Apologeticum |
The Apology.1
[Translated
by the Rev. S. Thelwall,
Late Scholar
of Christ's College, Cantabrigia]
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| Capitulum I |
Chapter I |
| [1] Si non licet vobis, Romani Imperii antistites, in aperto et edito, in ipso fere vertice civitatis praesidentibus ad judicandum palam dispicere et coram examinare, quid sit liquido in causa Christianorum, si ad hanc solam speciem auctoritas vestra de justitiae diligentia in publico aut timet aut erubescit inquirere, si denique, quod proxime accidit, domesticis judiciis nimis operata infestatio sectae hujus obstruit defensioni, liceat veritati vel occulta via tacitarum litterarum ad aures vestras pervenire. |
[1] Rulers of the Roman Empire, if, seated for the administration of justice on your lofty tribunal, under the gaze of every eye, and occupying there all but the highest position in the state, you may not openly inquire into and sift before the world the real truth in regard to the charges made against the Christians; if in this case alone you are afraid or ashamed to exercise your authority in making public inquiry with the carefulness which becomes justice; if, finally, the extreme severities inflicted on our people in recently private judgments, stand in the way of our being permitted to defend ourselves before you, you cannot surely forbid the Truth to reach your ears by the secret pathway of a noiseless book.2 |
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| [2] Nihil de causa sua deprecatur, quia nec de condicione miratur. Scit se peregrinam in terris agere, inter extraneos facile inimicos invenire, ceterum genus, sedem, spem, gratiam, dignitatem in caelis habere. Unum gestit interdum, ne ignorata damnetur. |
[2] She has no appeals to make to you in regard of her condition, for she is not surprised about it. She knows that she is but a sojourner on the earth, and that among strangers she naturally finds foes; and more than this, that her origin, her dwelling-place, her hope, her recompense, her honours, are above. One thing, meanwhile, she anxiously desires of earthly rulers: not to be condemned unknown. |
| [3] Quid hic deperit legibus in suo regno dominantibus, si audiatur? An hoc magis gloriabitur potestas earum, quo etiam auditam damnabunt veritatem? Ceterum inauditam si damnent, praeter invidiam iniquitatis etiam suspicionem merebuntur alicujus conscientiae, nolentes audire quod auditum damnare non possint. |
[3] What harm can it do to the laws, supreme in their domain, to give her a hearing? Nay, for that part of it, will not their absolute supremacy be more conspicuous in their condemning her, even after she has made her plea? But if, unheard, sentence is pronounced against her, besides the odium of an unjust deed, you will incur the merited suspicion of doing it with some knowledge that it is unjust, as not wishing to hear what, after it has been heard, you may not be able to condemn. |
| [4] Hanc itaque primam causam apud vos collocamus iniquitatis odii erga nomen Christianorum. Quam iniquitatem idem titulus et onerat et revincit, qui videtur excusare, ignorantia scilicet. Quid enim iniquius, quam ut oderint homines quod ignorant, etiam si res meretur odium? Tunc etenim meretur, cum cognoscitur an mereatur. |
[4] We lay this before you as the first ground on which we urge that your hatred to the name of Christian is unjust. And the very reason which seems to excuse this injustice (I mean ignorance) at once aggravates and convicts it. For what is there more unfair than to hate a thing of which you know nothing, even if it deserves to be hated? Hatred is only merited when it is known to be merited. |
| [5] Vacante autem meriti notitia, unde odii justitia defenditur, quae non de eventu, sed de conscientia probanda est? Cum ergo propterea oderunt homines, quia ignorant quale sit quod oderunt, cur non liceat ejusmodi illud esse, quod non debeant odisse? Ita utrumque ex alterutro redarguimus, et ignorare illos, dum oderunt, et injuste odisse, dum ignorant. |
[5] But without that knowledge, whence is its justice to be vindicated? for that is to be proved, not from the mere fact that an aversion exists, but from acquaintance with the subject. When men, then, give way to a dislike simply because they are entirely ignorant of the nature of the thing disliked, why may it not be precisely the very sort of thing they should not dislike? So we maintain that they are both ignorant while they hate us, and hate us unrighteously while they continue in ignorance, the one thing being the result of the other either way of it. |
