CONTENTS

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|xcvii

THE APOLOGY OF TERTULLIAN.

CHAP PAGE

i THE Christians, under Severus, not being permitted to speak in their own defence, Tertullian addresses
this written Apology to the Governors of Proconsular Africa. He shows that their religion, founded on
truth, requires no favour but demands justice 228

-- The hatred which her enemies entertain towards her is manifestly unjust 229

-- All Christians glory in their faith 232

ii. Christians, even if guilty, ought to be treated in the same manner as other criminals --

-- The edict of Trajan was self-contradictory 233

-- Other criminals are tortured to make them confess; Christians, to make them deny 234

-- The name alone of Christian, not the fact of professing Christianity, is made a crime 235

iii. The enemies of Christianity bear unwilling testimony to its excellence 237

-- Yet permit their hatred to prevail over the benefit which they derive from Christianity 238

-- The name of Christian is harmless, both in its own signification, and as it relates to its author 239

-- And is therefore no reasonable ground of accusation 240

iv. Tertullian prepares to answer the charges against Christianity --

-- But first shows that, even if laws exist against the Christians, they may be repealed, as many laws have
been 241

-- And that laws, which would punish a name, not a crime, are foolish as well as unjust 244

v. The gods of the Romans could not be consecrated without the consent of the Senate 245

-- Tiberius is said to have proposed to introduce Jesus Christ among the Roman gods 246

-- The bad emperors were persecutors, the good, protectors, of the Christians --

-- The Thundering Legion 248

vi. The Romans had abrogated many laws of their ancestors; and greatly degenerated from their severity
of life --
vii. Tertullian refers to many calumnies brought against the Christians 251

-- And demands that they may be investigated --

-- Common fame is their only accuser 253

viii. These accusations are in themselves incredible 254

ix. Heathen nations themselves practised the atrocities of which they accused the Christians 256

-- As human sacrifices 257

-- The tasting of blood 259

-- And the crime of incest 260

-- From all which Christians are free 261

x. Christians are accused of neither worshipping the gods nor sacrificing to the safety of the Emperors --

-- They do this, knowing them to be no gods 262

-- Thus, Saturn was the oldest of the heathen deities, and yet was a man 263

xi. Those persons, who were once men, were never made gods 264

-- This supposition would imply the existence of a Supreme Deity, who would have no need of dead
men; and would certainly not have chosen such men for their virtues 265

xii. The absurdity of idol-worship 268

xiii. They who conceive these false gods to be objects of worship, do themselves neglect and insult them
269

xiv. Their sacrifices are disgraceful; and their mythological history derogatory to the dignity of their gods
272

xv. Their gods were made the subject of ridicule in their fables and dramas 273

-- Their temples were constantly desecrated --

xvi. Calumnies founded upon the alleged objects of Christian worship 276

-- They are falsely accused of adoring

An Asses head 277

A Cross --

The Sun 278

Or a being of monstrous form 280

xvii. The object of the Christian worship is One God, the Creator of all things --

-- To whom the soul of man naturally bears witness 281

xviii. God hath revealed to us his written word 282

-- The prophets taught of old 283

-- These Scriptures were translated from Hebrew into Greek, by the command of Ptolemy

xix. These Scriptures are most ancient 284

-- Moses might be proved to have been antecedent to all heathen writers, and philosophers 285

xx. The authority of Scripture is proved by prophecy 286

xxi. The religion of the Christians must not be confounded with that of the Jews 287

-- Christians worship Christ not as a human being, but as God 288

-- Christ is God, and the Son of God 289

-- His procession from the Father compared with that of light from the sun 290

-- Two comings of Christ are predicted 291

-- The Jews ascribed his miracles to magic --

-- They put him to death 292

-- But he rose from the dead --

-- And showed himself to chosen witnesses 293

-- Pilate wrote an account to Tiberius --

-- This statement ought at once to repress all false asser tions respecting Christianity 294

xxii. Tertullian declares his sentiments respecting the existence and occupation of demons 295

-- And ascribes the ancient oracles to their agency 297

xxiii. The demons and the heathen gods were the same 298

-- Tertullian offers to rest the truth of Christianity on the power of any Christian publicly to expel a
demon 299

-- Jesus Christ is the Virtue, Spirit, Word, Wisdom, Reason, and Son of God 302

xxiv. The acknowledgment of inferior gods implies the existence of One superior 303

-- This God is worshipped by the Christians: and they claim the same right which is allowed all others
304

xxv. The great prosperity of the Roman Empire was not the reward of the devotion of the Romans to
their gods 306

-- For the rise of their power preceded the greater part of their worship 308

-- And their conquests spared not the temples of the gods themselves 309
xxvi. It is God, therefore, who rules the world 310

xxvii. The Christians cannot be guilty of any offence against gods, who have no existence --

-- The persecution of the Christians is instigated by the malice of demons 311

-- Compulsory worship could never be acceptable to the gods 312

-- As the Christians are innocent of sacrilege, so also they are not guilty of treason against the Emperors
--

xxix. To sacrifice for the Emperors, to those who are no gods, is but a mockery 313

xxx. Christians pray constantly to the true God for the Emperors, and for the well-being of the state 314

xxxi. This they are commanded to do by their Scriptures 316

xxxii. Christians pray for the continuance of the Roman Empire, after which they expect the day of
judgment 317

xxxiii. Christians reverence the Emperor, as appointed by God: but not as a god 319

xxxiv. Augustus would not be called Lord 320

xxxv. The immoral festivities of the heathen are a disgrace, rather than an honour, to the Emperor 321

-- Their congratulations are insincere --

xxxvi. Christians are bound to do good to all men 324

xxxvii. If they were enemies of the state, their numbers would enable them to avenge themselves 325

-- The rapid increase of the number of Christians 327

xxxviii. The harmless character of Christians ought to protect them 328

xxxix. Christians met constantly for public worship, and reading the Scriptures 329

-- Elders presided; and distributed the common fund 330

-- The mutual love of Christians 331

-- Their simple feast in common, hallowed by prayer, and religious converse 332

xl. Public calamities were unjustly ascribed to the Christians 334

xli. But rather arise from the impiety of the heathens 337

-- All calamities are not judgments --

xlii. A refutation of the calumny that Christians were useless members of society 338

xliii. Infamous men only had reason to complain of the Christians 341

xliv. The innocency of Christians --

xlv. Which arises from the principles which they profess 342

xlvi. Christianity is not a species of philosophy 343

-- Christians are superior to philosophers in their knowledge of God 345

-- In the purity of their lives --

-- In humility, and moral virtue 346

xlvii. The heathen philosophers borrowed largely from the Scriptures; but perverted their meaning 347

xlviii. Those who, with the Pythagoreans, believe a trans migration of souls, may well believe the
possibility of a resurrection 350

-- The restoration of man to life after death is not so difficult to conceive as his first formation from
nothing 351

-- The changes of the natural world render a resurrection probable 352

-- The phenomena of lightning and volcanos may be regarded as affording a presumption that the
punishment of the wicked in eternal fire is possible 356

xlix. If the opinions of the Christians are prejudices, they are at least innocent --

l. Christians would gladly avoid suffering, although they cheerfully submit to it 358

-- Their resolution is courage, not obstinacy : and similar to that which is applauded in others 359

-- But persecution cannot crush Christianity 360

-- The blood of Christians is the seed of the faith 361

-- And their patience under martyrdom the most effectual preacher --

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE APOLOGY

OF

QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENS TERTULLIANUS.

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CHAPTER I.

IF ye, rulers 1 of the Roman Empire, sitting judicially upon your open and lofty seat of judgment, and
occupying, as it were, the most elevated position in the state, are yet unable openly to inquire, and
closely to examine, what is the real truth, in questions respecting the Christian religion,--if in this case
alone your authority in matters of justice is either afraid or ashamed to inquire,--or if, as hath recently
occurred2, |229 the great severity with which ye have persecuted this sect in your own families
prevents your listening to an impartial defence,--the truth may still be permitted to reach your ears by
the secret means of a written apology. Truth demands no favour in her cause; for she wonders not at
her own condition. She knows that she is a sojourner upon earth; that she must find enemies among
strangers; but that her origin, her home, her hopes, her honours, her dignities are placed in heaven. She
hath but one desire, not to be condemned unknown. What injury can the authority of the laws suffer,
which are absolute in their own realm, if the truth be heard3? Nay, their power will be more manifested,
if they even condemn her, after she is heard. But if they condemn her unheard, in addition to the odium
attached to injustice, they will deservedly incur the suspicion, that they wilfully refused to hear, knowing
that, if they had heard, they could not have condemned her.

This, therefore, is the first reason which we allege, to prove how unjust is the hatred borne towards the
name of Christian; an injustice, which is at once aggravated and proved to exist, by the very cause,
which at first appears to excuse it, namely, ignorance 4. For what can be more unjust than that men
should hate that of which they are ignorant, even if the subject should deserve their hatred? For then
only can any thing be said to deserve such treatment, when the fact |230 is clearly ascertained. And
where there is no knowledge of what are the true merits of the case, upon what grounds can the justice
of the hatred be defended, when that justice must be proved, not from the fact that hatred exists, but
from previous knowledge of the grounds on which it rests? Since, therefore, their only reason for hatred
is that they are ignorant what it is which they hate, why may not the subject be really of such a nature as
not to deserve hatred? Hence we establish the unreasonableness of our adversaries in each case, by
proving that they are in ignorance, while they hate, and that, while they are thus in ignorance, their
hatred is unjust. A proof of this ignorance, which, while it excuses their injustice, doth yet condemn it, is
this, that all who once were enemies, through ignorance, as soon as they have ceased to be ignorant,
cease also to hate. They are changed from what they were, and become Christians, as soon as they learn
what that religion really is5; they begin to hate what they were, and to profess the opinions which they
hated, and are become as numerous as we are shown to be. Our enemies exclaim that the whole state is
overrun with us 6: they lament it as a great calamity, that Christians are found in the country, in cities, in
the islands; that persons of each sex, and of all ages, and station, and dignity, come over to that name.
Yet not even this fact is sufficient to rouse their minds to imagine that there is some latent good in
Christianity. They permit themselves not to entertain any more reasonable suspicion, nor to investigate
the truth more clearly. In this instance alone the curiosity natural to man is not excited; they please |231
themselves in ignorance of that, which others are delighted to have known. Anacharsis 7 permitted
none but those skilled in the science, to judge of music : with how much greater justice might he have
accused these men of folly, who, in their utter ignorance, presume to form a judgment respecting those,
who have diligently inquired and learned the truth? They prefer ignorance of Christianity, because they
already hate it : yet, by thus voluntarily encouraging ignorance, they tacitly confess their conviction that,
if they did know what it was, they would be unable to hate it: since, if no just ground of hatred should
be discovered, they would certainly act a wiser part in dismissing an unjust hatred; but if, on the other
hand, sufficient cause for hatred should appear, the hostility, which now exists, would not only be
continued, but acquire fresh reason and encouragement, even on the authority of justice itself.

But, it is said, the numbers, who are persuaded to embrace Christianity, afford no proof that the religion
is good in itself; for how many are prone to evil? how many desert the paths of truth for error?
Doubtless : yet not even they, who are led away by that which is evil in itself, dare to defend it, as good.
Nature herself hath spread over every thing which is evil, either fear or shame. Evil doers are anxious for
concealment; avoid publicity; when detected, tremble; when accused, deny; even under torture, do not
readily, nor always, confess: at all events, when they are condemned, they grieve; they reflect upon
themselves |232 with remorse; they attribute the sins, which arise from an evil heart, either to fate, or
to the stars: for they would not have that, which they acknowledge to be evil, to belong to themselves.
But what similarity is there between this and the conduct of a Christian? No one is ashamed, no one is
sorry, except that he was not a Christian long before. If he is pointed out, he glories in the charge: if
accused, he makes no defence; if questioned, he confesses, even of his own accord; if condemned, he
returns thanks. What kind of evil, then, is this, which hath none of the natural attributes of evil, fear,
shame, subterfuge, repentance, sorrow? What kind of evil is this, in which the culprit delights; the
accusation of which is the completion of his wishes; and its punishment, his happiness? You cannot call
this madness, since you are proved to be entirely ignorant of the real cause.

CHAPTER II.

IF, however, it be ascertained that we are really most guilty, why are we treated differently from other
criminals, our fellows? since similar offences ought to receive the same treatment. When others are
accused of the offences, which are laid to our charge, they are permitted freely to speak, and to employ
an advocate to prove their innocence: they have the privilege of replying, and objecting; since it is illegal
that any should be condemned, entirely undefended or unheard. Christians alone are not permitted to
advance any thing which may repel the charge, or defend the truth, or justify the judge. That alone is
required, which the public hatred renders necessary, a confession of the name of Christian, not any
inquiry into the offence. |233 Whereas when ye examine any other accused person, ye are not induced
to pronounce sentence, as soon as he hath confessed himself guilty of murder, or sacrilege, or incest, or
treason, (to speak of the ordinary heads of accusation against ourselves,) without demanding in
corroboration proof of the nature of the act, the number of the perpetrators, the place, manner, time,
accomplices, companions. In our case, no care of this kind is taken; although it is equally necessary that
whatever is now falsely asserted should be elicited; upon how many infants each had already fed 8; how
many incestuous crimes he had hidden in darkness; who were employed to prepare the human
banquet; what dogs to extinguish the lights. Great would be the glory of that president, who could
discover one who had already devoured an hundred infants! Yet we find that even inquiry into our cases
has been forbidden. For the younger Pliny, when he had the command of a province, and had
condemned some Christians, and removed others from their offices, was yet perplexed at their number,
and at that time consulted the emperor Trajan9 what he should do with the remainder, declaring that,
with the exception of their obstinate refusal to sacrifice, he had discovered nothing respecting their
religious obligations, than that they assembled at daybreak to sing to Christ as God, and to unite in the
exercises of their religion, prohibiting murder, adultery, fraud, perfidy, and all other crimes. Upon this,
Trajan returned for answer, that persons of this persuasion should not be inquired after, but should be
punished if brought before him. |234 What a self-contradictory sentence! He assumes their innocence,
when he directs inquiry not to be made; yet commands them to be punished, as guilty. He is lenient, and
cruel; he connives, and censures. Why do you thus contradict yourself in your own determination? If you
condemn, why do you not also inquire? If you inquire, why do you not also acquit? Throughout every
province, military stations are established for the discovery of robbers. Against those guilty of treason
and public offences every man is a soldier: strict inquiry is made even into the companions and
accomplices of such offenders. In the case of a Christian alone, inquiry is forbidden, accusation is
permitted: as if inquiry itself were intended for any other purpose than as the foundation of an
accusation. Ye condemn, therefore, him who is brought before you, although no one wished him to be
inquired for; and it seems, that the accused did not deserve punishment, because he was guilty, but
because he was discovered, in opposition to the edict which forbade inquiry to be made. Again, ye
violate, in our case, the ordinary process, which is followed in the investigation of crimes; since ye
torture other criminals, to make them confess; Christians alone, to compel them to deny: whereas, if
that of which we are accused were evil, we should deny the fact, and ye, would compel us by tortures to
confess. For ye ought not to think it needless to make inquiry respecting the crimes alleged, on the plea
that they are admitted, by the very confession of the name of Christian; since, at this day, although ye
well know what murder is, ye still think it necessary to extract the circumstances of his crime, even from
one who confesses himself guilty of murder. Nay, still more unreasonably, having presumed our guilt,
from the mere confession of the name of Christian, ye compel us by tortures to retract our |235
confession; as if, by denying the name, we should at once deny the crimes, which, from that confession,
ye had presumed to exist. But, we are, perhaps, to imagine, ye wish us not to perish, bad as ye consider
us to be. Your custom may be to entreat the murderer to deny his crime; to torture the sacrilegious, if
he persists in his confession. If this is not the principle upon which ye act towards us, as guilty, then ye
consider us most innocent; since, as most innocent, ye will not permit us to continue in that confession,
which, as ye well know, ye condemn from compulsion; rather than from a sense of justice. A man
exclaims, I am a Christian. He speaks the truth: ye desire to hear what is not the truth. Ye, who preside
for the purpose of extorting truth, from us alone endeavour to hear falsehood. The accused declares, I
am, such as ye inquire whether I am. Why do ye seek to mislead me by torture? I confess; and ye torture
me: what would ye do, if I denied? When others deny, ye believe them not readily; when we deny, ye
believe us at once. This contradiction might alone lead you to suspect, that there is some secret force,
which instigates you in opposition to the very forms and nature of judicial proceedings, and to the very
laws themselves. For, if I rightly judge, the laws require the guilty to be discovered, not concealed; they
pronounce that those who confess should be punished, not acquitted. The decrees of the senate, the
commands of princes, the supreme power, of which ye are the ministers, dictate this. Your authority is
legal, not tyrannical: for with tyrants, tortures form also a part of punishment: with you, they are used
only for eliciting the truth. Maintain this your law, respecting the application of torture, until confession
is made. And if torture is anticipated by a confession, it will be superseded, and sentence should be
passed. The |236 malefactor is to be discharged 10 from the punishment due to his offences, by its
infliction, not by its remission. No one, in fact, desires to release him, or is permitted to entertain such a
wish. Hence, no one is ever compelled to deny. Whereas ye regard a Christian as a man stained with
every crime, the enemy of the gods, of the emperors, of the laws, of morals, of all nature; and compel
him to deny, that ye may absolve him; since, without his denial, ye could not extend mercy to him. Thus
ye pervert the laws11. Would ye then have him deny his guilt, that ye may treat him as innocent, and
absolve him, even against his will, of all previous guilt? Whence is this inconsistency? Consider ye not,
that his voluntary confession was far more credible than his compulsory denial? Or that, if he be
compelled to retract, his disavowal may be insincere; and that, when dismissed, he will again become a
Christian, and smile, behind your judgment seat, at the absurdity of your hatred?

Since, then, your treatment of us is entirely different from that of other criminals; since this is your only
object, that we should be deprived of the name of Christians,--for we are deprived of it, if we act as
those who are not Christians--ye may understand12 that there is no crime in the fact itself; but that
some active principle of hatred pursues the very name of Christian, and produces especially this effect,
that men are determined not to acquire any certain knowledge of a subject, of which they well know
they are totally |237 ignorant. Hence it is, that they believe circumstances respecting us, which are not
proved; and will not inquire, lest those accusations should be proved to be false, which they would
rather wish to be believed; that the name, which is so opposed to that principle of hatred, should be
condemned simply on its confession; upon the presumption, not upon the proof, of guilt. Hence we are
tortured, if we confess; and punished, if we persevere; and absolved, if we deny; because the question
regards the name only.

Moreover, why, in the accusation, do ye charge a person as a Christian? If a Christian be a murderer, or

incestuous, why not accuse him of murder, or of any other crime, of which ye believe us guilty13? In our
case alone, is there the least scruple or hesitation to declare the crimes of which any one is accused. The
term Christian14, if it implies no crime, is nugatory; if it implies merely the crime of professing that
name, it must surely possess some very peculiar and hateful meaning.

CHAPTER III.

IT is almost needless to observe, that the greater part follow their hatred of Christianity so blindly, that,
even when they bear testimony to any one's good qualities, they still upbraid him with the name which
he bears. "Caius Seius," they say, "is a good man, except that he is a Christian." Another observes, "I
|238 am quite surprised that so wise a man as Lucius Titius should have suddenly become a Christian."
No one thinks of demanding in return, whether Caius is not good, or Lucius prudent, because he is a
Christian; or a Christian, because he is prudent and good. They praise what they know; they blame what
they know not; at the same time distorting what they know, by reasons drawn from that of which they
are ignorant; although justice would rather require them to form an opinion of that which is unknown,
from that which is known, than to condemn what is evident, from that which is secret. Others, in
describing persons, whom, before their profession of Christianity, they had known to be given up to
licentiousness, to every base lust, and immorality, use terms, which are really those of approbation;
thus, in the blindness of their hatred, bearing unwilling testimony to the excellence of that which they
condemn. They say of a woman, "How wanton, how gay she used to be!" of a young man, "What a
libertine, what a profligate, he was! now they are both become Christians!" Thus the name is coupled
with their reformation.
Some would even make a compromise with their hatred of Christianity, to their own disadvantage;
being well satisfied to be injured in the tenderest points, provided they are freed from the intrusion of
such objects of hatred in their own homes. The husband, who hath now no longer any reason for
jealousy, expels his now virtuous wife from his house: the father, formerly indulgent, disinherits his now
obedient son: the master, once lenient, sends his now faithful servant from his sight. Each one becomes
hateful, in proportion as he is amended by the profession of this faith. The improvement, which hath
followed from it, is not sufficient to counteract the general hatred towards the Christians. |239

Further, then, if the hatred belongs to the name, what guilt can be attached to any appellation? what
accusation can be founded on a word? unless it be said, that the very name itself hath a barbarous
sound, or is of evil omen, or scandalous, or immodest. Now the term Christian, as to its meaning, is
derived from a word, which signifies to anoint. And even when ft is mis-pronounced Chrestian by
you15,--for ye are in ignorance even of the name itself--that appellation would, from its derivation,
imply sweetness or benignity. Hence even a harmless name is hated, in men who are harmless too.

But, it will be said, the sect16 is hated for the name of its author. Is it then a new thing that persons,
holding peculiar tenets, should receive an appellation from the name of the author of them? Are not
philosophers denominated from Plato, Epicurus, and Pythagoras; or even Stoics and Academics from
their places of meeting, and ordinary resort? Have not physicians been named from Erasistratus,
grammarians from Aristarchus, and even cooks from Apicius? Yet no one ever took offence at a name,
thus |240 transmitted from the founder of a system with his peculiar tenets.

If, indeed, any one proves that the author of any opinions was bad, or his sect bad, he will then prove
that the name ought to be hated for the faults of the sect, and of its author. Wherefore, before hatred
of the name of Christian should have been indulged, a judgment ought to have been formed, either of
the sect from its author, or of the author from his sect. But now, without the slightest inquiry or
knowledge of either, the name is made the subject of detention and accusation: and the appellation
alone at once condemns the sect, and the author, equally unknown; because they bear this name, not
because their guilt is proved.

CHAPTER IV.

HAVING, then, premised these remarks, to expose the injustice of the public hatred against us, I shall
now proceed to establish the plea of our innocence; and not only disprove what is objected against us,
but also retort the charge upon our accusers: that hence all may know, that practices do not prevail
among the Christians, which actually exist among themselves, without their knowledge: and that they
may be put to the blush, when accusations are thus brought--I say not by men of the worst character
against the best,--but, if they will have it so, against men like themselves. We shall answer every
separate charge, both what we are accused of doing in secret, and what we openly avow: the actions in
which we are regarded as impious, or foolish, or culpable, or ridiculous. But since, even when our plain
statement of the truth hath |241 removed all reasonable objections, we are, after all, borne down by
the authority of the laws themselves, and 17 by the assertion, that, when laws are once established, no
alteration must be made in them, or that judges must, however unwillingly, prefer absolute obedience
to the laws, to the plain investigation of truth; I will first argue with you, as with the guardians of the
laws.

Now, in the first place, when ye pronounce your decision, in these words, "Ye are not permitted to
exist;" and deliver this command, without any more lenient modification, ye act by arbitrary force, and
an iniquitous and absolute power, if ye forbid our existence, because it is contrary to your will, not
because we ought not to be. But, if ye determine that, because we ought not to exist, therefore we
shall, not; doubtless that which is evil in itself ought not to be allowed; yet this very conclusion implies
that what is good ought to be permitted. If I shall discover that what your law forbids is in itself good,
shall I not at once prove, that the law cannot forbid that which, if it |242 were evil, it might justly
prohibit18? If your law hath erred, it is, I imagine, of human origin; it fell not from heaven19. Is it
astonishing, that man could either err in framing laws, or show his better judgment in amending them?
Did not the amendment of the laws of Lycurgus himself by the Lacedaemonians cause such grief to their
author, that he starved himself to death in his retirement20. Do not even ye yourselves, in daily
endeavouring to throw light upon the darkness of antiquity, clear away and fell all the old and unsightly
forest of laws, by the renovating axes of the rescripts and edicts of your princes? Did not Severus, that
most determined of your emperors, but yesterday abrogate those most absurd Papian laws21, |243
which inflicted a penalty, if children were not born to persons, before they had attained the age, at
which the Julian laws required them to have contracted marriage; and that too, after the laws had
acquired all the authority of long duration? There were also laws22 providing, that those, who were
previously condemned, might be cut in pieces by their creditors: but by public consent this cruel
enactment was erased : and the capital punishment was commuted for a mark of disgrace. The
confiscation of a man's goods was directed against his feelings of shame, not against his |244 life23.
How many laws of yours yet remain to be reformed, which are maintained neither by their own
antiquity, nor by the dignity of those who enacted them, but by justice alone; and, therefore, when they
are proved to be unjust, they, which condemn others, are justly condemned themselves. But why should
we call them simply unjust? If they punish a mere name, they are foolish too. And if they punish men
for, their actions, why, in our case, do they punish such actions on the presumption of the name alone,
while, in other cases, they require them to be proved from circumstances, not from the mere name?
Suppose I am guilty of incest: why do not the laws inquire into the offence? Suppose I have murdered an
infant: why do they not put me to the torture? Suppose I have committed a crime against the gods,
against Caesar: why am I not heard, when I have the means of clearing myself? No law forbids the
investigation of an action which it disallows. Since not even a judge can rightly put the law in force,
unless he first ascertains that a crime hath been committed : neither can a citizen faithfully obey the
law, while he is ignorant what offence is punished. Every law is required to give proof of its justice, not
only to itself, but to those from whom it expects obedience. And any law is justly suspected, which will
not submit to proof; and unjust, if, without proof, it yet exercises arbitrary power, |245
CHAPTER V.

Now, to refer in some measure to the origin of laws of this kind, there was an old decree 24, that no
Deity should be consecrated by the Emperor, without the approbation of the senate. Marcus Emilius
knows this well, in the matter of his god Alburnus. This circumstance also is in our favour, that the
divinity of your gods depends upon the estimation of man. A god is no god, unless he pleases man; and
man must now be propitious to the god. Tiberius25, then, in |246 whose time the name of Christian
entered into the world, laid before the senate intelligence, which had been sent from Palestine, and
proved the truth of the Divine power there displayed, and added the influence of his own vote. The
Senate rejected the proposal, because it had not itself first approved it. The Emperor persisted in his
opinion; and threatened those with punishment, who should accuse the Christians. Consult your own
records; ye will there find that Nero was the first who wielded the sword of the empire against the
Christian religion, then first springing up in Rome. And we justly glory in the fact, that our first
persecutor was such a man. For whoever knows his character may understand that nothing but what
was excellently good would be persecuted by Nero. Domitian also, who had a portion of Nero's cruelty,
made a similar attempt; but retaining some sentiments of humanity 26, soon desisted, and even
permitted those whom he had banished to return. Such have ever been our persecutors; the unjust, the
ungodly the vile; men of such character, that ye yourselves have been accustomed to condemn them,
and to restore those whom they have condemned. But from that time down to the present reign, out of
so many emperors who were acquainted with religion or humanity, we |247 challenge you to mention
one, who was an enemy of the Christians. On the contrary, we appeal to a protector, if the letters of
that most worthy Emperor Marcus Aurelius are examined27, in which he testifies, that, in Germany, the
thirst of his troops was dispelled by a shower, obtained by the prayers of some Christian |248 soldiers,
who happened to be in his army. That Emperor, although he did not publicly abrogate the punishments
directed against the Christians, averted them by another public act, by subjecting their accusers to a
punishment of a still more severe nature.

What then are these laws, which none but the impious, the unjust, the vile, the trifling, the insane
enforce? of which Trajan partly frustrated the effect, by forbidding inquiry to be made after Christians?
which neither Adrian, although a searcher out of all new and curious doctrines, nor Vespasian, although
the conqueror of the Jews, nor Pius 28, nor Verus put into action. Now it is plain, that men, as bad as
Christians are represented to be, would be destroyed by all the best princes, who would naturally be
opposed to them, rather than by those who were like themselves.

CHAPTER VI.

I SHOULD now wish that they who make such a profession of scrupulously protecting and observing the
laws and institutions of their fathers, would answer a question as to the faithfulness with which they
have themselves honoured and respected them. Is there no law which they have violated? none which
they have transgressed? Have they not abrogated the most necessary and wholesome parts of ancient
discipline? What is become of those laws, which were enacted to restrain luxury and ostentation; which
commanded |249 that no more than an hundred pence should be expended upon an entertainment,
nor more than one fowl, and that not fatted, should be set before the guests; which removed from the
Senate, as a man of notorious ostentation, one who possessed ten pounds of silver; which immediately
destroyed the theatres, which were then beginning to be raised, as tending to the destruction of morals;
and permitted no one, without just and sufficient cause, to assume the dignity, and adopt the
distinctions, of noble birth? For now I see that the expense of entertainments is to be reckoned by
hundreds, not of pence, but of pounds; and that massive silver is formed into dishes, not for senators
only, but for men just freed from slavery, and hardly yet escaped from the lash. I see that one theatre
alone is not sufficient; they must be both numerous and covered 29: and we are to suppose the
Lacedaemonians invented that odious cloak, lest winter should throw a chill upon the immodest
pleasures of the theatre 30. I recognize no longer any distinction of dress, between a matron and a
prostitute. And all those regulations of our ancestors have fallen into disuse, which favoured modesty
and sobriety in the conduct of women : when no woman wore a gold ring on more than one finger, that,
namely, on which it was placed at her espousal: when women abstained from the use of wine so
scrupulously, that a matron was starved to death by her family, for having broken open the vaults of a
wine cellar: and, in the time of |250 Romulus, a woman, who had touched wine, was killed with
impunity by her husband Mecenius. Hence the custom arose for them to salute their near relations with
a kiss, that their breath might detect them. Where is now that happiness of the marriage state, which
accompanied the severity of ancient manners, so that not one family was sullied by a divorce for nearly
six hundred years after the foundation of the city of Rome? Now, as for your women, their whole person
is weighed down with gold; their breath universally betrays their indulgence in wine; and divorce is now
a part of the marriage vow, as if it were the natural consequence of matrimony. Even the very decrees,
which your ancestors have wisely enacted respecting your gods, ye, their most obedient followers, have
rescinded. The consuls, with the authority of the Senate, banished the worship of Bacchus, with its
mysteries, not only from the city (of Rome), but from all Italy. Although Piso and Gabinius were no
Christians, yet in their consulship they forbade Serapis, Isis, and Harpocrates, with his accompanying
deity having a dog's head, to be brought into the capitol; which was, in fact, expelling them from the
assembly of the gods; and overthrew their altars, in their anxiety to suppress the abuses of their base
and idle superstitions. Now these very deities ye have restored, and invested with supreme authority.
Where, then, is your religion? Where is the reverence which ye owe to your ancestors? In dress, in diet,
in equipage, in expense, nay, even in language, ye have degenerated from your forefathers. Ye are
constantly praising the ancients; ye live daily as moderns. And in this it is made manifest, that, in
departing from the good institutions of your ancestors, ye retain and observe what ye ought not, while
ye observe not what ye ought. Thus ye maintain, with the utmost fidelity, the law |251 delivered down
from your ancestors, by which ye principally condemn the Christians, that law respecting the worship of
strange gods, which was one of the greatest errors of antiquity. Still, although ye have restored the
altars of Serapis, now made a Roman god; although ye have introduced all the furious orgies dedicated
to Bacchus, now naturalized in Italy, I will yet take occasion to show in its proper place31, that ye have in
fact despised, and neglected, and destroyed, the authority of your ancestors. For at present I shall
answer the infamous accusation of secret atrocities, with which we are charged, to clear the way for the
vindication of the actions which we avowedly perform.

CHAPTER VII.

IT is said, then, that we are guilty of most horrible crimes; that, in the celebration of our sacrament, we
put a child to death 32, which we afterwards devour; and at the end of our banquet revel in incest; that
we employ dogs, as ministers of our impure delights, to overthrow the lights, and thus to provide
darkness, and remove all shame, which might interfere with these impious lusts. But this is always mere
assertion : and ye take no pains to prove what for so long a time, ye continue to assert. Either therefore
investigate the truth, if ye believe the charge, or cease to believe, what ye have not proved. Your
dissimulation in this matter plainly implies, that crimes, which ye |252 dare not investigate, have no
existence. Ye impose upon your executioner very different commands respecting the Christians; not that
they should confess what they do, but deny what they are.

That religion, as we have already declared, arose in the reign of Tiberius. At its very first appearance,
truth was an object of detestation and hostility. It had as many enemies, as there were strangers: for
instance, the Jews from a spirit of envy; the soldiers, from interested motives; our very domestics, from
their natural hostility to their superiors. We are every day pursued and betrayed; we are especially
attacked in our very places of public resort, and in our religious assemblies. Yet who ever surprised us
with an infant weeping in the manner described? Who ever kept us to be brought before the judge, with
our faces red with blood, as he found us, like the Cyclops or Syrens? Who ever detected the slightest
traces of indelicacy, even in their wives (who have become Christians?) who is there, who having made
such discoveries, was either silent, or bribed to conceal them 33, thus betraying his duty towards
mankind? Besides, if our actions are always so secret, when were they ever made known? Nay, by
whom could they be made public? not, certainly, by those who committed them; since a profound
silence is part of the very essence of all mysteries. No one divulges the secrets of the Samothra-cian and
Eleusinian mysteries; how much more, then, would such rites be kept secret, as, if once betrayed would
provoke the rigour of human laws, while they are exposed to the vengeance of divine wrath?

If, then, our accusation comes not from ourselves, it |253 comes from strangers. And whence have
strangers this knowledge? since even in initiations, which are regarded as religious, the profane are
excluded, and no witnesses admitted; unless it can be conceived that they, who are conscious of
impiety, would be less fearful.

The nature of common fame is known to all. One of your own poets 34 declares,

"Fame is an ill, swifter than all besides :"

Why doth he call fame an evil? is it because she is swift? because she gives intelligence? or because she
is generally mendacious? For even when what she reports is true, she still is not free from the guilt of
falsehood, by diminishing, or increasing, or distorting the plain truth. In fact, her condition is such, that,
as soon as she ceases to be false, she ceases to exist. She lives no longer, than while she fails to prove
her assertions. For as soon as she hath proved them, she ceases to be. Her office of relating being, as it
were, at an end, she declares a fact; and thenceforth it is considered as a fact, and so denominated. No
one, for instance, says, "It is reported that such a circumstance hath happened at Rome," or, "The
rumour is, that he hath obtained such a province;" but, "He hath the province," and "It hath taken place
at Rome." Fame, the very name of which implies that it is uncertain, hath no existence when a fact is
certain. And who, but a man of no reflection, would ever believe common report? for no wise man
trusts to what is uncertain. All men are competent to judge upon this point; with whatever perseverance
it is disseminated, upon whatever strength of asseveration it is built. It must have had its origin from one
source, and thence have been |254 transmitted through many tongues and ears. Thus the
circumstances, which have gathered round a rumour, so hide the error and meanness of its origin, that
no one inquires whether the first reporter did not disseminate a falsehood; a circumstance which
frequently happens, either from an envious disposition, or by the aggravation of a mere suspicion, or by
the habitual and natural pleasure which some take in lying.

Well is it, that according to your own proverbs and sayings, Time reveals all things; that events are so
ordered by the constitution of nature, that nothing is long concealed, even though fame should never
have reported it.

Yet this common fame is the only accuser, which ye bring against us; an accuser, which hath never yet
been able to prove, what it hath at different times asserted, and for so long a period endeavoured to
corroborate.

CHAPTER VIII.

IN answer to those who think these accusations credible, I would appeal to the testimony of nature
herself. Suppose that we promise a reward for these atrocities, even eternal life. Conceive this for a
moment. And then I demand, whether, if you believed this, you would think eternity itself worth
purchasing at the price of such a burden on the conscience? Suppose a man were thus addressed:
"Come, plunge your steel into an infant, who can have committed no offence, can be no one's enemy,
and may be anyone's child. Or, if this murderous office falls to another, merely be present, while a
human being dies, almost before he is brought to life; wait for the departure of the soul but just united
with the body; catch the scarcely-formed |255 blood, saturate your bread with it, eat freely. Meanwhile,
as you recline at the banquet, observe the places where your mother and your sister sit; mark them
well; that when the dogs shall have put out the lights, you may be sure to make no mistake; for it will be
a mortal sin, if you fail to commit incest. Thus initiated and thus sealed you shall live for ever." I would
have you answer me, whether eternity is worth all this; and if not, that you will allow the charge to be
incredible. Even if you believed such promises as these, I am persuaded you would not comply; even if
you would, I know you could not. Why, then, should others be able to do so, if ye cannot? why are ye
unable to do it, if others can? Are we conceived to be of a different nature from yourselves35, monsters,
like those described in India and in Africa, with the heads of dogs, and feet which would overshadow the
body? Are our teeth set differently from yours, or our bodies so framed as to be peculiarly fitted for
incestuous passion? If you can believe this of any human being, you are yourself capable of committing
it: you yourself are a man; and so is a Christian. What you could not do, you ought not to believe. For a
Christian too is a human being; and in all respects such as you are.
But, it will be said, none but the ignorant are imposed upon, and seduced into the commission of these
atrocities: men who never knew that crimes like these were ascribed to the Christians. But surely, in
such cases, every one would observe and diligently examine for himself.

It is, I imagine, customary for all those, who are desirous of being initiated, first to apply to the chief
|256 priest, and to ascertain what preparation is to be made. We are to believe, then, that when this
enquiry is made by any one who is desirous of becoming a Christian, he is told, "You must procure a
young and tender child, one who knows not what death is, and will smile under your knife: you must
have some bread too, to suck up every drop of blood which flows; and besides these, candlesticks and
lights; and some dogs, and bits of meat to draw them off, so as to throw down the candles. Above all,
take care and come with your mother and your sister." What is the poor candidate to do, if he cannot
persuade them to accompany him, or should have none at all? What becomes of all Christians who have
no such relations? No one, I suppose, can be a regular Christian, unless he be a brother, or a son.

But suppose that all these preparations are made without the knowledge of the new Christians. At all
events, they know all this afterwards, and yet submit to it, and allow it. They fear to be punished, while,
if they proclaimed the truth, they would deserve universal approbation; and ought rather to prefer
death, than submit to live with such a burden on their conscience. And even if they feared to disclose
the past, why do they also persevere for the future? For surely no one would continue to be such as he
would never have been, had he been forewarned.

CHAPTER IX.

FOR the more complete refutation of these accusations, I will now show, that these very atrocities are
committed by yourselves, partly in public, and partly in secret, whence probably ye are so ready to
believe us |257 also guilty of them. In Africa, infants were openly sacrificed, until the time of Tiberius36,
who exposed the priests themselves alive, upon crosses made of the trees, to which their votive
offerings used to be suspended, in the very groves of the temples which had overshadowed their
murderous rites. In proof of this fact, we can appeal to the soldiers of our own country, who were
employed by the proconsul in the execution of this very duty. And even now the same horrible sacrifice
is secretly continued. Your ordinances are despised by others besides the Christians; no atrocity is for
ever abrogated: no deity changes his habits37. Since Saturn spared not his own children, he continued
implacable to those of others. Nay, the very parents offered up their own children, paid their vows with
the greatest alacrity, and soothed their infants, that they might not be sacrificed while in tears. Surely
this murder of children by their parents is a far greater crime than homicide itself.

Adults were sacrificed to Mercury by the Gauls. I refer to the fables of the Tauric Chersonese, to the
theatres, where they are such favourite subjects: but even in the most religious city of the pious
descendants of Aeneas, there is a Jupiter (Latiaris), whom they sprinkle with human blood at his annual
games.

But the blood thus shed, ye will say, is merely that of men already condemned to the beasts. As if this
were not equally the murder of a human being; and an offering still more dishonourable to a god,
inasmuch as it is that of a bad man. At all events, such bloodshed is murder. How truly is Jupiter thus a
Christian, |258 as ye conceive Christians to be, and the only son of his father for cruelty!

But since the guilt of infanticide is by no means different, whether the crime be committed out of
superstition or voluntarily,--although it is a great aggravation that the parents should be the agents--I
will turn to the people. How many of those who stand around, and are so eager to shed the blood of the
Christians, nay, how many of you who preside with such justice and severity in receiving the accusations
against us, will be cut to the heart, when your consciences accuse you of the murder of your own
children!

There is a difference also in the manner of inflicting death; and yours is more cruel than any of which we
are accused; ye drown the breath of infants in the waters, or expose them to perish by cold, or famine,
or the dogs. Surely any one able to make a choice would prefer the sword to such an end as this.

Our religion, on the contrary, not only forbids murder, but protects the fruit conceived in the womb,
while yet the tender elements are scarcely formed into a human being. To prevent the birth is
anticipated homicide: to take away life or to interrupt it in its natural course is equally culpable. That,
which is to be a man, hath all the rights of humanity; the whole future fruit is concentrated in the seed.

With respect to feeding upon human blood, and other tragic banquets of a like nature, see if it be not
related, I believe by Herodotus 38, that certain nations ratified their treaties by mutually tasting the
blood drawn from each other's arms. Something of the same kind is told of Catiline39. And it is reported
that, |259 among some nations of the Scythians, every one, as soon as he dies, is devoured by his own
family. But I need not seek so far for an example. At this very day, blood drawn by incisions in the thighs
and given in the hand 40 to drink, marks those who are consecrated to Bellona. Again, where are those
who, for the cure of epilepsy, eagerly drink the fresh blood which flows from the throats of the
condemned gladiators, who are stabbed in the arena? those too who feed upon the animals which are
slain in public combat; who ask with eagerness for a piece of the boar or the stag? That boar tore, in the
mortal struggle, the man whose blood he shed : that stag lay down in the gore which flowed from the
gladiator's wound. The very entrails of wild boars are required for food, before they have themselves
digested the human flesh, which they have devoured: and one human being is gorged to repletion with
the flesh of animals which lived upon men. While ye practise such atrocities, how far are ye yourselves
from the horrible banquets of which ye accuse the Christians? And the still more ineffable abominations,
which some of you commit41, exceed in enormity even the crime of devouring children which is
ascribed to us. Ye, who act thus, may blush at the Christians, who consider the blood even of animals
forbidden food; and abstain from things strangled, and from such as die naturally, lest we should
contract impurity by unwittingly feeding upon some portion of blood contained in the body. |260

Besides, among the trials to which ye expose Christians, one is to offer him to eat food prepared with
the blood of animals, well knowing that the act, by which ye thus tempt them to transgress, is forbidden
by our laws. Now, how can it be believed, that those, who thus abhor the blood of animals, should
eagerly devour human blood? unless perhaps ye have yourselves tasted it, and found it sweeter. If that
be the case, he who undertakes to examine a Christian should offer this to him, instead of the fire and
incense, which is now used for the purpose. Christians would be known, by their taste for human blood,
as well as they now are, by refusing to offer sacrifice; and should be put to death, if they tasted the
blood, as they now are, if they sacrifice not. And, as long as ye conduct the accusation and
condemnation of prisoners in the same manner as at present, there would be no lack of human blood,
with which to make the experiment.

With respect to the alleged crime of incest, who was ever so great an example of this crime as Jupiter
himself? Ctesias relates, how common the union of sons with their own mothers was, among the
Persians. And the Macedonians are suspected of the same enormity, since, when they first witnessed
the representation of the tragedy of Oedipus, they ridiculed the grief which he expressed for his
involuntary crime, crying out ἤλαυνε τὴν ματέρα.

Consider, now, how wide a field is opened to the involuntary commission of this crime of incest among
yourselves, by the universal licentiousness which prevails. In the first place, ye expose your sons, as soon
as they are born, to be taken up by the casual pity of some passing stranger; or give them up for
adoption to others, who will make better parents than yourselves. The memory of a race thus dispersed
must sometimes be lost. And if once such an error is committed, it |261 will soon be aggravated by the
addition of the crime of incest to the original guilt. Wherever ye go, at home, abroad, or beyond the sea,
ye carry your unbridled passions with you: and this licentiousness may well, in some instances, produce
a race of children springing up, without their fathers' knowledge, as if they grew from seed scattered at
random: and this promiscuous race, in the ordinary vicissitudes of human intercourse, is liable to unite
with those of their own blood, and thus fall unwittingly into the perpetration of incest.

The constant and entire chastity, which we observe, defends us from this danger: we are as secure from
the commission of incest, as we are free from all excesses and licentiousness after marriage. Some of us,
with still greater security, prevent the possibility of errors of this nature, by preserving an immaculate
continence, retaining in their old age the virgin purity of youth.

If ye properly consider, that all these enormities exist among yourselves, ye would at once perceive, that
they are not found among the Christians. The same light would inform you of both these facts. But two
kinds of blindness are frequently united, that which sees not what is, and that which thinks it sees what
is not.

I shall show how true this is, in all particulars. But first I will treat of what is most obvious.

CHAPTER X.

YE accuse us Christians, of neither worshipping the gods, nor offering sacrifice for the safety of the
Emperors. It follows, as a necessary consequence, that we |262 sacrifice not for others, since we do not
sacrifice even for ourselves, nor ever pay reverence to the gods. Hence we are accused at once of
sacrilege and treason. This is the main part of the accusation against us; nay, it is the whole of it, and
well worthy to be investigated, if judgment be formed without prejudice, and without injustice; the
former of which hath no hope that the truth can be established, and the latter refuses to hear its voice.

We have refused to worship your gods, from the time that we were convinced that they were no gods
42, Ye ought, therefore, to require us to prove that they are no gods, and therefore ought not to be
worshipped : for undoubtedly they are worthy of all reverence, if only they be truly gods. Then also
ought the Christians to be punished, if it should appear, that those are gods, whom they refused to
worship, believing them not to be so. But, ye say, in our estimation they are gods. Here, then, we appeal
at once from yourselves to your own conscience. That shall judge us; that shall condemn us, if it can
deny that all those, whom ye consider gods, were once men. If your conscience denies this, it shall be
convinced by a reference to your own works of antiquity, from which your knowledge of your deities is
derived: for these bear testimony at the present day, both to the cities, in which they were born, and to
the countries, in which they left traces of their achievements, and where their burial-places are even
now shown. It will be needless for me to enumerate every individual of such an endless variety, new and
old, barbarian, Greek, Roman, or foreign; such as were captives, or adopted; national or general; male or
female; attached to the country or the town; naval or |263 military. It would be tedious and useless
even to mention all their titles. I will then make a compendious summary; and this, not for the purpose
of instructing, but of reminding you, for ye act as if ye had forgotten the facts.

There is, among you, no god before Saturn: from his date, every other deity, although more esteemed or
better known, is to be reckoned. Whatever, then, is established respecting the origin, will be true of
those derived from it. Now, as far as your records extend, neither Diodorus the Greek, nor Thallus, nor
Cassius Severus, nor Cornelius Nepos, nor any other writer of antiquity of the same kind, speaks of
Saturn as any other than a man. If we refer to facts, I find none better attested any where than in Italy
itself, in which Saturn took up his abode, after many wanderings, and after he had been entertained in
Attica, being received by Janus, or Janes, as the Salii call him. The mountain, in which he dwelt, is called
Saturnius; the city, which he founded, retains the name of Saturnia to this day: and all Italy, which
before was called Oenotria, received the appellation of Saturnia. From him was first received the
knowledge of written characters, and the art of making impressions upon coins: whence he is the deity,
who is supposed to preside over the treasury. If, then, Saturn was a man, he was of human birth; and if
of human birth, he derived not his origin from the heaven and the earth. It was however an easy fiction
to call him, whose true parents were unknown, the son of those elements, of which we all may seem to
be the offspring. For who is there, who speaks not of the heaven and the earth as his mother and father,
under a feeling of reverence and honour, or by the ordinary custom, by which those, who appear
suddenly or unexpectedly, are said to have come from the skies? Hence it happened, that, wherever
Saturn |264 came suddenly, he received the appellation of heaven-born 43. Just as even now those,
whose descent is unknown, are commonly said to spring from the earth. I say nothing of the fact, that
men were then in so rude and uncultivated a state, that they regarded the appearance of every stranger
as something divine: since, even civilized as they now are, they consecrate among the gods those,
whom, but a few days before, they confessed to be mortal, by the public mourning for their death.
These few words are sufficent to show, what Saturn really was.

We shall hereafter show, that Jupiter is also a man, and of human origin; and that the whole swarm of
that race of beings are both mortal, and of the same nature with the stock whence they arose.

CHAPTER XI.

SINCE, then, ye dare not deny that these were men, but have taken upon yourselves to assert that they
were made gods, after their death, let us consider the causes, which have produced this. Now, first ye
must admit, that there is some superior Deity, who hath the power of conferring divinity, and thus
deifies mortals. For they could not themselves assume a divine nature, which they never had; nor could
any one confer it, upon those who possessed it not, unless it were inherent in himself. And, if there
were no person to make |265 them gods, by removing the supposition of such an agent, ye destroy the
possibility that they ever should have been made gods. For, assuredly, had they been able to make
themselves, they never would have existed as men, while they had the power of assuming a more
excellent nature. If, therefore, there exists some Being, who hath the power of making men into gods, I
return to the consideration of the causes, which should induce him to exercise this power; and I find
none, except that such a supreme Deity might require instruments and agents, for performing the
offices belonging to divinity. Now, in the first place, it is a supposition unworthy of the Divine nature,
that the Supreme Being should stand in need of the aid of any one, much less of a dead man; since, had
he been liable to require such assistance, it would have been more conformable with his dignity, to have
at once created some god. But I see no room for such a supposition. For the universe, whether we
regard it, with Pythagoras, as self-existent and uncreated, or, with Plato, as taking its origin from a
creator, was, at all events, disposed once for all in the original design, and so framed and ordered; since
every part is regulated by the guidance of reason. Now that, which brought every thing to perfection 44,
could not itself be imperfect. It required not the aid of Saturn and his race. Men would be foolish
indeed, not to be certain, that, from the beginning of the world, rain fell from heaven, and the stars sent
forth their beams, and the light shone, and the thunder roared, so that Jupiter, in whose hand ye place
the thunderbolt, did himself tremble at it. In like manner it must be conceived, that all kinds of fruit
abounded, before the time of Bacchus, and Ceres, and |266 Minerva; nay, even before the existence of
the first man, whoever he was; since nothing, which was devised for the support and maintenance of
man, could be introduced after man himself. Besides, those deities' are said to have discovered those
necessaries of life, not to have created them: now that which is discovered, already exists: and that
which was in existence must not be ascribed to him who discovered its use, but to him who made it; for
it was formed before it could be discovered. And if Bacchus is therefore a god, because he first showed
the use of the vine, Lucullus was hardly used, who first introduced the cherry out of Pontus into Italy,
that he was not consecrated as the creator of a new fruit; since he invented it, and showed its use. If,
therefore, the universe was originally ordained and destined for the due performance of certain offices,
there is no pretence, on these grounds, for adopting the human into the divine nature; since the stations
and powers which ye attribute to them, were from the beginning such as they would have been, even if
ye had not made them gods.

Ye have recourse, however, to another reason, asserting that their deification was intended as the
reward of their merit; assuming, I suppose, that the God, who deified them, excels injustice, so as to
dispense so magnificent a reward neither without consideration, nor upon unworthy objects, nor with
undue profusion. I should wish, therefore, to enumerate their merits, and see whether they are of such
a nature as to raise them to heaven, and not rather to sink them to the bottom of Tartarus, which ye
and many others affirm to be the place of infernal punishments. For to that place are usually sent the
impious, those who have committed incest with parents or sisters, adulterers, ravishers of virgins,
corrupters of youth; men who commit violence, or murder, or theft; those who |267 deceive, or are like
any of those gods of yours, not one of whom ye can prove to be free from such vices or crimes, unless ye
deny that he was once a man. But since ye cannot pretend to deny that they were men, they are also
branded with such marks, as prevent us from believing that they should afterwards be made gods. For, if
ye preside on your judgment seats, for the purpose of punishing crimes like these--if every one of you,
who is upright, avoids all intercourse, conversation, or society with men of such infamous and base
character,-- and yet that supreme God, whom ye suppose, raised men like these to partake of his
majesty, --why do ye condemn, in men, the qualities, which ye adore in your god? Your administration
of justice is a reflection upon heaven. Ye ought to deify all your vilest offenders, to please your gods.
Their honour is involved in the consecration of their fellows.

But, to dwell no longer upon their unworthiness, I will suppose that they were honest and spotless and
good. Yet how many far better men have ye left in the shades below? Men celebrated, for instance, as
Socrates, for wisdom; Aristides, for his integrity; Themistocles, for his valour; Alexander, for his
magnanimity; Polycrates, for his good fortune; Croesus, for his riches; Demosthenes, for his eloquence?
Which of those, whom ye have made gods, was more distinguished for gravity and wisdom, than Cato;
for justice and military skill, than Scipio; for grandeur of soul, than Pompey; for success, than Sylla; for
wealth, than Crassus; for eloquence, than Cicero? How much more worthily would your supreme God
have waited to confer divinity upon those men, well knowing that these better men would exist. But we
are to suppose he hastened, and once for all shut the gates of heaven, and now blushes, when he sees
so many far better men murmuring in the shades below. |268

CHAPTER XII.
I SHALL pursue these observations no further, well knowing that I can truly show what they are not, by
setting forth what they really are. Now, in the persons of your gods, I perceive nothing but the names of
certain men long since dead; I hear nothing but fables; I recognize only sacred rites founded on fables.
And as for the images themselves, I discover nothing but the mothers and sisters 45, as it were, of
vessels and common utensils, or things, which, by the act of consecration, and the transforming power
of art, change their destination with those vessels and utensils. Yet even this dedication is not
unaccompanied with insult and sacrilege, in the very act itself; so that we, who are punished principally
on account of the gods, may derive some consolation from the reflection, that they themselves
underwent similar treatment, in the act of fabrication. If ye impale the Christians upon crosses, and
stakes, every image of a god hath been first constructed upon a cross and stake, and plastered with
cement. The body of your god is first dedicated upon a gibbet.. If ye tear the bodies of Christians with
your nails; your hatchets, and planes, and files are more unmercifully used upon all the members of your
gods. If we lay our heads upon the block; your deities have no heads, before the lead, and the solder,
and the rivets are applied. If we are exposed to the beasts; those animals are the same, which ye make
the constant attendants on Bacchus, Cybele, and Ceres. If we are burned in the fire; the substance, of
which they are |269 composed, was first submitted to the same trial. If we are condemned to the
mines; thence come they, whom ye believe to be gods46. If we are banished into islands; an island is the
favourite spot for the birth or death of every god. If this constitutes divinity, those who are punished are
consecrated; to be condemned is to be deified. But, in good truth, your gods are as unconscious of the
insults, thus offered to them in their fabrication, as they are of the worship, which is paid to them.
"Impious assertions!" I hear you exclaim--"sacrilegious insult!" But however great may be your rage and
fury against us, ye at the same time approve of a Seneca, who inveighs at greater length and with
greater bitterness against your superstition. If, then, we refuse to adore statues and images cold as
death, the real nature of which birds, and mice and spiders well understand47, are we not rather worthy
of praise than blame, for rejecting an acknowledged error? For how can we seem to injure those, whom
we assuredly know to be nothing in the world48? That, which is not, can be in no way affected by that
which is.

CHAPTER XIII.

IN our estimation, however, ye say, they are gods. If so, how impious and sacrilegious and irreligious are
ye proved to be towards these gods, in neglecting those, |270 whose existence ye believe, destroying
the objects of your fear, and insulting those, whose rights ye defend. Judge, yourselves, whether I speak
truth or not. In the first place, since some of you worship one god, and some another, ye undoubtedly
offend those whom ye do not worship: ye cannot prefer one without offering an insult to others; nor
choose one, without rejecting another. Ye despise, therefore, those whom ye reject, and have no fear of
so offending them. For, as we have before noticed, the condition of every god depended upon the
estimation in which the Senate held him. He was no god, if the men, who deliberated upon the
question, determined against his claim, and, by refusing to admit him, condemned him. As for your
family gods, which ye call Lares, ye treat them, as other household articles, with arbitrary power, by
pledging, or selling them, or by changing a statue of Saturn or Minerva into the basest utensils,
whenever it is battered or worn out with the length of service paid to it, or when any one finds his
domestic distress a more powerful deity than his household gods. Ye publicly commit a like outrage
against your public gods, whom ye expose in catalogues, and sell by auction. The Capitol and the herb-
market are sold in the same manner49. The divinity of your gods itself is put up to sale by the same
voice of the crier, at the same appointed place, under the same inspection of the Quaestor. Estates,
however, liable to a tax are on that account less valuable; the persons of men who are subject to tribute
are less noble; for all these are marks of servitude. But your gods are the more holy, the greater the
tribute is, to which they are subject; or rather, those who are most holy, are most heavily |271 taxed.
Their majesty is made a source of gain. Religion goes round the taverns begging. Ye demand payment
for entering the temple, and for a place at festivals. No one can become acquainted with the gods for
nothing; access to them is purchased. What do ye for their honour, more than for your dead? The
temples and altars are precisely the same. They have the same dress and ornaments upon their statues.
The age, the profession, the occupation of the dead man are preserved in his effigy; and it is the same
with the god. What difference is there in the feast of Jupiter, and in that made for aged men at a
funeral50? between the vessel, in which wine is poured out in sacrifices, and that with which libations
are made to the dead? between an augur, who predicts by observation of the entrails, and an
embalmer? for he performs the office of an augur to the dead. But ye consistently enough confer the
honour of divinity upon your dead emperors, since ye ascribe it to them in their lives. Your gods will feel
deeply indebted to you, and be delighted that those who have ruled even over them, are put upon a
level with them. But when ye introduce Larentina51, a common prostitute,--I should have preferred, at
all events, Lajs or Phryne,-- among such goddesses as Juno, and Ceres, and Diana; when ye honour
Simon Magus with a statue 52, and an inscription, bearing the title of holy god, when ye introduce one
of the infamous pages53 of the court into the council of the gods; although your ancient gods could
boast of no more noble origin, yet they will |272 think ye use them ill, by conferring a dignity upon
others, to which they conceive their antiquity gives them a prescriptive right.

CHAPTER XIV.

I WILL not observe upon your religious rites, nor mention the shameful manner in which ye perform
your, sacrifices, slaying for that purpose any animals which are emaciated, or rotten, or diseased, and
cutting off from the fat and entire carcases the useless head and hoofs, which even at home ye would
have thrown to the dogs, or given to slaves; and place upon the altar of Hercules not a third part of the
tenth, which is his share. In all this, I rather praise your wisdom, in reserving something from that which
would otherwise be totally lost. But I will turn to your literature, whence ye derive your instruction in
prudence and the liberal sciences; what absurdities are there found? I read of gods, who fought like
pairs of gladiators, for Trojans and Greeks: of Venus being wounded by an arrow, directed by a human
hand, in her anxiety to save her son Aeneas, who was on the point of being slain by the same man,
Diomede: of Mars almost worn out, by an imprisonment of thirteen months in chains: of Jupiter, who
was freed by the aid of some monster (Briareus), when he was in danger of suffering the same
treatment from the immortals; and, at one time, weeping for the fate of Sarpedon, at another, reviving
his passion for Juno, his sister, by a disgraceful enumeration of his former adulteries, in none of which
he was so enamoured 54. After this, what poet is there |273 who hath not followed the prince of poets,
in calumniating the gods? One gives Apollo, to keep the sheep of King Admetus; another lets out
Neptune, to build walls for Laomedon. There is also the celebrated lyric poet, Pindar55, who declares
Esculapius to have been deservedly struck by lightning, for his avarice in exercising the art of medicine
to a bad purpose. If this was Jupiter's thunder, he acted ill; with injustice towards his grandson, and with
envy towards the inventor of so noble an art. Among men so very religious, these facts, if true, ought
never to have been betrayed; if false, ought never to have been invented. Even the writers of tragedy
and comedy are not more cautious; but take for their subject the miseries, or the crimes, of some of
your gods. I say nothing of your philosophers, being content to mention Socrates, who, out of contempt
for your gods, used to swear by an oak, a goat, and a dog. But, ye will say, Socrates was put to death, for
destroying the authority of the gods. So indeed he was, for, aforetime, as ever, truth is hated. Yet when
the Athenians afterwards repented of their error, punished the accusers of Socrates, and placed a
golden statue of him in a temple, the repeal of the sentence restored the testimony of Socrates to its
original importance. Besides this, Diogenes turned Hercules into ridicule; and the Roman cynic Varro
introduces three hundred Joves, or Jupiters, without heads.

CHAPTER XV.

ALL your inventors of wanton tales minister to your pleasures, by disgraceful stories of your gods.
Examine the |274 most admired beauties of your Lentuli and Hostilii; in the jokes and tricks which are
there displayed, are the actors or the gods the subjects of your derision? When, for instance, ye laugh at
an adulterous Anubis, at a Moon of the male sex, at Diana being flogged, at the reading of the will of
Jupiter after his death, and at three half-starved Hercules. Besides, your dramatic literature describes all
their most disgraceful actions. Ye are delighted to hear the Sun grieving for his son Phaeton, cast down
from heaven; ye blush not to hear Cybele sighing for a shepherd, who rejects her with disdain: and ye
tolerate the enumeration of all the infamous tales attributed to Jupiter, and the judgment which a
shepherd passed upon Juno, Venus, and Minerva. Again, how disgraceful is it, that the mask, which is
formed to represent one of your gods, should be worn by a man of infamous and notorious character;
that one personally dissolute, and with his frame rendered effeminate for the purpose, should represent
sometimes a Minerva, and sometimes an Hercules. Do ye not applaud, while the majesty of your gods is
thus insulted, and their divinity abused? Ye are, however, I presume, more scrupulous in your arenae,
where the gods are introduced dancing in the midst of the blood of the gladiators, and the pollution of
capital punishments, affording the plot and history, in the course of which these wretched victims
maybe put to death; not to mention that the culprits themselves sometimes support the character of
some of your gods. We have formerly seen a man mutilated in the character of Atys, your god from
Pessinum; and one, who personated Hercules, burnt alive. We have joined in the laugh, at the cruel
entertainments, with which ye beguile the middle of the day, when Mercury went about to try with a
red-hot caduceus, whether the bodies were really dead. We have seen also Pluto, the brother of |275
Jupiter, dragging off the corpses of the gladiators, with a hammer in his hand.

But who can enumerate every particular of this kind? If such representations injure the honour of the
divine character, if they lay its majesty in the dust, they infer a contempt of the gods, both in those who
act in any thing of the kind, and in those for whose entertainment they are performed.

But, ye will say, this is merely in sport. If, however, I should add, what your consciences would admit to
be equally true, that adulterous assignations are made in your temples; that before your very altars, the
violation of chastity is contrived; that acts of the grossest kind are usually committed in the very houses
of the ministers and priests of the temples; while the garlands, and ornaments, and purple vestments of
the priesthood are still upon them, and the incense is still burning.; I fear your gods would have more
reason to complain of you, than of the Christians themselves.

At all events, all those, who are found guilty of sacrilege, are of your religion; for the Christians never
enter your temples, even in the day time: had they entered them to worship, perhaps they too would
have been led to rob them. What, then, is likely to be the object of adoration to men, who refuse to
worship objects such as these? From this very circumstance it may be inferred, that they worship the
truth; since they have desisted from worshipping falsehood. It is unlikely that they should again fall into
an error, which they had ceased to commit, as soon as they came to the knowledge of themselves.

I would have you, then, first weigh this fact attentively, and then proceed to learn all the particulars of
our religion, after I shall first have refuted certain false prejudices. |276

CHAPTER XVI.

SOME of you have adopted an absurd notion, that an ass's head is our God. Cornelius Tacitus first
promulgated this report. In the fifth book of his History56, he begins his description of the Jewish war
with an account of the origin of that people; and, in discussing this question, offers his own opinion
respecting their name and religion. He states, that the Jews were liberated, or, as he conceives,
expelled, from Egypt, and wandered in the extended plains of Arabia, where there was the greatest
scarcity of water: while they were suffering from intense thirst, they observed certain wild asses
proceeding, as they imagined, to drink after pasture. Following their guidance, they discovered a spring,
and, in commemoration of this benefit, consecrated the head of an animal of the same kind. Hence, I
imagine, hath arisen the erroneous notion, that in our religion, which is conceived to be closely
connected with that of the Jews, the same image is worshipped. Yet the same Cornelius Tacitus--whose
loquacity in falsehood agrees but ill with his name-- in another part of the same history57 relates, that
Cneius Pompeius, when he had taken Jerusalem, and entered the Temple, to witness the secret rites of
the Jewish religion, found there no image at all. If, however, any object represented in a bodily form had
been worshipped, it would surely have been found in the most holy place; and so much the more, as the
worsnip, however absurd, was in no danger of the intrusion of strangers: since none but the priests
were allowed to enter; and a veil hid that part of the temple, even from the sight of all other men. Ye,
however, will |277 not deny, that all kinds of beasts of burden, and not merely the heads, but the whole
bodies of geldings, with their goddess Epona, are objects of adoration to you. This, I suppose, is our
crime, that among the worshippers of cattle, and beasts of all kinds, we adore an ass only.

Those, again, who conceive that we pay too much honour to the cross, are themselves our fellow-
worshippers 58. If adoration is paid to any wood, the particular |278 shape signifies nothing, provided
the material is the same: the form is of no importance, if that be regarded as the substance of a god. But
in what way can the Athenian Minerva and the Pharian Ceres be distinguished from the wood of a cross,
when each is formed of a rough block and unfinished timber? Every stake, which is erected, is but part
of a cross; we, at all events, worship a whole and perfect deity. We have before shown59, that the very
images of your gods are obtained by models, formed upon a cross-like frame. Besides this, ye adore the
goddess of victory, while a cross is made the foundation, on which your trophies are hung. The whole
religion of your camp teaches your soldiers to adore their standards, to swear by them, to prefer them
to all other gods. All those series of images, suspended around your standards, are so many necklaces to
a cross; all those pendant hangings of your standards and ensigns are but the robes of a cross. I admire
your care: ye would not consecrate simple and unadorned crosses.

Others, again, with more probability and reason, believe that the Sun is the object of our adoration. If
this be the case, we are joined with the Persians, although we do not adore its image painted upon a
banner; since we have the Sun itself with us, wherever we go, set in the heavens as in a shield. This
suspicion, however, hath arisen from our well-known custom of turning towards the East when we
pray60. |279 And many even of yourselves, out of an affectation of sometimes adoring the heavenly
bodies also, move your lips towards the quarter, in which the sun rises. In like manner if we do observe
Sunday, as a day of festivity, not from any worship which we pay to the Sun, but from a very different
reason, we are, in that custom, closely allied to such of you as set apart the Saturday for a day of ease
and feasting; although, |280 even in that, they deviate from the Jewish custom, which they have
ignorantly followed.

But a new calumny hath recently been published, in the city of Rome, against the God whom we
worship; where a vile wretch, who had for money exposed himself with criminals to fight with wild
beasts, carried about a picture with this inscription, The God of the Christians, ONOKOITIΣ. This figure
was painted with asses' ears, having a hoof upon one foot; carrying a book in his hand, and wearing a
robe. We smiled at the absurdity of the name, and the extravagance of the figure. But the idolatrous
heathen ought at once to fall down and worship the twofold divinity; since they have already received
into the number of their gods those who had the head of a dog and of a lion united, and others horned
like a buck, or a ram, and with loins like a goat, and with their lower extremities like a serpent, or with
wings upon their back or feet.

I have mentioned this absurdity, although there was no necessity for noticing it, that I might not incur
the imputation of purposely omitting any rumour against the Christians. Having then cleared away all
these charges, we will proceed to the proof of what our religion really is.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE object of our worship is One God, who made out of nothing the whole frame of this universe,
furnished with all the elements, and bodies, and spirits, by his word, which commanded; by his wisdom,
which ordained; by his power, which ruled; for the glory of |281 his own majesty; whence also the
Greeks denominated the world by a word 61, which implies order and beauty. God is invisible, although
plainly seen; incomprehensible by touch, although represented to us by his gracious revelation;
inappreciable, although all our senses bear testimony to his existence. Hence he is the true God, since
he is immensely great. But that which can be seen by the ordinary senses, or touched, or defined, is less
than the eyes, by which it is discerned, and the hands, by the contact of which it is defiled, and the
senses, by which it is discovered. But that which is immense is known to itself alone. This it is which
causes God to become intelligible, although he cannot be fully understood. The immensity of his being
presents him to our minds as at once known and unknown. And in this, in short, consists the guilt of
those who will not know him, of whom they cannot be ignorant. Would ye have this proved from his
manifold and great works, by which we are surrounded, and sustained, and filled, sometimes with
delight, and sometimes with alarm? Would ye have this proved, from the testimony of the soul itself,
which, although weighed down and confined by its prison, the body, although surrounded by evil
customs, although enervated by lusts and passions, although enslaved to false gods, yet, when it doth
come to itself as it were from intoxication, or sleep, or some grievous sickness, from which it is restored
to its natural state of health, then speaks of God by this name only, because it is the proper name of the
true God. Then "the Great God," "the Good God'," and "What God shall give," is the language in every
one's mouth. In like manner, the ordinary expressions, "God knows," "I leave it to God," and " God will
restore it to me," |282 all testify that he is the universal judge 62. O glorious testimony of the soul,
naturally impressed with the truths of Christianity! And when she gives utterance to these sentiments,
her eyes are directed not to the Capitol, but to heaven. For she knows, that there is the habitation of the
living God, that he is the author of her being, and there the place whence she came down.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BUT, in order that we might approach to a more full and clear knowledge, both of himself, and of his
disposition and will towards man, God hath further given us his written word; that all, who desire, may
inquire respecting God; and gradually proceed from inquiry to knowledge, and from knowledge to
belief, and from belief to obedience. For God, from the beginning, sent forth into the world men, whose
righteousness and innocence qualified them to understand, and make known his will; and poured down
upon them his Holy Spirit, by which they were enabled to declare, that there is One God, who created all
things, and formed man of the dust of the earth :--for he is the true Prometheus 63,--who ordered the
world to be governed |283 by a certain course of time and seasons; and afterwards gave signs of his
majesty in judgment, by water, and by fire; who established laws, which ye either know not, or forsake,
for obtaining his favour; and hath prepared rewards for those who observe and keep them; for, at the
end of the world, he will by his judgment restore his worshippers to eternal life, but will condemn the
wicked to endless streams of fire; all who have ever lived being raised from the dead, and restored to
their bodies, and judged, every man according to his works. We too, as well as yourselves, once derided
all this. We were of your party: for Christians are made, not born so. Those preachers, of whom we
speak, were called prophets, from their office of foretelling the future. Their words, and the signs which
they performed, as proofs of their divine mission, still remain in the treasures of the Scriptures, and are
now no longer hidden. The most learned of the Ptolemies, surnamed Philadelphia, was a prince who
made the most diligent search into all branches of literature. Being desirous of imitating, as I imagine,
the fame of Pisistratus in the formation of a library, he collected from all quarters such books as had
acquired celebrity for their antiquity or curiosity. Among these, at the suggestion of Demetrius
Phalereus, the most celebrated grammarian of the age, to whom he had entrusted the care of his
library, he procured from the Jews also their Scriptures written in their own native language, and kept in
their possession alone: for the prophets had always been raised up among the Jews, and had spoken to
them, who, from the love which God bore to their forefathers, were his peculiar people. Those who are
now Jews, were formerly Hebrews; whence the Scriptures were written in the Hebrew character, and in
the Hebrew language. Lest, however, the contents of these volumes should remain unknown, the Jews
|284 sent to Ptolemy also seventy-two interpreters, whom Menedemus the philosopher, the asserter of
a Divine Providence, treats with great respect, as agreeing with him in opinion. Aristeas also assures us
of this fact. Thus Ptolemy left these documents plainly translated into the Greek language. At this very
day, in the temple of Serapis, the library of Ptolemy is in existence, with the Hebrew copy itself. The
Jews read it openly; it is a privilege to which their tribute entitles them 64. All constantly go thither
every Sabbath. Whoever hears those Scriptures, will discover what God is : and whoever studies to
comprehend him, will be compelled to believe in him also.

