunalia, ut illic 
sub discrimine capitis pro ueritate certemus. Victoria est autem 
pro quo certaueris obtinere. Ea uictoria habet et gloriam 
placendi deo et praedam uiuendi in aeternum. Sed obducimur. 
Certe cum obtinuimus. Ergo uicimus, cum occidimur, denique 20 
euadimus, cum obducimur. Licet nunc sarmenticios et semaxios 
appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis reuincti sarmentorum 
ambitu exurimur. Hie est habitus uictoriae nostrae, haec 
palmata uestis, tali curru triumphamus. Merito itaque uictis 
non placemus ; propterea enim desperati et perditi existimamur. 25 
Sed haec desperatio et perditio penes uos in causa gloriae et 
famae uexillum uirtutis extollunt. Mucius dexteram suam 
libens in ara reliquit : o sublimitas animi ! Empedocles totum 
sese Catanensium Aetnaeis incendiis donauit : o uigor mentis ! 
Aliqua Carthaginis conditrix rogo se secundum matrimonium 30 
dedit : o praeconium castitatis ! Regulus, ne unus pro multis 
hostibus uiueret, toto coi-pore cruces patitur: o uirum fortem 



APOLOGETICVS 49, 50 143 

mob through injustice, make a boast of it. As if all the power 
you have over us were not of our own free choice ! Surely it 
is only if I will it to be so, that I am a Christian; you will 
therefore condemn me, only if I will to be condemned; since 
the power you have over me, you do not possess unless I will 
it, your power therefore belongs to my will, not to your own 
authority. So also the mob vainly rejoices at the way in which 
we are tormented; for in the same way the joy is ours, which 
they claim for themselves, as we prefer to be condemned rather 
than to fall away from God : while, on the contrary, those that 
hate us ought to mourn, not to rejoice, because we have attained 
that which we have chosen. 

CHAP. L. So, you say, why do you complain that we 
persecute you, if you wish to suffer, since you ought to love 
those by whose means you suffer what you wish ? Certainly 
we wish to suffer, but in the way in which a soldier also suffers 
war. Nobody indeed willingly suffers, since both panic and 
danger are inevitably to be faced ; and yet the man who com 
plained about battle fights with all his strength and rejoices 
when he conquers in battle, because he attains both glory and 
booty. Our battle is that we are summoned before tribunals, 
to fight there for the truth at the risk of our lives. But to 
obtain that for which one has struggled is a victory, a victory 
that carries with it both the glory, of pleasing God, and the 
spoil, which is eternal life. But, you will say, we are convicted ; 
yes, but it is after we have won the day; therefore we have 
conquered, when we are killed. Thus we escape, when we are 
convicted. You may call us now faggoted and axle-men, 
because bound to a stake the length of half an axle we are 
burned by the faggots surrounding us. This is the garb of our 
victory, this our garment decked with palm-leaves, such is the 
chariot in which we triumph. Naturally therefore we do not 
please those whom we conquered; for that is the reason why 
we are regarded as desperate and reckless men. But this despe 
ration and recklessness in your midst exalts the standard of 
virtue in the cause of glory and renown. Mucius gladly left his 
right hand on the altar ; Oh loftiness of spirit ! Empedocles 
fresly gave his whole body to Etna s fires at the instance of the 
people of Catana : Oh what strength of mind ! We read of 
some foundress or other of Carthage who sacrificed her second 
marriage to the funeral-pyre : Oh noble encomium of chastity ! 
Regulus, lest his own single life should be spared in exchange 
for so many enemies, suffers tortures all over his body : What 



144 TERTVLLIANI 

et in captiuitate uictorem! Anaxarchus, cum in exitum 
tisanae pilo contunderetur : Tunde, tunde, aiebat, Anaxarchi 
follem, Anaxarchum enim non tundis : o philosophi magna- 
nimitatem, qui de tali exitu suo etiam ioeabatur ! Omitto eos 
qui cum gladio proprio uel alio genere mortis mitiore de laude 5 
pepigerunt. Ecce enim et tormentorum certamina coronantur 
a uobis. Attica meretrix carnince iam fatigato postremo 
linguam suam comesam in faciem tyranni saeuientis exspuit, 
ut exspueret et uocem, ne coniuratos confiteri posset, si etiam 
uicta uoluisset. Zeno Eleates consul tus a Dionysio, quidnam 10 
philosophia praestaret, curn respondisset contemptum mortis, in- 
passibilis flagellis tyranni obiectus sententiam suam ad mortem 
usque signabat. Certe Laconum flagella sub oculis etiam 
hortantium propinquorum acerbata tantum honorem tolerantiae 
domui conferunt quantum sanguinis fuderint. gloriam 15 
licitam, quia humanam, cui nee praesumptio perdita nee 
persuasio desperata reputatur in contemptu mortis et atroci- 
tatis omnimodae, cui tantum pro patria, pro imperio, pro 
arnicitia pati permissum est quantum pro deo non licet! Et 
tamen illis omnibus et statuas defunditis, et imagines inscribitis, 20 
et titulos inciditis in aeternitatem. Quantum de monumentis 
potestis scilicet, praestatis et ipsi quodammodo mortuis resur- 
rectionem. Hanc qui ueram a deo sperat, si pro deo patiatur, 
insanus est. Sed hoc agite, boni praesides, meliores multo apud 
populum si illis Christianos immolaueritis, cruciate, torquete, 25 
damnate, atterite nos: probatio est enim innocentiae nostrae 
iniquitas uestra. Ideo nos haec pati deus patitur. Nam et 
proxime ad lenonem damnando Christianam potius quam ad 
leonem confessi estis labem pudicitiae apud nos atrociorem 
omni poena et omni morte reputari. Nee quicquam tamen 30 
proficit exquisitior quaeque crudelitas uestra; inlecebra est 
magis sectae. Plures emcimur quotiens metimur a uobis; 
semen est sanguis Chris tianorum. Multi apud uos ad toleran- 



APOLOGETICVS 50 145 

a brave man, what a conqueror even in captivity ! Anax 
archus, when he was being pommelled to death with a barley 
pestle, kept saying : Pound, pound away : for it is the bodily 
coating of Anaxarchus, not Anaxarchus himself, that you are 
pounding! Oh the great-souled philosopher, who could 
actually joke about such a death as his! I leave out 
those who bargained for fame with their own swords or some 
other milder form of death. For, lo, even rivalries of tortures 
are crowned by you. An Athenian harlot who had already 
wearied out the executioner, at last bit through her tongue and 
spat it out into the face of the cruel tyrant, that she might 
spit out her own voice also, to prevent her from being able to 
confess the names of the conspirators, even in case she might 
give in and desire to do so. Zeno of Elea, being consulted by 
Dionysius as to what was the benefit of philosophy, when he 
had replied: Contempt of death, without showing feeling he 
was thereupon exposed to the scourges of the tyrant and con 
tinued to seal his opinion even up to the point of death. 
Assuredly the scourges of the Spartans, embittered, as they 
were, under the eyes even of cheering relatives, confer upon 
the family a reputation for endurance, in proportion to the 
blood they have shed. Here is a glory licensed because human, 
to which neither reckless prejudice nor desperate persuasion 
is ascribed in despising death and every sort of cruelty, to 
which it is allowed to endure more for one s city, for the 
empire, and for friendship, than it is allowed to endure for 
God! And yet for all these you cast statues and write inscrip 
tions and engrave titles to last for ever; certainly you your 
selves also, in so far as you can, in a certain sense confer resurrec 
tion on the dead by means of your monuments ; while he who 
hopes for a real resurrection from God, if he suffer for God, is 
thought insane. N But go on thus, ye excellent governors, and 
you will be all the more popular with the mob if you sacrifice 
Christians to their wishes : crucify, torture, condemn, annihilate 
us: your injustice is a proof of our innocence. It is for that 
reason that God allows us to suffer these things. For quite 
recently by condemning a Christian woman to the lust of man 
rather than to a lion, you confessed that the stain upon chastity 
is reckoned more heinous among us than any punishment and 
any death. Nor yet doth your cruelty, though each act be 
more exquisite than the last, profit you ; it is rather an attrac 
tion to our sect. We spring up in greater numbers the more we 
are mown down by you : the blood of the Christians is the seed ^ 
of a new life. Many among yourselves exhort men to the 
M.T. 10 



146 TERTVLLIAN1 

tiam doloris et mortis hortantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut 
Seneca in Fortuitis, ut Diogenes, ut Pyrrhon, ut Callinicus. 
Nee tamen tantos inueniunt uerba discipulos quantos Chris- 
tiani factis docendo. Ilia ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis, 
magistra est. Quis enim non contemplatione eius concutitur 5 
ad requirendum quid intus in re sit? quis non, ubi requisiuit, 
accedit? ubi accessit, pati exoptat, ut to tarn dei gratiam 
redimat, ut omnem ueniam ab eo compensatione sanguinis 
sui expediat? Omnia enim huic operi delicta donantur. Inde 
est, quod ibidem sententiis uestris gratias agimus. Ut est 10 
aemulatio diuinae rei et hurnanae, cum damnamur a uobis, 
a deo absoluimur. 



APOLOGETICVS 50 147 

endurance of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculans, Seneca 
in his book on Chances, Diogenes, Pyrrho and Callinicus. But 
yet words do not find so many disciples as the Christians do by 
their teaching by deeds. That very obstinacy, with which you 
upbraid us, is a lesson. For who is there that is not stirred up 
by the consideration of it to ask what there is within it ? Who 
does not join us when he has asked? who when he has joined 
us, dpesjnpt : eagerly desire^to -suffer, that he may buy back the 
whole favour of God, that he may procure all indulgence from 
him by the payment of his own blood ? For all sins are forgiven 
to this action. Hence it is that in the same place we give 
thanks to your judgments. As there is an enmity between what 
is of God and what is of man, when we are condemned by you, 
we are acquitted by God. 



102 



In the following places Prof. Mayor appears to have preferred to read 
differently from Oehler : 



p. 2 1. 7 

p. 8 1. 5 

p. 12 1. 7 

1. 19 

1. 20 

p. 161. 11 
p. 24 1. 15 

p. 28 1. 32 
p. 36 1. 7 

1. 8 
p. 44 1. 15 

1. 22 

p. 46 1. 4 
p. 48 1. 3 
p. 50 1. 14 
p. 56 1. 4 
p. 58 1. 13 
p. 60 1. 2 

1. 3 

p. 68 1. 26 
p. 70 1. 2 

1. 3 
p. 74 1. 24 

1. 25 



p. 76 1. 23 
p. 86 1. 3 



obstruit] add. uiam 

et pr.] ut 

esse in causa (?) 

om. nomine 

ualde] nomen ualde 

om. , after nominis 

concurram] consistam 

inuerecundiam as one 

word 

iurulentiam (?) 
impenditis 
qua(?) 
insulas (?) 
repreh.] either non re- 

preh. or depreh. (?) 
perstrinximus 
Xolo 

pastorem (?) 
repurgabimus (?) 
prodacto 
Aristeas (?) 
ex aperto 
autem] etiam 
alterum 
numero 
reformetur(?) 
falsa (?) 
post renunt. hob. quae- 

uis alia contraria 

comperta(?) 



Astarte 



P- 


86 


1. 


12 


quia (?) 




p. 


92 


1. 


6 


intentionem 








1. 


23 


metui (?) 








1. 


28 


condition! (?) 




p. 


94 


1. 


14 


quolibet 












tuo add. after 


mor- 










tuo(?) 




p. 


106 


1. 


7 


non esse et hostes 


esse] esse et hostes 










non esse 








1. 


31 


denotastis (?) 




P- 


108 


1. 


3 


penes nos dispungi (?) 


P- 


114 


i. 


37 


nee bis] neque bis 




P- 


116 


1. 


15 


causa 








1. 


23 


abscissam 








1. 


30 


hod.] in hod. 




P- 


118 


1. 


1 


cenantur 




P- 


120 


1. 


24 


perstringunt (?) 




P- 


122 


1. 


16 


ubiubi 




P- 


124 


1. 


14 


expendimur(??) 








1. 


27 


perfecto (?) 




P- 


126 


1. 


14 


inuoluntate 








1. 


26 


intentionem 




P- 


128 


1. 


9 


oblatrant (?) 








1. 


20 


odio 








1. 


23 


mimice 




P 


132 


1. 


11 


om. scripturis 




P- 


134 


1. 


18 


ridemur] et ridernur 


P- 


136 


1. 


16 


condicionem (?) 




l>- 


138 


1. 


19 


condicionis (?) 




P- 


140 


1. 


19 


tuemur 








1. 


20 


praesumptiones 





NOTES 



ABBREVIATIONS 



The following are the more difficult abbreviations employed : 

aex. = ante exitum 
a. f. = ante finem 
a. m. = ante medium 
DH. = Dionysius of Halicarnassus 
DL. = Diogenes Laertius 
DS. = Diodorus Siculus 
f., fin. = in fine 
h. c. = in hoc capitulo 
h. l. = in hoc loco 
Lasaulx = E. v. Lasaulx, Studien des classischen Alterthums 

(Regensburg, 1854) 
m. = in medio 

omn. = omnia (the whole context) 
p. m. = post medium 
ppr.=post prohoemium 

pr. =in prohoemio 
Tzschirner = Tzschirner, Geschichte der Apologetik (Leipzig, 1805) 

< > sometimes enclose an explanatory word 
1 Consult also the Introduction. 



CAP. I 

p. 2 1.1 ROMAN: IMPERII ANTLSTITES called praesides c. 9. 
30 f. 50. 

p. 2 1. 7 SECTAE HVIVS c. 21 pr. n. 

p. 2 1. 10 SCIT SE PEREGRINAM IN TERRIS AGERE ep. ad 
Diognet. 5 5 Trarpi&as ol/covo-iv IBias, aXX a>? Trdpoucof 5 
fjuere^jovo i irdvTwv a>9 TroXtrat /cat irdvO^ viro/jievovo iv w? gevoi 
Trdaa %evr) Trarpis eaiiv avrwv Kal Trdaa Trarpls ^evrj. ... 9 
eVl 77)9 SiaTpiffovaiv, d\\ ev ovpava> 7ro\irevovTai. Cf. Light- 
foot on Clem. Rom. ep. pr. 

p. 2 1. 10 AGERE c. 10 m. p. 36 1. 30 certe enim oblitos 10 
agitis. 

p. 2 1. 16 INAVDITAM SI DAMNENT ad nat. 1 20 p. 93 

2 Wiss. emendate uosmetipsos prius, at Christianas puniatis, nisi 
quod emendaueritis, non punietis, immo eritis Christiani ; immo 
si fueritis Christiani, eritis emendati. discite quid in nobis 15 
accasetis, et non accusabitis . . . 1. 8 damnate ueritateni, sed 
inspectam si potestis, et probate errorem, sed repertum si putatis. 
quodsi praescribitur uobis errorem amare et odisse ueritatem.cur 
quod amatis et odistis non noueritis? Minuc. 27 8 sic <dae- 
mones> occupant animos et obstruunt pectora, ut ante nos incipiant 20 
homines odisse quam nosse, ne cognitos aid imitari possint aut 
damnare non possint. Lact. v 1 5 quia student damnare tarn- 
quam nocentes quos utique sciunt innocentes, constare de ipsa 
innocentia nolunt: quasi uero maior iniquitas sit probatam inno- 
centiam damnasse quam inauditam. 6 sed, ut dixi. 25 
uerentur, ne, si audierint, damnare non possint. Acts 25 16. 

p. 2 1. 18 HANG ITAQVE PRIM AM CAVSAM APVD VOS COLLO- 
CAMVS INIQVITATIS ODII ERGA NOMEN CHRISTIANORVM Matt. 10 

22. 24 9. Mark 13 13. Luke 6 22. 21 12, 17. lo. 15 21. 
Acts 5 41. 9 1416, 21. 1 Pet. 4 1416. Cf. Lightfopt on 30 
Ign. Eph. 3 pr. ( the Name, absolute). Renan L Eglise 



152 TERTVLLIANI [p. 2 1. 18 

Chretienne 369 n. 2 and 3. Kortholt Paganus obtrectator pp. 
711 720 de inuiso ipsomet Christianorum nomine. Itistin. 
apol. 2 2 p. 42 e seq. "Ptolemaeus accused and condemned solely 
as a Christian. Lucius, another Christian, asked : rt? f) atria ; 

5 TOV fjLT)T /JLOIXOV /J,r)T6 TTOpVOV /jLTJT6 avpO$>OVOV /Jbr /T 

apTraya pr/re avrXw? aBi/crjfjLa TL irpd^avra 

e XpKmavov Trpoo-wvv/jiiav 6/jLO\oyovvra TOV avOpw- 
TTQV TOVTOV etco\d(rw ; Your judgement, Urbicus, ill befits the 
emperor Pius, or the emperor s son the Philosopher, or the sacred 

to senate." Urbicus replied : " You too seem to me to be one of 
them." " Certainly." He was sentenced and returned thanks. 
Tert. scorp. 10 p. 523 1. 15 Oehler ipsum nominis odium, 
ibid. p. 524 1. 10 et odium nominis hie erit, et persecutio hie 
erumpit. 11 p. 526 1. 4 from foot odio liabemur ab omnibus 

15 hominibus nominis causa, quomodo scriptum est. 

p. 2 1. 22 QVID ENIM INIQVIVS, QVAM VT ODERINT HOMINES 
QVOD IGNORANT, ETIAM SI RES MERETVR ODIVM ? ep. ad Diognet. 
5 fin. rrjv alriav r?;? e%0pa$ elirelv ol iMcrovvTes OVK e^ovtrtv. 

p. 2 1. 24 VACANTE...MERITI NOTITIA C. 11 p. 40 1. 29 

20 u a cat ex hac parte causa, c. 18 p. 58 1. 30 sed ne notitia 
uacaret. 

p. 4 1. 6 TESTIMONIVM IGNORANTIAE EST, QVAE INIQVI- 
TATEM DVM EXCVSAT, CONDEMNAT cet. ad nat. I 1 pr. p. 59 

Wiss. testimonium ignorantiae uestrae quae iniquita- 
25 tern dum defendit, reuincit, in promptu est, quod omnes 
qui uobiscum retro ignorabant et uobiscum oderant, 
siinul eis contigit scire, desinunt odisse quia desinunt 
ignorare, immo fiunt et ipsi quod oderant et incipiunt 
odisse quod fuerant. 

3 p. 4 1. 11 OBSESSAM VOCIFERANTVR CIVITATEM cet. C. 37 

p. 108. ad nat. I 1 p. 98 1. 8 seq. Blunt Right Use 275, 
277, 279. Kaye 85 seq. Vales, on Eus. h. e. iv 17. Lucian. 
Antioch. in Rufin. interpr. Eus. h. e. ix 6 (=Routh Reliq. sacr. 
iv 2 p. 6 1. 26) pars paene mundi iam maior huic ueritati adstipu- 
35 latur ; urbes integrae, aut si in his aliquid suspectum uidetur, 
contestatur de his etiam agrestis manus, ignara figmenti. Eus. 
p. e. I 1 6 p. 3 a universality of the call, 3 10 p. 8 b , 15 p. 9 d 
universality of the preaching, through all lands. 



p. 4 1. 33] APOLOGETICVS 1 153 

p. 4 1. 13 DIGNITATEM not only the lowborn and ignorant 
became Christians Blunt Right Use ser. 2 lect. 2 pp. 294317. 
Renan, 1 Antichrist 3 (Pomponia GraecinaX Orig. c. Gels. Ill 9 
p. 117 pr. vvv fjiev ovv rd^a, ore &ia TO 7r\f)0os TWV Trpoaep- 
%o/jL6va)i> rc5 \6yti) KCLI irKovcnoi /cat, Tives TWV ev d^iw/jLacri tcai 5 
yvvala ra dftpa KOI evyevf) dTro&e\ovTai TOU? CLTTO rov \6yov, 
\6yeiv &ia TO Bo^dpiov TrpotdTaadai TLVCLS TJ}? tcaia 
$ia<TKa\Las. Ill 12 p. m. OVTCO TOIVVV, eVet ae/jivov 
TL 6<j)dwrj rot? dv0pct)7Tois Xpio-TiavHTfjios, ov jjuovov, ft>9 6 KeXcro? 

OLTO,l, T0t9 dv8pa7ToSa)86(7TpO^, d\\CL KO 

I, <f>L\o\6yo)V, dvayfcaia)? vTreaT^aav, ov 
teal TO (f>i\6veiKov, aipecrets, d\Xa Sia TO 
TCL Xpiar^az/tcr/uoi) KOI TWV <>i\o\oyci)v TrXetoz^a?. cf. c. 
44 71. VII 54 f. (of the words of Jesus) &vvdfj,ei \6\e^0at 

Stvpo eTTtcrTpecfrovTas ov TWV cnr\ovorTepwv Tivas 15 
, d\\a /cal 7ro\\ov<$ TWV crvveTWTeptov. Rufin. h. e. V 21. 
p. 4 1. 17 AM ANT IGNORARE ignorance of Crescens lustin. 
apol. II 3. Demand for enquiry id. apol. I 3. 

p. 4 1. 19 IMPRVDENTES DE PRVDENTIBVS IVDICANTES ad 

mart. 1 p. 3 nee tantus ego sum, ut uos alloquar. uerumtamen 20 
et gladiatores perfectissimos non tantum magistri et praepositi 
sui, sed etiam idiotae et sitperuacui quique adhortantur de longin- 
quo, ut saepe de ipso populo dictata suggesta profuerint. 

p. 4 1. 20 MALVNT NESCIRE cet. ad nat. I 1 p. 59 1. 15 Wiss. 
Mimic. 27 8 (of demons) sic occupant animos et obstruunt 25 
pectora, ut ante rtos incipiant homines odisse quam nosse, ne 
cognitos aut imitari possint aut damnare non possint. 

p. 4 1. 25 SED NON IDEO, INQVIT, BONVM, QVIA MVLTOS 

CONVERTIT cet. to the end of c. 1. cf. ad nat. I 1 p. 59 1. 20 
00 1. 16. 30 

INQVIT they say. c. 31 p. 98 1. 19. luu. ill 153 n. (pp. 
198, 373). xiv 153 n. Arnob. I 3, 34. in 6. Biinemann on 
Lact. de ira Dei 19 7. 

p. 4 1. 33 DINVMERANT IN SEMETIPSOS MENTIS MALAE 

IMPETVS, VEL FATO VEL ASTRIS IMPVTANT " either they tell up 35 
against themselves the outbursts of an evil mind, or (if they 
excuse themselves) they make their destiny or their star re 
sponsible." 



154 TERTVLLIANI [p. 6 1. 1- 

p. 6 1. 1 IMPVTANT de paenit. 6 a. m. p. 654 1. 6 quis enim 
seruus, postquam libertate mutatus est, furta sua et fugas sibi 
imputat? cf. on the stars as a scapegoat lul. Firm, 
math. I 1 in Heraldus. 

5 p. 6 1. 2 CHRISTIANVS VERO QVID SIMILE ? C. 2 pr. quod- 
cumque dicimur. ibid. p. 6 1. 25 de nobis nihil tale. c. 8 p. 28 
1. 24 homo es et ipse, quod et Christianus... homo est enim et 
Christianus et quod et tu. 

NEMINEM PVDET, NEMINEM PAENITET, NISI PLANE RETRO 

10 NON FVISSE Minuc. 28 2 malum autem adeo non esse, ut 
Christianus reus nee erubesceret nee timeret, et unum solum- 
modo, quod non ante fuerit, paeniteret. 

p. 6 1. 4 SI ACCVSATVR, NON DEFENDIT Lact. V 20 10 

ideo cum tarn nefanda perpetimur, ne uerbo quidem reluctamur, 
15 sed Deo remittimiis ultionem. 

p. 6 1. 5 DAMNATVS GRATIAS AGIT C. 46 p. 111. p. 130 1. 15 

Christianus etiam damnatus gratias agit. 50 f. (note) 
p. 146 1. 9 inde est quod ibidem sententiis uestris gratias 
agimus. ut est aemulatio diuinae rei et humanae, cum dam- 
20 namur a uobis, a Deo absoluimur. 1 Cor. 4 12. lustin. apol. 11 
2 f. p. 43 C Lucius, defending Ptolemaeus, and confessing himself 
a Christian, is ordered for execution: o Se /cal 

O)fjiO\6yl, y TTOVTJpWV Se<J7TOTc3l> TtOV TOLOVTWV 

VOXTKCOV KOL Trpos TOV Trarepa /cal /SacrtXea TWV ovpavtov Tropev- 
25 ecr6ai, fcal aXXo? Be rpiros eTre\6u>v KO\aaOr)vat, Trpoo-erLfujOTj. 
Aug. serm. 309 4 (reply of Cyprian to the sentence of death) 
Deo gratias ! Le Blant les actes des martyrs 237 8. 

CAP. II 

Cf. c. 46 why have we not the same impunity as philosophers?" 
p. 6 1. 17 CHRISTIAN IS SOLIS NIHIL PERMITTITVR LOQVI 

30 QVOD CAVSAM PVRGET lulitta, winning her case against one 
who had embezzled the greater part of her estate, was by him 
denounced as a Christian. Refusing to sacrifice, she was con 
demned to the stake (Basil, horn, cle diuersis v in mart. lulittam, 
II 33 a 43 C ). 