| [6] Testimonium ignorantiae est, quae iniquitatem dum excusat, condemnat, cum omnes, qui retro oderant, quia ignorabant quale sit quod oderant, simul desinunt ignorare, cessant et odisse. Ex his fiunt Christiani, utique de comperto, et incipiunt odisse quod fuerant et profiteri quod oderant; et sunt tanti, quanti et denotamur: |
[6] The proof of their ignorance, which condemns their injustice at the same time it excuses it, is the fact that those who once hated Christianity because they knew nothing about it, no sooner come to know it than they all lay down at once their enmity. From being its haters they become its disciples. By simply getting acquainted with it, they begin now to hate what they had formerly been, and to profess what they had formerly hated; and their numbers are as great as are laid to our charge. |
| [7] Obsessam vociferantur civitatem: in agris, in castellis, in insulis Christianos; omnem sexum, aetatem, condicionem, etiam dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen quasi detrimento maerent. |
[7] The outcry is that the State is filled with Christians - that they are in the fields, in the citadels, in the islands: they lament, as though over some calamity, that both sexes, every age and condition, even high rank, are passing over to the profession of the Christian faith; |
| [8] Nec tamen hoc ipso ad aestimationem alicujus latentis boni promovent animos. Non licet rectius suspicari, non libet propius experiri. Hic tantum curiositas humana torpescit: Amant ignorare, cum alii gaudeant cognovisse. Quanto magis hos Anacharsis denotasset imprudentes de prudentibus judicantes quam immusicos de musicis! |
[8] and yet, their minds are not awakened to the thought of some good they have failed to notice in it. They must not allow any truer suspicions to cross their minds; they have no desire to make closer trial. Here alone the curiosity of human nature slumbers. They like to be ignorant, though to others the knowledge has been bliss. Anacharsis reproved the rude venturing to criticise the cultured; how much more this judging of those who know, by men who are entirely ignorant, might he have denounced! |
| [9] Malunt nescire, quia jam oderunt. Adeo quod nesciant, praejudicant id esse, quod, si sciant, odisse non poterant: quando, si nullum odii debitum deprehendatur, optimum utique sit desinere injuste odisse; si vero de merito constet, non modo nihil odii detrahatur, sed amplius acquiratur ad perseverantiam, etiam justitiae ipsius auctoritate. |
[9] Because they already dislike, they want to know no more. Thus they prejudge to be so what they are ignorant of - what, if they came to know it, they could not hate; since, if inquiry finds nothing worthy of dislike, it is certainly proper to cease from an unjust dislike, while if its bad character comes plainly out, instead of the detestation entertained for it being thus diminished, a stronger reason for perseverance in that detestation is obtained, even under the authority of justice itself. |
| [10] “Sed non ideo”, inquit, “bonum, quia multos convertit; quanti enim ad malum performantur! Quanti transfugae in perversum!” Quis negat? Tamen quod vere malum est, ne ipsi quidem, quos rapit, defendere pro bono audent. Omne malum aut timore aut pudore natura perfudit. |
[10] “But,” says one, “a thing is not good merely because multitudes go over to it; for how many have the bent of their nature towards whatever is bad! how many go astray into ways of error!” It is undoubted. Yet a thing that is thoroughly evil, not even those whom it carries away venture to defend as good. Nature throws a veil either of fear or shame over all evil. |
| [11] Denique malefici gestiunt latere, devitant apparere; trepidant deprehensi, negant accusati, ne torti quidem facile aut semper confitentur, certe damnati maerent: Dinumerant in semet ipsos mentis malae impetus, ignaviam vel fato vel astris imputant; nolunt enim suum esse, quod malum agnoscunt. |
[11] For instance, you find that criminals are eager to conceal themselves, avoid appearing in public, are in trepidation when they are caught, deny their guilt, when they are accused; even when they are put to the rack, they do not easily or always confess; when there is no doubt about their condemnation, they grieve for what they have done. In their self-communings they admit their being impelled by sinful dispositions, but they lay the blame either on fate or on the stars. They are unwilling to acknowledge that the thing is theirs, because they own that it is wicked. |