CHAPTER XIX.

THESE records, then, have the greatest claim to our attention, by the authority which is due to their high
|285 antiquity; and, even among yourselves, it is as it were a part of your religion to pay regard to any
observance in proportion to its age. Now the writings of one only of the Prophets, Moses, which are in
themselves a treasure of all the Jewish religion, and consequently of our own, are by many ages superior
in antiquity to your most ancient records. They surpass writings of all kinds, upon whatever fabric or
substance, and the very earliest origin, and rude beginnings of all the most ancient inscriptions: nay,
they are prior to almost all nations and distinguished cities, to the earliest traces of history and tradition,
even to the invention of pictorial characters, which were long the only records of events: and they
surpass--what are of far less antiquity--your gods themselves, their temples, oracles, and sacred rites. If
ye have ever heard mention made of Moses, he was contemporary with the Argive Inachus: and wanted
but seven years to be four centuries before Danaus, who is himself the most ancient of any among
yourselves: he lived about a thousand years before the death of Priam. I should have good authority for
placing him full five hundred years before the time of Homer.

Although the other prophets also are later than Moses, yet the last of them are earlier than your first
philosophers, lawgivers, and historians. We could easily give reasons sufficient to prove this to you, if it
were not beyond our present design : the task would not be difficult, although tedious. It would be
necessary to sit down quietly, with all the leisure and means for computation; and to open the archives
of the most ancient nations, the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Phoenicians; to call upon those natives of the
several nations, who furnish us with information, such as Manetho among the Egyptians, and Berosus
among the Chaldeans. We should be obliged to have recourse |286 to Iromus the Phoenician, king of
Tyre; and to the followers of these ancient testimonies, Ptolemy of Mendes, Menander the Ephesian,
Demetrius Phalereus, King Juba, Appion, Thallus, and Josephus, who wrote the history and antiquities of
his own countrymen the Jews, and either confirms or refutes the more ancient writers. It would also be
necessary to compare the historical records of the Greeks, and to notice the time when each event took
place, in order that the connexion of the different periods might be made apparent, and the order of all
the facts be clearly set forth. It would be necessary to digress into the history and literature of the whole
world. However, we have in some degree introduced a part of this proof, by touching upon the manner
in which it might be effected. But it will be better to defer all this, for the present, lest either our want of
time should prevent us from following the inquiry to a sufficient extent, or, if we followed it, we should
wander too widely from our present subject.

CHAPTER XX.

WE shall now make more than amends for deferring the consideration of this question, by proving the
majesty and authority of Scripture, if not its antiquity; we shall establish its divine origin, even if a doubt
should still remain respecting its age. This requires us not to search long, nor at any great distance: the
grounds of proof are obvious, namely, the state of the world, the history of all ages, and the general
course of events. Whatever is now done was foretold : whatever is now seen, was first heard. If
earthquakes swallow up cities, if islands are invaded by the sea; if foreign and domestic wars distract
states; if kingdom |287 rises up against kingdom; if there are famine, and pestilence, and slaughters, in
divers places; if the wild beasts of the mountains lay waste many regions; if the humble are exalted, and
the lofty are laid low; if justice is rare, and iniquity abounds; if the regard for every good and wholesome
discipline waxes cold; if even the times and seasons vary from their appointed order; and the natural
form of animals is violated, by the production of monsters and prodigies; all these have been predicted
by the providence of God. While we suffer these calamities, we read of them : when we recognize them
as the objects of prophecy, the truth of the Scriptures, which predict them, is proved. The daily
fulfilment of prophecy is, surely, a full proof, of revelation. Hence, then, we have a well-founded belief
in many things which are yet to come, namely, the confidence arising from our knowledge of the past;
because some events, still future, were foretold at the same time with others which are past. The voice
of prophecy speaks alike of each; the Scriptures record them equally; the same spirit taught the
prophets both. In the predictions, there is no distinction of time: if there be any such distinction, it is
made by men; while the gradual course of time makes that present, which was future, and that past,
which was present. How can we, then, be blamed for believing also what is predicted respecting the
future, when our confidence is founded upon the fulfilment of prophecies relating to the present and
the past?

CHAPTER XXI.

SINCE, however, we have declared our religion to be founded upon those most ancient writings of the
Jews, |288 --although almost every one knows, and we acknowledge, that Christianity is of recent origin,
having sprung up in the reign of Tiberius,--there may, perchance, at this point arise an objection, that we
are desirous of sheltering ourselves from some of the odium which attaches to us, under the shadow of
a religion which hath been long known, and is, at all events, tolerated: whereas, besides the very
different degrees of antiquity in the Jewish and Christian faith, we do not agree with them, either in
abstinence from certain kinds of food, or in the observance of certain festivals, or in the peculiar rite of
circumcision, or in the name which we profess; in all of which there ought to be no difference, if we
were subject to the same God. Besides, every one of you considers Christ to have been a man, such as
the Jews believe him to have been; whence the error might the more easily arise, that we worship some
human being.
We are not, however, ashamed of Christ; since we count it our highest privilege to be accused and
condemned in his name, nor are our opinions respecting God different from those of the Jews.

It will be necessary then, to speak a few words of Christ as God.

The people of the Jews were so highly favoured of God, on account of the remarkable justice and faith
of their forefathers; whence their numbers were multiplied, and their kingdom flourished, and
increased; and so great were their privileges, that the voice of God which instructed them, taught them
how to obtain his favour, and avoid his anger. Yet their present condition, even without their own
confession, sufficiently proves, with what vain confidence in the merits of their ancestors they were
urged to madness, and driven profanely to desert their ordinances. They are dispersed and vagabond,
wandering as exiles from their |289 native soil throughout the whole world; without either man or God
for their king, and not even permitted as strangers to set foot upon their own land 65. Now all the
sacred scriptures, with one voice, predicted that this would be their condition; that, in the last days, God
would gather together from every nation, and people, and country, more faithful servants, to whom he
would impart a fuller portion of his grace, in proportion to the measure which the founder of this faith
should be capable of receiving. The author, then, and master of this grace and this religion, who was to
enlighten the world, and lead the human race in the way of salvation, was predicted as the Son of God,
yet not born in such a manner as to be ashamed of the title of a Son, or of his descent from his Father. In
your fables, Jupiter is represented to have been the father of some of your heroes, by incest with a
sister, or by violence committed upon a daughter, or by adultery, in the form of a serpent, or of a bull, or
of a swan, or of a shower of gold. The true Son of God was born in no such manner; he had no mother,
after the flesh, even in lawful matrimony, for she who bare him had not known man.

I will first, however, declare what was the nature of his substance; and then the manner of his nativity
will plainly appear. We have already declared, that God created this Universe of the world by his Word,
and Reason, and Power. Even your philosophers agree in ascribing the creation of the Universe to the
Logos, that is, to the Word or Reason. For Zeno asserts that this was the maker, who formed every thing
in its order; and he called it Fate, and God, and the Mind of Jupiter, and Necessity, the compulsory cause
of all things. Cleanthes ascribes all this to the Spirit, which, |290 he declares, pervades the Universe.
Now we also consider the Spirit to be the proper substance of the Word, and Reason, and Power, by
which we have declared that God made all things; since it was by the Word that he prophesied, by
reason that he ordained, and by power that he perfected all things. We have been taught, that he came
forth from God, and was begotten by that procession, and so is the Son of God, and called God from the
unity of his substance: for God also is a Spirit. Thus, when a ray of light issues from the sun, it is a part
from the whole: but the sun will be in the ray of light, because it is a ray of the sun; and the substance is
not separated, but extended. Thus, Spirit comes from Spirit, and God from God, as light is kindled from
light66. The matter, which is the origin, remains whole and unimpaired, although you should derive
from it many other substances which transmit the same qualities. In the same manner, that which
proceeds from God, is God, and the Son of God; and both are one. Thus a Spirit of a Spirit, and God of
God, makes one different in order, not in number; in gradation, not in nature : it proceeds from its
origin, but is not separated from it. That emanation, therefore, of the Divinity, as was always before
predicted, being sent down upon a virgin, and in her womb made flesh, was born God united with man.
His flesh, animated with the Spirit, was nourished, grew up, spake, taught, acted, and was Christ.

Ye can surely have no difficulty in receiving this, for a time, even as a fable, for it is like your own; while
we show in what manner the true character of Christ is demonstrated. Those amongst you, who devised
fables of a similar nature, for the destruction of the |291 truth, well knew this. The Jews also, to whom
the prophets foretold that Christ should come, knew this. For even to this day they look for his coming;
and one of the greatest points of controversy between us and them is, that they believe not that he is
come already. For since the Scriptures speak of two comings of Christ67,--the first which he hath already
fulfilled, by appearing in the humility of the human nature; and the second, which is now at hand, when,
at the consummation of all things, he shall be manifested in the sublimity of his divine power,--they,
who understood not his first coming, considered it to be the same as his second coming, which they
conceive to be more clearly predicted. For their guilt well deserved this punishment, that they should
not understand his first coming, inasmuch as, had they understood it, they would have believed; and
had they believed, they would have been saved. They themselves read the scripture in which it is
written, that they were deprived of wisdom and knowledge, and of the use of their eyes and ears68.

Since, then, they considered Christ, in consequence of his humility, to be a mere man, it naturally
followed that they should regard him as a magician, in consequence of his preternatural power; when
he cast out devils by a word, gave sight to the blind, cleansed the lepers, restored the palsied to
strength, and, lastly, by a word raised the dead to life; when he ruled the very elements, calmed the
storms, walked upon the sea, and showed himself to be the Logos of God, that is, the original Word, the
first-begotten, endued with divine power and with reason, and sustained by the Spirit69.

But at his doctrine, by which the teachers and |292 leaders of the Jews were condemned, they were so
exasperated, especially when a great multitude were converted to him, that, at the last, by the urgency
of their violence, they compelled Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Syria, before whom he had been
brought, to give him up to them to be crucified. Christ himself had foretold that they would do so. But
this, in itself, would have been an inconsiderable fact, had not the prophets also of old predicted the
same. Yet when he was crucified, he voluntarily gave up the ghost, with a word addressed to his
heavenly Father; and thus anticipated the last office of the executioner. At the same moment, the mid-
day was deprived of the sun, which hid its light. Those who were ignorant that this also was predicted
respecting Christ, thought, doubtless, that it was a natural eclipse, and when they could not account [for
an eclipse of the sun at the time of the full moon], they denied the fact; although ye have the
occurrence related in your annals70.
After that, the Jews took him down from the cross, and placed him in a sepulchre, which they carefully
surrounded with a military guard, lest, since he had predicted that he would rise again from the dead,
on the third day, his disciples coming secretly should escape their vigilance, and steal the body away.
But, behold, on the third day, suddenly there was a great earthquake, and the stone which closed the
sepulchre was rolled away; the guards were struck down with fear; and, without any of his disciples
being there, there was nothing found in the tomb, but the clothes in which he had been buried. Yet the
chief of the Jews, whose interest it was to promulgate a falsehood, |293 and recall the people from their
belief in Christ, to be tributary and enslaved to them, declared that his disciples had stolen him away.

Yet Christ did not show himself to all the people; lest the wicked should be compelled to forsake their
error; and in order that faith, to which so high a reward was to be attached, should not be attained
without difficulty. He remained, however, with some of his disciples in Galilee, a region of Judaea, for
the space of forty days, teaching them what they were themselves to teach others. After this, having
ordained them to the office of preaching the Gospel throughout the world, he was taken up into
heaven, concealed in a cloud, in a manner far more real than that which such witnesses as Proculus
report of Romulus, and your other kings.

Pilate, who in his conscience was persuaded of the innocence of Christ, sent a full account of all these
transactions to Tiberius Caesar71. And even emperors would have believed in Christ, if either emperors
were not necessary for conducting the affairs of this world, or Christians could also be emperors. His
disciples also scattered throughout the world were obedient to the commands of God their master, and,
confident in the faith, suffered many things from the Jews who persecuted them, and lastly shed their
Christian blood in Rome, by the cruelty of Nero.

We will however show you sufficient witnesses of the truth of Christ, those very gods which ye adore. It
will be a great point, if I can so produce them as testimonies, that ye may embrace the Christian faith, by
means of those who now persuade you to disbelieve the Christians. Meanwhile, this is the manner of
our argument. We declare to you the origin of |294 our religion and of our name, and who was the
author of it.

Let no one, therefore, any longer bring against us those infamous accusations, or ascribe to our religion
any other origin; since, in matters of faith, it is the highest impiety for any one to speak differently from
the truth. For, from the moment that any one professes that he worships any other deity than the real
object of his adoration, he denies that which he worships, he transfers his devotion to another; and, by
such a change, ceases at once to worship the Being whom he denies. Now we declare, and openly
profess in the midst of all your tortures; while torn and bleeding, we cry out, We worship God through
Christ. Ye consider him to be a mere man. Suppose this, were true, still it is through him that God will
have himself known and worshipped. In answer to the Jews, we say, that they have learned to worship
God by the mediation of Moses; in answer to the Greeks, that Orpheus upon the mountain Pieria,
Musaeus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, and Trophonius in Boeotia, all introduced their religious
ceremonies into their country. And with reference to yourselves, who are the masters of the world,
Pompilius Numa was a man, although he loaded the Romans with the most burdensome superstitions.
Surely then Christ may be permitted to set forth the divinity, which properly belongs to him. He did not,
like Numa, reduce to civilization men yet rude and uncultivated, astonishing them by an enumeration of
so great a multitude of fictitious gods, whose favour must be propitiated; but led to the sight and
knowledge of the truth men who were already polished, and led astray even by the errors of their
mental cultivation. Examine, then, whether the divinity of Christ is real or not. If his claim to the divine
character be such, that by knowledge of it a |295 man is formed anew to every thing which is good, it
follows, that all other pretended gods, which are discovered to be contrary to him, must be renounced
as false; and, above all, those deities are by every means to be repudiated, which, hiding themselves
under the names and appearances of dead men, endeavour to procure belief in their divine nature, by
means of certain signs, and miracles, and oracles.

CHAPTER XXII.

WE assert, then, that there are certain spiritual substances, the name of which is well known. Your
philosophers acknowledge the existence of demons, for Socrates himself was guided by the counsel of
one of them. This is plain; for he said that a demon attended him from his very youth, and constantly
dissuaded him--and, so, doubtless, it did--from all good. All your poets are well acquainted with them.
And even now, the uninstructed vulgar, in their imprecations, frequently call upon Satan, the chief of
this evil race; and thus by the very terms which they use in cursing, betray what are the inward
sentiments of their minds. Plato also denies not the existence of angels; and even those who profess the
practice of magical arts confess the existence of both demons and angels. Now it is known from the holy
Scriptures, in what manner from certain angels, who voluntarily corrupted themselves, there arose a still
more depraved race 72, condemned of |296 God together with the authors of their being, and with him
whom we have spoken of as their chief. It will here be sufficient to explain the manner of their agency.
Their ordinary occupation is the injury of man; as the malice of evil spirits from the beginning contrived
the perdition of the human race. Hence they bring upon the body diseases and certain grievous
accidents, and violently affect the mind with sudden and extraordinary passions. Their surprising
subtility and tenuity give them the facility of thus entering into the body and mind of man. As spirits,
they possess the astonishing power of being invisible and insensible; so that their influence is perceived
rather in the effects which it produces, than at the time of its action. In the same manner as it often
happens in fruit or in grain, that some secret blight in the air blasts the blossom, kills the produce in the
seed, or destroys it when it hath arrived at maturity; or that the air, affected by some unknown cause,
breathes forth pestilence and death. By some influence equally obscure, the inspiration of angels and
demons agitates the corrupt passions of the mind with fury and disgraceful excesses, and inordinate
lusts, together with various errors. One of the |297 principal of these is the delusion, which
recommends those gods to the blinded and prejudiced minds of men, in order that the demons may
procure for themselves their proper food, the odour of the fat and the blood of the sacrifices offered to
those shadows and images. But what they pursue with still greater anxiety is, to remove man from the
knowledge of the true God, by the subtil craftiness of false divination. How they effect this, I will show.
Every spirit flies: and angels and demons possess this faculty. Hence they are every where in a moment.
The whole world is to them one place: they know, with the same readiness with which they declare it,
what is done, and where. This velocity is taken for a proof of divinity, because the nature of all spiritual
substances is not understood. Thus they sometimes wish to appear to have done what they only relate :
and so indeed they sometimes are the causes of the evil, but never of the good. They formerly obtained
a knowledge of the intentions of God, from the declarations of the prophets, and now gather it from
hearing their writings read aloud. Thus, collecting some conjectural knowledge of the future, they
emulate the divine authority, by means of the power of divination, which they have surreptitiously
obtained.

With what dexterity, in their oracles, they framed their answers so ambiguously as to apply to either
event, such men as Croesus and Pyrrhus well know. But the Pythian Apollo was able, in the manner
which we have described, to bring back word that Croesus73 was cooking a tortoise with the flesh of a
lamb; he had been to Lydia, and returned in an instant. From their dwelling in the air, and their vicinity
to the stars, and their acquaintance with the clouds, they are able to know what changes are taking
place in the |298 atmosphere, so that they can predict rain, which they already perceive forming. Even
in the means which they are believed to possess of curing sickness, their evil nature is displayed : for
they first inflict an injury, and then propose remedies, which appear so new as to be miraculous, or even
of a directly contrary nature; and after this, they desist from injuring, and are believed to have cured. It
is needless for me to dwell upon the other contrivances, or even upon the powers of deception which
these spirits possess: such as the appearances of Castor and Pollux, the sieve which contained water, a
ship drawn by the girdle of a vestal, a beard which changed colour, and became red by a touch 74. All
these were illusions devised to persuade men to believe images of stone to be gods, and not to seek for
the true God.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MOREOVER, if the practisers of magical arts call forth spectres, and even injure and insult the souls of
the dead,--if they throw boys into convulsions75, to |299 prepare them to give utterance to the words
of the oracle, --if by means of juggling tricks, they pretend to perform numerous miracles,--if they
inspire dreams too, by having the powerful assistance of the angels and demons once invited to attend
them, by whose means even kids and tables have been made the instruments of divination,--how much
more should that spiritual power be exerted of its own accord, and for its own objects, to produce the
same effects, which it thus performs for the advantage of another? Or, if angels and demons perform
the same operations which your gods perform, where then is that supreme excellence of divinity, which
must be believed superior to all other authority1? Would it not be a more reasonable assumption, that
they were truly gods, who made themselves so, since they perform the very same actions which cause
you to believe the divine nature of your gods, than that they are gods simply because they are equal to
angels and demons? We are to conceive, I suppose, that the difference of place causes a distinction :
that the divinity of your gods is acknowledged in their temples, but not in any other place: that the
madness which urges one man to leap from a consecrated tower, is different from that which makes
another throw himself from a neighbouring house; and a man, who mutilates his body, or lacerates his
arms, labours under a different insanity from that which causes another to cut his own throat. The end
of these different acts of madness is the same, and they are incited by the same cause.
But these are mere words: we now appeal to a matter of fact, as a proof that the nature of your gods
and of the demons is the same under different titles. Let any one, who is confessedly under the
influence of demoniacal possession, be brought out here before your |300 tribunal. If the spirit be
commanded by any Christian to speak, he shall as truly confess himself to be a demon, as, in other
places, he falsely professes himself to be a god 76. In like manner, let any one of those be produced,
who are believed to be influenced by your gods, who inhale the inspiration of divinity by breathing the
fumes of the altars, who are bent double in the agonies of suppressed divination, and pant for breath in
giving utterance to their oracles. If that very heavenly virgin, Juno, who promises you rain, if Esculapius
himself, the inventor of medicine, who gave life to Socordius, and Thanatius, and Asclepiadotus,-- men
who must yet die some other day,--do not confess themselves to be demons, not daring to lie to a
Christian, then shed the blood of that most impudent Christian upon the spot. What can be plainer than
such an appeal to facts? What can be more impartial than such a mode of proof? Truth is before you in
all her simplicity: she is supported by her own power alone. There is no room for suspicion.

Will ye say that this effect is produced by magic, or by some fallacy of that kind? The testimony of your
own eyes and ears will not suffer you to be so deceived. And what can be objected to that which |301
shows itself in naked simplicity? If, on the one hand, they are truly gods, why do they falsely confess
themselves demons? Is it in subserviency to us? If so, whatever their divinity be, it is subject to the
Christians. And surely that can be no real divinity at all, which is subject to men, and, to add to the
disgrace, to men who confess a rival divinity. If, on the other hand, they are demons or angels, why do
they on other occasions represent themselves to be gods? For as those, who bear the title of gods, if
they were really divine, would not degrade themselves from the majesty of their nature by
acknowledging themselves to be merely demons, so those, whom by their own confession ye know to
be demons, would not dare to pass for gods on other occasions, if there actually were any such gods, as
those whose names they usurp; for they would fear to insult the majesty of those, who are doubtless
superior to themselves, and the objects of their reverence.

So absolutely nugatory is that divinity of your gods, which ye maintain : since, if it existed, it would
neither be assumed by demons, nor denied by the gods themselves. Since, therefore, each party agrees
in one confession, acknowledging that they are no gods, do ye confess that the two are actually one
kind, that is, that they are demons.

Inquire, then, of each of them, which are really gods: for those, whom ye formerly considered to be
such, ye now acknowledge to be demons. But since, by our exertions, we have extorted from your gods
this avowal, among many others, that neither they nor any such beings are truly divine, ye may
immediately proceed to discover who truly is God; whether he is the same, and he alone, whom we
Christians profess, and whether he is to be believed in, and worshipped, according to the Christian faith
and discipline. |302
Some, however, will say on this occasion, And who is this Christ, with his marvellous tale? As if he were a
mere ordinary man, or a practiser of magic; as if he were stolen from his grave by his disciples, and were
really now with the dead; as if he were not in heaven, whence he shall quickly come, with a terrible
commotion of the whole world, with distress of nations and wailing of all men, except Christians; as the
Virtue of God77, as the Spirit of God, as the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Reason, and the Son of
God. Let your pretended gods join with you in any such profane ridicule; let them deny that Christ will
come to judge every soul which ever lived, reunited to the body; let them assert their belief, before the
tribunal, if haply they agree with Plato and the poets, in regarding this office of judgment to belong to
Minos and Rhadamanthus, and at least avoid the stigma of their present infamy and future damnation.
Let them deny that they are foul spirits, a fact which might at once be understood even from their food,
which is blood, and smoke, and disgusting sacrifices of animals; and from the impure tongues of their
very priests. Let them deny, that, for their wickedness, they are already condemned to that day of
judgment, with all their worshippers and accomplices.

Now all the dominion and power, which we exercise |303 over them, is obtained by the name of Christ,
and by reminding them of the punishment which will come upon them from God by Christ their judge.
Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they are subject to the servants of God and Christ. Hence at our
touch, or at our breath, they are alarmed with the contemplation and representation of that fire, and at
our command depart even from the bodies of men, with reluctance and grief, and blushing with shame
at your presence.

Believe them, when they speak the truth of themselves, since ye believe them, when they speak falsely.
No one speaks a falsehood to disgrace himself, but to enhance his credit; they are therefore more
entitled to belief, when they confess against themselves, than when they deny in their own favour.
Finally, the testimony thus borne by your gods frequently converts men to Christianity: since, by giving
full credit to it, we believe in our Lord Christ. Those very gods animate our faith in the Scriptures; and
establish the confidence of our hope. Ye appease them, I well know, even with the blood of Christians.
If, therefore, they dared to deny the truth, when any Christian desires by their confession to prove to
you what the truth is, they surely would not lose you, who are such profitable and sedulous servants to
them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ALL this confession of your deities, in which they acknowledge that they are not gods, and that there is
none other God but one, whom we serve, is at once a sufficient answer to the accusation of treason
against |304 the public and peculiarly Roman form of religion. For, if they are assuredly no gods, their
religion can have no solid foundation. And if their religion is nugatory, because they are assuredly no
gods, then we, assuredly, are not guilty of treason against religion. But, on the contrary, from the real
nature of the facts, the charge will be turned against yourselves, since, in worshipping a lie, ye not only
neglect, but openly oppose, the true religion of the true God, and thus commit the real crime of actual
irreligion.
But even if it should now be granted that those are gods, will not ye allow, according to the common
opinion, that there is some Being of greater dignity and power, who is the supreme governor of the
world, of infinite might and majesty? For this is the manner, in which most of your philosophers
conceive the Divine power to be exercised, that the absolute authority is vested in one, but that the
various offices are divided among many: as Plato describes the supreme Jupiter in heaven accompanied
with a numerous train of gods and demons. If so, procurators and prefects and presidents ought all to
receive the same respect which is paid to the Emperor. Yet of what offence is any man guilty, who turns
his whole attention, and directs all his hopes, to deserve the favour of Caesar himself; and, as he gives
the name of Emperor to none but Caesar, ascribes divinity to the supreme God alone? since it is
considered a capital offence to speak or hear of any other sovereign than Caesar.

Let one, however, be at liberty to worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift his hands in supplication
towards heaven, another towards the altar of Faith; let one address his prayers to the clouds--if ye so
think of our worship--and another to the decorated ceilings of a temple; let one devote his own soul to
his God, and another sacrifice the life of a goat. For |305 beware, lest, in addition to the charge of
irreligion, ye expose yourselves to the accusation of taking away religious liberty, and forbidding a
person to make choice of the deity, which he will worship, so that I may not pay my adorations where I
will, but be compelled to pay them where I would not. No one, not even a man, would choose to be
treated with forced respect: hence even the Egyptians have permission granted them to practise their
vain superstition, to consecrate birds and beasts, and to condemn to death those who should kill any of
those deities. Besides, every province and state hath its own god. Thus Atargatis is worshipped in Syria,
Dusares in Arabia, Belenus in Noricum, the heavenly Virgin in Africa, in Mauritania their princes. All
these, which I have enumerated, are, I believe, Roman provinces; yet the gods, which they worship, are
not Roman gods, for they are not worshipped at Rome, any more than those are, which are consecrated,
throughout Italy also, as the municipal deities of particular cities; such as Delventinus at Casinum,
Visidianus at Narnia, Ancharia at Aesculum, Nortia at Volsinium, Valentia at Ocriculum, Hostia at
Sutrium; and among the Falisci, Juno succeeded to the honour once paid to her father Cures, and thence
received a peculiar appellation. We alone are forbidden to exercise our own religion: we offend the
Romans, and are not considered to be Romans, because we worship not the god of the Romans. Our
happiness is to know that there is one God of all, whose servants we all are, whether we will obey, or
whether we will forbear. But with you, permission is given to worship any god, except the true God: as if
he, whose we all are, were not peculiarly the God of all. |306

CHAPTER XXV.

I HAVE already, I trust, sufficiently proved which is the false, and which is the true God, having
established the fact, in the foregoing demonstration, not only by reasoning and argument, but by the
very testimony of those, whom ye believe to be gods : so that no further discussion is necessary upon
that point. But since incidental mention hath been made of the name of the Romans, I will not elude the
further question, which is offered by those who maintain that the Romans have been raised to such a
degree of prosperity as to govern the whole world, in consequence of their diligent observance of their
religion: and that the objects of their worship are certainly gods, since those who are their most faithful
adherents, are blessed with prosperity above all others.

We are to suppose then, I presume, that these benefits have been conferred by the Roman gods, as the
reward of piety towards them. Sterculus, and Mutunus, and Larentina have raised the empire to its
present height. For I can never imagine that foreign gods would have favoured a strange nation, more
than they did their own, and given to a people from beyond the sea their own country, in which they
were born, and brought up, and deified, and buried. Let Cybele say, whether her love to the city of
Rome arose from her attachment to the memory of the Trojan race, who were her natural protectors
against the Greeks; and whether she foresaw that she was then passing over to her avengers, who, she
knew, would subdue Greece, the destroyer of Troy. She hath, therefore, even in our time, given a
striking proof what that divinity is, which she transferred to the city of Rome; since, when the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius died at Syrmium, |307 on the seventeenth of March, her chief priest, that most
venerable prince of Eunuchs, was offering the accustomed vows for the safety of the Emperor, Marcus,
and to enforce his prayers, was drinking the impure blood which flowed from his lacerated arms, seven
days after the Emperor's death! Oh! lazy messengers! oh! tardy despatches! by whose delay it
happened, that Cybele was not sooner acquainted with the death of the Emperor, that so the Christians
might have had no cause to deride so sage a deity.

But, if the gods had that power of protecting and rewarding their worshippers, surely Jupiter would
never have suffered his own Crete to be subdued by the Roman power: he never would so soon have
forgotten that cave of Ida, and the brazen cymbals of the Corybantes, and the delightful odour of his
nursing-mother the goat. Would he not have rendered his own tomb far superior to the whole Capitol,
that so the land which contained the ashes of Jupiter should be chosen, in preference to any other, as
the mistress of the world? Again, would Juno have suffered Carthage, that colony of the Phoenicians, for
love of which she neglected Samos, to be destroyed, especially by the descendants of Aeneas? I well
know,

" ---- Here were her arms,

And here her chariot stood : this favourite realm

The goddess loved and cherish'd, as the seat

Of universal empire, if the fates

Should smile propitious 78."

The unhappy wife and sister of Jupiter could do nothing against the fates: in fact,

"Even mighty Jove himself must bend to fate."

Yet, although the fates thus gave Carthage up to the |308 Romans, against the will and intention of
Juno, they never received half so much honour from the Romans as was paid to that most abandoned
harlot Larentina.

Again, it is an acknowledged fact, that many of your gods were sovereigns on earth. If, then, they
possess the power of conferring terrestrial dominion, from whom did they receive their royal authority
when they reigned? Whom did Saturn and Jupiter adore? Some such god as Sterculus, I suppose, with
the other native. Italian gods, who are since so honoured at Rome 79. And even if some of your gods
were not sovereigns, at all events, some, at that time, reigned who were not their worshippers; for they
were not yet accounted gods. Hence the power of conferring dominion is vested in some one else; since
royal sway was exercised, long before one of their idols was ever carved, and his titles engraved.

But how unreasonable is it to ascribe the extent of the Roman power to their scrupulous observance of
their religious ordinances, when their religion hath received its principal advancement since the Empire
hath been established, and raised by gradual accession to its present state. For although Numa first
introduced the peculiarities of your superstition, yet, in his time, the service of your gods was conducted
without images or temples. Your religion was then frugal, and its rites simple: there were no Capitols
lifting their heads to heaven, but altars casually made of turf, and vessels merely of earth, whence the
odour of the offerings arose; and no statues of the gods were any where seen. The invention of the
Greeks and Tuscans had not yet been exercised to inundate the |309 city with statues. The Romans,
then, were not thus religious, until they were great: and, therefore, did not become great, because they
were religious. Nay, how could their greatness be the reward of their religion, when it was obtained by
irreligion? For I suppose it will be granted, that all dominion is acquired by war, and extended by
victories. Now war and victories are usually signalized by the capture and destruction of the enemies'
cities: and that cannot be effected, without injuring their gods. Walls and temples fall in one common
ruin: the sword spares neither citizens nor priests; and rapine commits equal ravages upon sacred and
profane wealth. The sacrileges of the Romans, therefore, are as numerous as their trophies: their
triumphs are celebrated equally over the gods and over the nations: the statues of captive deities still
existing are so many spoils of war.

These very gods, then, suffer themselves to be adored by their enemies, and reward with endless
empire those, whom they ought rather to punish for their outrages, than to favour for their adulation.
But on beings without consciousness, as injuries may be committed with impunity, so honour is vainly
bestowed. No one can, surely, believe, that a people have risen to power for their religion, who, as we
have shown, have either augmented their power by injuring religion, or injured religion by that very
increase. For even all those nations, whose independent kingdoms are now united to form the Roman
Empire, had their own several religions, at the time when they lost their power. |310
CHAPTER XXVI.

CONSIDER, then, whether he is not the dispenser of kingdoms, to whom belongs the world, which is
governed, and man, who governs it: whether he hath not ordained all the changes of empire, in their
several periods during all ages; who was, before all time; who framed eternity into a regular succession
of time; whether it is not he who raises and depresses states, under whom the human race once existed
without any kind of civil government. Why do ye err in this matter? Rome, in her humble and rustic
state, was prior to some of her own gods : she reigned, before the circuit of the Capitol was erected. The
Babylonian monarchy was established before your priests; the Medes reigned before your
Quindecimviri; the Egyptians before the Salii; the Assyrians before the Luperci; the Amazons before your
Vestal virgins. Finally, if the religion of the Romans had the power of conferring kingdoms, Judea, which
despised all those gods alike, would never have reigned in times past. And yet ye Romans honoured the
God of the Jews with victims, and his temple with gifts, and the people, at various periods, with treaties;
and, would never have subdued that nation, if in the end it had not filled up the measure of its
iniquities, by its treatment of Christ.

CHAPTER XXVII.

WE have now sufficiently answered the accusation of treason against your religion; and proved that we
are not guilty of any injury against the divinity of your gods, by showing it hath no existence. When,
|311 therefore, we are invited to offer sacrifice, we strenuously defend ourselves, by advancing the
faithful testimony of our own conscience, which assures us what persons they really are, to whom those
rites are consecrated, by the dedication of images, and the deification of human names. Some, however,
think it mere madness in us, obstinately to prefer perseverance to safety: we might, easily, they think,
offer sacrifice for the present, and depart uninjured, still mentally retaining our own sentiments. Thus ye
yourselves suggest means, by which we might deceive you. But we know what enemy it is, who suggests
all these expedients, who causes all this vexation, and strives to overcome our constancy, sometimes by
cunning craftiness of persuasion, and sometimes by the severity of punishment. It is that spirit, who
partakes at once of the nature of devils and of angels; who, in consequence of his own fall, being jealous
of us, and envious of the divine grace which is given unto us, influences your minds against us, moulding
and leading them by his secret inspiration to that violation of justice, and that iniquity of punishment,
which I have already exposed in the beginning of this Apology. For although all the power of demons
and of spirits of a like nature is subject to us, they still are like vicious servants, who add contumacy to
their fear, and strive to injure those, whom they otherwise reverence: for fear itself inspires hatred.
Besides this, their desperate condition of eternal damnation finds some kind of consolation in the
indulgence of malice; while their punishment is yet delayed. Yet, when they are taken, they are at once
subdued, and yield to the necessity of their condition; at a distance they fight against those, whose
mercy they supplicate when near at hand. Hence, when they exercise their malice against us, in whose
power they are, and cause us to be condemned, like disobedient and |312 rebellious slaves, to labour in
prisons, or in the mines, or to undergo any other kind of servile punishment, they know well how
unequal in power they are, and that their real nature is the more surely betrayed 80 by these abortive
attempts. We, therefore, oppose these evil spirits as it were upon equal ground; we resist them by
persisting in the cause which they oppose; and are never more triumphant over them, than when we
are condemned to suffer for our perseverance in the faith.
CHAPTER XXVIII.

IT would easily appear how unjust it is that free men should be driven to sacrifice to the gods, when in
all other instances a willing mind is required as an indispensable qualification for any office of religion;
but, at all events, it must seem the height of absurdity, that any one should be compelled to honour the
gods, whom he ought to propitiate for their own sake; that he may not have the liberty of saying, I will
not have Jupiter propitious to me. Who are you? Let Janus meet me with anger seated upon either of his
brows. What right have you to interfere with me? Ye are, in fact, urged by the same spirits, to compel us
to sacrifice for the safety of the Emperor. The necessity of compelling us is as obligatory upon you, as
the duty of suffering for our faith is upon us.

We now come to the second charge of treason against a Majesty more august than that of your gods.
For ye reverence Csesar with greater apprehension, and more fervent timidity81, than the Olympian
Jove |313 himself; and with good reason, if ye knew the truth. For is not every living person far better
than any dead one82? Neither do ye even this so much from the dictates of reason, as from the respect
which ye bear to his immediate and intrinsic power. Thus, in this instance also, ye are proved to be guilty
of irreverence towards your gods, since ye pay greater respect to human power. In fact, among you, a
man had better forswear himself by all the gods, than by the simple genius of Caesar.

CHAPTER XXIX.

YE ought, then, first to prove, whether they, to whom sacrifice is offered, are able to give prosperity to
the Emperor, or to any man; and then to accuse us for neglecting to comply. If angels or demons, in
their own nature the worst kind of spirits, confer any benefit; if the lost can save; if the condemned can
liberate; if the dead--as your conscience confesses them to be-- can defend the living; then let them first
protect their own statues, and images, and temples, which, now I fancy, require the nightly protection of
the imperial guard. Nay, I imagine the very materials, of which they are composed, come from Caesar's
mines; and every temple depends upon Caesar's will. Besides, many gods have had an enemy in Caesar.
Even if he is propitious, this strengthens our cause, that he should be able so to exercise his liberality,
and to confer privileges upon them. Now, how should they, who are in Caesar's power, who depend
entirely upon him, have the prosperity of Caesar in their power? How can they grant to him what they
might more easily obtain from him? |314

This, then, is the amount of our crime against the Emperors, that we will not subject them to what is
their own; that we do not join in ridiculous addresses for their welfare, nor believe them to be in hands,
which require to be fastened with lead. Ye, I presume, are the only religious persons, who seek for
prosperity for your Emperors, where it cannot be found; who demand it of him, who hath it not to give;
while ye pass over him, in whose power it is: and, besides, persecute those who know how to ask for it;
and by such knowledge would be able to obtain it.
CHAPTER XXX.

FOR the God whom we invoke for the safety of the Emperors, is the eternal God, the true God, the living
God, whom the Emperors themselves would wish to propitiate above all others. They know who it is
who hath given them power: they know, as human beings, who hath given them life also. They perceive
that he is God alone, in whose power alone they are, under whom they hold the second place, after
whom they occupy the first rank, before all and above all gods. For they are superior to all men living;
and all who live are surely superior to the dead 83. They consider how far the bounds of their power
extends; and thus understand what God is. They acknowledge that their power is derived from him,
against whom their authority avails nothing. Let any Emperor make war on heaven, lead heaven captive
in his triumphal procession, set a guard over heaven, and impose a tribute upon it. He can do no such
thing. His power arises only from this, that he is inferior to heaven. For he belongs to |315 that Being, in
whose power is heaven and every creature. He hath no other origin as Emperor, than he had, as a man,
before he was Emperor: his power and his life are alike the gifts of God. To that God we Christians look
up with hands extended, because they are innocent; with head uncovered, because we have nothing of
which we are ashamed; and pray without a prompter 84, because we pray from the heart. We all pray
without ceasing for all Emperors, beseeching for them a long life, a secure reign; that their families may
be preserved in safety, their armies brave, the senate faithful, the people honest, the whole world
peaceful, and whatever other things either the people or the Emperor can desire. I can prefer these
prayers to Him only, who I know will grant them, since it is he alone, in whose power they are; and I am
one whom he will hear, one of those who alone are his servants. For his sake I am killed. To him I offer
the rich and more excellent sacrifice, which he himself hath ordained85, prayer out of a clean heart, and
innocent mind, and sanctified spirit. I offer not a grain of frankincense which is sold for one farthing, nor
the tears of an Arabian tree, nor two drops of wine, nor the blood of a cast-away ox, which would be
glad to die; and after all other abominations, even a defiled |316 conscience; so that it is a wonder,
when the most reprobate priests are appointed to examine your victims, why the inquiry is made into
the hearts of the sacrifices, rather than into those of the sacrificers.

When, then, we are thus stretching forth our hands in prayer to God, let piercing instruments lacerate
our flesh, let crosses sustain, and flames devour us, let swords strike off our heads, and wild beasts rend
us; the very attitude of a Christian in prayer is prepared for every kind of punishment.

Take especial care of this86, ye excellent and just judges: rack the soul which is praying to God for the
Emperor. This will be a crime, when truth and devotion to God is.

CHAPTER XXXI.

BUT perhaps it will be said, we merely flatter the Emperor, and counterfeit the vows, which we have
mentioned, to avoid punishment. The accusation of this deceit is not without its advantage; for ye
permit us to prove what we allege in our defence. Ye, therefore, who think we care nothing for the
safety of the Emperors, examine the word of God, our Scriptures; we conceal them not, and many
accidents bring them to the knowledge of those who are strangers to our faith. Learn from them, that
we are commanded, in the overflowing fulness of Christian charity, to pray to God even for our enemies,
and to supplicate all good things for our persecutors87. Who are greater enemies |317 and persecutors
of the Christians, than those against whom we are accused of treason? Whereas we are commanded
plainly and expressly, in these words, "Pray for kings, and for princes, and authorities, that all things may
be peaceable to you88." For when the whole empire is shaken, by the disturbance of its other members,
we too, although entirely removed from all civil contentions, must yet be found in some place exposed
to accidental injuries.

CHAPTER XXXII.

WE have another and greater necessity, which urges us to pray for the Emperors, and for the prosperity
of the whole Empire and condition of the Romans, since we know that the violent commotions which
are impending over the whole world, and even the end of all things, which threatens the most horrible
desolation, is retarded by the continuance of the Roman Empire89. We would willingly avoid these evils;
and |318 while we pray that they may be deferred, we favour the duration of the Roman power.

Moreover, if we swear not by the genius of the Emperors90, we swear by their safety, which is an oath
of greater respect than any genius. Can ye possibly be ignorant, that the genii are called Demons, and
thence by a diminutive, Daemonia? We reverence, in the Emperors, the providence of God, who placed
them on their throne91. We know that the power which they possess is in conformity to the will of God;
and we therefore are desirous that what is the will of God should be safe; and we regard this as a
powerful oath. But, with respect to the demons, that is the genii of which ye speak, our custom is to
adjure92 them, in |319 order to cast them out of men, and not to swear by them, as if we attributed to
them divine honour.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

BUT why should I longer dwell upon the religion and piety of the Christians towards the Emperor, whom
we must necessarily reverence as the person whom our Lord hath chosen, and who, I might justly say, is
to us something more than Caesar, since he is appointed by our God. Hence I act the more efficaciously
for his welfare in this respect, that I not only pray for it to Him who is able to grant it, and, as a Christian,
deserve to obtain it, but by subjecting the majesty of Caesar to God, I commend him the more to God,
to whom alone I make him subject. And in thus subjecting him to God, I do not make him equal to God.
For I will never call the Emperor god, not only because I cannot lie, but because I dare not insult him by
pretended devotion, and because he would not wish himself to be called a god. If he be a man, it is the
true interest of every human being to give way to God : it is sufficient for him to be called Emperor. Even
this is a noble title, which is given to him by God. He who calls him a god, deprives him of the title of
Emperor93. He is not an Emperor unless he be a man. He is admonished of his human nature, even
when he is riding in triumphal procession in his lofty chariot; for even then a person placed behind him
whispers in his ear, "Look back : remember that thou art a man." And, in fact, the necessity that he
should be thus admonished |320 of his condition, adds to the satisfaction which he feels at the
splendour which glitters around him. He would be really less, if he were then called a god; because it
would be false. He is greater when he is recalled to himself, that he may not esteem himself a god.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

AUGUSTUS, the founder of the Empire, would never permit himself to be styled even Lord94. For this
also is a name peculiar to God. I may simply call the Emperor, lord, but as an ordinary appellation, not
when I am forced to call him Lord, in the place of God, But I am his free subject95: for I have but one
Lord, the omnipotent and eternal God, who is also his Lord. How can he, who is properly styled the
Father of his country, be its lord. Besides, the name which entitles him to filial respect is more grateful
than that which implies absolute power. Any one, in his own family, would rather be called father than
lord. So far is the Emperor from being entitled to be called God; a supposition indeed which never could
be believed, except by an adulation as pernicious as it is base. It is as if, when ye have one Emperor, ye
addressed yourselves to another. By so doing, would ye not unpardonably offend your own Emperor,
and expose him, whom ye address, to fearful danger? Be rather religious towards God, if ye would have
him favourable to the Emperor. Cease to regard any other as God, and thus to call him a god, who
himself hath need of God. And if your |321 adulation be of such a nature that it blushes not to assert
such a falsehood, in addressing a man as God, at least let it be afraid of the ill omen which it implies. It is
nothing less than a malediction to address Caesar as a god, before his apotheosis.

CHAPTER XXXV.

FOR this reason, then, the Christians are treated as public enemies, because they refuse to ascribe vain,
and lying, and unauthorized honours to the Emperors; because, in the spirit of true religion, their
services are seated in the heart, rather than displayed in wanton excess. It is, forsooth, a great instance
of zealous attachment, to bring out publicly fire and couches, to feast throughout all the streets, to turn
the whole city into one tavern, to spill wine upon the ground, and run about in troops to commit every
act of violence, and indecency, and lust. Is the public joy thus expressed by the public disgrace? Are acts
proper to be performed on the festal day of the Prince 96, which are improper on all other days97? Shall
they who, out of respect to Caesar, usually observe discipline, on his account cast it off? Shall piety be
an excuse for licentiousness; religion an occasion of luxury?

O how justly are we to be condemned! For why do we make our vows, and keep our festivities for
Caesar, with chastity, and sobriety, and moderation? Why, on the day of public rejoicing, do we not
cover |322 our doors with laurel, and violate the light of day by an artificial display of lamps? When a
public solemnity requires it, to decorate your house as if it were some new brothel, is a mark of
respectability. With respect, however, to the religion which ye say is due to some second degree of
divine authority,--and for which ye accuse us Christians of a second sacrilege, because we refuse to
celebrate the festivals of the Emperors, in a manner not permitted by modesty, or bashfulness, or
sobriety, and introduced rather as an occasion of unlawful enjoyment, than in compliance with the
persuasion of right reason,--I am desirous to show what is your own fidelity and truth, lest, haply, those
who will not permit us to be regarded as Romans, but as enemies of the Roman sovereigns, should in
this instance also be found worse than the Christians themselves. I appeal to the citizens of Rome, to the
populace, who dwell upon the seven hills, whether their language spares any one of the Caesars? The
low habitations on the border of the Tiber, and the shows of wild beasts, which are the schools where
the multitude learn their manners, bear sufficient testimony to this. In fact, had nature placed some
transparent substance in every man's breast, on whose heart would there not be found imprinted the
scene of another and again another Caesar, presiding at the distribution of the largess on his accession;
and that too in the very hour when they are shouting,

"Jove, take our years to lengthen Caesar's life."

A Christian would be as far from pronouncing such a prayer, as he would be from wishing for a new
Emperor.

But these, ye will say, are the mere vulgar. But if they are the vulgar, they are yet Romans; and there are
no greater persecutors of the Christians than |323 the vulgar. Of course, however, all the other orders
of the state are scrupulously faithful, in proportion to their rank: no treason was ever breathed from the
Senate itself, from the Equestrian order, from the military, or from the very court. Whence then came a
Cassius 98, a Niger, an Albinus? Whence arose those who attacked the Emperor (Commodus) between
the two groves of laurel? and those who exercised themselves in wrestling to acquire strength to
strangle him? Whence came those who rushed in arms into the palace, [to murder Pertinax,] in a more
audacious manner than Sigerius and Parthenius employed [in the murder of Domitian?] The actors in all
these scenes were Romans, T fancy, that is, were not Christians. Hence all of them, up to the very
breaking out of their treason, constantly sacrificed for the welfare of the Emperor, and sware by his
genius. In all of them there was a great difference between their outward deportment and their inward
sentiments: and doubtless they gave the Christians the name of public enemies. Nay, look at those who
are daily discovered as the accomplices and abettors of similar wicked attempts, a gleaning of the full
vintage of parricide: how careful were they to fill their door-ways with the freshest and most
umbrageous laurels? how did they cover the entrance of their houses with the loftiest and brightest
lamps? how did they divide the forum among themselves by a display of the most highly decorated and
splendid couches? All this they did, not as partaking in the celebration of the public festivity, but that
they might pay their vows for the success of their own schemes, in a solemnity appointed for a different
purpose, and inaugurate an emblem and |324 image of their own hopes, changing in their hearts the
name of the Emperor.

Those also perform their duty in the same manner, who consult astrologers and soothsayers, and
augurs, and magicians, respecting the person of the Emperor; arts to which Christians never have
recourse, even in their own private affairs, inasmuch as they were delivered by fallen angels, and are
forbidden by God. For who can need to make any inquiry about the welfare of the Emperor, unless he
designs or wishes something contrary to it, or encourages the expectation of some benefit after his
death? For a consultation of this nature is made with a very different spirit respecting a man's friends
and his sovereign. The solicitude of natural affection is very different from that of slavery.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

IF, then, they are proved to be enemies, who yet were called Romans, why are we refused the name of
Romans, because we are presumed to be enemies? Is it impossible that we should be Romans, and yet
not enemies, because some are found to be enemies, who were called Romans? Piety, and religion, and
fidelity to the Emperors consist not in those observances, which rather serve as a cloak for the purposes
of hostility, but in conduct which obliges us to display our respect to the Emperor as truly as our kindly
disposition towards all men. For the exercise of good will is not required of us with respect to the
Emperors alone. We are bound to do good without respect of persons; for we do it for our own sakes,
and look for a return of commendation and reward |325 not from men but from God, who requires and
will repay disinterested charity. We trust our Emperors and our neighbours alike. For we are alike
forbidden to wish, or to do, or to say, or to think any evil of any one. What we are forbidden to do
towards the Emperor, we are not permitted to do towards any one else. What we may do to no one
else, we are perhaps still more bound not to do to him. whom God hath raised to such an elevation.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

IF, then, we are commanded to love our enemies, as I have before shown, whom have we to hate? If,
when injured, we are forbidden to return evil for evil, lest we should be like our adversaries, whom can
we hurt? And on this point do ye yourselves be judges. For how frequently do ye use violence against
the Christians, sometimes at the instigation of private malice, and sometimes according to the forms of
law! How often also--not to mention yourselves--do the common people in their rage attack us of their
own accord with stones and flames! In the furious orgies of the Bacchanalians, they spare not even the
dead bodies of the Christians: they draw them forth, from the resting-place of the grave, from the
asylum of death; they cut in pieces, and drag asunder, corpses which cannot be recognized, and are no
longer entire. But among all those, against whom such cruelties are exercised, and who are so provoked,
even to death, what instance did ye ever discover, in which the injury was retaliated? Although even one
night, with the aid of a torch or two, would afford abundant means of revenge, |326 if we were
permitted to return evil for evil. But God forbid that our religion should require the fires of the
incendiary to prove its divine origin, or should grieve at sufferings by which its truth is tried. For if we
wished to act, not as secret avengers, but as open enemies, think ye that we should lack numbers and
forces? As well might ye say that any one nation, such as the Mauri, the Marcomanni, the Parthians
themselves, or any other tribe confined to its own territory, was more numerous than the rest of the
world united. We are but of yesterday, and have already filled all your empire, your towns, islands, forts,
boroughs, councils, your very camp, every tribe and quarter of the city, the palace, the senate, the
forum 99. |327 We leave you nothing but your temples. We can calculate the number of your armies:
the Christians of one province would exceed it. Even with inferior numbers, for what war should we not
be ready, and fitted, when we possess such passive courage as to submit patiently to death, if our
principles did not instruct us rather to be slain than to slay? We might, indeed, effectually oppose you
even without arms, and without active resistance or revolt, by merely separating ourselves from you.
For if such a multitude of men, as we are, should suddenly remove to some remote extremity of the
world, the loss of so many citizens, of whatever kind they were, would overwhelm your whole empire
with shame, and punish it simply by desertion. Without all doubt ye would be terrified at the solitude in
which ye found yourselves placed, at the silence of all things around you, and, as it were, at the awful
stillness of a dead world; and would look about in vain for subjects to govern. Ye would have more
enemies than citizens left. For even now ye have fewer enemies than ye otherwise would have, on
account of the multitude of Christians, since almost all the citizens of almost all cities are Christians.

But, notwithstanding this, ye prefer calling us enemies of the human race. Whereas who else would
rescue you from enemies, which are secretly in all directions destroying your souls, and undermining
your health? I speak of the incursions of demons, which we repel from you without fee or reward 100.

This alone would afford us an ample revenge, that |328 we should leave you in the undisturbed
possession of unclean spirits. Yet ye repay us not for this invaluable protection, but treat a race of men,
who are not only harmless, but necessary to your welfare, as enemies; and enemies indeed we are, not
of the human race, but rather of all kinds of error.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

OUR religion, therefore, ought to be still more leniently regarded, among those sects which are
tolerated; since we commit none of those enormities, which are apprehended from such factions as are
disallowed. For, doubtless, the legitimate object of government, in prohibiting factions, is to guard the
public peace, and prevent the state from being divided into various parties; since this would soon create
disturbance in your assemblies, in your councils, your courts, your meetings, and even in your public
spectacles, by the conflict of those who favour different parties, especially at a time when men are
found, who from vile and mercenary motives will lend themselves to the perpetration of any violence.
But we, who are dead to all desires of glory and dignity, have no occasion to join in any assemblies; and
no life is more alien from our habits than public life. We look upon ourselves as citizens of one state
only, which is the whole world. In like manner we renounce your public spectacles, since we know they
originated in superstition; and have no dealings with what is there transacted. What we speak, and see,
and hear, hath nothing in common with the madness of the circus, the indecency of the theatre, the
cruelty of the arena, or the vanity of your athletic exercises. Ye permitted the Epicureans to boast that
|329 they had discovered the true secret of pleasure. Why are ye offended at us if we have recourse to
other pleasures of our own? If we will be ignorant of the art of enjoyment, the loss is ours; at all events,
not yours. But we renounce what pleases yon, and our occupations delight you not.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

I SHALL now set forth the facts relating to the Christian faith; that, having refuted the calumnies
advanced against it, I may display its goodness, by a representation of the truth. We are a body united in
the profession of religion, in the same rights of worship, and in the bond of a common hope. We meet in
one place, and form an assembly, that we may, as it were, come before God in one united body, and so
address him in prayer. This is a violence, which is well pleasing to God. We pray also for the Emperors,
and for those in authority under them, for the powers of this world, for the maintenance of peace, and
for the delay of final judgment.

We meet, also, for reading the holy Scriptures, as the circumstances of the times require us to receive
instruction for the future, or remembrance of the past. By the study of those holy words we most surely
nourish our faith, elevate our hope, confirm our assurance, and strengthen our attachment to its
precepts, even under persecution 101. In the same place we deliver exhortations, reproofs, and the
religious censure of excommunication. For our judgments are given |330 with great solemnity, as
among men who are conscious that they are in the sight of God; and it is the surest anticipation of
future judgment, if any one who offends is therefore banished from all communion of prayer, and from
our public assemblies, and from all holy intercourse.

There preside over us certain approved elders 102, who have obtained that honour not by purchase, but
by public testimony: for no office of God is to be bought with money. If there is a public chest, the
money collected is no dishonourable sum, as if it belonged to a purchased religion. Every one makes a
small contribution, on a certain day of the month, or when he chooses, provided only he is willing and
able: for no one is compelled; all is voluntary. The amount is, as it were, a common fund of piety. Since it
is expended . not in feasting, or drinking, or indecent excess, but in feeding and burying the poor, and in
supporting children of either sex, who have neither parents nor means of subsistence, and old men now
confined to their houses, and incapable of work; in relieving those also who have been shipwrecked: and
if there are any in the mines, or in the islands, or in prison, provided they |331 suffer for the cause of
God's religion, they are the almsmen of the bounty, to which their confession entitles them.

But even the working of a charity like this is by some made a cause of censure against us. "See," say
they, "how these Christians love one another!" For they themselves hate one another: and, "How ready
each one is to die for the other!" For they themselves are much more ready to put one another to
death. If, again, we are blamed for styling one another brethre.n, this can, I imagine, be made matter of
reproach for this reason only, that among themselves all names of kindred are affected only for feigned
purposes. We acknowledge ourselves to be even your brethren, having one nature as our common
mother, although ye have forfeited your title to be considered human beings, because ye are bad
brethren. With how much more reason, then, are we both called and esteemed brethren, who have all
recognized one Father, even God, who have all drunk of one spirit of holiness, who have all trembled
with astonishment, when we have been born, as it were, from the same womb of ignorance, into the
same light of truth!

But, it may be, we are the less regarded as real brethren, because no tragedy derives materials for
declamation from our brotherhood, or because, as brethren, we unite in the use of our common
property, which, with you, is the greatest cause of discord among brethren. Hence we, who are of one
mind and one soul, hesitate not to communicate what we possess one with another. All things which we
have are in common, except our wives. Our community of property ceases, in that very point, in which
alone other men have any thing in common; for they not only violate the marriage bed of others, but
most patiently allow their friends access to their own; following, I imagine, |332 the lessons of those
wisest of men, the Grecian Socrates, and the Roman Cato 103, who lent to their friends the wives whom
they had married, that they might bear children to others. How far this was against the consent of their
wives, I know not: for why should they be careful of their chastity, of which their husbands so easily
disposed? Oh! wisdom of Athens! oh! rare example of Roman gravity! The Philosopher and the Censor
each disposes of his wife's virtue.

What wonder is it, then, if, maintaining such good will towards each other, we should feast together.
For, I understand, our moderate entertainments are not only accused as scenes of infamy, but censured
as extravagantly expensive. Whereas, in truth, Diogenes might have alluded to us, when he said, "The
people of Megara feast as if they were to die to-morrow, and build as if they were to live for ever." But
every one sees a mote in another's eye, sooner than a beam in his own. The whole air is soured with the
gross exhalations of all your tribes, and wards, and quarters of your city, at their feasts. The Salii cannot
sup, without borrowing money to pay for the banquet. Accountants are necessary expressly to calculate
the expense of the tithes and offerings made to Hercules. An especial levy of cooks is made for the
Apaturia, or mysteries of Bacchus104. At the smoke of the supper of Serapis, firemen are called out. Yet
the only complaint which is made, is at the simple meal of the Christians. Our supper sufficiently shows
its meaning by its very name. It is called by a term which in Greek signifies love. Whatever may be its
|333 cost, an expense incurred in the cause of religion is in fact a gain, since by this refreshment we
assist all who are in need; not in the manner in which parasites with you eagerly expose themselves to
every kind of indignity and ill usage, which the licentiousness of the banquet may inspire, to gratify their
appetite; but with the full conviction that God more especially regards the poor.

If the cause of our feast be honourable, consider the order of the rest of our regulations, how
appropriate it is to the duties of religion. It admits nothing indecorous, nothing indecent. We sit not
down to eat, until prayer to God be made, as it were, the first morsel105. We eat as much as will satisfy
hunger, and drink as much as is useful for the temperate. We commit no excess, for we remember that
even during the night we are to make our prayers to God. Our conversation is that of men who are
conscious that the Lord hears them. After water is brought for the hands, and lights, we are invited to
sing to God, according as each one can propose a subject from the |334 Holy Scriptures, or of his own
composing. This is the proof in what manner we have drunk.

Prayer in like manner concludes the feast. Thence we depart, not to join a crowd of disturbers of the
peace, nor to follow a troop of brawlers; nor to break out in any excess of wanton riot; but "to maintain
the same staid and modest demeanour, as if we were departing, not from a supper, but from a lecture.
This society of the Christians is truly unlawful, if it be like those which are unlawful: and ought indeed to
be condemned, if it be not contrary to those which are condemned; if any one brings an accusation
against it, such as is alleged against other factions. Whom have we ever injured in our assemblies? We
are the same when we are collected, as when dispersed; the same united, as we are separated; injuring
no one, grieving no one. When men of probity, and goodness, and piety, and chastity, are thus
assembled, the meeting is not to be called a faction, but a court.

CHAPTER XL.

ON the contrary, the name of a faction is appropriately applied to those who unite in hatred of the just
and good, who join in the outcry against innocent blood, however they may cover their malice with the
vain pretext, that the Christians are the cause of every public calamity and every inconvenience which
the people suffer. If the Tiber rises against the walls of the city, or the Nile does not overflow its banks, if
there is drought, or earthquake, or famine, or pestilence, the cry at once is, "Take the Christians to the
lion!"-- What! so many to one beast?

Tell me, pray, before the reign of Tiberius, that is, |335 before the birth of Christ, how many misfortunes
afflicted the empire and the city of Rome? We read of the islands Hiera, Anaphe, Delos, Rhodes, and Cos
having been desolated, with the loss of many thousand men. Plato also mentions a tract of land, greater
than Asia and Africa, to have been swallowed up by the sea. An earthquake engulphed part of the
Corinthian sea; and the force of the waves cut off Lucania from Italy, and caused its name to be changed
to Sicily. Now all these changes doubtless occurred not without injury to the inhabitants. But where
were then,--I say not the Christians who despise your gods, but where were your gods themselves,--
when the deluge destroyed the whole world; or, as Plato supposed, the plains only? For the very cities,
in which your deities were bom and died, and those which they founded, unite in proving that they were
subsequent to the destruction caused by the deluge. For had not the cities been posterior to that
period, they never would have remained to this day.

The swarm of the Jewish nation had not yet settled in Palestine, nor had the origin of the Christian
religion been there laid, when a shower of fire burnt up the neighbouring region of Sodom and
Gomorrha. The whole earth there still retains the smell of fire, and the fruit of any tree which
endeavours to bear, is fair to the eye, but dissolves to ashes at the touch.

Again, neither Tuscany nor Campania complained of the Christians, when fire from heaven
overwhelmed the city Volsinii, and flames from their own mountain consumed Pompeii. There were, at
Rome, no worshippers of the true God, when Hannibal, at Cannse, measured in a bushel the rings of the
Romans who were slain in battle. All your gods were universally adored, when the Gauls besieged the
very Capitol. It is remarkable, too, that when any misfortune befel the |336 cities, the temples suffered
as well as the walls; so that even from this fact I might prove, that the calamities were not sent by your
gods, since they happened to themselves.
The human race hath always deserved punishment, from God: in the first place, because they served
him not; but, when they understood him in part, they not only sought him riot out as an object of
reverence and fear, but speedily made for themselves other gods : and then, because seeking him not as
the rewarder of! innocence and the judge and avenger of guilt, they have given themselves up to all
kinds of vices and crimes. If, on the other hand, they had sought him, they would assuredly have found
him; and, when found, they would have served him, and, by serving him would have been the objects of
his mercy rather than of his anger. But now it is just that they should be exposed to the anger of God, in
the same manner as they were before the name of Christian was ever heard. Since they experienced
benefits from him, long before their own gods were feigned to exist, why should they not understand
that their misfortunes have come from him, whose benefits they had not noticed? They are justly
subject to condemnation, in that they are ungrateful.

If, however, we compare former calamities with the present, we shall find that the world is now less
severely visited, since God gave Christians to inhabit it. For from that period, their innocence hath
tempered the depravity of the age; and they have begun to be intercessors with God.

Finally, when ye suffer so from drought, that your summer is as barren as your winter, and ye fear even
for the natural return of the seasons, feeding daily to the full, and running from one excess of gluttony
to another, after having indulged in your baths and in taverns and brothels, ye sacrifice offerings to
Jupiter to |337 obtain rain, command the people to walk barefoot in processions, seek for heaven in the
Capitol, and look for a supply of rain to the ceilings of your temples, forgetful alike of God and of
heaven. Meanwhilewe, shrunk with fasting, and worn out with abstinence of every kind, cut off from all
enjoyment of life, foiling in sackcloth and ashes, weary heaven with the importunity of our prayers, and
reach the ear of God : and when we have thus extorted mercy, ye give honour to Jupiter, and neglect
God.

CHAPTER XLI.

YE, therefore, are the causes of calamity to mankind: ye bring misfortune and evil upon the state, by
despising the true God and adoring images. For it is plainly more probable that he who is neglected
should be angry, rather than they who are worshipped. Or surely they are of all others the most unjust,
if, for the sake of the Christians, they injure even their own worshippers, whom they ought to keep
separate from the offences of the Christians. But, ye will say, this is an argument which may be retorted
against the God whom ye Christians worship, since he too permits his followers to be injured on account
of the profane. First, however, admit the dispositions of his Providence to be what they really are, and
ye will no longer turn this argument against us. For he, who hath decreed an eternal judgment once for
all, after the end of this world, hastens not that separation, which is the peculiar act of judgment, until
the last day. Meanwhile, he is impartial towards the whole human race, both in his mercy and in his
chastisement. His will is, that good and evil should happen alike to the profane and to the believer; that
we might all alike experience both the |338 goodness and the severity of God. Since we have been so
taught of him. we love his goodness, and fear his severity, whereas ye, on the contrary, despise both.
Hence all the troubles of this world, if they happen to fall upon us, are for our admonition; if upon you,
they are regarded as a punishment sent from God. All these things, however, injure us not: in the first
place, because we have no further concern with this world than how we may most quickly depart from
it; and also, because if we suffer any affliction, we ascribe it to. your sins. And even if any of these affect
us also, as being connected with you, we rather rejoice, inasmuch as we perceive in them the fulfilment
of the divine predictions, which confirm the confidence and faith of our hope. But if all these evils come
upon you, for our sake, from the gods whom ye worship, why do ye persevere in serving such ungrateful
and unjust gods, who ought rather to assist and relieve you, to the grief and discomfort of the
Christians?

CHAPTER XLII.

BUT we are called upon to answer another charge: we are said to be useless for the ordinary business of
life. How can such an accusation be maintained against men who live among yourselves, using the same
food and raiment and habits of living, and the same necessaries of life? We are not like the Brachmans,
or the Gymnosophists of the Indians, dwellers in the woods, and exiles from ordinary life. We remember
the gratitude which we owe to God our Lord and Creator. We reject no fruit of his works; albeit we are
temperate, so as to use them not to excess, nor in an improper manner. Hence, while we live in this
world, we frequent your market, your shambles, your baths, |339 your taverns, your shops, your inns,
your fairs, and all other places of resort. We unite with you in navigation, and in war, and in husbandry,
and in trade. We give you all the benefit of our arts and of our labour. How then we can be accused of
being useless to your ordinary business, when we live with you and by you, I know not. If. I frequent not
your religious ceremonies, yet, on the day appointed for them, I am still a human being, as on other
days. At the period of your Saturnalia, I bathe not, like yourselves, at night, lest I should lose the night
and the day too: but I do yet bathe at my usual hour, which is the most salubrious, and by those means
preserve the warmth of my body, and the wholesome condition of my blood. It will be time enough for
me to be stiff and pale after bathing, when I am dead. At the feasts in honour of your gods, I sit not
down in public to the banquet, as those unhappy men do, who take their last meal, before they are
thrown to the wild beasts; but. wherever I sup, I eat of the same provisions as yourself. I purchase no
crown for my head106; how can ye be affected with the |340 manner in which I choose to dispose of
the flowers, which I yet purchase? I conceive them to be more grateful, when they are permitted to fall
freely, and loosely, and without constraint. But even if we form them into a crown, we place them so as
to be more agreeable to the sense of smelling. Let those give as rational an account of their custom,
who act as if their hair were the organ of that sense. We assemble not, it is true, at your public
spectacles: but if I require any of the conveniences, which are so frequently sold at those occasions of
public resort, I prefer procuring them in their proper places. We purchase not frankincense. If the
people of Arabia complain, let them remember that their spices are consumed in greater profusion, and
at a higher cost, in preparing the bodies of Christians for burial, than in burning incense to your gods.
"But," ye say, "the revenues of our temples continually decrease. How few now pay their appointed
tribute to the gods?" This charge may be true: for we cannot afford to relieve your mendicant gods,
while we succour men who are in want. Resides, we give to those only who ask. Let Jupiter, then, hold
out his hand, and he shall receive; for our charity dispenses more in every street, than your religion in
each temple. But tribute of every other kind is deeply indebted to the Christians, who pay that which is
due, with the fidelity with which we abstain from all fraud. Whereas, if an account were kept of the
injury which the commonwealth suffers by the fraud and falsehood which ye exercise, it would plainly
appear, that the accurate statement, which we make, of the tribute which we owe, was much more than
a compensation for any complaint which ye make upon any other point. |341

CHAPTER XLIII.

I WILL, however, frankly confess, that there may be some who have reason to complain of the little
support which they receive from the Christians. Among the first of these will be the vile panders and
slaves of every kind of lust; in the next place, murderers, poisoners, magicians, fortune-tellers,
soothsayers, and astrologers. To be fruitless to such as these, is itself a great gain. Yet, whatever loss ye
may incur from our religion, it may assuredly be counterbalanced by some advantage. How much are ye
indebted to men --I say not now, who cast out devils from among you; I say not now, who offer prayers
even for you to the true God, because perhaps ye believe nothing of this-- but to men from whom ye
have nothing to fear?

CHAPTER XLIV.

MEANWHILE no one pays attention to a loss, which the state is suffering, as great as it is real: no one
considers the public injury inflicted, when so many just men among us are consumed, when so many
innocent suffer. For we confidently appeal to your own records, kept by those of you who preside in
courts of justice, and make a distinct enumeration of the crimes of those who are brought before you.
Out of so great a number of criminals as are there recorded, each with his own accusation, what
murderer among them, what thief, what man guilty of sacrilege or of corrupting youth, what
pilferer107, is described also as a Christian? |342 or when any Christians are brought before you to
answer to the charge of being such, who among them is found to be like so many of your own criminals?
They are men of your own who fill your prisons; the sighs which rise from the mines are breathed by
men of your religion; the wild beasts feed upon your men, and the vile herds of gladiators are
replenished from the same source. Among these no Christian is found, unless the name of Christian be
his only offence; or if he be accused of any other crime, he hath already ceased to be a Christian.

CHAPTER XLV.

BUT, it will be asked, are we Christians, then, the only men who live innocently? What wonder is this, if
it be a necessary consequence, as it really is, of the principles which we and others profess? Since it is
God himself who hath taught us to live innocently, we have learned perfect obedience as revealed by a
perfect master; and we faithfully keep his commandments, since they are delivered by one whose
scrutiny we cannot despise. Now the opinion of man hath given the rules for your innocence; and
human authority hath imposed the law. Hence your precepts are neither so full nor so authoritative as
they ought to be, to establish innocence of life in all its truth. To what extent can the prudence of man
reach in showing what is truly good? What authority can it exert to enforce its commands? The one can
as easily be deceived as the other despised. Thus, which is the more extensive command, that which
says, Thou shalt not kill, or that which declares, Thou shalt not even be angry? Which is the more
perfect, for a law to prohibit adultery, or |343 to forbid even the impurity of an unchaste look? Whether
is it wiser to interdict the doing or the speaking evil? Whether is it more effectual to forbid injury, or not
to suffer even retaliation? We have already spoken of the antiquity of Moses, that ye may know that
even those very laws of yours, which may seem to tend to the encouragement of innocence of life, have
borrowed their enactments from the divine law, which is older than they.