35 p. 6 1. 19 ILLVD SOLVM EXSPECTATVR QVOD ODIO PVELICO 



p. 6 1. 21] APOLOGETICVS 1, 2 155 

NECESSARIVM EST, CONFESSIO NOMINIS, NON EXAMINATIO CRI- 
MINIS cet. lustin apol. I 4 pr. p. 54 (1 55 b ovo^aTo^ yu,e/< ovv 
TrpoawvvfjLia ovTe dyaOov OVTC KaKov KplveTai dvev TWV vTroTrnr- 
TOVCTWV TW ovofiaTi Trpdgecov 7rei, oaov ye K TOV /carrjyopov- 

r ~ i f , r t i-^^i i \ > 

/jievov ijfjiwv ovojjiaTos, YpT)o~TOTaTOi vTrfipvo/jiev. aA,A, ewei ov 5 
TOVTO SiKaiov rfyovueOa, Sid TO ovo/jia, eav KaKol eXey^M/jieda, 
aiTelv d(f)ie(T0ai, TrdXiv, el /jujSev Sid Te TTJV irpoa^yopiav TOV 
Kal Sid TTJV iroXiTeiav evpicrKo/jieOa dSiKovvTes, v^eTepov 
eo~Ti fjirj dSiKcos Ko\dovT$ TGI)? ^77 eKey^ofjievov^ Ty 
OIKTJ Ko\acriv 6(f)\i^(7rjTe. e ovofAaTos yap i} eiraivos rj Ko\ao~is 10 
OVK av ev\6ya)s yevoiTO, rjv f^r} TI evdpeTOv 77 (f)av\ov Si* epywv 
a7roSeiKvvcr0ai SvvijTai. Kal yap TOVS KaTTjyopovjjievovs e 
V/AWV TravTas Trplv eXey^Orfvai ov TifjiwpeiTe, e ^> r)/j,a)v Se TO 
ovo/jia GO? \ey%ov \afjiftdveTe, KaiTrep, oaov ye 6K TOV ovo/jiaTos, 
TOf? KaTrjyopovvTas JJLO\\OV KoXd^eiv ocfreiXeTe. XpiaTiavol 15 
yap elvai KaTijyopov^eOa TO Se ^prjo-Tov jJucrelcrBai ov SiKaiov. 
Kai Tra\iv eav aev TIS TWV KaTTjyopov/jievcov eapiso$ yevrjTai TTJ 
(pctivy [LTi eivai <f>?7<7ci9, (icbieTe avTov co? LLijSev e\eyyeiv evovTes 
a/j,apT(ivovTa, eav Se Tt? o/JLoKoy^crr) elvai, Sid TTJV 6/jio\oyiav KO- 
\deTe f Seov Kal TOV TOV ofJLO\oyovvTos (3iov evOvveiv Kal TOV TOV 20 
apvov/Aevov, OTTWS Sid TOJV Trpd^ewv OTrolos ea-Tiv eKaaros <pai- 
Athenag. 2 p. 3 bc Kal yap ov vrpo? TT}? vueTepas SiKaio- 
^, aiTiav \apovTa$ aoiKTj/jiciTcov, fjirj TrpoTepov 
ai, e(f> rjfjiwv 06 /jiei^ov io"vveiv TO ovofj^a 
TWV eTTi Ty SiKrj eXey^wv, OVK el rjSiKrjae TI 6 Kpivo/mevos TWV 25 
SiKa^ovTwv e7rtr)TovvT(t)i>, aXX et? TO ovoaa w? et? dSiKrjaa 
evv/3piovTCi)v. ovSev Se ovo^a e($> eavTov Kal Si avTov ovTe 
Trovrjpov ovTe ^prjaTov vofjiit^eTai, Sid Se T? v 
TI Trovvjpds TJ dyaOds TT panels 77 <f)\avpa 77 dya6d 

p. 6 1. 21 NON STATIM CONFESSO EO NOMEN HOMICIDAE 30 
VEL SACRILEGI. . .CONTENTI SITIS AD PRONVNTIANDVM cet. Tatiail 
27 pr. p. 164 a 7T&;? yap OVK CLTOTCOV TOV fjiev XrjaTrjv Sid TO 

KaTafjiavOdveiv, rjads Se TTpo\tjjui/AaTi \oiSopias dvege- 
t , efjiicrrjKevai ; Lact. V 1 2 ab hoc < the pagan reader > 35 
tamen si fieri potest humanitatis iure postulamus, ut non prius 
damnet quam uniuersa cognouerit. nam si sacrilegis et prodi- 
toribus et ueneficis potestas defendendi sui datur nee praedaiunari 



156 TERTVLLIANI [p. 6 1. 21- 

qaemquam incognita causa licet, non iniuste peter e uidemur, ut si 
quis erit ille qui inciderit in haec, si leget, perlegat, si audiet, 
sententiam differ at in extremum. 

p. 6 1. 22 PVBLTCI HOSTIS cf. below in this chapter p. 8 1. 14 

5 in reos maiestatis et publicos hostes omnis homo miles est. 
c. 35 pr. p. 102 1. 10 propterea igitur publici hostes Christiani, 
quia imperatoribus neque uanos neque mentientes neque temerarios 
honor es dicant. 

p. 6 1. 23 ELOGIIS 24 m. p. 84 1. 28. de cor. 5 f. Oehler. 

10 Neumann der rom. Staat u. d. allg. Kirche I (Leipz. 1890) 33 n. 1. 

p. 6 1. 27 INFANTICIDIA...INCESTA Mimic. 28 2 et nos 

enim idem fecimus et eadem uobiscum quondam adhuc caeci et 

hebetes sentiebamus, quasi Christiani monstra colerent, infantes 

uorarent, conuiuia incesta miscerent; nee intellegebamus 

isfabtdas istas semper uentilari et numquam uel inuestigari uel 
probari, nee tanto tempore aliquem exsistere qui proderet, non 
tantumfacti ueniam, uerum etiam indicii gratiam consecuturum. 
lustin. apol. I 26 p. 70 hc (cf. Otto n. 14 on c. 10 f. p. 58 d ), speaking 
of Gnostics (cf. Otto n. 30) el Se /cat ra ^vor^^a eiceiva fivOo- 

20 \oyovfj,va epya TrpaTTOvai, \v*%vlas fAV dvarpoTrrjv KO,I TO, 9 
dve&rjv fjii^ei^ fcal dvd pwrreiwv (rap/cwv j3opd$, ov yiva)- 
o-KOfjiev. cf. c. 29 pr. p. 7l e 77 dveSrjv /JLL^L^. Tat. 25 fin. 
p. 163 d Trap rj/jilv OVK eanv dv6 pwrrofyayia. 32 p. 167 b ra 
8e TT)? daeXyeias Troppco /ce^ajpLcrraL. Athenag. 3 pr. p. 4 C 

25 rpla 7ri(f) r]fj,iov(n,i> ^JJLLV ey/cXtf/jiaTa, ddeorrjra, ^vearela 
Selirva, OlSiiroSeiov? /A/fet? (cf. Otto n. 1). 31 pr. p. 34 d 
(Otto n. 1). Theophil. ad Autol. speaks of cannibalism in 3 
p. 118 d . 4 p. 119 b (Otto n. 4). 5 p. 119 C 120 d . 8 p. 122 C . 
15 p. 126 d ; of incest 3 p. 118 d . 4 p. 119 b . 6 p. 120 a " d . 8 p. 

30 122 C . 15 p. 126 d ; retorting the charges on gods and philo 
sophers. In the persecution at Lugudunum some heathen 
slaves, from fear of torture (Eus. h. e. V 1 14), Kare^revcravTo 
r^fjiwv v6crT6i,a SeifTva KOI Oi&iTToSeiovs fjLLgets. Byblias, 
who had denied the faith, recovered her constancy on the rack, 

35 asking (ibid. 25 26) TTCO? av TraiSia fydyouev ol rotoOrot, ot? 
fjLTjSe d\6ya)v fywv al^a (frayetv e%ov ; A.D. 311, under Maximin 
(Eus. h. e. IX 5 2), the commandant of the garrison at 
Damascus compelled prostitutes to confess that they had once 



p. 8 1. 9] APOLOGETICVS 2 157 



been Christians, avve&elev re avrois dOepirovpryias, ev 
aurofc? re row /cvpiafcols Trpdrreiv avrovs rd dico\ao-ra. Origen 
c. Gels, vi 27 f. 40 pr. traces these calumnies to the Jews ; in 
his day most even of the heathen refused to credit them. cf. 
Lightfoot Ignatius I pp. 52 53. On the chastity of Christians 5 
cf. Tert. c. 38 f. p. 110 1. 18. 39 p. 112 1. 34. 

p. 6 1. 31 PLINIVS cf. Eus. h. e. in 33. My Bibliographical 
Clue to Latin Literature pp. 146 7 gives the literature on 
Plin. ep. 9697 up to 1875. Add Renan les eVangiles 469 
484 and in Journ. des Sav. 1876 p. 725 seq. Keim Rom und 10 
das Christen thum Berlin 1881 512 8 and ind. s. v. Plinius. 
Boissier Les Chretiens devant la legislation rom. (Rev. d. Deux 
Mondes 13 Apr. 1876), and on the authenticity of Pliny s letter 
and the earliest persecutions id. in Rev. Arche ol. 1876 Febr. 
and June. J. Variot, Les Lettres de Pline le jeune, correspond- 15 
ance avec Trajan relativement aux Chretiens de Pont et de 
Bithynie (Rev. des Questions Historiques, July 1878, pp. 80 
153) and id. De Plinio iuniore et imperatore Traiano apud 
Christianos et de Christianis apud Plinium iuniorem et im- 
peratorem Traianum. Par. 1878. 8vo. Arnold Studien zur 20 
Geschichte der Plinianischen Christenverfolgung. 1877. My 
notes in Classical Review IV (1890) 121 3. Lightfoot Ignatius 
I pp. 50 56 ; pp. 57 62 comment on Tert. h. 1. and Eus. For 
other works of Overbeck, Aube, Allard, see Holzmann and 
Zopffel, Lex. f. Theologie 2 , Braunschweig, 1888, s.v. Christen- 25 
verfolgungen. See esp. K. J. Neumann der rom. Staat u. die 
allg. Kirche bis auf Diocletian I (Leipzig 1890) 1733. [W. M. 
Ramsay Church in the Roman Empire (London 1893) chap, x ; 
E. G. Hardy Studies in Roman History (London 1906) chap. 
vi. A.S.] 30 

p. 8 1. 3 OBSTINATIONEM c. 50 f. p. 146 1. 4 ilia ipsa 
obstinatio, quam exprobratis, magistra est. 

p. 8 1. 9 NEGAT INQVIRENDOS VT INNOCENTES Blunt Right 

Use 348. Mommsen, Strafr. 313 3. Harnack Gesch. d. altchr. 
Lit. (1893) i 866. Hadrian ep. ad Minucium Fundanum A.D. 35 
125 according to Clinton, or A.D. 126 (Haenel corpus legum, 
Lips. 1857, pp. 86 87), the substance of which is given by 
Oros. vn 13 2 praecepit per epistulam ad Minucium Fundanum 



158 TERTVLLIANI [p. 8 1. 9 

proconsule Asiae datum, ut nemini liceret Christianas sine obiectu 
criminis ant probatione damnare. On the question of authen 
ticity see Otto on lustin. apol. I 69 p. 99 d n. 1. Lightfoot 
Ignatius I 1 442, 460 4. 522 where he (after Rigault) finds an 
5 allusion to Hadrian s rescript to Fundanus in the mandatum of 
Tertull. ad Scap. 4 (p. 547 1. 1) Pudens etiam missum ad se 
Christianum in elogio concussione eius intellects dimisit, scisso 
eodem elogio, sine accusatore negans se audit ur am hominem 
secundum mandatum. Melito apol. to Marcus Aurelius (Eus. 

10 h. e. IV 26 10) says of Antoninus Pius o Se Trartjp crou...Tcu9 
TroXecrt Trepl rov /JirjSev vewTepi^euv vre/ol TIIJLWV eypa^ev (cf. 
Lightfoot 1. c. p. 443). Athenag. 3 p. 4 d (to Marcus Aurelius 
and Commodus) ical rov /jLwSev rovrayv dbiKelv ty-iet? 
K\evovTS /A?) i^rjvvciv 7T/3O? vjjiwv \oi7rov i^Tacn 

15 /3iov, Soy/jLCLTCOv, TT}? TT/OO? VJJLCL^ K.CLI TOV v^erepov oiicov /cat rrjv 
fSaaiXeLav O-JTOV^ KOI uTra/co^?. Under Commodus (Eus. h. e. 
v 21 3) the accuser of Apollonius had his legs broken by 
sentence of Perennius. 

p. 8 1. 13 LATRONIBVS cet. Dio LXXVI 10. Mommsen 

20 Strafrecht 312 1, 307 2. 

p. 8 1. 15 socios cet. Mommsen rom. Strafrecht 91 2, 98 
34. 

p. 8 1. 22 CETERIS NEGANTIBVS TORMENTA ADHIBETIS AD 
CONFITENDVM, SOLIS CHRISTIANIS AD NEGANDVM ad Scap. 4 pr. 

25 p. 546 1. 4 quid enim amplius tibi mandatur, quam nocentes 
confesses damnare, negantes autem ad tormenta reuoc- 
are ? uidetis ergo, quomodo ipsi uos contra mandata faciatis, 
ut confesses negare cogatis. adeo confitemini innocentes 
esse nos, quos damnare statim ex confessione non uultis. Cypr. 

30 ad Demetrian. 13 pr. (p. 360 16) quin potius elege tibi alterum 
de duobus : Christianum esse aut est crimen aut non est. si 
crimen est, quid non interficis confitentem ? si crimen 
non est, quid persequeris innocentem? torqueri enim 
debui, si negarem. si poenam tuam metuens id quod prius 

35 fuerain et quod deos tuos non cohieram mendacio fallente celarem, 
tune torquendus fuissem, tune ad confessionem criminis cum 
ui doloris adigendus, sicut in quaestionibus ceteris 
torquentur rei qui se iiegant crimine quo accusantur 



p. 10 1. 8] APOLOGETICVS 2 159 

teneri, ut facinoris ueritas quae indice uoce non promitur dolor e 
corporis exprimatur. nunc uero cum sponte confitear et 
clamem et crebris et repetitis identidem uocibus 
Christianum me esso contester, quid tormenta ad- 
mo ues confitenti, et deos tuos non in abditis et secretis locis 5 
sed palam, sed publice, sed in foro ipso magistratibus et prae- 
sidibus audientibus destruenti ? Ambr. de Cain et Abel II 9 27 
in iudiciis saecularibus impositi eculeo torquentur negantes, et 
quaedam tangit iudicem miser atio confitentis...mitigat iudicem 
pudor reorum, excitat autem pertinacia denegantium. 10 

p. 10 1. 4 SI NON ITA AGITIS CIRCA NOS NOCENTES C. 6 
p. 22 1. 10 circa feminas quidem etiam ilia maiorum instituta 
ceciderunt. ibid. p. 22 1. 23 etiam circa ipsos deos uestros quae 
prospecte decreuerant patres uestri. Often in Quintil., the two 
Plinys, Tac., Suet. Burman on Quintil. decl. I 7 quid circa 15 
te pecunia potest? 4 7 affectus circa liberos. Drager hist. 
Synt. I 576. 

p. 10 1. 8 VOCIFERATVR HOMO: CHRISTIANVS SVM C. 21 
p. m. p. 74 1. 10 dicimus, et palam dicimus, et uobis torquen- 
tibus lacerati et cruenti uociferamur. Deum colimus per 20 
Christum, de corona mil. 1 p. 416 1. 2 statim tribunus cur 
inquit tarn diuersus habitus? negauit ille sibi cum ceteris 
licere. causas expostulatus Chris tianus sum respondit. 
Scorpiace c. 9 the latter half (e.g. p. 164 1. 17 Wiss. qui se 
Christianum confitetur, Christi se esse testatur). passio Perpetuae 25 
6 (p. 70 1. 16 Robinson) Hilarianus <procurator> Christiana 
es? inquit. et ego respondi Christiana sum. acta mart. 
Scillit. p. 114 1. 11 23 ed. Robinson. lustin. apol. II 2 p. 42 cde . 
43 a . acta lustini c. 3 f. 4 (the whole). 5 f. waavrw^ Se fcal 
OL \OITTOI jjidprvpes eiTTov TToit-i o ^eXet9. 77/^669 jap Xpicm- 30 
avoL e cr/Ltez^ KOI et &wXot? ov Ovo/^ev. Theophil. ad Autol. I 1 
p. 69 en, oe (^779 fJie Xpianavov c9 /cdfcov Tovvo/jia (fropovvra, 
70) fjii> ovv o/xoXo yco f.lvai, XptcrTta^o9, /cat (f)opa> TO Oeo(f)L\e^ 
ovofjia TOVTO e\T;ia)v ev^prjaroff elvai rcG 6eu). So the Gallic 
martyrs Eus. h. e. v 1 19 (Blandina). 20 (Sanctus) 7r^o9 35 
iravra ra eTrepcorco/jLei a aireicpLvaro rrj Pco/jLaifcfj fywvf) Xptcr- 
elfjuJ 26 (Byblias). vm 3 3 (under Diocletian) 
X/9to-rta^o9 elvat e/cefcpdyei, rfj rov crwrrjplov Trpocr- 



160 TERTVLLIANI [p. 10 1. 8 

pharos o^oXoyia \afj,7rpvv6fjLi>o<;. Eus. mart. Pal. 3 3. acta 
Felicis (ad calc. Optati, ed. Du Pin, Par. 1702) p. 147 col. 1 med. 
GUI Anulinus proconsul dixit quod tibi nomen est? Felix 
episcopus dixit Christianas sum. Anulinus proconsul dixit 

5 non te de uocabulo quaesiui professions, sed percunctatus 
sum quo nomine nuncuperis. Felix episcopus dixit sicut tibi 
iam disci, hoc nunc et iterum dico, quia Christianas sum et 
episcopus. Cf. acta Saturnini cet. c. 4 seq. (ibid. p. 151 col. 
2 f. seq.) often, acta Eupli (p. 438 Ruinart). Lucifer Calar, 

10 moriendum esse pro Dei filio 2 (p. 287 12 Hartel) cernimus 
una hac uoce religiosa Christianas sum, nolo esse ut tu es, 
Constantius, apostata omne crimen excludi...et tu inquis negate 
uos Christianos. Victor Vitens. ill 50 (= v 14) infantulo 
clamante ut poterat : Christianus sum, Christianas 

15 sum, per sanctum Stephanum Christianus sum. Rufin. h. e. 
vn 12 p. 415. vin 3 p. 467. 

p. 10 1. 9 VERITATIS EXTORQVENDAE PKAESIDES (Kaye 
p. 48) DE NOBIS SOLIS MENDACIVM ELABORATIS AVDIBE MimiC. 

28 3 nos <i.e. while yet heathens > tamen cum sacrileges 

20 aliquos et incestos, parricidas etiam defendendos et tuendos 

suscipiebamus, hos nee audiendos in totum putabamus, nonnum- 

quam etiam miser antes eorum crudelius saeuiebamus, ut tor- 

queremus confitentes ad negandum, uidelicet ne perirent, 

exercentes in his peruersam quaestionem non quae uerum 

25 erueret, sed quae mendacium cogeret. Justin cited on 

p. 6 1. 19. 

p. 10 1. 14 NE QVA vis LATE AT IN occvLTO the Evil Spirit 
infr. p. 12 1. 7 quaedam ratio aemulae operationis. cf. c. 22. 
27 p. 92 1. 17 ille scilicet spiritus daemoniacae et angelicae 
30 paraturae, qui nosier ob diuortium aemulus et ob Dei gratiam 
inuidus de mentibus uestris aduersus nos proeliatur occulta 
inspiratione modulatis. c. 32. lustin. apol. I 5. 

p. 10 1. 15 QVAE VOS ADVERSVS FORMAM. . .IVDICANDI 
CONTRA IPSAS QVOQVE LEGES MINISTRET cf. C, 21 p. 70 1. 27 

35 elementa ipsa famularet. de carne Christi 12 (n p. 447 1. ult.) 
sine qua notitia sui mdla anima se ministrare potuisset. The 
usual sense of ministro (uiros, uires animumque cet.) may hold 
here : without self-knowledge no soul could have rendered its 



p. 10 1. 27] APOLOGETICVS 2 161 


services ; and in the text : this mysterious power makes tools 

of you, lends your services. 

p. 10 1. 24 DEBITO POENAE NOCENS EXPVNGENDVS EST, 

NON EXIMENDVS eximere (cf. exemption) is the office of mercy, 
expungere of justice (the full satisfaction of all claims), c. 15 f. 5 
libidinem. c. 20 f. (of time), c. 21 p. 70 1. 15 of the first 
advent iam expunctus est (fulfilled in every predicted detail), 
c. 35 p. 102 1. 22 (with Oehler s note) cur enim uota et gaudia 
Caesarum casti et sobrii et probi expungimus? cf. c. 44 pr. 
qai sententiis elogia dispungitis (clear off the police sheet by 10 
sentencing the accused to their several punishments), de orat. 
9 pr. (p. 187 1. 1 Wiss.) quot simid expunguntur official de 
corona mil. 1 pr. (i p. 416, with Oehler s note) liberalitas 
praestantissimorum imperatorum expungebatur in castris. 
de an. 35 pr. (p. 360 1. 9 Wiss.). 55 pr. (p. 387 1. 25) Christo in 15 
corde terrae triduum mortis legimus expunctum. adu. Marc. 

11 20 f. p. 363 1. 24 Kr. suum popidum in tempore expeditionis 
< of the Exodus > aliquo solacio tacitae cornpensationis ex- 
punxit. in. 5 (p. 382 1. 6 Kr.) et diuinationi propheticae magis 
familiar e est id quod prospiciat, dum prospicit, iam uisum atque 20 
ita iam expunctum, id est omni modo futurum, demonstrare. 

12 (p. 395 1. 24 Kr.). 17 (p. 405 six lines from end of ch.). 
20 pr. (p. 410 1. 12 Kr.). 23 pr. (p. 417 1. 3 Kr.). 24 a.m. 
(p. 419 1. 28 Kr.). iv 16 (p. 471 1. 22 Kr.) coepit expungi quod 
dictum est per Osee. 20 a.m. (p. 484 1. 16 Kr.) nani cum trans- 25 
fretatj psalm us expungitur (cf. c. 40 p. 559 1. 11 Ki\)...cum 

andas freti discutit, Abacuc adimpletur. 22 p.m. (p. 495 
1. 20 Kr.). 29 a.m. (p. 520 1. 23 Kr.) ut quod supra distuli 
expunxerim. 34 p.m. (p. 537 1. 12 Kr.) donee consammatio 
rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine mercedis expungat. 30 
39 prope f. (p. 558 1. 3) si quae a Creatore sunt } mento susti- 
nebunt elementa domini sui ordinem expungi, si quae a Deo 
Optimo, nescio an sustineat caelum et terra perfici quae aemulus 
statuit. v 7 f . (p. 596 1. 22). 

p. 10 1. 27 CHRISTIANVM HOMINEM OMNIVM SCELERVM 35 
REVM...EXISTIMAS, ET COGIS NEGARE, VT ABSOLVAS et and yet 

c. 37 (p. 108 1. 9) hesterni sumus et uestra omnia impleuimus. 
luu. vii 124 n. xni 91 n. Holden on Mimic. 12 2. 24 2. 
M. T. 11 



162 TERTVLLIANI [p. 12 1. 7- 

p. 12 1. 7 NOMEN, QVOD QVAEDAM RATIO AEMVLAE OPERA- 
TIONIS INSEQVITVR, HOC PRIMVM AGENS, VT HOMINES NOLINT 
SCIRE PRO CERTO QVOD SE NESCIRE PRO CERTO SCIVNT Instill. 



apol. I 5 pr. (p. 55 d ) TL &] TOUT av eiy ; e</> ?; 
5 fjLWcov pyoev d$iKU> ^6 TO, d6ea ravra &o%deiv, ov 



ef era fere, d\\ dXuyco irddei teal 
ei;e\avv6tJ.voi, d/cpirax; /coXa fere pr) (frpovTi&vTes. Tert. apol. 
c. 5 (p. 20 1. 6) tales semper nobis insecutores. 21 (p. 72 
1. 32) a ludaeis insequentibus multa perpessi. c. 50 pr. 
10 (p. 142) f ergo inquitis ( cur querimini quod uos insequamur ? 
In Tert. do an. 20 Deus dominus is opposed to didbolus 
aeinnlus. 

p. 12 1. 13 IDEO TOBQVEMVR CONF1TENTES....ET ABSOL- 
VIMVR NEGANTES.. QVIA NOMINIS PRO ELI VM EST Orig. C. 

15 Gels. II 13 (p. 68) Christians alone punished for opinions. 
Epicureans overthrow providence, Peripatetics deny the efficacy 
of prayer, and are unmolested. It may be said that Samaritans 
are persecuted for religion. No, the Sicarii are put to death 
for practising circumcision, a rite allowed to Jews alone, teal 

20 OVK <TTIV CiKovoai SiicaaTOV TTwdavofJievov, el Kara rrfvBe T^V 
voiJLi^ofjikvrjv Otoaefteiav o ILiKapios dywvL^opei o^ fiiovv, pera- 
6e/jii>o<; jj,ev dTroXvd^aerai, e/j./juevcov Se rrjv eVl Bavdrcp anra^- 
OrjaeraL. d\\a yap apKtl 8ef%^etcra ?; -rrepLToprj TT/JO? dvaipeaiv 
rov Tre-TrovOo-Tos avrrjv. Tert. Scorpiace 11 pr. ipsi denique 

25 praesides cum cohortantur negation!: serua animam tuam, 
dicunt, et noli animam tuam perdere! 

p. 12 1. 10 SI HOMICIDA CHRIST1ANVS, CVR NON ET INCEST VS 
VEL QVODCVNQVK ALIVD ESSE NOS CREDITIS ? 1 Pet. 2 12. 

3 16. 4 14. 

30 p. 12 1. ID CHRISTIANVS SI NVLLIVS CRIMINIS REVS EST, 

NOMEN VALDE 1NCESTVM, SI SOLIVS NOMINIS CRIMEN EST 
pat. 2 ingratissimas nationes, ludibria artiwm et opera manuum 
suarum adorantes, nomen cum familia ipsius <Dei> perse- 
quentes. Athejiag. 1 p. 2 b V/JLIV e (*ai prj TrapaKpovdOipe 

35 &)? ol TroXXot ef dfcorjs) TO ovo^a ri aTre^OdveTai ; ov yap rd 
ovopa-ra /jLicrovs d&a, d\\d rb d^iK7]fjLa oi/crjs Kal Ti^wpias. 
ibid. c eVl povw ovo^a-ri 7rpocr7ro\^ovvrwv rj^lv rwv TTO\\O)V. 
cf. c. 2. Arnob. n 1 pr. quid causae est quod tarn grauibus 



p. 14 1. 3] APOLOGETICVS 2, 3 163 

insectamini Christum bellis, uel quas eius continetis offensas, id 
ad eius nominis mentionem rabidorum pectorum efferuescatis 
ardoribus? With Tert. c. 24 cf. lustin. apol. I 4. 