| [12] Christianus vero quid simile? Neminem pudet, neminem paenitet, nisi plane retro non fuisse; si denotatur, gloriatur; si accusatur, non defendit; interrogatus vel ultro confitetur; damnatus gratias agit. |
[12] But what is there like this in the Christian's case? The only shame or regret he feels, is at not having been a Christian earlier. If he is pointed out, he glories in it; if he is accused, he offers no defence; interrogated, he makes voluntary confession; condemned he renders thanks. What sort of evil thing is this, which wants all the ordinary peculiarities of evil - fear, shame, subterfuge, penitence, lamenting? |
| [13] Quid! Hoc mali est, quod naturalia mali non habet, timorem, pudorem, tergiversationem, paenitentiam deplorationem? Quod hoc malum est, cujus reus gaudet, cujus accusatio votum est et poena felicitas? Non potes dementiam dicere, qui revinceris ignorare. |
[13] What! Is that a crime which does not have the natural properties of crime: fear, shame, evasion, repentence? What kind of a crime is it, to be accused of which is his ardent wish, to be punished for which is his felicity? You cannot call it madness, you who stand convicted of knowing nothing of the matter. |
| Capitulum II |
Chapter II. |
| [1] Si certum est denique nos nocentissimos esse, cur a vobis ipsis aliter tractamur quam pares nostri, id est ceteri nocentes, cum ejusdem noxae eadem tractatio deberet intervenire? |
[1] If, again, it is certain that we are the most wicked of men, why do you treat us so differently from our fellows, that is, from other criminals, it being only fair that the same crime should get the same treatment?
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| [2] Quodcumque dicimur, cum alii dicuntur, et proprio ore et mercennaria advocatione utuntur ad innocentiae suae commendationem; respondendi, altercandi facultas patet, quando nec liceat indefensos et inauditos omnino damnari. |
[2] When the charges made against us are made against others, they are permitted to make use both of their own lips and of hired pleaders to show their innocence. They have full opportunity of answer and debate; in fact, it is against the law to condemn anybody undefended and unheard. |
| [3] Sed Christianis solis nihil permittitur loqui quod causam purget, quod veritatem defendat, quod judicem non faciat injustum; sed illud solum expectatur, quod odio publico necessarium est: Confessio nominis, non examinatio criminis - |
[3] Christians alone are forbidden to say anything in exculpation of themselves, in defence of the truth, to help the judge to a righteous decision; all that is cared about is having what the public hatred demands - the confession of the name, not examination of the charge: |
| [4] quando, si de aliquo nocente cognoscatis, non statim confesso eo nomen homicidae vel sacrilegi vel incesti vel publici hostis, ut de nostris elogiis loquar, contenti sitis ad pronuntiandum, nisi et consequentia exigatis, qualitatem facti, numerum, locum, tempus, conscios, socios. |
[4] while in your ordinary judicial investigations, on a man's confession of the crime of murder, or sacrilege, or incest, or treason, to take the points of which we are accused, you are not content to proceed at once to sentence,-you do not take that step till you thoroughly examine the circumstances of the confession - what is the real character of the deed, how often, where, in what way, when he has done it, who were privy to it, and who actually took part with him in it. |
| [5] De nobis nihil tale, cum aeque extorqueri oporteret quod cum falso jactatur, quot quisque jam infanticidia degustasset, quot incesta contenebrasset, qui coqui, qui canes affuissent. O quanta illius praesidis gloria, si eruisset aliquem, qui centum jam infantes comedisset! |
[5] Nothing like this is done in our case, though the falsehoods disseminated about us ought to have the same sifting, that it might be found how many murdered children each of us had tasted; how many incests each of us had shrouded in darkness; what cooks, what dogs had been witness of our deeds. Oh, how great the glory of the ruler who should bring to light some Christian who had devoured a hundred infants! |