But, after all, what is the authority of human laws? since a man may usually evade them, by escaping
detection, and sometimes set them at naught, by pleading that his offence was involuntary, or
compulsory: especially when it is remembered, that the punishment which they can inflict is short;
since, at the worst, it is terminated by death. Thus it was that Epicurus taught men to despise all pain
and torture, declaring that if it were small, it was unworthy of regard; if great, it was of short duration.
Whereas we, who are to give our account to God who sees all things, and know that he will inflict
eternal punishment, are justly considered the only persons whe uphold innocency of life, as well from
the extent of God's knowledge, as from, the difficulty of escape, and the greatness of a punishment
which is not only of long, but of eternal duration; for we fear him, who ought to be the object of fear
even to the judge, who condemns us, because we fear God, and not the proconsul.

CHAPTER XLVI.

WE have now, I trust, sufficiently answered every charge which hath served as a pretext for requiring
|344 the blood of the Christians. We have shown the whole of our real condition, and by what means
we can prove it to be what we assert, namely, by the fidelity and antiquity of the sacred Scriptures, and
by the confession of spiritual powers. If there be any one bold enough to attempt to confute us, he must
endeavour to establish the truth, not by the mere artifice of a verbal dispute, but in the same manner in
which we have established our proof.

But, while our truth is made manifest to every one, the incredulity of our adversaries--being no longer
able to deny the goodness of our religion, which hath already been established even with reference to
the daily intercourse and transactions of life--hath recourse to the excuse, that our faith is not of divine
origin, but rather a species of philosophy. The philosophers, they say, preach and profess the same
virtues with yourselves, innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, chastity. If this be true, why do we not
enjoy the same impunity for professing our doctrines, which those possess, to whom we are thus
compared? Or why is it, that, while we are exposed to the greatest danger, for refusing to perform
certain services, they are not compelled to do the same? For who ever thought of obliging a philosopher
to sacrifice, or to swear by your gods, or vainly to light candles at noon-day? Yet they openly oppose the
worship of your gods, and in their writings also, which ye receive with applause, inveigh against your
superstitions. Many of them also receive your support while they attack your princes, and are rather
honoured with statues and pensions, than sentenced to be exposed to the wild beasts; and justly so,
since they are denominated philosophers, not Christians. Will this name of philosophers cast out devils?
How should it do so, when philosophers place those demons in the rank of gods? It is an expression of
Socrates, |345 "If the demon permit." The same philosopher, when he had attained some knowledge of
the truth, in that he denied your gods, did yet, in his last moments, order a cock to be sacrificed to
Esculapius; I suppose in honour of his father Apollo, who had pronounced Socrates the wisest of
mortals. O thoughtless Apollo! he gave testimony in favour of the wisdom of the man, who denied the
existence of the gods. In proportion to the hatred to which truth is exposed, is the offence which is given
by him, who faithfully maintains truth. But he who perverts and corrupts the truth, by that very action
obtains the favour of those who oppose truth, by deriding and contemning it. The philosophers affect to
imitate the truth, but by that very imitation they corrupt it; since they seek only vain glory. Christians, on
the other hand, necessarily seek truth, and maintain it with constancy, since they regard their own
salvation.

Hence we are not, as ye suppose, like the philosophers, either in our doctrine or in our discipline. For
what certain knowledge did Thales, the prince of natural philosophers, give to Croesus, who inquired of
him respecting the divinity? Did he not disappoint his expectations by requesting to delay his answer,
without effect? Now the meanest Christian knows and can declare what God is; and hence he can
actually show that which is sought by those who endeavour to find out God : although Plato declares
that it is not easy to discover the Maker of the universe; and most difficult, when discovered, to make
him known to others.

Again, if a comparison is made between our chastity and that of the philosophers, I read a part of the
sentence pronounced by the Athenians against Socrates, in which he is called a corrupter of youth. The
love of a Christian is confined to its proper and natural |346 objects. Diogenes himself is accused of
gratifying a base passion with the harlot Phryne. A certain Speusippus, of the school of Plato, is said to
have perished in the act of adultery. A Christian knows none but his own wife. Democritus blinded
himself, because he could not look upon women without desire, and was grieved if he could not satisfy
his passion; thus declaring his incontinence, by the very means which he took to amend it. But a
Christian, without injuring his eyes, looks not upon women; in his mind he is blind to lust.

If I am to defend Christians against the accusation of pride, we may see Diogenes treading upon the
proud couches of Plato, with muddy feet; thus displaying, by that very action, pride of another kind : a
Christian shows no pride, even towards the poor. If there is any question respecting moderation, we
may appeal to Pythagoras among the Thurians, and Zeno among the people of Priene, each affecting
absolute power. A Christian is not ambitious of the meanest office. If a comparison is proposed
respecting the equanimity of the Christian and the philosopher; Lycurgus chose his life to be shortened,
because the Spartans amended his laws 108; the Christian, even when condemned to death, returns
thanks. If a question is made respecting the fidelity of each; Anaxagoras denied a pledge to his guests; a
Christian is acknowledged to be faithful, even to strangers. If I am to defend Christians upon the ground
of simplicity; Aristotle made his friend Hermias disgracefully give way to himself: a Christian injures not
even his enemy. The same Aristotle was as basely subservient in adulation to Alexander, whom he ought
rather to have governed, as Plato was to Dionysius, for the sake of his appetite. Aristippus, |347 under
an exterior of great gravity gave himself up to excess, clothed in purple; and Hippias was slain, while he
was plotting against the state. No Christian ever had recourse to such means for his fellows, with
whatever severity they may be persecuted.

But, some one will say, there are some even among ourselves, who deviate from the strict rules of our
discipline. If so, we consider them Christians no, longer. Whereas philosophers among yourselves, who
do the like, continue to enjoy the name and distinctions attached to the wisdom which they profess.

Such, and no other, is the degree of similitude between a philosopher and a Christian; between a
disciple of Greece and of heaven; between one who seeks fame, and one who strives for salvation;
between one who confines himself to words, and one who is virtuous in deeds; between one who
builds, and one who destroys; between one who introduces error, and one who supports truth;
between one who despoils truth, and one who preserves it.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE antiquity of the sacred Scriptures hath been already alleged in our behalf109; whence it may easily
be believed, that they have been the treasure whence all real wisdom hath been extracted. And unless I
were desirous of restraining my work within proper bounds, I might easily expatiate also upon this point
of the proof. Who is there of the poets and sophists, who hath not drunk at the fountain of the
prophets? Hence, then, the philosophers also have secretly satisfied their thirst of information. For the
comparison |348 between us and them is founded upon the fact, that they have some of our opinions.
Hence, I imagine, it is, that philosophy was banished by certain laws, as, for instance, by those of
Thebes, Sparta, and Argos. While men, whose only passion--as we have said--was the desire of glory and
eloquence, thus endeavoured to approach to some of our tenets, if they met with any thing in the
sacred Scriptures with which they were offended, they immediately remodelled them according to the
dictates of their own fancy, and perverted them to serve their own purposes. They hesitated not thus to
interpolate the Scriptures, since they did not sufficiently believe their divine inspiration, nor sufficiently
understand that they were yet in some measure obscure, and concealed from the Jews themselves, to
whom they seemed peculiarly to belong. And even where there was nothing but the simplicity of truth,
yet, from this cause, the weakness of human judgment, unsupported by faith, was the more in doubt;
whence they changed into uncertainty that which they found certain. For when they had simply
discovered that there was a God, they were not contented to declare what they had discovered, but
entered into disquisitions upon his quality and nature and the place of his abode. Some asserted that he
had not a bodily shape, others that he had, as they were respectively of the Platonic or Stoic schools;
others conceived that he was composed of atoms; others that he was formed from the composition of
various numbers, as either Epicurus or Pythagoras was followed : others imagined he was composed of
fire, as was the fancy of Hera-clitus. The Platonic philosophers, again, contended that God was the
governor of all things; the Epicureans, that he was inert and inactive, and a nonentity, so to speak, in
human affairs. The Stoics considered that he was placed without the world, and |349 directed the
motion of the universe as a potter that of his vessel. The Platonics imagined that he was within the
world, which he directed, as a pilot steers a ship, while remaining in it.
A similar disagreement was found in their opinions respecting the world itself; whether it were created
or uncreated; whether it would or would not remain for ever: and concerning the nature of the soul,
which some considered to be divine and eternal, others to be mortal: every one according to his own
notions advanced his opinions, or changed those already established.

It is no wonder, indeed, if the ingenuity of philosophers perverted the Old Testament, since men sprung
from them have corrupted even the New Testament by their opinions, so as to support the tenets of
their philosophy: and have cut many oblique and intricate paths from the one only way. I mention this,
that the well-known variety among professors of our religion may not furnish another point of
resemblance between ourselves and the philosophers; and that no one may form an opinion respecting
the truth, by the variety of means employed in our defence. We at once, however, remind those who
forsake our doctrines, that the rule of truth is that which proceeds from Christ, and was transmitted by
his companions; and all those different heretical teachers will be proved to be somewhat later than
those apostles. Every thing which is written against the truth is formed after the model of the truth, the
imitation being effected by the operation of the spirits of error. By them have been established the false
pretences to this wholesome discipline: by them certain fables have been introduced, which, by their
likeness to the truth, might weaken the faith of believers in it, or, if possible, induce men to give credit
to them; so that an |350 inquirer might be led to think Christians unworthy of serious belief, because he
disbelieved poets and philosophers; or, because he disbelieved the Christians, might be more ready to
trust poets and philosophers. Hence it is, that when we preach that God will come to judge the world,
we are derided; for in like manner poets and philosophers teach that there is a tribunal in the regions
below. If we threaten hell, which is a secret fire laid up for punishment beneath the earth, we are
equally laughed to scorn; for the heathen also have a river of fire flowing through the regions of the
dead. If again we speak of Paradise, a place full of divine pleasures, prepared for the reception of the
spirits of holy men, and separated from the knowledge of the world in general by means of a wall of that
fiery zone; the story of the Elysian fields hath already obtained credit. Whence, then, have the
philosophers and poets derived all these circumstances, so similar to the truth, except from our religion?
If they derive them from our religion, which is the older, then our account is more faithful and more
credible, since even the imitation of it obtains belief. If they derive them from their own inventions, it
would follow that our religion was the image of something which was posterior to itself, which is
impossible; since the shadow never precedes the substance, nor an imitation that which it represents.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

OBSERVE then, if any philosopher should affirm, as Laberius maintains after the opinion of Pythagoras,
that a man may be formed out of a mule, or a snake out of a woman, and to establish this point should
|351 display all the arts of oratory, would he not obtain the assent of some, and persuade them to
abstain from animal food? And the principal ground of any one's alarm would be, lest in eating beef he
should be devouring one of his ancestors. Whereas if a Christian assures you that a man shall himself be
restored to life, that an individual shall be revived, it is at once received with reprobation, and the
teacher is assailed not only with blows but with stones. As if whatever reason can be advanced, to prove
the possibility of the transmigration of human souls into other bodies, doth not necessarily prove that
they may be recalled into the same bodies; for to be again what they once were, is to be recalled into
the same bodies. For, if they are not what they were before, that is, endued with the very identical
human body which they then possessed, they are not the same as they once were. And if they are not
the same, how can they be said to have returned to life? Either they are no longer the same, since they
are become something else; or, if they remain the same, they can come from no where else. If we had
leisure to expatiate upon this part of the question, we might here have ample room for ridicule, by
inquiring into what kind of animal each man might be conceived to be changed. But what we advance is
much more credible, that man will be reformed from man, each for himself, still retaining his human
nature: that the same quality of the soul will be restored into the same condition although not into the
same form; since the intention of judgment is to repay to every man according to his deeds. But for our
argument it is rather necessary, that the very same person, who once was, should be restored to life,
that he may receive from God the reward of good or evil. Hence the bodies also will re-appear; both
because the soul is incapable of suffering any thing, without the |352 intervention of solid matter, that
is the flesh110, and because the souls ought not to suffer by the judgment of God without those bodies,
within which all their actions were performed.

But, it will be said, how can matter which hath once been dispersed be reunited? Consider thyself, O
man, and thou wilt learn how to believe the fact. Think what thou wast, before thy existence began, that
is, nothing; for hadst thou been any thing, thou wouldst now remember it. Since, therefore, thou wast
nothing, before thou wast, and wast again |353 reduced to nothing, when thou didst cease to be, why
shouldst thou not again be brought into existence from nothing, by the will of the same great Creator
who determined that thou shouldst be from nothing? What new thing will happen unto thee? Thou,
who wast not, wast made; when thou shalt again have ceased to be, thou shalt again be made. If thou
canst give a reason how thou wast first made, then demand a reason how thou shalt again be made. Yet
thou, who hast once been, may more easily be again made, since, without difficulty thou wast made
what previously thou hadst never been111.

But some man will, perhaps, doubt respecting the power of God, who formed the vast frame of the
universe from nothing, from no less than from a death of vacuity and annihilation, and animated it with
a spirit which gives life to all creatures, and stamped it with examples of the resurrection of man, for a
testimony to us. The light, which dies daily, shines again112; |354 and darkness in like manner succeeds
with a constant variation: the stars, which lose their light, re-appear; periods of time begin again at the
point where they close; the fruits of the earth are consumed and reproduced; and seeds rise not again
with increase unless they are corrupted and die: all things are preserved by dissolution, all things are
renewed by perishing. Shalt thou, O man, a being of so noble a nature, if thou rightly understandest
thyself even as described by the Pythian oracle, the lord of an universe of beings which die and rise
again, thyself die, merely to perish? In whatever place thy soul shall be separated from the body,
whatever material means shall have destroyed thee, or swallowed thee up, or scattered thee, or
reduced thee to nothing, shall again restore thee. He, who is Lord of all, can control even annihilation
itself.
But, ye will object, if these things be so, we must continually die and rise again in constant succession. If
such had been the will of the Lord of the universe, ye must, however unwilling, have submitted to the
law of your nature. But now his will is no other than that which he hath revealed. The same Divine
Reason which hath formed the universe of various substances, so that all should compose one whole,
although the parts are of opposite natures,--as vacuity and solidity, animate and inanimate,
comprehensible and incomprehensible, light and darkness, and even life and death,--hath also arranged
the whole course of time itself in such an appointed and distinct order, that this |355 first period of our
existence, after the beginning of all things, should come to a definite end, but the future life, for which
we look, should continue to all eternity.

When, then, the end, and the interval of separation which is interposed, shall have arrived 113, and the
condition of this world,--which is equally temporary, and is now spread forth, as it were, a curtain
interrupting the prospect of that eternal disposition of all things,--shall be removed, then shall the
whole human race be restored to life, to receive the good or the evil which they have deserved in that
temporary life; and so will their condition be determined for the endless ages of eternity.

Hence there is no real death, nor a constant succession of resurrections; but we shall be the same
persons as we are now, and shall so continue for ever; the worshippers of God, before him for ever,
clothed upon114 with the peculiar substance of immortality: but the wicked, and those who have not
given themselves wholly to God, in the punishment of equally eternal fire, which possesses from its very
nature, which is divine, the means of continuing for ever without exhaustion. Your philosophers
themselves acknowledge the difference between secret fire and that which |356 is before our eyes.
Thus the nature of the fire, which serves the ordinary purposes of life, is very different from that of the
fire which executes the judgments of God; whether it darts lightning from heaven, or bursts forth from
the earth at the tops of the mountains. For this fire consumes not that which it burns; but, while it
blasts, restores the substance. Thus the mountains, which are continually burning, still remain; and a
body stricken by the lightning is thenceforth secure from the flames, for it cannot be burnt115. This,
then, may seem as a testimony of eternal fire, an example of a judgment, which constantly produces the
means of punishment. The mountains burn, and continue. Much more the wicked, and the enemies of
God.

CHAPTER XLIX.

SUCH are the opinions which in us alone are regarded as prejudices, but in your philosophers and poets,
marks of the height of wisdom and strength of intellect. They are prudent, we foolish; they are worthy
of honour, we of ridicule, and even still further, of punishment. Suppose that the doctrines which we
advocate are prejudices, and merely fanciful; they are yet necessary: if unfounded, they are yet useful,
since those who maintain them are compelled to be better |357 men, from the fear of eternal
punishment, and the hope of everlasting happiness. Those tenets, therefore, ought not to be called false
or foolish, which it is the interest of every one to consider true. What is of universal benefit ought by no
means to be condemned. The charge of prejudice falls upon you, for condemning that which is useful.
Neither can these opinions be foolish: and even if they were both false and foolish, they yet injure no
one: they are even then merely like many other notions, against which ye denounce no punishment;
fanciful and fabulous, perhaps, but yet professed without danger of accusation or of punishment,
because they are perfectly innocent. But in questions of this nature, if error is to be subject to ridicule, it
at least ought not to expose us to sword and fire, to crucifixion and wild beasts; a degree of unjust
cruelty, which is not only the delight of this blinded populace, but the boast of some even of yourselves,
who court the favour of the people; as if all which we endure from you were not in our own power.
Assuredly it is at my own option to be a Christian; ye will, therefore, then condemn me, when I am
willing to be condemned. Since, therefore, all the power, which ye possess against me, ye possess not,
unless I choose, your power no longer depends upon you, but upon my will. Hence also the pleasure
which the people take in tormenting us is but a vain delight: for it is really our pleasure which they take
to themselves, since we prefer to be so condemned, rather than to fall from God. On the other hand,
they who hate us, ought rather to grieve than to rejoice, when we have attained the object of our
choice. |358

CHAPTER L.

"WHEREFORE, then," ye will say, "do ye Christians complain that we persecute you, when ye ought to
love us as the instruments by which ye attain the object of your wishes?" We are, indeed, willing to
suffer; but it is with the feelings of a soldier, who would not choose to expose himself to the perils of
war, but involuntarily dreads the danger, which he is compelled to encounter. He yet fights with all his
might; and he, who complained of the necessity of engaging in the battle, rejoices, when he hath fought
and conquered in the battle, inasmuch as he hath obtained his reward of glory, and his portion of the
spoil. It is our battle, to be called before the seats of judgment, there to contend for the truth at the
hazard of our lives. And it is our victory, if we obtain that for which we strive. That victory obtains the
glory of pleasing God, and the reward of eternal life. But, it will be said, we fall in the contest. We do fall,
but it is when the victory is won: when we are slain, we are conquerors; when we fall, we gain the
battle. Call us if you will by names of reproach116, derived from the stake, to which we are bound, and
the fagots, with which we are surrounded, when burned to death. These are our ornaments of victory;
this is our robe of state; this is our triumphal chariot.

It is no wonder, then, that we should displease those whom we conquer; and hence we are regarded
|359 as men of desperate and obstinate resolution117. But this very desperation and this inflexibility of
purpose, among yourselves, raise the standard of valour in the pursuit of glory and fame. Mutius
voluntarily left his hand upon the altar : what sublimity of mind! Empedocles threw himself alive into the
burning abyss of Etna : what strength of courage! She who founded Carthage married herself the second
time to a funeral pile: what an eulogy of chastity! Regulus, that his life might not restore many enemies
to his country, endured exquisite torture in his whole body: what a brave man, what a conqueror in his
very captivity! Anaxarchus, when he was beaten with staves, as barley is beaten in a sack, exclaimed,
"Beat on, beat on, upon the case of Anaxarchus, for you cannot beat Anaxarchus himself:" what
magnanimity in a philosopher, who could thus sport under such a death! I omit those who have laid
claim to praise, by falling upon their own sword, or by choosing some milder kind of death. Ye crown
with approbation even those who struggle successfully against torture. A harlot of Athens, when the
executioner was weary of tormenting her, at length bit off her tongue, and spit it forth against the angry
tyrant, that she might thus spit forth her voice also, and be unable to confess who the conspirators
were, if she even should relent and wish to betray them. Zeno Eleates, when asked by Dionysius118
what advantages were derived from philosophy, answered, "To have such a contempt of death as to be
unmoved at its approach:" and when the tyrant commanded him to be scourged, he persisted in his
opinion to the |360 very moment of his death. And doubtless the stripes which the Spartans endured
with such firmness, aggravated by the presence of their nearest relatives who encouraged them,
conferred honour upon their family, for the patience which was so displayed, in proportion to the blood
which was shed. Here is a subject of glory, which is permitted, because it appertains to human nature.
Here no blame is imputed for obstinate and inflexible perverseness, when death and all kinds of torture
are despised; and men are permitted to undergo for a country, for a territory, for an empire, for private
friendship, what they may not undergo for God. Yet for all these ye cast statues, and write inscriptions,
and engrave titles, which are intended to last for ever: and, as far as monumental records can effect the
purpose, ye yourselves give them, in some measure, a resurrection after death. Yet if he, who hopes for
a true resurrection from God, doth as much for God, he is considered insane.

But be attentive, most worthy judges119, and ye will be in still greater favour with the people, if ye
sacrifice the Christians to their fury. Torment, rack, condemn, crush us. For your injustice is the proof of
our innocence. God permits us to suffer these things for that very purpose. For, on a late occasion, when
ye sentenced a Christian woman to pollution, rather than to the lion120, ye confessed that, in our
estimation, the loss of chastity was more to be dreaded than any punishment, or any kind of death. Yet
the most exquisite cruelty, which ye can devise, avails you nothing, but rather induces the more to
become Christians. As often as we are cut down by your persecutions, we |361 spring up the more
abundantly: the blood of Christians is the seed of the faith.

Among yourselves, many have given exhortations to the patient endurance of pain and death; as Cicero
in his Tusculan Disputations, Seneca in his Treatise on Accidents, Diogenes, Pyrrho, and Callinicus. Yet
none of these verbal exhortations ever gained so many followers, as the Christians have obtained by the
instruction which their actions have delivered. That very obstinacy, which ye blame, is the best teacher.
For who is there that witnesses it, without being irresistibly led to inquire, What inward principle
produces it? Who, when he hath so inquired, doth not embrace it? when he hath embraced it, is not
himself anxious to suffer? that he may pay the utmost debt of gratitude to God, and obtain the fullest
pardon from him by the sacrifice of his own blood? for to the martyr all his sins are remitted. Hence it is
that we return thanks to you for the sentence which ye pronounce : for then there is a contest between
things human and things divine, when we are condemned by you, and pardoned by God.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Footnotes to the Apology]

1. 1 Antistites. In other parts of the Apology, Tertullian calls the same persons Praesides; as in c. 2, 9. 50.
They were the governors of Proconsular Africa. Eusebius, indeed, H. E. v. 5, says that this Apology was
addressed to the Roman Senate : but this is contradicted by internal evidence. Had it been written at
Rome, or addressed to Romans, Tertullian would not have used such expressions as Hoc imperium, cujus
ministri estis : c. 2. Ecce in illa religiosissima urbe Aeneadum : c. 9, or, Ipsos Quirites, ipsam vernaculam
septem collium plebem, convenio, c. 35. The manner in which he contrasts the fear of God with that of
the Proconsul, at the conclusion of c. 45, implies that the Apology was written in some province which
was under a Proconsul.

It is most probable, that this Apology was both written and presented at Carthage.

2. 2 One of those, who is here addressed, had probably exercised some act of severity towards some of
his own family, in consequence of their professing the Christian religion.

3. 3 The laws can never suffer any diminution of their authority, by permitting those who are accused to
answer for themselves. The very demand for an audience is an acknowledgment of their power. Nay, if
absolute authority must prevail, arbitrary power would appear more conspicuously, if it condemned,
after having heard.

An (at) hoc magis gloriabitur potestas earum, quo etiam auditam damnabunt veritatem.

4. 4 Tertullian uses the same argument, in nearly the same words, Ad Nationes, i. c. i.

5. 5 "Utique de comperto." He contrasts the docility of a conscientious convert with the determined
ignorance of their persecutors, who. continued to oppose a religion of which they were ignorant.

6. 6 Compare c. 37, and Ad Nationes, i. c. i.

7. 7 Plutarch, in his Life of Solon, relates that Anacharsis, witnessing judicial proceedings at Athens,
expressed his surprise, that in so civilized a state wise men should plead causes, and fools determine
them. Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Anacharsis, has preserved a saying of the philosopher, which more
closely resembles Tertullian's allusion : θαυμάζειν δὲ ἒφη, πῶς παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀγωνίζονται μὲν οἱ
τεχνίται, κρίνουσι δὲ οἱ μὴ τεχνίται.

8. 8 See Justin Martyr's Apology, c. 35, note (5) and Tertullian's Apology, cc. 7, 8.

9. 9 Pliny, Epist. x. 97. The Epistle and answer of Trajan, as translated by Melmoth, are subjoined, for
convenience of reference, at the end of the volume.

10. 1 Expungendus est.

11. 2 Praevaricaris in leges. Having taken upon yourselves the office of accusers, ye so conduct your
proceedings, as if your principal object were, not to investigate the guilt of the accused, but to give him
every opportunity of escaping,

12. 3 Intelligere potestis, non scelus aliquod in causa esse, sed nomen, quod quaedam ratio aemulae
operationis insequitur, hoc primum agens, ut homines nolint scire pro certo quod se nescire pro certo
sciunt.

13. 4 Denique quid de tabella recitatis illum Christianum? cur non et homicidam? cur non et incestum? si
homicida Christianus, vel quodcumque aliud esse nos creditis? (Havercamp.)

14. 5 Christianus, si nullius criminis nomen est, valde ineptum; si solius nominis crimen est, valde
infestum.

15. 6 It is not surprising that gentile writers should have confounded the words Christus and Chrestus
(Χρηστός). Thus Suetonius (Claud. xxv.) says "Judaeos, impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes, Roma
expulit (Claudius)." The words of Suetonius do not necessarily imply, that he conceived Christ to have
lived in the time of Claudius; but that tumults then arose in Rome among the Jews, respecting him,
some of them affirming and others denying that he was the Messiah. The expulsion of the Jews from
Rome, by Claudius, is mentioned, Acts xviii. 2. Lactantius, iv. 7, treats of the common error in the name
of Christ; "Sed exponenda hujus nominis ratio est, propter ignorantium errorem, qui eum, immutata
litera, Chrestum solent dicere."

The names Chrestus and Chresta were not uncommon among the Greeks and Romans.
16. 7 The word secta, like the corresponding term αἵρεσις, was originally indifferent in its application : it
implied the adoption of certain opinions, without any such expression of disapprobation as the term
heresy subsequently conveyed. (Havercamp.)

17. 8 This passage plainly shows, that, at the period when this Apology was written, certain laws were in
existence against the Christian religion. Tertullian makes the same assertion in c. 5, and 37 : and in his
first book ad Nationes, c. 7, he says, that the edicts of Nero against the Christians were still in force. "Et
tamen permansit, erasis omnibus, hoc solum institutum Neronianum : justum denique, ut dissimile sui
auctoris." Mosheim inadvertently states (Cent. ii. Part i. c. 2) that "In the beginning of the second
century, there were no laws in force against the Christians : for the senate had annulled the cruel edicts
of Nero : and Nerva had abrogated the sanguinary laws of his predecessor Domitian." Yet in c. 7, he says,
"the imperial laws against the Christians were not abrogated, and the iniquitous edicts of Trajan and
Marcus Antoninus were still in force; there was consequently a door open to the fury and injustice of
corrupt magistrates, as often as they were pleased to exercise them on the Church." Gibbon, c. xvi. p.
540 (418), concludes, from the celebrated letter addressed by Pliny to Trajan, that at that period "there
were no general laws or decrees of the senate in force against the Christians." See Bp. Kaye's Tertullian,
p. 114.

18. 9 Si bonum invenero esse, quod lex tua prohibuit, nonne ex illo praejudico prohibere eam non posse,
quod, si malum esset, jure prohiberet?

19. 1 Tertullian covertly alludes to the pretensions which Numa and other early Romans made, to
praeternatural communications; and to the Ancilia, which were said to have fallen from heaven.
Compare Acts xix. 35.

20. 2 Plutarch's account is, that Lycurgus starved himself, after having taken an oath of his citizens, that
they would maintain his laws inviolate till his return.

21. 3 The Julian law, introduced by Augustus, A.U.C. 736, as a means of repairing the great waste of
population in the civil wars, encouraged marriages by facilitating and regulating the nuptial contract,
and imposing penalties on those who should continue unmarried after a certain age.

The Papian law, called also Papia Poppaea from the Consuls Papius and Poppaeus, was introduced
A.U.C. 762, at the conclusion of the reign of Augustus. This offered greater advantages to married men,
and established more severe penalties upon those who lived in a state of celibacy, and those who had
no children, than the Julian law, or the previous customs of the Romans.
Thus married men had precedence in the public spectacles (Suetonius, Aug. 44); they had a priority in
the election to public offices; and many other privileges. The same law confirmed the rights conferred
upon those who had children : in all competition for public offices gave the preference to the candidates
in proportion to the number of their family, and permitted those, who were fathers at an early age, to
fill offices, for which their youth would otherwise have disqualified them.

The celebrated Jus trium liberorum had its origin in the Julian law.

The principal restrictions attached to a state of celibacy regarded the capability of inheriting property
and receiving testamentary benefactions. Single men could inherit nothing, except from their most
immediate relatives; and those who had no children could receive only the half of a legacy. Sozomen has
noticed this circumstance, Eccles. Hist. i. 9.

Νόμος ἦν Ῥωμαίοις παλαιὸς ἀπὸ εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν τῶν ἴσων ἀξιοῦσθαι κωλύων τοὺς ἀγάμους τοῖς
μὴ τοιούτοις, περὶ ἄλλα τε πολλὰ, καὶ τὸ μηδὲν κερδαίνειν ἐκ διαθήκης τοὺς μὴ γένει ἐγγυτάτῳ
προσήκοντας τοὺς δὲ ἄπαιδας, ζημιῶν τὸ ἥμισυ τῶν καταλελειμμένων.

Such legacies and inheritances were forfeited to the state. Tertullian, de Monogamia, c. 16, alludes to
the same custom. "Aliud est, si et apud Christum legibus Juliis agi credunt, et existimant, caelibes et
orbos ex testamento Dei solidum non posse capere."

The absurdity, here mentioned by Tertullian, is a contradiction which had subsisted for many years
between the Julian and Papian laws. The Papian law subjected to restrictions those who were childless,
a man at the age of twenty-five, and a woman at the age of twenty, a time of life, at which, by the Julian
law, they were still permitted to remain unmarried.

The penalties against celibacy were removed by Constantine, to favour those Christians who continued
in that state from motives of religion. Eusebius, Vit. Constantin. iv. 2, 6.

The substance of the Julian and Papian laws is given by Lipsius, in his Excursus ad Taciti Ann. iii. 25.

22. 4 The laws of the twelve tables, c. 8. Aul. Gellius, Noct. Att. xx. 1. Si plures forent, quibus reus esset
judicatus, secare, si vellent, atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis permiserunt. Et quidem verba ipsa
legis dicam, ne existimes invidiam me istam forte formidare. TERTIIS. inquit, NUNDINIS. PARTIS.
SECANTO. SI. PLUS. MINUS. VE. SECUERUNT. SE. FRAUDE. ESTO.

Quinctilian, Instit. Orat. iii. 6. 84, alludes to the same law. Sunt enim quaedam non laudabilia natura, sed
jure concessa: ut in xii. tabulis debitoris corpus inter creditores dividi licuit, quam legem mos publicus
repudiavit.

23. 5 Bonorum adhibita proscriptio suffundere maluit hominis sanguinem quam effundere.

24. 6 The law is given in Cicero de Legibus, ii. Separatim nemo habessit Deos, neve novos; sed ne
advenas, nisi publice adscitos, privatim colunto.

25. 7 The fact here mentioned, and repeated in c. 21, with the addition that Tiberius received the
account from Pilate, who in his conscience was a Christian, rests solely on the authority of Tertullian.
Eusebius, H. E. ii. 2, gives a translation of this passage, but refers to no other testimony in confirmation
of it: and Justin Martyr, when, in two instances, he refers to the Acts of Pilate (Apol. cc. 45, 63),
mentions no proposal made to the senate of Rome by Tiberius, respecting Christ.

It is not surprising that Jortin (Remarks on Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 2) and Gibbon (Decline and Fall, c. xvi. p.
556, 4to.) should agree with Le Clerc (Hist. Eccles. p. 324) in giving little credit to this statement. Dupin
(Bibliotheque, tom. i. p. 24) considers the fact doubtful: and Bp. Kaye (Tertullian, c. ii. p. 112) is of
opinion "that the story is liable to just suspicion :" and observes, "How happened it that so remarkable a
fact, as a public proposal from the Emperor to the Senate to receive Christ among the gods of Rome,
escaped the notice of every other writer?"

Lardner, in his Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Authors, c. 2, discusses this question at length : and
concludes "that the accounts of those ancient authors Justin Martyr and Tertullian deserve some
regard."

He observes, after Bp. Pearson, (Lection, in Act. Apost. iv. sect. 15, p. 65), that those two are early
writers of good repute : that it was customary for governors of provinces to compose memoirs or acts,
such as are here referred to : that, if Pilate wrote at all to Tiberius respecting Christ, he was likely to
speak favourably and honourably of him : that it was not inconsistent with the known character of
Tiberius to make such a proposal, nor improbable that the senate should not comply with it; that it is
not necessary to suppose that the Emperor was well acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity, or at
all inclined to be a Christian, since the very reverse is immediately asserted by Tertullian.
In his observations upon this question, Lardner has scarcely made sufficient distinction between the
testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian. Justin speaks of the Acts of Pilate, and appeals to them, as
being accessible at the time when he wrote. But he does not expressly state even that the contents of
those acts was made known to Tiberius.

Tertullian asserts, that Pilate did communicate with Tiberius, and that, in consequence of the
extraordinary nature of that communication, he proposed to the senate that Jesus Christ should be
received among the deities of Rome. The last fact rests upon the single testimony of Tertullian.

Christopher Iselin wrote a letter in defence of the truth of this fact, published in the Bibliothèque
Germanique, tom. xxxii. p. 147, tom. xxii. p. 12. Lardner refers also to Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. i. St.
Pierre, Art. 19. Sueur, Hist. de 1'Eglise et de l'Empire, tom. i. p. 130, and Grotius on Matt. xxiv. 11.

26. 8 ἅτε ἔχων τι συνέσεως. Euseb. H. E. iii. 20.

27. 1 At nos e contrario edimus protectorem, si literae Marci Aurelii gravissimi imperatoris requirantur,
quibus illam Germanicam sitim, Christianorum forte militum precationibus impetrato imbri, discussam
testatur. The same words, with an inconsiderable variation of expression, are given by Jerome in his
Latin translation of Eusebius's Chronicon, p. 170.

Tertullian repeats the assertion in his Treatise ad Scapulam, c. 4. Marcus quoque Aurelius, in Germanica
expeditione Christianorum militum orationibus ad Deum factis, imbres in siti illa impetravit. But he there
makes no mention of the letter of Marcus Aurelius. Eusebius (H. E. v. 5), refers to this passage of
Tertullian's Apology, as one of his authorities for the account which he gives of the Thundering Legion;
and he and subsequent writers (Orosius, vii. 15. Nicephorus, iv. 12. Zonaras, Ann. tom. ii. 207), make
considerable additions to the facts mentioned by Tertullian, Eusebius states, but in a manner which
shows he doubted the authority on which the fact rested, that a violent storm of thunder and lightning
put the enemy to flight, while a shower refreshed the Roman army which was about to perish with
thirst.

The fact, that such a seasonable shower did happen, is expressly asserted by several heathen writers;
and there is still extant the celebrated Antonine Column, which represents Jupiter Pluvius, under the
appearance of an aged man with outstretched arms, pouring down a violent rain, which refreshes the
Romans and discomfits their enemies. A coin of M. Aurelius records the same fact. Dion Cassius, 1. 71,
ascribes the shower to the magical arts of Arnuphis, an Egyptian magician : and Suidas, on the word
Arnuphis, says that others attributed it to the power of Julian a Chaldean.
Tertullian does not here state that he had seen the letter of Marcus Aurelius, to which he appeals. And
such a letter is quite at variance with the general character of that Emperor, and with the persecutions
to which the Christians were subject under his reign. Mosheim (De rebus Christianor. ante Constantin.
sect, xvii.) is of opinion that Tertullian was thinking of the edict, which Antoninus Pius, who is often
confounded with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, wrote to the community of Asia. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 13.) See
p. 278.

The letter on this subject, purporting to be written by Marcus Aurelius, and subjoined to Justin Martyr's
Apology (p. 101, Paris edition), is generally believed to be spurious.

Lardner (Testimony of Ancient Heathens, Marcus Antoninus, sect, iii.) has collected the opinions of
various writers upon this subject. See also a most luminous and accurate account in Bp. Kaye's
Tertullian, p. 106.

28. 1 Antoninus Pius, to whom the Apology of Justin Martyr is addressed. It is doubtful whether the
Verus, to whom this allusion is made, is Lucius Aelius Verus, the adopted son of Adrian, or his son Lucius
Verus. See note (2) at the beginning of the Apology of Justin Martyr. The name Verus may even refer to
Marcus Aurelius, to whom it was sometimes applied.

29. 2 The theatres were originally open : afterwards coverings of different kinds were devised to shelter
the spectators from the heat of the sun.

30. 3 Nam (Jam) ne vel hyeme voluptas impudica frigeret, primi Lacedaemonii odium penulae ludis
excogitaverunt.

Luxury hath reached such a point, that neither the heat of summer nor the cold of winter prevents the
assembling of the people in the theatres. Even the thick cloak, which the Lacedaemonians invented, to
defend themselves from the weather in war, might appear to have been invented to shelter from the
cold our effeminate frequenters of the theatres.

31. 4 See c. 13.

32. 5 See Justin Martyr's Apology, c. 35. This calumny might possibly have originated from some
misconception, or wilful perversion, of the solemnization of the Eucharist. See Athenagoras, Legatio pro
Christianis, p. 15. Theophilus, ad Autolycum, lib.iii. Minucius Felix, Octavius, p. 288. Eusebius, H. E. iv. 7.

33. 6 Quis talia facinora, cum invenisset, celavit, aut vendidit, ipsos trahens homines?

Betraying his duty to society, which ought to have led him to prosecute men guilty of such atrocious
crimes.

34. 7 Virgil, Aen. iv. 174.

35. 8 Alia nos, opinor, natura; Cynopaene an Sciapodes? Tertullian has the same expression, ad
Nationes, i. c. 8. Plane tertium genus dicimur. Cynopennae (Cynopaene) aliqui, vel Sciapodes, vel aliqui
sub terra Antipodes? Si qua istic apud vos saltem ratio est, edatis velim primum et secundum genus, ut
ita de tertio constet.

36. 1 Usque ad proconsulatum Tiberii; until the time of a Proconsul of Africa, in the reign of Tiberius.
Scaliger, Epist. ad Casaub. 66, proposes to read proconsulem.

37. 2 There are others, besides the Christians, who disobey your commands; since the secret sacrifices
continue to be made, in honour of Saturn; although your laws have long since prohibited them.

38. 3 Herodotus, i. 74.

39. 4 Sallust mentions such a report : Bell. Catilin. c. 23. "Fuere ea tempestate, qui dicerent, Catilinam,
oratione habita, cum ad jusjurandum populares sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis sanguinem vino
permistum in pateris circumtulisse : inde cum post execrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in
solemnibus sacris fieri consuevit, dicitur aperuisse consilium."

40. 5 Palmula : perhaps we should read parmula, a shield.

41. 6 Minus autem et illi faciunt, qui libidine fera humanis membris inhiant quia vivos vorant? minus
humano sanguine ad spurcitiam consecrantur, quia futurum sanguinem lambunt? non edunt infantes
plane, sed magis, puberes.

42. 7 1 Cor. viii 4.

43. 8 Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 22, adopts this argument of Tertullian.

Homo igitur utique qui fugit, homo utique qui latuit, et pater hominis, et natus ex homine : terrae enim
et coeli filius, quod apud Italos esset ignotis parentibus proditus : ut in hodiernum inopinato visos, coelo
missos : ignobiles et ignotos terras filios nominamus.

Lactantius (Divin. Institutionum lib. i. 11) appears to give Minucius the credit of inventing this
explanation of the fable of Saturn.

44. 9 Imperfectum non potuit esse, quod perfecit omnia. The world, which at its first creation was
formed perfect, so as to require no subsequent improvement.

45. 1 Nihil amplius deprehendo quam matres sorores esse vasculorum, &c.

The images of your worship are formed of the same material, and are equally worthless, with your most
ordinary vessels. Compare Isa. xliv. 16, 17.

46. 2 Gods of silver, or gold, or marble. Compare c. 39. Puto autem et hae ipsae materiae de metallis
Caesarum veniunt.

47. 3 Compare Baruch vi. 22. Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 24. Quanta vero de diis vestris animalia muta
naturaliter judicant? Mures, hirundines, milvi, non sentire eos sciunt, norunt; inculcant, insident, ac nisi
abigatis, in ipso dei ore nidificant. Araneae vero faciem ejus intexunt, et ipso capite sua fila suspendunt.

48. 4 1 Cor. viii. 4.

49. 5 The revenue arising from the temples was let by public contract, in the same manner as the tolls
arising from the markets. Compare Tertullian, Ad Nationes, I. c. 10.

50. 6 Quo differt ab epulo Jovis silicernium? a simpulo obba, ab aruspice pollinctor? nam et aruspex
mortuis apparet.

Tertullian sarcastically compares the different offices paid to Jupiter in his dotage, with those which
accompanied funerals.

51. 7 Larentina, or Larentia, was said to have been the nurse of Romulus. Tertullian, Ad Nationes, II. c.
10.; Lactantius, lib. i. 20.

52. 8 See Justin Martyr's Apology, c. 34.

53. 9 Antinous.

54. 1 Il. X. 314.

55. 2 Pythia, iii. 96; Antist. 3.

56. 3 Tacitus, Hist. v. 3.

57. 4 Tacitus, Hist. v. 9.

58. 8 This passage has been alleged, to prove that, in Tertullian's time, some kind of worship was paid to
the cross. It is plain, from the context, that it proves just the reverse. In this part of his Apology, he is
refuting several calumnious or mistaken charges, which were brought against the Christians; and he
applies to each of them the argument ad hominem, of which he was rather fond. He endeavours to
show, that, even if they had been all true, the worshippers of false gods were equally exposed to blame.
The first calumny is, that an ass's head was the object of their worship; he shows this to be unfounded;
and then retorts upon the accusers of the Christians, that all kinds of cattle were worshipped by the
pagans.

The next accusation is that brought by those who imagined the Christians to be worshippers of the
cross. (Sed et qui crucis nos religiosos putat, consecraneus erit noster.) And this too he answers, by
showing that, even if it were true, the heathens also worshipped images of wood; and that the
Christians had, even on that erroneous supposition, an advantage over them, in worshipping a whole
and perfect god, and not a mere block, which was part of a cross.

(Nos, si forte, integrum et totum Deum colimus.) The phrase, si forte, is a favourite expression of
Tertullian, when he repels an accusation, or retorts it upon his opponents.

He disposes of the other charges, the worship of the sun, and of a deity of monstrous form, by
arguments of the same kind.

There is no doubt, that, in the age of Tertullian, great respect was paid to the sign of the cross. A well-
known passage in his Treatise de Corona Militis, c. 3, shows, that the sign of the cross was used, not only
in baptism, but on numerous other occasions, as a sign of the faith in Christ crucified. "Ad omnem
progressum atque promotum, ad omnem aditum, et exitum, ad vestitum, ad calciatum, ad lavacra, ad
mensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quaecunque nos conversatio exercet, frontem crucis signaculo
terimus." This respect, however, was very different from adoration. Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 29, who
imitates Justin Martyr, Apol. c. 72, and this passage of Tertullian's Apology, expressly states, that the
cross was no object of worship.

Cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus. Vos plane qui ligneos deos consecratis, cruces ligneos, ut
deorum vestrorum partes, forsitan adoratis. Nam et signa ipsa, et vexilla castrorum, quid aliud quam
inauratae cruces sunt et ornatae? Tropaea vestra victricia non tantum simplicis crucis faciem, verum et
affixi hominis imitantur.

59. 6 c. 12.

60. 7 The custom of turning to the East in prayer was very ancient in the Christian Church. The East was
considered an emblem of Christ, probably from such passages as Zech. iii. 8; vi. 12. Mal. iv. 2. Luke i. 78.
Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromat. vii. p. 856, considers the custom to be significative of the rising of the
Sun of Righteousness upon the benighted mind. Ἐπεὶ δὲ γενεθλίου ἡμέρας εἰκὼν ἡ ἀνατολὴ, κἀκεῖθεν
τὸ φῶς αὔξεται ἐκ σκότους λάμψαν τὸ πρῶτον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ κυλινδουμένοις ἀνέτειλε
γνώσεως ἀληθείας ἡμέρα, κατὰ λόγον τοῦ ἡλίου. πρὸς τὴν ἑωθίνην ἀνατολὴν αἱ εὐχαί.

Augustin (De Sermone Domini, lib. ii. c. 5) refers to the same custom : Quum ad orationes stamus, ad
orientem convertimur, unde coelum surgit: non tanquam ibi sit Deus, et quasi caeteras mundi partes
deseruerit, qui ubique praesens non locorum spatiis sed majestate potentiae; sed ut admoneatur
animus ad naturam excellentiorem se convertere, id est, ad Dominum.

Many other reasons, which might have led to this observance, are adduced from various early
authorities, by Bingham, Eccles. Ant. Book xiii. c. 8. 15. Bingham is inclined to think that it arose from a
ceremony in baptism, in which the convert, in renouncing the devil, turned his face to the West, as the
region of darkness, and, in declaring his faith in Christ, turned to the East. Book xi. c. 7. 4. This, however,
seems to have been rather a particular instance of the general custom, than its origin.

The same veneration for the East caused Churches to be usually built, in very early times, with the
principal entrance to the West, and the altar towards the East. Tertullian seems to allude to this position
of places of worship, as well as to the attitude of the worshippers; Advers. Valent. c. 3. Nostrae
columbae etiam domus simplex, in editis semper et apertis, et ad lucem. Amat figura Spiritus sancti
Orientem, Christi figuram.

The few exceptions to this position of the churches, which are occasionally found, show only that the
custom was not general. There is one remarkable instance, in the splendid church erected at Tyre by
Paulinus the Bishop, at the beginning of the fourth century. The entrance of that magnificent edifice was
to the East, and the altar in the centre. (Eusebius, H. E. x, 14, p. 311, D. 312, B.) Socrates (H. E. v. 22, p.
235, D.) mentions that the church at Antioch in Syria was placed in a direction opposite to that which
was usual, having the altar towards the West, instead of the East.

61. 8 κόσμος.

62. 9 Tertullian uses the same argument, in his Treatise de Resurrectione Carnis, c. 3. Utar ergo et
sententia Platonis alicujus pronunciantis, Omnis anima immortalis. Utar et conscientia populi,
contestantis Deum deorum. Utar et reliquis communibus sensibus, qui Deum judicem praedicarit; Deus
videt; et, Deo commendo. He uses the same language, and argues upon it; De Testimonio Animae, cc. 2,
3, 4, 5, He is followed by Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 18, p. 49. Quid, quod omnium de isto habeo
consensum ? Audio vulgus, cum ad coelum manus tendunt, nihil aliud quam Deum dicunt: et, Deus
magnus est, et, Deus verus est : et, si Deus dederit. Vulgi iste naturalis sermo est, an Christiani
confitentis oratio?
63. 1 Tertullian makes the same allusion, Adv. Marcion. i. c. i. Quidni? Penes quem verus Prometheus,
Deus omnipotens, blasphemiis lancinatur.

64. 2 Vectigalis libertas.

Some have concluded, from this passage, that the tribute alluded to was paid solely for the privilege of
reading the Scriptures in the original Hebrew; that the Jews at first held the version of the Septuagint in
the greatest estimation, but afterwards rejected it, because it was believed to favour Christianity more
than the original Hebrew; and that they were therefore obliged to purchase the privilege of reading the
Hebrew Scriptures every Sabbath. There is, however, no trace of such an impost; and it can scarcely be
believed that Adrian felt any interest in the question whether the Jews read their Scriptures in Hebrew
or Greek. The tribute here alluded to was, probably, the half shekel which the Jews paid, to secure the
public exercises of their religion, of which reading the law was one.

The author of the Apostolical Constitutions (lib. vi. cc. 24, 25) asserts, without foundation, that, under
the Romans, the Jews were not permitted to use their ordinances : and that they were forbidden by the
law of Moses (Deut. xii. 14) to erect an altar in any place but Jerusalem, and to read the law without the
bounds of Judea. The last assertion appears to have arisen from following the erroneous Septuagint
Version of Amos iv. 5. Καὶ ἀνέγνωσαν ἔξω νόμον. See L. Cappellus, Critica Sacra, lib. iv. c. ii. 23.

65. 3 See Justin Martyr, c. 62.

66. 4 Compare Tertullian, Adv. Praxeam, c. 8. Protulit enim Deus Sermonem, quemadmodum etiam
Paracletus docet, sicut radix fruticem, et fons fluvium, et sol radium.

67. 5 Tertullian refers to the same subject, Adv. Judaeos, c. 14.

68. 6 Isa. vi. 10.

69. 7 In most editions, there are here added the words, eundem, qui verbo omnia et faceret, et fecisset.
70. 8 Tertullian alludes, in like manner, to the miraculous darkness at the crucifixion, Adv. Judaeos, c. 10.
Nam quod in passione ejus accidit, at media dies tenebresceret, Amos Propheta annunciat, dicens, Et
erit, inquit, in die illa, dicit Dominus, occidet sol media die; &c. Amos viii. 9.

71. 9 Compare c. 5.

72. 1 Tertullian, in his Treatise de Virginibus Velandis, c. 7, refers to Gen. vi. 2, in proof that the angels
married the virgin daughters of men. He repeats the same assertion, de Idololatria, c. 9. Unum propono,
angelos esse illos desertores Dei, amatores foeminarum : and, in his Treatise de Cultu Foeminarum, lib. i.
2, 3, he quotes the Apocryphal book of Enoch to the same purpose. Josephus (Ant. Jud. lib. i. c. iv. 1)
makes the same use of Gen. vi. 2.

It was imagined that from these corrupt angels arose the demons, a race still more corrupt, who injured
and deceived men, and were principally employed in seducing them from the worship of the true God to
that of idols.

The principal passages of Tertullian bearing upon this point, are collected in Bp. Kaye's Tertullian, p. 214.

Lactantius (lib. ii. c. 14) adopts the same fanciful notions: "Itaque illos cum hominibus commorantes
dominator ille terrae fallacissimus consuetudine ipsa paulatim ad vitia pellexit, et mulierum congressibus
inquinavit. Tum in coelum ob peccata, quibus se immerserant, non recepti, ceciderunt in terram. Sic eos
Diabolus ex angelis Dei suos fecit satellites, ac ministros. Qui autem sunt ex his procreati quia neque
homines fuerunt, sed mediam quandam naturam gerentes, non sunt ad inferos recepti, sicut nec in
coelum parentes eorum."

73. 2 Herod. i. 46--48.

74. 3 Suetonius (Nero, c. 1) relates a report of this nature respecting Domitius, the ancestor of the
Domitian family at Rome. "Aenobarbi auctorem originis, itemque cognominis habent L. Domitium : cui
rure quondam revertenti, juvenes gemini augustiore forma ex occursu imperasse traduntur, nuntiaret
senatui ac populo victoriam, de qua incertum adhuc erat: atque in fidem majestatis adeo permulsisse
malas ut e nigro, rutilum, aerique assimilem capillum redderent. Quod insigne mansit et in posteris ejus,
ac magna pars rutila barba fuerunt."

75. 4 Elidunt.
This refers either to the sacrificing of children, βρεφομαντεία, or παιδομαντεία, to propitiate the god,
who was supposed to give the oracle, (see Justin Martyr's Apology, c. 24,) or else to the convulsion fits,
into which boys were thrown, in order that the words which they uttered, in a state of mental
alienation, might be taken for an oracular reply.

76. 5 Tertullian advances the like assertions respecting the power of Christians in expelling demons, in
cc. 37. 43; De Testimonio Animae, c. 3; Ad Scapulam, c. 2; De Spectaculis, c. 29; De Idololatria, c. 11; De
Corona, c. 11.

Bp. Kaye observes, (Tertullian, c. 2,) that Tertullian "casts a doubt upon the accuracy of his own
statement by ascribing to Christians in general those extraordinary gifts, which even in the days of the
Apostles appear to have been confined to them, and to the disciples upon whom they laid their hands."

The learned prelate discusses the question respecting the continuance of miraculous power in the
Church with his well-known judgment and caution. He is of opinion that they ceased with the death of
the last disciple, upon whom the Apostles laid their hands.

77. 6 Jesus Christ is in like manner spoken of in c. 21, as the Word, and Reason, and Power of God. Jam
ediximus Deum universitatem hanc mundi Verbo, et Ratione, et Virtute molitum. And soon after, Et nos
etiam Sermoni, atque Rationi, itemque Virtuti, per quae omnia molitum Deum ediximus, propriam
substantiam Spiritum inscribimus, cui et sermo insit praenuntianti, et ratio adsit disponenti, et virtus
praesit perficienti.

Tertullian uses the same expression, in his Treatise De Oratione, c. 1. Omnia de carnalibus in spiritalia
renovavit nova Dei gratia, superducto Evangelio expunctore totius retro vetustatis, in quo et Dei Spiritus,
et Dei Sermo, et Dei Ratio approbatus est Dominus noster Jesus Christus; spiritus quo valuit, sermo quo
docuit, ratio qua venit.

78. 7 Aeneid. i. 16.

79. 8 Quem coluerat Saturnus et Jupiter? aliquem, opinor, Sterculum, sed Romae postea cum indigenis.

The words, "sed Romae postea," appear to be an interpolation.

80. 9 Hoc magis proditos: this is the reading of Havercamp's edition, instead of perditos.

81. 1 Calidiore timiditate.

82. 2 Eccles. ix. 4. See c. 4.

83. 3 Eccles. ix. 4.

84. 4 Denique sine monitore, quia de pectore, oramus.

It is plain that Tertullian is here not condemning the. use of set forms of prayer, but contrasting the
hearty and earnest devotions, which the Christians offered for the Emperor, with the desultory and
forced exclamations of the idolatrous people. Compare c. 35. There is probably also an allusion to the
persons who were appointed, at the sacrifices of the Romans, to prompt the magistrates, lest they
should incidentally omit a single word in the appropriate formulae, which would have vitiated the whole
proceedings. "Vidimus certis precationibus obsecrasse summos magistratus : et ne quid verborum
praetereatur, aut praeposterum dicatur, de scripto praeire aliquem, rursusque alium custodem dari qui
attendat, alium vero praeponi qui favere linguis jubeat; tibicinem canere, ne quid aliud exaudiatur." Plin.
Hist. Nat. xxviii. c. 2. See Bingham, Eccles. Ant. Book xiii. c. 5.5.

85. 5 Heb. xiii. 15. Hos. xiv. 2.

86. 6 Hoc agite, boni praesides.

Tertullian here makes a sarcastic allusion to the well-known institution of Numa, that, while the
magistrates and priests were engaged in any religious ceremony, a herald should proclaim Hoc age, to
fix the attention of the people.

87. 7 Matt. v. 44. Luke vi. 27. 35.

88. 8 Rom. xiii. 1. 1 Tim. ii. 2. Tit. iii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 13.
89. 9 It was a prevailing opinion, in the early ages of the Church, that the day of judgment was at hand.
Thus Cyprian, De Mortalitate, p. 165 (Fell).

Quod cum semper faciendum fuerit Dei servis, nunc fieri multo magis debet, corruente jam mundo, et
malorum infestantium turbinibus obsesso : ut qui cernimus caepisse jam gravia, et scimus imminere
graviora, lucrum maximum computemus, si istinc velocius recedamus. Si in habitaculo tuo parietes
vetustate nutarent, tecta supertremerent, domus jam fatigata, jam lassa, aedificiis senectute labentibus
ruinam proximam minaretur, nonne omni celeritate migrares? Si, navigante te, turbida et procellosa
tempestas fluctibus violentius excitatis, praenunciaret futura naufragia, nonne portum velociter
peteres? Mundus ecce nutat et labitur : et ruinam sui non jam senectute rerum sed fine testatur: et tu
non Deo gratias agis, non tibi gratularis, quod exitu maturiore subtractus, minis, et naufragiis, et plagis
imminentibus exuaris?

Tertullian, in many parts of his writings, as well as in this Apology, expresses his belief that the
consummation of all things would immediately follow the dissolution of the Roman Empire: and in his
Treatise de Resurrectione Carnis, c. 24, he thus interprets the prophecy of St. Paul (2 Thess. ii. 6),
respecting the man of sin : "Et nunc quid detineat scitis, ad revelandum eum in suo tempore. Jam enim
arcanum iniquitatis agitatur; tantum qui nunc tenet, teneat; donee de medio fiat." Quis, nisi Romanus
status? Cujus abscessio in decem reges dispersa Antichristum superducet.

Hence, although, as in Resurrect. Carnis, c. 22, he sometimes represents the final judgment as the
completion of the hopes of a Christian--vota nostra suspirant in seculi hujus occasum, in transitum
mundi quoque ad diem Domini magnum, diem irae et retributionis : and in his Treatise de Oratione, c. 5,
he appears to oppose those who pray for a longer continuance of the world, as contrary to the petition
in the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come--he yet speaks of the connexion between the day of judgment
and the termination of the Roman power as a reason why Christians should earnestly pray for the
Emperor and the Empire. Thus, ad Scapulam, c. 2, he says, Christianus nullius est hostis, nedum
Imperatoris: quem sciens a Deo suo constitui, necesse est ut ipsum diligat et revereatur, et honoret, et
salvum velit, cum toto Romano imperio, quousque saeculum stabit: tamdiu enim stabit.

90. 1 See note on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, c. 9.

91. 2 Thus the military oath, under the Christian Emperors, was altered, in compliance with the
conscientious feelings of the Christian soldiers. Vegetius, de re militari, ii.5, has preserved the form :
"Jurant per Deum, et per Christum, et per Spiritum Sanctum, et per majestatem Imperatoris, quae
secundum Deum generi humano diligenda est et colenda."
92. 3 Adjurare consuevimus, ut illos de hominibus exigamus; non dejerare, ut illis honorem divinitatis
conferamus.

93. 4 The Emperors were not deified till after their death. He, therefore, who calls them by the
appellation of a god addresses them as if they were already dead, and either seems to wish for their
death, or, at least, utters words of ill omen. See the end of c. 34.

94. 5 Suetonius, Aug. 53.

95. 6 Liber sum illi. I owe allegiance to the Emperor; but in matters of religion I am free to pay my
worship to him who is the supreme and only God.

96. 7 ----Cras nato Caesare festus

Dat veniam somnumque dies; impune licebit

Aestivam sermone benigno tendere noctem.

HOR. Epist. i. 5. 9.

97. 8 Confer Herod. i. 133; Grot. on Matt. xiv. 6.

98. 9 Compare Tertullian Ad Nationes, i. c. 17. Ad Martyr, c. 6. Ad Scapulam, c. 2.

99. 1 This is a remarkable testimony to the rapid propagation of the Christian religion. Tertullian makes
assertions of the same nature in his Apology, c. 1. (p. 283.) In his Treatise ad Scapulam, c. 2, he speaks of
the Christians as forming almost the majority in every place--"tanta hominum multitudo, pars pene
major civitatis cujusque." And at the conclusion of the same Treatise, c. ,5, he declares, that if the cruel
laws against the Christians were rigidly enforced, Carthage would be decimated. "Hoc si placuerit et hic
fieri, quid facies de tantis millibus hominum, tot viris ac feminis, omnis sexus, omnis aetatis, omnis
dignitatis offerentibus se tibi? Quantis ignibus, quantis gladiis opus erit? Quid ipsa Carthago passura est
decimanda a te, cum propinquos cum contubernales suos illie unus quisque cognoverit?--Parce ergo tibi,
si non nobis. Parce Carthagini, si non tibi."
Compare also Ad Nationes, i. c. 8. In another place (Adv. Jud. c. 7), he speaks of the diffusion of
Christianity throughout the world, and enumerates Spain, Gaul, and Britain, among many other places
to which the Gospel had already extended.

"---- Getulorum varietates, et Maurorurn multi fines; Hispaniarurn omnes termini, et Galliarum diversae
nationes, et Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita: et Sarmatarum, et Dacorum, et
Germanorum, et Scytharum, et abditarum multarum gentium; et provinciarum et insularum multarum
nobis ignotarum, et quae enumerare minus possumus? In quibus omnibus locis Christi nomen, qui jam
venit, regnat." De Corona, c. 12, he uses the incidental expression, "Et apud barbaros etiam Christus."

We must make considerable allowance for the strong manner in which Tertullian is in the habit of
making his statements. But after all reasonable deduction on this account, we cannot but regard his
testimony as very valuable in showing that the Christians formed a most numerous body in many places,
and that the religion of the Gospel was then very widely diffused.

100. 2 Compare cc. 23, 47.

101. 3 Disciplinam praeceptorum nihilominus in compulsationibus densamus. Many editions have

inculcationibus.

102. 4 Tertullian here speaks of the order of Bishops and Presbyters under the appellation of probati
quique seniores. In his Treatise de Praescriptione Haereticorum, c. 3, he mentions the orders of Bishop
and Deacon. Quid ergo si Episcopus, si diaconus----lapsus a regula fuerit. In other places, he enumerates
the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; and makes a distinction between the Clergy and Laity.

Dandi quidem habet jus summus sacerdos, qui est Episcopus; dehinc Presbyteri et Diaconi : non tamen
sine Episcopi auctoritate, propter Ecclesiae honorem; quo salvo, salva pax est. De Baptismo, c. 17. Sed
quum ipsi auctores, id est, ipsi Diaconi, Presbyteri, et Episcopi fugiunt, quomodo laicus intelligere
poterit, qua ratione dictum, Fugite de civitate in civitatem? De Fuga in Persecut. c. 11.

In his Treatise de Praescriptione Haereticorum, c. 41, he accuses the Heretics of confounding these
distinctions : Itaque alius hodie Episcopus, eras alius : hodie Diaconus, qui eras Lector: hodie Presbyter,
qui eras Laicus : nam et laicis sacerdotalia munera injungunt.
103. 5 Plutarch, in his life of Cato, the philosopher, great-grandson of Cato the Censor, says that he gave
his wife Marcia to Quintus Hortensius, and, at his death, took her back again. Tertullian here confounds
the two Catos, as, at the end of c. 11, he ascribes the virtues of the two Scipios to one person.

104. 6 The Eleusinian mysteries.

105. 7 See 1 Tim. iv. 5. That this custom of making prayer before meals was preserved in later ages of
the Church, is plain from many occasional references to it. Thus Chrysostom, in his forty-ninth Homily on
Matt. xiv., (torn. ii. p. 314. 32, Saville,) when speaking of our Lord blessing the bread, before he gave it to
the multitude, observes that this was in. tended to teach us not to sit down to table, till we had first
given thanks to him who provides us with food. Ὁμοῦ μὲν ταῦτα κατασκευάζων, ὁμοῦ δὲ ἅπερ εἶπον
παιδεύων ἡμᾶς μὴ πρότερον ἅπτεσθαι τραπέζης, ἕως ἂν εὐχαριστήσωμεν τῷ τὴν τροφὴν ἡμῖν ταύτην
παρέχοντι.

The character which Tertullian here gives of the manners of the primitive Christians in society, agrees
entirely with the delightful representation made by Cyprian (Ad Donatum, ad fin. p. 10, Fell). Et quoniam
feriata nunc quies, ac tempus est otiosum; quicquid inclinato jam sole in vesperam diei superest,
ducamus hanc diem laeti: nec sit vel hora convivii gratiae caelestis immunis. Sonet psalmos convivium
sobrium; et ut tibi tenax memoria est, vox canora; aggredere hoc munus ex more. Magis carissimos
pasces, si sit nobis spiritalis auditio; prolectet aures religiosa mulcedo.

106. 8 Tertullian, in his Treatise de Corona Militis, argues upon the impropriety of a Christian using a
custom, which to him appeared to imply a culpable compliance with the forms of idolatry. In c. 5, he
dwells at some length upon the subject here alluded to. Hoc sint tibi flores, et inserti, et innexi, et in filo,
et in scirpo, quod liberi, quod soluti : spectaculi scilicet et spiraculi res. Coronam si forte fascem
existimas florum per seriem comprehensorum, ut plures simul portes, ut omnibus pariter utaris, jam
vero et in sinum conde, si tanta munditia est; in lectulum sparge, si tanta mollitia est; et in poculum
crede, si tanta innocentia est. Tot modis fruere, quot et sentis. Caeterum in capite quis sapor floris? qui
coronae sensus? nisi vinculi tantum : quo neque color cernitur, neque odor ducitur, nec teneritas
commendatur.

Minucius Felix, in his Octavius, c. 37 (p. 114, Rigalt), imitates and explains this passage of Tertullian.

Quis autem ille, qui dubitat vernis indulgere nos floribus, cum capiamus et rosam veris, et lilium, et
quidquid aliud in floribus blandi coloris et odoris est? His enim et sparsis utimur mollibus ac solutis, et
sertis colla complectimur. Sane quod caput non coronamus, ignoscite. Auram boni floris naribus ducere,
non occipitio capillisve solemus haurire.
107. 9 Quis lavantium praedo : what robber of clothes from baths. This was a very common crime, and
punished capitally, in consequence of the facility with which it could be committed.

108. 1 Tertullian gives the same account of Lycurgus in c. 4.

109. 2 C. 19.

110. 3 Tertullian maintains the same opinion respecting the impossibility of the soul receiving
impressions, except by means of the body, in his Treatise de Testimonio Animae, c. 4.

Jam nunc, quod ad necessariorem sententiam tuam spectet, quantum et ad ipsum statum tuum tendit,
affirmamus te manere post vitae dispunctionem, et expectare diem judicii, proque meritis aut cruciatui
destinari, aut refrigerio, utroque sempiterno. Quibus sustinendis necessario tibi substantiam pristinam,
ejusdemque hominis materiam et mernoriam reversuram, quod et nihil mali ac boni sentire possis sine
carnis passionalis facultate, et nulla ratio sit judicii, sive ipsius exhibitione, qui meruit judicii passionem.

In his Treatises, de Anima, passim, de Resurrectione Carnis, c. 17, Adversus Marcion, v. c. 15, he
expresses himself somewhat differently, maintaining that the soul is itself corporeal, possessing a
peculiar substance, limited by space, possessing definite dimensions and a determinate shape; in
consequence of which it is capable of sensation apart from the human body. For a full account of his
notions on this abstruse subject, see Bp. Kaye's Tertullian, c. iii. p. 190--214. In the Treatise De Anima, c.
22, Tertullian thus recapitulates his opinions respecting the nature of the soul : "Definimus Animam, Dei
flatu natam, immortalem, corporalem, effigiatam, substantia simplicem, de suo sapientem, varie
procedentem, liberam arbitrii, accidentiis obnoxiam, per ingenia mutabilem, rationalem, dominatricem,
divinatricem, ex una redundantem," or, in the language of his learned expositor, that the soul "derives
its origin from the breath of God--that it is immortal, (in its own nature, compare De Res. Carnis, cc. 18,
34, 35,) corporeal; that it has a figure; is simple in substance; possessing within itself the principle of
intelligence, operating in different ways (or through different channels); endued with free-will; affected
by external circumstances, and thus producing that infinite variety of talent and disposition observable
among mankind; rational; designed to rule the whole man; possessing an insight into futurity. Moreover
the souls of all the inhabitants of the earth are derived from one common source, the soul of Adam."

111. 4 See Justin Martyr's Apology, c. 25, p. 169, note (3).

112. 5 Compare the Epistle of Clement, c. 24. Bp. Pearson, on the Creed, Art. xi. p. 376, adopts the same
reasoning, which Tertullian uses here, and still more fully and more eloquently in his Treatise de
Resurrectione Carnis, c. 12. "Aspice nunc ad ipsa quoque exempla divinae potestatis. Dies moritur in
noctem, et tenebris usquequaque sepelitur. Funestatur mundi honor: omnis substantia denigratur.
Sordent, silent, stupent cuncta : ubique justitium est. Ita lux amissa lugetur: et tamen rursus cum suo
cultu, cum dote, cum sole, eadem et integra et tota universo orbi reviviscit; interficiens mortem suam,
noctem; rescindens sepulturam suam, tenebras; haeres sibimet existens, donec et lux reviviscat, cum
suo et illa suggestu. Redaccenduntur enim et stellarum radii, quos matutina succensio extinxerat.
Reducuntur et siderum absentiae, quas temporalis distinctio exemerat. Redornantur et specula lunae,
quae menstruus numerus attriverat. Revolvuntur hyemes et aestates, verna et autumna, cum suis
viribus, moribus, fructibus. Quippe etiam terrae de coelo disciplina est arbores vestire post spolia, flores
denuo colorare, herbas rursus imponere, exhibere eadem quae absumpta sint semina; nec prius
exhibere, quam absumpta. Mira ratio : de fraudatrice servatrix; ut reddat, intercipit; ut custodiat, perdit;
ut integret, vitiat; ut etiam ampliet, prius decoquit. Siquidem uberiora et cultiora restituit, quam
exterminavit : revera fenore interitu, et injuria usura, et lucro damno. Semel dixerim, universa conditio
recidiva est. Quodcunque conveneris, fuit: quodcunque amiseris, nihil non iterum est. Omnia in statum
redeunt, quum abscesserint : omnia incipiunt, quum desierint: ideo finiuntur, ut fiant. Nihil deperit, nisi
in salutem.

"Totus igitur hic ordo revolubilis rerum, testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum. Operibus eam
praescripsit Deus, ante quam literis: viribus praedicavit, ante quam vocibus."

113. 6 Cum ergo finis et limes medius, qui interhiat, affuerit, ut etiam mundi ipsius species transferatur
aeque temporalis, &c.

This is probably an allusion to the opinion of a Millennium, which Tertullian had adopted; as is evident
from the fanciful account which he gives in his third Book against Marcion, c. 24, of a city which had
been suspended in the skies in Judea for forty successive days, in the morning. This he conceived to be
an image of the new Jerusalem. "Nam et confitemur in terra nobis regnum repromissum; sed ante
coelum, sed alio statu : utpote post resurrectionem in mille annos, in civitate divini operis Hierusalem
coelo delata, quam et Apostolus matrem nostrum sursum designat," &c.

114. 7 2 Cor. v. 2. So also Lactantius, vii. c. 21. Et tamen non erit caro illa, quam Deus homini
superjecerit, huic terrenae similis, sed insolubilis, et permanens in aeternum.

115. 8 Ut qui de coelo tangitur saivus est, ut nullo jam igni decinerescat.
Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 34, p. 105, seems to have understood Tertullian as asserting that the bodies
of those who are killed by lightning, are apparently uninjured.

Nec tormentis aut modus ullus, aut terminus. Illic sapiens ignis membra urit et reficit; carpit et nutrit;.
sicut ignes fulminum corpora tangunt, nee absumunt : sicut ignes Aetnae et Vesuvii, et ardentium
ubique terrarum flagrant, nec erogantur. Ita poenale illud incendium non damnis ardentium pascitur,
sed inexesa corporum laceratione nutritur.

116. 9 Licet nunc sarmenticios et semaxios appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis revincti sarmentorum
ambitu exurimur.

The martyrs, who were burned alive, were usually fastened to a stake, of about six feet in length, called
Semaxis; and surrounded or covered with fagots, Sarmenta. Hence the Christians were ridiculed by
these names.

117. 1 The Christians were constantly accused of inflexible obstinacy; as, for instance, in the celebrated
letter from Pliny to Trajan, at the end of the volume.