CAP. Ill 

p. 12 1. 22 VT BONVM ALICVI TESTIMONIVM FERENTES ADMIS- 

CEANT NOMINIS EXPROBRATioNEM innocence of Christians c. 45 5 
pr. lustin. apol. I 14 15. Lact. ill 26. ep. ad Diognet. c. 5 6. 
Semisch Justin. II 191 seq. Neander I (I) 2 428 seq. 

p. 12 1. 23 GAIVS SEIVS...LVCIVM TITIVM lull. IV 13 II. 

p. 12 1. 25 NEMO RKTRACTAT, NE IDEO BONVS GAIVS..., QVIA 

CHRISTIANVS on ne (= /^) see Oehler on c. 2 p. 121 n. x. 10 
adu. Marc, v 16 (p. 631 1. 6 Kr.) secundum uero Marcionem nescio 
ne sit Christ us creator is. Ronsch Itala u. Vulgata 400. Gesta 
apud Zenophilum (Routh reliq. sacr. IV 2 325 1. 4 and 7) quaere 
ne plus habeatis... quaere, ne plus habeat. Aug. de peccato 
originali 17 18 quis enim scit, ne forte det illis Deus paeni- 15 
tentiam ? Aug. c. D. I 28 pr. (i 44 14 Dombart) interrogate 
fideliter ammas uestras, ne forte de into integritatis...bono uos 
inflatius extulistis. Irenaeus v 30 3 at ex multis colligamus ne 
forte Titan uocettir. Hermes xxv 124 1. 2 interrogari ne. 
Greg. dial, in 37 (p. 361 !lh Ben.) aspexit ne. Victor Vitens. ill 20 
50 (= v 14) cogitauit impietas Ariana a parentibus paruulos 
filios separare, ne posset per pietatis affectum etiam uirtutem 
prosternere genitorum. 

p. 12 1. 31 EX IPSO DKNOTANT Qvoi) LAVDANT quam lascitta ! 
quam festiua ! quam amasius ! meant as praise by the heathen, 25 
sound in Christian ears as a reproach. 

p. 14 i. 2 FACTI SVNT CHRISTIANI de cult. fein. ir 11 f. 
(i 731) grandis blasphemia est, ex qua dicatur : ex quo fact a 
est Christiana pauperius incedit. 

p. 14 1. 2 1TA NOMEN EMENDATIONI IMPVTATVR thus reform 30 

is taxed with the name. Those who are no longer giddy, are 
charged with the name of Christian as a crime. 

p. 14 1. 3 NONNVLLI ETIAM DE VTILITAT1BVS SVIS CVM ODIO 

ISTO PACISCVNTVR they sacrifice their interests to this hatred, 
make a bargain with this hatred at the cost of their interests. 35 

112 



164 TERTVLLIANI [p. 14 1. 3 

c. 50 p. 144 1. 4 omitto eos qui cum gladio proprio uel alio genere 
mortis mitiore de laude pepigerunt. 

p. 14 1. 5 VXOREM IAM PVDICAM MARITVS IAM NON 

ZELOTYPVS...ABDICAVIT ad nat. I 4 p. 64 1. 24 Wiss. scio maritum 
5 unum atque alium, anxium retro de uxoris suae moribus, qui ne 
mures quidem in cubiculum inrepentes sine gemitu suspicionis 
sustinebat, comperta causa nouae sedulitatis et inusitatae captiui- 
tatis omnem uxori patientiam obtulisse 1 , negasse <se> zelo- 
typum, maluisse <se> lupae quam Christianas maritum: ipsi 

10 suam licuit in peruersum demutare naturam, mulieri non 
permisit in melius reformari. cf. ad uxor. II 7. See the story 
of a reformed wife denounced as a Christian by her husband 
(lustin. apol. II 2 p. 41 e seq.). cf. what follows here and ad nat. 
about the son abdicated (the rhetoricians passim. Quintil. 

15 vii 4 26 27) and the slave sent on the land. Blunt Right 
Use 3767. Kaye 1301. 

p. 14 1. 7 SERVVM IAM FIDELEM DOMINVS GLIM MITIS AB 

OCVLIS RELEGAVIT de idolol. 17 pr. (p. 50 1. 10 Wiss.) ceterum 
quid facient serui uel liberti Jideles, item officiates sacrifican- 

20 tibus dominis uel patronis uel praesidibus suis adhaerentes? sed 
si merum quis sacrificanti tradiderit, immo si uerbo quoque 
aliquo sacrificio necessario adiuuerit, minister habebitur idolola- 
triae. cf. Blunt Right Use 378. Slaves sent into the country 
as a punishment luu. vm 180 n. Journal of Philology XX 279 

25 280. Petron. 69 sic me saluum habeatis, ut ego sic solebam 
ipsumam meam debattuere, ut etiam domimis suspicaretur ; et 
ideo me in uilicationem relegauit. 

p. 14 1. 9 NVNC IGITVR, SI NOMINIS ODIVM EST, QVIS 

NOMINVM REATVS ? cet. cf. n. on p. 6 1. 19 and 21. lustin. 

30 apol. I 7 f. (p. 56 e ) o9ev TTavrwv Twv KaTa^ye\\o/jLvwv v^lv ra? 
TTpa^et? KpiveaBai d%iovfj,ev, iva 6 eXey^Oels <w? aSi/cos Ko^d^Tai, 
a\\a jJbTj a>9 Xpicrriavos eav Be rt? az^eXe y/cro? (JMzivrjTai, (ITTO- 
\VIJTCU to? XpttTTta^o? ovSev abiKoyv. Athenag. 2 (p. 3 d ) TO TO IVVV 
TT/oo? aTTavras laov KOL rj^els d^iov/jiev, JJLT] on Xpio-navoi 

35 \e>y6/jLe@a fJuaelcrOat Kal Ko\a%e<r8ai (TL yap rjfJLiv TO ovofj.a 
7T/30? Ka/ciav Te\el;) aX\.a Kpivecr6at e^> orwv av Kal 



1 Oehler strangely: omnem u. p. o.] h. e. repudium scripsisse. Rather, 
offered to wink at every infidelity. 



p. 14 1. 13] APOLOGETICVS 3 165 



, teal 17 d<pi(T0ai QTroXuo/u.ei OL ? TT}? Karrjyopias r) 

dXicTfco/jievovs Trovrjpovs, /j,rj eVt T&J ovopari (ouSet? 

TTOVypOS, t //<?; V7TOKpLVTai TOV \OJOl ), 7TL $6 TO) 

Iren. I 24 6 ne pati quidem propter nomen possunt 
Tert. de idol. 14 totus circus scelestis suffragiis nullo merito 5 
nomen lacessit. 

p. 14 1. 10 QVAE ACCVSATIO VOCABVLORVM, NISI SI AVT 
BARBARVM SONAT ALIQVA VOX NOMINIS AVT 1NFAVSTVM AVT 

MALEDICVM AVT 1MPVDICVM ? Quintil. x 1 9 n. omnibus fere 
uerbis praeter pauca, quae sunt parum uerecunda, in oratione 10 
locus est. xi 1 60 esse in uerbis quod deceat aut turpe sit 
nemini dubium est. Liu. xxvili 28 8 4 Atrium Vmbrum semi- 

o 

lixam, nominis etiam abominandi ducem. cf. Lips, on Tac. 
h. iv 53. Lobeck on Soph. Ai. 430. Valckenaer on Eur. Phoen. 
639. Elmsley on Eur. Ba. 508. Stanley on Aesch. Ag. 690. 15 
Victorius uar. lect. xxxvi 24. Columna on Enn. Androm. 
p. 240 ed. ult. Spalding on Quintil. v 10 31. Aristot. rhet. 
II 23 20 p. 1440b 18 seq. with Cope s n. nomen omen. 

p. 14 1. 12 CHRISTIANVS VERO, QVANTVM INTERPRET ATIO EST, 

DE VNCTIONE DEDVCITVR adu. Marc, iv 14 f. (p. 463 1. 2 Kr.) 20 
nomen Christianorum, utique a Christo deductum. Theophil. ad 
Autol. I 12 pr. (p. 77 b with Otto n. 1) -rrepi Be rov /carayeXdv 
fjiov, Kokovvrd yLte Xpicrnavov, ov/c ol&as b \eyeis. irpwrov /J,V 
OTL TO %pi(TTov r)8v teal ev^prjciTov KOI d/caTayeXao Tov eo"nv. 
ibid. fin. roiyapovv ridels TOVTOV e lveicev /ca\ov/j,60a Xpiartavol 25 
on, xpio/jbeOa \aiov 6eov. lustin. apol. I 12 p. 60 a . II 6 p. 44 e . 
dial. 63 p. 287 b . 64 pr. p. 287 e . 117 p. 345 b . Lact. IV 7 6 7. 
Pearson on the Creed (Cambr. 1882) 175 seq. 

p. 14 1. 13 PERPERAM CHREST1ANVS PRONVNTIATVR A VOBIS 

the evidence is collected by Pearson on the Creed art. 2 (Cambr. 30 
1882 pp. 1512). See lustin. apol. I 4 p. 54 (l . 55 a . 46 p. 83 d . 
Theophil. ad Autol. I 1 p. 69 b . Clem. Al. str. II 18 p. 438 P. 
Lact. iv 7 4 nam Christus non proprium nomen est, sed nuncu- 
patio potestatis et regni : sic enim ludaei reges suos appellabant. 
5 sed exponenda huius nominis ratio est propter ignorantium 35 
errorem, qui eum immutata littera Chrestum solent dicere. See 
Btinemann there. [Add inscriptions edited by J. G. C. Anderson 
in Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Provinces of 



166 TERTVLLIANI [p. 14 1. 13- 

t-he Roman Empire (Aberdeen 1906) pp. 215 ff. Selections 
from the Greek Papyri by G. Milligan (Cambr. 1910) p. 113. 
A.S.] It is very doubtful whether the impulsor Chrestus (Suet. 
Claud. 25) can denote Christ. See Herm. Schiller Gesch. d. 
5 rom. Kaiserzeit I 447 n. 6. 

p. 14 1. 16 and 17 ODITVR Neue Formenlehre in 3 643. Georges 
Lexikon der lat. Wortformen. Hartel s ind. to Lucifer Calar. 
coniugatio p. 356 col. 2. Ronsch Itala u. Vulgata 283. 

p. 14 1. 17 QVID NO VI, SI ALIQVA DISCIPLINA DE MAGISTRO 

10 COGNOMENTVM SECTATORIBVS SVIS INDVCIT ? NONNE PHILOSOPHI 

DE AVCTORIBVS SVIS NVNCVPANTVR PLATONICI, EPICVREI, PY- 

THAGORICI? lustin. dial. 2 p. 218 C 219 C . 35 p. 253 d 254 a . 
Clem. Al. str. VII 108 p. 900 P. Epiphan. haer. XLVIII 14. 

p. 141. 22 coci ETIAM AB APicio luu. iv 23 n. pp. 221, 396. 

15 Tert. de pall. 5 f. (i p. 954) taceo Nerones et Apicios et Rufos. 

Friedlander Sittengeschichte n 5 622 629 shows that artists, 

dancers, athletes cet. assumed the names of famous predecessors. 

p. 14 1. 23 NEC TAMEN QVEMQVAM OFFENDIT PROFESSIO 
NOMINIS CVM INSTITVTIONE TRANSMISSA AB INSTITVTORE On the 

20 impunity of philosophers see c. 48 49. lustin. apol. I 4 fin. p. 55. 
26 f. p. 70 b Trdvres 01 diro TOVTCOV <gnostics> o/o/itco/uei ot, w? 
etprj/jLev, XpKTTiavol Kakovvrai, ov rpoirov KOI ol ov Koivwvovvres 
TWV avrwv Soyfjidrayv ev rot? <$>i\oao$>ois TO 7riKa\ov/jievov ovofia 
TT)? <f)i\o<TO<f)ias KOLVOV e^ova-iv. el 8e teal ra Bva<pr]/jLa eicelva 
epya TrpdrrovaL, \v~xyias n<ev avarpoTrrjv /cal rrt? 
teal avOpwireiwv aapicMV /3opa?, ov yivcoo-KO/^ev 
on [AT] Biw/covrai /jbySe fyovevoviai v<fi V/AWV, KCLV Sia ra 
jieOa. Orig. c. Cels. II 13 p. 68 $(,a TTOLOV <yap 
&6<y/jia TU>V ev dv Op to Trots yeyevTjfjievwv KO\d^ovrai teal aXXot, on 
30 opwv rd do-eftrj rj rd ^ev^ij ru>v Soy/jbdrccv KaTr)<yopovfj,va, e Sofe 
/cal TOVTO aefjivuveiv Sid rov 7rpo\eyeiv BfjB&v Trepl avrov ; K.T.\. 
Philosophy does not in fact lack martyrs and confessors, an 
Anaxagoras, a Socrates, a Musonius, and had much to fear from 
the Roman government and from the mob Luc. Alex. 45 o Se 
35 AXe^aySpo? dyava/crijcras evrt rc5 e\ty%w real /XT) (frepwv rov ovei- 
Soi>9 rr)v d\r]6eiav 6K\eve rovs Trapovras \L0ois (3d\\iv avrov 
rj /eal avrovs evayeis ecreaOai /cal ^TriKOvpeiovs K\7]9r]o-ea dai. 
46 f. eSet yfjv irpb yrjs ekavvecrOai co? daeftfj /cal dOeov teal 



p. 16 1. 13] APOLOGETICVS 3, 4 167 

^EiTTitcovpeiov, r)7Tp TJV 7) /jLeyicTTrj \oiSopia. 47 Alexander burnt 
publicly the Kvpiat, Sogat, of Epicurus, and flung the ashes into 
the sea. cf. 25. 43. 44. His proclamation (c. 38) el TLS aOeos 
rj Hpicmavbs rj EtTTi/covpeios rjKei /caraa KOTTOS TWV opyiaiv, <j>ev- 
yerfo, ol Se TriaTevovres rco 8ew Te\eia-6wcrav rv^rj rfj ayaQf). 5 
teal 6 fjiV rjyeiTo \eywv eo> \pia-riavovsl TO e 7rXr?^o9 c nrav 



p. 14 1. 29 IGNOTAM SECTAM, IGXOTVM ET AVCTOREM VOX 
SOLA PRAEDAMNAT, QVIA NOMINANTVR, NON QVIA REV1NCVNTVR 
cf. lustin. apol. I 4. II 2 p. 42 C seq. 



I0 



CAP. IV 

p. 14 1. 33 IAM DE CAVSA IXNOCENTEAE CONSISTAM to 

join issue. exx. in Dirksen manuale under consistere n. 2 
iudicio congredi, actione experiri/ and in Brisson de uerborum 
sigriificationibus. Read below (p. 16 1. 11) with Rigault and 
cod. Fuld. de legibus prius consistam <concurram Oehler> 15 
uobiscum ut cum tiitoribus leg win. fragm. Fuld. c. 19 p. 62 1. 5. 
c. 46 pr. p. 126 1. 25 constitimus, ut opinor, aduersus omnium 
criminum intentationem. ibid. p. 130 1. 17. Oehler on de idol. 
13 pr. p. 87 1. ult. Quintil. decl. 252 p. 30 1. 1 ut diceret, qua 
alia lege cum illo consistere potuerim. 5 other exx. in Ritter s 20 
ind. 

p. 16 1. 4 NON DICO PESSIMI OPTIMOS de idol. 14 f. (p. 47 
1. 6 Wiss.) si quid et carni indulgendum est, habes, non dicam 
tuos dies tantum, sed et plnres. de fuga in pers. 10 (p. 479 1. 6 up) 
ilium, non dico in mari et in terra, uerum in utero etiam 25 
bestiae inuenio. 

p. 16 1. 8 INRIDENDI 18 p. 58 1. 15 haec et nos risimus 
aliquando. 

p. 16 I 9 LEGVM OBSTRVITVR AVCTORITAS 37 pr. p. 106 1. 25 

quotiens enim in Christianas desae>iitis, partim animis propriis, 30 
partim legibus obsequentes? Blunt Right Use p. 341. 

p. 16 1. 13 NON LICET ESSE vos Minuc. 8 3 homines... 
deploratae illicitae ac desperatae factionis grassari in deos 
non ingemescendum est? uit. Alex. Seu. 22 ludaeis priuilegia 
reseruauit, Christianos esse pass us est. Judaism was tole- 35 



168 TERTVLLIANI [p. 16 1. 13 

rated infr. c. 21 pr. p. 66 1. 17 insignissimae religionis, eerie 
licitae. Blunt Right Use 345. Sulpic. Seu. chron. n 29 3 post 
etiam datis legibus religio uetabatur, palamque edictis propositis 
Christianum esse non licebat. 

5 p. 16 1. 14 INIQVAM EX ARCE DOMINATIONEM lull. X 307 n. 

Luc. viii 490. Plut. Timol. 22 1. DS. xvi 70. The new ed. 
of Diet. Ant. does not notice the political importance of the ai-x, 
though arx and esp. d/cpo7ro\t<; very frequently denote the 
stronghold of tyranny, or, metaphorically, of tyrannical passions. 
10 lustin. xxi 5 2. Flor. I 1 5. 

p. 16 1. 20 SI LEX TVA ERRAVIT Grig. C. Gels. I 1 p. 5 Trap 
d\rj0eia ^iKCL^ovcrr) ol vofjiot, T&V eOvwv, ol Trepl d 
rfjs d6eov TroXvOeoTTjros, VO/JLOI elal Z/cvOduv /cal el TL ^. 
do-e/Beo-repov. OVK a\o<yov ovv avvOr^Ka^ Trapd rd 
15 Troieiv, ra? virep dXijOeias. Many passages to the same effect 
in K. J. Neumann, der rom. Staat und die allg. Kirche bis auf 
Diocletian, I (Leipz. 1890) 234. 

p. 16 1. 21 NEQVE ENIM DE CAELO RVIT luu. XI 27 n. Muret. 

uar. lect. xin 7. Dorville on Chariton p. 133. Vulpi and 

20 Wunderlich on Tibull. I 3 90. Wetstein on lo. 3 13 and Acts 
19 35. esp. Otto die Sprichworter...der Romer (Leipz. 1890) 62. 
Add Liu. xxn 29 3 se acies repente, uelut caelo demissa, ad 
auxilium ostendit. Plin. xxvi 13 f. (of the physician As- 
clepiades) uniuersum prope humanum genus circumegit in se non 

25 alio modo quam si caelo de missus aduenisset. Ammian. xxn 
2 4 effundebatur aetas omnis et sexus tamquam demissum 
aliquem uisura de caelo. Lact. I 11 55 (citing Minuc. 21 7). 
lo. Sarisb. policrat. VII 12 (col. 662 C Migne). Heraclides said of 
Empedocles that he fell from the moon (DL. vni 72). Lexx. 

30 under SioTreTtjs. Lydus de ostentis 7. 

p. 16 1. 27 SQVALENTEM siLVAM LEGVM praescr. haer. 37 
m. pudic. 17 (i 254 3 Wiss.X exhort, cast. 6. 

p. 16 1. 29 PAPIAS LEGES see Rigault. Evidence in Haenel 
corpus legum (Leipzig 1857) pp. 2429. Lact. I 16 10 non 

35 inlepide Seneca in libris moralis philosophiae quid ergo est 
inquit ( quare apud poetas salacissimus luppiter desierit liberos 
toller e? utrum sexagenarius factus est et illi lex Papia fibulam 
imposuit ? 



p. 16 1. 32] APOLOGETICVS 4 169 

p. 16 1. 30 IVLIAE Rein das Privatrecht der Romer (1858) 
461468. Tert. de monogam. 16 (i 786 1. 18) aliud est, si et 
apud Christum legibus luliis agi credunt, et existimant caelibes 
et orbos ex testamento Dei solidum non posse capere. Prud. perist. 
x 201 5 sed, credo, magni limen amplectar louis : \ qui si citetur 5 
legibus uestris reus, \ laqueis minacis implicatus luliae, | luat 
seueram uinctus et Scantiniam \ te cognitore dignus ire in 
carcerem. cf. Rein in Pauly Real-Encyclopadie iv 979 981. 

p. 16 1. 31 SEVERVS on the persecutions under S. see 
Blunt church of the first three centuries 298305. Tert. ad 10 
Scap. 4 (p. 547 1. 3 up) ipse etiam Seuerus, pater Antonini, 
Christianorum memor fait, nam et Proculum Christianum,. . .qui 
eum per oleum aliquando curauerat, requisiuit et in palatio suo 
habuit usque ad mortem eius; quern et clarissimas feminas et 
clarissimos uiros Seuerus, sciens huius sectae esse, non modo 15 
non laesit, uerum et testimonio exomauit et populo furenti in nos 
palam restitit. Spartian. Seuer. 17 1 ludaeos fieri sub graui 
poena uetuit. idem etiam de Christianis sanxit. Clinton Fasti 
Rornani A.I). 202. Haenel corpus legum A.D. 202 and 204. 
Eus. h. e. VI 2 2 3. Aube Les Chretiens dans 1 erapire romain 20 
de la fin des Antonins 1881, Gorres in the Jahrbiicher fur prot. 
Theologie (1878), and Reville, La religion a Rome sous les 
Severes (1886) are critical ; Wieseler, Die Christenverfolgungen 
der Caesaren bis zum 3. Jahrh. (1878) and Allard Histoire des 
persecutions pendant les deux premiers siecles (1885) and Hist. 25 
d. p. pendant la premiere moitie du III 6 siecle (1886) are con 
servative. 

p. 16 1. 32 IVDICATOS IN PARTES SECARI A CREDITORIBVS 

LEGES ERANT, CONSENSV TAMEN PVBLICO CRVDELITAS POSTEA 
ERASA EST Blunt Right Use 645: "Matt. 24 51 The lord of 30 
that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, 
and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him 
asunder/ St^oTo/i^cret avrov. The term S^oro/^o-efc, as applied 
to the servant who had forfeited his trust, and abused his 
master s property in his absence, finds an illustration in Ter- 35 
tullian, who speaks of an obsolete Roman law, by which the 
bankrupt debtor was condemned to be cut asunder by his 
creditors." See leg. xn tabul. n. 3 (Bruns-Mommsen Fontes 



170 TERTVLLIANI [p. 16 1. 32- 

iuris Romani antiqui, Freib. in Br. 1887, p. 20 n. 6, who quotes 
Gell. XX 1 4852. Quintil. in 6 84 in XII tab. debitoris 
corpus inter creditores diuidi licu.it, and commends Niebuhr for 
interpreting the law literally, not, as John Taylor, of bonorum 
5 sectio). 

p. 18 1. 4 Blunt Right Use p. 341. 

p. 18 1. 8 CVR DE SOLO NOMINE PVNIVNT FACTA, QVAE IN 
ALIIS DE ADMISSO, NON DE NOMINE PROBATA DEFENDVNT 

Heraldus, La Cerda, Oehler, take defendunt as = uldscuntur. 

10 Havercamp, reading probanda, takes it thus maintain that 
they ought to be established by evidence of their commission, 
not by the name borne by the accused. That defendo can = ul- 
ciscor, is certain. See adu. Marc. I 26 (5 exx.). Brisson and 
Dirksen. Ronsch in Zeitschr. f. wiss. Theol. xvi 267 270 and 

15 in das Buch der Jubilaen (Leipz. 1874) 144. Hildebrand gl. 
Par. p. 293 153 DEFENSVS uindicatus, ultus. vulg. ludith 112 
quod defenderet = eK^ucrjcreiv LXX. Rom. 12 19 defendentes = 
KSt,Kovvres. Wopkens on lustin. xxvin 2 4. defensa Deut. 32 
35 in Tert. adu. Marc. II 18 = e/cStV^o^? (wrongly translated 

20 defence in Riddle- White and Lewis-Short), cf. corp. gloss. 
n (Leipz. 1888) 289 1. 28 eVSt^o-t? defensio . . .ultio cet. iv 479 
1. 69 defensio etcSt/cta. 

Here, however, the opposition puniunt... defendant pleads for 
the usual sense of the word. Else one verb puniunt would have 

25 sufficed : in our case they punish on the ground of the bare 
name acts, which in others they punish cet. More forcible by 
far is the antithesis ; in us they punish on the score of our 
mere name, what in others they uphold, even when proved by 
evidence of the fact, not by the name given to the accused/ 

30 He speaks below e g. of tolerated abortion and lechery (cf. c. 9). 
p. 18 1. 10 cvu NON REQVIRVNT ? lustin. apol. I 3 pr. p. 
54 a aXX (va //,?) akoyov (fxDvrjv KOI ro\fjiripdv So^rj rt? ravra 
elvai, d%iov/jiv rd Kar^opovfjueva avi^v e^erd^eo-dcu, /cat,, edv 
oi/rco? e^ovTa a7ro$eiKvvwvTai,, Ko\d^eo~t}ai ft)? irpeTrov ecrriv 

35 a\6vTa<s Ko\d^iv el be /uirjfrev eot r/? 



rjr)s o^yo? ta >r]^r]v Trovrjpv vairovs v 
fjia\\ov Be eaurou?, 01 ou Kpiaei d\\d TrdOei rd 7rpd<y/j,aTa 
egdyeiv dfyovre. Athenag. 2 pr. (p. 3 a ) KOI el p,ev 



p. 18 1. 23] APOLOGETICVS 4, 5 171 



77 fjutcpov rj /juel^ov dbucovvras, Ko\d^eadai ov 
7rapaiTOVfji60a, d\\d teal tfns TTiKpordrrj KOI d 



p. 18 1. 11 IN DEOS...ALIQVID COMMITTO C. 22 28. 

p. 18 1. 11 IN CAESARES C. 2939. 5 

CAP. V 

p. 18 1. 20 VETVS ERAT DECRETVM, NE QVI DEVS AB IM- 
PERATORE CONSECRARETVR NISI A SENATV PROBATVS C. 13 pr. 

p. 46 1. 4 nam, ut supra praextrinximus, status del cuiusque 
in senatus aestimatione pendebat. deus non erat quern 
homo consultus noluisset et nolendo damnasset. Marquardt rom. 10 
Staatsverw. in 2 275 "The consecratio imperatoris is to be under 
stood like consecratio dei or natalis dei, as the day of the 
establishment of the worship. Cic. n. d. II 62 hunc dico 
Liberum Semela natam, non eum, quern nostri maiores . . .cum 
Cerere et Libera consecrauerunt. de leg. n 28." ibid. 466 15 
" only those emperors were consecrated, for whom their suc 
cessors procured a special decree of the senate. Oros. vn 4 6. 
Prud. c. Symm. I 2235. 245250. GIL ix 2628 genio deiuei 
Iidii, quern senatus populusque Romanorum deorum in 
nu me rum rettulit. Athari. c. gent. 9 f. (i 20 d seq. Migne) ov 20 

Trporepov, r) rd^a icai ^XP L v ^ v *? P^yLtato)^ o-vyK\t)TOS 
TrcoTTore avrwv % dpxijs apgavras ^ao-tXea?, rj Trdvras, rj 
ov* av avrol /3ov\wvTai Kal Kpivwai, Boy/jLari^ovo-iV v Oeols 
elvai teal 6 prfa K.eveo-6 at Qeov? ypdQovai* ol? per >yap 

,, TOVTOVS &>? TroXe/tttoi;? rrjv <f>vcriv ofjioXoyovaL icai 25 
bvofjid^ovcriv 01)9 Se K.ara9v^iov^ e^owi, TOVTOVS Si 
dvBpayadiav Oprja/ceveo-Oai, Trpoo-raTTovo-iv, waTrep eV efowria^ 
TO BeoTroielv, avrol avOpwiroi rvy^dvovre^ Ka\ eivai 
rj dpvov/jbevoi,, K.T.\. More in Eckhel D.N. VIII 249." 
Mommsen Staatsr. n 3 732 7. See the exhaustive treatise of 30 
the Abbe E. Beurlier Le culte imperial, son histoire et son 
organisation depuis Auguste jusqu a Justinien. Par. 1891. 
8vo. 

p. 18 1/23 NISI HOMINI DEVS PLACVERIT, DEVS NON ERIT 

Mimic. 23 13 ecce plumbatur construitur erigitur : nee adhuc 35 



172 TERTVLLIANI [p. 18 1. 23 

dens est : ecce ornatur consecratur oratur : tune postremo deys 
est, cum homo ilium uoluit et dedicauit. 

p. 18 1. 24 HOMO IAM DEO PROPITIVS ESSE DEBEBIT C. 29 p. 94 

1. 27 tota templa de nutu Caesaris constant, midti denique dei 
5 habuerunt Caesarem iratum. facit ad causam, si et propitium 
cum illis aliquid liberalitatis aut priuilegii confert. 

p. 18 1. 24 TIBERIVS...CVIVS TEMPORE NOMEN CHRISTIANVM 

IN SAECVLVM iNTROiviT 7 p. 24 1. 21 census istius disciplinae, 
ut iam edidim.us, a Tiberio est. 21 pr. p. 66 1. 14 sectam istam... 