| [6] Atquin invenimus inquisitionem quoque in nos prohibitam. Plinius enim Secundus, cum provinciam regeret, damnatis quibusdam Christianis, quibusdam gradu pulsis, ipsa tamen multitudine perturbatus, quid de cetero ageret, consuluit tunc Trajanum imperatorem, adlegans praeter obstinationem non sacrificandi nihil aliud se de sacramentis eorum comperisse quam coetus antelucanos ad canendum Christo ut deo et ad confoederandam disciplinam, homicidium adulterium fraudem perfidiam et cetera scelera prohibentes. |
[6] But, instead of that, we find that even inquiry in regard to our case is forbidden. For the younger Pliny, when he was ruler of a province, having condemned some Christians to death, and driven some from their steadfastness, being still annoyed by their great numbers, at last sought the advice of Trajan,3 the reigning emperor, as to what he was to do with the rest, explaining to his master that, except an obstinate disinclination to offer sacrifices, he found in the religious services nothing but meetings at early morning for singing hymns to Christ and4 God, and sealing home their way of life by a united pledge to be faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. |
| [7] Tunc Trajanus rescripsit hoc genus inquirendos quidem non esse, oblatos vero puniri oportere. |
[7] Upon this Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought after; but if they were brought before him, they should be punished. |
| [8] O sententiam necessitate confusam! Negat inquirendos ut innocentes et mandat puniendos ut nocentes. Parcit et saevit, dissimulat et animadvertit. Quid temet ipsam, censura, circumvenis? Si damnas, cur non et inquiris? Si non inquiris, cur non et absolvis? Latronibus vestigandis per universas provincias militaris statio sortitur, in reos majestatis et publicos hostes omnis homo miles est: Ad socios, ad conscios usque inquisitio extenditur. |
[8] O miserable deliverance,-under the necessities of the case, a self-contradiction! It forbids them to be sought after as innocent, and it commands them to be punished as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel; it, passes by, and it punishes. Why dost thou play a game of evasion upon thyself, O Judgment? If thou condemnest, why dost thou not also inquire. If thou does not inquire, why dost thou not also absolve? Military stations are distributed through all the provinces for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public foes every man is a soldier; search is made even for their confederates and accessories.
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| [9] Solum Christianum inquiri non licet, offerri licet, quasi aliud esset actura inquisitio quam oblationem. Damnatis itaque oblatum, quem nemo voluit requisitum; qui, puto, jam non ideo meruit poenam, quia nocens est, sed quia non requirendus inventus est. |
[9] The Christian alone must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge; as if a search had any other end than that in view And so you condemn the man for whom nobody wished a search to be made when he is presented to you, and who even now does not deserve punishment, I suppose, because of his guilt, but because, though forbidden to be sought, he was found. |
| [10] Itaque nec in illo ex forma malorum judicandorum agitis erga nos, quod ceteris negantibus tormenta adhibetis ad confitendum, solis Christianis ad negandum, cum, si malum esset, nos quidem negaremus, vos vero confiteri tormentis compelleretis. Neque enim ideo non putaretis requirenda quaestionibus scelera, quia certi essetis admitti ea ex nominis confessione, qui hodie de confesso homicida, scientes homicidium quid sit, nihilominus ordinem extorquetis admissi. |
[10] And then, too, you do not in that case deal with us in the ordinary way of judicial proceedings against offenders; for, in the case of others denying, you apply the torture to make them confess - Christians alone you torture, to make them deny; whereas, if we were guilty of any crime, we should be sure to deny it, and you with your tortures would force us to confession. Nor indeed should you hold that our crimes require no such investigation merely on the ground that you are convinced by our confession of the name that the deeds were done,-you who are daily wont, though you know well enough what murder is, none the less to extract from the confessed murderer a full account of how the crime was perpetrated. |