118. 2 Diogenes Laertius, in his life of Zeno Eleates, p. 645, A, says that the name of the tyrant, under
whom this Zeno suffered, was either Nearchus or Diomedon.

119. 3 Hoc agite, boni praesides.

An allusion to the religious formula of the Romans, Hoc age; as in c. 30.

120. 4 Ad lenonem damnando Christianam potitis quam ad leonem.

Previous PageTable Of ContentsNext Page

C. Dodgson, Tertullian Vol. 1. Apologetic and Practical Treatises. (1842). pp.1-106. Apologeticum.
THE

BOOK OF APOLOGY

AGAINST

THE HEATHEN.

--------

[The Apology was written probably A.D. 198. It was under Severus, because under one of the better
Emperors (c. v. p. 13.) before he became a persecutor, (ib. and T. praises him c. 4.) and as the result of
old laws, (c. 2----4.) i. e. before A. 202; after the conspiracy of Albinus (c. 35.) A.D. 396, 7., while the
remains of the conspirators were being gleaned up, public rejoicings held at Rome, and a largess given,
(ib.) as did Severus, upon his victory over Albinus, A. 198. (Herodian, Hist. iii. 8.) upon which he set out
on the war against the Parthians (Spartian. in Sever. c. 14.) alluded to, probably, c. 37. (see Mosheim
Disq. de aet. Apol.) Lumper, (Hist. S. Patr. t. vi. c. 1. §. 16.) places it A. 199, imagining the "gleaning" c.
25. to be that of the adherents of Niger. S. Clement Al. mentions "copious streams of the blood of
martyrs shed daily," at the same time, before the edict of Severus, (Strom. ii. p. 494.) another proof that
the sufferings of the early Christians were not confined to the great persecutions; they were demanded
by the populace. Allix infers, from the way in which T. speaks of Rome and the Romans, (c. 9. 21. 35.)
that the Apology was not written at Rome; it is addressed to the executive (c. i. 2. 9. 50.) in a
Proconsulate, (c. 45. see Bp. Kaye, Tert. p. 52.) so that Eusebius is probably mistaken in saying it was
addressed to the Roman Senate. (H. E. v. 5.) S. Jerome says of it, (Ep. 70. ad Magnum, §. 5.) "What more
learned than Tertullian, what more acute? His Apology and his Books against the Gentiles comprise the
whole range of secular learning."]

I. If it be not allowed you, Lords of the Roman empire, sitting above all, to judge, in an open and exalted
spot, at the very summit almost of the city, openly to look about you, and publicly to examine what
there be of very truth in the cause of the Christians; if in this instance alone your authority be either
afraid 1 or ashamed to make enquiry in public, touching the diligent use of justice; if finally, as hath just
now happened, the enmity against this sect, having too much exercised itself in private condemnations
2, formeth an obstacle to their defence, let the truth be permitted to reach your ears even by the secret
way of silent writings 3. She asketh no favour for her cause, because she feeleth no |2 wonder at her
condition.4 She knoweth that she liveth a stranger upon earth, that among aliens she easily findeth foes;
but that she hath her birth, her home, her hope, her favour, and her worth in the heavens 5. One thing
meanwhile she earnestly desireth, that she be not condemned unknown. If she be heard, what loss
cometh thereby to the laws, supreme within their own dominion? Will not their power boast the more
in this, that they will condemn Truth even when she hath been heard? But if they condemn her unheard,
besides the ill-repute of injustice, they will merit also the suspicion of a certain consciousness, as being,
namely, unwilling to hear that, which when heard, they could not condemn 6. This therefore we lay
before you as the first argument for the injustice of your hatred towards the name of Christians. Which
injustice the same plea, namely, ignorance, which seemeth to excuse it, aggravateth and convicteth. For
what more unjust than that men should hate that of which they know nothing, even if the thing deserve
their hatred? For then doth it deserve, when it be known whether it do deserve. But when knowledge of
the desert be wanting, whence is the justice of the hatred maintained? which ought to be approved, not
by the event, but by previous conviction! When then men hate for this reason, because they know not
what manner of thing that, which they hate, is, why may it not be of such a sort as that they ought not
to hate it? Thus from either point we prove either against them, that they are both ignorant, in that they
hate, and hate unjustly, in that they are ignorant. It is an evidence of that ignorance, which, while it is
made the excuse, is the condemnation of injustice, when all, who aforetime hated because they were
ignorant what it was which they hated 7, as soon as they cease to be ignorant, cease also to hate. From
being such, they become Christians, to wit from conviction, and begin to hate what they were, and to
profess what they hated, and are as numerous as indeed we are publicly declared to be. Men cry out
that the state is beset, that the Christians are in their fields, in their forts, in their |3 islands 8. They
mourn, as for a loss, that every sex, age, condition, and now even rank is going over to this sect 9. And
yet they do not by this very means advance their minds to the idea of some good therein hidden: they
allow not themselves to conjecture more rightly, they choose not to examine more closely. Here alone is
the curiosity of man dull: they love to be ignorant, where others rejoice to know. How much more would
Anacharsis 10 have condemned these, the uninformed judging the informed, than the unmusical the
musical! They had rather be ignorant, because they already hate. Thus they determine in the outset that
that which they know not, is such as, if they knew, they could not hate; since if no due cause of hatred
be found, surely it were best to cease to hate unjustly; but if it be clear that it is deserved, not only is
their hatred nothing diminished, but stronger ground is gained for persevering in it, even with the
sanction of justice itself. 'But,' saith one, 'it is not therefore at once determined 11 to be good because it
converteth many, for how many are remoulded 12 to evil! how many are deserters to the worse cause!'
Who denieth it? Nevertheless, that which is really evil not even those, whom it carrieth away, dare to
defend as a good. Nature hath cast over every evil either fear or shame. Finally, evil-doers delight in
hiding themselves; shun appearing 13; are bewildered when discovered; being accused deny; not even
when tortured, readily or always confess; certainly mourn when |4 condemned; sum up against
themselves, impute either to fate or to the stars the impulses of a wicked mind 14: for they will not have
that to be their own, which they acknowledge to be evil 15. But what doth the Christian like this? None
is ashamed, none repenteth, save indeed that he was not such long ago. If he be marked down, he
glorieth; if accused, maketh no defence; being questioned, confesseth even of his own accord; being
condemned, giveth thanks 16. What manner of evil is this, which hath not the natural marks of evil, fear,
shame, shrinking, penitence, sorrow? What manner of evil is this, whereof he that is accused, rejoiceth?
whereof to be accused is his prayer, and its punishment his happiness 17? Thou canst not call that
madness, of which thou art proved to know nothing.

II. If finally it be certain that we are never so guilty, why even by you are we treated otherwise than our
fellows, that is than other guilty men, since for the same guilt the same treatment ought to be
introduced? Whatever we be called, when others are called the same, they employ both their own
tongue, and hired advocates, to commend their innocency: the liberty of answering, of disputing, is
open to them, since it is not even lawful that they should be condemned, undefended and altogether
unheard. But the Christians alone are allowed to say nothing which may clear them, which may defend
the truth, which may make the judge not unjust: but that alone is looked to, which is needed for the
public hatred, a confession of the name 18, not an examination of the charge: whereas, when ye take
cognizance of any criminal, although he confess to the name of a murderer, or a sacrilegious or an
incestuous person, or a public enemy 19, (to speak of our own titles,) ye are not content at once to
pronounce him such, without enquiring out also attendant circumstances, the quality of |5 the act, the
number 20 of acts 21, the place, the manner, the time, the accessories, the accomplices. In our case
there is nothing like this, although it were equally right that the fact be extorted, whatsoever charge be
falsely thrown out; how many murdered infants each hath tasted, how many incests he hath shrouded
in darkness 22; what cooks, what dogs 23, were present. Oh! how great the glory of that magistrate, if
he should hunt out one who hath already eaten an hundred infants! But we find even enquiry into our
case forbidden: for the second Pliny 24, while governor of a province, when some Christians had been
condemned, some degraded, being nevertheless troubled by their very numbers, asked of Trajan, then
Emperor, what he should do for the future, alleging that, excepting their obstinacy in not sacrificing, he
had discovered nothing else touching their religious mysteries, save meetings before day-break to sing
to Christ as God 25, and to form a common bond of discipline, forbidding murder, adultery, fraud,
perfidy, and other crimes. Then wrote Trajan back that this sect should not indeed be enquired after,
but, when brought before him, must be punished 26. O sentence necessarily confounding itself! He
forbiddeth that they should be enquired after, as though they were innocent, and commandeth that
they should be punished, as though guilty! He spareth and rageth, winketh and punisheth! Why, O
sentence, dost thou overreach thyself? If thou condemnest, why dost thou not also enquire? if thou
enquirest not, why dost thou not also acquit 27? For tracking robbers through all the provinces, |6
military stations are allotted 28. Against men accused of treason, and public enemies, every man is a
soldier. The enquiry is extended to the accomplices, even to the accessories. The Christian alone may
not be enquired after, but may be brought before the court; as though enquiry had any other object
than to bring him thither! Ye condemn him therefore when brought before you, whom none would have
enquired after, who, I suppose, hath already deserved punishment, not because he is guilty, but
because, when not to be enquired after, he was found! So then neither in this do ye act towards us
according to the rule of judging malefactors, namely, that to others ye apply tortures, when they deny,
to make them confess; to the Christians alone, to make them deny 29; whereas, if it were a sin, we
indeed should deny it, and ye by your tortures would compel us to confess it. Nor could you think that
our crimes were therefore not to be enquired of by examinations, because ye were assured by the
confession of the name, that they have been committed, seeing that to this day from one who hath
confessed himself a murderer, though ye know what murder is, ye nevertheless extort the whole train
of circumstances touching the act. Wherefore it is with the greater perverseness that, when ye presume
our guilt from the confession of our name, ye compel us by tortures to go back from our confession, that
by denying the name we may of course equally deny the crimes also, of which ye presumed us guilty
from the confession of the name. But, I suppose, ye do not wish us, whom ye deem the worst of men, to
die! For thus (doubtless) ye are wont to say to a murderer, 'Deny the fact;' to order the sacrilegious
person to be torn with scourges if he persevere in his confession! If ye act not thus towards us as
criminals, ye therefore judge us to be most innocent, since, as though we were most innocent, ye will
not have us persevere in that confession, which ye know must be condemned by you of necessity, not of
right. One crieth out, 'I am a Christian.' He sayeth what he is: thou |7 wouldest hear what he is not.
Sitting in authority to draw out the truth, from us alone do ye labour to draw out falsehood. 'I am,' saith
he, 'that which thou askest, if I am. Why torture me to unsay it? I confess, and thou torturest me: what
wouldest thou do if I denied?' Certainly ye do not easily lend credit to others when they deny: us, if we
deny, ye forthwith credit. Let this perverseness be cause of suspicion to you that there may be some
power 30 lurking in secret, which maketh you its ministers against all rule, against the very nature of
judicial trial, against even the laws themselves. For, if I mistake not, the laws command that malefactors
be hunted out, not concealed, prescribe that such as confess be condemned, not acquitted. This the acts
of your senate, this the mandates of your princes, this the government, whose servants ye are,
determineth. Your rule is civil, not despotic. For with tyrants tortures were used 31 for punishment also:
with you they are tempered down to the examination alone. Observe therein your own law as necessary
up to the time of confession 32. Now then, if they be anticipated by confession, they will be superfluous:
sentence must needs be given. The culprit must discharge, the penalty due, not be discharged from it.
Finally, none desireth to acquit him: it is not lawful to wish it: therefore neither is any compelled to a
denial 33. A Christian, thou deemest a man guilty of every crime, an enemy of the Gods, of the
Emperors, of Law, of Morals, of all Nature 34; and thou compellest to deny that thou mayest acquit,
whom thou wilt not be able to acquit, unless he deny. Thou quibblest with the laws. Thou wilt have him
therefore deny himself guilty, that thou mayest make him not guilty, unwilling too as he now is, and not
accounted guilty for the past. Whence this perverseness, not to consider this also, that more credit
should be given to one that of his own will confesseth, than to one who from compulsion denieth, or
that when compelled to deny, he may not deny in earnest, |8 and being acquitted, may, on the spot,
behind the judgment-seat, laugh at your rivalry, a Christian for the second time? Seeing then that in all
things ye deal with us otherwise than with other criminals, in striving for this one thing, that we be
debarred from this name, (for debarred we are, if we do what those who are no Christians do,) ye may
perceive that it is no crime which is called in question, but a name, which a sort of plan of rival agency
35 persecuteth, aiming first at this, that men may be unwilling to know for certain that, which they know
for a certain that they know not. Therefore also they believe of us things which are not proved, and will
not have them enquired into, lest those things be proved not to be, which they had rather should be
believed to be; so that the name opposed to that rival plan may, by its own confession alone, be
condemned, on the presumption, not on the proof, of crimes. Wherefore we are tortured when we
confess, and punished when we persevere, and acquitted when we deny, because it is a war about a
name. Finally, why read ye that man a Christian from the tablet 36? why not a murderer also, if a
Christian be a murderer 37? Why is he not also a committer of incest, or whatever else ye believe us to
be? In our case alone ye are ashamed or loth to proclaim the very names of our crimes. If 'Christian' be
the name of no crime, it is very absurd that there should be crime in the name alone 38.

III. What when the generality run upon an hatred of this name with eyes so closed, that in bearing
favourable testimony to any one, they mingle with it the reproach of the name. 'A good man Caius Seius,
only he is a Christian.' So another, 'I marvel that that wise man Lucius Titius 39 hath suddenly become a
Christian.' No one reflecteth whether Caius be not therefore good, and Lucius wise, because a Christian,
or therefore a Christian because wise and good. They praise that which they know, they revile that
which they know not; and that which they know, they spoil through that which they know not: whereas
it were more |9 just to prejudge things unseen by things seen, than to pre-condemn the seen through
the unseen. Others condemn in the very thing, wherein in fact they praise, those whom in time past,
before they had this name, they knew as vagabonds, worthless, wicked. In the blindness of their hatred
they fall upon commending them. What a woman! how voluptuous! how gay! What a youth! what a
rake! what a man of pleasure! They have become Christians. Thus is this name applied to their
reformation. Some even barter their own interests for this hatred, being content to suffer injury, so that
they have not at home that which they hate. The husband now no longer jealous hath turned out of
doors his wife now chaste. The father, patient before, hath disowned his now obedient son. The master,
once lenient, hath banished from his sight his now faithful servant. As each is reformed by this name, he
offendeth. Virtue is not in such account as hatred of the Christians. Now then if the hatred be of the
name, what guilt is there in names? what charge against words? unless it be that any word which is a
name have either a barbarous, or an ill-omened, or a scurrilous, or an immodest sound. But the word
'Christian,' as far as its meaning is concerned, is derived from 'anointing.' And even when it is by you
wrongly pronounced, 'Chreestian 40,' (for not even of the name is there any certain knowledge among
you,) it is made from 'sweetness,' or from 'kindness.' Wherefore in innocent men a name, also innocent,
is hated. But in truth the sect is hated in the name of its Head. What new thing is it, if any School bring
upon its followers a name from its master? Are not Philosophers named from their founders, as
Platonists, Epicureans, Pythagoreans? Even from the places of their meetings and stations, as Stoics,
Academics? So too Physicians from Erasistratus, and Grammarians from Aristarchus, |10 and even Cooks
from Apicius? And yet the profession of a name, handed down together with the institution, from its
founder, doth not offend any. Clearly if any hath proved the sect bad, and thus the founder also bad, he
will prove the name likewise bad, deserving of hatred from the guilt of the sect and of its founder. And
therefore, before hating the name, it were meet, first to judge of the sect from the founder, or of the
founder from the sect. But now, all examination and knowledge of either set aside, the name is laid hold
of, the name is attacked, and a word alone pre-condemneth a sect unknown, and its founder also
unknown, because they bear a name, not because convicted.

IV. And so, having as it were premised these things, that I might set a mark upon the injustice of the
public hatred against us, I will now take my stand on the ground of our innocence, and not only refute
the charges which are brought against us, but even retort them upon the very men who bring them; that
in this also all may know that those things exist not in Christians which they are not ignorant do exist in
themselves; and at the same time may blush in accusing----I will not say the best, themselves being the
worst, but----those who are now, on their own shewing, their compeers. We will answer touching all the
things severally, which we are said to commit in secret, which are openly discovered against us, in which
we are accounted wicked, in which foolish, in which to be condemned, in which to be laughed at. But
since, when the truth of our cause meeteth you at every turn, the authority of the laws is at last set up
against it, so that it either is said that nothing must be reconsidered after the laws 41 have decided, or
the necessity of obedience is unwillingly preferred to truth, I will first contend with you about the laws
as with the guardians of the laws. And first, when ye harshly determine, saying, 'It is not lawful that ye
should exist 42,' and prescribe this law without any gentler |11 reconsideration, ye avow violence, and
an unjust despotism from within your strong hold, if ye therefore say it is unlawful because ye will have
it, not because it ought to be, unlawful. But if, because it ought not to be, therefore ye will not have it
lawful, doubtless that ought not to be lawful, which is ill done, and surely it is, even hereby, already
determined that what is well done is lawful. If I shall find that to be good, which your law hath
forbidden, is it not by this previous determination, disabled from forbidding me 43 that which, if it were
evil, it would justly forbid? If your law hath erred, it was devised, methinks, by man; for it hath not
dropped down from the sky. Do we wonder that man could either err in framing a law, or that he
should, become wiser in disallowing it? Why! did not the amendments by the Lacedaemonians in the
laws of Lycurgus himself inflict such pain upon their author, that in retirement he condemned himself to
starve to death? Do not even ye, as experience throweth light upon the darkness of antiquity, lop 44 and
cut down, with the new axes of imperial rescripts and edicts, all that old and slovenly forest of laws? Did
not Severus, the steadiest 45 of princes, repeal but yesterday, after an old age of such high authority,
those most foolish laws of Papius, which enforce the bringing up of children before that those of Julius
do the contracting of marriage 46? but there were laws too aforetime, that men cast in a suit might be
cut in pieces 47 by the creditors: yet was this cruelty afterwards erased 48 by public consent, the
punishment of death being exchanged for a mark of disgrace. The confiscation of goods resorted to
would |12 rather have the suffusion than the effusion of a man's blood. How many laws still lurk behind
needing to be purified! It is not length of years, nor the worth of their founders, which commendeth
them, but equity alone; and therefore when they are acknowledged to be unjust, they are justly
condemned, although condemning. Why call we them unjust? yea, if they punish a name, we call them
foolish also; but if doings, why in our case do they punish doings, on the score of a name alone, which in
others they maintain must be proved by the act, not by the name? "I am guilty of incest,"----why do they
not examine me? "of child-murder,"----why do they not extort the proof? "I commit some act against
the gods, against the Caesars,"----why am I not heard, who 49 have whereby to clear myself? No law
forbiddeth that to be thoroughly sifted, which it forbiddeth to be done; for neither doth a judge punish
justly, unless he know that an act, which is not lawful, hath been committed; nor doth a citizen obey the
law honestly, not knowing what sort of thing it be which he punisheth. No law ought to satisfy itself
merely of its own justice, but those also from whom it expecteth obedience. But the law is suspicious, if
it will not have itself proved, and reprobate, if unapproved it domineereth.

V. To treat somewhat of the origin of the kind of laws, there was an ancient decree, that no god should
be consecrated by the Emperor 50, unless approved by the Senate. Witness Marcus Aemilius in the case
of his own god Alburnus 51. This also maketh for our cause, that with you deity is measured according to
the judgment of man 52. A god, unless he please man, shall not be a god. Man will now be obliged to be
propitious to a god. Tiberius therefore, in whose time the name of Christ entered into the world, laid
before the Senate, with his own vote to begin with, |13 things announced to him from Palestine in Syria,
which had there manifested the truth of the Divinity of that Person 53. The Senate, because they had
not themselves approved it, rejected it 54. Caesar held by his sentence, threatening peril to the accusers
of the Christians. Consult your Annals: there ye will find that Nero was the first to wreck the fury of the
sword of the Caesars upon this sect, now springing up especially at Rome. But in such a first founder of
our condemnation we even glory. For whoever knoweth him, can understand that nothing save some
great good was condemned by Nero.55 Domitian too, who was somewhat of a Nero 56 in cruelty, had
tried it, but forasmuch as he was also a human being, be speedily stopped 57 the undertaking, even
restoring those whom he had banished. Such have ever been our persecutors; unjust, impious,
infamous, whom even yourselves have been wont to condemn, by whom whosoever were condemned
ye have been wont to restore. But out of so many princes thenceforward to him of the present day, who
had any savour of religion and humanity, shew us any destroyer of the Christians. But we on the other
hand have one to shew who protected them, if the letters of that most august Emperor Marcus Aurelius
be enquired of, wherein he testifieth of that drought in Germany removed by the shower obtained by
the prayers of the Christians who chanced to serve in his army 58. As he did not |14 openly take off the
penalty from the men of that sect 59, so in another way he openly made away with it by adding a
sentence, and that a more horrid one, against the accusers also. What sort of laws then be those which
only the impious, the unjust, the infamous, the cruel, the foolish, the insane, execute against us? which
Trajan in part foiled by forbidding that the Christians should be enquired after 60; which no Adrian,
though a clear searcher into all things curious 61, no Vespasian, though the vanquisher of the Jews, no
Pius, no Verus 62, hath pressed against us? Surely the worst of men, it might be thought, ought to be
more readily rooted out by the best, as being their antagonists, than by their own fellows.

VI. Now I would have these most religious guardians and avengers 63 of the laws and institutions of
their fathers answer touching their own fealty, and their respect and |15 deference towards the decrees
of their ancestors, whether they have fallen off from none, whether they have deviated in none,
whether they have not annulled such as are necessary, and in proportion as they are the best fitted, to
good discipline. Whither have gone those laws which checked extravagance and ambition? which
enacted that an hundred asses, and no more, should be allowed for a supper 64; and that not more than
one fowl, and that not a fatted one 65, should be introduced? which expelled from the Senate a
Patrician on grave proof of ambition, because he possessed ten pounds of silver 66? which forthwith
pulled down the theatres as they rose for the corruption of morals 67? which suffered not the badges of
dignities and honourable birth to be assumed without cause or without a penalty? For I see centenarian
suppers, which must now be so named from an hundred sesterces 68, and silver mines wrought out into
dishes, (it were a small matter if only for Senators, and not for freed men 69, or those who are even now
having the whip broken upon them.) I see too that it is not enough that theatres should be single or
uncovered. For it was for the games forsooth that the Lacedaemonians first invented their odious cloak
70, that immodest pleasure might not be chilled even in the winter. I see too no distinction left in dress
between matrons and harlots 71. Touching women indeed, even those rules of their forefathers have
dropped, which supported modesty and sobriety, when no woman knew ought of gold, save on the one
finger on which her husband had placed the pledge of the nuptial ring 72; when women were so entirely
kept from wine, that her own friends starved a matron to death for unsealing the stores of a wine |16
cellar 73; and under Romulus one who had touched wine was slain 74 with impunity by her husband
Mecenius. Wherefore also they were obliged to offer kisses to their nearest kinsfolk, that they might be
judged by their breath 75. Where is that happiness in marriages, favoured doubtless by good morals,
through which, during nearly six hundred years 76 from the founding of the city, no one family wrote a
writing of divorcement? In the women, now, owing to their gold, no limb is light 77, owing to their wine,
no kiss is free: and for divorce, it is now even the object of a wish, as though it were the proper fruit of
matrimony 78. As touching even your gods themselves, the decrees, which your fathers had providently
enacted, ye, these same most obedient persons, have rescinded. Father Bacchus, with his mysteries, the
Consuls by the authority of the Senate, banished not only from the city, but from the whole of Italy 79.
Serapis, and Isis, and Harpocrates with his dog-headed monster, having been forbidden the Capitol 80,
that is, turned out of the palace of the gods, the Consuls Piso and Gabinius (certainly not Christians)
renounced, overturning even their altars, thus checking the vices of base and idle superstitions. These ye
having bestowed, have conferred the highest dignity upon them. Where is your religion? Where is the
reverence due from you to your ancestors? In dress, food, establishment, income, finally in your very
language, ye have renounced your forefathers. Ye are ever lauding the ancients, yet fashioning your lives
anew every day. By which it is manifest, that, while ye fall back from the good customs of your
ancestors, ye retain and guard those things which ye ought not, while ye guard not those which ye |17
ought. Besides 81 that very thing, which being handed down from your fathers ye seem most faithfully
to observe, in which ye mark out the Christians as specially guilty of transgression,----I mean diligence in
worshipping the gods, wherein antiquity hath mostly erred,----although ye have rebuilt the altars of the
now Roman Serapis, although ye offer 82 your frantic orgies to the now Italian Bacchus, I will shew in
the proper place 83 to have been just as much despised and neglected and destroyed by you, contrary
to the authority of your ancestors. For I shall now make answer to the evil report touching secret crimes,
that I may clear my way to such as are more open.

VII. We are said to be the most accursed of men, as touching a sacrament of child-murder, and thereon
a feast, and incest after the feast, where the dogs that overturn the candles, our panders forsooth,
procure darkness and an absence of all shame besides, for impious lusts. Yet 'said to be' is ever the
word, and ye take no care to expose that which we have been so long said to be. Wherefore either
expose it, if ye believe it, or be unwilling to believe it, seeing ye have not exposed it. Through your own
connivance it is ruled against you, that that hath no existence which even yourselves dare not expose.
Far other is the task which ye impose on your executioner against the Christians, not that they should
confess what they do, but deny what they are 84. This religion dateth, as we have already set forth 85,
from Tiberius. Truth set out with being herself hated; as soon as she appeared, she is an enemy 86. As
many as are strangers to it, so many are its foes 87: and the Jews indeed appropriately from their rivalry,
the soldiers from their violence, even they of our own household from nature 88. Each day are we beset,
each day betrayed; in our very meetings and assemblies are we mostly surprised. Who hath ever in this
way come upon a screaming infant? Who hath kept for the judge the mouths of these Cyclopses and
Sirens, bloody as he found them? Who hath discovered any marks of impurity even in our wives? Who
hath concealed such crimes, |18 when he hath discovered them, or hath taken a bribe to do so, while
haling the men themselves 89? If we be always concealed, when was that, which we commit, divulged?
Yea, by whom could it be divulged? By the criminals themselves forsooth! Nay, verily: since the fidelity
of secresy is, by the very rule of all mysteries 90, due to them. The Samothracian and Eleusinian are kept
secret; how much more such as, being divulged, will in the mean time provoke even the vengeance of
man, while that of God is kept in store! If themselves then be not their own betrayers, it followeth that
strangers must be. And whence have strangers the knowledge, when even holy mysteries ever exclude
the profane, and beware of witnesses? unless it be that unholy men have the less fear! The nature of
fame is known to all. It is your own saying,

"Fame is an ill, than which more speedy none." (VIRG.) .

Why "Fame an ill?" because "speedy?" because a telltale? or because mostly false? who, not even at the
very time when she beareth any thing true, is without the vice of falsehood, detracting, adding,
changing from the truth! What, when her condition is such, that she endureth only while she lieth, and
liveth only so long as she proveth not her words? for when she hath proved them, she ceaseth to be;
and, as having discharged her office of talebearer, delivereth up a fact. And thenceforward the fact is
laid hold of, the fact is named, and no one saith, (for instance,) 'They say that this happened at Rome,' or
'The report is that he hath obtained the province,' but, 'He hath obtained the province,' and 'This
happened at Rome.' Fame, a name for uncertainty, hath no place when a thing is certain. But would any,
but an inconsiderate man, believe Fame? since a wise man believeth not that which is uncertain. All may
judge that, over whatever extent it be spread, with whatever assurance framed, it must needs have at
some time sprung from some one author, and thence creep into the channels of tongues and ears. And
a fault in the first little seed doth so darken the rest of the tale, that none enquireth whether that |19
first tongue have not sown a falsehood 91, which often happeneth either from the spirit of rivalry, or the
wanton humour of suspicion, or that taste for falsehood which in some is not new, but inborn. But it is
well that "time revealeth all things," which even your own proverbs and sayings testify, according to the
general law of nature which hath so ordained that nothing long remaineth hidden, even that which fame
hath not spread abroad. With good cause then hath Fame been so long the only witness of the crimes of
the Christians 92. This informer ye produce against us, who even to this time hath not been able to
prove that which she once threw out, and in so long a period hath strengthened into an opinion.

VIII. That I may appeal to the authority of Nature herself against those who presume that such things are
to be believed, lo! we set before you the reward of these crimes. They promise eternal life. Believe it for
the moment: for I ask this, whether even thou, who dost believe it, thinkest it worth while to attain to it
by such a conscience 93? Come plunge thy knife into an infant, the foe of none, the accused of none, the
child of all. Or, if this be the office of another, only stand by this human being, dying before it hath lived;
wait for the young soul's flight; catch the scarce-matured blood; soak thy bread in it; freely feed upon it.
Meanwhile as thou sittest at the meal, calculate the places where thy mother, where thy sister is; note
them diligently, so that when the darkness caused by the dogs shall fall upon thee, thou mayest not err;
for thou wilt incur pollution if thou commit not incest. Thus initiated and sealed thou livest for ever. I
desire thee to answer whether Eternity be worth such a price; or if not, therefore it ought not to be
believed to be so. Even if thou shouldest believe it, I say that thou wouldest not do it; even if thou
wouldest, I say that thou couldest not. And why should others be able, if ye are not able? Why should ye
not be able, if others are able? We, |20 I suppose, are of another nature! Are we Cynopeans or
Sciapodes 94? Have we other rows of teeth? other nerves for incestuous lust? Thou that canst believe
these things of a man, canst also do them 95. Thou thyself also art a man, as is a Christian. Thou that
canst not do them, oughtest not to believe them, for a Christian also is a man, and all that thou also art.
But (say ye) men while in ignorance are cheated and practised on 96. Because forsooth they knew not
that any such thing was asserted of the Christians, a thing doubtless to have been looked to by them,
and investigated with all diligence! But it is the custom, methinks, for those who desire to be initiated,
first to go to the master of the mysteries, and to note down what things must be prepared 97. Then
saith he, 'An infant thou must needs have, still of tender age, who knoweth not what death is, who can
smile under thy knife: bread too, with which thou must take up the mess of blood: candlesticks
moreover, and candles, and certain dogs, and sops, which may make them stretch forward to overturn
the candles: above all, thou wilt be bound to come with thy mother and sister.' What if they will not
come, or if thou hast none? What, in short, must solitary Christians do? A man, I suppose, will not be a
regular Christian, unless he be a brother or a son! What now, even if all these things be prepared for
men ignorant of them? Surely they know them afterwards, and bear with and pardon them. They fear to
be punished! men, who, if they publish them, will deserve to be defended; who should rather even die
voluntarily, than exist under such a conscience. Well! grant that they do fear. Why do they still go on?
for it followeth that thou canst not wish any longer to be that, which, if thou hadst known it before,
thou wouldest not have been.

IX. To refute these charges the more, I will shew that that is done by you, partly in public and partly in
secret, through which perchance ye have come to believe them of us also. In the bosom of Africa,
infants were publicly |21 sacrificed to Saturn 98, even to the days of a proconsul under Tiberius, who on
the very trees of their temple which shaded their crimes, as on consecrated crosses 99, hung up, alive
100, to public view the priests themselves; witness the soldiery of my own country who executed that
very office for that proconsul. But even now this consecrated crime is continued in secret. It is not the
Christians only who defy you; nor is any crime rooted out for ever, nor doth any god change his
character. Since Saturn did not spare his own sons, doubtless he persisted in not sparing those of others,
whom indeed their own parents offered of themselves, and willingly paid their vow, and fondled the
infants, lest they should be slain weeping 101. And yet murder by a parent differeth much from
manslaying. Among the Gauls a riper age was sacrificed to Mercury. I leave to their own theatres the
fables of Tauri 102. Lo! in that most religious city of the pious descendants of Aeneas there is a certain
Jupiter 103, whom, in his own games, they drench with human blood. But, say ye, 'the blood of one
condemned to the beasts:' and therefore, I suppose, not so bad as that of a man. Is it not therefore
worse, because the blood of a bad man 104? Still in any case it is shed by manslaying. O Christian
Jupiter! and 'the only son of his father'----through cruelty! But since as touching child murder it
mattereth not whether it be done from Religion or of mere wanton will, though in the case of murder by
a parent there is a difference, I will appeal to the people. Of these who stand around and pant for
Christian blood, of your own |22 selves, magistrates most just and most severe against us, how many
will ye that I smite in their consciences, as slayers of the children born unto them? If indeed there be a
difference too as to the manner of death, surely it is with greater cruelty that ye force out their breath in
the water, or expose them to cold and hunger and dogs 105. For even those of riper age would desire to
die by the sword 106. But to us, manslaying having once been forbidden, it is not lawful to undo even
what is conceived in the womb, while the blood is as yet undetermined to form a man. Prevention of
birth is a precipitation of murder 107: nor doth it matter whether one take away a life when formed, or
drive it away while forming. He also is a man, who is about to be one. Even every fruit already existeth in
its seed. Touching the eating of blood, and such like tragic dishes, read whether it be not somewhere
related, (it is in Herodotus 108, I think,) that certain nations have ordained for the making of a treaty the
shedding of blood from their arms, and the drinking it the one from the other 109. Under Catiline 110
also there was some drinking of the same sort. They say too that among some tribes of the Scythians
every one that dieth is eaten by his relations 111. I am travelling too far. In this age, in this country,
blood from a wounded thigh, caught in the palm of the hand, and given to eat, sealeth those
consecrated to Bellona 112. They too, who in the games in the theatre have drunk 113 with greedy
thirst the fresh blood streaming from the neck 114 of the butchered criminals to cure the falling
sickness, where are they 115? they too, who from the stage sup on the meat of wild beasts, who fetch it
from the boar, from the stag 116? That boar hath |23 from the man, whom he hath covered with blood,
in struggling with him, wiped it off. That stag hath lain in the blood of a gladiator. The paunches of the
very bears are in request, reeking yet with undigested human entrails 117. The flesh which hath been
fed on a man forthwith riseth in the stomach of a man. Ye that eat these things, how far removed are ye
from the feasts of the Christians? And they too, who with brutal appetite seize on human bodies, do
they do the less because they devour the living? Are they the less consecrated to filthiness by human
blood, because what they take up hath yet to become blood? They feed not indeed on infants, but on
those of riper age. Let your sin blush before us Christians, who do not reckon the blood even of animals
among meats to be eaten 118, who for this cause also abstain from things strangled, and such as die of
themselves,119 that we may not be defiled by any blood even buried within their entrails. Finally,
among the trials of the Christians, ye offer them also pudding-skins stuffed with blood, as being well
assured that that, whereby ye would have them transgress, is unlawful among them. Moreover what
manner of thing is it to believe that they, who ye are assured abhor the blood of beasts, pant for human
blood? unless perchance ye have found it sweeter! Which very blood too it were meet should be applied
as a test of Christians, in like manner as the altar, as the censer. For they would be proved Christians 120
by desiring human blood, as by refusing to sacrifice, and would be to be slain on another ground if they
tasted, in the same way as if they had not sacrificed 121. And surely ye would have no lack of blood in
your examination and condemnation of prisoners. Moreover, who are more incestuous than those
whom Jupiter himself hath taught? Ctesias relateth that the Persians are connected with their mothers
122. And the Macedonians also are suspected, because when they first heard the Tragedy of Oedipus,
laughing at |24 the grief of the incestuous man they said, h!laune th_n mh&tera. Now consider what an
opening there is to involuntary sin for the commission of incest, the promiscuousness of your
debauchery supplying the materials. In the first place ye expose your children 123 to be taken up by the
compassion of any passing stranger, or resign them to be adopted by nobler parents. Of a stock thus
alienated, it must needs be that the memory is sometimes lost; and when once 124 a mistake shall have
chanced upon them, thenceforward it will go on transmitting the incest, the generation creeping on
with the crime 125. Then, secondly, in whatever place ye be, at home, abroad, across the seas, lust is
your companion, whose promiscuous sallies may any where easily make children for men unawares, so
that the stock thus scattered, as it were, out of some portion at least of the seed 126, doth through the
intercourse of man meet with its own reflected images, and knoweth them not for mixtures of
incestuous blood. Us a most careful and most faithful chastity 127 hath fenced from such a
consequence; and in proportion as we are safe from adulteries, and from all transgression after
marriage, so are we also from the chance of incest. Some men, much more secure, beat off by a pure
continency the whole power of such error, little children to their old age 128. If ye would consider that
these things exist among you, ye would perceive forthwith that they exist not among the Christians. The
same eyes would have testified of both. But two sorts of blindness easily unite, so that they who see not
things which are, think also that they see things which are not. So I might shew it to be in every case.
Now for the open sins.

X. 'You do not,' say ye, 'worship the Gods 129, and you offer |25 not sacrifices for the Emperors.' It
followeth that we sacrifice not for others for the same reason for which we do not even for ourselves,
simply from not worshipping the gods. It is for sacrilege, therefore, and treason that we are arraigned.
This is the chief point in the case: nay it is the whole, and certainly worthy of being considered, if neither
presumption nor injustice are to judge it, the one despairing to find, the other rejecting, truth. We cease
to worship your gods from the time when we discover that they are no gods. This therefore ye ought to
require, that we prove that they be no gods, and therefore not to be worshipped, because then only
ought they to have been worshipped, if they had been gods. Then also ought the Christians to be
punished, if it were proved that those are gods, whom they worshipped not, because they thought them
not to be so. 'But to us,' ye say, 'they are gods.' We challenge this, and appeal from yourselves 130 to
your conscience. Let that judge us: let that condemn us, if it shall be able to deny that all these gods of
yours were men. If she too herself would go about to deny it, she shall be convicted out of her own
documents of Antiquity, from whence she hath learned to know them, which bear witness, to this day,
both to the cities in which they were born, and to the countries wherein, having wrought any thing, they
have left traces of themselves, nay even those in which they are proved to have been buried 131. Nor
shall I run through all separately, so many as they are and so great, new, old, barbarian, Grecian, Roman,
foreign, taken in war, adopted, peculiar, common, male, female, of the country, of the town, of the
fleet, of the army. It is idle to go over their very titles. Let me sum up all in brief: and that, not that ye
may learn, but be reminded of them; for certainly ye act as though ye had forgotten them. Before
Saturn there is, according to you, no god 132. From him is |26 the date of all Deity, though better or
better known than himself. Whatever therefore shall be proved of the origin, the same will also follow
of the line. Touching Saturn, therefore, as far as books teach, neither Diodorus the Greek 133, nor
Thallus 134, nor Cassius Severus 135, nor Cornelius Nepos, nor any of that class of writers on antiquities,
have pronounced him to be ought else than a man. If we measure by the evidence of facts, I nowhere
find any more trust-worthy than in Italy itself, wherein Saturn, after many travels, and after his
entertainment in Attica, settled, being received by Janus or Janes as the Salii will have it 136. The
mountain, which he had dwelt in, was called Saturnius 137: the city which he had planted, is even to this
day Saturnia 138: finally, the whole of Italy, after being called Oenotria, was surnamed Saturnia 139.
From him first came your tablets, and coin stamped with an image 140, and hence he presideth over the
treasury. But if Saturn be a man, surely he is born of a man 141, and, because of a man, surely not of
Heaven and Earth. But it easily came to pass that one, whose parents were unknown, should be called
the son of those, of whom we may all be thought to be sons 142. For who may not call Heaven and Earth
his father and mother, in the way of reverence and respect, or according to the custom of men, whereby
persons unknown, or unexpectedly appearing, are said to have dropped down upon us from the skies
143? In like manner it happened to Saturn, coming unexpected every where, to be called heaven-born.
For even the vulgar call those, whose birth is uncertain, "sons of Earth 144." I say nothing of men being
as yet in so rude a condition, that they might be |27 moved by the appearance, as though divine, of any
strange man, when even polished as they are at this day, men consecrate as gods those whom a few
days before they acknowledged by a public mourning to be dead 145. Enough now, little as it is, of
Saturn. I shall shew that Jupiter also was as well a man as born of a man; and so, in order, that the whole
swarm of his descendants were as mortal as they were like the seed whence they sprung.

XI. And since, as ye dare not deny these to have been men 146, so ye have determined to affirm that
they became gods after their death, let us treat of the causes which have worked out this effect. In the
first place indeed ye must needs allow that there is some superior God, and some dispenser of Deity,
who hath made gods out of men. For neither could they have assumed to themselves that Deity which
they had not, nor could any give it to them which had it not, save one who in his own proper right 147
possessed it. But if there were no one to make them gods, in vain do ye presume that they were made
gods, when ye refuse them a maker. Surely if they could have made themselves, they would never have
been men, to wit as possessing in themselves the power of belonging to an higher state of being.
Wherefore if there be one who maketh gods, I return to examine the reasons for making gods out of
men, and I find none, unless it be that that great God lacked their services and aid in divine functions.
First it is unworthy of Him that He should need the aid of any man, and that a dead one, seeing that He,
who was about to lack the aid of a dead man, might more worthily have made some god from the first.
But I do not even see any room for such aid: for all this body of the universe, whether, according to
Pythagoras, without beginning and without a maker, or, according to Plato, having a beginning and a
maker, in any case being once for all, in the very act of its conception 148,disposed, and furnished, and
ordered, was found with a government of perfect reason 149. That could not be imperfect, which
perfected 150 all things. |28 Nothing awaited Saturn and the race of Saturn. Men must be fools, if they
be not assured that from the beginning rain hath fallen from heaven, and stars have beamed, and light
hath shot forth, and thunders have roared, and Jupiter himself hath feared those bolts which ye place in
his hands; that all fruit likewise sprang abundantly from the earth before Bacchus, and Ceres, and
Minerva, yea before that first man whosoever he was; because nothing provided, for the maintenance
and support of man, could have been introduced after man. Finally they are said to have discovered
these necessaries of life, not to have made them 151: but that which is discovered, was, and that which
was, will not be accounted his who discovered, but his who made it: for it was, before it was discovered.
Further, if Bacchus be therefore a god, because he first made known the vine, Lucullus, who first
introduced cherries generally into Italy, hath been hardly dealt with, because, being the 152 pointer out,
he was not thereupon deified as the author of a new fruit. Wherefore if the universe hath existed from
the beginning, both ordered and dispensed by fixed laws for the exercise of its functions, there lacketh a
cause in this particular for admitting man to the Godhead, because the posts and powers which ye have
assigned to them, have existed just as much from the beginning as they would have, even if ye had not
created these gods. But ye betake yourselves to another reason, and answer that the conferring Deity
upon them was a means of rewarding their merits, and hence ye grant, I suppose, that this god-making
God is excellent in justice, one who would not rashly, nor unworthily, nor lavishly, dispense so great a
reward. I would therefore recount their merits, whether they be such as should raise them to heaven,
and not rather sink them down 153 into "the nethermost hell," which, when ye choose, ye affirm to be
the prisonhouse of eternal punishments 154. For thither are the wicked wont to be thrust, and such as
are unchaste towards their parents, and their sisters, and the debauchers of wives, and the ravishers of
virgins, and the corrupters of boys, and they who are of angry passions, and they who kill, and they who
steal, and they who deceive, and whosoever are like some |29 god of yours 155, not one of whom will
ye be able to prove free from crime or vice, unless ye shall deny that he was a man. But as ye cannot 156
deny that they were men, ye have, besides, these marks which do not either allow it to be believed that
they were afterwards made gods. For if ye sit in judgment for the punishment of such men, if all who
among you are honest refuse the intercourse, the conversation, the company, of the evil and the base,
and if that God hath admitted their compeers to a fellowship in his own majesty, why then condemn ye
those whose fellows ye worship? Your justice is a stigma upon heaven. Make all your worst criminals
gods, that ye may please your gods. The deifying of their fellows is an honour to them. But to omit
farther discussion of this their unworthiness, grant that they be honest, and pure, and good. Still how
many better men have ye left in the shades below! in wisdom a Socrates, in justice an Aristides, in
warlike arts a Themistocles, in greatness of soul an Alexander, in good fortune a Polycrates, in wealth a
Croessus, in eloquence a Demosthenes! Which of these gods of yours was more grave and wise than
Cato? more just and warlike than Scipio? Which more great of soul than Pompey? more fortunate than
Sylla? more wealthy than Crassus? more eloquent than Tully? How much more worthily would he have
waited for these to be adopted as gods, foreknowing, as he must, the better men! He was hasty I trow,
and shut up heaven once for all, and now blusheth doubtless to see better men grumbling in the shades
below.

XII. I say no more now of these, as knowing that, when I have shewn what they are, I shall by the very
force of truth shew what they are not. As touching your gods therefore, I see names only, the statues
157 of certain dead men of olden time, and 1 hear fables, and in their fables I read their mysteries. But
as touching the images themselves I find nothing else than 158 materials akin to vessels and instruments
of common use, or from these same vessels and instruments, as though changing their destiny by their
consecration, the wantonness of art transforming them, and that too most insultingly, and in the work
itself sacrilegiously: so that in very truth it may be a |30 consolation to us in our punishments, especially
since we are punished on account of these very gods, that they themselves also suffer the same things
in order that they may be made. Ye put the Christians upon crosses and stakes 159. What image doth
not the clay first form, moulded upon a cross and a stake 160? It is on the gibbet that the body of your
god is first consecrated! Ye tear the sides of the Christians with claws 161: but upon your gods hatchets,
and planes, and files, are more stoutly laid over all their limbs. We lay down our necks: until lead and
glue and pegs have been used, your gods are headless. We are driven to the beasts; those surely which
ye attach to Bacchus, and to Cybele, and to Caelestis 162. We are burned with fire: so too are they in
their original mass. We are condemned to the mines: it is thence that your gods are derived. We are
banished to islands: in an island also one or other of your gods useth to be born or to die 163. If by such
means any deity is formed, then those who are punished are deified, and your condemned criminals
ought to be called gods. But clearly your gods feel not these injuries and insults in the forming of them;
as neither do they the honours paid to them. O impious words! O sacrilegious revilings! Gnash your
teeth and foam upon us. Ye are the same men who approve of a Seneca declaiming against your
superstition in more copious and bitter words 164. Wherefore if we worship not statues 165 and cold
images, very like their dead originals, which the kites, and the mice, and the spiders, well know 166, did
not the renouncing of the discovered error deserve praise rather than punishment? For can we think
that we injure those, who we are sure have no being at all? That which is not, suffereth nothing from
any, because it is not. |31

XIII. 'But,' sayest thou, 'they are gods to us.' And how is it that ye on the other hand are found to be
impious, and sacrilegious, and irreligious, towards those 167 gods? neglecting those, whom ye presume
to exist; destroying those, whom ye fear, and even mocking those, whom ye avenge! Mark whether I
speak falsely. First in that 168, when ye worship, some one, some another, of course ye offend those
whom ye worship not 169. The preference of one cannot go on without the slight of another, because
there is no choice without rejection. Ye despise then at once those whom ye reject; whom ye fear not,
by rejecting, to offend. For as we have before shortly hinted, the case of each god depended upon the
judgment of the Senate. He was not a god, whom man, after consultation, had refused, and, by refusing,
had condemned. Your household gods, whom ye call Lares, ye deal with according to your household
rights, by pledging, selling, changing them, sometimes from a Saturn into a chamber vessel, sometimes
from a Minerva into a pan, as each hath become worn and battered by being long worshipped, as each
man hath found his household need the more sacred god. Your public gods ye equally profane by public
right, whom ye have in the register as a source of revenue. Thus the capitol, thus the herb-market is bid
for 170. Under the same proclamation of the crier, under the same spear, in the same catalogue of the
quaestor, Deity is consigned and hired. But in truth lands charged with a tribute are of less value: men
assessed for a poll-tax are less noble. For these are the marks of villenage. But the gods who pay the
highest tribute are the most holy; yea, rather, they who are the most holy pay the highest tribute. Their
majesty is made a source of gain: Religion goeth about the taverns begging 171. Ye exact payment for a
footing in the temple, for access to the sacred rite. Ye may not know the gods for nothing: they have
their price. What do ye at all to honour them, which ye do not bestow on your dead men also? |32
Temples all the same, altars all the same,----the same dress and badges on the statues. As the dead man
hath his age, hath his profession, hath his occupation, so hath the god. How doth the funeral feast differ
from the feast of Jupiter? a bowl from a chalice 172? an embalmer from a soothsayer? for a soothsayer
also attendeth on the dead. But rightly do ye offer divine honours to your deceased Emperors, to whom
even when living ye assign them. Your gods will count themselves your debtors, yea will be thankful
because their masters are made their equals. But when among your Junos, and Cereses, and Dianas, ye
worship Larentina 173, a public harlot, (I would at least it had been Lais or Phryne;) when ye instal Simon
Magus 174 with a statue and the title of an holy god; when ye make I know not whom out of the court
pages a god of the synod 175; although your ancient |33 gods be not more noble, yet they will account
it a slight on your part that that hath been allowed to others also, which they alone had from the earliest
ages preengaged.

XIV. I am unwilling 176 to recount also your sacred rites. I say not what your behaviour is in sacrificing,
when ye offer up all your dying, and rotting, and scabbed animals; when from those that are fat and
sound ye cut off all the superfluous parts, the heads and the hoofs, which, even in your own houses, ye
would have set aside for your slaves and your dogs; when of the tithe due to Hercules ye lay not even
one third part upon his altar. I will rather praise 177 your wisdom, for that ye save somewhat of that
which is thrown away. But turning to your books, by which ye are instructed in prudence and in
honourable duties, what mockeries do I find! gods fighting, on account of the Trojans and Greeks,
matched against each other like pairs of gladiators 178! Venus wounded with an arrow by a man,
because she would fain deliver her own son Aeneas, lest he should be slain by the same Diomede 179!
Mars almost wasted to death by imprisonment in chains for thirteen months 180! Jupiter delivered by
the aid of a kind of monster 181, lest he should suffer the same violence from the rest of the gods! and
now weeping for the fall of Sarpedon 182, now foully lusting after his own sister, and recounting to her
his mistresses, not loved, for a long time past, so much as her 183. Thenceforward what poet is not
found to be a degrader of the gods, after the example of his master? One assigneth Apollo to King
Admetus for feeding his cattle 184: another letteth out to Laomedon the services of Neptune as a
builder 185: and there is that one among the Lyric Poets, Pindar I mean, who singeth of Aesculapius 186
being punished by a thunderbolt, as the reward of his covetousness, because he had practised medicine
sinfully. Wicked Jupiter, if the bolt be his! unnatural towards his grandson! jealous |34 towards his
craftsman! These things ought neither to be disclosed if true, nor invented if false, amongst the most
religious of all people. Not 187 even the tragic and comic writers spare them; or forbear to cite in their
prologues the distresses and the frailties of the family of some one of the gods. Of the philosophers I say
nothing, content with Socrates, who, in mockery of the gods, swore by an oak, and a goat, and a dog
188. But (say ye) Socrates was on that account condemned, because he disparaged the gods. Verily, of
old time, indeed at all times, truth is hated. Nevertheless when, in repenting of their sentence, the
Athenians both punished afterwards the accusers of Socrates, and set up a golden 189 statue of him in a
temple, the reversal of his condemnation bore testimony in behalf of Socrates. But Diogenes 190 too
has some jest upon Hercules: and the Roman Cynic Varro introduceth three hundred Joves, or perhaps I
should say Jupiters, without heads.

XV. The rest of your licentious wits work even for your amusement through dishonour of the gods.
Consider the pretty trifles of the Lentuli 191 and Hostilii, whether in those jokes and tricks ye are
laughing at the buffoons, or at your own gods; 'The adulterer Anubis,' 'The male Luna 192,' 'Diana 193
scourged,' and 'The will of the deceased Jupiter' read aloud, and 'The three starved Herculeses 194'
turned to ridicule. But the writings also of the stage shew up all their baseness 195. The Sun mourneth
for his son cast down |35 from Heaven, and ye are delighted: and Cybele sigheth for her scornful
shepherd, and ye blush not; and ye suffer lampoons on Jupiter to be sung, and Juno, Venus, and
Minerva to be judged by the shepherd. Take the very fact 196, that the mask, representing your god,
covers an ignominious 197 and infamous head 198? of a person impure, and brought to this point of skill
by being unmanned, acting a Minerva or a Hercules? Is not their majesty insulted and their divinity
defiled, amidst your applause? of a verity ye are more religious in the theatre, where your gods dance
forthwith upon human blood, upon the stains of capital punishments, furnishing arguments and stories
to wicked wretches, except that those wretches assume the characters of your gods themselves. We
have ere now seen Atys, your 199 god from Pessinus, mutilated; and he who was burnt alive, was acting
Hercules. We have smiled too, amidst sportive atrocities of the noonday men 200, at Mercury examining
the dead with his red-hot bar. We have seen likewise the brother of Jupiter conducting the dead bodies
of the gladiators with his hammer 201. If these several things, and others which any man might search
out, disturb the honour of their divinity, if they level to the ground the crown of their majesty, they must
surely be imputed to the contempt both of those who do them, and of those for whom they do them.
But let these be mere jests. Nevertheless if I shall add, (what the consciences of all will no less admit,)
that adulteries are committed in the temples 202, that debaucheries are carried on about the altars,
chiefly in the very abodes of the ministers and priests, that under the same fillets and caps and purple
robes, lust is satisfied while the incense is burning, I know not whether your gods may not complain
more of you than of the Christians. Certainly the committers of sacrilege are ever found to be of your
party; for the Christians have no dealings with the temples even in the day-time; they too perchance
might rob them, if they too worshipped in them. |36 What then do they worship, who worship not such
things? Already indeed it is easy to be inferred that they are the worshippers of the Truth, who worship
not that which is false; and that they err no longer, in that, by discovering their error in which, they have
ceased from it. Receive this first: and hence ye may draw the whole order of our sacred rites, certain
false opinions being however first refuted.

XVI. For as some of you 203 have dreamed of an ass's head being our God 204; a suspicion of this sort
Cornelius Tacitus hath introduced. For in the fifth of his Histories 205, having begun the account of the
Jewish war from the origin of the nation, having also discussed what questions he chose, as well
touching the origin itself, as the name and the religion, of the nation, he telleth us that the Jews being
delivered, or, as he supposed, banished, from Egypt, when they were pining with thirst in the wastes of
Arabia, places most destitute of water, took as their guides to the springs wild asses, which, it was
supposed, would perhaps, after feeding, go to seek water, and that for this service they consecrated the
image of a like creature. And so, I suppose, it was thence presumed that we, as bordering on the Jewish
Religion 206, were taught to worship such a figure. But yet the same Cornelius Tacitus, (that most un-
tacit man forsooth in lies,) relateth in the same history 207, that Cneius Pompeius, when he had taken
Jerusalem, and thereupon had gone up to the temple to examine the mysteries of the Jewish religion,
found no image therein. And without doubt, if that were worshipped, which was under any visible image
|37 represented, it would be no where more seen than in its own holy place, the rather because the
worship, however vain, had no fear of strangers to witness it; for itwas lawful for the priests alone to
approach thither; the very gaze of the rest was forbidden by a veil spread before them. Yet ye will not
deny that beasts of burden and whole geldings 208, with their own Epona, are worshipped by
yourselves. On this account perchance we are disapproved, because, amidst the worshippers of all
beasts and cattle, we are worshippers of asses alone. But he also who thinketh us superstitious
respecters of the Cross, will be our follow worshipper 209, when prayer is made to any wood. No matter
for the fashion, so long as the quality of the material be the same; no matter for the form, so long as it
be the very body of a god. And |38 yet how doth the Athenian Minerva differ from the body of the
Cross? and the Ceres of Pharos, who appeareth in the market, without a figure, made of a rude stake
and a shapeless log? Every stock of wood, which is fixed in an upright posture, is a part of a cross; we, if
we worship him at all, worship the god whole and entire. We have said that the origin of your gods is
derived from figures moulded on a cross. But ye worship victories also, when, in your triumphs, crosses
form the inside of the trophies 210. The whole religion of the camp is a worshipping of the standards
211, a swearing by the standards 212, a setting up of the standards above all the gods 213. All those
rows of images 214 on your standards 215 are the appendages of crosses; those hangings on your
standards and banners are the robes 216 of crosses. I commend your care: ye would not consecrate
your crosses naked and unadorned. Others certainly, with greater semblance of nature and of truth,
believe the sun to be our God. If this be so, we must be ranked with the Persians; though we worship
not the sun painted on a piece of linen, because in truth we have himself in his own hemisphere. Lastly,
this suspicion ariseth from hence, because it is well known that we pray towards the quarter of the east
217. But most of yourselves too, with an affectation of sometimes worshipping the heavenly bodies
also, move your lips towards the rising of the sun. In like manner, if we give up to rejoicing the day of the
sun, for a cause far different from the worship |39 of the sun, we are only next to those, who set apart
the day of Saturn 218 for rest and feasting, themselves also deflecting from the Jewish custom, of which
they are ignorant. But now a new report of our God hath been lately set forth in this city, since a certain
wretch, hired to cheat the wild beasts 219, put forth a picture with some such, title as this, "The God of
the Christians conceived of an ass." This was a creature with ass's cars, with a hoof on one foot 220,
carrying a book, and wearing a gown. We have smiled both at the name and the figure. But they ought
instantly to adore this two-formed god, because they have admitted gods made up of a dog's 221 and a
lion's head 222, and with the horns of a goat 223 and a ram 224, and formed like goats from the loins
225, and like serpents from the legs, and with wings on the foot 226 or the back 227. Of these things we
have said more than enough, lest we should have passed over any rumour unrefuted, as though from a
consciousness of its truth. All which charges we have cleared, and now turn to shew you what our
Religion is.
XVII. That which we worship is the One God, Who through the Word by Which He commanded, the
Reason by Which He ordained, the Power by Which He was able 228, hath framed out of nothing this
whole material mass with all its furniture of elements, bodies, and spirits, to the honour of His Majesty;
whence also the Greeks have applied to the universe the name Ko&smoj. He is invisible though seen,
|40 incomprehensible though present through His grace, inconceivable though conceived by the sense
of man. Therefore He is true; and such is His greatness. Now that which can ordinarily be seen, which
can be comprehended, which can be conceived, is less than the eyes by which it is scanned, and the
hands by which it is profaned, and the senses by which it is discovered: but that which is immeasurable
is known to itself alone. This is it which causeth God to be conceived of, while He admitteth not of being
conceived: thus the force of His greatness presenteth Him to men, as both known and unknown. And
this is the sum of their offending, who will not acknowledge Him of Whom they cannot be ignorant. Will
ye that we prove Him to be, from His own works, so many and such as they are, by which we are
maintained, by which we are supported, by which we are delighted, by which also we are made afraid?
Will ye that we prove it by the witness of the soul itself, which although confined by the prison of the
body, although straitened by evil training, although unnerved by lusts and desires, although made the
servant of false gods, yet when it recovereth itself as from a surfeit, as from a slumber, as from some
infirmity, and is in its proper condition of soundness 229, it nameth GOD, by this name only, because the
proper name of the true God. 'Great God,' 'Good God 230,' and 'which God grant 231,' are words in
every mouth. It witnesseth also that He is its Judge. 'God seeth 232,' 'I commend to God,' 'God shall
recompense me.' O testimony of a soul, by nature Christian! Finally, in pronouncing these words, it
looketh not to the Capitol, but to Heaven; for it knoweth the dwelling-place of the true God: from Him
and from thence it descended. |41

XVIII. But that we might approach more fully and with deeper impressions, as well to Himself as His
ordinances and His counsels, He hath added the instrument of Scripture, if any desireth to enquire
concerning God, and having enquired, to find Him, and having found, to believe in Him, and having
believed, to serve Him. For He hath from the beginning sent forth into the world men, worthy, by reason
of their righteousness and innocency, to know God and to make Him known, overflowing with the Divine
Spirit, whereby they might preach that there is One God Who hath created all things, Who hath formed
man out of the ground, (for this is the true Prometheus 233,) Who hath ordered the world by the
appointed courses and issues of the seasons; Who hath next put forth the signs of His Majesty in
judgment by waters and by fires 234; Who, for the deserving of His love, hath determined those laws,
which ye are ignorant of or neglect, but hath appointed rewards for these who obey 235 them; Who,
when this world shall have been brought to an end, shall judge His own worshippers unto the restitution
236 of eternal life, the wicked unto fire equally perpetual and continual; all that have died from the
beginning being raised up, and formed again, and called to an account for the recompense of each
man's deservings. These things we also once laughed to scorn. We were of you. Christians are made, not
born such 237. Those, whom we have called preachers, are named Prophets from their office of
foretelling. Their words, and the miracles also, which they worked in witness of their being of God,
remain in the treasures of writings: nor are those writings now hidden. The most learned of the
Ptolemies, whom they surname Philadelphus, and right well skilled in all lore, when, in his zeal for
libraries, he was vying, as I think, with Pisistratus, amongst others of those records, which either
antiquity or a curious taste recommended to fame, on the advice of Demetrius Phalereus, the most
approved, in that day 238, of grammarians, to whom he had committed the chief care |42 of these
things, demanded of the Jews also their books, writings peculiar to themselves and in their own vulgar
tongue, which they alone possessed. For the prophets were of that people, and had ever addressed
themselves to that people as to the people and family of God, according to the grace given to their
forefathers. They who are now Jews were formerly Hebrews: therefore are their writings Hebrew, and
their language. But that the understanding of them might not be lacking, this also was granted to
Ptolemy by the Jews, by allowing him seventy-two interpreters, whom Menedemus also the philosopher
239, the assertor of a Providence, looked up to for the agreement of their opinion. This moreover hath
Aristeas affirmed unto you, and so hath he left a public record of it in the Greek language. At this day the
collections of Ptolemy are shewn in the temple of Serapis with the very Hebrew writings. But the Jews
also read them openly; a taxed licence 240. All have access to them every sabbath day. Whoso heareth
shall find God: whoso moreover desireth to understand shall be compelled also to believe,

XIX. Extreme antiquity then 241 in the first place claimeth an authority for these documents. Even with
yourselves there is a sort of sacredness in a claim to credit from antiquity. And so all the substances, and
all the materials, antiquities, arrangements, veins of each of your ancient writings, most nations
moreover, and famous cities, hoary histories and monuments 242, finally even the forms of letters,
those witnesses and guardians of things,----methinks I still am saying too little;----I say your very gods
themselves 243, your very temples, and oracles, and sacred rites; all these, the while, doth the record of
a single prophet surpass by centuries, laid up in which are seen the treasures of the Jewish religion, and
in |43 like manner consequently 244 of ours also. If ye have ever heard of a certain Moses, he is of the
same age with Inachus of Argos 245; he precedeth by almost four hundred years, (for it is seven years
less than this 246,) Danaus, himself also a very ancient among you: he goeth before the overthrow of
Priam by about a thousand years 247; I could say also, having some authorities with me 248, that he was
five hundred years more before Homer. Our other prophets also, although they come after Moses, yet
are not, even the very last of them, found to be later than your first philosophers, and lawgivers, and
historians 249. For me to expound by what train of proofs these things may be established, is a task not
so much out of reach as out of compass, not difficult, but at the same time tedious. We must apply
closely to many documents and many calculations: unlock the archives of even the most ancient nations,
the Egyptians, the Chaldaeans, the Phoenicians: call in the aid of their countrymen, by whom such
knowledge is supplied, a Manetho from Egypt, a Berosus from Chaldaea, an Iromus king of Tyre
moreover from Phoenicia; their followers also, Ptolemy the Mendesian, and Menander of Ephesus, and
Demetrius Phalereus, and king Iuba 250, and Appion, and Thallus, and if any 251 confirmeth or refuteth
these, as Josephus 252 the Jew, the native champion of Jewish antiquities. The Greek annalists likewise
must be compared with them, and the transactions of the various periods, that the mutual connection
of dates may be unfolded, through which the order of the annals may be made |44 clear. We must
travel into the histories and literature of the world. And yet we have, as it were, already produced a part
of our proof, in dropping these hints of the means by which the proof may be made. But it were better
to defer this, lest through haste we pursue it not far enough, or, in pursuing it, stray too far from our
course.
XX. To make up for this postponement, we now proffer the more; the majesty of our Scriptures, instead
of their antiquity. If it be doubted that they are ancient, we prove them divine. Nor is this to be learned
by tedious method, or from foreign sources. The things which shall teach it you, are before your eyes,
the world, and time, and its events. Whatsoever is doing was foretold; whatsoever is seen was before
heard of 253: that the earth swalloweth up cities, that the sea stealeth away islands, that wars within
and without tear asunder; that kingdoms dash against kingdoms, that famine, and pestilence, and all the
special plagues of countries, and deaths for the most part ever haunting 254, make havoc well nigh of
every thing; that the humble are exalted, and the lofty ones abased; that righteousness groweth scant
255, iniquity increaseth; that the zeal for all good ways waxeth cold: that the offices of the seasons, and
the proper changes of the elements are out of course; that the order of natural things is disturbed by
monsters and prodigies----all these things have been written of foreknowledge. While we suffer them,
we read of them; while we review them, they are proved to us. The truth of the divination is, methinks,
sufficient proof that it is divine 256. Hence therefore we have a sure confidence in the things to come
also, as being in truth already proved, because they were foretold at the same time with those things
which are proved every day 257: the same voices utter them, the same writings note them, the same
spirit moveth within them. To prophecy, time is but one, the time of foretelling things to come: with
men (if they deal with it) it is divided, while it is fulfilling, while from the future it cometh to be reckoned
the present, and then from the present the past. What do we amiss, I pray |45 you, in believing in the
future also, who have already learned to believe the same things through two stages of time?

XXI. But since we have declared that this sect is supported by the most ancient records of the Jews,
although almost all know, and we ourselves also profess, that it is somewhat new, as being of the age of
Tiberius, perchance on this account a question may be mooted touching its state, as though it sheltered
somewhat of its own presumption under the shadow of a most famous, at least a licensed, religion; or
because, besides the point of age, we agree not with the Jews, neither touching the forbidding of meats,
nor in the solemnities of days, nor even in their "sign" in the flesh, nor in community of name, which
surely we ought to do, if we served the same God; but even the common people knoweth Christ as one
among men, such as the Jews judged Him to be, whence one might the more easily suppose us
worshippers of a man 258. But neither are we ashamed of Christ, seeing that we rejoice to be ranked,
and condemned, under His Name, nor do we judge otherwise than they, respecting God. We must
needs therefore say a few words concerning Christ as God. The Jews alone had favour with God,
because of the excellent righteousness and faith of their first fathers; whence the mightiness of their
race and the majesty of their kingdom flourished, and so great was their blessedness, that they were
forewarned by words of God, whereby they were taught 259 to deserve the favour of God, and not to
offend. But how greatly they sinned, puffed up, even to doting260, with a vain confidence in their
fathers, turning their course 261 from their Religion after the way of the profane, though they
themselves should not confess it, the end of them at this day would prove. Scattered abroad,
wanderers, banished from their own climate and land, they roam about through the world, with neither
man nor God for their king, to whom it is not permitted, even in the right of strangers, to greet their
native land so much as with the sole of their foot 262. |46 While holy voices threatened them aforetime
with these things, all the same voices ever added this besides, that it should come to pass, in the ends of
the world's course, that God would henceforward out of every nation, and people, and country, choose
unto Himself worshippers much more faithful than they, to whom He should transfer His grace, and
that, more abundantly according to the measure of His greatness, Who is the Author of their religion. Of
this grace therefore and religion the Son of God was proclaimed the Dispenser and the Master, the
Enlightener and the Guide of the human race, not indeed so born as that He should be ashamed of the
name of "Son," or of His descent from His Father; not from the incest of a sister 263, nor the defilement
of a daughter; nor had He for His father a god, the lover of another's wife, with scales, or horns, or
feathers, or transformed into gold; for these are the godheads of your Jupiter 264. But the Son of God
hath no mother, no not of pure wedlock 265: even she, whom He seemeth to have, had not known her
husband. But first I will declare His substance, and then the quality of His birth will be understood. We
have already set forth, that God formed this universal world by His Word, and His Reason, and His
Power. Among your own wise men also it is agreed, that Lo&goj, that is, 'Word' and 'Reason,' should be
accounted the Maker of all things. For Zeno determineth that this Maker, who hath formed all things
and ordered them, should also be called Fate, and God, and the Mind of Jupiter 266, and the Necessity
of all things. These titles doth Cleanthes confer upon the Spirit which, he affirmeth, pervadeth the
universe. And we also ascribe, as its proper substance, to the Word, and the Reason, and the Power
also, through Which we have said that God hath formed all things, a Spirit, in Which is the Word when It
declareth 267, |47 and with Which is the Reason when It ordereth, and over Which is the Power when It
executeth. This, we have learned, was forth-brought from God, and by this Forth-bringing, was
Begotten, and therefore is called the Son of God, and God, from being "of one substance with" Him; for
that God also is a Spirit. Even 268 when a ray is put forth from the sun, it is a part of a whole; but the sun
will be in the ray because it is a ray of the sun, and the substance is not divided, but extended. So
cometh Spirit of Spirit and "God of God," as "light" is kindled "of light 269," the parent matter 270
remaineth entire and without loss, although thou shouldest borrow from it many channels of its
qualities 271. |48 So likewise that which hath come forth from God is God, and the Son of God, and Both
are One. And so this Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, hath become 'the second 272' in mode not in
number 273, in order not in condition 274, and hath gone forth, not gone out, of the original Source
275. Therefore this ray of God 276, as was ever foretold before, entering into a certain virgin, and in her
womb endued with the form of flesh, is born Man joined together with God 277. The flesh |49 stored
with the Spirit is nourished, groweth to manhood, speaketh, teacheth, worketh, and is CHRIST. Receive
for the moment this tale, (it is like your own,) whilst we shew you whereby Christ is attested. They also
among yourselves, who fore-ministered rival tales of this sort for the overthrow of this truth, knew 278
that Christ was to come: the Jews too knew it, since it was to them that the prophets spake. For even
now they look for His coming 279; nor is there any other greater cause of contention betwixt us and
them, than that they do not believe that He hath already come. For seeing that two advents of Him are
declared, the first, which hath been already fulfilled in the lowliness of the human nature, the second
which remaineth yet to come to close this world, in the majesty of the Divine Nature then shewn forth,
through not understanding the first, they have regarded, as the only one, the second, for which, being
more clearly foretold, they now hope 280. For their sins deserved 281 that they should not understand
the former, since they would have believed, had they understood, and would have obtained salvation,
had they believed.282 They themselves |50 read that it is so written, that they were punished by the
taking away of their sense and understanding, and of the use of their eyes and of their ears. Whom
therefore they had presumed from His lowliness to be only a man, it followed that they should from His
power account a magician 283; when by a word He cast out devils from men, recovered the sight of the
blind, cleansed the lepers,284 strengthened anew the sick of the palsy, finally by a word restored the
dead to life, made the very elements 'obey Him,'285 stilling the storms and walking on the waters,
shewing Himself to be the Lo&goj of God, that is, the Word, which was in the beginning,286 the First-
Begotten, accompanied by His Power and His Reason, and upheld by His Spirit, the Same Who by a word
both did and had done all things 287. But whereas the rulers and chief men of the Jews were
confounded at His doctrine, they were so filled with indignation, chiefly because a great multitude had
turned aside after Him, that at length, they brought Him before Pontius Pilate, then governor of Syria on
behalf of the Romans, and by the violence of their voices, wrung from him that He should be delivered
up unto them to be crucified. He had Himself also foretold that they would do this. This were but a small
thing, if the prophets also had not done so before 288; and at length being nailed to the cross, He
shewed many special signs to mark that death 289. Of Himself 290 He with a word gave up the ghost,
preventing the office of the executioner. At the same moment the light of mid-day 291 was withdrawn,
the sun veiling his orb. They thought it forsooth an eclipse, who knew not that this also had been
foretold 292 concerning Christ: when they discovered not its cause, they denied it; and yet ye have this
event, that befel |51 the world, related in your own records 293. Him being taken down from the cross,
and buried in a sepulchre, they caused moreover to be surrounded with great diligence by a guard of
soldiers, lest, because He had foretold that He should rise on the third day from the dead, the disciples
removing the body by stealth should deceive them, though suspecting it. But, lo! on the third day, the
earth being suddenly shaken, and the massive body being rolled away which had closed the sepulchre,
and the watch being scattered through fear, and no disciples being to be seen, nothing was found in the
sepulchre save the grave clothes only of the buried 294. Yet the chief men notwithstanding, whom it
concerned to spread a wicked tale, and to draw back from the faith 295 the people, their tributaries and
dependents, reported that He was stolen away by the disciples. For neither did He shew Himself to all
the people,296 lest the wicked should be delivered from their error, and that the faith which was
reserved unto no mean reward should cost some difficulty. But He continued forty days with certain
disciples in Galilee, a region of Judaea, teaching them what things they should teach. After that, having
ordained them to the office of preaching throughout the world, He was taken from them |52 into
Heaven in a cloud which covered Him; an account far better than that which your Proculi 297 are wont
to affirm of your Romuli. These things concerning Christ did Pilate, himself also already in his conscience
a Christian 298, report to Tiberius the Caesar of that day. But the Caesars also would have believed on
Christ, if either Caesars had not been necessary for the age, or if Christians also could have been
Caesars. Moreover the disciples, spread throughout the world, obeyed the commandment of their
Divine Master; who, themselves also, having suffered many things from the persecuting Jews, with good
will assuredly, in proportion to their confidence in the truth, did finally at Home, through the cruelty of
Nero, sow the seed of Christian blood 299. But we will shew 300 that the very beings whom ye worship,
are sufficient witnesses to you of Christ. It is a great thing if I can employ, in order that ye may believe
the Christians, those very beings on whose account ye believe not the Christians, Meanwhile such is the
system of our Religion; such an account have we set forth both of our sect and name with its Founder.
Let no man now charge us with infamy, let no one imagine aught besides this, since it is not lawful for
any to speak falsely concerning his own Religion. For in that he saith that aught else is worshipped by
him than that which he doth worship, he denieth that which he worshippeth, and transferreth his
worship to another, and, in transferring it, he already ceaseth to worship that, which he hath denied.
We say, and we say openly, and while ye torture us, mangled and gory we cry out, 'We worship God
through Christ:' believe Him a man: it is through Him and in Him that God willeth Himself to be known
and worshipped. To answer the Jews, they themselves also learned to worship God through the man
Moses: to meet the Greeks, Orpheus in Pieria, Musaeus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in
Boeotia, bound mankind by their rites: to look to you also, the masters of the world, Numa Pompilius
was a man, who loaded the Romans with the most burthensome superstitions. Let Christ also be
permitted to pretend to the divine nature, as a thing proper |53 to Himself, Who did not, as Numa,
soften to a state of gentler culture rude and as yet barbarous men, by confounding them with so great a
multitude of gods to be propitiated; but Who opened to a knowledge of the truth the eyes of men
already polished, and blinded through their very refinement. See then whether this Divine Nature of
Christ be real: if it be such that by the knowledge of it any one be changed unto that which is good, it
followeth that any other, which is found to be contrary to it, must be pronounced false; specially that,
by all means 301, which, hiding itself under the names and images of the dead, doth by certain signs,
and miracles, and oracles, work out the proof of a divine character.