10 aliquanto nouellam, ut Tiberiani temporis, plerique sciunt. 
40 pr. p. 116 1. 18 ante Tiberium, id est ante Christi aduentum. 
Pearson Exposition of the Creed art. II Cambr. 1882, p. 195 
"Tertullian seems to make it <the Christian name> as ancient 
as the reign of Tiberius... But I conceive indeed he speaks not 

15 of the name, but of the religion... However the name of Chris 
tian is not so ancient as Tiberius, nor, as I think, of Gaius. 
Some ancient author in Suidas (in Nafapato? and in Xpio-riavoi) 
assures us, that it was first named in the reign of Claudius, 
when St Peter had ordained Euodius bishop of Antioch...And 

20 Johannes Antiochenus (i.e. Malalas, chronogr. p. 247 Bonn)... 
tells us that Euodius. . .was the author of the name." cf. Lipsius. 
Ueber den Ursprung und den altesten Gebrauch des Chris- 
tennamens, Jena 1873. 

ibid. NOMEN CHRISTIANVM Arn. I 19 f. Christianum nomen 

25 odisse. ibid c. 2 p. 4 3 postquam esse nomen in terris Christianae 
religionis occepit. Aug. c. D. I 15 multo minus nomen crimi- 
nandam est Christianum. 

p. 18 1. 26 ADNVNTIATA SIBI EX SYRIA PALAESTINA, QVAE 

ILLIC VERITATEM IPSIVS DIVINITATIS REVELAVERANT, DETVLIT 

3 AD SENATVM CVM PRAEROGAT1VA SVFFRAGII SVI. SENATVS, QVIA 

NON IPSE PROBAVERAT, RESPVIT, CAESAR IN SENTENTIA MANSIT, 

COMMINATVS PERICVLVM ACCVSATORIBVS CHRISTI ANORVM C. 21 

p. 72 1. 26 ea omnia super Christo Pilatus, et ipse iam pro sua 
conscientia Christianus, Caesari tune Tiberio mmtiauit. sed et 
35 Caesares credidissent super Christo, si aut Caesar es non essent 
necessarii saeculo, aut si et Christiani potuissent esse Caesares. 
Eus. h. e. II 2 cites Tertull. and Chrys. horn. 26 in 2 Cor. (x 
624 d ) repeats the tale. Tillemont (mem. eccl. I, Par. 1693, 



p. 18 1. 26] APOLOGETICVS 5 173 

151 3) collects other patristic witnesses to the legend. Add 
anon, post Dionem (v 232 Dind.) on, Tt/3e/oto9 dvrjyy\\ev 
7rl rr]v crvy/c^ rjTov, ware TOV Xpiarov rpts /caiSe/carov 
deov elvai r) 8e crvy/c\r]TO<> ovtc aTre&e^aro, ware fcai nva 
dcrreievo/jievov elirelv OTI rpisKcuSeKarov OVK Se^ecr#e, /cat TT/awro? 5 
epxeTai. This writer wrote after Sozomen (i.e. after 439 A.D. 
Gorres in Jahrbb. 1875 2129). The Clementines (horn. I 
6 seq. recogn. I 6 seq.) represent the fame of Christ as having 
reached Rome in autumn, He having come before the world in 
the spring of the same year 1 . Melito, in a famous passage (Eus. 10 
h. e. IV 26 7 = Otto apol. IX 412. 4345) says that our 
philosophy took its rise under Augustus, alcriov dyaOov for the 
empire. etcroTe yap et? f^eya /cal \afjb r jrpov TO TWV ^w/jiaLwv 
TOs, ov &v SmSo^o? evKraios yeyovds re /cal eery 

rov Trat&o?, fyvXaao wv TT}? /SacrtXeta9 rrjv avvrpofyov KOL 15 
rjv Avyovarw (f)i\oao<f)iav, fjv KCL\ 01 Trpoyovoi crov 

rat? aXXat? OprjcrKeiais erifLvjaav. See Winer Reahvorterb. 
Pilatus ad fin. Keim in Schenkel Bibel-Lexikon under Tiberius 
(v 535) and in Rom und das Christenthuin (Berlin 1881, pp. 
167171). No Grotius (on Matt. 24 11), no Pearson lect. IV 20 
14 15 in acta apost. (minor Theol. works, 1844, I 352 8) also 
concio II ad clerum (ibid. II 15 28), Fabricius (salutaris lux 
evangelii, Hamburg 1731, pp. 221 2), Mosheim (De rebus 
Christianorum ante Constantinum, Helmst. 1753, pp. 92 93), 
Lardner, Testimonies of ancient Heathen c. 2 1 (Works, 1829, 25 
VI 604 620), but upholders of tradition, as Dr Pusey (n. ad loc.) 
and Canon Churton (on Pearson I.e. II 23 24, where he re 
bukes Kaye s scepticism), or uncritical readers, like Lasaulx, 
now support Tertullian. Tanaquil Faber, Basnage, Dupin, 
Gibbon, were wiser in their day ; so too Bishop Kaye (102 5). 30 
See Lipsius Gospels, apocryphal in DCB n 708 9 (Tert. and 
lustin. apol. I 35 p. 76 C , 48 p. 84 imply the existence of a 
document drawn up in the form of official acta praesidialia). 
Rather they assume that the Roman archives contained an 
official report sent by Pilatus to Tiberius. The extant forgery 35 
was founded on these notices of the early fathers and not con- 

1 Orig. c. Gels, n 30 speaks of the pax Eotnana under Augustus as favorable 
to the diffusion of the Gospel over the world. 



174 TERTVLLIANI [p. 18 1. 26- 

versely (Lightfoot Ignatius I 1 55). cf. Kaye 103. 110. The 
character of Tiberius disproves the statement in the text (Suet. 
Tib. 69 circa deos ac religion es neglegentior, quippe addictus 
mathernaticae plenusque persuasionis cuncta fato agi}. Far from 
5 encouraging foreign rites (ibid. 36), externas caeremonias,Aegyp- 
tios ludaicosque ritus coinpescuit. Seneca s father seized the 
pretence of this persecution to wean the young Pythagorean 
from a bloodless diet (Sen. ep. 108 22) in Tiberii Caesaris 
principatum iuuentae tempus inciderat. alienigena turn sacra 

10 mouebantur, sed inter argumenta super stitionis ponebattir quo- 
rumdam animalium abstinentia. patre itaque meo rogante, qui 
non calumniam timebat, sed philosophiam oderat, ad privtinam 
consuetudinem redii. Suppose that Pilate would have endorsed 
the biblical account of the trial and the Passion ; is it not 

15 certain that he would not have reported facts so injurious to 
his character for justice? Lardner says (p. 611) "when he wrote 
to Tiberius, he < Pilate > would be very naturally led to say 
something of our Lord s wonderful resurrection and ascension, 
with which he could not possibly be unacquainted." We rather 

20 infer from the Bible (Matt. 28 14) that the governor was kept 
in ignorance of the resurrection. The Gospel of Peter supports 
indeed Lardner s surmise. For writers of legends had no feeling 
for the tragic irony of history. The greatest event of human 
story passed unnoticed by the rulers of earth, not with obser- 

25 vation or pomp. If we would know how provincial governors 
reported executions of Christians to head quarters, we need but 
turn to Plin. ep. x 96 3 perseuerantes dud iussi. 

p. 18 1. 30 CONSVLITE COMMENTARIOS VESTROS C. 44 pr. p. 

124 1. 15 uestros enim iam contestamur actus. c. 19 p. 64 1. 8 
30 reseranda antiquissimarum etiam gentium archiua. Scorpiace 15 
p. 178 1. 11 uitas Caesar um legimus : orientem fidem Romae 
primus Nero cruentauit. See the evidence in Clinton 
Fasti Romani A.D. 64 and 65. Eus. h. e. II 25 4 quotes our 
text. 

35 p. 18 1. 30 ILLIC REPERIETIS PRIMVM NERONEM IN HANC 

SECTAM CVM MAXIME ROMAE ORIENTEM CAESARIANO GLADIO 

FEROCISSE on the Neronian persecution see ind. general to 
Renan s seven volumes, persecutions p. 213. Lightfoot ( St 



p. 20 1. 3] APOLOGETICVS 5 175 

Paul in Rome (Philippians, 1 28). ind. Nero to Clem, (both 
volumes) and (on this passage) Ignatius I 23. Herm. Schiller 
Nero 424 439. comment. Mommsen 41 47 and Gesch. der 
rom. Kaiserzeit I 359. 445 450. Keim, Aus dem Urchristen- 
thum (1878), Arnold, Die neronische Christenverfolgung (1888). 5 
Lact. m. p. 2 6 (of Nero) primus omnium persecutus 
Dei seruos Petrum cruci cidfixit et Paulum inter fecit. 

Mommsen, rom. Geschichte v 520 seq., denies that the apo 
calypse pictures the Neronian persecution. The martyrs in the 
apocalypse suffer, not for burning Rome, but for refusing to 10 
worship the Caesars. He accordingly dates the prophecy, with 
Irenaeus, under Domitian. 

p. 18 1. 31 CVM MAXIME this expression was perfectly well 
explained by scholars until Hand, Tursellinus in 599 603, 
following Priscian, took it as a particle of degree, rather than of 15 
time. As here, with a participle, spect. 10 (i p. 12 1. 7 Wiss.) 
Nam saepe censor es nascentia cum maxime theatra destrue- 
bant moribus consulentes. Sen. ep. 95 14 fait sine dubio, ut 
dicitis, uetus ilia sapientia cum maxime nascens (at the very 
moment of its birth) rudis. Tac. ann. IV 27 coeptantem cum 20 
maxime seditionem disiecit. cf. Tert. bapt. 1. spect. 1. paen. 6. 

p. 20 1. 1 TALI DEDICATORE DAMNATIONIS NOSTRAE paenit. 

2 pr. Deus...in semet ipso paenitentiam dedicauit. 

p. 20 1. 2 QVI ENIM SCIT ILLVM scio (savoir) for noui (con- 
naitre), and conversely, in late Latin. Ronsch Itala u. Vulgata 25 
380. Sil. vi 168 scire nemus pacemqae loci explorare libebat. 
Cornmodian. apol. 46. 172. 576. Lamprid. Alex. 45 3 omnes 
ambidabant, ne dispositionem Romanoram barbari scirent. 
Hier. ep. 130 12 pr. imitare sponsum tuum, esto auiae matrique 
subiecta. mdlum uirorum, et maxime iuiienum, nisi cum illis, 30 
uideas. nullum scias, quern illae nesciant. id. uit. Hilarion. 
42 i. pie risque asserentibus scire se quidem Hilarionem et uere 
ilium esse famulum Dei, sed ubi esset ignorare. Apul. herb. 6 1. 
75. Paulin. uita Ambros. 30 sed cum in conuiuio a regibus 
gentis suae interrogaretur, utrum sciret Ambrosium, et respon- 35 
disset n o s s e s e u i r u m. (In Sil. and Lamprid. scire = cognoscere, 
a use found by Madvig in Cic. and Livy.) 

p, 20 1. 3 TEMPTAVERAT ET DOMITIANVS, PORTIO NEROXIS 



176 TERTVLLIANI [p. 20 1. 3 

DE CRVDELITATE cited by Eus. h. e. in 20 7. Cf. luu. iv 38 n. 
caluo serairet Roma Neroni. Eus. h. e. in 17 7ro\\tjv 76 /JL^V 
et? TroXXou? eTrtSei^d/jievos 6 Ao/^erta^o? oo/jL6r7jra...T6\6VT(t)v 
TT}? Nepw^o? Beoe^Opia^ re /cal Oeo^a^ia^ StdSo^ov 
5 eavTov /carecmjo-aro. Sevrepos Brjra TOV KaB rjpav dve- 
KLV6L SKOJ/JLOV, Kairrep TOV TraTpbs avTov Qveo-Tradiavov /jiTj^ev 
/caO rj/jiwv CITOTTOV eTTLvorjaavTo^. Melito ibid. IV 26 9 ^ovoi 
dvaTreio-Oevres VTTO TLVCDV ftaaicdvtov dvOpMTrwv TOV /caO 
as ev SiaffoXf/ Karaartjo-aL \6yov rjde^.rja av Nepcov teal Ao- 
10 /jberiavos, a<f> wv /cal TO rfc o-vtcotyavTias d\6<y(p crvv^OeLa ire pi 
rou? TOIOVTOVS purjvat o-u/jL/3e/3r)/ce ^e08o?. On the persecution 
under Domitian see Lightfoot, Clement I 2 and n 2 indd. Domi- 
tian. Herm. Schiller, Geschichte der rom. Kaiserzeit I 576 9. 
Keim, Rom. u. d. Christenthum, ind. Domitian. Renan, index 
15 general, Domitien. 

p. 20 1. 4 DE CRVDELITATE c. 9 p. 30 1. 31 o louem Chris- 
tianum et solum patris filium de crudelitate! 

p. 20 ibid. QVA ET HOMO c. 30 pr. p. 96 1. 9 sciunt quis 
illis dederit imperium, sciunt, qua homines, quis et animam. 

20 p. 20 1. 5 FACILE COEPTVM REPRESSIT, BESTITVTIS ETIAM 

QVOS RELEGAVERAT Lightfoot, Clement, i 2 41 n. 3 "Tert. speaks 
as if Domitian himself had recalled the exiles. This father 
must, I imagine, have had in his mind the story which Hege- 
sippus tells (Eus. h. e. in 19), how Domitian was so impressed 

25 with the poverty and simplicity of the grandsons of Jude that 
he not only set them free, but also by an injunction stopped 
the persecution of the Church. But this is inconsistent with 
the representations of all other writers, both heathen and 
Christian, who ascribe the restitution of Domitian s victims to 

30 his successor Nerva." 

p. 20 1. TALES SEMPER NOBIS INSECVTORES, INIVSTI IMPII 
TVRPES, QVOS ET IPSI DAMN ARE CONSVESTIS, A QVIBVS DAM- 

NATOS RESTITVERE SOLITI ESTis see Lact. mort. pers. Eus. uit. 
Const. II 24 1 2. 26 2. 54. orat. Constantini ad sanctorum 
35 coetum (ad calc. Eus. uit. Const.) c. 24 (of the miserable ends of 
Decius, Valerian and Aurelian). INSECVTORES add to lexx. lul. 
Val. II c. 15 fin. Ennod. p. 3 1. 1 (Lewis-Short omits the refer 
ence to Prud., given by Riddle- White). 



p. 20 1. 11] APOLOGETICVS 5 177 

p. 20 1. 11 M. AVRELII Blunt Church in the first three 
centuries 284 294 Under him Justin, Melito, Athenagoras, 
Theophilus, Tatian, Miltiades, all wrote apologies. Keim, Rom 
u. d. Christenthum, ind. under Markus Aurelius. Lightfoot 
Ignatius I 1 460 seq. The Church and the Empire under Ha- 5 
drian, Pius and Marcus (cf. ind. Marcus Aurelius ). Renan, 
index general Marc-Aurele p. 169. Herm. Schiller Kaiserzeit 

I 682 6. Melito in Eus. h. e. iv 26 5 gives a gloomy picture 
of the Church under Aurelius: TO yap ov&eTTWTrore yevopevov, 
vvv SiaJ/ceTCU TO rwv Oeoaeft&v 76^09, Kaivols ekavvo^evov 807- 10 
fj,ao~L Kara rrjv *A.&Lav. ol yap dvaibels 0vrco(f)dvTai KOI 
d\\OTpicov pa<Trai, TTJV etc T&V ^larajf^drcov ejgQVTfS 

cfravepcos \r)aTvovffi vvKTWp KOI /jieO rj/iiepav SiapTrd foi/re? roi/9 
/jLrfBev dSiKovvras. See the martyrdoms of the faithful in Lugu- 
dunum (Eus. h. e. v 1). cf. lustin. Apol II 2. Clinton, Fasti 15 
Roman! A.D. 177 col. 4. Neumann Der rom. Staat u. d. allg. 
Kirche I (1890) 2839. 

p. 20 1. 11 LITTERAE M. AVRELII GRAVISS1MI IMPERATORIS 
a spurious letter is printed by Otto at the end of lustin. apol. 

II (i 3 246 252), and (with the evidence for the miracle of the 20 
thundering legion) in Lightfoot (Ignatius I 1 469 476). Haenel, 
Corpus legum 1201 and add. 271. Clinton, Fasti Rom. 
append, pp. 2226. Otto, Corpus Apolpg. IX (1872) 486491 
(on a fragment of Apollinaris in Eus. h. e. v 5 4). Lightfoot 
(pp. 473 4) "The simple fact that M. Aurelius wrote to the 25 
Senate is mentioned, as we have seen (LXXI 10 5 /cal ry 
yepovaia eVecrretXe^) by Dion. The emperor could hardly have 
done otherwise. Tertullian hazards the assertion that in this 
letter mention was made of the prayers of the Christians. 
Accordingly he claims M. Aurelius as a protector of the Chris- 30 
tians. But the very language in which he asserts his claim 
shows that he had no direct and personal knowledge of any such 
letter; si litterae M. AuYe\u...requirantur. Here he assumes 
that if sought among the archives the letter would be found. 
Just in the same way he elsewhere (apol. 21) refers his heathen 35 
readers to the official reports which Pilate sent to Tiberius after 
the trial of Christ. He did not doubt that both documents 
would be found in the archives. Yet this hazard of Tertullian 

M. T. 12 



178 TERTVLLIANI [p. 20 1. 11- 

is apparently the sole foundation on which later statements are 
built. Ens. h. e. V 5 5 fidprvs Be rovrwv yevoir* av d^io- 
o TpTv\\iai>6s... 6 ypd<f>l & ovv KOI avrcx; \eya)i> 
rov o-vi ra)T(irov /3a<7/\e&>9 eTTicrroXas etVert vvv <f>epe- 
5 crQai K.T.\. Keiiu Rom a. d. Christenthum, 632 4. 

p. 20 1. 12 ILLAM GERMANICAM S1TIM CHRISTIAXORVM FORTE 
MILITVM PRECATIOXIBVS IMPETRATO IMBRI PISCVSSAM COXTESTA- 

TVR c. 40 f. p. 118 1. 25 denique cum ab imbribus aestiua hiberna 
suspend lint,... uos quideni. . .aqualicia lout immolatis : nos 

10 uero ieiuniis aridi et omni continentia e.rpressi, ab omni uitae 
frugedilatifin sacco et cinf.re uolutantes inuidia caelum tundimus, 
Deum tangimus, et cum misericordia/in e.rtorserimus, luppiier 
honoratur. ad Scap. 4 (p. 548 1. penult.) Marcus quoque Aure- 
lius in Germanica expeditione Christianorum milituin 

15 orationibus ad Deum fact is imbres in siti ilia impetra- 
nit. quando non geniculationibus et ieiunationibus nontris etiant 
siccitates sunt depulsae: time et populus acclamans Deo deornni, 
qui solu-s patens, in loins nomine Deo Host ro teatimonium reddidit. 
de orat. 29 pr. (p. 199 1. 9 Wiss.) cetertim quanto amplius operatur 

20 oratio Christiana! (\. 17) nunc uero oratio iustitiae omnem iraui 
Dei auertit, pro inimicis excubat, pro persequentibus suppUcat. 
minan si aquas caelestes extorquere iwuit, quae potuit et ianes int- 
petrare? See Clinton, F. R., A.D. 174. Kayo x, xi, 99 seq. Blunt, 
First three centuries, 294 6. Mosheim, Comment, rerum 

25 christianarum ante Const. 247 252. Martigny, Diet, des ant. 
chret. (1877) p. 418. Keim, Rom u. d. Christenthum. (>28 
()34. Kraus, Real-Encycl. d. christl. Alterthiimer, under Legio 
fulminatrix. Lardner, Credibility pt II eh. 15 (Works, 1829. vn 
176 198). He shows that the King who defended the miracle 

30 against Movie was not (as Mosheim thought) Peter King, lord- 
chancellor. Classical Review 1895, p. 141 b. E. Peterson Blitx- 
und Regenwunder an der Marcus-Saule, Rhein. Mus. L (1895) 
pp. 453 tf. [Mommsen, Gesammelte Schritten, Bd iv pp. 498 rY. 
A. S.] 

35 p. 20 1. 13 S1CVT XOX PALAM Al? EIVSMOD1 HOM1X1BV8 

POEXAM DIMOV1T, 1TA ALIO MODO PALAM D1SPERS1T, ADIECTA 
ETIAM ACCVSATORIBVS DAMXATIOXE, ET QVIDEM TAETR1ORE 

Blunt Right Use 346. Eus. h. e. v 5 6 rovrov <M. Aurelius> 



p. 20 1. 20] APOLOGETICVS 5 179 



oe (frrjcri, <Tert.> Kal Oavarov a7Ti,\rj(Tai rot? Karrjyopelv rj 
eTr^eipovcnv. To this refers V 21 3 dXX* 6 pep oeiXaios <the 
accuser of Apollonius> rrapd icatpov TTJV &i/cr)v eio~e\6<t)v, on, /J,T] 
f)v e^ov r)v Kara ftaa I\IKQV opov roi/v TGOV TOioovoe /JLTJVVTCIS, 
avTifca Kardyvvrai rd o~/ce\T>i, Tlepevviov Si/cacrTov Toiavrrjv KCLT 5 
avrov -v/r//0o^ a7rVytcavTos. cf. K. J. Neumann, der rom. Staat 
u. cl. allg. Kirche I (1890) 81. Celsus (in Orig. VIII 69, p. 213 
Lomm.) implies that under Aurelius inquisitio was made: vpwv 
&e KO.V TrXavdrai rt? ert \av6dvwv, d\\d fyreiTai 77/309 Qavarov 
SLKTIV. Athenag. 1 p. l te you (Aurelius and Commodus) by 10 
your prudence secure profound peace to the empire. We 
Christians alone are shut out from your providence, dvy^cjpelre 
8e /jLTj&ev d&i/covvTa<;...e\avi><T0ai, /cal fyepeaOat, /cal $ici)/cecr6ai,. 

p. 20 1. 18 TRAIANVS c. 2 p. 6 1. 31 n. Keim Rom u. d. Chris- 
tenthum, 512 541. Lightfoot, Ignatius, indd. to both volumes, 15 
Blunt Right Use 3405. 

p. 20 1. 19 HADRIANVS Melito in Eus. h. e. IV 26 10 per 
secutions, instigated ( 9) by Nero and Domitian, repressed by 
Hadrian and Antoninus. Lightfoot Ignatius I 1 442 (cf. ind. 
Hadrian ) " only one recorded martyrdom under Hadrian is 20 
absolutely certain... the death of the Roman bishop Telespho- 
rus " (Iren. Ill 3 4). Renan vi 5 6. 31 seq. The apologies of 
Quadratus and Aristides (this last newly discovered), of Apelles 
and Aristo appeared in this reign. 

p. 20 ibid. OMNIVM CVRIOSITATVM EXPLORATOR lulian. 25 
Caes. 311 cd after Trajan enters dvrjp cro/3a/3o? rd re d\\a /cal 8rj 
/cal fJLOvaiicr]v epya^ofjievos, et ? re rov ovpavov d<f>opwv 7ro\\d/ci<; 
/cal 7ro\v7rpayfj,ova>v rd aTropprjTa. DCass. LXIX 5 1 (cf. 
Suid. ( Kbpiavos} yriaJvTO [Aev S/} . . avrov /cal TO trdvv d/cpiftes 
teal TO Trepiepyov fcal TO rroXi/TT pay fiov. 11 3 TCI re ydp 30 
d\\a rrepiepyoTaTos ASpiavos, axrTrep elirov, eyevtro, /cal 
fjbavreiais payyaveiais re TravTooarrais e^prJTo. Spartian. Hadr. 
11 4 et erat curiosus non solum dornus suae sed etiam ami- 
corum, ita ut per frumentarios occulta omnia exploraret. Re 
member his restless travels, e.g. to the statue of Memnon, and 35 
his proficiency in many arts. Renan vi 4, 9 seq., 23, 37 n. 3, 
40. His relation to Christianity id. ind. general p. 4 col. 1. 

p. 20 1. 20 VESPASIANVS Eus. h. e. in 17 f. see in Light- 

122 



180 TERTVLLIANI [p. 20 1. 20- 

foot, Ignatius, I 1 15 16 the evidence of Hilary and Sulpicius 
Seuerus for persecutions under Vespasian and Titus. 

p. 20 1. 20 DEBELLATOR above p. 20 1. 9 : also cited from 
Verg. and Stat. and vulg. (one ex. each). Add Claud, iv cons. 
5 Hon. 28. Hier. in cant. tr. 2 col. 528. 

p. 20 1. 21 PIVS Keim, Rom u. d. Christenthum, 570 6. 
Lightfoot, Ignatius, I ind. p. 493 " The reign of Antoninus Pius, 
which has been regarded as a period of unbroken peace for the 
Church, is found to be stained with the blood of not a few 
10 martyrs." ibid. 629 695 he dates the martyrdom of Polycarp 
A.D. 155. Renan, ind. general 14 col. 1. 

p. 20 1. 21 VERVS no special persecutions are attributed 
to him. 