| [11] Quo perversius, cum praesumatis de sceleribus nostris ex nominis confessione, cogitis tormentis de confessione decedere, ut negantes nomen pariter utique negemus et scelera, de quibus ex confessione nominis praesumpseratis. |
[11] So that with all the greater perversity you act, when, holding our crimes proved by our confession of the name of Christ, you drive us by torture to fall from our confession, that, repudiating the name, we may in like manner repudiate also the crimes with which, from that same confession, you had assumed that we were chargeable. |
| [12] Sed, opinor, non vultis nos perire, quos pessimos creditis. Sic enim soletis dicere homicidae: “Nega”, laniari jubere sacrilegum, si confiteri perseveraverit. Si non ita agitis circa [nos] nocentes, ergo nos innocentissimos judicatis, cum quasi innocentissimos non vultis in ea confessione perseverare, quam necessitate, non justitia damnandam a vobis sciatis. |
[12] I suppose, though you believe us to be the worst of mankind, you do not wish us to perish. For thus, no doubt, you are in the habit of bidding the murderer deny, and of ordering the man guilty of sacrilege to the rack if he persevere in his acknowledgment! Is that the way of it? But if thus you do not, deal with us as criminals, you declare us thereby innocent, when as innocent you are anxious that we do not persevere in a confession which you know will bring on us a condemnation of necessity, not of justice, at your hands. |
| [13] Vociferatur homo: “Christianus sum.” Quod est dicit; tu vis audire quod non est. Veritatis extorquendae praesides de nobis solis mendacium elaboratis audire. “Hoc sum”, inquit, “quod quaeris an sim. Quid me torques in perversum? Confiteor et torques; quid faceres, si negarem?” Plane aliis negantibus non facile fidem accommodatis: nobis, si negaverimus, statim creditis. |
[13] "I am a Christian," the man cries out. He tells you what he is; you wish to hear from him what he is not. Occupying your place of authority to extort the truth, you do your utmost to get lies from us. "I am," he says, "that which you ask me if I am. Why do you torture me to sin? I confess, and you put me to the rack. What would you do if I denied?" Certainly you give no ready credence to others when they deny. When we deny, you believe at once. |
| [14] Suspecta sit vobis ista perversitas, ne qua vis lateat in occulto, quae vos adversus formam, adversus naturam judicandi, contra ipsas quoque leges ministret. Nisi fallor enim, leges malos erui jubent, non abscondi, confessos damnari praescribunt, non absolvi. Hoc senatus consulta, hoc principum mandata definiunt. Hoc imperium, cujus ministri estis, civilis, non tyrannica dominatio est. |
[14] Let this perversity of yours lead you to suspect that there is some hidden power in the case under whose influence you act against the forms, against the nature of public justice, even against the very laws themselves. For, unless I am greatly mistaken, the laws enjoin offenders to be searched out, and not to be hidden away. They lay it down that persons who own a crime are to be condemned, not acquitted. The decrees of the senate, the commands of your chiefs, lay this clearly down. The power of which you are servants is a civil, not a tyrannical domination. |
| [15] Apud tyrannos enim tormenta etiam pro poena adhibebantur, apud vos soli quaestioni temperatur. Vestram illis servate legem usque ad confessionem necessariis, et jam, si confessione praeveniantur, vacabunt, sententia opus est; debito poenae nocens expungendus est, non eximendus. Denique nemo illum gestit absolvere. |
[15] Among tyrants, indeed, torments used to be inflicted even as punishments: with you they are mitigated to a means of questioning alone. Keep to your law in these as necessary till confession is obtained; and if the torture is anticipated by confession, there will be no occasion for it: sentence should be passed; the criminal should be given over to the penalty which is his due, not released. Accordingly, no one is eager for the acquittal of the guilty; |
| [16] Non licet hoc velle; ideo nec cogitur quisquam negare. Christianum hominem omnium scelerum reum, deorum, imperatorum, legum, morum, naturae totius inimicum existimas, et cogis negare, ut absolvas quem non poteris absolvere, nisi negaverit. |
[16] it is not right to desire that, and so no one is ever compelled to deny. Well, you think the Christian a man of every crime, an enemy of the gods, of the emperor, of the laws, of good morals, of all nature; yet you compel him to deny, that you may acquit him, which without him denial you could not do. |