XXII. And therefore we say that there are certain spiritual substances: nor is the name new. The
Philosophers acknowledge daemons, and Socrates himself looked unto the will of a daemon. Why not?
since it is said that a daemon clave unto him from childhood, dissuading him 302: doubtless----from
good. The poets acknowledge daemons 303; and now the untaught vulgar oft putteth them to the use
of cursing. For even Satan the chief of this evil race, doth it, as though from a special consciousness of
the soul, name in the same word of execration 304. Moreover Plato 305 denied not that there |54 be
angels also. Even the Magi 306 are at hand to bear witness of both names. But how from certain angels
corrupted of their own will a more corrupt race of daemons proceeded, condemned by God together
with the authors of their race, and with that prince of whom we have spoken, is made known in order in
the Holy Scriptures 307. It will suffice at this time to explain the nature of their work. Their work is the
overthrow of man. Thus hath spiritual wickedness begun to act from the first for the destruction of man.
Wherefore they inflict upon the body both sicknesses and many severe accidents, and on the soul,
perforce, sudden and strange extravagances. Their own wondrous 308 subtle, and slight nature
furnisheth to them means of approaching either part of man. Much is permitted to the power of spirits,
so that, being unseen and unperceived, they appear rather in their effects than in their acts: as when
some lurking evil in the air blighteth the fruit or grain in the blossom, killeth it |55 in the blade,
woundeth it in its full growth, and when the atmosphere tainted in some secret way poureth over the
earth its pestilential vapours 309. By the same unseen course of contagion therefore doth the blast of
daemons and of angels hurry onward the corruptions of the mind, through foul madness and
foolishness, or 310 fierce lusts, with manifold delusions, of which that is the chief, by which it
commendeth those gods to the captive and narrowed understandings of men, that they may procure for
themselves as their own, the food of sweet savour and of blood offered to statues and images 311; and
what food is more cared for by them, than to turn aside man from the thoughts of the true Divinity by
the delusions of a false divination 312? touching which very delusions I will shew how they work. Every
spirit is winged: in this both angels and daemons agree: therefore in a moment they are every where:
the whole world is one spot to them: whatever is done any where they know as easily as they report it.
Their swiftness is believed to be divinity, because their substance is unknown 313. So also they would
sometimes be thought the authors of those things which they report; and manifestly of evil things they
sometimes are so, but of good never. The counsels also of God they both snatched, at the times when
the Prophets were proclaiming them 314, and now also they cull in the readings which echo them. And
so taking from hence also certain of the allotted courses of the future, they ape the power, while they
steal the oracles, of God. But in the oracles, with what |56 cunning they shape their double meanings to
events, witness the Croesi 315, witness the Pyrrhi 316. But it was in the manner in which I have before
spoken of, that the Pythian god sent back the message that a tortoise was being stewed with the flesh of
a sheep 317. They 318 had been in a moment in Lydia. By dwelling in the air, and by being near the
stars, and by dealing with the clouds, they are able to know the threatenings of the skies, so that they
promise also the rains, which they already feel. They are sorcerers 319 also about the cures of
sicknesses; for they first inflict the disease, and then prescribe remedies wonderfully new or of a
contrary nature, after which they cease to afflict, and so are believed to have cured 320. Why then
should I speak at large touching the other subtleties or even the powers of spiritual delusion? the
apparitions of Castor and Pollux 321, and the water carried in a sieve 322, and the ship drawn forward
by a girdle 323, and the beard turned red by a touch 324, that both stones might be believed to be gods,
and the true God not be sought after.

XXIII. Moreover if magicians also produce apparitions and disgrace the souls of the departed; if they
entrance children to make them utter oracles 325; if, by means of juggling tricks, they play off a
multitude of miracles; if they even send dreams to men, having, to assist them, the power of angels and
daemons, when once invoked, (through whom both goats 326 and tables 327 have been accustomed to
|57 prophesy;) how much the rather would that power study with all its might to work of its own will,
and for its own business, that service, which it rendereth to the business-making of another! Or if angels
and daemons do the same works as your gods, where then is the excellence of the Godhead? which we
must surely believe to be higher than every power? Will it not then be a more worthy presumption that
it is they who make themselves gods, since they shew forth the same works which cause the gods to be
believed, than that the gods are on a level with angels and daemons? A difference of places maketh, I
suppose, a distinction, so that ye count those for gods from their temples, whom elsewhere ye call not
gods: so that he who rusheth over sacred towers seemeth to be mad after another sort from him who
leapeth across the roofs of neighbouring houses, and one kind of influence is declared to be in him who
woundeth his secrets or his arms, another in him who cutteth his throat. The end of the madness is alike
in both, and the manner of incitement is one. But hitherto it hath been all words: now shall follow a
proof of the thing itself, whereby we will shew that the quality of both these classes is the same. Let
some one be brought forward here at the foot of your judgment-seat, who, it is agreed, is possessed of a
daemon. When commanded by any Christian to speak, that spirit shall as truly declare itself a daemon,
as elsewhere falsely a god 328. In like manner let some one |58 be brought forward of those who are
believed to be acted upon by a god, who drawing their breath over the altar conceive the deity from its
savour, who are relieved 329 by vomiting wind, and prelude their prayer with sobs 330. That very virgin
Caelestis 331 herself who promiseth rains, that very Aesculapius that discovereth medicines, that
supplied life to Socordius, and Thanatius, and Asclepiodotus, doomed to die another day----unless these
confess themselves to be daemons, not daring to lie unto a Christian, then shed upon the spot the blood
of that most impudent Christian. What can be plainer than this fact? what more to be trusted than this
proof? The simplicity of Truth is before you: her own virtue supporteth her. Here will be no room for
suspicion. |59 Will ye say that it is done by magic, or some cheat of that sort? Aye! if your eyes and your
ears will permit you! But what can be insinuated against that which is shewn forth in undisguised
sincerity? If on the one hand they be truly gods, why feign they themselves daemons? is it to humour
us? Then is your deity at once made subject to the Christians, nor can that be accounted Deity, which is
subjected to man, and (if this contribute aught to shame) to its own rivals. If on the other hand they be
daemons or angels, why do they take upon themselves elsewhere to act as gods? For as they, who are
accounted gods, would not call themselves daemons, if they were truly gods, lest forsooth they should
put themselves down from their majesty, so they also, whom ye plainly acknowledge for daemons,
would not dare elsewhere to act for gods, if those whose names they use, were any gods at all; for they
would fear to abase the majesty of beings, without doubt higher than themselves and to be feared. So
utterly nought is that deity to which ye hold; for if it were aught, it would neither be affected by
daemons, nor denied by gods. Seeing then that both sides agree in one declaration, affirming that they
are no gods, ye must allow that there is but one sort of such beings, namely daemons. True on both
sides. Now look for gods 332, for, whom ye took to be such, ye find to be daemons. But by the same
help from us, from these same gods of yours, who discover not this only, that neither they themselves
nor any others are gods, ye immediately learn this also, Who is really God, and whether it be He, and He
Alone, Whom we Christians confess, and whether He ought to be believed and worshipped according to
the rule of the faith and discipline of the Christian. Here they will say, "And who 333 is this Christ with
His tale of wonders? is He a man of common condition? is He a magician 334? was He stolen away after
His crucifixion 335 from the sepulchre by His disciples? is He even now in hell? is He not in Heaven? and
to come quickly 336 from thence also with a quaking of the whole universe, with a shuddering of the
world, amidst the wailings of all men save the Christians, as the Power of God, |60 and the Spirit of God,
and the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Reason, and the Son of God?" In all your scoffings let them also
scoff with you: let them deny that Christ shall judge every soul from the beginning, the body being
restored to it. Let them say that Minos and Rhadamanthus (if it be so), as Plato and the poets have
agreed, are appointed to fulfil this office from their seat of judgment. Let them at least contradict the
stigma of their own disgrace and condemnation. Let them deny that they are unclean spirits, which
ought to be concluded even from their food, blood and smoke, and putrifying burnt sacrifices of beasts,
and the most filthy tongues of the prophets themselves. Let them deny that they are for their
wickedness fore-ordained to condemnation at the same day of judgment, with all their worshippers and
agents. But all this rule and power of ours over them standeth in naming the Name of Christ, and in
making mention of those things which they look for as hanging over them from God through Christ the
Judge 337. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they are subjected unto the servants of God and
Christ. From our touch therefore and our breath 338, seized by the thought and lively image of that fire,
they even come forth from the bodies of men at our command, unwilling, and grieved, and ashamed,
before your presence. Believe these, when they speak the truth of themselves, ye that believe them
when they speak falsely. None lieth to abase, but rather to honour, himself. Credit is more readily given
to those, who confess against themselves, than to those who deny for themselves. Finally, these
testimonies of your own gods are wont to make men Christians, because by believing them to the
utmost, we believe in Christ the Lord. They themselves kindle our faith in our Scriptures: they
themselves build up the confidence of our hope. Ye worship them, as I know, |61 even with the blood of
Christians. If then it were possible for them to speak falsely under the hands of a Christian desiring to
prove the truth unto you, they would be unwilling to lose you, so profitable and so serviceable to them,
even from the fear of being driven out one day by yourselves perhaps, made Christians.

XXIV. All this confession of theirs whereby they deny themselves to be gods, and whereby they make
answer that there is no other God, save this One, Whose servants we are, is quite sufficient to refute the
charge of sinning against the public, and 339 especially the Roman, Religion. For if they be certainly no
gods, neither certainly is the Religion aught; and if the Religion be nought, because the gods are nought,
neither certainly are we guilty of sinning against Religion. But on the contrary your reproach hath really
340 recoiled upon yourselves, who worshipping a lie, not only by neglecting, but moreover by warring
against, the true Religion of the true God, commit against the True One the crime of true irreligion. Now
341 then although it were allowed that these were gods, do ye not grant, according to the common
belief, that there is some One higher and mightier, as the King of the universe, of perfect power and
majesty? For the most part of men also do so apportion the Divine Nature, that they will have the power
of chief dominion to belong to One, its offices to many: even as Plato 342 describeth the great Jupiter as
accompanied in heaven by an army of gods as well as of daemons, and therefore that his officers, and
his praefects, and his governors, should be alike respected. And yet what crime doth he commit, who
directeth rather his labour and his hope to earn the favour of the king 343 himself, and alloweth not the
name of god, as he doth not that of emperor, to belong to any save the prince alone? seeing that it is
judged to be a capital crime to call any, or to suffer any to be called, Caesar, save Caesar himself. Let one
worship God, another Jupiter: let one raise his suppliant hands to Heaven, another to the altar of Fides
344: let one in his prayer, (if ye |62 think this of us,) tell the clouds 345, another the ornaments of the
ceiling: let one devote his own life to his God 346, another that of a goat 347. For beware lest this also
contribute to the charge of irréligion, to take away the liberty of religion and to forbid a choice of gods,
so that I may not worship whom I will, but be constrained to worship whom I will not. No one, not even
a mortal, will desire to be worshipped by any against his will; and therefore even to the Egyptians hath
been allowed the free use of a superstition, vain as theirs, in consecrating birds and beasts, and in
condemning to death those who slay any god of this sort 348. Every province also and state hath its own
god; as, Syria, Atargatis 349; Arabia, Dusares 350; the Norici, Belenus 351; Africa, Caelestis 352;
Mauritania, her own Princes 353. I have named, methinks, Roman provinces, and yet no Roman gods
belonging to them, because they are not more worshipped at Rome than those, who, through Italy
itself, are from municipal consecration ranked as gods, as Delventinus the god of the Casinienses;
Visidianus, of the Narnienses; Ancharia, of the Aesculani; of the Voisinienses, Nortia 354; of the
Ocriculani, Valentia; of the Sutrini, Hostia 355, of the Falisci, Juno, who, in honour of her father Curis,
hath also received her surname 356. But we alone are forbidden to have a religion of our own 357. We
offend the Romans, and are not held to be Romans, because we worship not the god of the Romans, It is
well that God is the God of all, Whose we all are, whether we will or no. But with you it is lawful to
worship any thing except the |63 true God, as though He were not rather the God of all, of Whom we all
are.

XXV. Methinks I have proved enough concerning false and true Deity, when I have shewn how the proof
consisteth not in discussions only and arguments, but in the testimony of those very beings, whom ye
believe to be gods, so that there is now nothing in this question which needs to be treated of again. Yet
since the authority of the Roman name specially cometh across us 358, I will not pass by the controversy
which the presumption of those provoketh, who say that the Romans have been raised to such a height
of greatness as to be masters of the world, for the merit of their very diligent devotion to Religion 359;
and that they are so fully gods, that those flourish above all others, who above all others render service
to them. These forsooth are the wages paid in gratitude by the Roman gods. Sterculus 360, and
Mutunus, and Larentina, have advanced the empire! For I cannot suppose that foreign gods would have
wished that favour should be shewn to a foreign nation rather than to their own 361, and that they
would have given up to men beyond the seas the land of their country, in which they were born, grew
up, were ennobled, and buried. No matter for Cybele if she loved the Roman city as the memorial of the
Trojan race,----her own native race forsooth; which she protected against the arms of the Greeks,----if
she foresaw that it would pass to those avengers, who she knew would subdue Greece, the conqueror
of Phrygia. A mighty proof hath she thereupon put forth, even in our age, of her majesty conferred upon
the city, when, Marcus Aurelius having been, at Syrmium, removed from the state by death on the
sixteenth day before the Calends of April, that most holy of arch-eunuchs, on the ninth day before the
same Calends, on which he made a libation of impure blood by mutilating his arms also, issued, as
before, his accustomed orders on behalf of the health of Marcus, who had been already cut off. O
slothful messengers! O sleepy despatches! through |64 whose fault Cybele did not before learn the
death of the Emperor! Verily the Christians would laugh at such a goddess. But neither would Jupiter at
once have suffered his own Crete to be shaken by the Roman fasces, forgetting that cave of Ida, and the
Corybantian cymbals, and the most pleasing odour of his own nurse 362 there. Would not he have
preferred this his own tomb to all the Capitol, so that that land should rather be the first in the world,
which covered the ashes of Jupiter? Would Juno too 363 be willing that the city of Carthage, which she
loved even in preference to Samos 364, should be utterly destroyed, by the race of Aeneas forsooth?
Whereas I know,

"Here were her arms,

"Here was her chariot, here e'en now she cherished,

"(So might Fate will,) the empire of the world."

This wretched wife and sister of Jupiter prevailed nothing against the Fates. Clearly,

"by Fate e'en Jove himself doth stand 365."

And yet the Romans have not offered to those Fates, which gave up Carthage to them contrary to the
intent and vow of Juno, as much honour as to that most abandoned she-wolf Larentina. That many gods
of yours have reigned, is certain. Wherefore if they hold the power of bestowing empire, from whom,
when they reigned themselves, had they received that gift? whom had Saturn and Jupiter worshipped?
Some Sterculus, I presume; but that, at Rome 366 afterwards, together with their own 367 native gods.
Even if there were any that reigned not, yet was the kingdom ruled by others, not as yet their
worshippers, because they were not as yet held to be gods. Wherefore it belongeth to others to bestow
the kingdom, seeing that there were kings long before these |65 were inscribed gods. But how vain is it
to ascribe the eminence of the Roman name to the merit of their religious zeal! since it was after the
establishment of the imperial, or call it still the regal, power, in an advanced state of prosperity, that
Religion made progress. For although an exceeding nicety in superstition was adopted by Numa, yet the
religious system among the Romans did not as yet consist in images or temples. Religion was thrifty, and
her rites needy: and no Capitols were there, vying with the Heavens 368, but altars of turf thrown
together as it chanced,369 and vessels still of Samian ware, and but scant savour 370, and the god
himself no where 371; for at that time the talents of the Greeks and Tuscans 372 in framing images had
not as yet over-flooded the city. The Romans then were not religious before they were great, and
therefore were not great for this cause, because religious. But how could they be great because of their
religion, whose greatness proceeded from irreligion? For, if I mistake not, every empire or kingdom is
gained by wars, and extended by conquests. Moreover wars and conquests consist for the most part in
the taking and overthrow of cities. This business is not without injury to the gods. The same ruin
embraceth walls and temples, like massacres citizens and priests, nor doth the plunder of sacred
treasures differ from that of the profane 373. As many therefore as are the trophies of the Romans, so
many are their acts of sacrilege; as many as are their triumphs over nations, so many are they over the
gods; as many have been their captures, as there yet remain images of captive gods. And therefore do
they bear to be worshipped by their enemies, and decree to them an empire without end, whose
insults, rather than their fawnings 374, they ought to have repaid. But they who have no sense of any
thing, are as safely injured as they are uselessly worshipped. |66 Surely it cannot consist with belief that
they should be thought to have increased in greatness through the merits of their Religion, who, as we
have suggested, have either grown great by injuring Religion, or have injured it by growing great. They
too, whose kingdoms have together made up the sum of the Roman empire, were not, at the time when
they lost those kingdoms, without religions.

XXVI. See then whether He be not the Disposer of kingdoms, Whose is both the world which is ruled,
and man himself who ruleth; whether He have not ordered the changes of dominions with their times,
in the course of the world, Who was before all time, and made that world, the universe of times. See
whether it be not He Who exalteth and putteth down states, under Whom the race of men once lived
without states. Why do ye err? Rome in her rude state is more ancient than certain of her own gods; she
reigned before so large a compass of Capitol was erected 375. The Babylonians 376 too reigned before
the High Priests, and the Medes before the Fifteen 377, and the Egyptians before the Salii, and the
Assyrians before the Luperci, and the Amazons before the Vestal Virgins. Finally, if the religious rites of
Rome procure kingdoms, never would Judaea have reigned aforetime, that despiser of those common
deities, whose God too ye Romans 378 for some time honoured with sacrifices, and her temple with
offerings 379, and her people with treaties 380: nor would ye ever have ruled over her, had she not at
the last sinned against Christ.

XXVII. A sufficient answer this to the charge of sinning against the gods, because we cannot be thought
to sin against that, which we shew does not exist. Wherefore when we are called upon to sacrifice, we
take our stand against it on the strength of our conscience, whereby we are assured who those be, to
whom these services are paid, under |67 the images which ye publicly expose 381, and the human
names which ye consecrate. But some think it madness that, when we are able at once to sacrifice for
the moment and to escape unhurt, our fixed purpose remaining stedfast in our own mind, we prefer to
our safety a perverse resistance 382. Ye give us forsooth counsel whereby we may cheat yourselves! But
we know whence such counsels are suggested, who it is that setteth all this in motion, and how at one
time by cunning persuasion 383, at another by harsh violence, he worketh for the overthrowing of our
constancy. It is in truth that spirit of demoniac and angelic properties, who rivalling us because of oar
separation from him 384, and envying us because of the grace of God bestowed upon us, maketh war
against us out of your minds 385, which, by the secret influence of his spirit, are disposed and prompted
to all that perverseness in your judgments, and that injustice in your wrath, to which we began at the
first to speak 386. For although all the power of daemons and spirits 387 of that sort were made subject
to us, yet, like naughty servants, they sometimes mingle contumacy with their fear, and delight to injure
those, whom at other times they reverence 388: for even fear inspireth hatred. Besides, also, their
desperate state, arising from their previous condemnation, counteth on the comfort of enjoying
meantime |68 their malice, while their punishment is yet delayed. And yet, when seized, they are
subdued, and submit to their own condition, and entreat, when near at hand, those whom they attack,
when afar off. Therefore when, like rebels from the workhouses, or the prisons, or the mines, or any
penal service of that sort, they break out against us, in whose power they are, being well assured that
they are unequal to us, and thereby the more undone, we are forced to resist them as equals 389, and
we fight against them by persevering in that which they attack; and never do we triumph over them
more, than when we are condemned for stedfastness in our faith.

XXVIII. But as it would readily seem unjust for free men to be forced against their will to sacrifice, (for
elsewhere also, in doing religious service, a willing mind is enjoined 390,) assuredly, for any one to be
compelled by another to honour gods, whom, for his own sake, he ought of his own accord to appease,
would be thought absurd, lest, (in the right of free choice) he have his answer ready; "I will not have
Jupiter propitious to me 391: who art thou? let Janus meet me in wrath with whichever of his faces he
will: what have I to do with thee?" Ye are framed, of course by these same spirits to compel us to do
sacrifice for the health of the Emperor; and the necessity of compelling us is as much forced on you, as is
the duty of perilling ourselves 392 on us. We come then to the second count in the charge of offending
against more august majesty, if indeed ye respect Caesar with greater dread and with a more trembling
ardour 393 than Jupiter of Olympus himself. And with good cause, if ye know why. For who 394 is he? is
not any one among the living better than any 395 dead? But neither do ye this on the score of reason so
much as from respect to a presentaneous 396 power, and thus |69 in this also ye are found to be
irreligious towards your gods, seeing that ye shew more of awe towards a human power, Finally, among
you, men more readily swear falsely by all the gods than against the single Genius of Caesar 397.

XXIX. Let it then first appear whether those, to whom sacrifice is offered are able to impart health to the
Emperor 398, or to any human being, and so adjudge us guilty of high treason 399. If angels or daemons,
in substance the worst of spirits, work any good deed, if the lost save, if the condemned deliver, if
finally, as is within your own knowledge, the dead defend the living, then assuredly would each first
defend his own statues, and images, and temples, which, as I think, the soldiers of the Caesars keep in
safety through their watches 400. But methinks these very materials too 401 come from the mines of
the Caesars, and the entire temples stand according to the nod of Caesar 402. Finally many gods have
had Caesar in wrath with them; it maketh for my argument if some too have found him propitious, when
he conferreth any bounty or privilege upon them. How then shall they, who are in Caesar's power 403,
whose also they wholly are, have the health of Caesar within their power, so that they may be thought
to bestow that which they more readily themselves obtain from Caesar? For 404 therefore do we sin
against the majesty of the Emperors, because we subject them not to their own creatures! because we
make not a mockery of our services for their health's sake, not thinking it to be in hands soldered with
lead! But ye are religious 405, who seek it where it is not, ask it of those by whom it cannot be given,
passing Him by, in Whose power it is! moreover ye put down by force those who know how to ask it,
and, in that they know how to ask it, are able also to obtain it.

XXX. For we pray for the health of the Emperors to the |70 eternal God, the true God, the living God,
Whom even the Emperors themselves would rather have propitious to them than all the rest. They
know Who hath given them their kingdom 406: they know, as human beings, Who hath given them also
their life. They feel that this is the only God, in Whose power alone they are, to Whom they are the
second in power, after Whom they are the first, before all, and above all gods. And why not? since they
are above all men, who, as living, surely stand before the dead. They reflect how far the powers of their
empire avail, and thus they understand God 407. They acknowledge that they prevail through Him,
against Whom they cannot prevail. In a word let the Emperor conquer Heaven, carry Heaven captive in
his triumph, send his guards to Heaven, lay on Heaven his taxes. He cannot. Therefore is he great
because he is less than Heaven; for he himself is of Him, of Whom is both Heaven and every creature.
Thence is he an Emperor, whence he was also a man, before he was an Emperor; thence cometh his
power, whence also came his breath. Thither we Christians, looking up with hands spread open 408,
because without guilt, with head uncovered 409, because we are not ashamed, finally without a
prompter 410, because we pray from the heart; are ever praying 411 for all kings, that they may have a
long |71 life, a secure dominion, a safe home, valiant armies, a faithful senate, a righteous people, a
world at peace, and whatever be the desire both of the man and of the king. These things I cannot ask of
any other than Him, from Whom I know that I shall obtain them; since it is He Who alone giveth them,
and it is I to whom the obtaining of them is due, I His servant who alone give Him reverence, who for His
Religion am put to death, who offer to Him a sacrifice rich and of the highest rank 412, which He Himself
hath commanded, the prayer that proceedeth from a chaste body, from a soul that sinneth not, from
the Holy Spirit; not a single penny's worth 413 of grains of frankincense, 414 the droppings of an Arabian
tree, nor two drops of wine, nor the blood of a discarded beast that longeth to die, and after all these
foul things a filthy conscience also, so that I marvel, when the victims are being tried before you by the
most wicked priests, why the heart of the beasts rather than of the sacrificers themselves are examined.
Whilst then we are thus spread forth before God, let your claws of iron pierce us, your crosses hang us
up, your fires play about us, your swords cut off our necks, your beasts trample on us; the very posture
of the praying Christian is prepared for every punishment 415. This do 416, ye worthy rulers, tear from
us that breath which is praying to God for your Emperor. Here will be the crime, where is truth and
devotion to God 417.

XXXI. Now (ye will say) we have been flattering the Emperor, and have feigned these prayers, of which
we have spoken, that we may escape forsooth your violence. Much profit clearly doth the deceit bring
us! for ye allow us to prove whatsoever we maintain. Thou therefore, that thinkest that we care nothing
for the health of Caesar, look into the oracles of God, our writings, which we do not ourselves suppress,
and which very many accidents transfer to the hands of strangers. Learn from them, that it is
commanded us, in the overflowing of kindness, to entreat God even for our |72 enemies 418, and to
pray for blessings on our persecutors 419. And who more the enemies and persecutors of us Christians,
than those, concerning whose majesty we are charged with guilt? But even by name, and in plain words:
Pray, saith the Scripture, for kings, and for princes, and for powers, that ye may have all things in
quietness 420. For when the kingdom is shaken, all its other members being shaken with it, surely we
also, although we stand aloof from tumults, are found to have some place in the misfortune.

XXXII. We have also another and a greater need to pray for the Emperors, and moreover for the whole
estate of the Empire, and the fortunes of Rome, knowing, as we do, that the mighty shock which
hangeth over the whole world, and the end of time itself, threatening terrible and grievous things, is
delayed because of the time allowed to the Roman Empire 421. We would not therefore experience
these things, and while we pray that they may be put off, we favour the long continuance of Rome. But
moreover as we swear not by the Genii of the Caesars 422, so we do swear by their health 423, |73
which is of greater dignity than all Genii. Ye know not that Genii are called "Daemones," and hence by a
diminutive title, "daemonia." We in the Emperors reverence the judgment of God, Who hath set them
over the nations. We know that in them is that which God hath willed, and therefore we would have
that safe which God hath willed, and this we hold to be a great oath; but as to the daemons, that is, the
genii, we are wont to adjure them that we may cast them out of men, not to swear by them, so as to
confer on them the honour pertaining to God.

XXXIII. But why should I say more of the Religion and the reverential affection of the Christians towards
the Emperor, whom we needs must look up to as the man whom our Lord hath chosen? I might even say
with good cause, Caesar is rather ours, being appointed by our God. Wherefore in this also I do him
more service towards his welfare, not only because I ask it from Him, Who is able to grant it, nor
because I that ask it am such an one as to deserve to obtain it 424, but also because, by keeping down
the majesty of Caesar beneath God, I commend him the more unto God to Whom alone I subject him.
But I subject him to one to whom I make him not equal. For I will not call the Emperor a god, both
because I cannot speak falsely, and because I dare not mock him, and because he himself will not desire
to be called a god. If he be a man, it concerneth a man to yield to a god. He hath enough in being called
an Emperor: this also is a great name which is given him of God. He who calleth him a god, denieth that
he is an Emperor. Unless he be a man, he is not an Emperor. Even when triumphing in that most lofty
chariot, he is warned that he is a man, for he is prompted from behind, "Look behind thee----remember
that thou art a man 425." And, in truth, his joy is on this very account the greater, for that he glittereth
with so much glory, as to need reminding of his proper nature. He were not so great, if he were then
called a god, because he would not be truly called so; he is greater, in that he is reminded not to think
himself a god.

XXXIV. Augustus, the founder of the Empire, would not |74 even have himself called Lord 426; for this
also is a name of God 427. I will by all means call the Emperor lord, but only when I am not compelled to
call him lord in the stead of God. Nevertheless to him I am a freeman, for there is One that is my Lord,
the Almighty and eternal God, the Same who is his Lord also. He that is the father of his country, how is
he its lord? But a title of natural affection is more pleasing also than one of power. Even of a family men
are rather called the fathers than the lords 428. So far is it from being due to the Emperor to be called a
god, (which cannot be believed 429,) with a flattery not only most disgraceful, but dangerous also, as
though when thou hast one Emperor, thou wert to call another so. Wilt thou not incur the highest and
most implacable displeasure of him whom thou hadst for thine Emperor, a displeasure to be feared
even by him to whom thou gavest the title? Be religious towards God, thou that wouldest have Him
propitious to the Emperor. Cease to believe any other to be God, and so likewise to call him god who
hath need of God. If flattery of such sort blusheth not for its falsehood in calling a man a god, let it at
least fear for its evil omen: it is ill-augured to call Caesar a god before he be deified 430.

XXXV. It is on this account then that the Christians are public enemies, because they offer to the
Emperors neither vain, nor lying, nor unconsidered honours; because, being men of true religion, they
celebrate even their solemn days with honest hearts rather than wanton acts. A mighty service truly! to
drag out into public view fireplaces and couches 431, to feast from street to street, to bury the whole
city under the disguise of a tavern 432, to make mud with wine, to |75 run about in companies 433 to
violent and shameless deeds, to the enticements of lust. Is it thus that public joy is expressed by public
disgrace? do these things become the holydays of princes, which become not other days? shall they who
observe the right rules of life out of respect for Caesar, abandon them for Caesar's sake, and shall piety
be a licence for immorality? shall Religion be deemed an occasion of wantonness 434? and how justly do
we deserve condemnation! for why do we discharge our vows and our rejoicings for the Caesars, in
chastity and sobriety and righteousness? Why do we not on the festal day overshadow our door-posts
with laurels 435, and encroach on the day with our candlelight 436? It is a righteous act, when a public
solemnity requireth it, to dress up your house in the guise of some new brothel 437!

I would, however, touching this reverencing a secondary 438 majesty also, concerning which we
Christians are called to answer a second charge of sacrilege, for not celebrating with you the holydays of
the Caesars in a manner in which neither modesty, nor shame, nor decency permit, but the opportunity
of pleasure rather than any fitting reason hath advised 439, I would give proof of your own faithfulness
and truth, in case they should in this instance also perchance be found worse than the Christians, who
would not that we should be accounted Romans, but enemies of the kings of Rome. I call on the Romans
themselves, on the native populace of the seven hills themselves, to answer whether that Roman
tongue of theirs spareth one of their own Caesars 440. The Tiber is my witness and the theatre of the
beasts. Now if nature had covered the breasts of men 441 with some transparent material, so that they
might shine through, whose heart would not be found graven with the picture of another and another
new Caesar presiding over the division |76 of the royal donative 442? even in that hour in which they
cry

"Jove, multiply thy years by lessening ours."

These words a Christian is as incapable of pronouncing as of wishing for a new emperor. "But these be
mobs," sayest thou? Mobs let them be; they are Romans notwithstanding, and none are more noisy
clamourers for the punishment of the Christians than the mob. The other classes no doubt are, in
proportion to their authority, sincere in their pious reverence; no hostile spirit is breathed from the
senate itself, from the knighthood, from the camp, from the very palace! Whence pr'ythee came your
Cassii, and your Nigers, and your Albini 443? whence come they, who beset a Caesar between two
laurels 444? whence they, who exercise their art of wrestling in strangling him 445? whence they, who
break into the palace in arms 446 with more boldness than all the Sigerii and Parthenii 447? From the
Romans, if I mistake not, that is from men not-Christians. And so all these, even when their wickedness
was on the point of bursting forth, were both offering their sacrifices for the health of the Emperor, and
swearing by his Genius, one kind of men without, another within, and doubtless were giving to the
Christians the name of public enemies. But even they who are every day 448 detected as accomplices or
abettors of wicked parties, the gleaning that still remaineth after the gathering in of the vintage of
parricides 449, how did they face their doors with the freshest and the most luxuriant laurels! how did
they overcast their porches with vapour of candles, the tallest and the brightest! how did they portion
out the forum among them, filling it with the richest and most superb couches! not that they might
solemnize the public rejoicings, but that they might even now utter their own private vows in another's
solemnity, |77 and, by changing mentally the name of the prince, might enthrone a proxy and a
representative of him for whom they hoped. The same services do they also pay, who consult
astrologers, and soothsayers, and augurs, and magicians, touching the life of Caesar 450; which arts, as
being put forth by rebel angels, and forbidden by God, the Christians do not employ, even in their own
behalf. But who hath need of such curious enquiry about the life of Caesar, unless it be one, who is
plotting or desiring something against it, or is hoping and waiting for something after it? For men consult
not with the same feelings about their friends and their masters: the anxiety of the kinsman is busy on
other grounds than that of the slave.

XXXVI. If these things be so, that those are proved to be enemies, who were wont to be called Romans,
why are we who are but thought to be enemies denied to be Romans? May we not both be Romans and
not be enemies, when those are found to be enemies, who were accounted Romans? The piety then,
and religious reverence, and faith due to the Emperors standeth not in such services as these, which
even enmity may more zealously perform as a cloak for itself, but in that moral course of life, by which a
kindly feeling must needs be as truly shewn towards the Emperor as towards all mankind. For these
works of good-will are not due from us to Emperors alone. In doing good to others we make no
exception of persons, for we do it at the same time to ourselves, seeking our measure of praise or
reward not from man, but from God, Who requireth and recompenseth an impartial charity. We are the
same to the Emperors that we are to our neighbours, for we are equally forbidden with respect to every
one, to wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill, to think ill. That which we may not do to an Emperor, neither may
we do to any man: that which we may do to no man, the less, perhaps, may we to him, who, through
God, is so great a man.

XXXVII. If, as we have said above, we are commanded |78 to love our enemies, whom have we to hate?
And if again 451 when injured we are forbidden to repay the injury, lest we ourselves be equally guilty,
whom have we power to hurt? For reflect, yourselves, on this matter. How often do ye spend your fury
on the Christians, partly from your own proper inclinations, partly in obedience to the laws 452! How
often also, passing you by, doth the hostile mob attack us 453, on its own score, with stones and fire!
With the very phrenzy of Bacchanals, they spare not the Christians even when dead; but they must
needs drag them out from the repose of the grave, the sanctuary in some sort of death, and cut and tear
them in pieces, no longer what they were, no longer even entire 454. And yet what retaliation for injury
have ye ever marked in men so banded together, so bold in spirit even unto death? though a single night
might with a few torches work out an ample vengeance, if it were lawful, with us that evil should be
balanced by evil. But God forbid that the divine character of the sect 455 should be vindicated by human
fire, or should grudge to suffer that wherein it is tried. For if we wished to act the avowed enemy, not
the secret avenger only, would strength of numbers and forces be wanting to us? The Moors and the
Marcomans 456, and the Parthians themselves, or any other people, however great, yet a people
nevertheless of one spot, and of their own boundaries, are, I suppose, more numerous than one of the
whole world! We are a people of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to you, cities,
islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum 457!
We leave you your temples only. We can count your armies: our numbers in a single province will be
greater 458. For what war should we not be sufficient and ready, even |79 though unequal in numbers,
who so willingly are put to death, if it were not in this Religion of ours more lawful to be slain than to
slay? We could fight against you even unarmed and without rebelling, but only disagreeing with you, by
the mere odium of separation. For if so large a body of men as we, were to break away from you into
some remote corner of the globe, surely the loss of so many citizens, of whatever sort they might be,
would cover your kingdom with shame, yea, and would punish you by their very desertion of you.
Doubtless ye would tremble at your own desolation, at the silence of all things, at the death-like stupor
of the whole world. Ye would have to seek whom to govern. More enemies would remain to you than
citizens: for now ye have fewer enemies by reason of the multitude of Christians, almost all, citizens, yea
having almost all your citizens Christians. But ye have preferred to call us enemies of the human race
459. And who would snatch you from those hidden foes, who are every where making havoc of your
minds and your bodily health, from the inroads, I mean, of daemons, which we drive away from you
without reward, without pay? This alone would be enough, for our vengeance, that ye should
henceforth lie open 460, a vacant tenement for unclean spirits 461. And now not even thinking of
compensation for so great a protection, ye have preferred judging as enemies a race not only harmless,
but even necessary to you, who are in truth enemies, yet not of men but of their errors.

XXXVIII. Wherefore it were meet that this sect should be accounted (and that with much more kindly
feelings) among lawful factions 462, a sect, by which no such thing is done, as is wont to be
apprehended from unlawful factions. For, if I mistake not, the cause of prohibiting factions is to |80 be
found in a provident care for the temperate condition of the public, lest the state be divided into
parties, a thing which might easily disquiet your assemblies, your councils, your courts, your public
meetings, even your public shows, by the rival conflicts of party zeal, when men had already begun to
make a trade of selling and hiring out their services for acts of violence. But we who are insensible to all
that burning for glory and greatness, have no need of banding together, nor is any thing more foreign to
our taste than public affairs. We acknowledge one commonwealth of all mankind, the world 463.
Equally do we renounce your spectacles, as much as the matters which gave rise to them, which we
know to be conceived of superstition, in that 464 we have got clear of the very things about which these
performances are concerned. We have no concern, in speaking, seeing, hearing 465, with the madness
of the circus 466, with the immodesty of the theatre 467, with the cruelty of the arena, with the folly of
the wrestling gallery 468. The Epicureans were permitted to determine for themselves certain pleasures
to be real. Wherein do we offend you if we take other than yours to be pleasures? If we will not know
how to be pleased, the loss, if it be one, is our's not your's. But we reject those things which please you,
nor are ye delighted with our pleasures 469.

XXXIX. I will now set forth on my own part the employments of the Christian society, that since I have
disproved that which is evil, I may shew somewhat that is good, if so be I have also unfolded the truth
470. We. are a body formed by our joint cognizance of Religion, by the unity 471 of discipline, by the
bond of hope. We come together in a meeting and a congregation as before God 472, as though we
would in one body sue Him by our prayers. This violence is pleasing unto God. We pray also for
Emperors, for their ministers and the powers, for the condition of the world, for the quiet of all things,
for the delaying of the end 473. We |81 come together to call the sacred writings to remembrance, if so
be that the character of the present times compel us either to use admonition or recollection in any
thing. In any case, by these holy words we feed our faith, raise our hopes, establish our confidence, nor
do we the less strengthen our discipline by inculcating precepts. Here too are exercised exhortations,
corrections, and godly censure. For our judgment also cometh with great weight, as of men well assured
that they are under the eye of God; and it is a very grave forestalling of the judgment to come, if any
shall have so offended as to be put out of the communion of prayer, of the solemn assembly, and of all
holy fellowship. The most approved elders 474 preside over us, having obtained this honour not by
money, but by character; for with money is nothing pertaining unto God purchased. Even if there be
with us a sort of treasury, no sum is therein collected, discreditable to Religion as though she were
bought. Every man placeth there a small gift on one day in each month 475, or whensoever he will, so
he do but will, and so he be but able; for no man is constrained, but contributeth willingly. These are as
it were the deposits of piety; for afterwards they are not disbursed in feasting and in drinking, and in
disgusting haunts of gluttony, but for feeding 476 and burying the poor, for boys and girls without
money and without parents, and for old men now house-ridden, for the shipwrecked also, and for any
who in the mines 477, or in the islands, or in the prisons, become their Creed's pensioners 478, so that it
be only for the sake of the way of God. But it is the exercise |82 of this sort of love which doth, with
some, chiefly brand us with a mark of evil. 'See,' say they, 'how they love each other 479;' for they
themselves hate each other: and 'see how ready they are to die for each other;' for they themselves are
more ready to slay each other. But whereas we are denoted by the title of 'The Brethren,' on no other
ground, as I think, do they brand this name, than because among themselves every title of consanguinity
is, from affectation 480, falsely assumed. But brethren we are even of your own, by the law of Nature,
our one mother, although ye have but little of the man in you because ye are ill brethren. Now 481 how
much more worthily are they both called and esteemed brethren, who acknowledge one Father, that is
God, who have drunk of One Spirit of holiness 482, who from the one womb of their common ignorance
have started at the one light 483 of Truth! But perchance we are on this account thought to be not true-
born brothers, because no tragedy noiseth abroad our brotherhood, or because we are brethren in our
family property, which with you mostly dissolveth brotherhood 484. We therefore, who are united in
mind and soul, doubt not about having our possessions in common. With us all things are shared
promiscuously, except our wives 485. In that alone do we part fellowship, in which alone others exercise
fellowship; who not only use the wives of their friends, but most patiently also lend to their friends their
own, according, I suppose, to the rule of those ancient and exceeding wise men, Socrates the Greek, and
Cato the Roman, who shared with their friends the wives whom they had married, for the sake of having
children, even elsewhere begotten: whether indeed against the will of the wives, I know not; for what
could they care for that chastity, which their husbands had so readily resigned? O example |83 of Attic
wisdom and of Roman steadiness! A Philosopher and a Censor 486 turned pimp 487! What wonder then
if such our love be social? for even our little suppers ye revile as extravagant also 488, besides being
disgraced by vice. It was of us, I suppose, that the saying of Diogenes 489 was spoken, "The Megarians
feast, as though they were to die to-morrow, and build, as though they were never to die." But each
beholdeth the mote in another's eye, rather than the beam in his own 490. The whole air is turned sour
with the crude breathings of so many tribes, and curiae, and decuriae. When the Salii are about to feast,
one must needs lend money for it. Your accomptants will calculate the expenses of the tithes and the
feasts dedicated to Hercules. For the Apaturian and Bacchanal festivals, and for the Athenian mysteries,
a levy of cooks is ordered; at the smoke of the feast of Serapis the firemen will be aroused. It is the
supping-room of the Christians alone that men carp at. Our feast sheweth its nature in its name. It is
named by the word by which 'love 491' is among the Greeks. Whatever expense it costeth. expense
incurred in the name of piety is a gain; if we aid every poor man by this refreshment, not, according as
the parasites among you, aspire to the glory of enslaving their liberty, and, for their hire, filling their
bellies in the midst of insults, but, according as with God, more thought is taken for men of low degree.
If the cause of the feast be good, judge ye what the rest of the course of our rules is, according to the
duties of Religion. It alloweth nothing vile, nothing immodest. Men sit not down to meat before tasting,
in the first place, of prayer to God 492. They eat as much as hungry men desire; they drink as much as is
profitable for chaste men; they are so filled, as men who remember that during the night also they must
pray 493 to God; they so discourse, as |84 those who know that God heareth. After that water for the
hands and lights 494 are brought, according as each is able, out of the Holy Scriptures, or of his own
mind, he is called upon to sing publicly to God 495. Hence it is proved in what degree he hath drunken!
In like manner prayer breaks up the feast 496. Thence they separate, not into bands for violence 497,
nor into groups for running to and fro, nor for the outbreakings of lasciviousness, but to be as chary as
before of modesty and chastity, as men who have fed not so much upon meats as upon instruction in
righteousness. This coming together of Christians would deservedly be unlawful, if it were like those
things which are unlawful; deservedly to be condemned, if it were not at variance with those things
which are to be condemned 498. If any complain of it on the ground that factious parties are
complained of, for whose hurt have we at any time assembled? We are the same when gathered
together as when scattered, the same in the mass as single, offending no one, vexing no one. When the
honest, when the good come together, when the pious, when the chaste meet, it must not be called a
faction, but a court. |85

XL. But on the contrary the name of faction must be applied to those, who are banded together in
enmity against the good and the honest, who join together their cry against the blood of the innocent,
pretending forsooth, in defence of their enmity, that vain excuse also, that they think the Christians to
be the cause of every public calamity, of every national ill 499. If the Tiber cometh up to the walls, if the
Nile cometh not up to the fields, if the heaven hath stood still 500, if the earth hath been moved, if there
be any famine, if any pestilence, "The Christians to the lion," is forthwith the word. What! so many to
one? Before the age of Tiberius, that is before the coming of Christ, how many calamities, I pray you,
afflicted the world and the City 501? We read that Hiera, Anaphe 502, and the islands Delos, and
Rhodes, and Cos, were with many thousand men utterly destroyed. Even Plato 503 relateth that a land
larger than Asia and Africa was snatched away by the Atlantic ocean. An earthquake moreover hath
drained the Corinthian sea 504; and the force of the waves hath separated Lucania from Italy, and
banished it, to bear the name of Sicily 505. Surely these things could not happen without harm to the
inhabitants. But where were, I will not say the Christians the despisers of your gods, but your gods
themselves at that time, when the flood overwhelmed the whole world, or, as Plato supposed 506, the
plain country 507 only; for that they were of later date than the catastrophe of the deluge the very cities
bear witness, in which they were born and died, and those also which they |86 founded; for they would
not otherwise have remained unto this day, if they themselves also had not been of later date than that
catastrophe. Palestine had not yet received that swarm of Jews from Egypt, nor had that seminary of the
Christian sect, as yet settled there, when the shower of fire burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah, places on its
borders. The land still smelleth of the burning; and, if any fruits of the trees there struggle into life, so as
to be seen by the eyes, nevertheless, when touched, they crumble into ashes 508. But neither did
Tuscany nor Campania complain of the Christians, at that early day, when fire was poured over Vulsinii
from Heaven, and over Tarpeii 509 from its own mountain. No one at Rome as yet worshipped the true
God, when Hannibal at Cannae, in the slaughter which himself had made, measured out by the bushel
the rings of the Romans. All your gods were worshipped by all, when the Senones seized upon the
Capitol itself 510. And it is well, that when any adverse accident befalleth cities, there hath been the
same overthrow of the temples as of the walls 511, so that I may at once prove against you that the evil
cometh not from the gods, because it cometh upon themselves as well as others. Mankind hath even
deserved ill of God, first in that they were undutiful towards Him, Whom though they knew in part, they
not only sought not after Him to fear Him512, but devised for themselves others besides, to worship
them; next because, by not seeking after the Teacher of good, and the Judge and Avenger of evil, they
grew in all trespasses and sins. But if they had sought after Him, it followed of necessity, that Whom
they sought 513, they should know, and Whom they knew, honour, and Whom they honoured, find
rather propitious than wrathful. They ought therefore to know that the same God is now also angry with
them, Who was ever so in times past, before that any bore the name of Christians. He, Whose good
gifts, produced before they |87 devised gods for themselves, they enjoyed, why can they not
understand that evils also come from Him, Whose they perceived not that the good things were? To Him
they are amenable, to Whom also they are ungrateful. And yet if we compare the former catastrophes,
lighter evils 514 now occur since the world hath received the Christians from God. For from that time,
their innocence hath tempered the wickednesses of the age, and they have begun to be intercessors
with God. Finally, when summer hindereth winter of its showers 515, and the year is in anxious plight,
ye indeed, daily fed to the full and about forthwith to dine 516, with your baths, and your taverns, and
your brothels, all at work, offer to Jupiter sacrifices for rain, order your people to go barefoot 517, seek
Heaven in the Capitol, look for clouds from your ceilings 518, turning yourselves away from God Himself
and from Heaven 519. But we, dried up with fasting, and pinched by every sort of abstinence 520, kept
from every enjoyment of life, prostrating ourselves in sackcloth and ashes 521, put Heaven to shame by
our importunity, touch God 522, and when we have painfully obtained mercy, Jupiter is honoured by
you, God neglected 523!

XLI. Ye therefore are they that trouble the world 524, ye are guilty of the national calamities, ye that are
ever inviting evils 525, among whom God is despised, images worshipped. For surely 526 it must be
thought more credible that He should be angry Who is neglected, than they who are worshipped 527; or
else they must indeed be most unjust, if, on account of the Christians, they injure their own worshippers
also, whom |88 they ought to except from the deserts of the Christians. This, say ye, is to make the
argument recoil upon your own God also, seeing that He also suffereth His own worshippers to be
harmed on account of the wicked. Learn first His counsels, and ye will not thus retort. For He, Who hath
once ordained an everlasting judgment after the end of the world, hasteneth not the separation, which
is a necessary part of that judgment, before the end of the world 528. Meanwhile He is without
partiality towards the whole human race, both in blessing and in chastening them; He hath willed that
good things should be shared by the wicked, and evil things by His own people, that by an equal
participation we all might know both His kindness and His severity. Because we have been thus taught
by Himself, we love kindness, we fear severity. Ye on the other hand despise both, and it followeth
therefore that all the afflictions of the age come from God upon us (if they do so) for our admonition,
upon yon for your punishment. But in truth we are in no wise harmed; for we have in this world no
concern but to depart out of it as quickly as we may. Next because if any evil be inflicted, it is ascribed to
your deservings. But although some evils slightly touch us also, as being joined together with you, we
rather rejoice in acknowledging therein the divine prophecies, as confirming our assurance and the
confidence of our hope 529. But if all your misfortunes come upon you from those whom ye worship,
for our faults, why persist ye in worshipping beings so ungrateful, so unjust, who ought rather to assist
and abet you in afflicting the Christians?

XLII. But we are called to account on another charge of wrong, and are said to be unprofitable in the
common concerns of life 530. How can this be said of men who live with you, have the same food, dress
531, furniture, the same wants of daily life? For we are not Brachmans, or the |89 naked philosophers of
the Indians, dwelling in the woods, and outcasts from life. We remember that we owe gratitude to God
our Lord and our Maker. We put not away from us any enjoyment of His works; certainly we refrain
from using them immoderately 532 or wrongfully. Wherefore we live with you in this world 533, not
without a forum, not without shambles, not without your baths, taverns, shops, inns, markets, and
other places of traffic. We voyage moreover with you, serve in your armies, labour with you in the fields,
and trade with you. Besides this, we join our crafts with yours. Our acquirements, our services, we lend
to the public for your profit. How we can be thought to be unprofitable to you in your concerns, you
with whom and by whom we live, I know not. But if I attend not the solemnities of your holyday, I am
nevertheless on that day also a man. I do not wash at nightfall 534, or at the Saturnalian festival, lest I
should waste both night and day 535; yet I wash at a proper and a wholesome hour, such as may save
both my warmth and my colour; cold and pale after bathing I can be, when dead. On the feast of
Bacchus I sit not down to meat in public, as is the custom of those who are condemned to the beasts,
when they take their last meal 536: but wheresoever I do eat, I eat of your abundance. I buy no garland
for my head 537: nevertheless, since I do buy flowers, how doth it concern you in what manner I use
them? I use them, as I think, more agreeably when free, and loose, and straying out of all order. But if
we must have them gathered together in a wreath, we have our wreath for the nose. Let those please
themselves who smell with their hair! We come not together to your public shows; but if I need any
things that are sold at those meetings, I would procure them more freely 538 at their proper places. We
buy certainly no frankincense: if the Arabias complain of this, the Sabaeans will witness that more, and
more costly, merchandise of theirs is |90 lavished in the burials of Christians 539 than in burning incense
to the gods. 'Without doubt,' say ye, 'they are daily melting away the revenues of our temples: how few
now throw in their offering 540! Why! we cannot afford to relieve men and your begging 541 gods too,
nor do we think that we ought to give, save to those that ask: briefly, let Jupiter put out his hand and
take of us, while mean time our compassion expendeth more in each street 542 than your religion doth
in each temple. But your other taxes will be grateful to the Christians 543, who pay their dues with that
faithfulness with which we abstain from defrauding others, so that if an account were taken, how much
is lost to the taxes through the deceitfulness and falsehood of your declarations, the reckoning might
easily be made, the complaint under one head being compensated by the profit gained to the other
accounts.

XLIII. I will fully admit that there are some, who may, if any may, justly complain of the unfruitfulness of
the Christians. First then will be the pimps, the procurers, and their bath-furnishers. Next, the assassins,
the poisoners, the magicians; after them, the soothsayers, the diviners, the astrologers 544. To be
unprofitable to these, is a great profit. And yet whatever loss to your finances come from this our sect,
may be balanced by at least some protection from them. At what price do ye value, I do not now say
those who cast out devils from you 545, I do not say those who fall down |91 before the true God in
prayer for you as well as for themselves, but those of whom ye can have no fear?

XLIV. Yet here there is a loss to the state, great as it is real, which no one turneth to look upon; here is
an injury to the citizens, which no one weigheth, when in our persons so many righteous men are
expended, when so many innocent men are squandered away. For now we call to witness your own
acts, you who preside daily at the trials of prisoners, and dispose of the charges by your sentences. So
many criminals are reckoned up by you under various charges of guilt. What assassin among them, what
cut-purse, what sacrilegious person, or seducer, or plunderer of bathers, is entitled also a Christian? In
like manner 546 when the Christians are brought to trial under their own head, who even of these is
such as all these criminals are? It is ever from your own people that the prison is steaming: it is ever
from your own people that the mines are breathing sighs; it is ever on your own people that the beasts
are fattened; it is ever of your own people that the masters of the shows find flocks of criminals to feed.
No Christian is there, unless it be only as a Christian; or if he be any thing else, he is forthwith no longer
a Christian 547.

XLV. We alone then are innocent? What wonder if this be so of necessity? and truly of necessity it is so.
Taught innocence by God, we both know it perfectly, as being revealed by a perfect Master; and we
keep it faithfully, as being committed to us by an Observer that may not be despised. But to you human
opinion hath handed down the rule of innocence, and human authority hath commanded it. Hence ye
belong to a discipline which for the attaining of true innocence is neither perfect nor so greatly to be
feared. What is the wisdom of man in shewing what is really good? What his authority in exacting it?
The one is as readily deceived, as the other disregarded. And hence, which is the more full
commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," or, "Be not even angry?" Which the more perfect, to forbid
adultery, or to keep men even from the secret lust of |92 the eyes? which the more refined, to forbid
evil doing, or even evil speaking? which the more complete, not to permit an injury, or not to suffer
even the requital of an injury? Meanwhile, however, know that even your own laws, which seem to tend
to innocence, are borrowed from the law of God, as the more ancient. I have already spoken of the age
of Moses 548. But what is the authority of human laws, when it is in the power of man both to evade
them, being generally undiscovered in his misdoings, and sometimes to set them at nought, as sinning
from chance or necessity? Consider it also in respect of the shortness of the punishment inflicted, which,
whatever it be, nevertheless continueth not after death. So also Epicurus holdeth cheap all torment and
pain, by pronouncing slight ones despicable, and great ones shortlived 549. But we of whom an account
is taken by the God Who looketh upon all, and who see before us an eternal punishment at His hands
550, we are with good cause the only men who attain unto innocence, both from the fulness of our
knowledge, and the difficulty of concealment, and the greatness of the punishment, which continueth,
not for a long time, but for ever; fearing Him Whom even that man, who judgeth those that fear, will
himself be obliged to fear----fearing God and not the Proconsul.

XLVI. We have maintained our ground, methinks, against all that criminal charge, which calleth for the
blood of the Christians. We have shewn you, our whole condition, and by what means we can prove it to
be such as we have shewn----by the truth 551, that is, and the antiquity 552 of the Divine Scriptures, and
moreover by the confession 553 of the spiritual powers. Let him come forth who 554 shall venture to
refute us. He will be bound to strive against us on the ground of truth, not by skill of words, but in the
same form in which we have established our proof. But while our truth is made manifest to every man
555, unbelief meantime, confounded as it is by the goodness of this sect, (which hath now become well
known to experience 556 of it, and by |93 intercourse with it,) regardeth it forsooth not as a work of
God, but rather as a kind of philosophy 557. 'The philosophers,' it saith, 'advise and profess the same
things, innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, chastity.' Why then, when we are likened to them in
discipline, are we not made equal to them in the freedom and impunity of their discipline? Or why are
not they also, as being our equals, forced to the same offices, which we, not fulfilling, are put in peril?
For who compelleth a philosopher to sacrifice, or to take an oath 558, or at noon-day to parade abroad
useless candles 559? Nay they even openly demolish your gods, and in treatises accuse your
superstitions, with your own approbation 560: most of them likewise bark against your princes 561, and
ye suffer it, and they are more readily rewarded by statues 562 and pensions 563, than sentenced to the
beasts. And with good cause, for they bear the name of philosophers, not of Christians. This name of
philosophers putteth not the daemons to flight: why should it, seeing that the philosophers rank the
daemons next to the gods 564? It is the saying of Socrates, "If the daemon so please." And he also, even
when he savoured somewhat of truth in denying the gods, yet just at the close of life ordered a cock to
be sacrificed to Aesculapius 565, I suppose in honour of his father, because Apollo declared Socrates to
be the wisest of all men 566. O ill-advised Apollo! he hath borne testimony to the wisdom of that man,
who denied the being of the gods! Whatever hatred the truth kindleth against itself, so much doth he
incur, who faithfully setteth it forth, while he who corrupteth and affecteth 567 it, gaineth favour on this
account especially, from those that attack the truth. Philosophers affect, inasmuch as they are both its
mockers and despisers 568, the truth in mimicry, and, in affecting, corrupt it, as men who catch at
praise. The Christians both seek |94 it as of necessity, and fulfil it entirely, as men who care for their
own salvation. Wherefore neither in respect of knowledge, nor, as ye imagine, in respect of discipline,
are we on a level. For what certain report did Thales, that earliest of natural philosophers 569, give to
Croesus, when he questioned him concerning the nature of the gods, after being oft allowed in vain
farther time for deliberation 570? Every Christian labourer both findeth out God and sheweth Him 571,
and hence really ascribeth to God all that in God is looked for, notwithstanding that Plato 572 affirmeth
that the Maker of the world is both hard to be found out, and, when found out, hard 573 to be declared
unto all. But if we be challenged 574 on the ground of chastity, I read a part of the sentence given at
Athens against Socrates; he is declared to be a corrupter of young men 575: the Christian doth not even
change the natural use of the woman 576, I know also that the harlot Phryne ministered to the lustful
embraces of Diogenes. I hear too that a certain Speusippus of the school of Plato died in the act of
adultery 577. The Christian is by nature a lover to his wife alone. Democritus by putting out his eyes
because he could not look upon women without desire, and was pained if he possessed them not, doth,
by this very self-correction, make confession of incontinence. But the Christian, still keeping his eyes,
looketh not at all upon women. It is in his heart that he is blinded against lust. If I must defend our cause
as touching righteous dealing, behold Diogenes, his feet soiled with mud, trampling with a pride of his
own on the proud couches of Plato 578. The Christian doth not vaunt himself against even a poor man. If
I am to contend as touching modesty, behold Pythagoras at Thurium, and Zeno at Priene, aspiring to the
tyranny. But the Christian doth not aspire even to the aedileship 579. If I am to join issue as touching
evenness of mind, |95 Lycurgus chose obstinately to starve himself to death because the
Lacedaemonians had amended his laws 580. The Christian, even when condemned, giveth thanks. If I
am to make a comparison as touching good faith, Anaxagoras refused to restore a pledge to his guests;
the Christian is called faithful even to strangers 581. If I am to take my stand on the ground of simplicity,
Aristotle basely displaced his own familiar friend Hermias; the Christian doth not hurt even his enemy.
The same Aristotle flatlereth 582 Alexander, who ought rather to have been directed by him, as
unbecomingly 583 as Plato was sold by Dionysius 584 for his belly's sake. Aristippus in his purple 585,
under a vast surface of outward gravity, liveth the life of a profligate; and Hippias is put to death while
laying a snare for the state. This hath no Christian ever attempted on behalf of his own friends, though
scattered abroad with every sort of cruelty. But some men will say that certain even of our own people
depart from our rule of discipline. Then do they cease to be accounted Christians amongst us 586. But
these philosophers, with such deeds upon their hands, continue to hold among you the name and the
honour of wisdom. What likeness then is there between the philosopher and the Christian? the disciple
of Greece and of Heaven? the trafficker for fame and for salvation? the doer of words and of works? the
builder and the destroyer of things? the foister in of error, and the restorer of truth? its plunderer and
its guardian?

XLVII. For the antiquity of the Holy Scriptures, already established 587, yet again serveth me in making it
very credible that this was the store-house of all the wisdom of later times. And were it not that I now
desire to moderate the bulk of my book, I would go at large into the proof of this also. Which of the
poets, which of the sophists is there, who have not drunk from the fountain of the Prophets 588? Hence,
|96 therefore, have the philosophers also watered the dryness of their own understanding. For because
they have certain things of ours, therefore they liken us to them 589. Hence also methinks 590 hath
philosophy been by law 591 cast out by some, the Thebans, for example, the Spartans, and the Argives
592. While they strive to come at what is ours, being men, who (as we have said) lust after fame and
eloquence only, if they have met with any thing in the sacred writings, they have straightway re-written
it according to the bent of their nice research, and have perverted it to their own purpose, neither
sufficiently believing them to be divine, not to corrupt them, nor sufficiently understanding them, as
being, even then, somewhat obscure, and seen darkly even by the Jews themselves, whose own they
seemed to be. For even where the truth was in simple form, the more on that account did that cavilling
spirit of men, which despiseth faith, waver, whence they confounded in uncertainty even that which
they had found certain. For having found only that there was a God, they questioned of Him not as they
had found Him, but so as to dispute about His character, and His nature, and His dwelling-place 593.
Some affirm that He is without body, some that He hath a body, as do the Platonists and the Stoics;
some that He cometh of atoms, some of numbers, as Epicurus and Pythagoras; some of fire, as was
thought by Heraclitus. Again the Platonists hold that He careth for the world, the Epicureans on the
other hand that He is inactive, unemployed, and, if I may say so, a non-entity as respecteth the affairs of
men 594; the Stoics 595 again, that He is placed without the universe, |97 turning about, like a potter,
this mass of matter from without; the Platonists, that he is placed within the universe, abiding like a
pilot within that which he directeth. So also concerning the world itself, they are not agreed, whether it
had or had not a beginning, whether it shall have an end, or abide for ever. So also of the state of the
soul, which some contend is divine and eternal, others that it can be dissolved: each hath, according to
his own sentiment, brought in a new doctrine, or reformed the old. And no wonder if the wit of
philosophers hath perverted the ancient document 596. Some of their race have by their own opinions
corrupted this our novel body of writings 597 also, after the views of the philosophers, and from the one
way have cut out 598 many devious and inextricable mazes. Which remark I have offered for this
reason, lest the notorious variety of opinions in this our sect should seem to any one to place us in this
respect also on a level with the philosophers, and condemn truth, because variously defended. But for
those who corrupt our doctrines we briefly rule, that the canon of truth is that which cometh from
Christ, handed down through those who have companied with Him, long after whom these different
commentators will be proved to have existed 599. All contradictions to the truth have been framed out
of the truth itself, the spirits of error thus exercising their rivalry. By them have the corruptions of this
wholesome kind of discipline been privily introduced 600; by them also have certain fables been let in,
which, from their likeness to it, might weaken the credit of the truth, or rather gain it over to their own
side; so that a man may think that he must put no faith in the Christians, because he can put none in
poets or philosophers; or suppose that he ought to put the more faith in poets and philosophers,
because he can put none in the Christians. Therefore we are laughed at, when we preach that God shall
judge the world, for so do the poets also, and the philosophers feign a judgment-seat in the shades
below; and if we threaten men with Hell, which is a store-house of |98 hidden fire beneath the earth,
for the punishing of men, we are forthwith borne down by jeers, for so is there also a. river among the
dead called Pyriphlegethon. And if we speak of Paradise 601, a place of heavenly pleasantness
appointed to receive the spirits of the saints, separated from the knowledge of the world in general by a
sort of wall formed by the zone of fire 602, the Elysian plains have preoccupied their belief. Whence, I
pray you, have your poets and philosophers these doctrines so like to ours? it can only be from our
mysteries. If it be from our mysteries, as being older than their own, then are ours more to be trusted
and believed than theirs, seeing that even the copies of them gain belief. If it be from their own minds,
then must our mysteries be regarded as the copies of things later than themselves, which the law of
nature suffereth not, for never doth the shadow go before the substance, or the image before the
reality.
XLVIII. Come now, if any philosopher affirmeth (as doth Laberius 603 after the opinion of Pythagoras)
that a man is made out of a mule, a serpent out of a woman, and shall, by the force of eloquence, wrest
every argument to this opinion, will he not gain the consent of men, and fixedly persuade them ever to
abstain from animal food? and will not each on this account be persuaded, lest in supping on ox-flesh he
eat one of his own ancestors? But the Christian, if he promiseth that man shall be made again of man,
and that of Caius the very same Caius shall be refashioned, will be driven out by the people, not merely
by blows, but rather by stones, as though 604 whatever be the governing argument for the restoration
of human souls to material bodies, do not itself require, that they return to the same bodies, seeing that
this it is to be restored, to become what it was before. For if they be not what they were, endued, that
is, with a human, and that the self-same, body, then |99 will they not be the very same which they
were, because they could not be what they were not, without ceasing to be what they had been.
Moreover, how shall they be said to be restored, which are no longer to be the same? Either, being
made another thing, they will not be themselves, or, remaining themselves, will not be from another
source. We should need many jests and much leisure, if we chose to sport with this question, into what
beast each man may be thought to have been changed. But let us rather keep to the defence of
ourselves, who lay it down as a thing certainly more worthy of belief, that a man should be refashioned
from a man, (who you will coming in place of whom you will, so it be only a man,) so that the same sort
of soul may be restored to the same rank of beings, though not to the same likeness 605. Surely, since
the cause of the restoration is the appointed future judgment, each will of necessity be presented the
very same man that he was before, that he may receive judgment from God for his good deservings or
the contrary. And therefore will the bodies also be again presented, both because the soul can suffer
nothing by itself without connection with a material substance, that is the flesh 606, and because what
thing soever souls are doomed to suffer from the judgment of God, they have deserved it, not without
the flesh, within which they have done all things 607. But, thou sayest, how can matter, which hath
been dissolved, be made to appear? Consider thyself, O man, and thou wilt find how to believe this
thing. Think what thou wast before thou hadst a being: simply nothing: for hadst thou been any |100
thing thou wouldest have remembered it. Thou therefore that wast nothing before thou didst exist, and
that becomest also nothing when thou ceasest to exist, why canst thou not begin to exist again from
nothing, by the Will of that selfsame Creator Who hath willed that thou shouldest come into being out
of nothing. What new thing will happen unto thee? thou that wast not, wast made: when again thou
shalt not be, thou shalt be made. Declare, if thou canst, the manner in which thou wast made, and then
seek to know how thou shalt be made. And yet surely thou shalt be more easily made that which thou
once hast been, seeing that thou wast made, equally without difficulty, that which thou never hadst at
any time been 608. There will be a doubt, I suppose, as to the power of God, Who hath framed out of
that which was not before, not less than out of a death-like void and nothingness, this vast body of the
universe, animated by that Spirit which animateth all souls 609, stamped 610 too by Himself as an
emblem of the resurrection of man, for a testimony unto you. The light which is extinct every day,
shineth forth again, and the darkness in like manner departeth and succeedeth in its turn 611; the stars
that have died away, revive again; the seasons when they end, begin anew; the fruits are consumed and
again return; the seeds assuredly spring not up with new fruitfulness, except they be first corrupted and
dissolved 612; all things are by dying preserved; all things are formed again from death 613. Shalt thou a
man, (a name so great,) thou who (if thou knowest thyself, as |101 thou mayest learn to do even from
the Pythian inscription 614) art the lord of all things that die and rise again, shalt thou die to perish for
ever? Wheresoever thy elements shall be scattered, whatsoever matter shall destroy, absorb, abolish,
waste thee to nothing, it shall restore thee again 615. "Nothing" itself is in the hands of Him, in Whose
hands is "The Whole." 'Then,' say ye, 'we must be ever dying and ever rising again!' If the Lord of all
things had so determined, thou wouldest experience, even against thy will, this law of thy creation. But
now He hath not determined otherwise than He hath declared unto us. The same Mind which from
diversity of parts hath framed one whole, so that all things consist of rival substances in unity, of the
void and the solid, of the animate and the inanimate, of the comprehensible and the incomprehensible,
of light and darkness, yea even of life and death, hath made time also to consist of two states so
determinate and distinct, that the first part of it, measured from the beginning of all things, in which we
now live, runneth out to its end in this mortal life, but the next, which we wait for, is continued to a
never-ending eternity. When therefore the end, and that middle space of time, which lieth open
between 616, shall have come, so that the visible face of the universe itself is removed, which is equally
temporal, and hath been spread like a curtain before that eternal dispensation, then shall the whole
human race be restored, to determine the account of their good or evil deservings in this world, and
then to pay the debt through the boundless series of everlasting ages. Therefore, there shall neither be
an absolute death, nor another and another resurrection, but we shall be the same that we now are,
and no other thereafter; the worshippers of God ever with God, clothed upon with their proper
substance of eternity, but the wicked, and they who live not entirely unto God, for the punishment of an
equally eternal fire, receiving from the very nature of that fire, being, as it is, divine, the supply of |102
their own incorruption 617. The philosophers also know the difference between the hidden and the
common fire. So that which ministereth to the uses of men is widely different from that which
ministereth to the judgment of God, whether drawn out in lightning from Heaven, or bursting up from
the earth through the tops of mountains 618; for it consumeth not that which it burneth, but reneweth
while it destroyeth. Wherefore the mountains, though ever burning, still remain, and he who is stricken
by fire from Heaven, is thenceforth safe from being consumed by any other fire 619. And this will be a
witness of the eternal fire, this an example of that everlasting judgment, which feedeth its own pains.
Mountains are burned and yet endure. What shall we say of wicked men and the enemies of God?