CAP. VI 

p. 20 1. 24 RELIGIOSISSIMI c. 9 p. 30 1. 27 in ilia religio- 
15 sissima urbe Aeneadarum. 

p. 20 1. 25 PROTECTORES c. 4 p. 16 1. 11 de legibus prius 
concarram uobiscum ut cum tutoribus legum. 

p. 20 11. 25 27 RESPONDEANT . . . SI . . . EXORBITAVERVNT on 
si = num and indie, in or. obi. see c. 21 p. 74 1. 23 n., Oehler on 
20 ad Mart. 2 (i p. 7 8). 

p. 20 1. 27 IN NVLLQ *= nulla in re cor, 10. idol. 11 m. in 
nullo necessarius esse debeo alii. Rufm. h. e. I 1 p. 14. vi 31 
p. 383. IX 8 p. 522 f. x 11. los. ant. II 9 p. 50 a.m. 49 m. II 12 
p. 55. II 13 p. 56 m. & p.m. bis, 

25 EXORBITAVERVNT irifr. 9 p. 34 1. 6. 16 p. m. n. ad nat. I 13. 
II 2. exhort, cast. 5 f. scorp. 3 f. Isid. off. in 39 (lexx. cite 
Lact. Aug. Sid.). 

p. 20 1. 28 OBLITTERAVERVNT monog. 3 p. m. ad ux. II 3. 
I 6 pr. Att. Cic. Catull. Liu. Tac. Suet. 

30 p. 20 1. 28 SVMFTVM Arn. n 67 nam si inutare sententiam culpa 
est ulla uel crimen et a ueteribus institutis in alias res nouas 
uoluntatesque migrare, criminatio ista et uos spectat, qui totiens 
uitam consuetadinemque mutastis, qui in mores alios atque olios 
ritus priorum condemnatione transistis... leges conseruatis...in 
35 cohibendis censorias sumptibus ? in penetralibus et culinis per- 
pet uos fouetis focos. 



p. 22 1. 6] APOLOGETICVS 5, 6 181 

p. 20 1. 29 CENTVM AERA Saluian. gub, 1 10 fin. 

p. 20 1. 30 SVBSCRIBI 18 sed ne notitia uacaret, hoc quoque 
a ludaeis Ptolemaeo subscription est. uirg. uel. 10 certi sumus 
Spiritum sanctum magis masculis tale aliquid subscribere 
potaisse, si feminis sabscripsisset. idol. 13 festis diebus et 5 
aliis extraor dinar Us sollemnitatibus, quas inter dam lasciuiae 
interdum timiditati nostrae subscribimus. 

p. 20 1. 31 SAGTNATAM pall. 5 f. praecidam gulam...qua Aufi- 
dius Lurco primus sagina corpora uitiauit et coactis alimentis in 
adulterinum proueocit saporem. Mart. XIII 62 pascitur et dulci 10 
cet. inscr. auium fartor. auiarius altiliarius (Orelli 286G). 
fartores Colum. VIII 7 1. curator gallinarius Varro III 9 7. lex 
Fannia B.C. 161. Plin. ad Trai. 50 (71) 139 gallinas saginare 
Deliaci coepere, unde pestis exorta opimas aues et suopte corpore 
unctas deuorandi. hoc primum antiquis cenarum inter dictis 15 
exceptum inuenio iam lege C. Fanni cos. XI annis ante tertium 
Punicum bellum, ne quid uolucre poneretur praeter unam galli- 
nam quae non esset altilis, quod deinde caput translatum per 
omnes leges ambulauit. i.e. C. Fannius Strabo [Pauly-Wissowa 
Bd vi 1994 A. S.]. cf. Rein in Pauly s.u. sumptus. 20 

p. 20 1. 32 DECEM PONDO Plut. Sull. 1 pr. 

p. 22 1. 1 THEATRA . . . DESTRVEBANT spect. 10 theatrum 
proprie sacrarium Veneris est. hoc denique modo id genus 
operis in saeculo euasit. nam saepe censores nascentia cum 
maxime theatra destruebant, moribus consulentes, quorum scilicet 25 
periculum ingens de lasciuia prouidebant, ut iam hie ethnicis in 
testimonium cedat sententia ipsorum nobiscum faciens et nobis in 
exaggerationem disciplinae etiam humanae praerogatiaa. Oros. 
IV 21 4. V. M. II 4 2. Plin. h. n. xvn 25 244. Dio LVII 11. 
Tiberius banished actors. Marquardt ill 2 530 n. 6. 30 

p. 22 1. 2 DIGNITATVM Herald digress. I 6 p. 2034. 

p. 22 1. 3 Gell. II 24 215. Macrob. m 17. sumptuariae 
leges diet. ant. 

p. 22 1. 5 PARVM EST si idol. 7 m. p. sit si ab aliis mani- 
bus accipiant quod contaminent. patient. 3 m. parum hoc, si non 35 
etiam proditorem suum secum habuit. 

p. 22 1. G FLAGRA RVMPENTIVM luu. 6 479 Friedl. hicfrangit 
ferulas] 8 247 nodosam posthac frangebat uertice uitem n. (and 



182 TERTVLLIANI [p. 22 1. 6- 

in Journ. Phil, xx 289 f.) of a parasite. Sid. ep. in 13 5 
uesicarum ruptor fractorque ferularum. 

p. 22 1. 9 PROSTIBVLAS Hier. ep. 84 7 (i 529 a ) gl. Par. 
p. 251 n. 492. Ambr. in ps. 118 s. 1 12. fr. Plaut. 
5 p. 22 1. 10 CIRCA c. 2 p. 10 1. 5. 

p. 22 1. 13 OBPIGNORASSET 1 ex. each (not this) from Ter. 
Cic. Sen. Mart, in lexx. 

ANVLO de idolol. 16 circa officia uero priuatarum et com- 
munium sollemnitatum, ut togae purae, ut sponsaliam,. . .nullum 

10 putem periculum obseruari de flatu idololatriae, quae inter- 

uenit eas mundas esse opinor per semetipsas, quia neque 

uestitus uirilis neque anulus...de alicuius idoli honore descendit, 
Bingham XXII 3 5. Selden uxor hebr. 2 14 & 25. Bailey 
Rituale Anglo-Oath, p. 316 (citing Clem. Al. paed. in c. 11 57 

15 p. 287 1. 26). 

p. 22 1. 15 CELLAE VINARIAE Vitr. Plin. Apul. (add Met. ix 
34) Plin. xiv 89 non licebat id feminis Romae bibere. inuenimus 
inter exempla Egnati Metenni uxorem, quod uinum bibisset e 
dolio, interfectam fasti a marito, eumque caedis a Romulo abso- 

20 lutum. Fabius Pictor in annalibus suis scripsit matronam, quod 
loculos in quibus erant claues cellae uinariae resignauisset, a suis 
inedia mori coactam. Arn. II 67 f. (Elmenh. p. 102. Hildebr. 
p. 234) moires familias uestrae in atriis operantur domorum 
industries testificantes suas? potionibus abstinent uini? adfi- 

25 nibus et propinquis osculari eas ius est, ut sobrias comprobent 
atque abstemias se esse ? Migne xvn 437 a . [Study of Ambro- 
siaster p. 30; Ps.-Aug. Quaest. Vet. et Nou. Test. 115 26. 
A. S.] 

p. 22 1. 16 METENNIO Mommsen Strafrecht 19 1 (no ex- 

30 ample of the exercise of this right except aetiological legends) 
"Den Egnatius Mecennius, welcher seine Frau wegen uner- 
laubten Weintrinkens mit einem Knittel erschlagen hat, spricht 
Konig Romulus frei (V. M. vi 3 9. Plin. I.e. Tert. Seru. 
Aen. I 737. verallgemeinert Dion. Hal. II 25. Polyb. vi ll a 4 

35(540, 4 Hultsch; 496, 33 Bekker; ed. Buttner-Wobst vol. n 
p. 253)). Diese Erzahlung soil wohl die urspriinglich dem 
Ehemann zustehende Gewalt liber Leben und Tod der Ehefrau 
erlautern. Wegen eines ahnlichen Yergehens wird eine Frau 



p. 22 1. 26] APOLOGETICVS 6 183 

von den Ihrigen (sui) zum Hungertod verurtheilt. Fabius in 
Plin. I.e." So Fatua in Lact. I 22. 

p. 22 1. 17 OSCVLA Arn. II 67 fin. (among obsolete fashions) 
cited above. Gell. x 23. Athen. X 13. Pint. qu. Rom. 6. Plin. 
xiv 90 Cato idea propinquos feminis osculum dare ut scirent 5 
an temetum olerent. hoc turn nomen uino erat, unde et temulentia 
appellata. Cn. Domitius index pronuntiauit mulierem uideri 
plus uini bibisse quam ualetudinis causa uiro insciente, et dote 
multauit. 

p. 22 1. 19 SEXCENTOS Hier. Mag. misc. 2 15. Marquardt 10 
Privatleb. I 69 n. 2. 

p. 22 1. 20 SCRIPSIT properly misit. Marquardt Privatleb. I 
76 n. 1. 

p. 22 1. 21 PRAE AVRO cet. cult. fern. I 9 f. Plin. xxxm 
39 40 idem enim tu, Brute, mulierum pedibus aurum yes- 15 
tatum tacuisti et nos sceleris arguimus ilium qui primus auro 
dignitatem per anulos fecit ! habeant in lacertis iam quidern et 
uiri, quod ex Dardanis uenit itaque et Dardanium uocabatur..., 
habeant feminae in armillis digitisque totis, collo, auribus, spiris; 
discurrant catenae circa latera et in secreto margaritarum sacculi 20 
e collo dominarum aureo pendeant, ut in somno quoque unionum 
conscientia adsit ; etiamne pedibus induetur atque inter stolam 
plebemque hunc medium feminarum equestrem ordinem faciet ? 
Arn. n 67 f. cited above. 

p. 22 1. 22 VOTVM i.e. nuptiae. ad nat. nil fin. Apul. flor. 25 
I 4 p. 18 togam parari uoto et funeri. met. IV 26 p. 293 uotis 
nuptialibus pacto iugali destinatus. dig. Testament, ludicr. 
M. Grunnii Corocottae sorori meae Quirinae, cuius in uotum 
interesse non potui. Sen. ben. ill 16 exeunt matrimonii causa, 
nubunt repudii. 30 

p. 22 1. 23 CIRCA 2 p. 10 1. 5. 

p. 22 1. 25 LIBERVM B.C. 186. ad nat. I 10 p. 75 28 seq. Wiss. 
where also Serapis, Isis, cet. Aug. C. D. vin 9. xvni 13 p.m. 
Firmicus de errore prof. rel. 6 6 cet. Preller rom. Myth. 716. 
Marquardt ill 2 42 n. 2. Bayle oeuvres in 368. 35 

p. 22 1. 26 ELIMINAVERVNT ad nat. n 7 (p. 107 13 Wiss.) 
criminatores deorum poetas eliminari Plato censuit I 10 (p. 75 
28 Wiss.) certe Liberum patrem cum socru sua consules senattis 



184 TERTVLLIANI [p. 22 1. 26 

auctoritate non urbe solum modo, uerum tota Italia elimina- 

uerunt. Sid. ep. 1 2. Liu. xxxix 16 8. 

p. 22 1. 27 SERAPIDEM cet. ad nat. 1 10 (cited next page). Cic. 

n. d. in 47. Minuc. 21 5 despice sis Isidis ad hirundinem, 
5 sistrum et adsparsis membris inanem tui Serapidis sine Osiridis 

tumulum. 7 Isis perditum filium cum Cynocephalo suo et caluis 

sacerdotibus luget, plangit, inquirit.... 8 haec tarnen Aegyptia 

quondam, mine et sacra Romana sunt. Preller rom. Mythol. 

727 seq. (= n 378 seq.). Marquardt in 2 78 n. 1 and 6. 79 n. 9. 
10 77 n. 6. cf. n. 5 and n. 4. Renan les apdtres 342 n. 1. Isis 

worshipped by Caracalla (Spart. who says that Commodus carried 

an Anubis) cf. Lampr. Al. Seu. 26 8 (Isis and Serapis). 

p. 22 1. 27 CYNOCEPHALO scorp. 1 p. 146 11 Wiss. Cypr. ad 

Demetrian. 12 crocodili et cynocephali et lapides et serpentes 
15 coluntur, et Deus solus in terris aut non colitur aut non impune 

colitur. Aug. C. D. n 14. in 12. [Ps.-Aug. Quaest. Vet. et 

Nou. Test. 114 11 A.S.] Drexler in Roscher Hermanubis 

col. 2314. 

p. 22 1. 28 CAPITOLIO Marquardt ill 2 41 n. 7 called de spect. 
20 12 (p. 15 11 Wiss.) omnium daemonum templum. Arnob. n. 

73 quid? uos Aegyptiaca numina, quibus Serapis atque Isis est 

nomen, non post Pisonem et Gabinium consides in numerum 

uestrorum rettulistis deorum ? 

p. 22 1. 29 GABINIVS B.C. 58. ad nat. I 10 p 76 5 Wiss. 
25 sed tamen et Gabinius consul Kalendis lanuariis, cum uix 

hostias probaret prae popularium coetu, quia nihil de Serape 

et I side constituisset, potiorem habuit senatus censuram quam 

impetum uulgi, et aras institui prohibuit. 

p. 22 1. 32 ad nat. I 10 p. 74 22 W T iss. de reliqua uero con- 
30 uersationis humanae dispositione palam subiacet, quanta a ma- 

ioribus mutaueritis, cultu habitu apparatu ipsoque uictu ipsoque 

sermone. 

p. 22 1. 33 INSTRVCTV one ex. marked CITT. elp. in LS (from 

Cic.) add 41 pr. de an. 19 pr. Apul. met. xi 30. Seru. Aen. 
35 v 402. Paulin Nol. ep. 3 3. Dirksen manuale. Symm. ep. 

5 11. 20 2. Gen. 12 37 ap. Aug. quaest. in Exod. 47 

[= a7TO(7KV^. A. S.]. 

p. 24 1. 1 RENVNTIASTIS 38 n. 



p. 24 1. 13J APOLOGETICVS 6, 7 185 

p. 24 1. 1 ad nat. I 10 p. 74 20 Wiss. de legibus quidem 
iam supra dictum est, quod eas nouis de die consultis constitutis- 
que obruistis. 

NOVE Plaut. Cornific. (once). Sen. rhet. Gell. [add Iren. lat. 
quater, Nouat. Vincent. A. S.]. 5 

p. 24 1. 6 PRINCIPALITER in this sense scorp. 2 f. Sol. dig. 
Marc. Emp. p. 349 17. Paulin. Nol. ep. 24 8. 

TRANSGRESSIOXIS cult. fern. II 5 p. m. cor. 11 bis. ad nat. I 
10 a. m. p. 75 3 Wiss. Aug. Ambr. [also Cypr. Ambst. Hier. 
Rufin. etc. A. S.]. 10 

p. 24 1. 8 I AM ROMANO Luc. IX 158 euoluam busto numen 
iam gentibus Isint. Of Serapis, Horus in Macr. I 7 15 nullum 
itaque Aegypti oppidum intra muros suos aut Saturni aut 
Serapis fanum recepit. 16 horum alter um uix aegreque a 
uobis admissum audio. 15 

p. 24 1. 8 RESTRVXERITIS ad nat. I 10 p. 76 2 Wiss. ceterum 
Serapem et Isidem et Arpocraten et Anubem prohibitos Capitolio 
Varro commemorat, eorumque aras a senatu deiectas non nisi 
per uim popidarium restructas. Seru. Aen. viil 698 Varro de- 
dignatur Alexandrinos deos Romae coli. Suid. ey/carecr/c^av 20 
TO, Tcav AlyvTTTiayv Kara TO, ev AXe^az^Spe/a 7ro\ei ey/carecr/CTT^re 
teal rf/ ( Pa)/j,y Ovdppcov. restruere only cited from Tert. (one 
other reference). [I have found it once in Iren. lat. A.S.] 

p. 24 1. 12 MANIFESTIOBA 9 fin. 

CAP. VII 

p. 24 1. 13 DICIMVR cet. 1 Pet. 2 1112. 3 16. 4 4. Robert 25 
Turner M.A. fell. S. Joh. Cambr. vie. S. Pet. Colchester. The 
calumnies upon the primitive Christians accounted for. Or, an 
enquiry into the grounds, and causes of the charge of incest, 
infanticide, atheism, ono-latria, or ass-worship, sedition, cet. 
laid against the Christians, in the three first centuries. Lond. 30 
Bonwicke 1727. 8. Kaye 403. lustin. apol. II 2 courage of 
Christians disproves the charge of lust. Some heathen slaves 
of Christians, fearing torture, and instigated by the soldiers 
(Eus. h. e. V 1 14) Kare^revaavro TIIL&V V(TT6ia SeiTrva /cat 

. cf. lustin. apol. II 12 13. I 10 23 27. 35 



186 TERTVLLIANI [p. 24 1. 13 

Hier. ep. 41. 4 pr. Bonwetsch Montan. 40. Epiph. and 
Philastr. probably do not follow Tert., as this reproach is nowhere 
else found in contemporary literature. Tert. ieiun. 13 seems 
not to know of it (but see Praedest. haer. 26). These reproaches 

5 long obsolete. Tert. cult. fern. II 4. lustin. c. Tryph. 10 pr. p. 227 b . 

Carpocrates Clem. Al. strom. ill 2 5 8 p. 511 P. Eus. h. e. 

IV 7 911 [Tat. 25 fin.]. Aug. haer. 7. Praedestinat. haer. 48 

14. Philastr. haer. 21 49. Thdt [ix 33 p. 128, 40(?) A. S.]. 

p. 24 1. 13 SACKAMENTO Kaye 336 7. On these charges 

10 see Semisch lustin. d. Mart. II 100 seq. Athenag. suppl. 31 3 
rpia 67TL(j)rj/jLL^ovo LV rj/jiiv I yKXr^fJiara^ (l) adeorrfra, (ll) ve(TTia 
SeiTTva, (ill) OtStTroSetou? fiigei?. He handles I c. 4 30. Ill 
c. 3234. II c. 356. lustin. dial. 10. apol. I 26 fin. (of philo 
sophers) el Be teal ra Bvcr^rj/jLa eicelva (jLv0o\oyov/jLva epya 

15 Trpdrrovai,, \v)(yia^ fj,ev dvarpoTrr^v KCU ra? dveBrjv fu et<?, real 
aapKwv /Sopds, ov ^iv(i)aKOfjLev. Tatian 25 f. av- 
. 32 acre\<yeiav. Theophil. Ill 15 d&ia<f>6pa)<; tfiv fcal 
(TVfjL<f)vpeo-0ai, rat? dQe/jLirois pi^eaiv. ib. aaptcwv dvOpwjreiwv 
e(f)d7rr(T0ai. Mimic. 9 and 31. Eus. h. e. IV 7 11 says that 

20 the real enormities of the Carpocratians were ascribed to all 
Christians. See impr. Christiani Kortholti de uita et moribus, 
Christianis primaeuis per gentilium malitiam affictis liber 
Kilonii 1683. 4to. c. 9 pp. 94151. Clem. Al. str. in p. 430 
says of the disciples of Prodicus TO /caraLo-^vvov avrwv rrjv 

25 TTopviKrjv ravriyv SiKaLoavv rjv efCTro&oDv Trot^o-a/zeVof? 0co? rp 
rov \vxyov irepiTpoTrfi yLi^jwaQai (Gnostics Epiphan. 26). 
These charges, originated by Jews (ad nat. I 14), nearly 
obsolete. Orig. Cels. VI 27 f. 40. Baur Gesch. der drei ersten 
Jahrh. 2 374 n. 2. 375 n. 1 (same reports in cent. 4 against the 

30 Euchites (Psellus de operat. daemonum ed. Boissonade Norim- 
bergae. 1838 p. 8)). Philastr. haer. 57. Kortholt Pag. Obtr. 99. 
546 sq. lo. Bona rer. liturg. I c. 4. Lardner n 337 8. Incest 
and infanticide Salu. gub. IV 85 ap. La Cerda. Bingham xv 
7 10. Philastr. haer. 29 (59) de Carpocratianis. cf. Bingham 

35 xxii 1 3. 

INFANTICIDII ad nat. I 7 p. 68 11 Wiss. Cynics allowed can 
nibalism. DL. VI 73. Epiphanius cet. make same charge against 
Montanists. Isid. Pelus. ep. I 242 77 Movravov (3\aa<f)ijfj;la 



p. 24 1. 19] APOLOGETICVS 7 187 



re KOL 6t8coXoXarpe/at9 

Cyrill. Hier. cat. 16 8 o Mo^rai/o? o aO^iwraros xal 
dicaOapcrias /cal acreXyeias 7re7r\ijpa}fjLevo<; cet. Rufin. h. e. V 
16. 18. vii p. 188. 

p. 24 1. 15 CANES 8 discumbens dinumera loca, ubi mater, 5 
ubi soror; nota diligenter, ut, cum tenebrae ceciderint caninae, 
non erres. piaculum enim ddmiseris, nisi incestum feceris. 
(Cf. the appeal of Marie Antoinette to all mothers) 8 lower 
down candelabra et lucernae, et canes aliqui et offulae, quae 
illos ad euersionem lumimim extendant: ante omnia cum matre 10 
et sorore tua uenire debebis. omn. ad nat. I 2 p. 61 20 Wiss. 
Mimic. 9 6 illic post multas epulas, ubi conuiuium caluit et 
incestae libidinis, ebrietatis feruor exarsit, canis qui candelabra 
nexus est, iactu offulae extra spatium lineae, qua uinctus est, ad 
impetum et saltum prouocatur : sic euerso et extincto conscio 15 
lumine, impudentibus tenebris nexus infandae cupiditatis inuol- 
uuntur per incertum sortis : et si non omnes opera, conscientia 
tamen pariter incesti; quoniam uoto uniuersorum appetitur, 
quicquid accidere potest in actu singulorum. cf. Rufin. h. e. IX 5, 
and on the darkness h. e. XI 25. lustin c. Tryph. 10 p. 227 b . 20 

TENEBRARVM pudic. 22 p. 271 17 Wiss. uiolantur uiri ac 
feminae in tenebris plane ex usu libidinum notis, ad nat. I 16 pr. 
uentum est ad horam lucernarum et caninum ministerium et 
itigenia tenebrarum. quo in loco metuo ne cedam. quid enim 
tale in uobis detinebo ? uerum iam laudate consilium incesti 25 
uerecundi, quod adulteram noctem commenti sumus, ne aut lucem 
aut ueram noctem contaminaremus, quod etiam luminibus terrenis 
parcendum existimauimus. 

p. 24 1. 15 INVERECVNDIAM paen. 6 f. praesumptio inuerecun- 
diae portio est. 3 

p. 24 1. 17 ERVERE ad nat. I 16 fin. cf. apol. 2 n. Oehler. 

p. 24 1. 19 PRAESCRIBITVR ad nat. I 3 p. 62 21 Wiss. prae- 
scribitur enim uobis non posse crimina obicere, quae neque 
institntum dirigit neque probatio adsignat neque sententia 
enumerat. II 1 p. 93 20 Wiss. si tantam peruersitatem una 35 
praescriptione discuti liceret, in expedito esset nuntiatio, cum 
omnes istos deos ab hominibus institutos. adu. Herm. 1 pr. 
solemus haereticis compendii gratia de posteritate praescribere. 



188 TERTVLLIANI [p. 24 1. 19 

Dirksen s manuale praescribere, praescriptio. Rudorff rom. 
Rechtsgesch. n 117 120. Cod. vin 36 de exceptionibus seu 
praescriptionibus. Gesner on Quintil. vn 5 2. 
p. 24 1. 21 NEGENT Cypr. ad Demetr. c. 13. 

5 CENSVS Oehler on de cor. 13 f. (p. 452 n. u.). adu. Hermog. 4 
pr. quis enim alms Dei census, quam aeternitas ? Blunt Right 
Use 3778. 

p. 24 1. 22 DLSCIPLINAE 2 39 etc. 

TIBERIO c. 21 pr. p. 66 1. 15. c. 5 p. 18 1. 24 n. 

10 ODIO 14 p. 50 1. 1 plane olim, id est semper, ueritas odio est. 
infr. 46 in quantum odio flagrat ueritas, in tantum qui earn ex 
fide praestat offendit. Ter. Andr. I 1 41 (=68) obsequium 
amicos, ueritas odium parit, where Lindenbr. cites Lact. v 9 6. 
Snip. Seu. Aug. etc. Otto Sprichworter 368 (omits Tertullian). 

15 Orig. c. Gels, vi 27 f. some would not even speak to the 
Christians. 

p. 24 1. 24 IVDAEI lustin. c. Tryphon. 17 (p. 234 e cf. c. 108 
p. 335) after the resurrection the Jews, far from repenting, 
avbpas e /eXe/CTOu? CLTTO lepovo-dXrj/ji K\^dfJLVOi Tore e^e-rre^are 

20 et? Tracrav Tr]v yfjv Xe^yoi/re? a tpecriv aOeov XpiaTiavwv 7re<>r)ve- 
vai, fcaraX.e yovTes re ravra aTrep Ka6 ^fjiwv ol dyvoovvres rj^as 
Trdvres Xeyovatv. The Jews (Bingham XIII 5 4) cursed Chris 
tians in their synagogues. lust. c. Tr. 16 f. p. 234 C with 
Otto s n. 

25 p. 24 1. 25 CONCVSSIONE blackmail Cod. Theod. vm 10. xi 7 
1. concussura militum mart. Perpet. in p. 64 13. fuga in 
pers. 12 prope f., miles me uel delator uel inimicus concutit, nihil 
Caesari exigens, immo contra faciens, cum Christian-urn legibus 
humanis reum, mercede dimittit. ib. 13 pr. (wrongly assigned 

30 to ad Scap. by LS) sed et omni petenti me dabo in causa 
eleemosynae, non in concussurae...traditorem aut persecutor em 
aut concussorem. ib. 12 a. m. tu autem pro eo pacisceris cam 
delator e uel milite uel farunculo aliquo praeside, sub tunica et 
sinu, quod aiunt, ut furtiuo, quern coram toto mundo Christus 

35 emit, immo et manumisit...Quid enim dicit ille concitssor? da 
mihi pecuniam, certe ne eum tradat. ad Scap. 5 p. m. Scorp. 
10 m. Verb, Rufin. h. e. vn 26 p. 441 f. Blunt Right 
Use p. 645 cl. Luke 3 14 yu,r;SeW Siao-elcrrjre. Grot, (de 



p. 24 1. 27] APOLOGETICVS 7 189 



concussione of dig. = irepl Siaa-eia-pwv of Basilica and Egyptian 
papyri). 