| [17] Praevaricaris in leges: Vis ergo neget se nocentem, ut eum facias innocentem, et quidem invitum, jam nec de praeterito reum. Unde ista perversitas, ut etiam illud non recogitetis, sponte confesso magis credendum esse quam per vim neganti? Vel ne compulsus negare non ex fide negarit et absolutus ibidem post tribunal de vestra rideat aemulatione iterum Christianus? |
[17] You play fast and loose with the laws. You wish him to deny his guilt, that you may, even against his will, bring him out blameless and free from all guilt in reference to the past! Whence is this strange perversity on your part? How is it you do not reflect that a spontaneous confession is greatly more worthy of credit than a compelled denial; or consider whether, when compelled to deny, a man's denial may not be in good faith, and whether acquitted, he may not, then and there, as soon as the trial is over, laugh at your hostility, a Christian as much as ever? |
| [18] Cum igitur in omnibus nos aliter disponitis quam ceteros nocentes, ad unum contendendo, ut de eo nomine excludamur - excludimur enim, si faciamus quae faciunt non Christiani -, intellegere 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. |
[18] Seeing, then, that in everything you deal differently with us than with other criminals, bent upon the one object of taking from us our name (indeed, it is ours no more if we do what Christians never do), it is made perfectly clear that there is no crime of any kind in the case, but merely a name which a certain system, ever working against the truth, pursues with its enmity, doing this chiefly with the object of securing that men may have no desire to know for certain what they know for certain they are entirely ignorant of. |
| [19] Ideo et credunt de nobis quae non probantur et nolunt inquiri, ne probentur non esse quae malunt credidisse, ut nomen illius aemulae rationis inimicum praesumptis, non probatis criminibus de sua sola confessione damnetur. Ideo torquemur confitentes et punimur perseverantes et absolvimur negantes, quia nominis proelium est. |
[19] Hence, too, it is that they believe about us things of which they have no proof, and they are disinclined to have them looked into, lest the charges, they would rather take on trust, are all proved to have no foundation, that the name so hostile to that rival power - its crimes presumed, not proved - may be condemned simply on its own confession. So we are put to the torture if we confess, and we are punished if we persevere, and if we deny we are acquitted, because all the contention is about a name. |
| [20] Denique quid de tabella recitatis illum “Christianum”? Cur non et “homicidam”? Si homicida Christianus? Cur non et “incestum” vel quodcumque aliud esse nos creditis? In nobis solis pudet aut piget ipsis nominibus scelerum pronuntiare? “Christianus” si nullius criminis nomine [reus] est, valde ineptum, si solius nominis crimen est. |
[20] Finally, why do you read out of your tablet-lists that such a man is a Christian? Why not also that he is a murderer? And if a Christian is a murderer, why not guilty, too, of incest, or any other vile thing you believe of us? In our case alone you are either ashamed or unwilling to mention the very names of our crimes - If to be called a "Christian" does not imply any crime, the name is surely very hateful, when that of itself is made a crime. |
| Capitulum III |
Chapter III. |
| [1] Quid quod ita plerique clausis oculis in odium ejus impingunt, ut bonum alicui testimonium ferentes admisceant nominis exprobrationem? “Bonus vir Gajus Sejus, tantum quod Christianus.” Item alius: “Ego miror Lucium Titium, sapientem virum, repente factum Christianum.” Nemo retractat, ne ideo bonus Gajus et prudens Lucius, quia Christianus, aut ideo Christianus, quia prudens et bonus. |
[1] What are we to think of it, that most people so blindly knock their heads against the hatred of the Christian name; that when they bear favourable testimony to any one, they mingle with it abuse of the name he bears? "A good man," says one, "is Gajus Sejus, only that he is a Christian." So another, "I am astonished that a wise man like Lucius should have suddenly become a Christian." Nobody thinks it needful to consider whether Gajus is not good and Lucius wise, on this very account that he is a Christian; or a Christian, for the reason that he is wise and good. |