XLIX. These are the things which in us alone are called vain presumptions 620, in the poets and
philosophers consummate knowledge and notable genius. They are wise, we foolish 621; they to be
honoured, we derided, yea more than this, to be punished likewise. Let now the doctrines which we
maintain be false, and justly styled presumptions, yet are they necessary; let them be foolish, yet are
they profitable, if those who believe them are constrained to become better men 622, by the fear of
eternal punishment, and the hope of eternal refreshment. It is not therefore expedient that those things
should be called false, or accounted foolish, which it is expedient should be presumed to be true. In like
manner 623, on no ground whatsoever may those things be condemned, which are profitable. In you
then is this very presumption, which condemneth things useful. Wherefore neither can they be foolish.
Assuredly, though they be both false and foolish, yet they are hurtful to none; for they are like many
other things, to which ye award no |103 punishments, things vain and fabulous, unaccused and
unpunished, because harmless. But in things of this sort, if ye must needs punish, ye ought to punish by
derision, not by swords, and fires, and crosses, and wild beasts; in the iniquity of which cruelty, not only
doth this blind mob exult and insult, but even some of yourselves, who through iniquity catch at the
favour of the mob 624, boast of it. As if all that ye can do against us were not of our own free choice!
Assuredly I am, only if I will, a Christian. Thou wilt therefore only condemn me, if I will to be condemned.
But since whatever thou canst do to me, thou canst not do unless I will, that which thou canst do is
necessarily of my own will, not of thy power. Wherefore also the mob vainly rejoiceth in our hurt, for
the joy, which they claim to themselves, is ours, who would rather be condemned than fall away from
God. On the contrary, they who hate us ought to grieve, and not to rejoice, at our gaining that which we
have ourselves chosen.

L. 'Why then,' ye say, 'do ye complain that we persecute you, if it be your own will to suffer, seeing that
ye ought to love us, through whom ye suffer that which ye will?' Certainly it is our will to suffer, but in
the same manner in which, though no one willingly suffereth the ills of war, (since he must needs be
harassed and endangered,) yet he fighteth with all his strength, and he who complained of the battle,
rejoiceth, when he conquereth in the battle, because he gaineth both the glory and the spoils. We have
a battle, in that we are summoned to the tribunals, that we may then, at the hazard of our life, contend
for the truth. But to obtain that for which thou hast contended, is victory. This victory hath both the
glory of pleasing God, and the spoils of eternal life. Yet still we are crushed! yea, after that we have won
the battle. Therefore when we are slain, we conquer, and in fine when we are crushed we escape 625.
Ye may now call us faggot-men and half-axle-men, because being bound to the wood of half-an-axle we
are burnt by a circle of faggots enclosing us 626. This is the garb of our conquest, this our robe of
victory; in such a chariot do we |104 triumph. With good cause therefore are we displeasing to the
conquered, for therefore are we worthily thought desperate and reckless men 627! But this desperation
and recklessness in the cause of glory and fame doth, even in your own eyes, exalt the standard of
virtue.628 Mucius of his own act left his right hand upon the altar. Oh! loftiness of spirit! Empedocles
freely gave his whole body to the flames of Aetna at Catana. Oh! strength of mind! Some woman, who
founded Carthage, gave herself to the funeral pile, her second marriage. Oh! proclamation of chastity!
Regulus, that he might not save his life,----a single man exchanged for many enemies,----suffereth
crucifixion in every part of his body. Oh! brave man, and a conqueror even in captivity! Anaxarchus,
when he was brayed with a pestle like barley, said 629, 'Pound, pound the shell of Anaxarchus, for thou
poundest not Anaxarchus himself.' O the greatness of the philosopher's soul, who even jested on his
own death, and such a death .' I pass over those, who with their own sword, or some other milder kind
of death, have bartered life for glory; for, lo! even those who overcome in the trial of tortures are
crowned by you. A certain 630 Athenian harlot, when the torturer was now wearied, at last spit out her
tongue, which she had bitten off, into the face of the furious tyrant, that she might spit out her voice
too, and be unable to betray the conspirators, even though, at length overcome, she should wish it 631.
Zeno of Elea being asked by Dionysius 632 what philosophy could give him, and having answered, "to
become insensible to suffering 633 through contempt of death," being put under the lash of the tyrant,
sealed his doctrine even by his death. Assuredly the scourgings of the Lacedaemonians, embittered even
under the eyes of their encouraging friends, confer on their house as much honour for endurance 634 as
they shed blood. Oh! glory, licensed because of earthly mould! to which no reckless presumption, no
desperate determination is attributed, in despising death and every sort of cruelty; which |105 hath a
privilege for men to suffer for country, for lands 635, for empire, for friendship, that which they may not
for God! And yet for all these ye cast statues, and inscribe images, and carve titles to continue for ever.
As far as ye can by means of monuments, ye yourselves in some sort grant a resurrection to the dead
636, while he, who hopeth for the true resurrection from God, if he suffer for God, is mad. But go on, ye
righteous rulers,----much more righteous in the eyes of the people 637 if ye sacrifice the Christians to
them----rack, torment, condemn, grind us to powder: for your injustice is the proof of our innocence. It
is for this that God permitteth us to suffer these things. For, in condemning just now a Christian woman
to the bawd 638 rather than the lion, ye have confessed that the stain of chastity upon us is accounted
more dreadful than any punishment, and any death. Nor yet doth your cruelty, though each act be more
refined than the last, profit you any thing. It is rather the allurement to our sect. We grow up in greater
number as often as we are cut down by you. The blood of the Christians is their harvest seed 639. Many
among yourselves |106 exhort men to endure pain and death, as Cicero in his Tusculans, Seneca in his
treatise "on chances," Diogenes, Pyrrho, Callinicus; and yet their words do not gain as many disciples, as
the Christians do in teaching by their acts. That very obstinacy, with which ye upbraid us, is the teacher.
For who is not stirred up by the contemplation of it to enquire what there is in the core of the matter?
who, when he hath enquired, doth not join us? when he hath joined us, doth not desire to suffer, that
he may purchase the whole grace of God, that he may gain from Him perfect forgiveness at the price of
his own blood? for all crimes are pardoned for the sake of the work 640. Therefore is it that we, at the
same time that we are judged, thank you for your judgment. Such enmity is there between the things of
God and the things of men; when we are condemned by you, we are absolved by God.

[Footnotes and marginalia moved to the end and renumbered]

1. a On account of the popular eagerness, inf. c. 35. 37. 40. 49. 50. Ep. of Churches of Vienne, Eus. H. E.
v. 1. inf. p. 10. n. k.

2. b Judiciis, i. e. having exercised severity against their own families, (see c. 3. and perhaps ad Scap. c.
3.) they were the less fitted to be judges. Others, indiciis 'informations;' T. complains of treachery, c. 7.
Add Justin M.. Apol. 2. §. 12. Orig. c. Cels. i. 3. Theodoret, 1. i. c. 6. v. 34. Ruf. H. E. v. 1. Ju and in are in M
SS. often scarcely distinguishable, and often transcribed wrongly.

3. c Comp. ad Scap. 1.

4. John 15, 18. 19. 1 John 3, 13. Heb. 11, 13.

5. e Aug. de Civ. Dei, i. 15. v. fin.

6. f Lact. v.init. Minuc. p. 256, ap.Lac.

7. 1 quale sit quod oderant added

8. g "There is no race of men, whether Barbarians, or Greeks, or by whatsoever name called, not even
the wandering houseless tribes of Scythians, in which there are not prayers and Eucharists to God the
Creator of all things, through the Name of the crucified Jesus." (Justin M. Dial. §. 117. on Mai. 1,10.) See
bel. c. 37. ad Scap. c. 2 and 5. adv. Jud. c. 7 and 12. de Cor. c. 12. ad Nat. i. 8. "Consider, whether they
whom ye call 'a third race' hold not the chief place, seeing there is no nation not Christian; therefore
whatever nation be first, is nevertheless Christian." Origen. c. Cels. i. speaks of the "myriads among
barbarians," and that Christianity had "gained possession of the greatest part of Barbarism." Arnobius, l.
ii. p. 44. that "no barbarian was not softened." On the multitude of Christians, see Heathen Testimonies,
Tac. xv. 44. Lucian in Pseudom. "that Pontus was filled with Atheists and Christians." Caecil. ap. Minuc. F.
p. 80. Maximin, ap. Eus. ix. 7. rescript to Sabinus, ib. 9. heathen ap. Aug. de Catech. rud. c. 25. and
Christian, speaking of the rapidity with which it spread, Arnob. l. i. p. 33. ed. Lugd. ii. p. 50. Eus. H. E. ii. 3.
de Laud. Const, c. 16. of its extent, Clem. Al. Strom. vi. fin. Orig. de Princ. iv. 1. Lact. v. 13. Eus. H. E. viii.
1. Orig. c. Cels. i. 7. 67. ii. 13. iii. 24. J. Firmicus, p. 42. in Dan. 2. Eus. H. E. x. 4, de laud. Const. c. 17. its
continual increase, Minuc. F. p. 312. see passages ap. Kortholt in Epp. Plin. et Traj. p. 167-186.

9. h Comp. Orig. c. Cels. iii. §. 9. Euseb. H. E. v. 21. of the times of Commodus.

10. i Diog. Laert. in vit. ej. i. 103. ed. Meib.

11. 1 praejudicatur added

12. 2 reformantur

13. 3 devitant apparere om. in Rig.

14. k See de Idol. c. 9. Jul. Firm. i. 1. 3. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei, v. 10. Ep., 246. (al. 243.) and others, ap.
Herald. and Hav. Aug. in Ps. 31. §. 16.

15. l Quinctil. iii. 8.

16. m c. 46. 50. Justin M. Apol. ii. 2. 11. "Thanks be to God" (Deo Gratias) became a formula with which
the sentence to martyrdom was received. See S. Aug. Serm. i. in Natal. S. Cypr. 301. §. 6. and Acta Mart.
ap. Her. ad c. 50.

17. n See ad Scap. c. 1.

18. o See Justin Apol. i. §. 4. Athenag. §. 2: a remarkable fulfilment of the letter of our Lord's prophecy,
"Ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake." Matt. 10, 22. 24, 9. Luke 21, 12.

19. p Arnob. l. 1. init.

20. 1 nume rum added

21. q The inventors of these calumnies were the Jews, see Tert. adv. Jud. c. 13. v. fin. and ad Nat. 1. 14.
quod aliud egenus seminarium infamiae nostrae? Justin. M. Apol. i. 49. Dial. c. Tryph. §. 17.108. Origen
c. Cels. vi. 27. All the Apologists had to refer to them, Justin. M. Apol. i. §. 26. ii. §. 12. Dial. c. Tryph. §.
10. Theoph. ad Autol. iii. 4. Athenag. Legat. §. 3. Orig. c. Cels. l. c. Minueius F. Octavius ce. 9. 30. add also
Euseb. H. E. iv. 7. Salvian de Provid. iv. v. fin. p. 39. ed. Manut. and for the first, Tatian adv. Graec. §. 25.
Origen l. c. says, that "absurd as this calumny was, of old it prevailed with very many; and even now it
deceives some, who are by the like turned away from the simplest intercourse even of speech with the
Christians." Euseb. l. c. speaks of it, as not lasting long. In the persecution of Lyons and Vienne, slaves
were made by torture to confess it as true.

22. r Numerum; ad Nat. i. 2. quotiens caedem ederit.

23. s See below, c. 7. 8.

24. t Ep. x. 97.

25. u Ut Deo, the ancient cod. Fuld. Christo quasi Deo, Pliny l. c. Most edd. carelessly, "et Deo."

26. x Ap. Plin. Ep. x. 98.

27. y Athenag. Leg. §. 3.

28. z By Augustus. Suet. in vit. c. 32.

29. a See inf. c. 7. ad Scap. c. 4. Justin M. Apol. i. 4. S. Cyprian ad Demetrian. c. 7. p. 207. ed. Oxf. Minut.
F. p. 257. ed. Ouz. Arnob. 1. vii. (cit. ibid.)

30. b Satan, see c. 27. ad Nat. i. 3. "The source of your hatred is the Name, which a certain hidden Power
warreth against by your ignorance." Lactant. Instt. ii. 1. Justin M. Apol. i. 5. ii. 1.

31. 1 adhibebantur

32. 2 ad conf. necessariam. Et jam

33. c Cypr. ad Demetr. c. 7.

34. d Inf. c. 32. 37. Christians were said Zh~n parano&mwj (Porph. ap. Euseb. vi. 19.) to return to
heathenism was e0pi\ to_ kata_ fu&sin tre/pesqai. (Aemilian Praef. of Egypt, ib. vii. 11.)

35. e See above, p. 7. n.

36. f Containing the charge. Thus in the martyrdom of Polycarp, "Polycarp hath confessed himself a
Christian." Euseb. H, E. 1. iv. 15. "This is Attalus the Christian." ib. v. 1.

37. g Punctuation changed. Cur non et homicidam, si homicida Christianus? cur non et incestus?

38. h Cyprian ad Demetrian. l. c.

39. 1 Titium added

40. i The heathen, to whom the name Christus was unintelligible, substituted Chrestus, which was a
name among themselves. (See instances in Hav.) Thus in the well-known passage of Suetonius, (vit.
Claud, c. 25.) impulsore Chresto. Tac. Ann. xv. 44. (corrected into Christiani,) Lucian. in Philopatr. so also
in Lactant. Instt. iv. 7. Justin. M. alludes to the same, Apol. i. 4. Theoph. ad Autol. i. 1. Clem. Alex. Strom,
ii.4. "they who believe in Christ, forthwith are, and are called, xrhstoi/" [good]. Clem. Alex, often
substitutes xristo_j for xrhsto_j, as equivalent, see Coh. ad Gr. c. 9. and Potter ib.

41. j Of Nero against the Christians, ad Nat. i. 7. "This institute of Nero hath alone remained, when all
others have been reversed." See also c. 5. and 37.

42. k The common cry of the populace was, "Away with the Christians; let not the Christians be;
(Christiani non sint;) away with the Atheists." See Acta Sabini ap Baron. A. 301. 18. Eus. H. E. iv. 15.
"Which [the contagion of this superstition] seemeth as though it might be stopped and corrected."
Justin M. Dial. §. 110. Aug. in Ps. i. 90. p. 1. Kortholt ad Ep. Plin. et Traj. p. 187.

43. 1 ex illo praejudicio prohibere me non potest

44. 2 truncatis

45. l "Severus, an earnest-minded Emperor, answering to his name." Lamprid. in Comm.

46. m The first Julian law (they are commonly called laws) was proposed by Augustus, A. U. C. 736, after
the destructive civil war; the Papian, which was an enforcement of them, 26 years after, within 5 years
of his death. The unmarried could not inherit, except from the nearest relations; but the age fixed by the
Julian law is unknown; that of 26, named by Sozomen, (H. E. i. 9.) probably refers to the Papian as the
later, and so still in force under Constantine, who repealed them, it seems, wholly, as imposing
disqualifications on religious celibacy.

47. n "If there were many to whom the debtor was assigned, the laws of the 12 Tables allowed them to
cut, if they willed, and divide his body." Aul. Gell. Noct. Att.20. 1. quoting the law, "At the third market-
day, let them cut it in pieces; and if they cut more or less, let it be without any penalty."

48. o A. U.C. 630.

49. 1 qui

50. p "Let no one have gods of his own, or new gods; nor let him privately worship even foreign gods,
unless they be publicly received." Cic. de Legg. ii. 14 and 27. In this law the Emperor would be included.
Any one who "felt constrained to celebrate the Bacchanalia," was required by a decree of the Senate to
apply through the City-Praetor to the Senate. Liv. 1. xxxix. 8. add iv. 30. against foreign rites, "that none
should be worshipped, but Roman gods, nor with other than the country's rites."

51. q See again adv. Marc. i. 18.

52. r See inf. c. 13. Lact. Instt. i. 13.

53. s Justin. M. (Apol. i. 35. and 48.) also mentions incidentally that Pilate sent an official account (Acta)
of His Death and miracles; (as was usual to transmit accounts of all important events, so that the
omission had been very improbable;) nor does there seem any ground to question this statement, which
rests on Tertullian's authority; for the supposed improbability that the Senate would venture to reject
the proposal of Tiberius is met by the fact that they did so, on different occasions, without displeasing
Tiberius, (Suet. Tiber. c. 3.1.) This account, and those of Lampridius (a heathen) as to other Emperors,
who intended to associate the Lord with the heathen gods, mutually confirm each other, though the
dishonour was, by God's providence, averted.

54. t Bp. Pearson (Lect. iv. in Actt. n. 14.; explains it, "because he (T.) had not approved of it in his own
case," as referring to Tiberius' refusal of divine honours. (Suet. Tib. c. 26.) He is followed by Tillemont, H.
E. art. S. Pierre, n. 19. and Lardner. It seems safer, however, to adhere to the sense given by Euseb. (H. E.
ii. 2.) S. Chrysostom, (in 2 Cor. Hom. 26.) P. Orosius, (vii. 4.) and otherwise there had been no ground for
the mention of the "ancient law" just above.

55. u See Scorp. c. 14. Euseb. H. E. ii. 25. Aug. de Civ. D. xviii. 52. Sueton. Nero. c. 16.

56. x T. calls him "Subnero," de Pallio c. 4.

57. y Euseb. H. E. iii. 20.

58. z See ad Scap. c. 4. The greatness and unexpectedness of the deliverance

is confessed by the heathen also; some referred to by Euseb. (H. E. v. 5.) and by extant writers, Dio. Cass.
lxxi. 8 sqq. Jul. Capitolin. (Marc. Ant. i. 24.) Themistius (Or. 15.) Claudian (de sexto cons. Honor. v. 340
sqq.) and of these, Dio. §. 10. and Jul. Cap. mention the further fact stated in Euseb. from Apollinaris
(Bp. of Hierapolis, a contemporary) and others, that lightning discomfited the enemy, while rain
refreshed the Roman army, which is attested also by the Antonine column, according to the engraving in
Baronius, A. 176. no. 23. The lightning alone is dwelt upon by Claudian; the rain by Them. and visible on
Antonine's medal (ap. Pagi ad A. C. 174.) The heathen differ only in ascribing it to the prayers of
Antonine himself, (J. Cap. Them. Claud.) or (as was done in the first plagues of Egypt) to the incantations
of Arnuphis, an Egyptian magician (so, Dio C. Claud.) invoking Mercury, (to whom the medal ascribes it,
the column to Jupiter Pluvius,) Dio C. Though then there can be no doubt of a great interposition of
Providence, obtained through the prayers of the Christians, Tertullian seems to have been misinformed
as to the ground of the letter of Antonine, whether as Euseb. states (H. E. iv. 12.) it was sent by Titus
Antoninus, or (as the copies now bear) by Marcus, (ib. c. 13.)

59. a In the extant Rescript (Eus. l. c.) it is taken off, "If any one persevere in troubling any such, as such,
let him who is accused, be acquitted of the charge, though he appear to be such; and let the accuser be
subject to punishment." This, however, may have been local; at Rome the old law was still enforced
under Commodus, Apollonius martyred, his accuser's legs broken. (Eus. v. 21.)

60. b Ap. Plin. Ep. x. 98.

61. c Spartianus in Adriano Hist. Rom. Scriptt. t. ii. p. 190 sqq.

62. d The martyrdom of S. Polycarp and Justin, and many others in Asia Minor, took place under M.
Aurelius Verus Antoninus, Eus. H.E. iv. 15-17. as also those at Vienne and Lyons, (ib. v. 1.) It is supposed
then, that by Verus, T. means L. Verus, the brother of M. Aurelius, after whose death Paulus Diac. states
the persecution under M. Aurelius to have taken place, or that he means that he passed no decrees
against the Christians, though the persecutions were carried on under the old laws. This seems the more
probable, on account of the character given to L. Verus; so Baronius, A. 164 init.

63. 1 ultores

64. e And that on the great festivals only Lex Fannia, 11 years before the third Punic war, ("lex centussis"
Lucilius,) renewed in the Lex Licinia. (A. Gell. ii. 24. Macrob. Sat. ii. 13.)
65. f Lex Fannia, Plin. x. 50. (al. 71.)

66. g i. e. wrought silver, A. U. C. 458. The Censor was Fabric. Luscinius; the expelled, Corn. Rufinus, had
been Dictator and twice Consul. (Val. Max. ii. 9. 4.) Five pounds only were allowed, Plin. xxxiii. 50.

67. h See de Spectac. c. 10.

68. i £8072 18s. 4d. Aesop spent as much on a single dish, Tert. de Pall, c. 5. See other instances ib. and
in Adam's Rom. Ant. art. Money.

69. k Drusillanus, a slave of Claudius, de Pall. c. 5. Plin. xxxiii. 52.

70. l Tiberius first used it to this end, Dio. lvii. 13.

71. m De Cult. Fem. ii. 12. de Pallio, c. 4. "Varied and florid garments harlots use for their trade, rich
women for their luxury." Artemid. ii. 3.

72. n See Plin. xxxiii. 4. De Idol. c. 16.

73. o Plin. xiv. 13. (al. 12.) Val. Max. 6. 3. 9.

74. 1 trucidata sit

75. p Ib. and Arnob. l. ii.p. 9l. ed. Lugd.

76. q 520. Val. Max. ii. 1. 4. And that for barrenness.

77. r De Cult. Fem. i. fin.

78. s See Senec. de Benef. iii. 16. Juv. vi. 20. Martial, vi. 7. ap. Hav.
79. t Liv. 1. xxxix. Val. Max. i. 3. Aug. de Civ. D. vi. 9.

80. u And their altars destroyed (Varro ap. Tert. ad Nat. i. 10.) by the Senate, and allowed only to be
without the walls, Dio. xl. 47. xlii. 26. they were restored by popular tumult, but forbidden by Gabinius
chiefly, A. U. C. 695. (Tert. ib.) Arnobius, ii. 95. mentions both. Afterwards M. Aemil. Paulus himself
broke down the walls of the temple, Val. Max. i. 3. fin. The worship was vix aegreque admissum,
Macrob. i. 7. in the triumvirate by Augustus, Dio. xlvii. 15. Lucan. vii. 83. but even afterwards only
without the city, Dio. liii. 2. and a mile from it, liv. 6. The worship appears to have been that of the
populace. (Tert. l. c. Val. Max. l. c.)

81. 1 Ipsum adhuc

82. 2 immo letis

83. x c. 13.

84. y See above, c. 2.

85. z c. 5.

86. 3 inimica est

87. a Athenag. Leg. §. 3. Orig. c. Cels. i. 3.

88. Luke 3, 14. Mat. 10, 36.

89. b i. e. had they been bribed, they had let them go altogether

90. 1 vel ex forma omnium myste riorum

91. c Obscurat, i. e. the original falsehood is so mixed up in all the parts of the story, as to make it
impossible to see clearly what the truth really is. (Tr.) According to another reading, (obscurant) "And
the other appendages of the tale so disguise the fault in the first little seed, that none considereth &c."

92. d Athenag. Leg. §. 2.

93. e Salvian, l. iv. (ubi sup.) p. 39. ed. Manut.

94. f Lit. "dog-faced" and "feet-shadowed," fabulous monsters, ap. Plin. vii. 2.

95. g Salvian,iv.p.93. Minut. F.p. 289.

96. h See details in Minut. F. p. 87.

97. i Apul. Milesiarum sive Metamorph. l. xi. pp. 255 et 262.

98. k Especially a Phoenician, and so, a Punic idolatry, see Diod. Sic. xx. 14. The human sacrifices of
Carthage and the Phoenicians are spoken of by Plato, Politic, p. 315. Ennius, Ann. 7. Lact. Instt. (1. 21.)
from Pescenius Festus. Silius Ital. iv. 767. Porph. peri\ a)poxh~j l. 2. Euseb. Laud. Const. Athanas. adv.
Gentes, c. 25. Orig. c. Cels. v. 27. and others quoted on Minut. F. p. 291. ed. Ouzel. Saturn is identified
with Baal, Procop. in Is. c. 46. ib. Athanas. l. c. to whom human sacrifices were also offered, Gesen.
Monumm. Phoen. 453. and who is perhaps the same as Moloch, id. Thes. v. [Hebrew]

99. l Hung them, as it were offerings, on the trees, whereon they hung the offerings to their God.

100. 1 vivos added

101. m Which was ill-omened, add. Minut. F. l. c.

102. n Eurip. Iphig. Taur. add. Minut. F. l. c. Aug. de Civ. D. vii. 19. and 26. &c.
103. o Latiaris, Tert. adv. Gnost. c. 7. Minut. F. p. 198. and 297. Lact. i. 21. Tatian. adv. Graec. §. 29.
(whom it aided to alienate from Heathenism.) Athanas. c. Gentes, c. 25. Porph. peri\ a)poxh~j, 1. 2. p.
35. Plin. xxxiv. 7. and others quoted, ib.

104. p Minut. F. p. 297.

105. q Ad Nat. ii. 12. Plin. Ep. x. 71. Lactant. vi. 20. Justin. M. Apol. 1. §. 27. Aug. de Nupt. i. 15. Minut. F.
p. 289.

106. Lam. 4, 9.

107. r Exhort. ad Cast. c. 12. Athenag. Leg. §. 35. Minut. F. p. 290. hence the Christian Canons, Basil. Can.
2 and 8, &c. ap. Bingh. 16. 10. 3. and 4.

108. s i. 74. of the Medes and Lydians, iv. 70. of the Scythians.

109. t Tac. Ann. xii. 47. of the nations under Mithridates. Mela, ii. 1. of several tribes, Val. Max. ix. 11. of
the Armenians: among American tribes, Lips. ad Tac. l. c.

110. u Sall. Catil. i. 23. speaking doubtfully. L. Florus (iv. 1.) positively. Minut. F. p. 297, 8.

111. x Massagete, adv. Marc. i. 1. Herod. i. ult.

112. y "Signat Bellonae" corresponds with Minut. F. p. 298, 9. Bellonam sacrum suum haustu humani
cruoris imbuere. add Lactant. i. 21. the cutting of the arms is named by Lucan. i. Lamprid. in Comm. &c.
Tib. Eleg. i. 6. ib.

113. 1 hauserunt

114. 2 de jugulo decurrentem restored

115. z Plin. xxviii. 6. Corn. Celsus, iii. 23. Minut. F. p. 299.

116. a Minut. F. l. c.

117. b The wild beasts were so fed in the arena, Salvian. de Prov. vi. p. 121. ed. Baluz.

118. c The same argument was used by Biblias Ep. Lugd. et Vienn. ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 1. see further Note
A. at the end of the Apology.

119. Acts 15, 20. Levit. 22, 8.

120. 1 probarentur Christiani qui

121. d The older Editions read alioquin negandi si non gustassent, quemadmodum si immolassant,
"otherwise to be declared not to be Christians, if they tasted not, in the same way as if they had
sacrificed."

122. e Tatian. c. Graec. §. 28. Brisson gives many authorities, de reg. Pers. l. 2 sqq.

123. f Justin M. Apol. i. 27. Clem. Al. Paedag. iii. 3. Lact. vi. 20. Minut. F. p. 305.

124. 1 semel

125. g Lact. l. c.

126. 2 ut vel ex aliqua seminis portione veluti asper sum genus

127. h Christian chastity is appealed to, as a known fact, by Justin, Apol. i. §. 15. add. §. 29. Tatian, c. 37.
Athenag. c. 32, 33. Minut. F. p. 307.
128. i Remaining to old age what they were as children. Justin M. l. c. Athenag. c. 33. Orig. c. Cels. i. 26.
Minut. F. p. 310.

129. k Atheism was one of the three charges against Christians. Athenag. c. 3. Justin, Dial. c. Tryph. c. 17.
Apol. i. 6. Epist. Anton. ap. Euseb. H. E. iv. 13. Arnob. l. i. init. and p. 16. ed. Lugd. iii. p. 116. iv. p. 147. v.
p. 178. Lact. v. 9. vii. 27. Cyril. Al. c. Julian, l. ii. p. 43. vii. p. 238. and p. 343. Prudent. Peri-Stephanon.
Hymn 14. Dio Cass. 1. 67. §. 83. quoted by Kortholt de Calumn. Pag. c. 8. Elmenhorst ad Arnob. l. i. p. 16.
The grounds were, not worshipping the heathen gods, (Athenag. l. c. and c. 13. Justin, Apol. l. c. Arnob. i.
p. 16.) and that they had no known places of worship, [being obliged to conceal them,] Arnob. vi. init.
Hence the cry of the populace, "Away with the Atheists," see Ep. Eccl. Smyrn. ap. Eus. iv. 15.

130. 1 a vobis ipsis

131. l Especially Euhemerus, (who was translated and followed by Ennius,) Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. v. fin. c.
42. He is also referred to by Euseb. Praep. Ev. ii. 4. Minut. F. p. 160. Arnob. l. iv. p. 147. Aug. de Civ. Dei,
vi. 7. vii. 26. Lact. i. 11. as also by many heathens. See also Clem. Al. Cohort. c. 2. p. 7.

132. m Ad. Nat. l. 2. Macrob. Sat. i. 1. Aug. de Civ. D. v. 8. Minut. F. p. 209.

133. n Siculus, l.1.

134. o A writer of Syrian history, African. ap. Euseb. Preep. Ev. x. 1. referred to by Lact. i. 13. Minut. F. l.
c.

135. p It should be Cassius Hemina, a writer of Italian history from the earliest times to his own, A. U. C.
608. Voss. de Hist. Lat. i. 21. He is quoted by Lact. l. c. Minut. F. l. c. Pliny, vii. 10. xxxv. 30. mentions
Cassius Severus, a celebrated orator, (under Augustus, Suet. Aug. 56.) but does not say (as Pam. states)
that he took much from him.

136. q Lact. i. 14. Minut. F. l. c. Euseb. Praep. Ev. x. 3.

137. r Dionys. i. 34. Varro de Ling. Lat. iv. 7. Aurel. Victor. O. G. R. 3. ap. Heyne, Exc. 2. ad Aen. 1. 8. Aug.
de Civ. D. vii. 2.
138. s Virg. Aen. 8. 358. Macrob. Sat. i. 7.

139. t Ib. 8. 319-29.

140. u Minut. F. l. c.

141. x Minut. F. l. c. Lact. i. 11. v. fin.

142. y Aurel. Victor de Orig. Gentis Rom. i.2.

143. z Tib. Eleg. i. 3. Minut. F. l. c.

144. a Cic. ad Att. l. i. Ep. 10, &c.

145. b On the deifying of the Emperors see Dio, 1. 59. c. 28. of Caligula.

146. c Athenag. c. 28. and above on c. 10.

147. 1 apud se added

148. 2 in ipsa conceptione

149. d i. e. being provided once for all with certain laws, and self-governed, (according to their view,) it
needeth not the aid of Saturn and his race.

150. 3 perfecit

151. e Lact. i. 18.

152. 1 inventor et omitted

153. 2 demerserint

154. f Ibid.

155. g Athenag. c. 30.

156. 1 potestis

157. 2 statuas added

158. 3 esse omitted

159. h By impaling, (Theod. de Cur. Gr. Aff. Disp. viii. init.) or when exposed to the wild beasts, Eus. H. E.
v. 1. or burnt alive, Lips. de Cruce.

160. i Justin M. Apol. i. 9. Ep. ad Diogn. c. 2. Clem. Al. Cohort, c. 4. p. 15. Minut. F. p. 218. Arnob. vi. p.
200.

161. k Cyprian, de Laps. c. 10. Auct. de Laud. Mart. init. Prudent. in Roman. Mart. 451. They are still
preserved at Rome.

162. l The tutelary goddess of Carthage. They were pictured as drawn by lions, tigers, or lynxes.

163. m Jupiter in Crete, Apollo and Diana in Delos, Juno in Samos.

164. n See in Aug. de Civ. D. vi. 10.

165. o See note B. at the end of the Apology.

166. p See Baruch vi. 19. Clem. Al. Cohort. c. iv. p. 16. Arnob. l. vi. p. 202. Minut. F. p. 221. Lact. ii. 4. Aug.
in Ps. 113. §, 2.

167. 1 Deos illos, ut negligatis, &c.

168. 2 qui

169. q Athenag. c. 14. Aug. de Civ. D. vii. 1.

170. r The fees for visiting the capitol were let by auction every five years (ad Nat. i. 10.) like the tolls of
the herb market.

171. s Chiefly the Dea Syria, Magna Mater, whence the term mhtragu&rtai; mhtragurou~nteij, Dionys.
Hal. ii. 20. p. 276. ed. Reisk. Aristot. Rhet.iii. 2.10. Clem. Al. Cohort. p. 20. ed. Pott. Minut. F. p. 224. Aug.
de Civ. D. vii. 26. see below, c. 42.

172. t Out of which libations to the dead were poured. The sameness of the rites argues that the gods
also were but dead men.

173. u Arca Larentia, the nurse of Romulus, Plin. xviii. 1. Licinius Macer ap. Macrob. Sat. i. 10. A. Gell. vi.
7.

174. x Justin M. Apol. i. c. 26. gives the inscription "Simoni Deo Sancto," and says that the statue with
this inscription "stood by the Tiber between the two bridges." This was the title of the Island of
Aesculapius, (Plutarch, in Poplic. p. 221. ed. Bryan.) where A.D. 1572 was dug up a statue with the
inscription, "Semoni Sanco"(or "Sango") Deo Fidio sacrum Sex. Pompeius, &c. whence some have
thought that he confounded Semo [the Sabine Hercules] with Simon Magus, and that the more, since
the i and e are interchanged in inscriptions, e. g. Mircurius, Gimina, and that the Sabine god is called
Sanctus, Ov. Fast. vi. 214. Grabe ad Euseb. H. E. ii. 13. [This however is doubtful. Sancto is thought to be
a corrupt reading, derived from the abbreviation SCO. Yet he is called Sanctus in the edd. of Sil. Ital. viii.
422. and in a second inscription it is used as an epithet "Sango Sancto Semoni Deo," which comes nearer
to the use in Justin, see Comm. in Ovid. l. c. ed. Burmann.] Tillemont, on the other hand, remarks, (t. ii.
Notes sur Simon le Mag.) 1. that Justin implies (ib. c. 56.) that the statue was erected by Claudius and
the Senate, (and S. Augustine affirms it, Haer. i. 6. "auc toritate publica,") that discovered, is by an
individual: 2. that the words are not the same, nor the order: 3. that Justin speaks of it, as a single case,
and asks for one statue to be removed, whereas there were many statues of Simon; (so Baronius, who
mentions one on the Quirinal:) 4. that S. Augustine, who makes the same statement, knew of the Sabine
Semo (de Civ. D. xviii. 19.) [as did Lact. i. 15.] 5. that Theodoret, Haer. Fab. i. 1. says, that the statue was
of brass, that this was of stone, [but it does not seem that any statue was found, but the base only,
Baron. l. c.] There is then to set against the authority of Justin, only a similarity of inscription and the
identity of the place, which however was full of temples, and was hence called the sacred island, (Liv.
ii.5. Plut. l. c.) Another contrast would be suggested by Baronius A. 44. §. 55. who says on the authority
of S. Irenaeus, i. 20. [23, 4.] Epiph. xxi. 3. that Simon's statue was in the form of Jupiter, while that of
Semo represented Hercules. But these fathers are not here speaking of the Roman statue, but of that
which his followers had and worshipped, of which S. Irenaeus speaks positively, of the Roman, as a
report. (ib.§. 1.)

175. y The degraded Antinous, by the Emp. Adrian, see Orig. c. Cels. iii. 36. Hegesippus ap. Eus. H. E. iv.
8. Spartian. in Adriano. An ancient inscription calls him "enthroned" (sunqrinw) "with the Egyptian
gods."

176. 1 Nolo

177. 2 Laudabo

178. z Il. G. 66 sqq.

179. a Il. E. 335 sqq. Rig. omits this sentence, "quod filium suum Aenean, ne interimeretur ab eodem
Diomede, rapere vellet."

180. b Il. E. 385 sqq.

181. c Briareus, Il. A. 399 sqq.

182. d Il. P. 433 sqq. The instances are found together in Justin Cohort. init. see also Athenag. c. 21. 29.
Clem. Al. Strom. i. 21. t. i. p. 383. ed. Pott.

183. e Il. 3. 314 sqq.

184. f Eurip. Alc. Prol. Athenag. c. 21.

185. g Eurip. Troad. Prol.

186. h Pyth. iii. 96. Athenag. c. 29.

187. 1 ne for nec

188. i Theoph. ad Autol. iii. 2. Philostr. de vit. Apoll. vi. 9. Lucian in Icaromenipp.(ap. Her.) mention "a
dog, goose, (ku&na kai\ xh~noj, by a sort of alliteration probably,) and plane." Schol. on Aristoph. "a
goose, dog, ram, and the like." It seems to have been a sort of protest against perjury and swearing by
the gods at all: so the Schol. l. c. Porph. de Abstin. iii. Suidas; saying that it was in imitation of
Rhadamanthus. S. Augustine de Vera Rel. c. 2. interprets as Tert., that Socrates meant to imply that they
were better gods, than the works of men's hands, or that Pantheists must think these to be gods or
parts of God. add. Lact.iii.20. P. Petit Misc. Obss. iv. 7. remarks that the "dog" only is mentioned by
Plato, and infers that Socrates meant symbolically his "genius" as a "guardian."

189. k Probably "brazen;" "auream" for "aeream."

190. l The Cynics continually jested on Hercules, whose followers they professed to be in their
coarseness. Lucian Vit. Auct. c. 8. Cynic. 13. and in part Apuleius, Apol. p. 288. ed. Elm.

191. m De Pallio, c. 4. Hieron. adv. Ruf. Apol. 2.

192. n The moon was a god in the East, (in Heb. and Arab, it is masc.)

193. o Hom. Il. F. 481-494.

194. p On the jests on Hercules' gluttony, see in Athenaeus, x. 1. xiv. 72. Eurip. Alc. 747-802.

195. q Arnob. l. iv. fin.

196. 1 Ipsum quod

197. 2 ignominiosum

198. r See de Spect. c. 22. Minut. F. p. 345. Arnob. l. vii. p. 239. Aug. de Civ. D. ii. 14. 27.

199. 3 vestrum added

200. s The gladiators, who had escaped with their lives in the morning, were made to fight at noon,
without defensive armour. Seneca (Ep. 7.) calls them "mere murders," see Lips. Sat. ii. 15.

201. t i. e. the one, to try if any life were left, the other to destroy it.

202. u Minut. F. p. 237.

203. 1 Nam, ut quidam

204. x Caecil. ap. Minut. F. p. 83.

205. y c. 3. He had it probably from Appion, see Joseph, c. Ap. ii. 10. It is repeated by Plutarch, Symp. iv.
5. Democritus ap. Suid. v. 'Iouda&j.

206. z The Christians are called Jews by Arrian, Diss. Epist. ii. 9. and meant under the title by Dio Cass. l.
67. c. 14. (of Clemens and Domitilla,) and l. 68. c. 1. (of Nerva's edict forbidding any to be "accused for
impiety on a Jewish tenor of life.") by Seneca ap. Aug. de Civ.D. vi. 11. and confused with them by
Sueton. Claud. 25. Ulpian. de Procons. Off. 1. 3. (ap. Lac. ad c. 3.) Sulpitius Severus thinks that Adrian's
measures against the Jews were directed against the Christians, Hist. S. l. ii. p. 251. ed. Galesin. see
Haverc. ad Apol. p. 8. All have much in common; the Christians of the circumcision much more; the Jews
further diligently circulated, that the Christians were an ungodly "sect," who had risen in Galilee: (Just.
M. Dial. c. 17. 108.) and so connected them with themselves. Kortholt refers to the de Persecutt. Eccl.
prooem. iii. sect. ii. 6. v. 33.
207. a c. 9.

208. b i. e. the whole animal, not his head only.

209. c Tert. does not imply that the Christians worshipped the Cross, but the contrary. Here, and in the
charges, as to the ass's head, and the o)no&koitij, in all which there was no foundation in fact, he
answers by mere irony; where there was plausible ground for a heathen so to think, as in the worship of
the Sun, he says so, and names the ground. The irony too is such, as one would not have used, who paid
reverence to the figure of the Cross. Minut. F.p. 284, imitating the passage, says, "Crosses we neither
worship nor wish for," in allusion to the charge of the heathen, p. 86. "so that they worship what they
deserve:" and p. 105. "so here are Crosses for you, not to be worshipped, but to be undergone." Julian
(ap. Cyril Al. vi, p. 195.) grounds the same charge on their painting the figure of the Cross, "Ye worship
the wood of the Cross, painting (skiagrafou~ntej) figures thereof on the forehead and before the doors,"
(e0ggra&fontej pro_ tw~n oi0khma&twn). S. Cyril states, at great length, that it was a memorial only of
the mercies and duties of the Cross; to the same end that they signed themselves with it. (de Cor. c. 3.
ad Uxor. ii. 5.) Of instances, later than Tertullian's age, of homage to the visible Cross, the following
plainly prove nothing. Ambr. de ob. Theod. c. 48. "Helena raised and placed the Cross of Christ upon the
head of kings, that the Cross of Christ might in kings be adored," i. e. that the reverence paid to kings
might rather be paid to the Cross over their brow. Id. de Inc. Dom. Sacr. c. 7. §. 75. "Do we, when in
Christ we venerate the Image of God and the Cross, divide Him?" not the visible Cross, but the doctrine;
it stands paralled to "His Divinity and His flesh;" as Euseb. Emis, (de adv. Joann. Opusc. p. 9.) "But
although they [the Jews] declined that healing, we, the Heathen, who have become worshippers of the
Cross (oi9 proskunh&santej to_n stauro_n) have received it, as said Isaiah (53, 5)." Jerome in Vita
Paulae, Ep. 108. §. 9. of her visit to the holy Sepulchre, "Prostrate before the Cross she worshipped, as
though she saw the Lord hanging thereon." Not the Cross, but the crucifix, is the temptation to idolatry.
Sedulius (A. 434.) carm. Pasch. iv. "And that no one might be ignorant that the form of the Cross is to be
venerated," (speciem Crucis esse colendam) is not speaking of the material Cross; for he goes on to
speak of the Cross formed by the four quarters of the Heavens, and that "Christ rules the world
compassed by the Cross." The earliest instance then alleged is that of Pseudo-Lactantius, de Pass. Dom.
(the other poem 'de Pascha,' found with it, is of the age of Charlemagne.) These are lines in the mouth
of the Redeemer, depicted in the Church, and bidding to "bow the knee, and adore with tears the
venerable wood of the Cross." It the more illustrates the previous silence. See further, Note B at the end
of the Apology.

210. d Justin M. Apol. i. §. 65. Minut. F. p. 286.

211. e Claudian. in Rufin. 5. 366. Dionys. Hal. vi. 45. p. 1142. They sacrificed to them, Joseph. de B. J. vi.
32.
212. f Liv. xxvi. 48.

213. g "Follow the Roman birds[Eagles], the special deities of the legions," Germanicus, ap. Tac. Ann. ii.
17. "turning to the standards and gods of wars." Id. Hist. iii. 10.

214. h Of the gods and emperors. They were of gold and silver.

215. 1 insignis

216. i The banner was of silk and gold.

217. k Christians prayed to the East, as the type of Christ the Sun of righteousness, (S. Clem. Al. Strom.
vii. 7. p. 856. Damasc. iv. 12.) whence also in Baptism they turned to the East to confess Christ, (S. Jer. in
Am. vi. 14. Ambros. de iis qui initiantur c. 2.) and their Churches were toward the East. (Tert. c. Valent. c.
3. Const. Ap. ii. 57. so that other positions were rare exceptions, Socr. v. 22. Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Sever.) as
the place of our lost Paradise; (Cyril Jerus. Lect. xix. 6. p. 261. ed. Oxf. S. Basil, de Sp. S. c. 27. Const. Ap.
ii. 57. Greg. Nyss. Hom. 5. de Or. Dom. t. i. p. 756. Quaestt. ad Antioch. q. 37. Damasc. l. c.) as the more
eminent part of the world, (unde coelum surgit, Aug. de serm. Dom. in Monte, ii. 5. Quaestt. ad Orthod.
ap. Justin. M. q. 118.) It is instanced as an Apostolic tradition by S. Basil. l. c. and so called in the Quaestt.
ad Orthod. l. c. Origen (Hom. 5. in Num.) instances it as a rite in universal practice, but the ground of
which was not clear and obvious to most.

218. l The seventh day of the month, sacred to Saturn, as the seventh planet, was regarded as an ill-
omened day for business, and so spent in idleness and dissipation. Little reason had they then to
reproach the Christians. On the seventh day among the Heathen, see at great length, Selden de Jur. Nat.
et Gent. l. iii. c. 15 sqq.

219. m An apostate Jew, ad Nat. i. 14.

220. n The Empusa, or mid-day Hecate, had one ass's foot. Philostr. de vit. Apollon. ap. Hav.
221. o "The Hermopolitae worship a dog-headed animal." Strabo, 1. 17. ap. Ouz. ad Minuc. p. 263. also
Athan. c. Gent. Aug. de Civ. D. ii. 13. Clem. Protr. 2. 39. of the Cynopolitae. The dog was worshipped
throughout Egypt. Strabo, l. c. &c.

222. p Probably Mithra. Ph. a Turre de Mithra, c. 3. p. 128. c. 5. p. 202. Porph. also de Abstin. 1. iv. p. 54.
ap. Elmenh. ad Minuc. p. 261. mentions in Egyptian idolatry, human figures "with the head of a bird or a
lion," (whence the Nomos Leontopolites) and Arnob. l. vi. p. 116. ib.

223. q Sispita or Lanuviana, Pan, and Satyrs, see Spanheim. de Usu Numism. p. 354. The Mendesians
worshipped the goat. Strab. l. c. Herod, ii. Clem. Protr. l. c. Minuc. p. 261. "de capro et homine mixtos
Deos."

224. r Jupiter Ammon.

225. s Pan. Porph. de Abstin. 1. 3.

226. t Mercury, and sun-images. Macr. Sat. i. 19. "pennata vestigia" Martian. Capell. de Nupt. Philol. p.
20.

227. u Cupido, &c.

228. x Minuc. p. 141. 148.

229. 1 sanitatem suam patitur

230. y "O bone Deus," Scribon. Larg. compos. 84. in fine ap. Facciol. v. bonus.

231. z h2n Qio_j para&sxoi, passim ap. Her. h2n Qeo_j qe/lh, Xenoph. Cyrop. iv. ii. 13. Aristoph. Plut.
347. 405. "But how must we speak?" Socr. "If God will," o#ti e0a_n Qio_j e0qe/h|. Plato Alcib. l. p. 135.
Steph. zu_n tw~| Qew~| pa~j kai\ gela~| kw)du&retai. Soph. Aj. 383. zu_n Qew~| d' ei0rh&sesai. Arist.
Plut. 114. quoted by Herald. Advers. ii. 5. see more fully de Testim. Animae, c. 2. 3. 4. 5. The argument is
repeated, de Res. Carn. c. 3. de Corona, c. 6. and by S. Cyprian, de Idol. Vanit. c. 6. p. 18. ed. Oxf. Arnob.
l. ii. init. Lactant. ii. 1. Minut. F. p. 144. Cyrill c. Julian. ii. 36. Hieron. in Malach. ii. 14. Breviarium in Ps. 95.
v. 10.

232. a "There is a God (est Deus) in Heaven, who both heareth and seeth what we do." Plautus Captiv.
ap. Her. "Be of good cheer, of good cheer, my child, there is a great God in Heaven who beholdeth and
ruleth all things." Soph. El. 175. (ib.)

233. b Adv. Marcion. i. 1. de carne Christi, c. 9.

234. c The Flood, and Sodom, as joined 2 Pet. 2, 5. 6.

235. 1 observantibus his

236. 2 restitutionem

237. d De Testim. Animae, c. 1. "Not birth, but re-birth maketh Christians." S. Aug. de Pecc. Mer. iii. 9.
Jerome, Ep. 60. ad Heliod. de Nepotian. §. 8. Cyril, Cat. i. 2.

238. 3 tunc added.

239. e Menedemus was a disciple of Plato. The context in Josephus (Ant. xii. 2. 12.) and Aristeas (p. xxiii.
ap. Hody de LXX Intt.) plainly shews that the reference is to the skill of the LXX in answering the
questions proposed to them, not to the story of the exact agreement of their translation, of which Pam.
understands it. The anachronism as to Menedemus is noticed by Hody, l. c. c. 7.

240. f The poll-tax, paid from the time of Vespasian, for free use of their worship. Xiphilin. in Vespasian.
Suet. Domit. c. 12. Juv. iii. 14. Appian. in Syriac. (ap. Casaub. ad Suet.) Martial, vii. 54.

241. 1 igitur added

242. 2 historiarum et canas memoriarum

243. g Clem. Al. Strom. i. 21. p. 139. Tatian. c. Gentes, §. 40. Euseb. Chron. Praef. Praep. Ev. x. 3.

244. 1 proinde jam et

245. i Polemo Hellen, l. i. Appion. c. Jud. i. Hist. iv. ap. Justin. Cohort. §. 9. Porph. adv. Christian. 1. iv.
Africanus Ann. 1. v. ap. Euseb. l. c. Ptolemy Mendes. ap. Clem. Al. Strom. i. 21. init. p. 138. Eusebius
himself places Inachus 300 years prior to Moses, he is followed by S. Aug. de Civ. D. xviii. 8.

246. k Joseph, c. Ap. i. 16.

247. l Joseph. l.c. "nearly 1000." Euseb. Praep. Ev. l. c. from Porph. "above 800." Theoph. ad Autol. in.
21. "900 or even 1000." Tatian. §. 38, 39. and Clem. Al. l. c. more correctly "twenty generations," or,
"400 years." Cyril, c. Jul. l. i. "410." Eusebius himself Chron. "228."

248. m Theopompus and Euphorion ap. Clem. Al. Strom, i. 21. p. 141. "some" ap. Tatian. §. 31. who
names other dates assigned, viz. 80, above 100, 140, 180, 240, 317, after the Trojan war. The expression
shews that Tertullian was not anxious about the facts: his concern was but to arrest attention by
shewing the impression which their own writers had of the superior antiquity of Moses.

249. n Justin. Dial. c. Tryph.§. 7. Theoph. iii. 23. Clem. Al. l. c. p. 143. Euseb. Praep. Ev. l. c. Lact. iv. 5.
Aug. de Civ. D. xviii. 37.

250. o He wrote an Assyrian history, (Tatian, l. c. c. 36.) and is often quoted by Plin. N. H.

251. 2 si qui for qui

252. p Ap. i. 13 sqq.

253. Matt. 24, 7.

254. 1 frequentiae plerumque mortium. Ezek. 21,26.

255. 2 et omitted. Mat. 24, 12.

256. q De Anima, c. 28. Orig. c. Cels. vi. 10.

257. r Justin M. Apol. i. 30; 52. Dial, c. Tryph. c. 7. Theoph. ad Autol. ii. 9.

258. s Trypho ap. Justin. Dial. c. 10.

259. 1 quibus edocebantur restored

260. 2 ad delirandum

261. 3 derivantes

262. t Adrian's decree after the rebellion of Barchochebas, Euseb. iv. 6. from Aristo Pellaeus. see adv.
Jud. c. 11,12, and 13. Justin M. Apol. i. 62. and Hieron. Chron. Euseb. MMCXL. Hilary (in Ps. 58.) speaks of
the prohibition as continuing, and S. Jerome in Soph. c. 2. except that on the day of the destruction of
Jerusalem, they paid for the permission, Scal. Anim. ad Eus. Chron. p. 216.

263. u Justin M. ad Graec. c. 2. Apol. i. 21. Athenag. c. 32. Tatian. c. 8. 10. Theodoret. de cur. Gr. Affect.
Disp. iii.

264. x Cypr. ad Donat. c. 7.

265. 1 de pudicitia

266. y See Lact. iv. 9. Diog. Laert. Zenon. "That God, and Mind, and Fate, and Jupiter, were one." Cic. de
Nat. Deor. i. 14. describes both as Pantheists, as Tatian (of Zeno) c. 3. Minut. F. p. 150. Yet, in as far as
they spake of God, as a Spirit, they witnessed to the truth, which they perverted.

267. z 2 Sam. 23, 2. "The SPIRIT of God spake by me; and His WORD was upon my tongue."
268. 1 Etiam

269. a Tertullian here uses the very words adopted in the Nicene Creed, "God of God, Light of Light,
9Omoou&sion;" his object, in the further application of the metaphor, is, to shew the Heathen, that
they could not consistently object a priori to the Christian doctrine; these analogies, though, as physical,
imperfect, at least silence objections. If in earthly things, the same substance might exist, distinct in
some way but united, and procession implied no diminution of the substance whence it proceeded, how
little were they entitled to argue against the truth, thus shadowed forth! Tertullian elsewhere distinctly
asserts the Consubstantiality of the Father and the Son, ("of one individual Substance," adv. Prax. c. 13.
"Christ and the Spirit are both of the Substance of the Father, and they who acknowledge not the
Father, neither can they acknowledge the Son, through the Oneness of Substance." c. Marc. iii. 6. "In the
Spirit is The Trinity of One Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." de Pudic. c.2. "I every where hold One
Substance in Three Conjoined." c. Prax. c. 12. add. c. 4, and 8. ap. Bull. Def. Fid. Nic. ii. 7.1,2.) and His
Coequality, (c. Marc. iv. 25. de Res. Carn. c. 6. adv. Prax. c. 7, and 22. ib. §. 4. and adv. Herm, c. 7. 18.)
whence it is the more hard that Petavius should press these analogies, as though they implied that, as
the whole sun does not exist in the ray, neither does the whole Divinity in the Son, (de Trin. i. 5. 3.) In
Bp. Bull's words (l. c. §. 5.) "such comparisons are not to be pressed too close, but to be taken candidly,
attending to the mind of the author, as explained elsewhere more clearly and unfiguratively. In some
things the likeness holds; in some, not. It agrees herein, 1. That as a 'portion' does not alone and by itself
constitute the whole, so also the Son is not All which is God; but beside the Son, other Hypostases,
namely, the Father and the Holy Spirit subsist in the Divine Essence. 2. That as a portion is taken from
the sum or whole, and the whole is by nature anterior to its portions or parts, so also is the Son derived
from the Substance of the Father, and the Father, as the Father, is, as it were, by Nature anterior to the
Son. But the likeness fails in this; 1. By 'portion' we understand what is divided and separated from the
whole; but the Son is and ever was undivided from the Father. This Tertullian every where and uniformly
asserts, (adv. Prax. c. 8. 9. 19.) 2. A 'portion' is less than that whence it is taken, but the Son is in all
things (save that He is the Son) like and equal to the Father, and hath and possesseth all the things of
the Father. Which also Tertullian clearly teaches in the places just adduced. Add to this, that adv. Marc.
iii. 6., after he had said that the Son was a portion out of the fulness of the Divine Substance, he
presently subjoins expressly that that Portion was "a sharer in His fulness."

270. 2 materia matrix

271. b Justin M. Dial. c. Tryph. §. 128. "I said this Power was begotten of the Father----but not by
severance, as though the Essence of the Father were divided off, as all things besides, when divided and
cut, are not the same as before they were cut; and, as an example, I took, how from fire we see other
fires kindled, that being nothing minished, whence many may be kindled, but remaining the same." §.
61. "As in fire, we see other fire produced, that not being minished, whence the kindling was produced,
but remaining the same; and that which was kindled from it, itself also manifestly existeth, not
minishing that from which it was kindled." The same likeness is used by Tatian, §. 5. (Bull, ii. 4. 4.)
Athenag. Legat. §. 24. (of the Holy Ghost.) Bull, ii. 4. 9. Hippolytus in Noet. ap. Fabr. t. ii. p. 13. (Bull, ii. 8.
5.) Origen. e. g. de Princ. i. 4. (see Bull, ii. 9. 14.) Theognostus (ap. Athanas. Ep. 4, ad Serap. §. 25. Bull, ii.
10. 7.) Dionysius Alex. Apol. 1. 3. ap. Athanas. Ep. de Sent. Dionys. 118. (Grabe, ad Bull, ii. 11. fin.)
Respons. ad quaestt. Paul. Sam. t. i. p. 240. (Bull, iii. 4. 3.) Lact. iv. 29. (Bull, ii. 14. 4.) Carm. adv. Marc. v.
9. ap Tert. 'genitum de lumine lumen.' (Bull, iii. 10. 19.) Aug. de Trin. vi. init.

272. c Hippol. M: Hom. de Deo trino et uno, "When I speak of 'another,' I speak not of two Gods, but as
Light from Light, and water from the source, or a ray from the Sun."

273. d i. e. in mode of existence, as The Son, not The Father, but not as to be numerically distinct.

274. e i. e. in the "Order" of Persons, within the Divine Unity, not in any difference of Being. "Three, not
in Condition, but in Order; not in Substance, but in Form; not in Power, but Property; but of One
Substance, and One Condition, and One Power; because One God, from "Whom both those Orders, and
Forms, and Properties are reckoned in the Name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit." Adv. Prax. c. 2.

275. f Adv. Prax. c. 8. "We say that the Son was forth-brought (prolatus) from the Father, not
separated." Mic.5,1.

276. g Heb. 1, 3. a)pau&gasma th~j do&zhj Au)tou~. Theognostus l. c. founds the language upon this
passage, e0k th~j tou~ Patro_j ou)si/aj e1fu, w(j tou~ Fwto_j to_ a)pau&-gasma: and Origen de Princ. iv.
28. p. 190. ed. de la Rue. Dionys. Al. Apol. ap. Ath. de Sent. Dionys. §. 15. Greg. Nyss. de Deit. Fil. et Sp. S.
iii. 468.

277. h Homo Deo mixtus; lit. "mingled, commingled with God," comp. de carn. Chr. c. 15. c. Marcion. l. ii.
27. The same word is used by S. Cyprian, de Idol. Van. c. 6. [concretus Id. Test. ii. 10.] Zeno Veron. [l. ii.
Tr. 6. §. 1. ad 1 Cor. 15, 24. Tr. 8. §. 2. S. 2. de Nativ. "there, unimpaired what He was, He meditateth to
become what He was not. So then mingled with human flesh, &c;" Leo, S. 3. de Nativ. c. 1. (where a MS.
substitutes uniretur,) "immixtus," S. 4. in Epiph. c. 4. Novatian de Trin. c. 11. Divinitate Sermonis in ipsa
concretione permixtam, add. c. 20. 21. Vigilius c. Eut. l. l. c. 24. "commixtio." The translator of S.
Irenaeus (iii. 19. ed. Mass.) commixtus, (where the original ap. Theodoret. has o9 a!nqrwpoj to_n
Lo&gon xwrh&saj, and (4. 37.) commixtio et communio Dei et hominis. S. Aug. de Trin. iv, 20. "Verbo Dei
quodammodo commixtus est homo." Lact. iv. 13. "et Deum fuisse et hominem ex utroque genere
permixtum." Chrysol. S. 142. de Annunc. "misceri." In like way, xra~sij, mi/zij, mi/gnutai, are used by
Greg. Naz. Or. 42. de Pasch. [p. 682. ed. Morell.] sugkra~sij, Or. 51. p. 739. su&gkrama, Or. 52. p. 747.
(see Nicetas col. 1186.) kikerasme/noj, by S. Cyril. Alex. Thes. 1. 20. p. 197. and a)na&krasij, Pasch. 8. p.
103, a)nakraqei\j, by S. Athanasius, . Or. c. Arian. iv. 33. sunanekra&qh, by S. Greg. Nyss. c. Eunom. 1. 1.
t. ii. p. 45. a)na&krasij, id. Cat. c. 11. t. ii. p. 498. sunana&krasij, c. 17. p. 517, 518. mi/zij, was originally
used of the juxta-position of solids, xra~sij, of the union of liquids which were yet thought to be
separable, (Philo de conf. ling. p. 347. ap. Petav.de Incarn.iii. 2.9.from whom, and Ballerini ad Zeno (Opp.
p. xci. Diss. 2. e. 3.) §§. 14. 15. these instances are taken. S. Augustine says, Ep. 137. (ol. 3.) §. 11. (ib. §.
14.) "As in the unity of person, soul is united to body, that so man may be; so in unity of person, God is
united to man, that so Christ may be. In the one person there is a mingling of soul and body; in the
other, is a mingling of God; so that, when any heareth this said, he must abstract himself from that
observation of the senses, that two fluids are wont so to be commingled, that neither should retain its
character unaltered; (though even in corporeal substances light is mingled with air, and uninjured.) The
person of man then is a mingling of soul and body; the person of Christ a mingling of God and man. For
when the Word of God was commingled with a soul having a body, It took, at once both soul and body."
Leporius de libello emendat. c. 4. "He could, without injury and in very deed, be mingled." And S. Cyril in
answer to Nestorius, l. 1. t. 6. p. 15. (ib. §. 16.) "Some of the holy fathers also have used the word
'mingling,' (kra~sij). "Whereas you say you fear, lest some confusion (a)na&xusij) shall he thought to
have taken place, as in liquids when mingled together, I free you from this fear. For they use this word in
other than its proper sense, anxious to express the extreme union of the Natures, which carne
together." After the heresy of Apollinaris had sprung up, e#nwsij, unitio, was preferred, kra~sij having
been abused by these, as suna&feia, sociatio, by the Nestorians. In like way, (as has been pointed out to
me) S. Ephraem uses the words, tLX and oDM; the latter of which is the same word as "misceo;" the
former, used in older Syriac of any "junction,"came to signify "mingling," whence [Syriac] "Thou
unitedst," [Syriac] "was united," was substituted for it, (as in Leo above.) see Assem.Bibl.Or.t.i.p.80-
82.add.p.107.

278. 1 sciebant et qui penes vos ejus modi fab.

279. i Adv. Jud. c. 7.

280. k Adv. Jud. c. 14.

281. l Adv. Jud. c. 11. Orig. c. Cels. ii. 5.6.8. Minut. F.p.319. Chrys. Hom. 77. in Matt. 24. Hieron. in Is. 1.
17. c. 63. Aug. de Cons. Ev. i. 2. and 13.

282. Is, 6, 9. 10.

283. m Cels. ap. Orig. c. Cels. i. c. 6. 28. 38. viii. 9.; the then Jews, ap. Orig. c. Cels. iii. 1. Recog. 1. l. c. 58.
Talm. Schabb. f. 104. p. aut. Wagenseil, confa. Tol. Jesch. p. 16. 17. of the Heathen (apparently from the
Jews) Arnob. i. p. 25. c. 4. Pseudo-Ignat. Ep. ad Phil. Just. M. Apol. i. 30. Aug. de Cons. Ev. i. 8. 9. 10. 14.
Eus. Dem. iii. 6. The miracles were confessed.
284. Matt. 11, 5.

285. Mark 4. 41.

286. John 1, 1.

287. n Ps. 33, 6. John 1, 3. Rig. omits Eundem qui verbo om nia et faceret et fecisset, with the Fulda MS.
It has however a good sense, that "He shewed Himself to be the Word, in that He did, or He had done,
all things by a word." Comp. Heb. 1, 3.

288. 1 Is. 65, 2. Ps.22, 16. see adv. Jud. c. 13.

289. o "Multa mortis illius propria ostendit insignia; nam" restored.

290. 2 sponte restored

291. p Dies media, orbem signante sole. Others medium. Comp. adv. Jud. c. 10.

292. 3 Am. 8, 9. see adv. Jud. l.c.

293. q "archivis" or "arcanis." Probably the account sent by Pilate, spoken of c. 5.: at all events, public
documents. So Lucian Martyr (ap. Ruf. H. E. ix. 6. p. 149.) refers to their own annals. This statement then
is independent of the question whether Phlegon (Orig. c. Cels. ii. 33. 59. Euseb. Chron. p. 202. ed. Scal.)
in speaking of a very great eclipse about this time, or Thallus, as supposed by Africanus. (Chron. ap.
Routh Reliq. S. t. ii. p.183.) alluded to that event. Eusebius mentions also other Greek memoirs, which he
clearly distinguishes from that of Phlegon, giving also the words of each ( kai\ e0n a!lloij me\n
9Ellhnikoi=j u(pomnh&masin eu#romen i9sto-rou&mena kata_ le/cin tau~ta - gra&fei de\ kai\ Fli/gwn)
which Lardner (Test. P. ii. c. 13.) overlooked. With regard to these latter statements, the Heathen, not
knowing the circumstances, might very naturally have concluded that the darkness was produced by an
eclipse, and the combined mention of the earthquake and the eclipse in the several autho rities quoted
by Eusebius, make it probable that they referred to the events at the Crucifixion. This probability would
be diminished, if it be correct that there was a great eclipse of the Sun in the same Olympiad. (Kepler,
Eclogae Chronicae, p. 87.126.) Origen's argument (in Matt. Tr. 35. p. 922, 3. ed. de la Rue) is, that no
heathen author (and especially not Phlegon) had explicitly related the darkness to have been produced
by an eclipse, (as some Christians thought that it had, miraculously,) he does not imply that Phlegon's
account might not refer to it, as himself had supposed it might, (c. Cels. and, if it be his, Fragm. in Matt.
in App. Biblioth. Gall, quoted Routh, l. c. p. 337.) Tillemont, Note 35. sur J. C. and Dr. Routh, l. c. think, (it
seems, rightly,) that the mention of Phlegon in Africanus did not originally stand in the text.

294. 1 sepulti restored

295. r A fide, others "ad fidem," "to their allegiance to themselves."

296. Acts 10, 40.

297. s Liv. i. 16.

298. t In that he held Him guiltless. See also above, c. 5.

299. u See c. ult.

300. 1 monstrabimus

301. 1 omni ratione restored

302. x The Daemon of Socrates dissuaded him only. Plato puts this assertion repeatedly in Socrates' own
mouth, and that in words so similar, that there seems no doubt that they are those of Socrates. "With
me this hath been, beginning from a child that a certain voice hath come, which, when it cometh, ever
turneth me away from what I may be about to do, but impelleth me never (a)si\ a)potre/pei me
protre/pei de\ ou! pote)." Apol. Socr. §. 19. ed. Bekk. "There is wont to follow me, by the Divine
appointment, a certain daemon, beginning from a child. And this is, a voice, which when it cometh ever
signifieth to me to turn away from what I may be about to do, but impelleth me never." shmai/nei
a)potroph_n, trotre/pei de\ ou)de/pote Theages, §. 10. add Phaedrus, §. 43. and in part Apol. §. 31.
Xenophon's account (Mem. i. l.) that "whereas others were withheld and impelled from action by
omens, and Socrates was directed to act or not to act; the daemon fore-signifying," is obviously a less
precise account. Tertullian gives it an ironical turn.
303. y "Of the Greeks, Homer appears to use both names [gods and daemons] in common, sometimes
calling the gods, daemons. But Hesiod clearly and definitely first set forth four kinds of being, having
reason, gods, then daemons, then heroes, lastly men." ('Erg. k. 9Hm. 107-199.) Plut, de Orac. Def. p.
431. E. quoted by Euseb. Praep. Ev. v. 4. On Hesiod, see Plato Cratyl. (§. 32. ed. Bekk.) Rep. v. §. 15.
Proclus. Schol. ad Hesiod. l. c. l. 121. p. 119. ed. Gaisf. Lact. ii. 15.

304. z See de Testim. Anim. c. 3.

305. a Sympos. t. v. p. 72. §. 28. ed. Bekk. "All Daemon-nature is between God and mortal. Endued with
what power? said I. Interpreting and transmitting to the gods the things from men, and to men those
from the gods; of the one, the prayers and sacrifices; of the other, the commands and requitals of the
sacrifices. But being in the midst between both, it fills up, so that the whole is mutually bound
together." Theodoret, Orat. 4. de Nat. et Mund. "Plato calls them gods and daemons, whom we entitle
angels, and said that they were the ministers of the God of the universe." Minuc. F. p. 246. Cypr. de Idol.
Van. c. 4. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei, ix. 9. quotes Labeo as affirming the same.

306. b Cypr. l. c. Arnob. 1. p. 35. Lact. ii. 15. Minuc. p. 245.

307. c Gen. 6, 2. It is so interpreted also by Justin M. Apol. i. 21. ii. 6. S. Irenaeus, adv. Haer. iv. 36. 4. v.
29. 2. Athenag. c. 24. (followed by Methodius de Resurr. p. 307. ed. Paris from Photius.) Clem. Al. Paed.
iii. 2. fin. Strom, iii. 7. p. 193. v. 1, p. 235. S. Cyprian. de Hab. Virg. c. 9. de Patientia, c. 11. Lact. ii. 15.
Euseb. Praep. Ev. v. 4. Ambr. de Noe, c. 4. §. 8. 9. de Virginib. i. 8. §. 53. Apol. David. c. 1. §. 4. in Ps. 118.
v. 64. Serm. 8. §. 58. Naz. Carm. 3. p. 64. by Tert. again, de Idol. c. 9. de Cult. Fem. c. 10. de Hab. Mul. c.
2. de Vel. Virg. c. 7. c. Marc. v. 18. It occurs also in the Clement. Hom. 8. c. 13-15. and in Philo de Gigant.
t. 1. p. 262. ed. Mang. Joseph. Antiq. i. 43. in the book of Enoch, Grab. Spicil. i. 347. and the Test. xii Patr.
ib. 150. 213. Origen c. Cels. v. 55. mentions the spiritual interpretation which he adopts, as devised by
one before him, and so, contrary to the received opinion. (kai\ tw~n pro_ h(mw~n tij tau~ta a)nh&gagen
ei0j to_n peri\ yuxw~n lo&gon.) It is not however a Catholic interpretation. (see on S. Cyprian, xi. 12. p.
261. n. a. ed. Oxf.) S. A.ugust. also, who (Quaestt. ad Gen. 1. 1. qu. 3.) speaks doubtingly as on a point
"difficult to be decided," maintains what is now the ordinary view, de Civ. D. xv. 23. (rejecting however
in both places abstract arguments:) and S. Ambrose seems so to take it in Ps. 118, 25. Serm. 4. §. 8. S.
Cyril Alex. c. Julian, l. ix. init. and adv. Anthrop. c. 17. Theodoret (Qu. 47. in Gen.) S. Chrysostome (Hom.
22. in Gen.) and S. Ephraem (Serm. 19. adv. Haer. Opp. Syr. t. 2. p. 478. add. ad loc. t. 1. where he gives
that now received,) speak strongly against the other. S. Jerome (Quaestt. in Gen. ad loc.) seems to leave
it doubtful, "Deos intelligens Sanctos sive Angeles." " Et angelis----et sanctorum liberis convenit nomen
cadentium." The context would lead the one way, that those who called on God were called " the sons
of God;" on the other hand [Hebrew] is a title given to the Angels, Job 1, 6. 2, l. 38, 7. nowhere in the O.
T. to man.
308. 1 mira added

309. d Orig. c. Cels. viii. 31.