DOMESTICI ad nat. 1 7 p. 68 28 sq. Wiss. domesticorum curio- 
sitas furata est per riinulas et cauernas. quid? cum domestici 
eros uobis proderent ? Athenag. suppl. 35 cited below. Oehler 5 
319 seruus. Blunt Right Use 3778. 

p. 24 1. 27 OPPRIMIMVR cet. Bingham xx 2 8 fin. Eus. v 1 
14 (martyrs of Lyons and Vienne) o-vve\a^dvovro Se /cal 
edviicoi rives olfCerai rwv rjfjberepwv, eVel Brj/juocria eKeXevcrev 6 

dva^rfrela-Oai irdvTas TJ/JLCL^ ol tcai KCLT evebpav rov 10 



rwv (TTpaTitoTv et TOUTO Trapop/jLwvrcov 
^WV vecrreta Selirva teal QlSlTTO&eiovs 
\a\elv yu-r^re voelv Oe/juis r)/*iv, d\\a /Aij 
el TL TOIOVTO TTGOTTOTe TTapd dvOpaiTTois eyeveTO. 15 TOVTCOV 15 

vraz/re? d7re6r)pia)8r)Gav et? ^/Lta<, wcrre /cal et 
TO Trporepov 3t oi/ceioTTjra e^erpia^ov, rore /jLeydXcos 
%a\7raivov /cal &L7rplovTo Ka6" TULWV. Athenag. 35 rt9 ovv 
v <f>povwv eiTTOi ToiovTovs ovTas ?7yLta9 dv$po<$>ovov<$ elvau; ov 
yap ecrrt TrdcraaOai, tcpecov dvOpwTTLicwv /AT] Trporepov aTro/creivacri 20 
nva. TO TTporepov ovv ^jrevSo/jLevoi, TO Sevrepov KCLV yueV Tt9 
epijrai, el ecopd/cacriv d \eyovat,v, ovSels OVTCOS aTrtjpv- 
&>9 elirelv ISeiv. /cairot /cal SovXol elcriv rjulv, Tot9 
fiev /cal TrXetof? To?9 3e eXdrrovs, 01)9 ov/c ean \a6elv. d\\d 
/cal TOVTCOV ouSet9 /caB rj/nwv rd rr)\i/cavra ovoe Kare-^evaaro. 25 
oik yap laaaiv 01)8 iSeiv KCLV t/cat a)9 <$>ovevon,evov VTro/jLevovras, 
TOVTWV Tt9 di> KareiTTOL TI dvopo<f)ovlav r) dvdpwTroftopiav ; lustin. 
apol. II 12 says that slaves and children and women, under 
torture, confessed these crimes, ad nat. I 7 p. 69 18 Wiss. quis 
umquam tamen semeso cadaueri super uenit ? quis in cruentato 30- 
pane uestigia dentium deprehendit? quis tenebris repentino 
lumine inruptis inmunda aliqua, ne dixerim incesta, indicia 
recognouit? 1. 16 seq. quod sciam, et conuersatio notior facta 
est; scitis et dies conuentuum nostrorum; itaque et obsidemur et 
opprimimur, et in ipsis arcanis conyregationibus detinemur.... 35 
22 23 cited below. Minuc. 9 5 with the reply 28 2 5. 
c. 30. 

p. 24 1. 27 ff. Minuc. 28 2 Christians, while yet heathen, 



190 TERTYLLIANI [p. 24 1. 27- 

accepted these calumnies, " quasi Christiani monstra colerent, 
infantes uorarent, conuiuia incesta miscerent, nee intellegebamus 
ab his fabulas istas semper uentilari et numquam uel inuestigari 
uel probari" 
5 p. 24 1. 29 CYCLOPVM Plin. vn 9. 

p. 24 1. 31 CELAVIT cet. ad nat. I 7 p. 69 22 Wiss. si praemio 
impetramus, ne tales in publicum extrahamur, quare et oppri- 
mimur? possumus et omnino non extrahi; quis enim proditionem 
criminis alicuius sine crimine ipso aut uendit aut redimit ? La 

10 Cerda cites Salu. I [Timoth.] ad eccl. 42 peccata uendere and 
Luc. Hermot. 81 wvrjaaaOai TO TrXT/yLt/^eXT/yLta. 

p. 26 1. 3 SILENTII ad nat. I 7 (p. 68 22 sq. Wiss.). adu. 
Val. 3. Apul. met. in 15 sacris pluribus initiatus profecto nosti 
sanctam silentii fidem. 20 rei tantae fidem silentiumque tribue. 

15 xi 21 quis... tut o possint magna religionis committi silentia. 
Basil de spir. sancto 27 ol ra irepi ras 6KK\7jo-ia^ ef 
Sia0(T/jio06TrjcravTes aTroaroKoL /cal irarepes eV TO) 
Kal d(f)6y/CT(D TO (re/jivov rot? fJuvo-TripLo^ (>v\a<T<7ov. ovSe yap 
0X0)9 fjLvaTTjpiov TO et? TTJV Sr)/jLO)8rj /cal el/caiav d/corjv eK(j)opov. 

20 Lact. VII 26 8 10. v 19 19 nam fere uulgus, cui simplex 
incorruptumque indicium est, si mysteria ilia cognoscat in me- 
moriam mortuorum constituta, damnabit, aliudque uerius quod 
colat quaeret. hinc (Aen. in 112) fida silentia sacris insti- 
tata sunt ab hominibus callidis ut nesciat populus quid colat. 

-25 Celsus (Orig. I 7) complained Kpvfyiov TO S6y/j.a. Denied by 
Origen; Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Judgement, are 
everywhere known. Esoteric doctrine e.g. of Pythagoras /cal 
TTGLVTa TO, TravTa^ov fAVcrTijpia Kara TTJV ( E\\doa /cal rrfv 
ftdpftapov /cpv(f)La OVTCL ov Sia/3/3\rjTai. cf. lul. Firm. math. 

3 vii praef. apud Hau. Bingham x 5 3. 

p. 26 1. 4 ELEVSINIA omn. adu. Val. 1 (ap. Hau.). Hor. c. in 
2 25 seq. Apul. apol. 13 f. p. 418 Oud. Aesch. S. c. Th. 593 seq. 
Antiphon de caede Herod. 82 seq. (Jebb Att. Or. I 42 3). 
[Lys.] 6 19. Ou. a. a. n 601 2 quis Cereris ritus audet 

35 uulgare profanis ? magnaque Threicia sacra reperta Samo ? 
cf. Sozom. vi 25. Lucian Alex. 38. DG IV 14 3. Paus. v 17 
3. Apollod. II 5. Philostr. Apoll. IV 18. Orig. Gels, in 59. 
p. 26 1. 7 EXTRANEIS 46 Anaxagoras depositum hospitibus 



p. 26 1. 25] APOLOGETICVS 7 191 

denegauit, Christianus etiam extra (in the outer, heathen world) 
fidelis uocatur. 

p. 26 1. 8 PIAE ad nat. I 7 p. 68 25 Wiss. proves this (not 
I wpiae) to be the true reading : oro uos, extraneis unde notitia, 
cum etiam iusta et licita my sterna omnem arbitrum extraneum 5 
caueant ? 

INITIATIONES LS only one ex. (Suet.). 

ARCEANT PROFANOS Hor. c. ill 1 1 odi profcmum uulgus et 
arceo. 

p. 26 1. 9 Nisi si 3 med. 11 ppr. 10 

p. 26 1. 10 ad nat. I 7 p. 67 6 Wiss. Symm. ep. in 45 1 
uera res estfamam esse uelocem. [Pelag. in 1 Thess. 1, 8. A. S.] 

p. 26 1. 12 Ou. fasti iv 311 conscia mens recti famae mendacia 
risit. 

p. 26 1. 13 Ou. m. xii 56 8 e quibus hi uacuas implent 15 
sermpnibus aures, hi narrata ferunt alio, mensuraque ficti crescit 
et auditis aliquid nouns adicit auctor. 

p. 26 1. 14 EA ILLI CONDICIO cet. cf. ad nat. i 7 p. 67 10 Wiss. 

NON NISI cet. Minuc. 28 7 nee tamen mirum, cum hominum 
fama, quae semper insparsis mendaciis alitar, ostensa ueritate 20 
consumitur : sic est negotium daemonum : ab ipsis enim rumor 
falsus et seritur et fouetur. On rumours against Christians 
Athenag. 2, cited on p. 28 1. 1. 

p. 26 1. 17 ET EXINDE cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 67 13 Wiss. 

p. 26 1. 18 VERBI GRATIA bapt. 11 p. 211 11 Wiss. ad nat. 25 
I 2 p. 61 1 Wiss. 7 pr. Paulin. Nol. ep. 39 7. Cic. fin. v 30 
(exempli gr. off. in 50). 

p. 26 1. 21 AN VERO cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 67 17 Wiss. 

p. 26 1. 23 AMBITIO circuit = ad nat. I 7 p. 67 19 Wiss. 
Oehler on idol. 1 pr. p. 67. 30 

p. 26 1. 24 ASSEVERATIONS paen. 4 f. ad nat. II 4 p. m. 

p. 26 1. 25 NECESSE EST with subj. Cic. Lucr. Lact. 

EXINDE cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 67 20 Wiss. 

TRADVCES praescr. haer. 32 proinde utique et ceterae (ecclesiae) 
exhibent, quos ab apostolis in episcopatum constitutos apostolici 35 
seminis traduces habeant. ad nat. I 4 pr. mali nominis. 12 
p. 83 1. 2 Wiss. 16 p. 87 1. 21 Wiss. tot compagines generis, tot 
inde traduces ad incestum. 



192 TERTVLLIANI [p. 26 1. 27 

p. 26 1. 27 RECOGITET NE. 2 non recogitetis . . .ne negarit. 
15 p. 52 1. 3. 26 pr. ad nat. I 4 p. 64 1. 17 Wiss. nemini sub- 
uenit, ne ideo bonus quis et prudens, quid Christianus. ib. 10 pr. 
considerate ne. ib. f. nescio ne. Arnob. I 10 f. Hild. unde tibi 
5 est scire, ne. 58 pr. uide ne. Aug. in ps. 21 enarr. 2 24 m. 
ps. 33 enarr. 2 9. ps. 64 4 f. ps. 70 serm. 2 9 a. m. (direct ib. 3 
pr. 10 pr.) ps. 80 2 pr. ep. 96 2 pr. 147 17. 199 16 pr. 222 2 f. 
Eucher. p. 170 23. (Not in ind. Arn.) 

p. 26 1. 28 INGENIO inventiveness, inspiration, device. Oehler 
10 on de corona 8 p. 436 n. g. 

p. 26 1. 29 Lucian Philopseudes 2 77 TTOV Karavevorjrcas ij&rj 
Twa<$ TOIOVTOV 9, ot? e/jLcfrvros epws ouro? eVrt TT/DO? TO ^eOSo? ; 
p. 26 1. 30 BENE cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 67 25 Wiss. 
BENE...QVOD c. 40 p. 118 1. 8. c. 24 f. p. 86 1. 13. de ieiun. 
15 13 p. 291 27 Wiss. idol. 5 f. Oehler. 15. 23. Aug. ep. 36 8. 
Quid. a. a. II 605 6 o bene quod frustra captatis arbore pomis, 
garrulus in media Tantalus aret aqua. Hieron. adu. Rufin. II 24. 
Quintil. decl. 335 p. 690 Burm. melius q. luu. 2 139. Paulin. 
Nol. c. 24 15. ep. 32 2. Apul. met. in 25. vi 8 f. x 14 f. 
20 OMNI A TEMPVS REVELAT Gell. xii 11 7 (in Oehler) and 
Erasm. Otto Sprichworter 343. Matt. 10 26. Mark 4 22. 
p. 26 1. 32 FAMA Athenag. suppl. 2 pr. Otto ad 1. el e ^&XP L 
rj /caTTjyopia (et? yovv rrjv arjiiepov rj/Aepav a irepl 
o7roiov(7LV rj KOLVTJ /cal a/cpiTO<> TWV dv6pa)7T(0v ^>^H^ r l 
25 Kal ovSet? d&iKutv XpidTiavos \^\eyfcrai). lustin. apol. I 23 
fin. (where Otto compares ib. 10 26 54) of demons bv rpoirov 
/cal TO, Kaff rjfjbdov \ey6fJieva Bva^rj/Jia Kal doreffr) epya evrfpyijaav, 
wv ouSels fjidpTVS ovSe aTroSei^is eari. 

p. 28 1. 1 DISTVLIT Apul. met. v 10 populis tarn beatum eius 
30 differamus praeconium. 

SOLA innocence of Christians c. 44. Cannibalism of Scythians 

Strabo xi 8 6 p. 513, and Indians (Megasthenes ib. xv 1 56 

p. 710), and Irish IV 5 4 p. 201 (also incest). loseph. c. Apion. 

II 7 the Jews fattened a Greek yearly for sacrifice; one such 

35 victim found by Antiochus in the temple. 

p. 28 1. 2 HANG INDICEM cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 67 27 Wiss. 
p. 28 1. 3 CORROBORAVIT (Cic.) bapt. 18 f. de cor. 3 pr. ad 
nat. II 1. uirg. uel. 1 consuetude, initium ab aliqua ignorantia uel 



p. 28 1. 10] APOLOGETICVS 7, 8 193 

simplicitate sortitur, in usum per successionem corroborator et 
ita aditersus ueritatem uindicatur. 

p. 28 1. 4 VSQVE ADHVC Plaut. Ter. Bunem. on Lact. in 8 30. 

PROBARE NON VALVIT ad Scap. 4 f. (p. 549. 8) quod aliud 
negotium patitur Christianus, nisi suae sectae, quam incestam, 5 
quam crudelem tanto tempore nemo probauit. 

FIDEM NATVRAE IPSIVS infr. p. 28 1. 20. lustin. c. Tryph. 
10 p. 227 b /z,r) Kal u/u.et? TTCTT tar eu /care Trepl rj/j-wv, on Srj 
eo-Biofjuev dvOpwTrovs Kal fjLera rrjv elXairivriv diroGftevvvvTzs 
TOU? \v^yov^ dOeo-fiois fj,i%eaiv <ytcv\i6/jL0a, r) avTO rovro 10 
KaTaryi<yvc*)crKeT TJ/AWV fjiovov, on TOIOVTOIS Trpoae^ofiev \6<yois 
Kal OVK d\rj6el, co? olW^e, iria-revoiJLev Bo^rj ; rovro IGTW o 
6av/jido/j,v, e<f>r) 6 Tpixfrtov, Trepl Be wv ol 7ro\\ol 
ov TTiarevo-aL aiov Troppa) yap K^Mp7jK6 rrjs d 
<f)vo-eo)<;. cf. on these charges Justin apol. I 26 n. 29 Otto. 15 
Minuc. 80 1 nemo hoc potest credere, nisi qui potest audere. 
Quintil. IV 2 52 credibilis autem erit narratio ante omnia, si 
prius consuluerimus nostrum animum, ne quid naturae dicamas 
aduersum. 

CAP. VIII 

p. 28 1. 7 ECCE cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 70 19 Wiss. Charges 20 
unknown to Cypr. ad Demetrianum, Arn. Lact. In the reign of 
Maximin a Roman commander at Damascus (Eus. h. e. IX 5 2) 
seized certain abandoned women and by threat of torture forced 
them to confess, as he dictated, &>? &rj elijvdv TTOTC Xpicmaval 
avve&elev re aurot? d6ejjLLTovp<yia^ (cf. n. on c. 2 p. 156 1. 36). 25 

p. 28 1. 8 INTERIM 21 p. 70 7 recipite interim hanc fabulam, 
dam ostendimus. Orig. c. Cels. VI 27 f. 

p. 28 1. 10 VENI cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 70 25 Wiss. Saluian. 
iv 85 deniqae quam praue ac nefarie pagani semper de sacris 
dominicis opinati sint, docent persecutorum immanium cruen- 30 
tissimae quaestiones, qui in sacrificiis christianis nihil aliud 
quam impura quaedam fieri atque abominanda credebant. si- 
quidem etiam initia ipsa nostrae religionis non nisi a duobus 
maxime facinoribus oriri arbitrabantur, primum scilicet homi- 
cidio, deinde, quod homicidio est grauius, incestu, nee homicidio 35 
M. T. 13 



194 TERTVLLIANI [p. 28 1. 10- 

solum et incestu, sed et quod sceleratius quiddam est incestu 
ipso et homicidio, incestu matrum sacrosanctarum et homicidio 
innocentium paruulorum, quos non occidi tantum a Christianis, 
sed, quod magis abominandum est, etiam uorari existimabant : 
5 et haec omnia...ad promerendam uitam aeternam, quasi uero, 
etiamsi posset his rebus accipi, tanti esset ad earn per scelera 
tain immania peruenire. 

p. 28 1. 13 RVDEM Minuc. 30 1 ilium iam uelim conuenire, 

qui initiari nos dicit aut credit de caede infantis et sanguine. 

10 putas posse fieri, ut tarn molle, tarn paruulum corpus fata 

uulnerum capiat? ut quisqaam ilium rudem sanguinem nouelli 

et uixdum hominis fimdat caedat exhauriat? 

p. 28 1. 14 INTEREA cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 p. 71 3 Wiss. 
p. 28 1. 17 TALIA INITIATVS adu. Marc, iv 11 p. 450 1. 14 Kr. 
15 aliam scilicet et contrariam initiatos diuinitatem. 21 p. 491 1. 7 
Kr. nee pannis iam sepulturae inuolucrum initiatus. 

CONSIGN ATVS Scorp. 4 f. militem sacramento : later to con 
firm. Bingham xn 2 4 n. 86. 3 4 n. 17. 

p. 28 1. 18 CVPIO RESPONDEAS cet. cf. ad nat. i 7 p. 71 7 
20 Wiss. 

si c. 6 pr. note. 

p. 28 1. 21 ALIA cet. cf. ad nat. I 7 f. 

Philostr. Apoll. in 45 ff. a beast with man s head, of the size 

of a lion, shooting from its tail thorn-like hairs, a cubit in length. 

25 larchas, who described these, denied the existence 

Se dvOpcoTrovs, rj /jiaKpOK<f)d\ovs rj OTroora S/ 
l ire pi rovrwv aSovaiv, ovre aXXocre TTOL {Bioreveiv r^? 
7779 oi/re fjbrjv eV Ii/Sot9. Plin. VII 23 (from Megasthenes) in 
multis . . .montibus genus hominum capitibus caninis ferarum 
30 pellibus uelari, pro uoce latratum edere, unguibus armatum 
uenatu et aucupio uesci...Ctesias scribit... hominum genus qui 
Monocoli uocarentur singulis cruribus, mirae pernicitatis ad 
saltum, eosdem Sciapodas uocari, quod in maiori aestu humi 
iacentes resupini umbra se pedum protegant. 
35 p. 28 1. 23 NERVI ad nat. I 7 f. luu. 10 206 n. Burm. anth. 
II pp. 533541. priap. 68 23. Acron in Hor. s. 1 2 118. Suid. 
s.v. flpiyevrjs p. 1281 14 Bernh. Epiphan. haer. LXIV 111 (i 
527 a). 



p. 30 1. 14] APOLOGETICVS 8, 9 195 

QVI ISTA cet. Minuc. 30 1 cited on p. 193 1. 16. 

p. 28 1. 24 QVOD 2 p. 10 1. 8 quod est dicit, tu uis audire quod 
non est. ib. p. 6 1. 13 quodcumque dicimur. 35 de Romanis id 
est. Arn. n 26 quid esset Dens uerus iam addiscerent suspicari. 

p. 28 1. 26 8VBICITVR of the cuckoo foisting its eggs on other 5 
birds Plin. x 26 the fledgling afterwards called subditus. 
(cf. luu. 4 103.) 

p. 28 1. 28 ATQVIN Oehler on fug. in pers. 6 p. 473 n. k. 
Hand Tursell. I 213 seq. 

p. 28 1. 31 NESCIAT Saluian. iv 69 leg em et deurn. 70 10 
praeceptum domini. 

p. 28 1. 32 IVRVLEXTIAM same v. 1. in Jerome [ep. 108 31 2. 
A. S.] adu. louin. I 18. 

p. 30 1. 1 CANDELABRA cet. cf. ad nat. I 16. 

p. 30 1. 2 EXTEXDAXT ad uxor. I 3 quod si apostolo cms- 15 
cultamuSy obliti posteriorum, extendamur in prior a. adu. Val. 
9 p. 187 1. 17 Kr. et uincitur dijficidtate et extenditur adfectione. 
Aug. contra Faustum xm 18 fin. libros propheticos et apostolicos 
legimus alterutris uocibus sibi concinentes ; et ea concinentia, 
tamquam caelesti tuba, et a torpor e mortalis uitae nos excitantes, 20 
et ad palmam supernae uocationis extendentes. 

p. 30 1. 7 SVSTINENT c. 25 p. 90 1. 15 n. ad uxor. n 5 quater. 

p. 30 1. 10 SEQVITYR XE = ut non Saluian ind. p. 346 after 
ita, sic, hoc, in hoc. 

CAP. IX 

Jupiter and Apollo, when the Pelasgians in dearth vowed 25 
a tenth of their fruits, afflicted them with plagues because they 
omitted to sacrifice y 1 ^ of their offspring D. H. I 23 seq. Porphyr. 
in Eus. p. e. IV 16 many exx. of human sacrifice : see also Eus. 
de laud. Constantini 13 6 Hein., and 7. 

p. 30 1. 14 IXFANTES luu. 6 fin. n. [unpubl. A. S.]. Fried- 30 
lander in 767 n. 5. Marquardt in 2 74 n. 2. 

PEXES local, Africian. Sittl die lokale Verschiedenheiten d. 
lat. Sprache 136. de pall. 3 p. Latium. Claud. Mam. ep. 2 ad 
Sap. p. 205 2 E. penes Galliam nostram professionis tuae par 
unus et solus es. A.L.L. xni 364 5. 35 

132 



196 TERTVLLIANI [p. 30 1. 14 

SATVRNO luu. 15 116 n. Macr. I 7 31. Winer Realwort. 
Molech. Schenkel Bibellex. Saturn. 

p. 30 1. 14 ff. Friedlander in 5 509. Oros. IV 6 36. Plato 
Minos 31 5** fuj.lv jjuev ov i/oyLto? earlv avOpwirovs Oveiv a)OC 
5 dvoaiov, Kap fflo ovioi Se OvovcriVj o>9 oaiov ov KOI VOUIJAOV 
aurofc?, KOI ravra evioi avra>v /cal rovs avr&v vlels TO) Kp6vq>, 
to? 7G>9 fcal av dtcijKoas. Arnob. II 68. D. H. I 38. D. S. xx 
14. Voss. theol. gent. 2 5. Porphyrius in Eus. p. e. iv 16 
p. 155 b . Varro in Aug. C. D. VII 19 (cf. ib. c. 26) deinde idea 

10 dicit a quibusdam pueros ei [Saturno] solitos immolari, sicut a 
Poenis, et a quibusdam etiam maiores, sicut a GaUis, quia 
omnium seminum optimum est genus humanum. Hier. in Esai. 
1. 13 c. 46 (iv 544 bc ) Bel, quern Graeci Belum, Latini Saturnum 
uocant, cuius tanta fuit apud ueteres religio ut ei non solum 

15 humanas hostias captiuorum ignobiliumque mortalium, sed et 
suos liber os immolarent. Grotius on Deut. 18 10. Lact. I 21 
13 from Pescennius Festus. Sil. iv 767 flagrantibus aris...paruos 
imponere natos. Bayle oeuvres in 46. Plut. de superstit. 13. 
pr. p. 171. D.S. xm 86 3. xx 14 4. Orig. c. Gels, v 27 

20 p. m. KOI 7TW9 ov^ oaLoi 7rapa\v6iv vo/jiovs rot/? (ftep 1 elirelv 
Trapa Tavpois irepl rov lepeia rou? feVou? irpocrd^eo-Oai rfj 
ApTefjLioi, rj Trapa Aiftvwv rial trepl rov /caraOveiv ra reicva 
TW Kpovw. lustin. xix 1 aex. Porph. de abst. n 54 57. 
TIBERII proconsul shortly before (?). 

25 p. 30 1. 17 MILITIA, cf. leuis armatura, peregrinitas, ciuitas, 
custodiae. 

PATRIAE NOSTRAE Carthage : de pall. 1 Scorpiace 6 7 f . res. 
earn. 42. Kaye 6 n. 3. 9 10. 

p. 30 1. 18 FVNCTA EST c. dat. ad nat. n 10 m. Dirksen 

30 manuale. 

p. 30 1. 21 PROPRIIS FILIIS ad nat. II 7 p. m. cur Saturno 
alieni liberi immolantur, si ille suis pepercit? Lact. I 13 2 
from Ennius in historia sacra, v 10 15 quomodo aut paren- 
tibus parcent, qui expulsorem patris sui louem [colunt]? aut 

35 natis ex se infantibus, qui Saturnum ? 5 9 10. Among the 
immoral legends of the poeticum deorum genus Scaevola (see 
n. on c. 16 p. 54 1. 31 below) named Saturnum liberos deuorare > 
Aug. Ciu. D. iv 27 (i 180 17). Greg. Naz. or. 4 115 (i 141 d ) 



p. 30 1. 23] APOLOGETICVS 9 197 

Macr. S. I 8 10. Stallbaum on Plat. Euthyphr. 5 e seq. 
omn. D. H. II 19 (cited by Thdt gr. aff. cur. in 47 p. 45 22) 
ovre yap Qvpavos Kre/j,v6fjLVos VTTO roov eavTOv Traiowv irapd 
Pcoiiaiois \eyerai, ovre Kpovos dfyavi^wv ra? eavrov yovds, 
(/>o/3ft> 7-779 ef avrcov eVt^ecrea)?, ovre Zei>? /cara\vrov rrjv Kpovov 5 
Svvaarelav. On Saturn, Thdt. gr. aff. cur. ill 36 and 38 who 
quotes Plato rep. 377 e seq. Athan. uit. Ant. 75 Kpovov (frvyrjv 
/cal retcvwv /caraTroaeis real Trarpofcrovias. 

p. 30 1. 23 PARENTES lustin. apol. n 12 (p. 234 n. 12 Otto). 
Aristid. c. 9 pr. Human sacrifices G. J. Voss idol. I 35 and b. n. 10 
Orig. de princ. II 9 5 (xxi 222 L.). Lact. I 21 1 at Salamis in 
Cyprus, abolished by Hadrian. Victims willing infr. 28 pr. diui- 
nae rei faciendae libens animus indicitur. Chrys. in s. Romanum 
mart. 3 (ll 621 d ) e^e^9 avTOK\ev<TTQv lepelov, ri rov Seo-/jL(t)Tijv 
ravpov avavevovra o-uyLtTroStfet? ; Sen. Oed. 334 7 haec propere 15 
admoue, \ et sparge salsa colla taurorum mola. \ placidone uultu 
sacra et admotas manus | patiuntur? Lasaulx 271 n. 258 9. 