310. 1 aut

311. e See Cypr. de Id. Van. c. 4. The lurking of daemons in images and their sensual delighting in the
idol-sacrifices are mentioned by Athenag. Leg. c. 27. That they fed on the sacrifices is the opinion of
Justin M. Apol. ii. §. 5. Tatian. c. 12. Tert. again, c. 23. de Idol. c. 7. ad Scap. c. 2. Orig. c. Cels. iii. 28. 37.
iv. 32. vii. 5. 6. 35. 56. 64. viii. 18. Minut. F. p. 250. Chrys. de S. Babyla, c. 14. Aug. de Civ. D. ii. 4. Greg.
Naz. Orat. 5. in Jul. 24. de S. Cypr. §. 10. The same was held by Celsus, ap. Orig. c. C. viii. 60-62. Proph. de
Abstin. l. 2. (de Orac. ap. Theod. c. Graec. Disp. 3.) On their presence in statues, Bel and the Drag. c.6.
Lact. ii. 15. 16. Minuc. F. p. 248. Chrys. in Ps. 113. §. 4. 134. §. 7.

312. f Plato, Sympos. 1. c. "Through this (the Daemon-agency) doth the whole of divining art hold its
course; and the skill of the priests, and of those engaged about the sacrifices and initiations and
incantations, and the whole of divination, and sorcery. But God doth not mingle with man, but through
this is all intercourse of the gods with men, whether waking or sleeping."

313. g Athanas. vit. Ant. §. 31. 32.

314. h Justin, Apol. i. 54. 64. 66. Dial. §. 70. 78. S. Cyril. Jer. xv. 11. speaks of Satan's spreading abroad
semblances of the truth, to prevent the truth itself from being received.

315. i Herod. i. 53. 55. 91.

316. k Ennius, ap. Cic. de Div. l. ii. 56.

317. l Herod. i. 46-48.

318. 1 fuerant
319. 2 venefici

320. m Justin M. Apol. ii. 6. Dial. §. 30. and 76. Iren. ii. 32. Orig. c. Cels. vii. 4. p. 325. Tatian. c. 18. Cypr. l.
c. c. 4. Minuc. F. p. 251. Lact. ii. 16. Jerome in Nah. c. 7. Aug. de Div. Daem. c. 5. de Trin. iii. 9.

321. n Announcing victories, Plin. ii. 37. Florus, ii. 12. iii. 3. &c.

322. o By a Vestal Virgin, Val. Max. viii. 1. Plin. xxviii. 3. Lact. ii. 17.

323. p Claudia Quinta Liv. xxix. 14.

324. q Domitius Aenobarbus, Suet. Ner. 1.

325. r Apuleius describes this, Apol. t. ii. p. 497, 8. ed. Elmenhorst. The first words of the returning soul
(as it were) were regarded as oracular. See further Peucer de Div. p. 166. and Elmenh. ad loc. Justin M.
Apol. i. c. 18 (whom Tert. apparently had here in view,) speaks of the "inspection of immaculate
children," (brefomantei/a) in which the children were slain and their entrails inspected; and this, which
is more frequently mentioned, (Eus. H. E. vii. 10. viii. 14. Socr. H. E. iii. 13. Recogn. ii. 13) suits better with
the more obvious meaning of "elidunt," "slay;" but the context is here of chicanery, not of cruelty. For
this inspection of them, inspection by them in mirrors was afterwards substituted. Peucer de Mag. p.
155. The reading "eliciunt" is, probably, a comment on "elidunt," and as such, favours the sense given in
the text.

326. s See Bulenger, 1. 3. de Divin, c. 22. p. 215. Euseb. Praep. Ev. 1, ii. Clem. Protrept. p. 9. quoted by
Fabr. Bibl. Antiq. p. 416. Amm. Marc. l. 29. Sozom. vi. 35. ap. Buleng. de Sort. l. ii. p. 30.

327. t The oracular Tripods, see Hofmann Lex. v. Tripus.

328. u It may be that Tertullian looked for some special intervention on such a trial, or he may not have
meant his words "by any Christian" to be taken to the letter, but only to assert the frequency of the gift.
The frequency and notoriety of these miraculous cures he asserts again, ad Scap. c. 2. 4. as peculiar to
Christians, de Test. Anim. c. 3. Their commonness is implied also de Spect. c. 29. de Idol. c. ll. de Cor. c.
11. and below c.37,43. Justin M. speaks of many having been and being cured, generally and at Rome,
Apol. ii. 6 and 8. add Dial. c. Tryph. §. 30. 76. 84. 121. Tatian, c. 16. Theoph. ad Autol. ii. 8. S. Irenaeus, ii.
32. mentions (among other miracles) that many so healed were in the Church. Origen speaks of the vast
number of such cures up to his time, c. Cels. i. 2.3. names them with other miracles, ib. 46. 67. viii. 58.
which himself had seen, (add of these ii. 8. and generally iii. 24. 28.) and apparently as wrought by a
certain class among Christians, (ib. i. 6.) but also that "no few among the Christians" still wrought them,
(vii. 4.) and that, although for the most part holy, yet, through the might of the Name of Jesus even "bad
men," (according to Matt. 7,22.) Ib. i. 6. Heraldus quotes from c. Cels. viii. a statement, corresponding to
this of Tertullian, "ordinary individuals (i0diw~tai) work somewhat of this kind, the grace which is in the
word of Christ enabling them." They are named as frequent by Minut. Felix, p. 202, 254. by S. Cyprian,
(Ep. 76. ad Magn. v. fin. add. ad Donat. 4. p. 4. ed. Oxf. de Idol. Van. 4. ib. p. 17. ad Demetrian, §. 8. ib. p.
208.) by Arnobius i. p. 27. by Lactantius,Instt. ii. 16. iv. 27. v. 22. init. 23 fin. by Eusebius (Dem. Ev. iii. 6.
p. 132,3. who says also, "our Lord is wont to display, even to this day, to those to whom He judgeth
right, some little portions of His [miraculous] power by manifest and ascertained deeds," v. ib. c. 5. p.
109.) by Eustathius A. 320. in very large terms, ("all who sincerely mind the things of Christ," pa&ntej oi9
ta_ tou~ Xristou~ pronou~ntej ei0likrinai=j, de Engastrimytho, p. 368. ed. Leo Allat. add. p. 352.)
Athanasius Orat. i. c. Arian. c. 50. Julius Firmicus, p. 29. 30. and v. fin. p. 61. Greg. Naz. Or. 2. §. 86.
Epiphanius relates one such case Haer. 30. c. 10. as also, earlier, Firmilian Ep. 75. ad Cypr. S. Augustine
again single cases, de Civ. D. l. xxii. c. 8. §. 7. 8. Paula and Eustochium, (ap. Jerome, Ep. 46. §. 8. at our
Lord's sepulchre.) The fulness and confidence of these early statements, and the gradual limitation of
these cures, (as Christianity was more established, and perhaps as love waxed cold,) is the more
illustrated by the later explicit statements of the cessation of miracles; as by S. Chrysostom repeatedly,
(in Ps. 142. §. 5. hom. 1. de S. Pentec. §. 4. in inscript. Actt. hom. 2. §. 3. t. iii. in Joh. Hom. 24. (23.) §. 1.
Hom. 72. (71.) §. 4. in 1 Cor. Hom. 29. init. Hom. 36. §. 4. 5. Theodoret in 1 Cor. xii. 7. 9. Junilius de part.
Div. Leg. ii. 29. Op. Imp. in Matt. Hom. 49. p. cciv. ed. Ben. Greg. M. in Job. l. xxvii. c. 18. ('for the most
part, except when the occasion required,') Damascene, (de Fid. Orthod. i. 3. in contrast with early
successors of the Apostles, though chiefly of himself, see the passages ap. Lardner.) S. Chrys. speaks of
the dread and shrinking of daemons from the sepulchres of martyrs, not of their expulsion, (a)pela&unei
not e0kba&llei, t. ii. 93. 623. 674. 680. 691.) or of the moral cures wrought by visiting them, (p. 555.) to
which he, probably, again alludes, when he says, that many of the "wonders," qau&mata, of the
Apostolic times had ceased, Hom. 14. in Rom. §. 7.) S. Hilary, (in Ps. 64. §. 10.) S. Athanasius, (de Incarn.
§. 48.) of the silencing of oracles or soothsaying, as, earlier, S. Dionys. Alex. (ap. Eus. vii. 10.) of the
bringing to nought Satanic assaults. Else, cures wrought at the sepulchres of martyrs, (Greg. Naz. de S.
Cyprian. Or. 24. §. 18. p. 449. Ephr. S. Opp. Syr. t. ii. p. 349.) had been but a testimony the more, in that
God still continued to honour "the death of His saints," even when He had withdrawn these gifts from
the diminished faith of His Church militant. S. Cyprian, (de Idol. Van.) Minuc. F. and Lactantius, make the
same statement as Tertullian, that the daemons were thus put to shame "in the presence of their
worshippers." The modern assumption then, that miraculous gifts ceased with the last disciple on whom
the Apostles laid their hands, as it is an à priori theory, so it is contrary to all rules of evidence.

329. 1 curantur

330. x Those possessed with a spirit of divination, Pythonissae, as in Acts.

331. y See above, c. 12. below, c. 24.

332. 1 Verum, utrobique. Jam Deos quaerite

333. 2 Dicent et quis

334. a See above, c. 21.

335. 3 crucem

336. 4 ocyus

337. b In the Exorcisms in the Ancient Latin, Greek, and Syriac Liturgies, the evil spirit is adjured by the
Name of the Holy Trinity, and mention made of his final sentence to everlasting fire at the Day of
Judgment. See them in Assemani Cod. Liturg. t. i. ii. or collected in "Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism,"
Note M. at the end, p. 266, 7. ed. 1.

338. c The insufflation or exsufflation followed upon the exorcism, see Ass. 1. c, Bingham, x. 2. 8. S. Cyril
Introd. §. 9. p. 4. xvi. §. 19. p. 213. ed. Oxf. see also de Anima, c. 11. S. Iren. i. 9. Euseb. H. E. vii. 10.
Prudentius Perist. Pass. Rom. 10. 920. Brisson. comm. ad tit. cod. Theod. de feriis.

339. 1 publicae et restored

340. 2 re ista added

341. 3 Nunc

342. d In Phaedro, §. 50. ed. Bekk. "Jupiter the great Lord and Guider (h(gemw_n) in heaven, driving a
winged chariot, goeth first, fitly ordering and calling for all things; him followeth an army of gods and
daemons, fitly ordered in eleven parts. See Arnob. iii. p. 117. Athenag. Leg. c. 23.
343. 4 Caesarem

344. e This was close to the Capitol, Plin. xxxv.

345. f Juv. xiv. 97. (of the Jews chiefly,) Nil praeter nubes et coeli numen adorant. Cels ap. Orig. c. Cels. v.
6. Diod. Sic. l. xi. Eclog. p. 217. ed. Wess. Strabo, l. xvi. p. 761. ed. Casaub. see Kortholt de Cal. Pag. c. 5.
de nephelolatria.

346. g "And in truth whosoever will reflect, what he vows to God, and what vows he is to pay, let him
vow himself, let him pay himself. This is demanded; this owed:----his own image is rendered to Caesar;
and be His own image rendered to God. Aug. in Ps. 115. §. 8.

347. h De Idol. c. 6.

348. i Herod. ii. 65.

349. k So F. Adargatis, ad Nat. ii. 8. Argatis. Strabo, l. xvi. fin. called by the Greeks "Derceto;" Plin. v. 23. it
was half-female, half-fish. Diod. Sic. ii. 4. p. 14.: in other parts, it was the god, Dagon. [Hebrew] for
[Hebrew] Gesen. Thes. v. [Hebrew] see, at length, Ouzeley on Minuc. F. p. 273. Others "Astarte."

350. l Euseb. Praep. Ev. i. 7. (ap. Pam.)

351. m The tutelary god of Aquileia; Capitolin. in Maximin. ap. Hav.

352. n Above, c. Cypr. de Idol. Van. lib. de Prom, et Praed. Dei (ap. Prosper.) iii. 38. ap. Hav.

353. o Lact. i. 15. Minuc. F. p. 214.

354. p Liv vii. 3.

355. q So F. others Nortia again.

356. r Curitis.

357. s Athenag. c. 14.

358. 1 intercedit auctoritas

359. t Cic. Orat. xxx. de Harusp. Resp. c. 19. Polyb. vi. 54. Valer. i. l. 8. Prud. c. Symm. l. ii. 489. Minuc. F.
p. 228.

360. u As though named from "manuring," Macr. Sat. i. 7. Lact. i. 20. Aug. Civ. D. viii. 15.

361. x Prud. l. c. l. 532.

362. y The goat Amalthaea.

363. 1 et added

364. z Virg. Aen. i. 18.

365. a See Pythian oracle, Herod. i. 91. Lact. ii. 17. Aesch. Prom. v. 518.

366. b To be made gods, they must have worshipped the gods who made them such; and so, to be gods
at Rome, Sterculus and the like; but they were gods before, and so must have wor shipped, elsewhere,
their native gods also. Others understand by "cum indigenis suis," "together with their native
worshippers," these non-Italian gods being as it were foreigners, joining with the native worshippers.
This interpretation has produced a reading, "cum indigenis cultoribus suis." c Prud. l. c. l. 346.

367. 2 suis restored

368. c Id. 1. 343.

369. d Martial x. 51.

370. e Exilis. Other Edd. and the ad Nat. ii. ult. ex illis, "and the savour all from these," but there some
word is omitted, nidor.....ex illis.

371. f Rome had no images for 170 years, Varro, ap. Aug. de C. D. iv. 9. Plutarch. Num. Clem. Al. Strom, i.
15. Euseb. Praep. Ev. ix. 3. They were of wood or clay until the conquest of Asia, Plin. xxxiv. 7.

372. g De Spect. c. 7. Plin. l. c.

373. h From the capture of Syracuse, foreign temples were despoiled to ornament Rome, Liv. xxv. 40.
add Minuc. p. 229.

374. 1 adolationes, i.q. adulationes

375. 1 arabi tum (neut.) extru eretur

376. i Minuc. p. 238.

377. k Who had the charge of the Sybilline books.

378. 2 Romani restored

379. l Joseph. Ant. xvii. 2. (of Agrippa.)

380. m "Macc. i. 8. ii. 11. Jos. Ant. xii. 1.7. under Judas Maccab.; Macc. i. 12. Jos. A. xiii. 8. or 9. under
Jonathan; Macc. i. 15. Jos. A. xiii. 12 or 9. under Simon, Again, Jos. A. xiv. 16 or 17, 17 or 19, are decrees
of the Roman senate as to amity with the Jews, under J. Caesar, and John Hyrcanus, (comp. c. App. l. ii.)
and ibid. and c. 22 or 20, are Epistles of M. Antony, and P. Dolabella to Hyrcanus." Pam.
381. n Above, on c. 13.

382. o The refusal to abandon their faith was sometimes called "obstinacy." (Plin. Ep. to Trajan,
Diocletian, ap. Hermogen. 1. vii. in Collat. legg. Jud. et Rom. tit. xiv. Tert. ad Nat. i. 17.18. Lact. v. 2. Prud.
Hymn. ii. 17. de Agon. Rom. xiv. 63. 581. "a rash desperateness." below, c.50. Arnob. vi. init. Lact. v. 9.
Caecil. ap. Minuc. p. 71. edict of Maximin. ap. Eus. H.E. ix. 1. quoted by Kortholt, in Plin. et Traj. Epp. p.
57-59. or madness, Plin. l. c. edict of Maxim. ap. Eus. viii. 17. Just. Apol. ii. Cypr. ad Demetr. Minuc. F. l. c.
&c. Lact. l. c. (see Kortholt in Plin. et Traj. Epp. p. 74. who observes that the Christians with reason
retorted the charge of madness. See Authorities, ib.)

383. p Aug. Hom. 309. in Nat. Cypr. M. i. §. 5. "Thus----the most faithful Martyr consulted for himself,
not as the deceitful tongue of the devil through the mouth of the ungodly judge possessed by him
seemed to advise, saying, 'Consult for thyself.' " The like forms "Consule tibi," "Miserere tui,"&c.were
used; in Agon. Macr. V., Vincentii; comp. the persuasions in Eus. H. E. iv. 15. bis (Germanicus and
Polycarp), viii. 7. (Philoromus, Phileas) de Mart. Pal. c. x. (Pet. Apselamus) Tert. Scorp. c. xi. Her.

384. q Justin, Apol. i. 14.

385. r Above, c. 2.

386. s c. 1. see Justin, Ap. i. 5. 57. ii. 1. 8. 12. Dial. c. 39. 131. Cypr. de Idol. Van. Orig. c. Cels. iii. iv. viii.
Euseb. iv. 15. of the martyrdom of Polycarp, v. 1. Martyrs of Lyons, v. 21. Martyrdom of Apollonius, Lact.
iv. 27. v. 21. Prud. Perist. ii. 76. Hymn. x. 22. de Agon. Rom. xiv. 36. c. Symm. ii. 666. Chrys. Hom. 44. de
7. Macc. Hom. 46. in S. Lucian, &c. (Kortholt, l. c. p. 49-57.)

387. 1 spirituum

388. t Orig. c. Cels. viii. 44.

389. u ingratis ( = ingratiis) resistimus ut aequales i.e. as he had said, "they are in fact our slaves, but if
they break out in rebellion against us, they leave us no choice, but force us to take up arms against them
as equals, though we know and they know too, that they fight on most unequal terms." Tr. Lacerda lays
down that ingratis is = gratuito, but without authority.
390. x In the formula used in heathen sacrifice, "Favete linguis."

391. y De Idol. c. 21.

392. z De Idol. c. 13. de Cor. c. 12.

393. a Calidiore timiditate Hav. from F. and Ald. others, callidiore, "a more cunning fear."

394. 1 quis

395. 2 omni added. Eccl. 9 4.

396. b repraesentaneae potestatis. Casaubon ad Suet. v. p. 179. explains this in an active sense,
"exacting at once," sc. punishment; as in Val. Max. viii. 5. poenam repraesentare maluit; and Suetonius l.
c. poenasque parricidarum repraesentabat. So also Hav. adloc.; and words in aneus are mostly neuters,
only because derived from neuters. Here, punishment not being expressed, a middle term has been
adopted.

397. c The one were left unpunished, the other beaten with staves. Dig. 13. §. 5. de Jurej. Harmenop.
Prompt. J. C. 1.7. tit. 1. ap. Elmenh. ad Minuc. p. 284. Ulpian, de Jurejur. 1. 13.

398. 1 Imperatori

399. 2 majes tatis restored

400. d Ep. ad Diogn. c. 2. Cypr. ad Demetrian. c. 8. Ambros. de Virg. 1.2. (ap. Lac.) Lact. ii. 4. Jul. Firm. p.
31. (of the Palladium) ap. Hav.

401. 3 et added
402. e As in the impieties of Caligula, Suet. Cal. c. 22.

403. f Ad Scap. c. 2.

404. 4 enim

405. g Above, c. 6.

406. h Plin. Paneg. Traj. i. init. lii. init.

407. i i. e. how He can rule afar off, whole lands, and unseen: in part also, from his own power being
limited though so great, he feels that there is one unlimited.

408. j Expansis, (not merely, as the Heathen, tendens ad sidera palmas) the attitude betokening
openness; also as the figure of the Cross, de Orat. c. 11. Minuc. F. p. 288. Aster ap. Phot. cod. 271.
Paulin. Vit. Ambros. p. 12. Prudent. Perist. Hymn 6 in Fructuos. 1. 106. Chrys. quod Christus sit Deus, c. 8.
fin. t i. p. 569. ap. Bingh. 13.8. 10. (as Moses, S. Barnab. Ep. c. 12. Maximus Hom. 2. de Pass. Dom. Justin
M. Dial. §.90. 111. Tert. c. Jud. c. 10. Cypr. Test. ii. 21. Chrys. Synops. S. Script. in Exod. t. vi. p. 320.)

409. k As the heathen did, and then only.

410. l As the heathen had, to remind them of the names of their gods, (alius nomina Deo subjicit,"
Senec. ap. Aug. de superst.) lest they should ask any thing of the wrong god, (Arnob. ii. p. 89. as their
great men had a prompter to recall the names of those whom they were to salute, Nomenclator,) and to
rehearse the words which they were to repeat, (de scripto praeire,) lest any word should be missed, or
their order transposed, (Plin. xxxviii. 2.) which had been ill-omened. Tertullian is obviously contrasting
the free glowing devotion of the Christians with this mechanical service; it "comes from the heart," as
exh. ad cast. c. 10. "it comes forth from the conscience." It was plainly a mistake of Tertullian's style,
that the words were ever pressed as an argument that prayer was extempore only; and the more, since
T. recognizes forms of prayer, besides other contemporary evidence. See Bingham 13. 5. 5. It is, like the
preceding, an ironical argumentum ad hominem; the heathen claimed, alone to pray for the emperors,
while their very attitude and garb were emblems of their guilt, their rites of their indifference. The
following words of Tertullian have very much the character of a form of prayer.
411. 1 Pre cantes sumus semper restored

412. m De idol. c. 6.

413. n Lact.i. 20. v. 19. Jerome, Ep.28.ad Heliod. §. 5. Lucian. in Jov. Trag. c. 15. v.2.p. 659.Asin.c. 12. p.
580. Hemsterh.

414. 1 non omitted

415. o In that it represented the Cross of his Lord.

416. p A proclamation appointed by Numa at religious rites.

417. q Hic erit crimen, ubi veritas et Dei devotio est, omitted by Rig.

418. s Just. Apol. i. 14. Dial. c. 133. Athenag. Leg. c. 11.

419. Mat. 5, 44. 1 Cor 4,12.13 1 Pet. 3,9. 1 Tim. 2, 2.

420. t See Arnob. iv. fin. Cypr. ad Demetr. §. 11. p. 211. ed. Oxf. Orig. c. Cels. viii. Dionysius ap. Eus. H. E.
vii. 11. Maximin's edict. viii. 17. App. ad viii. 8. de vit. Const. i. 15, 17. Prudent. in Roman. xiv. 426. ap.
Kortholt, Comm. in Plin. et Traj. Epp. p. 149. Athenag. Leg. fin. ad Scap. 2. Chrys. Hom. 6. in 1 Tim.
Constt. Ap. viii. 12, 13.

421. u The belief that the Roman Empire was "that which letteth," 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7. that which delayed
the coming of Anti-Christ, occurs in S. Cyrill. (Cat. xv. 11,12.) Jerome (Ep. 121. ad Algas. qu. 11.)
Chrysostome and Ambrosiaster ad loc. Lactantius vii. 25. Damasc. iv. 28. Theodoret ad loc. says, "some
say the Roman Empire, some the grace of the Spirit," "but this last," he argues, "will not cease." S.
Augustine speaks doubtfully, Ep. 199. §. 11. "We who know not what they [the Thess.] knew, desire to
attain laboriously to the Apostle's meaning, and are unable;" somewhat more confidently in the de Civ.
D. xx. 19. "it is not without reason [non absurde] believed to be spoken of the Roman Empire itself."
Tertullian repeats this statement, below c. 39. and ad Scap. c. 2. he views the subject on the opposite
side, De Orat. c. 5. de Res. Carn. c. 24. that the end of the world should be longed for; both are
consistent, though belonging to different frames of mind; the Christian should long for the coming of his
Lord, and the consummation of all things, and yet may shrink from the terrible period which is to
precede it. So Lactantius, l. c. "She, she is the city, which yet upholds all things, and the God of Heaven is
to be prayed by us, (if so be that His purposes and decrees may be delayed,) that that hateful tyrant
should not come sooner than we think, who shall essay so great an offence, and extinguish that light,
through whose destruction the world itself shall fall to pieces."

422. x See c. 28. fin. It was refused as idolatry, Eus. H. E. iv. 15. (martyrdom of Polycarp.) See ad Nat. i.
17. ad Scap. 2. Orig. c. Cels. viii. 65. Act. Mart. Scillit. ap. Baron A. 202. n. 2.

423. y Perhaps in conformity with Gen. 42, 15. See Basil in Ps. 14. and Rescr. Arcad. et Honor. Impp. 1.
41. in fin. cod. in transact. ap. Westhen. ad Orig. Exh. Mart. 7. Athanas. Ep. ad Monach. t. i. p. 866.
Veget. de re Milit. i. 5. ap. Bingham, 16. 7. 4.

424. z in that, as a Christian, I worship Him, see above, c. 29, 30.

425. a Juv. x. 42. Plin. 33. 1. Jerome Ep. ad Paulam de ob. Blesillae.

426. b Suet. Aug. c. 53. Tertullian gives a further interpretation to Augustus' act, which was in itself
political; as Orosius points out another bearing, which it had; ''he allows himself not to be called Lord, in
whose reign the true Lord of the whole human race was born among men."

427. c Martial, x. 72. uses them as equivalent, of Nerva, "I will not call him Lord and God," and Philo ad
Caium, of Augustus, "he willed not to be called Lord or God."

428. d Pater-familias.

429. 1 quod non potest credi restored

430. e "For divine honours are not given to the prince, before he ceases to live among men." Tac. Ann.
xv. 74. add Minuc. F. p. 216. Vespasian in his last sickness, "I am about to be a god." Suet. Vesp. 23.

431. f Lectisternia, see below, c. 42. Tac. Ann. xv. 37. tota urbe quasi domo uti. ib. 44. sellisternia.
432. g Mart. vii. 60. Nunc Roma est; nuper magna taberna fuit.

433. h Below, c. 39. Juv. iii. 278. Suet. Nerv. c. 26.

434. i De Idol. init.

435. k Tac. Ann. xv. 17.

436. l De Idol. c. 15. Greg. Naz. Orat. 2. in Julian. prop. fin.

437. m Ad Uxor. ii. 6. de Idol. c. 15.

438. n Above, c. 28. ad Nat. i. 17. Treason to the Emperors was accounted impiety, as towards a sort of
god. "The crime next to sacrilege is that designated as against the majesty" [of the Emperor], Ulp. l. c. ad
leg. Jul. majest. ap. Her.

439. o "Sed occasio voluptatis magis quam digna ratio persuasit," omitted by Rig.

440. p Ad Nat. i. 17. De Spect. c. 16. On their petulance, see Tac. Hist. ii. 88. iii. 32.

441. 1 humanis added

442. q at their accession.

443. r Ad Scap. 2. and (in general terms) ad Nat. i. 17. ad Mart. c. 6. Cassius conspired against Antoninus,
Niger and Albinus against Severus.

444. s Commodus was nearly surprised by the populace in the suburbs, whither he had retired on
account of the healthiness of the laurel-groves. Herodian. l. i. ap. Her.
445. t Murder of Commodus by a wrestler. Aur. Victor. Lamprid. in vit.

446. u Murder of Pertinax, Capitolin. in vit. Herodian. l. 2.

447. x benefitted by, and murderers of Domitian. Xiphilin. p. 237. C. 239. B.

448. y The remains of the conspiracy of Niger. Spartianus ap. Gotofred. Prol. ad lib. ad Nat. p. 11.

449. z The Emperor being entitled "Father of his country."

450. q "He (Severus) put to death many, as having consulted Chaldaeans and Magi about his life."
Spartianus ap. Gotofr. l. c. The practice was a fre quent ground of punishment. Tac. Ann. xii. 52. xvi. 30.
Severus himself had been falsely charged with it. Spartianus.

451. 1 iidem added

452. r Above, c. 1. 4.

453. s Eusebius speaks of many local persecutions being raised by the populace, even when there was
no general persecution, H. E. iii. 32. (under Trajan) v. 1. (under M. Antonius) vi. 32. (under Decius, at
Alexandria.)

454. t Partly out of savageness, partly in contumely of the doctrine of the Resurrection, Eus. v. 1. fin.
(Martyrs of Vienne.)

455. 1 divinitas sectas

456. u These had harassed the Empire under M. Antoninus; and with the Parthians Severus was then at
war. Gotof. Prol. ad Lib. ad Nat. p. 11.
457. x See above on c. 1. p. 3. n. g.

458. y Possumus dinumerare exercitus vestros; unius provinciae plures erunt. omitted by Rig.

459. z (Christianorum) paene omnium civium, paene omnes cives Christianos habendo; sed hostes
maluistis vocare generis humani, omitted by Rig. By the first clause, Tert. seems to mean that almost all
the Christians were citizens, (i. e. not slaves or foreigners only,) in the second, that almost all the citizens
were Christians, and if not, would be their enemies.

460. 1 pateretis

461. a Above on c. 23. Orig. c. Cels. viii. 73. "But we, moreover, removing by our prayers all daemons,
who stir up wars, and break oaths, and disturb peace, aid those who rule, more than such as seem to
war."

462. b T. adopts the word "factio" used as a term of reproach by the Heathen, Mimic. F. p. 70.

463. c Philo de Josepho ap. Her.

464. 1 cum

465. 2 dictu, visu, auditu, restored

466. d De Spect. c. 16. Prudent. Hamartig. l. 362. Hieron. in vit. Hilar. Cyr. Cat. xix. 4.

467. e Adv. Marc. i. 28. Lact. vi. 20.

468. f De Pudic. c. 7. de Spect. c. 18.

469. g De Spectac. c. 28.

470. 3 si etiam veritatem revelaverim added

471. h The Divinity of our Religion, F.

472. i (Coimus) in caetum et congregationem, ut (ad D.) omitted by Rig.

473. j Above on c. 32.

474. k T. here probably speaks of the Bishops under the title of "Elders," "praesides" being for the most
part a term appropriated to Bishops, de Pudic. c. 21. Cypr. de Eccl. Unit. c.4. Ep. 72. ad Steph. Tert. uses
it de Jejun. c.ult. de Pudic. c. 14. de Praescr. c. 42. Praesidentes, de Cor. c. 3. includes the presbyters. He
mentions the three orders, de Bapt. c. 17. de Fug. in Pers. c. 11. and de Praescr. c. 41. The corresponding
proe/droj is used in the Conc. Chalc. Act. 4. Ep. ad Impp. Val. et Marcian. ap. Lac.

475. l If T. is speaking of a fact, this is different from the Eucharistic collections, which were weekly;
Justin, Apol. i. 67. Perhaps however (as Her. suggests) he is only alluding to the monthly meetings of
other societies, (as his manner is to blend his own statements with his allusions to others' customs,) "on
the monthly day (of meeting) or when he wills, each," &c. Monthly allowances are mentioned, ap. Eus.
H. E. v. ult.

476. m Cypr. Ep. 2. Fell. (61. Pam.) ad Eucrat. Ep. 5. ad clerum suum.

477. n Dionys. Cor. ap. Eus. iv. 23. mentions this as a characteristic liberality of the Roman Church. The
Emperor Licinius forbad it, Eus. H, E. x. 8.

478. o Ad Mart. c. 1. Cypr. Ep. 5.

479. p It is ridiculed by Lucian in Peregrino, and ap. Prudent. in Agon. Vincent. Perist. ii. 73. The heathen
abused the names, "brother, sister," to a bad sense, and then cast the reproach on the Christians,
Minuc. F. p. 81. The title is explained, Minuc. F. p. 312. Athenag. c. 32. Lact.v. 16. Jerome, adv. Helvid. c.
8.
480. 1 affectatione

481. 2 Nunc

482. 1 Cor. 12, 13.

483. q Fwtismo_j, illumination, as a title of Baptism, see also Cypr. ad Donat. §. 3. p. 3. ed. Oxf. Clem.
Strom. ii. 9. p. 163. "We call brethren those re-born by the same Word," and that "for our mutual love
and good will's sake," Opt. 1. i. p. 34. "Let no one wonder that I call them brethren, who cannot but be
brethren. We and they have one spiritual birth."

484. r Pet. Chrysol. Serm. 1. ap. Lac.

485. s Justin M. Apol. i. 14. Athenag. c. 33.

486. t T. joins together the two Cato's, the great-grandfather the Censor, with the Philosopher, whose
the act was.

487. 1 lenon est

488. 2 quoque added

489. u The same was said by Stratonicus of the Rhodians, Plut. de Amore Divit. Casaub. in Athen, iv. 10.

490. Matt. 7, 3.

491. x Orig. c. Cels. i. 1. Minuc.F. p.308. Chrys. Hom. 27. in 1 Cor. et Serm. de Verb. Ap. 1 Cor. xi. 19. [§. 3.
t. iii. p. 244.] Aug. c. Faust. xx. 20. Constt. Ap. ii. 28. Conc. Gangr. Can. xi. (against those who despised
and would not partake of them,) Jerome [Pelag.] ad 1 Cor. xi. (Kortholt.)

492. y Jerome, Ep. 22. ad Eustoch.

493. z On the practice of nightly prayer, public and private, besides the vigils, see ad Uxor. ii. 4. 5. Chrys.
Hom. 49. in Matt. 14. Cyprian, de Orat. Dom. §. 19. p. 193. and §. ult. p. 198. ed. Oxf. Orig. c. Cels. vi. de
Orat. c. 12. fin. Caecil. ap. Minuc. F. p. 72. Ambr. de Virg. iii. 4. Serm. 7. in Ps. 118, 55 and 62. Hil. in Ps.
118, Tr. 7. §. 6. Hieron. Ep. 107. ad Laet. §. 9. Ep. 108. ad Eustoch. de Paulae Epitaph. §. 15. Ep. 22. ad
Eustoch. de Custod. Virg. §. 17. 18. 37. Pelag. ad Demetriad., c. 23. Cassian. de Instt. Caenob. ii. 3. 4. 6.
13. iii. 2. other prayers in the evening are mentioned, Basil de Sp. S. c. 29. Socr. v. 22. Hieron. Ep. 107. ad
Laet. §. 9. Cassian. de Instt. Caenob. ii. 3. 5. 6. iii. 2. others before day-break, Plin. Ep. ad Traj. Basil, Ep.
63. ad Cler. Eccl. Neo-Caes. Cassian. de Instt. Caenob. iii. 5. Sidon. Ep. 1. 2. The grounds chiefly alleged
are, the authority of Holy Scripture mentioning prayer at such times, (Auct. de Virgin. ap. Athanas. c. 2.
Basil Regg. fus. Explic. qu. 37. Ambros. in Ps. 119, l. c. Hieron. in Matt. 25. Ep. ad Riparium, adv. Vigilant.
Cassian. de Instt. Caenob. iii. 3.) our Lord's example, (Cypr. de Orat. Dom. §. 19. Ambr. l. c. Jerome, l. c.)
and others in the N. T.; also that of the Holy Angels, (Clem. Al. Paedag. ii. 9. Jerome ad Dan.iv. 10.:) that
it was the hour of the Resurrection of our Lord, (Ath. de Virginit. Prudent. Hymn. ad Gallic.) and of His
coming to judgment, (Prud. l. c.) and as a time of spiritual danger, (Ambr. ad Ps. 1.19, l. c.) Celsus, ap.
Orig. c. Cels. i. init. mentions also the outward ground, of persecution; to which Origen also refers, ibid,
and Tertullian, de fug. in Pers. fin. see texts and passages, ap. Kortholt de Cal. Pag. c. 16.

494. z Hence certain prayers were called lucernariae, Justinian ad 1 Cor. xi. 21. p. 562. quoting Jerome,
Cassiodorus, Socrates, Epiphanius, Cassian, &c.

495. a Cypr. ad Donat. fin. p. 12. ed. Oxf. Auct. Lib. de Spectac. ap. Cypr. fin. Jerome, Ep. 31. ad Eustoch.
fin. "So must thou ever eat, as that prayer and reading [H. Scripture] may follow food," also Ep. 107. ad
Laet. §. 9. and Ep. 54. ad Furiam, §.11.

496. b Clem. Al. Paedag. ii. 9. Ambr. de Virg. iii. 4. Jerome, Ep. 22. ad Eustoch. §. 37. Chrys. Orat. de Bapt.
Christi, t. ii. p. 375. ed. Montf. Amphiloch. in vit. Basilii, c. 3.

497. c Above, c. 35.

498. d Interpunction altered, "merito damnanda, si non dissimilis damnandis. Si quis de ea queritur eo
titulo, &c. in cujus perniciem, &c."

499. e See Cypr. ad Demetr. and others, ib. p. 200. not. a. ed. Oxf. also Firmilian, Ep. 75. ad Cypr. Edict.
Anton. ap. Justin M. Aug. in Ps. 80. Serm. 59. and Ep. 5. ad Marcell. ap. Kortholt. de Calumn. Pag. c. 22.
ad Scap. c. 2. de Pall. c. 2. ad Nat. i. 9. Martyrol. in vit. Porphyr. ap. Elmenh. ad Arnob. p. 3.
500. f Aug. de Civ. D. ii. 3. "From whose ignorance hath arisen also that common proverb, 'The rain hath
failed; the Christians the cause.'"

501. g urbem, Rome.

502. h Gothofred's correction, ad Nat. i. 9. from Plin. ii. 87. who mentions these islands as having
reappeared, Ammian. Marc. xvii. The name is variously corrupted in the MSS., Hierennape, &c.

503. i Atlantis. Plin. ii. 90. Plato in Timaeo, §. 6. p. 24. Steph.

504. k Ad Nat. i. 9. "cum terra; motu mare C. ereptum est," determines the meaning; else Hav.'s
explanation were good, "drank in, i. e. drew in the sea to what is now called the C. sea." Strab. viii. fin.
Ovid. Met. xv. Plin. ii. 94. mention the overthrow of Helice by that sea through an earthquake. See
Authorities at length in Gataker ad Antonin. iv. 48.

505. l Plin. iii. 8.

506. m De Legg. iii. p. 677.

507. n De Pall. c. 2.

508. o Tac. Hist. v. 7. and itineraries ap. Hav.

509. p So Gothofr. from the ad Nat. i. 9. observing that the Eclog. Stephani mentions, "Tarpe a city of
Italy and a mons Tarpeius." The MSS. here have Pompeii, which would be an oversight, since Pompeii
was destroyed under Nero, A.D. 64 or 65. In the de Pallio, c. 2. (as it now stands) Vulsinii and Pompeii
are again joined; yet transcribers are more likely to have substituted the better known, Pompeii, for the
less known, than the reverse.

510. q Aug. de Civ. D. ii. 22.

511. r Above, c. 25.

512. 1 non solum timendum added Rom. 1, 21.

513. 2 requisitum

514. s Arnob. l. i. p. 5.

515. t i.e. summer upon winter withholdeth showers; summer cometh ere yet the winter have
discharged its showers, and itself has none, Cypr. ad Demetr. c. 1. de Mortal, c. 5.

516. u Quotidie pransi, statimque pransuri, omitted by Rig.

517. x De Jejun. c. 16.

518. y Above, c. 24.

519. Ps. 109, 24.

520. z Greg. Naz. Orat. in Julian (Or. iv. §. 71.) speaks of Christians generally, as being "well-nigh without
flesh and blood;" and again, Orat. 33. c. Ariann. et de se ipso, §. 5. of S. Athanasius; whose
"disembodiedness, as it were, and immateriality in fasting and prayer," he praises, Or. 21. in S. Athanas.
§. 10. He speaks of Christians again as seeking to be "not even flesh." Or. in Jul. iv. §. 123. (see Hav.)

521. a De Poenit. c. 9. de Patient. c. 13. of penitents, and, of public intercessions, Conc. Mog. [A.D. 813.]
c. 4. ap. Lac. "It hath seemed good to us that the greater Intercession (Litania) be observed by all
Christians for three days, as we find from reading, and as our holy fathers have instituted; not riding, nor
clothed with rich garments, but barefoot and clothed in sackcloth and ashes, unless weakness of health
prevent."

522. 1 Deum tangimus restored

523. 2 (honoratur) a vobis, Deus negligitur added

524. b Lact. v. 8. Arnob. 1. i. p. 2.

525. 3 vos malorum restored

526. 4 U tique enim

527. c Cypr. ad Demetr. c. 3.

528. Mat. 13, 29. 30.

529. d Clem. Strom, iv. 11. p. 216. ed. Sylb. The argument from the sufferings of Christians is answered
by Justin M. Apol. 1. 34. Gallican Churches, (Eus. v. 1.) Cypr. ad Demetr. c. 11. Arnob. J. 2. fin. Lact. v. 21.
22. Minuc. F. p. 337 sqq. v. fin. Aug. de Civ. D. i. 29. Kortholt de Cal. Pag. c. 23.

530. e Thus Suetonius calls Clemens, the Christian nephew of Vespasian, a person "of the most
contemptible inaction," Domit. c. 15.

531. f Cypr. de Pat. c. 2. p. 251. Oxf.

532. g Above, c. 39.

533. h See de Idol. c. 14. 16. The refusal of all intercourse is made a charge against the Jews, Euphrat. ap.
Philostr. de Vit. Apollon, v. 11.

534. i As heathen did, that they might feast the earlier.

535. k By serving an idol.

536. l Apuleius, Miles. iv. p. 72. ap. Her. and of other malefactors, Suid. v. ei1poij ta_ tri/a ap. Hav.
537. m de Cor. c. 5. Clem. Al. Paed. ii. 8. It is blamed by Caecil. ap. Minuc. F. (p. 107.) who follows T. in
his answer, p. 346.

538. 1 liberius

539. n The Romans anointed as well as burnt their dead; the Christians embalmed exclusively, as more
in harmony with the doctrine of the resurrection and natural piety. It is mentioned, de Res. Carn. c. 27.
de Idol. c. 11. Lact. ii. 4. Cassian. Collat. xv. 3. Greg. Nyss. in Fun. Melet. ap. Lac. It is ridiculed by Caecil.
ap. Minne. F. p. 107. "Ye reserve unguents for funerals," add Prud. de Exeq. Def. x. 51. 2. Acta. Pharaei,
ap. Bar. A. 209. n. 21. Acta Euplii, ib. A. 303. n. 129.

540. o Plin. Ep. ad Traj. "Certainly it is very plain, that the temples which were almost left desolate have
begun [since the persecution] to be frequented, and the sacred rites, of a long time intermitted, to be
renewed, and the victims to be commonly sold, for which hitherto very seldom was found a purchaser."
Arnob. 1. i. p. 13. "The augurs, diviners, &c.----lest their arts should come to an end, and they now
extract but petty fees from the now-seldom enquirers,---- cry aloud, 'the gods are neglected,' and now
there is the extremest thinness in the temples. The ancient rites exist but for scorn, &c." See also on the
decay of Heathenism, Lact. v. 9. Firm, de err. Prof. Rel. p. 43. Prud. de Mart. Caesar----aug. vii. 65. in
pass. Laur. iii. 497.

541. p Above, c. 13.

542. q "The Galileans, in addition to their own, support our people too," Julian. Ep. ad Arsac.

543. r Justin. Apol. i. 17. Tatian c. 4.

544. s Arnob. l. 1.

545. t Above, on c. 23.

546. 1 Pro inde

547. u Above, c. 46. ad Scap. 2. Justin M. Apol. i. §. 44. Athenag. §. 2. Minuc. F. p. 333. Theodoret. de
cur. Graec. aff. Disp. xii. circ. med. p. 1021 sqq. ed. Schutz. Lact. v. 9

548. x Above, c. 19.

549. y Senec. Ep. 94.

550. z Athenag. c. 12.

551. a c. 20.

552. b c. 19.

553. c c. 23.

554. 1 Existat qui

555. d Dum unicuique manifestatur veritas nostra, omitted by Rig.

556. 2 usui

557. e Cels. ap. Orig. c. Cels. i. 4.

558. f Above, c. 32 end.

559. g Above, c. 35.

560. h Above, c. 12. Justin M. Apol. i. 20. 24. Tatian. c. 27. Athenag. c. 7. 24.
561. i Sueton. in Vesp. (de Demetr. Cynico.) Neron, (de Isidor. Cyn.)

562. k Juv. 2. 4.

563. l Tatian c. 25. Capitolin. de Anton. Pio. Lucian. in Eunuch. (ap. Hav.)

564. m Above, c. 24. de Anim. c. 1.

565. n Plat. Phaed. §. 155. p. 118. Steph. Socrates meant probably that life was a long illness, death the
cure, (Hav.)

566. o Val. Max. iii. 4. Plin. vii. 34.

567. 1 et affectat restored

568. p Qua et illusores, et contemptores. Mimice (philosophi) omitted by Rig.

569. q Cic. Quaestt. Acad. iv. 118. Lact. iii. 14.

570. r Ad Nat. ii. 2. Cicero de Nat. D. i. 22. relates this of Hiero and Siinonides; and so Minut. F. p. 114.

571. Jer. 31, 34.

572. s In Timaeo, §. 9. p. 28. Steph.

573. t "Impossible," Plat.

574. u Above, beg. of c. p. 93.

575. x Lucian. in Vit. Auct.; Eunuch.; Dial. Meretr. x. ap. Hav. Senec. de Tranq. c. 15. Cassian. Coll. xiii. 5.
ap. Lac.

576. Rom. i, 26.

577. y Sp. presided over the school for eight years. The character, not the fact, is true, according to
Laert. in vit. 1. iv. and see generally Senec. Ep. 59. Minuc. F. v. fin.

578. z Laert. in vit.

579. a As an office open to the lower people.

580. z Above, c. 4.

581. a Ad Scap. c. 4. Plin. Ep. ad Traj.

582. b Lucian. in Parasit.

583. 1 indecore

584. c Dionysio. MSS. and Edd. Tertullian must then mean that Plato put himself in Dionysius's power for
the sake of the luxuries of the court, and so was sold by him. Lucian. in Parasit. brings the same charge.
Rig. strikes out the "a," "selleth himself to Dionysius."

585. d Lucian. in vit. Auct. Parasit. Bis accusat. Lact. iii. 8. ap. Hav.

586. e See above, on c. 44. fin.

587. f c. 19.
588. g De Test. An. c. 5. Justin M. Coh. ad Graec. 14 sqq. Apol. i. 54. Theoph. ad Aut. i. 14. Tatian. c.
Graec. c. 40. Clem. Al. Strom. i. 16. p. 366. ed. Pott. ii. init. Euseb. Praep. Ev. x. 1. xi. xii. Aug. de Doct.
Christ. ii. 28. de Civ. D. viii. 11. Theod. Or. 2. c. Graec. p. 736 sqq. ed. Schutz. ap. Elmenh. et Wouw. ad
Minuc. F. p. 323. Ambr. Ep. 37. ad Simplic. Cyrill. in Julian. l. x. Chrys. [Cyrill] in Joann. [v. p. 733.] ap. Lac.

589. h Nam quia quaedam de nostris habent, eapropter nos comparant illis. The sentence, slightly varied
in Edd. and MSS., is omitted by Rig.

590. 1 opinor restored

591. 2 legibus added

592. i Interpunction altered with Hav. Argivis. Dum ad nostra conantur, (contaminantur Rig.)

593. k Civ. de Nat. Deor. i. 103, 104. (of the Epicureans.)

594. l "Whether God sitting beholdeth his work or handleth it? whether he be, from without, spread
around it, or infused into the whole? whether the world be immortal, or to be accounted among things
perishable and born for a time." Senec. de vit. Beat. c. 31. ap. Hav.

595. m The Stoics placed their god within the world, as the anima mundi; the Epicureans, without, but
inactive.

596. n The Old Testament.

597. o Novitiola paratura. The expression is ironical, embodying at once the Christian title, "the New
Testament," and the imputation of novelty on the part of the Heathen.

598. 1 exciderunt

599. p De Praescr. Haeret. c. 31.

600. q Above, on c. 22.

601. r See note C at the end of this Book.

602. s The fiery sword of the Cherubim.

603. t See in Crinit. de Honest. Discipl. ii. 3.

604. u Quasi non quaecunque ratio praeest animarum humanarum in corpora reciprocandarum, ipsa
exigat illas in eadem corpora revocari, cum hoc sit restitui, id esse quod fuerat. Nam si non id sunt quod
fuerant, id est humanum et id ipsum corpus indutae, jam non ipsae erunt quae fuerant, quia non
potuerunt esse quod non erant, nisi desinant esse quod fuerant. Porro quae jam non erunt ipsae,
quomodo redisse dicentur? Aut aliud factae non erunt ipsae, aut manentes ipsae non erunt aliunde.
added for the most part from F.

605. w Because "after the image of the Heavenly." 1 Cor. 15, 49.

606. x De Testim. An. c. 4. beg. (so also Arnob. ii. p. 52.) T. modifies this statement in the de Res. Cam. c.
17. stating that the soul can suffer as well as act, alone, but both partially, and infers from the history of
Dives, (de Anima, c. 7.) that the soul of the wicked shall suffer before the day of judgment, alone, as it
devises its deeds alone, and then more fully with the body with which it completed them. And this
seems his meaning here, as he goes on to use the same argument, that sinning with the flesh, they shall
be punished with the flesh. He held the soul moreover to be, in a degree corporeal, (see on de Res. C. l.
c.) though apparently not enough so, to be capable of corporeal torments. In the de Res. C,. T. attests
incidentally that the immateriality of the soul was the general belief. S. Aug. (de Civ. D. xxi. 10.) adduces
the case of Dives in illustration of the suffering of daemons, supposing that they be not, though of aerial,
yet of corporeal substance, as learned men had thought.

607. y This argument is used by Tatian, C. 6. Athenag. 18-22. de Res. 14, 5. Ambros. de Fid. Res. [§. 88.]
ap. Pearson on the Creed, Art. xi. "The laws," Athen. argues, (c. 23.) "were not given to the soul alone, so
neither the rewards." Add Cyril. Jer. xviii. 19. Ambr. Exh. Virg. c. 9. §. 59.

608. z The same argument is urged by Tert. de Res. Carn. c. 11. Justin M. Apol. i. §. 19. Iren. v. 3. Tatian.
c. 6. Theophil. ad Aut. i. 8. Athenag. de Res. §. 3. Hil. in Ps. 63. Ambr. de Fid. Res. §. 64. Apost. Constt. v.
7. p. 308. Lact. vii. 23. Cyril Jer. iv. §. 30. xviii. §. 9. Prudent. adv. Symm. ii. 194. Greg. Nyss. de Opif. Hom.
c. 26 sqq. Aug. in Ps. 62. de Catech. Rud. c. 25, 27. Minuc. F. p. 326. Ruffin. in Expos. Symb. Art. de Res. v.
fin. Chrys. Hom. deRes. §. 7. Zeno de Res. l.1.2. tr. 16. §. 7.

609. 1 anima rum restored

610. a Interpunction changed, animatore; signatum et per Ipsum, &c.

611. b De Res. Carn. c. 12. Theoph. ad Aut. i. 13. Epiph. in Ancor. §. 84. (ap. Pears. l. c. whose own
language is eloquent.) Minuc. F. p. 328. Chrysol. in Symb. Ap. Serm. 59. Athenag. Leg. p. 43, Theodoret.
Orat. 9. de Prov. p. 216 sq. Prudent. 1. 2. c. Symm. Macarius, Hom. 5. Ambr. Hexaem. iii. 8. Nilus ap.
Phot. fol. 836. Chrys. Hom. 4. in 1 Cor. xv. ap. Elmenhorst. ib. Ambr. de Fid. Res. §. 53. Zeno l. c. §. 8.

612. c Greg. Nyss. de Anim. et Res. v. fin. Ambr. de Fid. Res. l. c. Minuc. l. c. Chrysost. Horn, de Res. l. c.
Chrysol. l. c. Cyril. l. c. Max. in Tradit. Symb. Epiph. user. lxiv. 37. Prud. c. Symm. 1. 2. 1. 196. Zeno l. c. §.
10. Ruffin. l. c. Theoph. l. c. and of the monthly resurrection of the moon, ib. and ii. 15. Cyril. Jer. xviii. §.
10. Zeno l. c. §. 8. of the yearly resurrection of nature. Cyril, iv. 30. xviii. §. 6, 7.

613. 1 Cor. 15, 36.

614. d "Know thyself."

615. e "Though I be consumed in rivers, in seas, or be torn by wild beasts, I am laid up in the stores of a
rich Lord." Tatian. c. 6. Athenag. de Res. c. 2 and 8. Minuc. F. p. 326, 7. Aug. in Ps. 62. §. 6. de Civ. D. xxii.
20. ap. Pearson, l. c. Ambr. de Hom. Opif. c. 26. Constt. Ap. v. 7. Ruffin. l. c.

616. f Probably the Millennium, see Note D at the end of this book.

617. g Minuc. F. p. 331. Lact vii. 21. Ambrosiast. in Thess. c. 2. Auct. de Rect. Cath. Conv. f. 798. cited ib.
Cassiod. in Ps. ap. Lac.

618. h Minuc. l. c. Greg. Naz. in Julian, Or. 1. p. 291. Cyril. peri\ e0zo&dou yuxh~j. Isid. Hisp. de Nat. Rer.
c. 46. cited ib. Pacian. de poenit. et conf. ap. Lac.
619. i It was forbidden by the laws of Numa to give funeral rites to, and so to burn, those struck by
lightning, (see ap. Hav.) T. may have looked on this as a sort of image; Minucius however, l. c. simply
interprets it, that the lightning itself destroyed without consuming, "as the fires of lightnings touch
bodies, but consume not."

620. k See on de Testim. Anim. c. 4.

621. l Arn. l. i. p. 15. ii. p. 45. Celsus ap. Orig. iii. c. 24 and 49. Lact. iv. 13.

622. m Athenag. c. 31. Chrys. Hom. de Res. init.

623. 1 Pro inde

624. n Above, c. 1. 42. below, c. 50.

625. o Comp. Lucif. Calar. ad Constant. ap. Lac. ad c. 37.

626. p De Pudic. c. ult.

627. q Above, on c. 27.

628. r Ad Mart. c. 4, de Monogam. fin.

629. s Laert. l. ix. in vit.

630. 1 quaedam

631. t Ambros. de Virginit. i. 4. Val. Max. iii. 3. relates the story of Anaxarchus.

632. u Nearchus or Diomedon, Laert. l. ix.

633. 2 impas sibilem fieri

634. 3 tolerantiae domui restored

635. 1 pro agro added

636. x The statues exhibiting the figure, as though alive:

Non incisa notis marmora publicis,

Per quae Spiritus et vita redit bonis

Post mortem ducibus.

Hor. Od. iv. 8. add Plin. xxxv. 2. Eus. de Vit. Const. i. 2. ap. Hav.

637. y Above, c. i. 42. 49.

638. z This also was a cry of the populace, Ferrar. de vet. acclam. vii. 18 ap. Hav.

639. a See ad Scap. fin. Aug. de Civ. D. xxii. 7. "The Christian faith, amid the terrors and opposition of so
many and so great persecutions, sent out the more abundant shoots throughout the whole world, as
being sown in the blood of martyrs." Serm. 22. in Ps. 67, 3. §. 4. t. v. p. 118. "The seed of blood was
scattered; arose the harvest of the Church." Leo, Serm. 1. in Nat. App. Pet. et Paul. "The Church is not
diminished by persecutions, but increased, and the field of the Lord is even clothed with the richer
harvest, in that the seeds, which fall singly, arise multiplied." Prud. in Mart. Caesar. Aug. vii. 85. "The
numbers of martyrs even groweth under every hailstorm." Add S. Aug. in Ps. 70. S. 2. §. 4. Serm. 286. in
Nat. Mart. Prot. et Gerv. §. 3. The growth under persecution is likened also to the increased fertility of
trees on pruning; (Justin M. Dial. c. 110. Theodoret. de Cur. Gr. Aff. 1. ix. p. 613;) the blood of martyrs to
watering; (Theod. l. c. Chrys. Hom. in Juvent. et Max. init. t. i. p. 579. Aug. in Ps. 39. init. Ps. 58. §.1. §. 5.
Ps. 134. §. 24. Ps. 141. §. 21. Serm. 301. in Solemn. S. Marc. ii. init. in Nat. Mart. Perp. et Fel. i. fin.;)
persecution to pouring oil on aflame. (Theod. l. c.) add Justin Ep. ad Diogn. c. 7. Auct. Quaestt. et Resp.
ad Orthod. qu. 74. Clem. Al. Strom. vi. fin. Arnob. 1. 2. p. 45. Anton. in Vit. ej. ap. Athan. c. 79. "We the
servants of Christ, the more we are pressed down, the more we rise up and flourish, &c. Aug. Ep. 137. ad
Volus. §. 16. Expos. Ps. 90. p. 1. "The more suffered, the more believed in Christ;" de Civ. D. xxii. 6. The
Christians "were bound, imprisoned, scourged, tortured, burnt, mangled, slain, and were multiplied,"
and de Ag. Christ. c. 12. "The Church, shivering the assaults of the Pagans, was more and more
strengthened, not by resisting but by enduring." Lact. v. 19. "Our side groweth daily----For the religion of
God is increased, the more it is oppressed." Add c. 23. Orig, de Princ. iv. l. "You may see how in a brief
time the religion itself grew, advancing through the deaths and sufferings of many," c. Cels. iv. 32. "The
Word of God, more powerful than all, and when hindered, making this hindering as it were the very
nourishment to its growth, advancing, took possession of yet more minds," and l. vii. 26. "The more that
kings, and rulers of nations, and people, every where laid them low, the more were they increased and
prevailed exceedingly," whence he says, 1. iii. 8. p. 452. "Inasmuch as having been taught not to resist,
they kept this gentle and loving law, therefore they accomplished, what they had not, had they, mighty
as they were, received permission to war." See the passages ap. Kortholt in Plin. et Traj. Epp. p. 173-186.
Jerom. in vit. Malchi. "By persecutions the Church grew, was crowned by martyrdoms." ad Is. viii. 9,10.
that the heathen were conquered in the martyrs. add Aug. de C. D. xviii. 53. xxii. 9. Chrys. S. de Drosid. §.
2. Hom. 33. (ol. 34.) in S. Matt. Hom. 4. in 1 Cor. §. 10. ad eos qui scandaliz. l. i. c. 23. (quoted ib.)

640. b On martyrdom, as a second Baptism, see de Bapt. c. 16. de Patient. c. 13. Scorp. c. 6. Cyprian
Exhort. ad Mart. Praef. de Orat. Dom. c. 16. Ep. 73. ad Jubaian. Auct. de rebapt. ap. Cypr. p. 364. Hil. in
Ps. 118. lit. 3. §. 5. Greg. Naz. Or. 39. in S. Lum. §. 17. and Pelag. in Rom. 6. (in connection with Luk. xii.
60.) Cypr. ap. Aug. de Bapt. iv. 22. (with the penitent Thief.) Cyril Jer.iii. 10. (coll. Mark x. 38.) Origen Tr.
12. in Matt. p. 85. and Aug. de Civ. D. xiii. 7. (coll. Matt. x. 32.) Orig. ap. Eus. H. E. vi. 4. (as "baptism of
fire,") S. Chrys. Serm. de S. Lucian. (Bapt. with the Holy Ghost.) Constt. Ap.v. 6. and Basil de Sp. S. c. 15.
(dies really with his Lord, coll. Rom. vi. 3.) Jerome Ep. 69. ad Ocean. §. 6. t. i. p. 418. Gennad. de Eccl.
Dogm. c. 74. (with other grounds.) (as sanctified by the Blood from His Side.) Ambros. de Virginit. iii. 7.
34. Jerome Ep. 84. ad Pamm. et Ocean. v. fin.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS

CHAPTER I

THE character of the present times calls upon

us to bear in mind that the heresies around us

ought not to occasion wonder either at their exist-

ence—for they were foretold as bound to exist,1 or

that they subvert the faith of some—for they exist

for the very purpose of giving an opportunity to

faith, through suffering trial, of being approved.

It is therefore due to a want of heed and reflection

that many are offended by the mere fact that

heresies have so much power. How much would

they have if they did not exist ? 2 When anything

is destined in any case to be, its being has behind

it an irresistible cause, and then this cause of its

existence makes it evident that it is impossible for

it not to exist.

1 Matt. vii. 15; xxiv. 4, 11, 24; Acts xx. 24 f.; 1 Tim.

iv. 1 f.; 2 Pet. ii. 1. In 1 Cor. xi. 19 St. Paul was probably

quoting definite words of Christ; see Knowling, Witness of

the Epistles, p. 119.

2 A Tertullianesque paradox. The non-existence of

heresies would falsify the predictions of Scripture.

35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

36 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER II

IN the case of fever, for example, to which its

own place is assigned amongst other deadly and

excruciating calamities for the destruction of man,

we do not wonder at its existence, for it does

exist; or that it destroys man, for it exists for that

purpose. Similarly in the case of heresies, which

are engendered for the weakening and destruction

of faith, if we are struck with amazement that they

have this power, we may just as well feel amaze-

ment that they exist; since as long as they exist

they have power, and as long as they have power

they have being.

Again, in the case of fever, rather than wonder

at it we loathe it as an evil, recognized as such

both from the reason of its existence and from its

power; and so far as we can we take precautions

against it, since we have not the power to annihilate

it. Yet in the case of heresies, which inflict eternal

death and the burning of a keener fire, some

persons prefer to wonder that heresies have such

power rather than to avoid their power when they

have the power to avoid it. Heresies would not

prevail a whit if men would cease to wonder at

their prevailing so greatly. For either whilst men

are wondering, they lay themselves open to an

occasion of stumbling, or because they are being

tempted to stumble, they wonder on that account,

fancying that the great power of heresies arose

from some truth that they possess. As though it

were wonderful, forsooth, that evil should have

any strength of its own. Yet it is to be observed

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 37

that heresies prevail chiefly with those who are

not valiant in the Faith.

In a contest of boxers or gladiators, in very many

cases a competitor wins the victory not because

he is strong or insuperable, but because the defeated

one was a man of no power; and hence that same

victor, when subsequently matched against a really

strong man, is himself overcome and retires. Just

in the same way heresies owe all their power to

men's weaknesses, and are powerless when they

assail a really strong faith.

CHAPTER III
IT is, indeed, not unusual for this weaker class of

men to be edified1 to their own ruin through

reliance on certain persons who have been ensnared

by heresy. Why is it, they argue, that this woman

or that man, most faithful, prudent and experienced

persons in the Church, have gone over to the other

side? Does not such a questioner himself supply

the answer ? Those whom heresy has been able

to pervert ought not to have been accounted

prudent, or faithful, or experienced. Besides, is it

anything so extraordinary for one who has been

approved afterwards to fall away again ? Saul,

good-hearted beyond the rest, was afterwards over-

thrown by envy.2 David, a man good after the

Lord's heart,3 was afterwards guilty of murder and

1 Tertullian copies St. Paul's ironical oxymoron in 1 Cor.

viii. 10.

2 1 Sam. xviii. 7 ff.

3 1 Sam. xiii. 14. But it should be noted that in the

Hebrew the phrase "after His own heart" qualifies the verb,

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38 TERTULLIAN

adultery. Solomon, gifted with every grace and

wisdom by the Lord,1 was won over to idolatry

by women.2 For the Son of GOD alone was it

reserved to continue without fault.3 What then

if a bishop, or a deacon, or a widow,4 or a virgin,

or a doctor,5 or even a confessor shall have lapsed

from the Rule of Faith; are heresies on that account

to be regarded as maintaining the Truth ? Do we

test the Creed by persons or persons by the Creed ?

No one save a Christian is wise, faithful and high

in honour; but no one is a Christian save he who

shall have endured to the end.6 Thou, being a

man, knowest each one from without. Thou

judgest from what thou seest, yet thou seest only

as far as thine eyes permit thee. But "the eyes

of the Lord are high," saith the Scripture.7 "Man

looketh upon the outward appearance, GOD looketh

upon the heart." 8 And for that reason the Lord

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

not the object. "Yhvh after his own mind [ = uninfluenced

by human motives] hath sought a man." Acts xiii. 22 gives

a midrashic paraphrase.

1 I King's iii. 12 ; iv. 29.

2 1 Kings xi. 4 ff.

3 1 Pet. ii. 22.

4 For the early institution of the Order of Widows, see

1 Tim. v. 9; Apost. Const. II, 36; III, 7.

5 In the North African Church the special duty of the

"doctores," who might be Readers, Deacons or Presbyters,

was the instruction of the Catechumens.

6 Matt. x. 22.

7 Tertullian often quotes Scripture very loosely, sometimes

giving the sense, sometimes weaving together several texts,

as in the immediately following sentences. Other instances

will be found in Chaps. VII, VIII, XI; Apol. 33. The

present quotation has been thought to refer to 4 Esdras

viii. 20; cp. Jer. xvi. 17; xxxii. 19.

8 1 Sam, xvi. 7.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 39

seeth and knoweth who are His.1 The slip that

He hath not set He rooteth up.2 He shows that

"there shall be last from those that are first," 3 and

He carries "a fan in His hand to purge His

threshing-floor." 4 Let the chaff of a fickle faith

fly forth as it wills with every blast of temptation : 5

so will the bulk of the grain be purer which is to

be stored in the garner of the Lord. Did not some

of the disciples, being offended, turn away from

the Lord Himself ? 6 Nevertheless the rest did not

think that for that reason they too ought to depart

from His footsteps. Those who knew Him to be

the Word of Life and to have come forth from

GOD 7 continued in His company even to the end,

after He had calmly confronted them with the

question whether they also were willing to go

away.8 It is of less moment that men like Phygelus

and Hermogenes 9 and Philetus and Hymenaeus 10

deserted the Apostles : the very betrayer of Christ

was of the Apostles.

We make it a matter of wonder if Christ's

Churches are sometimes deserted; whereas the

very things which we suffer after the example of

Christ show that we are Christians. "They went

out from us," says the Apostle,11 "but they were

not of us. If they had been of us, they would

certainly have continued with us."

1 2 Tim. ii. 19.

2 Matt. xv. 13.

3 Luke xiii. 30.

4 Matt. iii. 12.

5 Eph. iv. 14.

6 John vi. 60 ff.

7 John xvi. 30.

8 John vi. 67.

9 2 Tim. i. 15.

10 2 Tim. ii. 17.

11 I John ii. 19.

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40 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER IV

LET us rather be mindful both of the statements

of the Lord 1 and of the Apostolic Letters 2 which

foretold to us that heresies should be, and enjoined

that they should be avoided; and as we are not

dumbfounded at their existence, so let us not

wonder that they possess that power which makes

it necessary for them to be avoided.

The Lord taught that many ravening wolves

would come in sheep's clothing. And what is

sheep's clothing but the outward profession of the

Christian name ? 3 What are the ravening wolves

but crafty intentions and dispositions lurking

within to molest the flock of Christ ? Who are

false prophets but false preachers ? Who are false

Apostles but spurious evangelizers ? Who are the

Antichrists now and ever but the rebels against

Christ ? There are, through wilfulness of teach-

ings, heresies assailing the Church; at the present

time no less than in the future will Antichrist

attack her by cruelty of persecutions, only there

is this difference: persecution makes martyrs,

heresy only apostates. And therefore it was neces-

sary that there should be heresies, in order that

those who are approved might be made manifest—

meaning both those who shall have stood fast in

times of persecution and those who shall not have

strayed away to heresies. For the Apostle does

1 Matt. vii. 15; xxiv. 4, 11, 24.

2 1 Cor. xi. 19; 1 Tim. iv. 1 f. ; 2 Pet. ii. 1.

3 This passage evidently suggested Vincent of Lerins'

Common. 25, 66,

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 41

not wish those to be accounted approved who

change the Faith into heresy; as they perversely

interpret his words in their own favour, because

he said in another place,1 "Prove all things, hold

fast that which is good." As if it were not

possible after proving all things amiss to fasten

through error upon the choice of some evil.

CHAPTER V

BESIDES, when he rebukes dissensions and

schisms which are undoubted evils, he immediately

adds "heresies"2 also. That which he adjoins to

evil things he assuredly confesses to be an evil,

and indeed'a greater evil, since he says he believed

concerning their dissensions and schisms, because

he knew that heresies moreover must be. He

showed that in view of the greater evil he easily

believed about the lighter evils: certainly not

meaning that he thus believed concerning the evils,

because heresies were good, but to forewarn them

not to marvel about temptations of a worse char-

acter, which, he asserted, tended to make manifest

those who were approved, that is, those whom

heresies could not pervert. Similarly, since the

whole section savours of the preservation of unity

and the restraint of divisions, whilst heresies

divorce from unity no less than schisms and dissen-

'sions, undoubtedly he includes heresies in that

same category of blame in which he also places

schisms and dissensions; and hence he does make

1 1 Thess, v. 21.

2 1 Cor. xi, 18, 19.

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42 TERTULLIAN

those to be approved who have turned aside to

heresies, since he pointedly exhorts men to turn

away from such, and teaches all to speak one thing

and to be minded the selfsame way 1—an ideal

which heresy does not allow.

CHAPTER VI

WE need not dwell longer on this point, since

it is the same Paul who also in another place, when

writing to the Galatians,2 classes heresies among

carnal sins, and who warns Titus3 that a man that

is an heretic must be avoided after the first admoni-

tion,4 because he that is such has become perverted

and sins, being self-condemned. Moreover, also

in nearly every Epistle, when enjoining the neces-

sity of fleeing false doctrines, he indicates heresies.

For false doctrines are the production of heresies :

heresies being so-called from a Greek word which

signifies the "choice" which any one makes when

introducing or adopting them.5 And it is for this

reason that he calls a heretic self-condemned,

because he chose for himself that wherein he is

condemned. For us, however, it is not lawful to

1 1 Cor. i. 10. 2 Gal. v. 20.

3 Titus iii. 10.

4 The Latin version of the New Testament used by

Tertullian omitted " et alteram."

5 Ai3resij. This is the true definition of heresy. Etymo-

logically it is self-willed choice, in contrast to the receptive

docility of the Catholic temper : practically it is the invention

or espousal of new and erroneous teaching contrary to the

tradition handed down by the Apostles and Apostolic

Churches from Christ. Cp. Chaps. XIV, XXXVII; Apol. 47.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 43

introduce anything on our own authority, nor to

choose that which any one else has similarly intro-

duced. We have the Apostles of the Lord as our

authorities, who not even themselves chose to

introduce anything on their own authority, but

faithfully handed on to the nations the rule received

from Christ. Consequently, if even an angel from

heaven preached otherwise, he would be called

anathema by us.1 Already at that time had the

Holy Spirit perceived that there would be an

angel of deceit in a certain virgin Philumena,2

transforming himself into an angel of light;3 by

whose signs and deceptions Apelles,4 being led

away, introduced a new heresy.

CHAPTER VII

THESE are the doctrines of men and of daemons,5

generated for itching ears6 by the ingenuity of

that worldly wisdom which the Lord called foolish-

ness, and chose the foolish things 7 of the world

to confound even philosophy itself. For philo-

1 Gal. i. 8.

2 A virgin to whom Apelles attached himself, believing

her to be inspired by an angel and endowed with miraculous

powers. Her utterances were the source of several of his

tenets, and he wrote a book of "Revelations" at her dicta-

tion. See Chap. XXX, de carne Chr. 6. She seems to have

been a clairvoyante.
3 2 Cor. xi. 14.

4 Apelles was the most famous of Marcion's disciples, born

early in the second century. See note below on Chap. XXX.

5 1 Tim. iv. 1. 6 2 Tim. iv, 3.

7 1 Cor. 1. 27; iii. 19.

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44 TERTULLIAN

sophy is the theme of worldly wisdom, that rash

interpreter of the Divine Nature and Order. And

in fact, heresies are themselves equipped by philo-

sophy. Thence come Valentinus' "aeons" and

I know not what infinite "ideas" and "trinity of

man." 1 He was a Platonist. Thence, too, the

"better GOD" of Marcion,2 so-called because of

his tranquillity. He came from the Stoics. And

when the soul is affirmed to perish,3 that is a tenet

taken from the Epicureans. And when the

restoration of the flesh is denied, that is assumed

from the uniform teaching of all the philosophers.

And when matter is identified with GOD, that is the

doctrine of Zeno.4 And when any statement is

made about a fiery god,5 Heracleitus comes in.

The same themes are pondered by heretics and

philosophers : the same subjects of consideration

are involved—Whence came evil, and why? and

Whence came man, and how? and—a question

lately propounded by Valentinus—Whence came

GOD? From Desire,6 forsooth, and an Abortion.

1 See below, Chap. XXXIII.

2 The Supreme GOD of pure benevolence, in Marcion's

system; not the Creator, the "just" or "severe" GOD of

the Old Testament. Cp. Justin Mart., Apol. I, 26. See

below on Chap. XXX.

3 The tenet of Marcion's disciple Lucanus : de res. carn. 2.

4 The eternity of matter was a tenet of Hermogenes :

adv. Herm. 4. Zeno taught that the universe was the

essential being of GOD : Diog. Laert. VII, 148.

5 Apelles' Creator and Old Testament Deity was a fiery

god or angel, a notion derived from Exod. iii. 2.

6 'Enqu&mhsij was the "Animatio" or "Desire" of the

"Higher Sophia" in the Valentinian system, and being a

formless abortion, e1ktrwma, was driven forth from the

Pleroma. From her was derived the Demiurge, or God

of mankind.
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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 45

Wretched Aristotle ! who established for them the

dialectic art, so ingenious in the construction and

refutation of propositions, so crafty in statements,

so forced in hypotheses, so inflexible in arguments,

so laborious in disputes, so damaging even to itself,

always reconsidering everything, so that it never

treats thoroughly of anything at all.

Hence come those fables and endless gene-

alogies,1 and profitless questions, and words which

spread like a cancer; in restraining us from which

the Apostle expressly mentions philosophy as that

which we ought to beware of, writing to the

Colossians,2 "Take heed lest any one beguile you

through philosophy or vain deceit, according to

the tradition of men," beyond the providence of the

Holy Spirit. The Apostle had been at Athens,

and in his argumentative encounters there had

become acquainted with that human wisdom which

affects and corrupts the Truth, itself also being

many times divided into its own heresies by the

variety of its mutually antagonistic sects.

What then hath Athens in common with

Jerusalem ? What hath the Academy in common

with the Church ? 3 What have heretics in common

with Christians ? Our principles are from the

"Porch" of Solomon,4 who himself handed down

that the Lord must be sought in simplicity of

1 1 Tim. i. 4; Titus iii. 9; 2 Tim. ii. 17, 23.

2 Col. ii. 8.

3 Tertullian models his queries on those of St. Paul, 2 Cor.

vi. 14 ff. On this attitude of the Karthaginian School, see

the Introduction, p. viii.

4 Solomon's Porch, i. e. the teaching of Christ and His

Apostles: John x. 23; Acts iii. 2; v. 12. The implied

contrast is to the Porch of Zeno.

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46 TERTULLIAN

heart.1 Away with those who bring forward a

Stoic or Platonic or dialectic Christianity. We

have no need of speculative inquiry after we have

known Christ Jesus; nor of search for the Truth

after we have received the Gospel. When we

become believers, we have no desire to believe

anything besides; for the first article of our belief

is that there is nothing besides which we ought to

believe.
CHAPTER VIII

AND so I come to that sentence which our own

members bring forward to justify speculative

inquiry, and which heretics also urge as a reason

for introducing restless hesitancy. It is written,2

they say, "Seek and ye shall find."3

Now let us call to mind when it was that the

Lord uttered these words. It was surely at the very

beginning of His teaching, when as yet all were

in doubt whether He were the Christ; when as

yet Peter had not pronounced Him to be the Son

of GoD,4 when even John had ceased to be certain

about Him.5 Rightly therefore at that time was the

injunction given, "Seek and ye shall find," when

1 Wisdom, i. 1.

2 On the abuse of this formula by heretics, see Vincent of

Lerins' Common. XXVI, 69.

3 Matt. vii. 7; Luke xi. 9.

4 Matt. xvi. 14 ff.

5 Matt. xi. 2 ; Luke xii. 18; the various patristic inter-

pretations of John the Baptist's question are collected in the

Oxf. Litr. Fathers ad hoc.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 47

as yet He had to be sought Who was not yet

recognized.1

Besides, this saying was only for the Jews. For

the whole purport of that admonition was directed

to those who had in their possession the sources

whence to seek the Christ. "They have Moses

and Elias,"2 it says, that is, the Law and the

Prophets which proclaim the Christ. Similarly in

another place also expressly, "Search the Scrip-

tures in which ye hope for salvation, for they

speak of Me." 3 And this will be the meaning of

"Seek and ye shall find."

For it is plain that what follows is also pertinent

to the Jews: "Knock and it shall be opened to

you." The Jews had in times past been within

the household of GOD; but afterwards, when

rejected on account of their transgressions, they

began to be apart from GOD. Whereas the nations

were never within GOD'S household: they were

nothing more than "a drop from a bucket and dust

from a threshing-floor," 4 and were always outside

the door. How then shall one who has ever been

outside knock where he has never been ? What

door is he acquainted with whereat he has never

been either received or rejected ? Is it not rather

one who knows that he has once been within and

has been turned out, who knocks and recognizes the

door?

1 In this interpretation of the words Tertullian deserts

Clement of Alexandria, whom he elsewhere often follows

(see an article by Noldechen in the Jahrb. f. protest.

Theologie, XII, 279). Clement applies the injunction to

urge the Christian's advance in knowledge: Strom. I, 51.

2 Luke xvi. 29; an instance of careless quotation.

3 John v. 39. 4 Isa. xl. 15

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48 TERTULLIAN

Likewise, ''Ask and ye shall receive"1 is

relevant to the case of one who is aware to Whom

request must be made and by Whom something

has been promised, namely, by the GOD of

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Whose Person the

nations had no more knowledge than they had

of any promises of His. And therefore He said

with reference to Israel, "I have not been sent but

to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 2 Not

yet had He cast the children's bread to the dogs;

not yet was He bidding them to go into the way

of the nations.3 It was only at the last that He

commanded them to go and teach and baptize the

nations4 when they were on the point of receiving

the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Who would guide

them into all Truth.5 This therefore also supports

our interpretation. Moreover, if the Apostles, the

destined teachers of the nations, were themselves

about to receive the Paraclete as their teacher, the

injunction, "Seek and ye shall find" was still less

applicable to our case; for the doctrine was about

to come to us without research through the Apostles

as to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit. All

the Lord's sayings, indeed, which have come to

us through the ears of the Jews have been set down

for all; but many of them, addressed to particular

classes of persons, only possess for us the character

of example, not of injunction.

1 John xvi. 24. Tertullian frequently confuses this verse

with Matt. vii. 7, which he evidently meant to quote here.

2 Matt. xv. 24. 3 Matt. x. 5.

4 Matt, xxviii. 19. 5 John xvi. 13.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 49

CHAPTER IX

Now I am going to grant you your point volun-

tarily. I will admit, for the sake of argument, that

the words "Seek and ye shall find" were addressed

to all. Yet even this view is bound to clash with

any reasonable rule of interpretation. For no

Divine word is so unqualified or so unlimited in

its application that the words alone can be used

in argument and their real purport be disregarded.

But among first principles I lay this down : that

there was a one and definite Truth taught by

Christ, which the nations are bound by every

means to believe, and therefore to seek, so that

when they have found it they may believe it. Yet

surely an indefinite search for a single and definite

teaching is impossible. Thou must seek until thou

findest, and thou must believe when thou hast

found. And then nothing more remains for thee

to do, save to keep what thou hast believed—pro-

vided that thou believest also that there is nothing

else to be believed, and therefore nothing remains

to be sought for, since thou hast found and believed

what was taught by Him Who bids thee seek for

nothing beyond that which He taught.

And if any one is in uncertainty what this is,

it will be established that Christ's teaching is to be

found with us. And for the moment, out of con-

fidence in my proof, I anticipate it, and admonish

certain persons that nothing must be sought

beyond what they believe to be the proper objects

of their search, lest they interpret "Seek and ye

shall find " without strict regard to its real purport.

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50 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER X

Now the true purport of this saying is to be

found in three points—in the matter, in the time,

and in the limitation. In the matter, for thou

must consider what is to be sought; in the time,

when thou must seek it; and in the limitation,

how long. It follows that that is to be sought

which Christ taught, just so long as thou findest

not, and until thou findest. But thou didst find

when thou didst believe. For thou hadst not

believed unless thou hadst found, just as thou

wouldst not have sought except that thou mightest

find. The very object of thy seeking was to find,

and the result of thy finding was to believe. Any

further extension of seeking and finding was put

an end to by thy believing. The very issue of thy

search brought about this restriction for thee. This

limit has been fixed for thee by Him Himself Who

wills thee neither to believe nor to seek anything

beyond what He taught.

If, however, we ought to seek in proportion as

we are able to find, because so many varying

doctrines have been taught by different persons,

we shall be for ever seeking and never believing

at all. For where will be the end of seeking?

Where the resting-place of belief ? Where the ful-

filment of finding? With Marcion ? 1 But Valen-

tinus also enunciates "Seek and ye shall find."

With Valentinus, then ? But Apelles too will attack

me with this same injunction; and Ebion2 and

1 See below, Chap. XXXIII.

2 Tertullian evolved a person and a surname from the

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 51

Simon 1 and all one after another who have no

other means of ingratiating themselves with me

and winning me over to their party. And so I

shall be nowhere ! whilst I am met on all sides with

"Seek and ye shall find"; just as if I were

nowhere—as though I were one who had never

apprehended, what Christ taught, what ought to

be sought, what ought to be believed.

CHAPTER XI

ONE may safely wander, if one does not go

wrong; although, indeed, to wander is to go

wrong; but I mean that he who deserts nothing

may safely go astray. Yet surely if I believed

what I ought to believe, and still think there is

something else to be sought anew, hoping of course

that there is something to be found, this hope is

due to nothing else than either my never having

believed really when I seemed to believe, or to my

having ceased to believe. And so in deserting my

faith I am found to be the denier of it.

Let me say once for all: No one seeks save he

who either has not possessed or has lost his posses-

sion. The old woman 2 had lost one of her ten

drachmae, and therefore she was seeking it; yet as

soon as she found it she stopped her search. The

neighbour3 had no bread, and therefore he was

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

self-assumed title, ' Ebionites " ("The Poor"), of a sect who

claimed to be the true representatives of those who had

received the Lord's benediction : Luke vi. 20; cp. Matt. x. 3.

See further in Chap. XXXIII.

1 Simon Magus, Acts viii. 9 ff.; see below, Chap. XXXII1.

2 Luke xv. 8. 3 Ib. xi. 5.

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52 TERTULLIAN

knocking; yet as soon as the door was opened to

him and he received the bread, he ceased to knock.

The widow 1 was asking to be heard by the judge,

because she was not granted an audience; yet as

soon as she was heard, she no longer persisted.

There is therefore a limit to seeking and knocking

and asking. "For to him that asketh it shall be

given, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened,

and by him that seeketh it shall be found." Away

with the man who is ever seeking because he does

not find ! for he is seeking in a place where he will

not find. Away with the man who is ever knock-

ing because it will never be opened to him ! for

he is knocking where no one is. Away with the

man who is ever asking because he will never be

heard ! for he is asking from one who does not

hear.

CHAPTER XII

BUT even supposing that we ought to be seeking

now and ever, where ought the search to be made ?

Amongst the heretics, where everything is strange

and antagonistic to our truth, and whom we are

forbidden to approach ? What slave looks for his

food from a stranger, let alone his master's enemy ?

What soldier seeks to obtain largess and pay from

unallied, let alone hostile, kings—unless, indeed,

he be a deserter or a runaway or a rebel ? Even

the old woman spoken of was looking for the

drachma within her own house; even the man who

knocked was thumping his neighbour's door; even

1 Luke xviii. 2 ff.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 53

the widow was making her appeal, not to a hostile

albeit a harsh judge. It is impossible for any one

to receive instruction from the same quarter whence

destruction comes; it is impossible for any one

to be enlightened by that which darkens. Let us

make our search, therefore, in our own and from

our own and concerning our own; provided only

that nothing comes into question which attacks the

Rule of Faith.

CHAPTER XIII

Now the Rule of Faith 1—that we may here at

this point make our profession of what we maintain

—is unquestionably that wherein our belief is

affirmed that there is but ONE GOD, the Selfsame

with the Creator of the world, Who produced all

things out of nothing through His Word sent

down in the beginning of all things; that this

Word is called His Son, Who in the Name of

GOD was seen under divers forms by the patriarchs,

was ever heard in the prophets, and lastly was

brought down by the Spirit and Power of GOD

the Father into the Virgin Mary, became Flesh in

her womb, and being born of her lived as Jesus

Christ; that thereafter He proclaimed a new law

and a new promise of the Kingdom of Heaven,

wrought miracles, was crucified, and on the third

day rose again, was caught up into the heavens,

and sat down at the right hand of the Father; that

He sent the Vicarious Power of the Holy Spirit

to lead believers; that He will come with glory to

1 See the Introduction, p. x.

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54 TERTULLIAN

take the saints into the enjoyment of life eternal

and of the heavenly promises, and to adjudge the

wicked to fire perpetual, after the resurrection of

both good and bad has taken place together with

the restoration of their flesh.1

This Rule, taught (as it will be proved) by Christ,

admits no questionings amongst us, save those

which heresies introduce and which make heretics.

CHAPTER XIV

Now, provided that the form of this Rule be

preserved in its own place, thou mayest seek and

discuss as much as thou pleasest, and pour forth

thy whole desire for curious inquiry if any point

seem to thee to be undetermined through ambiguity

or obscure from want of clearness. There is surely

some brother, a doctor gifted with the grace of

knowledge, some one amongst those well-skilled

ones who are intimate with thee, and like thyself

curious, who although like thyself a seeker will

know that it is better for thee in the end to be

ignorant, thus avoiding thy knowing what thou

oughtest not, since thou already knowest what

thou oughtest to know. "Thy faith," Christ said,2

"hath saved thee," not thy argumentative skill in

the Scriptures. Faith is posited in a Rule : it hath

a Law, and Salvation that cometh from the observ-

ance of the Law. But argumentative skill depends

upon curious inquiry, and possesses a fame derived

1 Tertullian's materialistic views of the soul naturally led

him to equally materialistic views of the resurrection body.

2 Luke xviii. 42.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 55

solely from zeal in practice. Let curiosity yield

to faith, let fame give place to salvation. At all

events let them cease to be a hindrance, or let

them be quiet. To know nothing contrary to the

Rule is to know everything. Suppose that heretics

were not the enemies of the Truth; suppose that

we were not forewarned to avoid them, yet what

kind of an action would it be to unite with men

who even themselves profess that they are still

seeking? If they are still truly seeking, they have

as yet found nothing certain, and therefore as long

as they go on seeking they display their own hesita-

tion about any tenets which they seem for the

moment to hold; And so if thou who art similarly

a seeker lookest to them who themselves are also

seekers—a man in doubt looking to others in doubt,

a man in uncertainty to others in like plight—blind

thyself, thou art bound to be led by the blind into

the ditch.1

But when for purposes of deceit they pretend to

be still seeking, in order craftily to recommend their

own views to us through an insinuation of dis-

quietude, and having approached us immediately

defend those points which they previously said

needed investigation, we are at once bound to

refute them so as to make them understand that

we are not deniers of Christ but of themselves.

For while they are still seeking they are not yet

holding, and since they are not holding they have

not yet believed, and since they have not yet

believed they are not yet Christians.

But, it may be objected, when they do really

hold and believe, they affirm the necessity of seek-

1 Matt. xv. 14.

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56 TERTULLIAN

ing in order that they may be able to defend their

belief.

Then they actually deny it before they defend

it, since whilst they are seeking they confess that

they have not yet believed. How much more are

they not Christians to us who are not even so to

themselves. What kind of a faith do they argue

for who arrive at it by deceit ? To what truth

do they lend their countenance who introduce it

with a lie ?

But they themselves treat of the Scriptures and

argue out of the Scriptures. Of course; for

whence could they speak concerning the things

of the Faith save out of the literature of the

Faith ?

CHAPTER XV

WE come, then, to our main point; for to this

indeed we were steering, and for this we were

laying the preparatory foundation in our preceding

discourse. So that from this point onward we may

contest the ground on which our opponents make

their appeal. They make the Scriptures the ground

of their plea, and by this audacious stroke of theirs

immediately influence a certain number of persons.

Moreover, in the encounter itself, they weary even

the strong, they capture the weak, and the un-

decided they send away anxious. We therefore

make our strongest stand in maintaining that

they are not to be admitted to any discussion

of the Scriptures at all. If the Scriptures are to

be their source of strength, then the question

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 57

as to who are the rightful possessors of the

Scriptures must be gone into first, so as to prevent

their use by one who has no manner of right to

them.

CHAPTER XVI

I MIGHT be bringing forward this objection from

a want of confidence, or from a wish to enter upon

the case in dispute in a different manner from the

heretics, were not a reason to be found at the outset

in that our Faith owes obedience to the Apostle

who forbids us to enter into questionings, or to

lend our ears to novel sayings, or to associate with

a heretic after one admonition 1—he does not say

after discussion. Indeed, he forbade discussion by

fixing on admonition as the reason for meeting a

heretic. And he mentions this one admonition,

because a heretic is not a Christian, and to prevent

his appearing worthy of being, like a Christian,2

censured once and again in the presence of two

or three witnesses; since he is to be censured for

the same reason that he is not to be disputed with

—because argumentative contests about the Scrip-

tures profit nothing, save of course to upset the

stomach or the brain.

CHAPTER XVII

THIS or that heresy rejects certain of the Scrip-

tures, and those which it receives it perverts both

1 1 Tim. vi. 4; Titus iii. 10. 2 Matt, xviii. 15.

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58 TERTULLIAN

by additions and excisions to agree with its own

teaching. For even when it receives them it does

not receive them entire, and if it does in some

cases receive them entire, it none the less perverts

them by fabricating heterodox interpretations.1 A

spurious interpretation injures the Truth quite as

much as a tampered text. Baseless presumptions

naturally refuse to acknowledge the means of their

own refutation. They rely on passages which they

have fraudulently rearranged or received because

of their obscurity.2 What wilt thou effect, though

thou art most skilled in the Scriptures, if what thou

maintainest is rejected by the other side and what

thou rejectest is maintained ? Thou wilt indeed

lose nothing—save thy voice in the dispute; and

gain nothing—save indignation at the blasphemy.

1 Tertullian is here following Clement Alex. (Strom.

VII, 16), and this, I think, determines his meaning. He is

not referring to spurious scriptures, such as the Psalms of

Valentinus or the Phaneroseis of Apelles, but to the genuine

Scriptures, which some of the heretics mutilated or per-

verted. Clement's words are: "Though it be true that the

heretics also have the audacity to use the prophetic Scrip-

tures, yet in the first place they do not use them all, and in

the second place they do not use them in their entirety, nor

as the general frame and tissue of the prophecy suggest;

but picking out ambiguous phrases, they turn them to their

own opinions, plucking a few scattered utterances, without

considering what is intended by them, but perverting the

bare letter as it stands. For in almost all the passages

they employ you will find how they attend to the words

alone, while they change the meaning, neither understand-

ing them as they are spoken, nor even using in their natural

sense such extracts as they adduce." On the dishonest

neglect of the context of Scripture, see Vincent of Lerins'

Comm. xxv. 64 f. ; Cyprian, de unit. eccl. II.

2 The Marcionites mutilated, the rest explained them

away : Iren, III, 12, 12.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 59

CHAPTER XVIII

BUT the man for whose sake thou mayest have

entered into an argument from the Scriptures in

order to strengthen him when wavering, will he

incline more to the Truth or to heresies? Influ-

enced by the very fact that he sees thou hast

effected nothing, since each side possesses equal

vantage-ground in denial and assertion, and is

without doubt in a like position, he will go away

rendered still more uncertain by the discussion,

and not knowing which he is to adjudge the heresy.

For they themselves are naturally bound to retort

these charges upon us. They must necessarily

assert that the falsification of the Scriptures and

lying interpretations have been introduced by us,

because they equally maintain that the Truth is

with them.

CHAPTER XIX
APPEAL, therefore, must not be made to the

Scriptures, nor must the contest be carried on con-

cerning points where victory is impossible or

uncertain or too little uncertain. For even though

the discussion from the Scriptures should not so

result as to place each side in an equal position,

the order of things would demand that this point

should first be decided—the point which alone now

calls for discussion, namely : Who holds the Faith

to which the Scriptures belong ? From whom and

through whom, and when, and to whom was the

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60 TERTULLIAN

doctrinal teaching delivered whereby men are made

Christians ? For wheresoever it shall appear that

the true Christian religion and faith exist, there

will be found the true Scriptures and interpretations

and all Christian traditions.

CHAPTER XX

CHRIST JESUS our Lord (may He allow me so

to speak for the moment), Whoever He is, of

whatever GOD the Son, of whatever substance Man

and GOD, of whatever Faith the Teacher, of what-

ever reward the Promiser, did, while he was living

on earth, Himself declare what He was, what He

had been, what was His Father's will which He

carried out, what was the duty of man that He laid

down, either openly to the people or privately to

His disciples, out of the number of whom He

had attached to Himself twelve special ones who

were destined to be the teachers of the nations.

Consequently, when one of them was struck off,

He bade the eleven remaining ones to go and teach

all nations, who were to be baptized into the Father

and into the Son and into the Holy Spirit.1 Imme-

diately, therefore, the Apostles (whose title denotes

their being sent), having added to their number

by lot a twelfth,2 Matthias, in the place of Judas,

on the authority of a prophecy in a Psalm of

David,3 and having obtained the promised power

of the Holy Spirit for miracles and for utterance,

1 Matt, xxviii. 19 f. 2 Acts i. 20.

3 Ps. cix. 8.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 61

first throughout Judaea bore witness to the faith

in Christ Jesus; and, having founded Churches,

then went forth into the world and spread abroad

the same doctrine of the same Faith to the nations.

In like manner, too, they founded Churches in

every city, from which the rest of the Churches

hereafter have derived the transmission of their

faith and the seeds of their doctrine, and are daily

deriving them in order to become Churches.

Thus these Churches themselves are also reckoned

as Apostolic because they are the offspring of

Apostolic Churches. Every kind of thing must

necessarily be classed according to its origin.

Consequently these Churches, numerous and im-

portant as they are, form but the one Primitive

Church founded by the Apostles; from which source

they all derive. So that all are primitive and all

are Apostolic; whilst that all are in one Unity is

proved by the fellowship of peace and title of

brotherhood and common pledge of amity 1—privi-

leges which nothing governs but the one tradition

of the selfsame Bond of Faith.

CHAPTER XXI

ON this ground, therefore, we rule our limita-

tion that if the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles

1 Contesseratio hospitalitalis. The contesseratio was their

unity of doctrine; see below, Chap. XXXVI, for the con-

tesseratio between Rome and the African Churches. One

practical outcome of this was the hospitable entertainment

of ordinary laymen (who were provided by their bishop with

Letters of Communion) by their Christian brethren in every

part of the world : Sozom. V, 16.

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62 TERTULLIAN

to preach, no others ought to be received as

preachers save those whom Christ appointed; since

no other knoweth the Father save the Son, and

He to whom the Son hath revealed Him.1 Nor

does the Son appear to have revealed Him to any

but the Apostles whom He sent to preach—surely

only what He revealed to them.

Now what they preached—that is, what Christ

revealed to them—I rule ought to be proved by

no other means than through the same Churches

which the Apostles themselves founded by preach-

ing to them viva voce, as men say, and afterwards

by Epistles. If this is so, it follows accordingly

that all doctrine which agrees with those Apostolic

Churches and original founts of Faith must be

reckoned for Truth, as preserving unquestionably

that which the Churches received from the

Apostles, and the Apostles from Christ, and Christ

from God; and, on the other hand, that all doctrine

which savours contrary to the Truth of the

Churches and of the Apostles of Christ and of

GOD, must be condemned at once as having its

origin in falsehood. It remains therefore for us

to show whether this our doctrine—the Rule of

which we have set forth above—is derived from the

tradition of the Apostles; and, as a deduction from

this, whether the other doctrines come of falsehood.

We are in communion with the Apostolic

Churches, a privilege which no diverse doctrine

enjoys. This is evidence of Truth.

1 Matt. xi. 27.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 63

CHAPTER XXII

BUT inasmuch as the proof is so easy that were

it immediately produced nothing would remain for

consideration, let us for the moment, supposing

we had no proof to produce, give place to our

opponents to see if they think they can set aside

this limitation.

They are wont to say that the Apostles did not

know all things; driven to this by the same mad-

ness which leads them to face about again and say

that the Apostles did indeed know all things but

did not deliver all things to all persons—in either

case exposing Christ to blame for sending out

Apostles with either too little preparation or too

little simplicity.

But who in his senses can believe that those men

were ignorant of anything, whom the Lord gave

to be teachers, keeping them close to Himself in

companionship,1 in discipleship, in society; to

whom He was accustomed to explain privately

whatever was obscure,2 saying that it was granted

to them to know hidden truths which the people

were not permitted to understand ? 3 Was anything

hidden from Peter who was called the Rock4 of

1 Mark iii. 14. 2 Ib. iv. 34.

3 Matt. xiii. 11.

4 Ib. xvi. 18. Tertullian is not quite consistent in his

interpretation of this passage. Here and de monog. 8 and

de pud. 21 he makes St. Peter the rock, but adv. Marc.

IV, 13 the rock is Christ. The patristic exegesis of this

text often varied, even in the writings of the same father,

as the point of view varied. In a somewhat similar way

Christ is regarded by St. Paul sometimes as Himself the

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64 TERTULLIAN

the Church which was to be built, who obtained

the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the

power of loosing and binding in Heaven and on

earth? Was anything hidden from John, the most

beloved of the Lord, who lay on His breast,1 to

whom alone the Lord beforehand pointed out

Judas the traitor, and whom He commended to

Mary as a son in His own place ? 2 Who can main-

tain that they were ignorant to whom He even

manifested His own glory, and Moses and Elijah,

and the voice of His Father from heaven?3 not as

though He were rejecting the other Apostles, but

because "by three witnesses shall every word be

established." 4 Then too, they must be ignorant

to whom after His Resurrection He deigned to

expound all the Scriptures in the way.5

True enough He did once say, " I have yet many

things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them

now " ; 6 adding, however, "When He, the Spirit of

Truth, shall have come, He will lead you into all

Truth." He shewed that they who, according to

His promise, should attain all Truth through the

Spirit of Truth, would be ignorant of nothing.

And surely He fulfilled His promise, for the

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"foundation" of the Church (1 Cor. iii. 11), and sometimes

as the "corner stone," with the Apostles and Prophets as

the foundation (Eph. ii. 20). See Lightfoot, Clem. Rom.

II, 482 ff.

1 Hence the title of the Apostle o9 e0pisth&qioj : See Westcott on

John xiii. 25.

2 Ib. xix. 26.

3 Matt. xvii. 1 ff. ; Mark ix. 1 ff.; Luke ix. 28 ff.

4 Deut. xix. 15; Matt, xviii. 16; 2 Cor. xiii. 1.

5 Luke xxiv. 32.

6 John xvi. 13 f.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 65

Acts of the Apostles prove the descent of the Holy

Spirit.1 And those who do not receive this Scrip-

ture 2 are unable either to recognize that the Holy

Spirit has yet been sent to the disciples, or to

maintain that they themselves are the Church,

since they cannot prove when or with what origin

this body was founded. It is of vast importance

to them not to produce the proofs of their position,

lest simultaneously the exposure of their falsehoods

should be obvious.

CHAPTER XXIII

FOR the purpose of scoffing at some ignorance

in the Apostles, the heretics bring forward the

point that Peter and his companions were blamed

by Paul. "Something therefore," say they, "was

lacking in them." They say this in order to build

up that other contention of theirs, that a fuller

knowledge might afterwards have come to them,

such as came to Paul who blamed his predecessors.

Now here I may say to those who reject the

Acts of the Apostles: "The first thing for you to

do is to shew who this Paul was—both what he

was before he was an Apostle, and how he became

an Apostle".; since at other times they make very

great use of him in disputed matters. For though

he himself declares that from a persecutor he

became an Apostle, that statement is not sufficient

for one who yields credence only after proof. For

not even the Lord Himself bore witness concern-

1 Acts ii. 1 ff.

2 The Marcionites. For their other rejections and mutila-

tions of the New Testament, see below, Chap. XXXVIII.

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66 TERTULLIAN

ing Himself. But let them believe without the

Scriptures that they may believe against the Scrip-

tures. Yet they must shew from the instance

adduced of Peter being blamed by Paul that

another form of Gospel was introduced by Paul

beside that which Peter and the rest had previously

put forth. Whereas the fact is, when changed

from a persecutor into a preacher, he is led in to

the brethren by brethren as one of themselves, and

presented to them by those who had clothed them-

selves with faith at the Apostles' hands. After-

wards, as he himself relates,1 he "went up to

Jerusalem to see Peter," because of his office, and

by right of course of an identical faith and preach-

ing. For they would not have wondered at his

having become a preacher from a persecutor if he

had preached anything contrary to their teaching;

nor would they have "glorified the Lord" if Paul

had presented himself as His adversary. Accord-

ingly they "gave him the right hand,"2 the sign

of concord and agreement, and arranged among

themselves a distribution of office, not a division

of the Gospel, namely, that each should preach

not a different message, but the same message to

different persons, Peter to the Circumcision, Paul

to the Gentiles.

But if Peter was blamed because, after he had

lived with Gentiles he separated himself from their

companionship out of respect of persons, that

surely was a fault of behaviour, not of preaching.

For no question was therein involved of any other

GOD than the Creator,3 nor of any other Christ

1 Gal. i. 18 ff. 2 Ib. ii. 9

3 Against Marcion.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 67

than He Who came from Mary,1 nor of any other

hope than the resurrection.2

CHAPTER XXIV

I AM not good man enough, or rather I am not

bad man enough, to pit Apostle against Apostle.

But since these most perverse persons thrust for-

ward that rebuke for the purpose of throwing

suspicion upon the earlier teaching,3 I will reply,

as it were, for Peter, that Paul himself said 4 that he

was made all things to all men—to the Jews a

Jew, and to non-Jews a non-Jew—in order to gain

all. And so in certain times, persons and cases

they would blame actions which they themselves

yet might equally perform in other times, persons

and cases. Thus, for instance, Peter might like-

wise have blamed Paul because, while forbidding

circumcision, he himself had circumcised Timothy.5

Away with those who judge Apostles. Well is it

that Peter is made equal to Paul in his martyrdom.

But although Paul was caught up as far as

the third heaven, and when brought into paradise

heard certain things there, yet these revelations

cannot be thought to be such as would render him

more qualified to teach another doctrine, since their

very nature was such that they could not be com-

municated to any human being.6 But if that

unknown revelation did leak out and become

1 Against Valentinus. See below, note on Chap. XXX.

2 Against all Gnostics.

3 That is, the teaching of St. Peter.

4 I Cor. ix. 20 ff.

5 Acts xvi. 3. 6 2 Cor. xii. 2 ff.

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68 TERTULLIAN

known to some one, and if any heresy affirms that

it is a follower of that revelation, then either Paul

is guilty of having betrayed his secret, or some

one else must be shewn to have been subsequently

caught up into paradise to whom permission was

given to speak out what Paul was not allowed to

whisper.

CHAPTER XXV

BUT, as we have said, the same madness is seen

when they allow indeed that the Apostles were not

ignorant of anything nor preached different doc-

trines, yet will have it that they did not reveal

all things to all persons, but committed some

things openly to all, and others secretly to a few;

basing this assertion on the fact that Paul used

this expression to Timothy, "O Timothy, guard

the deposit";1 and again, "Keep the good

deposit."2 What was this "deposit" of so secret

a nature as to be reckoned to belong to another

doctrine ? Was it a part of that charge of which

he says, "This charge I commit to thee, son

Timothy " ? 3 And likewise of that commandment

of which he says, " I charge thee before GOD Who

quickeneth all things, and Jesus Christ Who

witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good confession,

that thou observe the commandment " ? 4 What

commandment, now, and what charge ? From the

context it may be gathered not that something is

obscurely hinted at in this phrase concerning a

more hidden doctrine, but rather that he was com-

1 1 Tim. vi. 20.

2 2 Tim. i. 14.

3 1 Tim. i. 18.

4 Ib. vi. 13 f.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 69

manded not to admit anything beyond that which

he had heard from Paul himself, openly too, I

take it—"before many witnesses" are his words.1

If by these many witnesses the heretics refuse to

understand the Church, it matters not, since

nothing could be kept secret which was being set

forth before many witnesses.

Nor, again, can his wish that Timothy should

"commit these things to faithful men who would

be fit to teach others also" 2 be explained as a proof

of any hidden doctrine. For when he says "these

things," he refers to things of which he was writing

at the moment. In reference to hidden things,

present only to their secret knowledge, he would,

as of absent things, use the word "those," not

"these."

CHAPTER XXVI

BUT nevertheless, it may be said, it was natural

for the Apostle, when he committed to any one

the administration of the Gospel, which was to be

ministered neither indiscriminately nor rashly, to

add the injunction in accordance with the Lord's

saying that "a pearl should not be cast before

swine nor that which is holy to the dogs." 3

The Lord spake openly without any indication

of some hidden mystery. Himself had commanded

that what they had heard in darkness and in secret

they were to preach in light and on the housetops.4

Himself had prefigured in a parable5 that they

1 2 Tim. ii. 2.

2 Ib.

3 Matt. vii. 6.

4 Ib. x. 27.

6 Luke xix, 12 ff.

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70 TERTULLIAN

were not to keep even one pound, that is, one word

of His, fruitless in a hidden place. Himself used

to teach that a lamp is not wont to be thrust away

under a measure, but placed on a lampstand that

it may give light to all that are in the house.1

These instructions the Apostles either neglected or

by no means understood if they failed to fulfil

them, and concealed any portion of the light, that

is, of the Word of GOD and mystery of Christ. I

am fully assured they had no fear of any one,

neither of the violence of the Jews nor of the

Gentiles : how much more, then, would these men

preach freely in the Church who were not silent

in synagogues and public places! Nay, they

could have converted neither Jews nor Gentiles

unless they had set forth in order what they wished

them to believe! Much less would they have

kept back anything from Churches already believ-

ing to commit it to a few other persons privately!

And even if they used to discuss some things in

their private circles (so to speak), yet it is incredible

that these things would be of such a nature as to

introduce another Rule of Faith, different from and

contrary to that which they were setting forth

openly to all; so that they should be speaking of

one GOD in the Church and of another in their

private houses; and describing one substance of

Christ in public and another in private; and pro-

claiming one hope of the resurrection before all

and another before the few; at the time when

they themselves were beseeching in their own

Epistles that all would speak one and the same

thing,2 and that there should be no divisions and

1 Matt. v. 15.

2 1 Cor. i. 10.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 71

dissensions in the Church, because they them-

selves, whether it were Paul or others, were

preaching the same thing. Moreover they remem-

bered, "Let your speech be Yea, yea; Nay, nay;

for what is more than this is of evil" 1 : words

spoken to prevent them from treating the Gospel

in different ways.

CHAPTER XXVII

IF, then, it is incredible either that the Apostles

were ignorant of the full scope of their message,

or that they did not publish to all the whole plan

of the Rule of Faith, let us see whether, perchance,

whilst the Apostles indeed preached simply and

fully, the Churches through their own fault

received it otherwise than as the Apostles used to

set it forth. All these incitements to hesitancy

you will find thrust forward by heretics.

They hold up instances of Churches reproved

by the Apostle. "O foolish Galatians, who hath

bewitched you ?" 2 and "Ye were running so well :

who hath hindered you ?" 3 and at the very begin-

ning of his letter, "I wonder that ye have been

thus so soon removed from Him Who called you

in grace to another Gospel." 4 Likewise the words

written to the Corinthians because they were still

"carnal," and had to be fed on milk, not yet being

able to take meat; who thought they knew some-

thing when not yet did they know anything as

they ought to know it.5

1 Matt. v. 27. 2 Gal. iii. 1.

3 Ib. v. 7. 4 Ib. i. 6.

5 1 Cor. iii. I f. ; viii. 2; xvi. 19

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72 TERTULLIAN

Now when they instance these reproved

Churches let them be sure that they were corrected.

Moreover, let them recognize those Churches for

whose "faith and knowledge and manner of life"

the Apostle "rejoices and gives thanks to GOD.1 :

Churches which to-day unite with those reproved

ones in the privileges of the selfsame instruction.

CHAPTER XXVIII

BUT come now, suppose that all have erred:

grant that the Apostle was deceived in bearing his

testimony, and that the Holy Spirit regarded no

Church so as to lead it into the Truth, although

sent for this purpose by Christ, asked from the

Father that He might be the Teacher of truth; 2

grant that the Steward of GOD) and Vicar of Christ

neglected His office and permitted Churches for

a time to understand differently what He Himself

was preaching through the Apostles; yet is it at

all likely that so many and such important

Churches should all have "erred" into one and

the same faith ? No uniform issue results from

many chances. Error1 of doctrine on the part of

the Churches was bound to have assumed various

forms. But when one and the same tenet is found

amongst many, that is not error, but tradition.

Will any one then dare to affirm that the authors

of the tradition were in error?

1 Rom. i. 8; xv. 14; xvi. 19; Eph. 1. 15; Phil. 1. 3 ff ;

Col. i. 4 ff. ; 1 Thess. i. 3 ff. ; 2 Thess. i. 3 f.

2 John xiv. 26.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 73

CHAPTER XXIX

HOWEVER the "error" came, it reigned for just

so long, of course, as there were no heresies.

Truth waited for the Marcionites and the Valen-

tinians to set her free. In the meantime the

Gospel was wrongly preached, men wrongly

believed, so many countless thousands were

wrongly baptized, so many works of faith were

wrongly wrought, so many spiritual powers and

gifts were wrongly put into operation, so many

priesthoods, so many ministries were wrongly

performed, so many martyrdoms were wrongly

crowned! Or if not wrongly and uselessly, how

can you characterize the fact that the things of

GOD were running their course before it was

known to which GOD they belonged? that there

were Christians before Christ was found ? heresy

before true doctrine? Unquestionably in every

case Truth precedes its copy: the counterfeit

comes afterwards. But it is absurd enough that

heresy should be mistaken for the earlier teaching;

especially since it is that very earlier teaching

which foretold that heresies would come and would

have to be guarded against.1 To a Church pos-

sessing this teaching it was written—nay, the

teaching itself writes to the Church : "Though an

angel from heaven preach any other Gospel than

that we have preached, let him be anathema." 2

1 See references above, Chap. I.

2 Gal. i. 8.
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74 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER XXX

WHERE at that time was Marcion, the Pontic

shipmaster,1 the student of the Stoic philosophy?

Where, then, was Valentinus,2 the disciple of

Platonism? For it is agreed that they lived not

so very long ago in the reign of Antoninus3 for

the most part, and that at first they were believers

in the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Rome

during the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus,4

until, on account of their ever restless speculation

whereby they corrupted the brethren also, they

were expelled more than once—Marcion, indeed,

with the two hundred sesterces that he had brought

into the Church—and when at last banished into

1 Marcion's home was Sinope, of which city his father

was bishop. His heresy was free from pagan elements,

though he postulated two GODS—one the Creator or severe

GOD of the Old Testament, and the other a Supreme GOD

of pure benevolence Who was unknown to man till revealed

by Christ. He rejected the whole of the Old Testament,

and accepted only ten Epistles of St. Paul and the Gospel

of St. Luke, which he mutilated (see below, Chap. XXXIII).

He was the author of Antitheses, or instances of antagonism

between the Law and the Gospel. Tertullian combated his

tenets in his Five Books against Marcion.

2 Valentinus was an Alexandrian Platonist who settled in

Rome about the year 140. He attempted to reconcile Chris-

tian teaching with pagan philosophy, and elaborated an

intricate system of aeons or emanations from infinity in

order to bridge over the gulf between the infinite and the

finite. He denied that the body of Christ was derived from

the Virgin's substance.

3 Antoninus, A.D. 138—161.

4 Eleutherus, Bishop of Rome about 174-189; but the

excommunication of Marcion and Valentinian took place

earlier than this (in 145).

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 75

perpetual separation from the faithful, they spread

abroad the poisonous seeds of their peculiar

doctrines. Afterwards, when Marcion had pro-

fessed penitence and agreed to the condition

imposed upon him, namely, that if he could bring

back to the Church the residue whom he had

instructed to their perdition, he should be received

into communion, he was prevented by death.

For indeed heresies must needs be.1 Yet it does

not follow that heresies are good because they are

needful. As if evil also were not needful ! For it

was even needful for the Lord to be betrayed; yet

"Woe to the traitor"2 to prevent any one from

upholding heresies on this same ground of

necessity.

If we must examine also the pedigree of Apelles,3

he is not of such long standing as Marcion himself,

who was his instructor and moulder, but by a

carnal lapse he deserted the Marcionite chastity

and withdrew from the presence of his most holy

master to Alexandria. Returning thence after

some years, in no way improved save that he was

no longer a Marcionite, he fastened on another

woman, that very virgin Philumena already men-

tioned,4 who afterwards herself also became a

1 1 Cor. xi. 19. 2 Matt. xxvi. 24; Mark xiv. 21.

3 Apelles was the most famous of Marcion's disciples;

but he modified the extreme dualism of his teacher and

wholly subordinated the world-Creator to the Supreme GOD.

The charges of immorality brought against him, and like-

wise against Philumena, were no doubt baseless slanders.

No other writers refer to them, and they may easily have

originated in the misunderstanding of some figurative

phrase. See note, Chap. XLIV. Tertullian's treatise against

Apelles is lost.

4 See Chap. VI, where see note.

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76 TERTULLIAN

monstrous prostitute; and misled by her influence

he wrote the "Revelations" which he learnt from

her.1 There are those living at this day who

remember them, their own actual disciples and

followers, so that they cannot deny their later date.

Moreover, too, these men are condemned by their

own works, as the Lord said.2 For if Marcion

separated the New Testament from the Old, he is of

later date than that which he separated, since he

could only separate what was united. Having been

united then before it was separated, the fact that it

was afterwards separated shows that the separator

was later.

Similarly Valentinus, by his various exposi-

tions and unhesitating emendations, shows abso-

lutely that what he emended as being previously

faulty belonged to an earlier age.

We name these men as being the more remark-

able and assiduous corruptors of the Truth. But

a certain Nigidius 3 and Hermogenes 4 and many

others are still moving about perverting the ways

of the Lord. Let them show me by what authority

they have come forward. If they preach some

other GOD, on what ground do they use the history

and the writings and the names of that GOD against

Whom they preach ? If the same GOD, why do

1 It appears from Ps.-Tert., adv. haer. 6, that Apelles

ordered public lections to be read from tliis book of "Revela-

tions" dictated by Philumena.

2 Matt. vii. 16.

3 Of Nigidius nothing is known.

4 One of Tertullian's two treatises against Hermogenes

is extant. Hermogenes was a Karthaginian artist, who

held that God formed the world out of pre-existing (eternal)

matter.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 77

they preach Him in a different way? Let them

prove themselves to be new Apostles; let them

say that Christ came down a second time, a second

time taught, was a second time crucified, a second

time dead, a second time raised. For so the

Apostle has described Him as being wont to make

Apostles, and to give them besides the power of

showing the same signs that He Himself showed.

I desire, therefore, that the miracles of these men

be produced; save that I admit their greatest

miracle is their inverted rivalry of the Apostles.

For the latter used to make the dead alive, but

these men make the living dead.

CHAPTER XXXI

LET me, however, return from this digression

to discuss the priority of Truth and the lateness of

falsehood, with the support of that parable 1 which

places first the good seed of the wheat sown by the

Lord, and afterwards brings in the corruption of

the barren weed of the wild oats by His enemy

the Devil. For properly this parable represents

the difference of doctrines; since the Word of GOD

is also in other places likened to seed. Thus from

the very order itself it is made manifest that what

was first delivered is from the Lord, and true; and

on the other hand, that what was afterwards intro-

duced is strange and false. This sentence will

stand against all later heresies which possess no

conscientious ground of confidence whereby to

claim the truth for their own side.

1 Matt. xiii. 37 ff.

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78 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER XXXII

BUT if any heresies dare to plant themselves in

Apostolic times, so as to be thought thereby to have

been handed down by the Apostles because they

existed under the Apostles, we can say : "Let them

set forth the earliest beginnings of their Churches;

let them unfold the roll of their bishops coming

down by succession from the beginning in such

a manner that their first bishop had for his ordainer

and predecessor one of the Apostles or of those

Apostolic men who never deserted the Apostles."

For in this way Apostolic Churches declare

their origin : as, for instance, the Church of the

Smyrnaeans records that Polycarp 1 was placed

there by John; and the Roman Church that

Clement was ordained thereto by Peter. And

exactly in the same way the rest of the Churches

can produce persons who, ordained to the episco-

pate by Apostles, became transmitters of the

Apostolic seed.

Let the heretics invent something of the same

sort; for what is unlawful for them after blas-

phemy ? Yet even if they should invent such a

thing, they will gain nothing by it. For their

very doctrine, when compared with the Apostolic

doctrine, will itself declare by its diverseness and

contrariety that it had neither Apostle nor Apos-

tolic man for its author : because as the Apostles

would not have taught differently from each other,

1 An account of St. Polycarp, and a translation of his

Epistle, is published in this series of Early Church Classics.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 79

so neither would Apostolic men have uttered

things contrary to the Apostles, unless those who

learnt from the Apostles taught a different doctrine.

According to this standard, consequently, they

will be tested by those Churches which can pro-

duce perhaps no Apostle or Apostolic man for

their founder, since they are of much later founda-

tion—those, for instance, that are being daily

founded. Yet since they agree in the same faith

they are none the less accounted Apostolical by

virtue of close kinship in doctrine.

In this way let all heresies, when challenged by

our Churches, according to each of these standards,

prove how they imagine themselves to be Apos-

tolical. But indeed they are not so; nor can they

prove themselves to be what they are not; nor are

they received into communion and fellowship by

Churches which are in any way Apostolical, seeing

that they are in no way Apostolical because of

their divergence in doctrine.

CHAPTER XXXIII

I ADDUCE in addition to these arguments an

examination of the doctrines themselves which

were in existence in the time of the Apostles, and

were by the same Apostles both pointed out and

rejected. For thus, too, they will be more easily

exposed when they are proved either to have

existed already at that time, or to have derived

their origin from those which did then exist.

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80 TERTULLIAN

Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians,

censures the deniers and doubters of the resurrec-

tion.1 This opinion is properly that of the

Sadducees.2 Marcion adopts a part of it, and

Apelles, and Valentinus, and all others who

impugn the resurrection of the flesh.3 In writing

to the Galatians4 he rebukes the observers and

defenders of circumcision and the Law. This is

the heresy of Ebion.5 When giving instructions

to Timothy 6 he also brands with reproach those

who forbid marriage. Marcion and his follower

Apelles lay down this prohibition. In similar

terms he refers to those who say that "the resur-

rection is past already."7 This the Valentinians

assert concerning themselves.8 Again, when he

mentions "endless genealogies,"9 Valentinus is

recognized, according to whom some Aeon or

other of a strange and shifting name produces

Sense and Truth out of its own Grace; and these

in like manner generate from themselves Word

and Life; while these again produce Man and

Church; from which first ogdoad of Aeons come

ten others, while twelve Aeons besides with won-

1 1 Cor. xv. 12. 2 Matt. xxii. 23 ; Acts xxiii. 8.

3 The resurrection of the flesh, or of the body, as taught

in a crude and materialistic form by Tertullian and others,

was rightly rejected by all Gnostics, but on wrong grounds,

namely, their belief in the inherent malignity of matter.

4 Gal. v. 2.

5 The Ebionites were judaizers and psilanthropists; see

above on ch. x. (p. 50).

6 1 Tim. iv. 3. 7 2 Tim. ii. 18.

8 The Valentinians and many of the Gnostics and Docetae

admitted a spiritual resurrection in baptism.

9 1 Tim. i. 4.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 81

drous names make up the entire fiction of the

Thirty.1

The same Apostle, when he upbraids those "in

bondage to the elements," 2 points at some teach-

ing of Hermogenes, who introduces Matter as

unoriginated, and thereby makes it equal to GOD

Who is unoriginate; and while thus making the

mother of the elements a goddess, he may well be

"in bondage" to her whom he compares to GOD.

Moreover, John in the Apocalypse 3 is bidden to

chastise those who "eat idol-sacrifices and commit

fornication." Other Nicolaitans4 exist at the

present day : it is called the Gaian heresy.5 Again,

in his Epistle,6 he especially calls those Antichrists

who denied that "Christ has come in Flesh,"

and who did not regard Jesus as the Son of GOD.

The former point Marcion maintained, the latter

Ebion. The system also of Simonian sorcery,

serving angels, was expressly reckoned among

idolatries, and by the Apostle Peter condemned in

the person of Simon himself.7

1 For an excellent account of the Valentinian system see

the monograph of Dr. Lipsius in Smith's D. C. B. IV, 1076.

2 Gal. iv. 9. 3 Rev. ii. 14.

4 These heretics, named from Nicolas, one of the Seven,

whose teaching they probably perverted, are denounced by

early writers for their impurity, but nothing is certainly

known about them beyond what is said in the Apocalypse.

5 The name takes various forms in different writers (see

D. C. B. I, 380), but the sect is generally known as the

"Cainite," a branch of the Ophites. They worshipped the

Serpent, regarded the Creator as an evil being, and reversed

all the moral judgements of the Old Testament.

6 1 John iv. 13. 7 Acts viii. 9 ff.

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82 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER XXXIV

THESE comprehend in my belief the classes of

corrupt doctrines which we learn from the Apostles

themselves existed in their days. And yet we do

not find amid so many varieties of perverse teach-

ing any school that occasioned a controversy con-

cerning GOD as the Creator of all things. No one

dared to conjecture a second GOD. Doubt was

felt more readily about the Son than about the

Father, until Marcion introduced, besides the

Creator, another GOD, of goodness only; and until

Apelles fashioned some kind of glorious Angel 1

of the Higher GOD as the Creator and GOD of the

Law and of Israel, affirming Him to be of fire;

and until Valentinus scattered his Aeons and

elaborated the fault of one Aeon into the generation

of GOD the Creator.2 To these persons alone, and

to these persons first, has the Truth respecting the

Divine Nature been revealed. They obtained, we

cannot doubt, greater privileges and fuller grace

from the Devil, who in this way also wished

emulously to rival GOD, and by poisonous doctrines

to make (in opposition to the saying of the Lord)

"the disciples above their Master."3

Let, therefore, any and every heresy select for

itself the time (allowing that the time is important!)

when it came into existence, so long as it is not of

the Truth, and allowing, of course, that those which

were not in existence in the Apostles' days cannot

have existed then ! For if they had existed then

1 See above, Chap. VII.

2 The fall of Sophia from the Pleroma ; see note, Chap.

VII.

3 Matt. x. 24; Luke vi. 40.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 83

they would have been named that they might

also have been repressed.

If, then, the modern heresies are the same, only

somewhat more elaborated, as those which existed

in a simpler form in the Apostles' time, they derive

their condemnation from this fact. Or, if some

indeed then existed, but others which arose after-

wards adopted certain opinions from them, these,

by sharing in their teaching, must of necessity

also share in their condemnation. The above-

mentioned definition of later date also points the

same way, whereby even though there should be

no participation in condemned doctrines, they

would be prejudged on the score of their age

alone, being so much the more corrupt because

unnamed even by the Apostles.

CHAPTER XXXV

ALL heresies have now been challenged by us

according to these rules, and convicted; now let

the heresies themselves—whether they be later

than or contemporaneous with the Apostles, pro-

vided only they differ from Apostolic teaching :

whether they be censured by them in general or

specific terms, provided only they be forecon-

demned—dare to allege in reply any rules of this

kind against our system of doctrine. For if they

deny its truth they are bound to prove it to be

heresy, convicted by the same standard whereby

they themselves are convicted; and they are bound,

at the same time, to show where the Truth is to be

sought, since it has been proved already not to be

with them.

Our system is not later, nay, it is earlier than

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84 TERTULLIAN

all; and this is an evidence of its truth, for truth

everywhere holds the first place. It is nowhere

condemned by Apostles, nay, it is maintained by

them; and this is proof that it is their very own.

For they make it quite clear that that doctrine

which they refuse to condemn, whilst condemning

each one foreign to it, is their own, and therefore

they also uphold it.

CHAPTER XXXVI

COME now, thou who wiliest to exercise thy

curiosity to better purpose in the business of thy

salvation : go through the Apostolic Churches

where the very thrones of the Apostles at this very

day preside over their own districts, where their

own genuine letters are read which speak their

words and bring the presence of each before our

minds. If Achaia is nearest to thee, thou hast

Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia,

thou hast Philippi. If thou canst travel into Asia,

thou hast Ephesus. Or if thou art near to Italy,

thou hast Rome, where we too have an authority

close at hand.1 What a happy Church is that

whereon the Apostles poured out their whole

doctrine2 together with their blood; where Peter

suffers a passion like his Lord's,3 where Paul is

crowned with the death of John,4 whence John the

1 The African Church was not founded by an Apostle, but

from Italy : Rome was therefore its natural authority.

2 i. e. without any reservations, such as the heretics

asserted : Chap. XXV.

3 Tertullian is the first to relate that St. Peter was

crucified; Origen (apud Euseb. III, i) adds, "head down-

wards."

4 i. e. John the Baptist.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 85

Apostle, after being immersed in boiling oil and

taking no hurt,1 is banished to an island. Let us

see what she hath learnt, what she hath taught,

what bond of friendship she hath had with the

African Churches. She acknowledges one GOD

the Creator of the universe, and Christ Jesus the

Son of GOD the Creator, born of the Virgin Mary,

and she teaches the resurrection of the flesh.2 She

unites the Law and the Prophets with the Evangelic

and Apostolic writings : out of these she causeth

her faith to drink; and that faith she sealeth with

water, clotheth with the Holy Spirit, feedeth with

the Eucharist, stimulated! with martyrdom, and

receiveth no one who opposeth this teaching.

This is that teaching from which heresies have

gone forth—to say nothing now of its prediction

of the coming of heresies. But they were not "of

it" 3 from the moment when they became opposed

to it. Even from the kernel of the mellow, rich,

and indispensable olive springs the rough oleaster;

even from the seed of sweetest and most delicious

fig arises the useless and deceptive wild fig. So

also do heresies come of our stock, but are not of

our kind. They spring from the seed of Truth,

but, owing to their falsehood, are wild.

1 Jerome tells the same story, Comm. in Matt. xx. 23. It

comes from the Leucian Acts. See Texts and Studies, V,

144 ff. (Cambridge, 1897).

2 The articles of the Creed specially singled out for men-

tion here are those which were rejected by the Gnostics

(Marcionites and Valentinians)—the Unity of God, the real

Incarnation by a virgin-birth, the resurrection of the flesh,

and the unity of Holy Scripture. For a fuller statement of

the North African Creed see above, Chap. XIII, de virg. vel.

8; adv. Prax. 2; Apol. 17, 21 ; and the Introduction, p. viii.

3 Cp. 1 John i. 19.

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86 TERTULLIAN

CHAPTER XXXVII

IF, then, it he the case that the Truth must be

adjudged to be with us "as many as walk accord-

ing to this rule," 1 which the Church has handed

down from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ,

and Christ from GOD, then the principle that we

laid down is established which determined that

heretics be not allowed to enter an appeal drawn

from the Scriptures, whom we prove, apart from

the Scriptures, to have no part nor lot in them.

For if they are heretics they cannot be Christians,

because they receive the very name of heretics from

that which they adopt of their own choice 2 and do

not receive from Christ. Thus, not being Chris-

tians, they have no right to the Christian literature,

and it may well and justly be said to them : "Who

are you ? When and whence do you come ? What

have you to do with us, not being of our party?

By what right do you, Marcion, cut my wood ?

By what licence, Valentinus, do you divert my

streams ? By what power, Apelles, do you move

my landmarks? This is my possession. What

business have all the rest of you here, sowing and

pasturing at your pleasure? It is my possession.

I hold it of old. I am in possession first. I hold

sure title-deeds from the first owners themselves of

the estate. I am the heir of the Apostles. Just

as they bequeathed it in their own will, just as

they committed it to trust, just as they swore to

it, so do I hold it. You they have ever ex-

pressly disinherited and disowned as outsiders, as

enemies."

1 Gal. vi. 16. 2 See above note, Chap. VI.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 87

Now on what grounds are heretics outsiders and

enemies to the Apostles save from divergence in

doctrine, which each one of his own mere will

hath either brought forward or received in opposi-

tion to the Apostles?

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE corruption of the Scriptures and of their

interpretation must therefore be referred to that

quarter where divergence in doctrine is to be

found. Those who proposed to put forth a different

teaching were obliged thereby to alter the doctrinal

documents. For they would not have been able

to teach differently unless they had altered the

sources of teaching. Just as with them corruption

of doctrine could not have succeeded without a

corresponding corruption of its documents, so also

with us integrity of doctrine would not be met

with save with the integrity of those documents

whence the doctrine is drawn.

For, indeed, what is there opposed to us in our

Scriptures ? What have we introduced of our

own so that we must remedy by omission or

addition or alteration anything contrary to it which

we have found in the Scripture? What we are,

that the Scriptures are from the very beginning.

Of them are we, before there was any divergent

teaching—before they were interpolated by you.

But since every interpolation must be regarded as

later in time (since it arises essentially from

hostility, which is in every case neither prior in time

to, nor of the same household with that which it

opposes), it is as incredible to any one of sense

that we should be thought to have introduced a

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88 TERTULLIAN
corrupt text into the Scriptures—we who have

existed from the beginning and are the first in

order of time—as that those persons should not

be thought to have introduced it who are both

later in date than, and opposed to the Scriptures.

One man falsifies the Scriptures with his hand :

another by his interpretation of their meaning.

For although Valentinus appears to use the whole

volume, he nevertheless laid violent hands on the

Truth with a no less cunning bent of mind than

did Marcion.1 Marcion openly and nakedly used

the knife, not the pen, since he cut the Scriptures

to suit his argument; whereas Valentinus spared

them, since he did not invent Scriptures to suit

his argument, but argument to suit the Scriptures;2

and yet all the same he took away more and

added more in taking away the proper meaning

of each particular word, and in adding arrange-

ments of systems which have no existence.

CHAPTER XXXIX

THESE were the inventions of "spiritual wicked-

nesses" 3 with which we must rightly look "to

wrestle," brethren, as being necessary to faith, that

the "elect may be made manifest"4 and the repro-

bate detected. Therefore they possess a power

and a skill in inventing and constructing errors

which is not to be greatly wondered at as if it

were difficult and inexplicable, seeing that a like

example is ready to hand in the case of secular

1 Marcion's alterations are detailed in Lardner, Hist, of

Heretics, X, 35 ff. ; Valentinus' in Irenaeus, I, i, 15 ff.

2 Occasionally Valentinus did "invent" Scripture to suit

his theme : see my note in hoc loc.

3 Eph. vi. 12. 4 1 Cor. xi. 19.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 89

writings also. Thou seest in our day a totally

different story composed out of Vergil, the matter

being adapted to the verses and the verses to the

matter. Hosidius Geta,1 for instance, has very

fully extracted from Vergil the tragedy of Medea.

A near relative of my own from the same poet has

amongst other literary trifles arranged the "Table"

of Cebes.2 Moreover, "Homerocentones" is the

common name for those who from the poems of

Homer patch together into one piece, quilt-like,

works of their own, out of many scraps put

together from this passage and that. Unquestion-

ably the Divine writings are more fruitful in

affording resources for any kind of subject. Nor

do I hesitate to say that the Scriptures themselves

were arranged by the will of GOD in such a manner

as to afford material for heretics, inasmuch as I

read that there must be heresies,3 which cannot

exist without the Scriptures.

CHAPTER XL

THE question will follow, Who interprets the

meaning of those passages which make for

heresies? The Devil, we cannot doubt; for it is

his character to overturn the Truth who emulously

rivals the very realities of the Divine sacraments in

the idol-mysteries. For he too baptizes certain

persons—his own believers and faithful ones; he

promises a putting away of sins by means of the

1 Nothing is known of this writer beyond this isolated

notice of him.

2 See Dr. Rendel Harris in The Expositor, May 1901.

3 1 Cor. xi. 19.

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90 TERTULLIAN
laver; and if my memory still serves me, Mithras1

seals there on their foreheads his own soldiers.

He celebrates, too, an oblation of bread, and intro-

duces a representation of the resurrection, and

purchases a crown under the sword. Why, he

even allows but a single marriage to the chief

priest.2 So, too, he has his virgins and his con-

tinent ones.3 Moreover, if we consider the

religious enactments of Numa Pompilius,4 if we

think of his priestly duties and badges and privi-

leges, the sacrificial services and the instruments

and vessels of the sacrifices themselves, and the

fantastic niceties of his expiations and vows, is it

not obvious that the Devil has imitated the scrupu-

lous observances of the Jewish Law ? He, then,

who has in such a spirit of hostile rivalry aimed

at setting forth in the functions of idolatry the very

means wherewith the sacraments of Christ are

administered, is unquestionably the same being

who exulted in the same kind of ingenuity, and

has been able to adapt to a profane and hostile

faith the actual documents concerning Divine

matters written by Christian saints, adapting

interpretations from interpretations, words from

words, parables from parables.

No one therefore ought to doubt either that

"spiritual wickednesses"5 from whence come

heresies have been sent forth by the Devil, or that

1 For an account of the Mithraic rites see King, Gnostics

and their Remains, pp. 122 ff., and McCormack's English

translation of Cumont, Textes et Monuments Figures relatifs

aux Mystères de Mithra (Kegan Paul).

2 Cp. 1 Tim. iii. 2; Titus i. 6.

3 The two terms are distinct. Continence is used of self-

control in and after marriage (ad uxor. I, 6), and is con-

trasted with virginity (de virg. vel. 10; adv. Marc. V, 15).

4 See Livy, I, 18 ff. 5 Eph. vi. 12.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 91

heresies are not far removed from idolatry, since

they belong to the same author and handiwork as

idolatry. They either fashion another GOD hostile

to the Creator, or if they confess One only Creator

they treat of Him otherwise than as He truly is.

Consequently every falsehood which they utter

about God is in a certain sense a kind of idolatry.

CHAPTER XLI

I MUST not omit a description, too, of the heretics'

actual manner of life, how foolish it is, how earthly,

how materialistic, without seriousness, without

authority, without discipline—as beseems their

peculiar faith.

In the first place, it is uncertain who is a cate-

chumen and who a baptized believer; they all alike

reproach, they all alike hear, and all alike pray 1—

even heathens, if any should have chanced to enter.

They will "throw that which is holy to dogs,2 and

pearls" (albeit false ones) "to swine." They will

have it that their subversion of discipline is

simplicity, and call our care for discipline affecta-

tion. They unite in communion also with every

one from every quarter. For it is of no import-

1 Marcion, on the strength of Gal. vi. 6, admitted the

catechumens and the baptized to the same prayers in public

worship (Jerome, Comm. in loc.). Tertullian's words seem

to imply that there were different classes of catechumens in

the North African Church.

2 Matt. vii. 6. For a very early application of this text

to the Holy Eucharist, see Didaché, 9 : " Let none eat or

drink of your Eucharist save they that are baptized into

the Name of the Lord; for as touching this the Lord hath

said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs." See also

Clem. Alex., Strom. II, 2, 7; and note the early use of

"Sancta Sanctis" in the Liturgies.

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92 TERTULLIAN

ance to them, although they are teaching different

doctrines, so long as they agree in an attack upon

the One Truth. They are all puffed up; they all

promise knowledge. Their catechumens are per-

fected before they are instructed. The very women

amongst the heretics, how precocious they are!

They presume to teach, to dispute, to practise

exorcism, to promise cures, perchance also to

baptize! Their ordinations are heedless, capri-

cious, fickle. Now they appoint novices,1 now

men hampered by worldly ties, now apostates from

us, so as to bind them by ambition since they

cannot by truth. Nowhere is preferment readier

than in the camp of rebels, where the simple fact

of being there is itself a merit. Consequently one

man is bishop to-day, another to-morrow. To-day

he is a deacon who to-morrow will be a reader; 3

to-day he is a presbyter who will to-morrow be a

laic. For even on laics do they impose sacerdotal

functions !

CHAPTER XLII

BUT what shall I say about their ministry of the

word, seeing that they make it their business not

to convert the heathen, but to subvert our people?

This is the glory that they covet most—to effect

the fall of those who stand, not the upraising of

those who are thrown down. And since their very

work consists not in any building of their own,

1 i Tim. iii. 6.

2 This is the first mention of the Order of Readers, the

oldest of the minor orders, and early adopted by heretics :

see Bright's note on Chalcedonian Council, Canon XIV ; and

for Aegyptian Readers see Journal of Theological Studies,

II, 255

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 93

but in the destruction of the Truth, they undermine

our defences that they may build up their own.

Deprive them of the Law of Moses and the

Prophets and God the Creator, and they have not

a complaint to utter. Thus they more readily

effect the ruin of standing edifices than the recon-

struction of fallen ruins. To this end alone their

behaviour is humble and bland and respectful.

Otherwise not even for their own leaders have they

any reverence. This explains the fact that schisms

do not commonly exist among heretics, since when

they do exist they are not visible. For schism is

their very unity.

I am mistaken if they do not even among them-

selves depart from their own rules; whilst each

one adapts what he receives according to his own

fancy, just in the same way as he who handed it

down fabricated it according to his fancy. The

nature of heresy and the manner of its origin are

revealed by its subsequent career. The same

course was obviously allowable to the Valentinians

as to Valentinus, to the Marcionites as to Marcion,

of changing the faith according to their own fancy.

Indeed, when thoroughly looked into, all heresies

are found to depart in many particulars from their

own founders. Nor have the majority of them any

churches: motherless, homeless, creedless, out-

casts, they wander in their own worthlessness.1

CHAPTER XLIII

INFAMOUS, moreover, is the heretics' intercourse

with numberless magicians, with jugglers, with

1 The text is uncertain: it may mean "they wander far,

themselves their all."

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94 TERTULLIAN

astrologers, with philosophers—men unquestion-

ably given over to restless speculation. "Seek

and ye shall find " 1 is their never-forgotten maxim.

The quality of their faith may thus be estimated

precisely from the nature of their conduct. Their

system of life is the index of their doctrine. They

deny that GOD is to be feared. Consequently all

things are to them open and without restraint.

But where is GOD not feared save where His

Presence is wanting? And where GOD is not,

neither is there any Truth. And where there is

no Truth there naturally follows such a system of

life as theirs. Whereas where GOD is, there also

is fear towards GOD, which is "the beginning of

wisdom." 2 And where there is fear towards GOD,

there is a becoming gravity, and awestruck dili-

gence, and anxious solicitude, and well-assured

election, and well-considered communion, and well-

deserved preferment, and religious submissiveness,

and loyal attendance, and modest procedure, and a

united Church, and all things godly.

CHAPTER XLIV

SIMILARLY these proofs of a stricter discipline

amongst us are an additional evidence of truth;

and to disregard this is not becoming in any one

who is mindful of the future Judgement, when "we

must all stand before the Judgement seat of

Christ," 3 giving an account in the first place of

our faith itself. What, then, will they say who

have defiled with the adultery of heresy that

1 See above, Chap. VIII.

2 Ps. cxi. 10; Prov. ix. 10. 3 2 Cor. v. 10.

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ON THE "PRESCRIPTION" OF HERETICS 95

virgin 1 committed to them by Christ? They will

allege, 1 suppose, that nothing was ever foretold

them by Him or by His Apostles about strange

and perverse doctrines destined to come, and that

no command was given them about avoiding and

abhorring them. Christ and His Apostles will

own that the fault was rather their own and their

followers', who did not prepare us beforehand.

They will add, besides, much about the authority

of each heretical leader, how they specially con-

firmed the belief in their own teaching—how they

raised the dead, restored the sick, foretold the future

so that they might deservedly be believed to be

Apostles ! Just as though it were never written 2

that many should come working the greatest

miracles in defence of the deceitfulness of their

corrupt teaching.

Consequently they will deserve forgiveness. But

suppose some have stood firm in the integrity of

the Faith, mindful of the writings and denuncia-

tions of the Lord and His Apostles, these, I sup-

pose, will be in danger of losing their forgiveness

when the Lord replies3: "I had certainly fore-

warned you that there would be teachers of error

in My Name and in that of the Prophets and

Apostles too; and I had commanded My disciples

to teach the same to you—with the idea, of course,

that you would not believe it. I had given the

Gospel once for all, and the teaching of the same

1 Cp. 2 Cor. xi. 2. It was probably the misunderstanding

of some figurative phrase like this (taken from Hegesippus,

apud Euseb. III, 32; IV, 22) that led to the false scandals

respecting the moral character of several of the Gnostic

teachers.

2 The audacious irony of this passage can hardly be

matched even in the writings of Tertullian himself.

3 Matt. xxiv. 24.

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96 TERTULLIAN

Rule to My Apostles, but it pleased Me afterwards

to alter some points therein. I had promised a

resurrection, even of the flesh; but I reconsidered

it, lest I might not be able to fulfil it. I had

declared Myself to have been born of a Virgin;

but afterwards this seemed disgraceful to Me. I

had said that My Father was He Who makes the

sunshine and the rain; but another and a better

Father 1 has adopted Me. I had forbidden you to

lend your ears to heretics; but I made a mistake."

Such are the blasphemies capable of being enter-

tained by those who wander from the right path,

and do not guard against those dangers whereby

the true Faith is imperilled.

CHAPTER XLV

HAVING in view the present circumstances, we

have argued on general grounds against all

heresies that they ought by fixed, just and neces-

sary limitations to be disallowed any discussion

of the Scriptures. At some future time, if the

grace of GOD permit, we will also furnish special

replies to some particular heresies.2

To those who read these words at leisure, in

belief of the Truth, be peace and the grace of our

GOD Jesus Christ for ever.

1 The higher GOD of Marcion who sent Christ to reveal

Him, or the summus Deus of Basilides.

2 Tertullian wrote subsequently against Marcion, Praxeas,

Valentinus, Hermogenes and Apelles.

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