PARENTES... GALLOS...TAVRIC AS Scorpiac. 7 fin. sed enim 
Scytharum Dianani aut Gallorum Mercurium aut Afrorum 
Saturnum hominum uictima placari apud saecalum licitit, et 20 
Latio ad hodiernum loui media in urbe humanus sanguis in- 
gustatur; nee quisquam retractat aut non rationem praesumit 
aliquam aut inaestimabilem dei sui uoluntatem. si noster quo- 
que deus propriae hostiae nomine martyria sibi depostulasset, 
quis illi exprobrasset funestam religionem et lugubres ritus et 25 
aram rogum et pollinctorem sacerdotem, et non beatum amplius 
reputasset, quern deus comedisset? Lact. I 21 3. lustin. apol. 
II 12 r/9 y a p ^)tX^8o^09 rj dtcparrfs /cal avOpwirlvw aaprcwv 
(Bopav dyaOov rjyovfJLevos Svvairo av Odvarov dcnrd^ecrOai ;... 

yap X"P LV OV X L KaL Ta VTa orj/noaia a)fjLO\oyov/j,ev dyadd 30 

<f)i,\oo-o(f>iav deiav avrd dTreSei/cvvfjiev, (frdo-fcovres 

fjivcrrrjpia reXeiv ev rw dvopofoveiv, /cal eV ro> 
///7r//7rXa<7$at, co? Xeyerat, rd Lcra rc5 Trap 1 V/JLLV 
et Sft)X&) [lupp. Lat.], c6 ov /jiovov d\6yo)v ^wwv al^ara irpocrpai- 
verai, d\\d /cal dvOpwireia, Sid rov Trap V/JLLV eTTLcrrjfjLordTOV 35 
/cal evyevecrrdrov dvopos rrjv irpoa- xyviv rov rwv (frovevOevrow 
al^aros Troiovpevoi ; Minuc. 30 3 ubi Holden, et haec utique 
de deoriim uestrorum disciplina descendunt. nam Saturnus 



198 TERTVLLIANI [p. 30 1. 23 

filios suos non exposuit, sed uorauit. merito ei in nonnullis 
Africae partibus a parentibus infantes immolabantur, blanditiis 
et osculo comprimente uagitum, ne flebilis hostia immoletur. 
4 Tauris etiam Ponticis et Aegyptio Busiridi ritus fuit hospites 
5 immolare : et Mercurio Gallos humanas ml inhumanas uictimas 
caedere. Romani Graecum et Graecam, Gallam et Gallam, 
sacrificia uiuentes obruere: hodieque ab ipsis Latiaris luppiter 
homicidio colitur et, quod Saturni filio dignum est, mali et noxii 
hominis sanguine saginatur. On offerings of children to Saturn 

10 Lact. I 21 915. Lasaulx Studien p. 250 n. 109 cf. 1078. 

251 n. 113. 253 n. 130. Allard les dernieres persecutions 218. 

LIBENTES ad Scap. 2 cum et hostiae ab animo libenti expostu- 

lentur respondebant appeared when called, so resp. ad tempus, 

ad diem etc. Gronov. obs. II 4 p. 122 4 Fr. On the pro- 

15 pitiatory use of blood Lasaulx Stud. 237. Plin. xxx 12 
DCLVII (= B.C. 97) demum anno urbis Cn. Cornelia Lentulo 
P. Licinio Crasso coss. senatus consultum fact urn est, ne homo 
immolaretur, palamque fit, in tempus illud sacra prodigiosa 
celebrata. 13 Druids suppressed in Gaul by Tiberius, still 

20 rampant in Britain, nee satis aestimari potest quantum Ro- 
manis debeatur qui sustulere monstra in quibus hominem occidere 
religiosissimum erat, mandi uero etiam saluberrimum. Suet. 
Claud. 25. 

p. 30 1. 25 MAIOR AETAS cf. p. 30 11. 67. 

25 p. 30 1. 26 MERCVRIO Scorp-. 7 fin. Lact. I 21 3 Galli Esum 
atque Teutatem humano cruore placabant. Caes. b. G. IV 16. 
Cic. p. Font. 31. D. H. I 38. Solin. 21. Plut. de supers. 
13 pr. p. 171. Tac. Germ. 10. Luc. Bell. Ciu. I 444 et quibus 
immitis placatur sanguine diro \ Teutates, horrensque feris 

30 altaribus Esus. ib. Ill 399. So the Germans sacrificed the army 
of Varus. Tac. an. I 61 lucis propinquis barbarae arae, apud 
quas tribunos ac primorum ordinum centuriones mactauerant. 
ib. XIII 57 uictores [Hermunduri] diuersam aciem [Ckattos] 
Marti ac Mercurio sacrauere, quo uoto equi, uiri, cuncta uicta 

35 occidioni dantur. Details D. S. .v 30. Dio LXXIII 6. Tac. 
xiv 30. Abolished by the Romans Mela in 2 3. Plin. (cited 
above). 

PROSECATVR 23 46. 



p. 30 1. 28] APOLOGETICVS 9 199 

TAVRICAS luu. 15 116 n. Greg. Naz. or. 39 4 f. (i 679 C ) 
Tavpwv %evoKToviai. Athenag. 26 77 fjiev ev Taupot? ["Apre/At?] 
(f>ovevi, roi>9 eVou9. Lact. I 21 2 erat lex apud Tauros 
inhumanam et feram gentem, ut Dianae hospites immolarentur, 
et id sacrificium multis temporibus celebratum est. [Sen.] Oct. 5 
978 seq. urbe est nostra mitior Aulis \ et Taurorum barbara 
tellus. | hospitis illic caede litatur \ numen superum: ciuis 
gaudet | Roma cruore. Lucian deor. dial. 16 1 (Hera to Leto) 
ol Be <rol TralBes 77 peis avrwv dppevi/crj irepa TOV peTpiov /cal 
o/c>609, teal TO Te\evTalov 9 rrjv ^KvOiav dTre\6ov<ra Truvres 10 
Iff cur iv oia ecfOiei ^voKrovovcra KOI /jLi/jLovfjuevrj rou? ^rcvdas aurou? 
dv6pa)7ro(f)dyovs ovras. ibid. 23 1. lup. trag. 44. Toxaris 2 
Amm. xxn 8 3436. Lasaulx 252 n. 124. 

THEATRIS SVJS cf. C. 15 p. 50 1. 33. 

p. 30 1. 27 RELIGIOSISSIMA c. 6 pr. ad nat. n 17 p. 132 15 
1. 6 Wiss. seruant urbem Romanam, qui suas perdiderunt, si 
hoc religiositas Romana meruit [cf. Ps.-Aug. Quaest. 115 16 
urbe Roma...sacratissima. A. S.]. Kaye 48. 

AENEADARVM ad nat. II 17 p. 131 4 Wiss....posthabita Samo 
dilectam et utique Aeneadarum ignibus adoleri. 20 

p. 30 1. 28 IVPPITER cet. Scorp. 7 fin. Lasaulx Studien 
p. 249 n. 100. 248 n. 86. 251 n. 113. Fullest account in 
[Cypr.] de spect. 5 Minuc. 22 6 ipse luppiter uester...cum 
Latiaris \dicitur\ cruore perfunditur. ib. 30 4. Tatian 29 
ravra ovv ISoov en- Be Kal jjivcrrrjpi^v peTa\aftu>v /cal ra? 25 
Trapd TTacri OprjcrKeias Botcifjido-as BHI di]\vBpLa)v /cal di>Bpo r yvva)v 
avviGTa/JLevas, evpwv Be Trapd fiev f Pa>//.atof9 TOV /car avTOvs 
\aTiapiov Ata \vdpoi<$ avdptorrcov /cal rot9 drrb T&V dvBpo- 
KTacruMv atyu-atrt TepTr6fJLevov ) ...KaT ejJuavTov 76^6/16^09 etyrovv 
OTW TpoTry Tn\tj6es e^evpelv Bvvo)fj,ai,. The only heathen witness 30 
is Porphyr. de abst. II 56 etXX ert /cal vvv r/9 dyvoei /cara TI]V 
fj,eyd\ijv TTO\IV Trj rov AaTiapiov A^O9 eopTrj a^a^o^evov av- 
QptoTrov; See the corresp. of Sir R. Peel and T. B. Macaulay 
with Ld Stanhope. S. Miscellanies Lond. 1863 pp. 128 144. 
Prud. c. Symm. I 379. Preller rom. Mythol. 191 (= I 2 215) 35 
assumes that a criminal condemned to death (bestiarius) was 
executed at the Latian festival in Rome. Marquardt ill 2 297 
n. 4. lustin. apol. n 12 p. 234 n. 14 Otto. Theophil. in 8, and 



200 TERTVLLIANI [p. 30 1. 28 

Saturn Lack v 6 6 and 7. I 21 3. luu. 15 116 n. Eus. laud 
Const. 13 16. Human Offerings Zahn Forschungen v 188. 
J. Reville, die Religion in Rom unter den Severen (Leipz. 1888) 
p. 99 n. 1 127 n. 4. J. Geffcken Zwei Apologeten (1907) p. 66. 
5 p. 30 1. 31 DE CRVDELITATE 5 m. Domitianus, portio Ne- 
ronis de crudelitate, sed qua et homo. Saturn against Uranus, 
luppiter against Saturn Orig. c. Gels. I 17. 

p. 30 1. 32 Philostr. Apoll. IV 8 ascribes cannibalism to 
witches. Socr. ill 2 2, 5 men sacrificed to Mithras. 

10 p. 32 1. 3 PRAESIDIBVS infra 30 f. spect. 30 p. 28 1. 23 Wiss. 
praesides persecutores dominici nominis saeuioribus quam ipsi 
flammis saeuierunt insultantes contra Christianas liquescentes. 
de idol. 23 p. 56 1. 12 Wiss. Kaye 48. Blunt Right Use 335. 
[0. Hirschfeld, Die Kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeamten bis auf 

15 Diocletian (2 Aufl.) pp. 385 ff. A. S.] 

p. 32 1. 5 EXTORQVETIS 30 f. extorquete animam deo suppli- 
cantem pro imperatore. 

p. 32 1. 6 CANIBVS Ou. her. 11 83 4 iamque dari paruum 
canibusque auibiisque nepotem iusserat in solis destituique locis. 

20 Ter. Hecyra. 

EXPONITIS cet. ad nat. I 15 Herald pp. 206 8 and 64 65. 
Orig. c. Gels, vm 55 f. Minuc. 30 2 uos enim uideo procreatos 
filios nunc feris et auibus exponere, nunc adstrangulatos misero 
mortis genere elidere: sunt quae in ipsis uisceribus medicaminibus 

25 epotis originem futuri hominis exstinguant et parriddium fa- 
ciant ante quam pariant. et haec utique de deorum uestrorum 
discipline descendunt. nam Satunms filios suos non exposuit, 
sed uorauit. cf. 31 3. cone. Ancyr. c. 21. Athenag. suppl. 
35 fin. fcal ol T? rols d(Ji&\wdpi &iois xpto/jLevas dv^pofyovelv 

30 re /cal \6yov vfye^eiv rr/9 ef ayLtySXcocrew? rw 6ew (fra/jiev, tcara 

TToloV dv$pQ<$>OVOVfJLV XoyOV , 0V 7/0 TOV aVTOU VOfJLl^eiV /JLV 

/cal TO /card ^aarpo^ ^u>ov elvai ical Sid TOVTO jjieXeiv rw 
/cat 7rap6\rj\v06ra et? TOV ftiov fyoveveiv, real /JLTJ eicTi0evai 
TO yevvyOev, co? TWV eKTiOevTwv TeicvoKTovovvTtov, Trd\iv Be TO 
35 Tpa<f)ev dvaipelv aXX eVyu-ez/ Tcavra Tcawrayov o/JiOtoL KOI iaoi, 
Sov\evovT<t TW \6yw teal ov K ap^ovTes avTov. ep. ad Diogn. 5 
p. 497 b (of Christians) ov p nrTovo-i Ta ^evvw/jiei a. lustin. 
apol. I 27 pr. tj/juels Se, r iva 



p. 32 1. 8] APOLOGETICVS 9 201 

3/CT106VCU Kal ra yevvw/jueva Trovrjpwv elvai 8e&i$a>y/ji0a 29 pr. 
Lact. vi 20 21 quid illi, quos falsa pietas cogit exponere? 
num possunt innocentes existimari, qui uiscera sua in prae- 
dam canibus obiciunt, et quantum in ipsis est, crudelius necant, 
quam si strangulassent ? v 9 15 (Btinemann). Ambros. 5 
hexaem. v 58 feminae nostri generis, ...si ditiores sunt, 
lactare fastidiunt. pauperiores uero abidunt paruulos et ex- 
ponunt et deprehensos abnegant. ipsae quoque diuites, ne per 
plures suum patrimonium diuidatur, in liter o proprios necant 
fetus et parriddalibus suds in ipso genitali aluo pignora sui 10 
uentris exstinguunt, priusque aufertur uita, quam tradatur. 
Ael. u. h. ii 7. Plin. ep. Trai. 65 66. Visio Pauli c. 40 
(pp. 32 33 James apocrypha anecd. 1893). Lact. vi 20 1825. 
Ambr. (ed. Vindob.) I 184 18 187 6 seq. Barn. ep. 19 5 n. 
Constit. apost. vn 3 [add Ambst. in Rom. 12 8. A.S.]. Lips. ep. 15 
ad Belg. cent. 1 ep. 85. Lasaulx Studien pp. 454 455. Gerhardt 
Noodt, lulius Paulus siue de partus expositione et nece apud 
ueteres. Sagittarius, disp. de expositione infaritum, and on 
lustin. I 4 7. Bernays gesamm. Abhandl. I 243. Lindenbr. 
on Ter. Andr. 4 4 30. Becker Gallus II 3 61. Kraus in R. 20 
Worterb. s.v. Findekinder. Marquardt-Mau Privatalterthiimer 
p. 3 n. 1 (cf. tollit) 82 n. 4 83. Rein Criminals 441 seq. 
Dollinger Heidenthum 7167. Bingham xi 4 18. 

p. 32 1. 8 CONCEPTVM VTERO exhort, cast. 12 quid ergo 
fades, si nouam uxorem de tua consdentia impleueris? dissoluas 25 
medicaminibiis conceptam? puto nobis non magis licere nascentem 
necare, quam natum. Harnack Medicinisches aus der altesten 
Kirchengeschichte (Texte und Untersuchungen vni 4) 146 n. 3 
cites Didache 2 2. Barn. 19 5. h. 1. Mimic. I.e. Athenag. I.e. 
Clem. Al. paed. 11 10 96. cf. Soran. de mulierum affectibus 1. 30 
Sen. Helu. 16 3 f. Scribon. epist. 3 pr. luu. 6 592609. 
Basil, ep. 188 c. 4 n. 2. Philo in Ens. p. e. vin. 7 7 pr) 
yovrjv dvbptov e/cre/i^o^re?, pr) yvvaifcaiv drotclois Kal a\\ais 
^^aval^ afjb(3\ovv. los. c. Ap. II 16 in Ens. p. e. vin 8 35 
T6Kva rpefaiv ajravra Trpocrera^e, Kal yvvai^lv aVetTre yu,^r 35 
a/ji/3\ovv TO cnrapev fjLrjre SiafyOeipeii , oXX* i]v (fraveirj, refcvo- 
KTVVOS av eir) ^rv^rjv a<j)ai iov(Ta Kal TO 76^0? eXarrouaa. 
Bingham xvi 10 4. 



202 TERTVLLIANI [p. 32 1. 11- 

p. 32 1. 11 HOMO EST cet. luu. 6 596 7 quae steriles facit 
adque homines in uentre necandos conducit. dig. xxx 2 9 1 
partus nondum editus homo non recte fidsse dicitur. ib. XLVIII 
19 39. Hefele Beitrage zur Kirchengesch. n 3801. Routh 
5 reliq. IV 125 (can. 1) 225-6. Mart. IX 41 10 istud quod digitis, 
Pontice, perdis, homo est. Hier. ep. 22 13 aliae uero sterilitatem 
praebibunt et necdum sati hominis homicidium faciunt. non- 
nullae, cum se senserint concepisse de scelere, aborti uenena medi- 
tantur, et frequenter etiam ipsae commortuae trium criminum 
10 reae ad infer os perducuntur, homicidae sui, Christi adulterae, 
necdum nati filii parricidae. 

p. 32 1. 13 NECVBI Riddle-White., p. 1261 c. Lewis-Short 
ri&c-ne alicubi! adu. Prax. 1. cf. c. 3 p. 12 1. 25. 

HERODOTVM in 8 Arabs, iv 70 Scythians. I 74 Medes 
15 and Lydians. Armenians Tac. an. xn 47. Luc. Toxaris 
37. 

p. 32 1. 15 CATILINA (cf. Winer Real-Worterb. Bund ) so 
the Vitellii and Bruti Plut. Publicola 4 1. Sail. Catil. 22 1. 
Flor. II 12 4. Mela n 1 12 (Asiacae). Athen. 45 f. (Carmani). 
20 Minuc. 30 5 ipsum credo [louem] docuisse sanguinis foedere 
coniurare Catilinam, et Bellonam sacrum suum haustu humani 
cruoris imbuere et comitialem morbum hominis sanguine, id est 
morbo grauiore, sanare. So Diogenes taught (D. L. VI 73. Theo- 
phil. in 5) and the Stoics (Theophil. 1. c. D. L. vn 121. Men. 
25 188. Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. hyp. in 24). Lamprid. Comm. 9 
Bellonae seruientes uere exsecare bracchium praecepit studio 
crudelitatis. 

p. 32 1. 16 AIVNT cet. allowed by Diogenes. Theophil. ill 4. 
Petron. 141 (quoted below). Tert. Adu. Marc. I 10 f. Hdt. I 
30 216 of the Massagetae. in 99 of the Padaei. Theophil. in 5. 
Thyestes, Harpagus, barbarians. Athenag. Resurr. Carn. 4 fin. 
p. 44 bc . Euseb. Praep. Eu. I 4 6 p. ll bc ^778 avOpwtropopelv 
&ia TOV /cal iJLe^pL^ avr&v e\06vTa rov Xp^crroO \oyov 
adpfcas vetcp&v TWV (f)L\rdr(Dv Kara TO 7ra\aiov e6o<$ 
35 BoivaaOat,. The natives of Pontus. cf. 7 p. ll d . Orig. 
contra Gels, v 27 pr. 34 p. 254. 36 p. 256. Tert. de Pall. 4. 
luu. 4 124 n. Lact. I 21 16, 17. v 10 15 quomodo enim 
sanguine abstinebunt qui colunt cruentos deos, Martem atque 



p. 32 1. 22] APOLOGETICVS 9 203 

Bellonam ? Indian cannibals. Orig. contra Gels. VI 80. Hier. 
adu. louin. n 7 (n 335 bc ) Massagetae and Derbices. Euseb. 
Praep. En. I 4 p. ll d . Plin. iv 88. vi 53. VII 9, 11, 12. 
Strabo 231, 198. Solin. 15. Preller-Jordan rom. Myth, n 386 
n. 3. Marquardt in 2 76 n. 9. Lasaulx 254 138. 5 

SCYTHARVM Lucian Deor. Dial. 16 1. De Luctu 21 TO Se 
(lira TOVTOV St,e\6/jivoi, Kara Wvr) ra? ra^a? o /JLCV "EXX?;^ 
/cavcrv,...6 & 2fcv0r)<; KareaOLei. Petron. 141 apud quasdam 
gentes scimus adhuc legerti seruari, at a propinquis suis con- 
samantur defuncti, adeo quidem, ut obiurgentur aegri frequenter, 10 
quod carnem suam faciant peiorem. his admoneo amicos meos, 
ne recusent quae iubeo, sed quibus animis deuouerint spiritum 
meum, eisdem etiam corpus consumant. Just before : omnes 
qui in testamento meo legato, habent, praeter libertos meos hac 
conditions percipient, quae dedi, si corpus meum in paries 15 
conciderint et astante populo comederint. Lucian Toxaris 8 f. 
(of Sc.) /careaOiovai TOL/? Trarepas airodavovras. Orig. Princ. 
II 9 5 apud Scuthas, apud quos parricidium quasi ex lege 
geritur. Strabo 513 of the Massagetae (Burnes Travels I 189 
Turcomans sacrifice aged prisoners). Thdt. IX c. 35 p. 129, 20 
10 seq. Prudent, contra Symm. II 294. Wesseling on Herodot. 
I 216. m 38. 

p. 32 1. 18 cf. c. 23 p. 78 1. 29. 

p. 32 1. 21 Plin. h. n. xxvm 4 sanguinem quoque gladia- 
torum bibunt, ut uiuentibus poculis comitiales [morbi], quod 25 
spectare facientes in eadem harena feras quoque horror est. at, 
hercide, illi ex homine ipso sorbere efficacissimum putant calidum 
spirantemque et uiuam ipsarn animam ex osculo uulnerum, cum 
plagis omnino ne feraram quidem admoueri ora mos sit humanus. 
43 sanguine ipsius hominis ex qaacumque parte emisso effica- 30 
cissime anginam inlini tradunt Orpheus et Archelaus, item ora 
comitiali morbo conlapsorum, exsurgere enim protinus. cf. xxvi 
8 cure of elephantiasis in Egypt. Blunt Right Use 359. 
Lasaulx 237 n. 27. 

p. 32 1. 22 QVI DE HARENA Minuc. 30 6 non dissimiles et 35 
qui de harena feras deuorant illitas et infectas cruore uel membris 
hominis et uiscere saginatas. Athenag. 4 questions raised about 
fish birds, and beasts which have preyed on men and been 



204 TERTVLLIANI [p. 32 I. 22- 

eaten by men, and so the same particles have formed part of 
two human bodies. 

p. 32 1. 23 APER Ael. N.A. x 16 pr. 77 u? /cal TWV loiwv 
re/cvcov VTTO T7j<f \ai/jLapyias dcfreiSws e^et, KOI pevroi real 
5 avOpcoTrov crwfjiaTi: evTW^ovaa OVK aTre^erai, XX ecrOiei. 

p. 32 1. 25 CRVDIT ANTES De leiun. 16 pr. ubi sepultus est 
populus carnis auidissimus usque ad choleram ortygometras 
cruditando. Add to lexx. Scorp. 5 p. m. (of Adam) edit inlicitum 
et transgressione saturatus in mortem -emit. [See Thes. A.S.] 

10 p. 32 1. 26 RVCTATVR Manil. v. 463 ructantemque patrem 
natos (of Thyestes). luu. 4 31. 

p. 32 1. 29 INHIANT Cic. Catil. in 19 Romulus lactens 
uberibus lupinis inhians. cf. luu. 10 238. Epiphan. Haer. 26. 
HVMANO. So Athenag. Leg. 34 speaking of unnatural lust : 

15 " like fish, which devour one another, the stronger chasing the 
weaker. KOL TOVTO ecrri, aapK&v cnrrecrOai dvOpwTriKwv." 

p. 32 1. 31 ERVBESCAT...CHRISTIAXIS 11 f. Testim. Anim. I 
p. 136 1. 1 Wiss. uel tibi erubescant. Aug. c. Julian, iv 14 
unusquisque sibi uel alteri erubuerunt. 

20 p. 34 1. 1 NE ANIMALIVM cet. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. v 1 26 
Byblias, who had recanted, when tortured (at Lyon or Vienne) 
to confess infanticides, recovered her rank as martyr, crying on 
the rack : TTUX; av Trai&ia cftdyoiev ol TOIOVTOI, ot? firjSe d\6yeov 
tZwwv alfjLa (frayelv e ^oz/; so the martyr Attains, when roasted 

25 alive, ib. 52, cried I8ov TOVTO I<TTIV dv@pa)7rovs eo-Oieiv, o 
TroieiTG v/neis f)fjil<$ Se ovre dv0pa)Trov^ ea6iop,ev, ovO* eTepov 
TL TrovTjpov irpaTTOfjiev! Minuc. 30 7 iwbis komicidiuvi nee 
uidere fas nee audire, tantumque ab humano sanguine cauemus, 
ut nee edulium pecorum in cibis sanguinem nouerimus. Routh 

30 Rel. i 304. 343. Beveridge on Canon. Apost. 63 p. 470 b 
Cotel.-Clericus. Jer. Taylor ix 356. 

p. 34 1. 2 De leiunio adu. Psych. 1 p. 275 1. 2 Wiss. arguunt 
nos qiLod...xerophagias obseruemus,siccantes cibum ab omni carne 
et omni iurulentia (s. above). Kaye 146 (De Monogam. 5 De 

35 Pudic. 12). Irenaeus Fr. 15 p. 343 Ben. I p. 832 St. (from 
Oecumen. on 1 Pet. c. 3 p. 498) transl. by Blunt Right Use of 
the Early Fathers 40. Slaves of catechumens on the rack 
confessed that the holy communion was the body and blood of 



p. 34 1. 15] APOLOGETICVS 9 205 

Christ. The martyr Blandina answered : " how could we endure 
to do such an act; we who, in the practice of our Christian 
discipline, abstain even from permitted food ? " Orig. contra 
Cels. vni 30 (cf. n. in Lomm. xx 1478) c. 31. Clem. Al. 
Paedag. ill 25 (p. 276 P.) ovSe yap Ovyeiv al/jua rot? dvOpanrois 5 
ot? TO aw/jLa ov&ev a\X rj adp% ecrnv ctffJLan jecopjov- 
Calmet on Acts 15 20. Councils. Aug. contr. Faust, 
xxxn 13 f. obsolete in his day, the few who observed the 
restriction mocked by the rest. Clem. Recogn. I 30. Cotelier 
on Const. Apost. vi 12 n. 27. I0 

p. 34 1. 3 MORTICINIS Varr. 

p. 34 1. 5 BOTVLOS Arnob. II 42. Aristoph. Equit. 208 eW 
ai^aroTTwrrj^ ecrO* or aXXa? %a> Bpdiccov. 

CERTISSIMI c. inf. 12 f. 11 p. 40 1. 15. 

p. 34 1. 6 EXORBITARE c. 6 pr. n. [16 (p. 54 1. 24) n. A.S.] I5 

p. 34 1. 8 De Spectac. 19 p. 20 1. 14 Wiss. si tales sumus, 
quales dicimur, delectemur sanguine humano. Human blood 
a cure for epilepsy, Cels. ill 23. 

p. 34 1. 10 FOCVLVM (Plaut. in lexx. 6) luu. 3 262 n. Sen. 
Ep. 66 51. 20 

ACERRAM adu. Marcion. I 27 p. m. Arnob. II 76 perquiramus 
et nos contra, cur et uos, cum, tantos et tain innumeros colatis 
deos, cumque...acerras omnes turis plenas conficiatis altaribus, 
cur non inmunes agitis tot discriminibus et procellis, quibus cotidie 
uos agunt exitiabiles multiplicesque fortunae ? 25 

p. 34 1. 14 CVSTODIARVM prisoners in custody. 44 n. p. 124 
1. 16. Orat. 24. Sen. Ep. 70 23. Sueton. Calig. 27 Ner. 31 
(sing.). Seru. Aen. xi 184. dig. XLVIII 3 10. 

p. 34 1. 15 INCESTI cf. c. 21 p. 68 1. 31. 

INCESTI...PERSAS Minuc. 31 2 haec enim potius de uestris 30 
gentibus nata sunt. ius est apud Persas misceri cum matribus 
...memoriae et tragoediae uestrae incestis gloriantur, quas 
uos libenter et legitis et auditis. sic et deos colitis incestos, 
cum matre, cum filia, cum sorore coniunctos. Holden ib. Incest 
of luppiter with Rhea and Proserpine. Athenag. Suppl. 20 35 
p. 20 a cf. 32 p. 36 a . 34. Plin. Hist. Nat. n c. 7 17 matrimonia 
quidem inter deos credi tantoque aeuo ex his neminem nasci et 
alios esse grandaeuos semper que canos alios iuuenes atque pueros, 



206 TERTVLLIANI [p. 34 1. 15 

atricolores, aligeros, claudos, ouo editos et alternis dielms uiuentes 
morientesque puerilium prope deliramentorum est ; sed super 
omnem impudentiam adulteria inter ipsos fingi, mox iurgia et 
odia, atque etiam furtorum esse et scelerum numina. Xeno- 
5 phanes. [See on p. 38 1. 21 A. S.] luppiter and Proserpina 
Grig, contr. Gels. I 25. 48. Arnob. v 21. Tatian 8 p. 148 a . 10, 
and luno. Theophil. ill 3. 8. Clem. Alex. Strom, in 11, Protr. II 
15 and 16 p. 13 P. Euseb. Praep. Eu. I 4. 6 p. ll b co? 
lle/ocra? /jLtjTpoya/jieiv TOU? avrut (rco o-corrjpi) ^ad^rev 

10 Lasaulx Studien 424 n. 219, 220. Chrys. Horn. 7 in 2 Cor. 

(x 489 C ). De Virgin. 8 (i 274 a ). Clem. Horn, iv 12. 15. 18. 24, 

VI 18. Bardesanes in Euseb. Praep. Eu. VI 10 16 p. 27o 

(cf. Basil. Ep. 258 4, in 39o a . Athenag. 12. Aristid. 9 8. 85). 

IVPPITER c. 11 p. 42 1. 8 n. ad nat. II 13 (after Saturn 

15 and Ops). Lucian De Sacrif. 5 ey^e Se vroXXa? fjuev KOI 
a\\a<;, varar^v $...rr)V a8e\(f)rjv Kara TOI>? Tlpcra)i> TOVTO /cal 
Acravpltov vopov?. Xen. Mem. IV 4 20 sq. Luc. VIII 409. 
Euseb. Laud. Const. 16 p. 251, 33 Heikel. Theocr. Id. xvn 
131 134 defends the incest of Ptolemy II by the example of 

20 Zeus, see Bouche-Leclercq Hist, des Lagides I (Par. 1903) 163 
n. 2. Ruinart Acta Mart. p. 357 quod Apollo sororem suam 
Dianam ante aram in Delo uiolauerit. Lactant. Diu. Inst. I 
17 8. Ambr. De Virginibus in 2. Theoph. I 9 p. 13. 
Stallbaum on Plat. Euthyphr. p. 5 e . Clem. Alex. Paedag. I 7 

25 55 p. 131. Strornat. Ill 11 p. 515. Tatian c. 28 p. 164. 
Jeremy Taylor ix 3745 Eden. Clem. Recogn. IX 25, 27, 29. 
Horn. 19, 19. Grig, contr. Gels, v 27, vi 80. Bingham xvi 
11,3. 

PERSAS ad nat. I 16 p. 86 1. 15 Wiss. plane Persae, Ctesias 

30 edit, tarn scientes quam non horrentes cum matribus libere 
faciunt. sed et Macedones id quod probauerunt palam sesefacti- 
tare, siquidem, cum primum scaenam eorum Oedipus intrauit 
trucidatus oculos, risu ac derisu exceperunt. tragoedus consterna- 
tus retracta persona, Numquid, ait, domini, displicui uobis? 

35 responderunt Macedones : Immo tu quidem pulchre, at scriptor 
uanissimus si finxit, aut Oedipus dementissimus si ita fecit : 
atque exinde alter ad alterum, ij\avv, dicebat, et? TTJV p,arepa. 
Lasaulx 4245. Sen. Lud. 8 2. Philo De Spec. Leg. 3 pr. et 



p. 34 1. 21] APOLOGETICVS 9 207 

med. (i 301 2 M.). Julian, p. 9 C (with sisters). [Ps.-Aug. Quaest. 
Vet. et Nou. Test. no. 115 19. A. S.] Thdt. Gr. aff. cur. in 
37, 96, 97. aSeX<oyLufta, Basil. Ep. 217 can. 65 75. Euseb. 
Pj-aep. Eu. vi 10 46. Bingham xxn 1 4. Greg. Nyss. c. fat. 
(Migne P. G. XLV col. 170 A). Agath. n 24 pr. 5 

p. 34 1. 17 TRAGOEDIAM Lactant. Diu. Inst. vi 20 23, 28. 

p. 34 1. 19 ad nat. I 16 p. 87 1. 7 Wiss. respicite igitur 
luxuria inter err ores et uentos fluctuante, si desunt populi, quos 
ad hoc sceleris incursent lata uada et aspera erroris. in primis 
cum infantes uestros alienae misericordiae exponitis aut in 10 
adoptionem melioribus parentibus, obliuiscimini quanta materia 
incesti sumministratur, quanta occasio casibus aperitur ? Aug. 
Ep. 23 (98) ad Bonifat. (II 266 d ) aliquando etiam quos crudeliter 
parentes exposuerunt nutriendos a quibuslibet, nonnumquam a 
sacris uirginibus colliguntur et ab eis offeruntur ad baptismam. 15 

p. 34 1. 20 PASSIVITATE promiscuousness, roving nature. 
De Cor. Milit. 8 p. m. huiusmodi quaestioni sic ubique respondeo, 
admittens quidem utensilium communionem, sed prouocans earn 
ad rationalium et irrationalium distinctionem, quia passiuitas 
fallit obumbrans corruptelam conditionis. Adu. Hermog. 41 20 
p. 170 1. 22 Kr. haec inquies non est, haec turbulentia et pas 
siuitas non est, sed moderatio et modestia et iustitia motationis 
neutram in partem inclinantis. Salu. vil 16 immo, quantum 
ad passiuitatem libidinis pertinet, quis non coniugem in numerum 
ancillarum redegit? 18 atque illi, de quibus haec scripta 25 
legimus, et minor e fortasse crimine et minor e, ut rear, numero 
criminum ac passiuitate peccabant. Oehler s ind. PASSIVVS 
(PANDO) ad nat. II 1 f. De Monogam. 6 pr. ad Vxor. I 2 f. 
Cone. Carth. 1 c. 7. 

Apul. Metain. ix p. 202, vi 10. cf. n. from Tert. ad nat. 30 
I 16 f. (Journ. Phil, xx 279) a kidnapped boy sold in Asia and 
finally brought to the Roman market and bought by his own 
father. Socr. H. E. I 18 7 wives common property. Exposing 
children cause of incest, infr. 39 p. 112 1. 24 n. lustin. Apol. I 
c. 27 p. 70 e , c. 29 pr. p. 7l d . Mimic. 30 2. 31 3. Rein 35 
Criminals 441 sq. Dollinger Heidenthum u. Judenth. 716 7. 

p. 34 1. 21 MISERICORDIA Paullus in dig. xxv 3 4 necare 
uidetur non tantum is qui partum praefocat, sed et is qui abicit 



208 TERTVLLIANI [p. 34 1. 21- 

et qui alimonia denegat et qui publicis locis misericordiae causa 
exponit, quam ipse non habet. Cod. vm 52 2. Exposition Aug. 
De Nuptiis et Concupiscentia I c. 15 17 (x 619 Gaume). 
D.S. (n 231) approves Spartan infanticide, which was a capital 
5 crime at Thebes. Ael. Var. Hist. II 7. Gibbon s guess that the 
church was largely recruited from foundlings has no support in 
antiquity (Blunt Right Use 3327). Lact. Diu. Inst. vi 20 
|| 21 3 quid illi quo s falsa pietas cogit exponere ? num possunt 
innocentes existimari qui uiscera sua in praedam canibus obiciunt 

10 et quantum in ipsis est crudelius necant quam si strangulassent ? 
22 quis dubitet quin impius sit qui alienae misericordiae 
locum tribuit? qui, etiamsi contingat ei quod uoluit, ut alatur, 
addixit certe sanguinem suuin uel ad seruitutem uel ad lupanar ? 
| 23 quae autem possint uel soleant accidere in utroque sexu per 

15 errorem, quis non intellegit, quis ignorat ? quod uel unius 
Oedipodis declarat exemplum duplici scelere confusum. tain 
igitur nefarium est exponere quam necare. Clem. Alex. Paedag. 
Ill c. 3 21 f. (p. 265 P.) a\V ovSe avviaaiv ol TaXaiTrwpOi, &>9 
TO a&r)\ov TT)? crvvovcrias TroAAa? epya^erai rpayu>8la<f. 

20 TTOpvevcravTi KOL yLta^Xwcrat? Ovyarpdaiv dyvorjcrai Tes 

Trarepe^, ov fL6/JLvrjfJLevoi roov eicreOevTwv TraiSiwv, /cal 
rovs yejevvTjKora^ a/cpaaia^ e^ovcria. Aug. 
c. duas epist. Pelagianorum II 11 plangit baptizata mater non 
baptizatum proprium ; et ab impudica expositum, baptizandum 

25 casta fetum colligit alienum. cf. 14 pr. 16. Basil Ep. 217 
can. 52. Epist. ad Diognet. 5 p. 49 7 b . Athenag. Suppl. 35 fin. 
p. 34 1. 24 ERROR Lact. Diu. Inst. vi 20 23. 
p. 34 1. 26 LIBIDO Saluian. VII c. 1622 ( 65100) con 
trasts the lewdness of the Africans with the chastity of their 

30 Vandal conquerors. 

SALTVS ad nat. I 16 p. 87 1. 15 Wiss. 

p. 34 1. 27 IGNARIS, cet. Minuc. 31 3 merito igitur incestum 
penes uos saepe deprehenditur, semper admittitur : etiam nesci- 
entes miseri potestis in illicita mere, dum Venerem promisee 

35 spargitis, dum passim liberos seritis, dum etiam domi natos 
alienae misericordiae frequenter exponitis, necesse est in uestros 
recurrere, in filios inerrare. 4 sic incesti fabulam nectitis, 
etiam cum conscientiam non habetis. lustin. Apol. I 27 KOI roov 



p. 34 1. 32] APOLOGETICVS 9 209 

TOVTOIS ypwfJLevwv T? 7rpo<$ rfj dOeta KOI doreftel /cal d/cparel 
fillet-, el TV%OI, retcvw r) avyyevel rj d&e\<f)(p /jLiyvvraL cf. Clem. 
Alex. Paedag. in 3 21 p. 265. Bingham xvi 10 11. 

FILIOS = liberos. ad nat. I 16 p. 87 1. 16 Wiss. n 12 p. 117 
1. 22 Wiss. De Exhort. Castit. 13 masculorum filiorum. James 5 
on 4 Ezra p. L. Aug. Ep. 127 9 f. Hier. Migne P.L. XXIII 968 a 
cum hodieque Romae omnes filii uocentur infantes. los. Antiq. 
n 13 p. 57 p. m. bis (ed. 1524). Archiv f. lat. Lex. vn 7780. 
84. 90. 92 94. rercva vp,&v 1 Cor. vii 14 is filii uestri in Tert. 
ad Vxor. II 2. 10 

p. 34 1. 30 NOS cet. c. 39. 46. ad Vxor. I 6. De Cultu Fern. 
II 9. Athenag. Suppl. 33 yvvalica fiev eVacrro? rjfjucov rjv rjydyero 
Kara roi>9 vfi TI^WV TeOeijJbevovs VO/ULOVS vofMi^wv, /cal ravrvv 
(Ji^pi rov 7rai&07roMJ<7acr6ai...f)fjLiv fjierpov eTTiOvfJiias r] TraL&o- 
Troita. lustin. Apol. I 29 aXV r) Trjv dp^rjv ovtc eyajuovfjiev el 15 
/j,rj eVl TraiScov dvarpo(f)f/ rj Trapairov/jievoi, TO ^i^aaQai re\eov 
eveycparevo/jLeOa. A Christian youth, in order to refute the 
charges of promiscuous intercourse, applied to Felix, governor 
of Alexandria, for a medical licence for his mutilation. It was 
refused, but he remained unmarried. Minuc. 31 5 at nos 20 
pudorem non facie sed mente praestamus, uniits matrimonii 
iiinculo libenter inhaeremus, cupiditatem procreandi aut unam 
scimus aut nullam. Socrates I 13 3 married priests cohabi 
tation forbidden. 4 allowed by Paphnutius. 5, 6 priests 
marriage forbidden. IV 23 (Ammon). v 22 50. Athenag. 33 25 
p. 37 a evpoi^; 8 civ TroXXou? TMV Trap t^fjulv /cal avSpas /cal 
yvval/cas, /carayripdcrKovTas d<ydfjLovs 6\7rt8t rov jJLa\\ov avve- 
aeo-Oai rw 6ew. Euseb. Laud, const. 17. Orig. contra Cels. 
I 26. VII 48 pr. Spencer on Orig. contra Cels. p. 21 1. 55 
(annot. p. 21 ab). Theophil. in 15. Eus. D.E. I 9 14, 15, 21. 30 

p. 34 1. 32 QVIDAM cet. ad Vx. I 6 quot enim sant qui statim 
a lauacro carnem suam obsignant? De Cultu Fern, n 9 non 
enim et multi itafaciunt et se spadonatai [cf. Socr. H. E. II 26 9] 
obsignant propter regnum Dei? lustin. Apol. I 15 p. 62 b after 
citing Matt. 19 12 : /cal vroXXot Tives /cal TroXXal e^vKovrov-rai, 35 
real 6/3Sofjir)/covTOVTai 01 e/c TraiSwv efJLaOnrevOva-av ra> X/KO-T&), 
afyOopoi Sia/jievovo t, /cal ev^onai Kara irav yevos avdpa)7ru>v 
TOIOVTOVS Bel^at. Pitra Spicil. Solesm. I 323. Athenag. Suppl. 
M. T. 14 



210 TERTVLLIANI [p. 34 1. 32 

33 (quoted above). Minuc. 31 6 casto sermone, corpore castiore, 
plerique inuiolati corporis uirginitate perpetua fruuntur potius 
quam gloriantur. tantum denique abest incesti cupido, ut non- 
nullis rubori sit etiam pudica coniunctio. Harnack Texte VIII 4 
5 (Medicinisches u.s.w.) p. 63 n. 3. A heresy in Eustathius bp of 
Sebastia in Armenia to forbid marriage, Socr. Hist. Eccl. II 43 
3. Herzog-Hauck Real Encykl. xm 215. 

p. 34 1. 33 SENES Adu. Val. 5 p. 182 1. 13 Kr. Proculus 
noster uirginis senectae...dignitas. Schwegler Montanismus I 
10 28 quotes Orig. I.e. 

p. 36 1. 4 VIDERE VIDEANTVK Beritl. on Hor. Carm. II 1. 21. 
cf. dixisse dicitur Cic. Verr. iv 73. 

p. 36 1. 5 MANIFESTIOKIBVS cf. C. 6 f. 

CAP. X 

p. 36 1. 6 DEOS NON COLITIS. Of the fathers Athenag. 4 30 

15 treats most fully the charge of atheism, cf. Arnob. I 28 sq. 
Clem. Al. Strom, vn 1 4 Hort-Mayor s n. Plin. Ep. ad Trai. 
96 5 qui negabant esse se Christianas aut fuisse, cum praeeunte 
me deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc iusseram 
cnm simulacris numinum afferri, ture ac uino supplicarent, 

20 praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil posse cogi dicuntur 
qui sunt re uera Christiani, dimittendos esse putaui. 6 some 
informed against said that they had been Christians and were 
so no more, omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra 
uenerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt. Socr. Hist. Eccl. ill 22 

25 | 1 pr. Julian gave soldiers the option, ^ Oveiv rj cnroaTpa- 
revecrOai. II 27 4. I 36 3 (of Asterius) lepwcrvv^^ /AW 
rjcTTO xya-e Sta TO eTTireOvKevai Kara rov BicojfjLOV. Ill 13 2. 
15 5. 20 13. iv 1 9. 28 2 3. vn 25 18 19. i 6 37. 
Arnob. I 29 pr. ergone impiae religionis sumus apud uos rei, et 

30 quod caput rerum et columen uenerabilibus adimus obsequiis, ut 
conuicio utamur uestro, infaasti et athei nuncupamur? ill 28 
quantumlibet nos impios, irreligiosos uocetis et atheos, numquam 
fidem facietis esse amorum deos, esse bellorum, esse qui discordias 
conserant. v 30 iam dudum me fateor reputantem mecum in 

35 animo rerum huiuscemodi monstra solitum esse mirari, audere 



p. 36 1. 9] APOLOGETICVS 9, 10 211 

uos dicere quemquam ex is atheum irreligiosum sacrilegum qui 
deos esse omnino aut negent aut dubitent, aut qui eos homines 
fuisse contendant et potestatis alicuius et meriti causa deorum in 
numerum relatos, cum si uerum fiat atque habeatur examen, 
nullos quam uos magis huiusmodi par sit appellationibus nuncu- 5 
pari, qui sub specie cultionis plus in eos ingeratis maledictionum 
et criminum, quam si aperte hoc facer e confessis maledictionibus 
coimbibissetis. VI 27 Minuc. c. 8. lust. Apol. I 6 pr. 56 b ev6ev 
B /cal dOeoi K/c\r){jL60a. KOI o/jLoXoyov/juev TWV TOLOVTWV /ca\ov- 
jjLevcov Oewv dQeoi elvai. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV 15 (martyrdom of 10 
Polycarp) 19 (the proconsul) ""O/Aocroy rrjv Kai&apos Tv^y, 
jjLeravorjaov, euTrov A.lpe rovs dBeovs" 6 Se TIoXv/capTro? 
/jL/3piOel TO) TTpoaajTrw eh Trdvra TOV o%\ov rov eV ru> crraSiw 
/A/3\eiffas, 67rtcret(ja9 avrols rrjv ^eipa, GTevd^as re KOL dva- 
ySXe^a? et? rov ovpavov, eltrev, Alpe Toi/9 ddeovs. The crowd 15 
had cried, 6, Alpe rou<? dOeovf ^reiorOw rioXv/ca/jTro?. cf. IV 
13 3. 

SACRIFICIA Acta Mart. lustini c. 1 wcrre avrovs dvay- 
jcd^ecrOai o"rrev$eiv rot? ^uaratot? 6t8coXot?. c. 5 Pavcm/cbs 

etTre* To \OITTOV e\0a)^ev et? TO TrpoKeifJievov /cal 20 

yfjia. avve\66vTe<$ ovv ofjiodv/JiaBov Bvo~are rot? 
.... Justin refused and so the other martyrs said vrotet o 
jap XpianavoL ea^ev, /cal et SwXot? ov 
ap^o? dTrecfriyvaro Xeycov Ot /JLTJ fB 
rot? 0eot? /cal ei^ai rc3 TOV avro/cpdropos TrpoaTayfjiaTi 25 



p. 36 1. 7 IMPENDITIS Idol. 6 p. 36 1. 5 Wiss. nee anima 
pecudis impensa, sed anima tua. 

p. 36 1. 8 QVIA : qua Ashton. 

p. 36 1. 9 SACRILEGII 2 pr. nomen homicidae uel sacrilegi 30 
uel publici hostis (ut de nostris elogiis loq uar). ib. med. sic enim 
soletis . . .laniari inhere sacrilegum, si confiteri perseuerauerit. 
ad Scap. 2 tamen nos, quos sacrilegos existimatis, nee in furto 
umquam deprehendistis, nedum in sacrilegio. omnes autem 
qui templa despoliant et per deos iurant et eosdem colunt, et 35 
Christiani non sunt et sacrilegi tamen deprehenduntur. Rufin. 
Hist. Eccl. IV 15 18. de Polycarpo (Hav.). 

CONVENIMVR 31 f. n. ad nat. I 17 p. 89 1. 12 Wiss. uani- 

142 



212 TERTVLLIANI [p. 36 1. 9 

tatis sacrilegia conueniam. Liebenam rom. Vereinswesen 270. 
Friedlander in 5 631 n. 10 cites Renan Les Evangiles 401 3. 

p. 36 1. 10 TOTA de Idol. 1 pr. principale crimen generis 
humani, summus saeculi reatus, tota causa iudicii idololatria. 
5 p. 36 1. 11 DESPERAT the Academic scepticism e.g. in the 
speech of Caecilius in Mimic. 

p. 36 1. 12 Tzschirner 325. lustin. Apol. I 6 ofjbo\oyov^ev 
TWV TOIOVTWV ovofjLa^ofjievwv Qe&v d6eoi elvai. 
p. 36 1. 13 NON ESSE cf. c. 12 f. 

10 p. 36 1. 17 SED NOBIS c. 13 pr. sed nobis dei sunt, inquitis. 

p. 36 11. 1920 Infr. cap. 11 pr. 40. Idol. 15 p. 47 1. 15 
Wiss. si hominis causa est, recogitemus omnem idololatrian 
in hominis causam esse. recogitemas omnem idololatrian in 
homines esse culturam, cum ipsos deos nationum homines retro 

i$fuisse etiam apud suos constet. Cic. Nat. Deor. ill c. 19 nostri 
quidem publicani, cum essent agri in Boeotia deorum immor- 
talium excepti lege censoria, negabant immortales esse ullos, qui 
aliquando homines fuissent. Lact. Diu. Inst. I 15 cites Cic. 
Cons. non dubitauit dicere deos, qui publice colerentur, homines 

zofuisse...cum uero (inquit] et mares et feminas complures ex 
hominibus in deorum numero esse uideamus? Socr. Hist. Eccl. 
in 23 f. p. 204 205. Aug. Serm. 273 c. 3 4 (v 1106 b sq.). 
Bingham xm 3 3 n. 56 sq. Kaye 206. Euhemeri Reliquiae 
coll. Geyza Nemethy (cir. 1891) good ed. Aug. Ciu. Dei iv 27. 

25 Athenag. Suppl. I p. l b names Hektor, Agamemnon, Erechtheus, 
Agraulos etc. cf. Mimic. 22 8 sq. of Saturn. Athenag. 28 
cites Herodot. II 144 and Alexander the great in a letter to 
his mother as witnesses to the Egyptian priest s confession 
that the gods had been men. Minuc. 21 4 Alexander ille 

30 magnus Macedo insigni uolumine ad matrem suam scripsit, 
metu suae potestatis proditum sibi de dis hominibus a sacerdote 
secretum. cf. Aug. and Plut. in Holden. Athenag. 30 cites the 
Sibyl. Aug. in Ps. 93 3 a. m. Theod. Gr. Aff. Cur. m 42 sq. 
VIII 113 sq. 

35 p. 36 1. 21 TESTIMONIVM PERHIBENTIBVS Varr. Plin. Apul. 

Metam. II 36 uos in hanc rem boni Quirites testimonium per- 
hibetote [and often later, A. S.]. 

p. 36 1. 22 NATI cet. Arnob. I 37 discetis, quibus singuli 



p. 36 1. 26] APOLOGETICVS 10 213 

patribus, qidbus matribus faerint procreati, qua innati regione, 
qua gente, quae fecerint egerint pertalerint actitarint. cf. 36. 
Tatian 21 ^kveaiv av \eywT6 dewv, Kal OVIJTOVS avrovs diro- 
$>avelcr9e. Athenag. 18 p. 18 a OVK ef dp^f)?, o>9 (f>ao-iv, rjaav ol 
Oeoi, aXX ovTCt)? yeyovev avrcov e/cacrro? &>? yivo/jL0a rjfjiels cet. 5 
lustin. Cohort, ad Gent. 2. Lact. Diu. Inst. v 19 15. Infra 
c. 25 luppiter in Crete. 

p. 36 1. 24 SEPVLTI c. 12 in insulas relegamur? solet et in 
insulis aliqui deus uester aut nasci aut mori. ad nat. II 7 p. 106 
1. 14 Wiss. sepulcris regum uestrorum caelum infamatis. n 12 10 
pr. nam quot deos et quos utique producam? ...ueteres an et 
nouicios? mares an et feminas ? . . .rusticos an et urbanos? dues 
an et peregrinos ? cet. Lact. Ira Dei 1 1 8 (Euhemerus and 
Ennius). Diu. Inst. I 11 33 34 (Ennius). 45 46 (Jove s tomb 
in Crete). 13 14. Epit. 13. Arnob. iv 29. v 31. Minuc. 21 1 15 
Holden. Plut. n 680 a . Euhemerus in DS. (Mullach Fragm. 
Phiios. II 4318). Aug. Ciu. Dei vn 26. Constantine Or. ad 
Sanct. Coet. 4 | 3 TWV 8 d$>6dpTa)v eKelvwv ra^of? re KOL 
6i]Ka^ lTTi>eiKvvov(Tiv avrot, KaroL^ofjierov^ re r/yLtat? dOavdrois 
<yepaipov<jiv. Luc. luppiter Trag. 45. 20 

p. 36 1. 25 TOT AC TANTOS De Spect, 30 p. 28 1. 20 Wiss. 
quid admirer ? quid rideam ? ubi gaudeam, ubi exsidtem, tot 
spectans reges, qui in caelum recepti nuntiabantur, cum loue ipso 
et ipsis suis testibas in imis tenebris congemescentes? ad nat. I 
10 p. 75 1. 16 Wiss. tot ac tanti. Ou. Trist. in 1 77 8 di, precor, 25 
atque adeo (neque enim mihi turba roganda est) Caesar, ades uoto, 
maxime diue, meo. Aetna 62. Aug. Ciu. Dei ill 12 (Haverc.). 
luu. 13 468 n. Bayle oeuvres in 2823. Lobeck Aglaoph. 
5079. 626. Keim Rom u. das Christenthum 226. Preller- 
Jordan rom. Myth. I 3 137. Marquardt ill 2 18 n. 10 and 11. 30 

p. 36 1. 26 CAPTIVOS infr. c. 25 p. 90 1. 15. Marquardt in 2 
34 n . i_3. Kortholt Pag. Obtr. 889. Prud. c. Symm. n 
18 sq. 347 361 (349 351) inter fumantes templorum armata 
ruinas dextera uictoris simulacra hostilia cepit et captiua 
domum, uenerans ceu immina uexit. Arnob. in 38 f. Macr. S. 35 
in 9 2. 

PROPRIOS ad nat. II 9 p. Ill, 10 Wiss. nos uero bifariam 
Romanorum deos recognoscimus, communes et proprios,