| [2] Laudant quae sciunt, vituperant quae ignorant, et id quod sciunt eo quod ignorant irrumpunt, cum sit justius occulta de manifestis praejudicare quam manifesta de occultis praedamnare. |
[2] They praise what they know, they abuse what they are ignorant of, and they inspire their knowledge with their ignorance; though in fairness you should rather judge of what is unknown from what is known, than what is known from what is unknown. |
| [3] Alii, quos retro ante hoc nomen vagos, viles, improbos noverant, ex ipso denotant, quod laudant: Caecitate odii in suffragium impingunt: “Quae mulier! Quam lasciva, quam festiva! Qui juvenis! Quam lusius, quam amasius! Facti sunt Christiani.” Ita nomen emendationi imputatur. |
[3] Others, in the case of persons whom, before they took the name of Christian, they had known as loose, and vile, and wicked, put on them a brand from the very thing which they praise. In the blindness of their hatred, they fall foul of their own approving judgment! "What a woman she was! how wanton! how gay! What a youth he was! how profligate! how libidinous!-they have become Christians!” So the hated name is given to a reformation of character. |
| [4] Nonnulli etiam de utilitatibus suis cum odio isto paciscuntur, contenti injuria, dum ne domi habeant quod oderunt. Uxorem jam pudicam maritus jam non zelotypus ejecit, filium jam subjectum pater retro patiens abdicavit, servum jam fidelem dominus olim mitis ab oculis relegavit; ut quisque hoc nomine emendatur, offendit. Tanti non est bonum, quanti odium Christianorum. |
[4] Some even barter away their comforts for that hatred, content to bear injury, if they are kept free at home from the object of their bitter enmity. The wife, now chaste, the husband, now no longer jealous, casts out of his house; the son, now obedient, the father, who used to be so patient, disinherits; the servant, now faithful, the master, once so mild, commands away from his presence; it is a high offence for any one to be reformed by the detested name. Goodness is of less value than hatred of Christians. |
| [5] Nunc igitur, si nominis odium est, quis nominum reatus, quae accusatio vocabulorum, nisi si aut barbarum sonat aliqua vox nominis aut infaustum aut maledicum aut impudicum? “Christianus” vero, quantum interpretatio est, de unctione deducitur. Sed et cum perperam “Chrestianus” pronuntiatur a vobis - nam nec nominis certa est notitia penes vos -, de suavitate vel benignitate compositum est. Oditur itaque in hominibus innocuis etiam nomen innocuum. |
[5] Well now, if there is this dislike of the name, what blame can you attach to names? What accusation can you bring against mere designations, save that something in the word sounds either barbarous, or unlucky, or scurrilous, or unchaste? But Christian, so far as the meaning of the word is concerned, is derived from anointing. Yes, and even when it is wrongly pronounced by you "Chrestianus" (for you do not even know accurately the name you hate), it comes from sweetness and benignity. You hate, therefore, in the guiltless, even a guiltless name. |
| [6] At enim secta oditur in nomine utique sui auctoris. Quid novi, si aliqua disciplina de magistro cognomentum sectatoribus suis inducit? Nonne philosophi de auctoribus suis nuncupantur Platonici, Epicurei, Pythagorici? Etiam a locis conventiculorum et stationum suarum Stoici, Academici? Aeque medici ab Erasistrato et grammatici ab Aristarcho, coqui etiam ab Apicio? |
[6] But the special ground of dislike to the sect is, that it bears the name of its Founder. Is there anything new in a religious sect getting for its followers a designation from its master? Are not the philosophers called from the founders of their systems - Platonists, Epicureans, Pythagoreans? Are not the Stoics and Academics so called also from the places in which they assembled and stationed themselves? and are not physicians named from Erasistratus, grammarians from Aristarchus, cooks even from Apicius? |
| [7] Nec tamen quemquam offendit professio nominis cum institutione transmissi ab institutore. Plane, si qui probabit malam sectam et ita malum et auctorem, is probabit et nomen malum, dignum odio de reatu sectae et auctoris; ideoque ante odium nominis competebat prius de auctore sectam recognoscere vel auctorem de secta. |
[7] And yet the bearing of the name, transmitted from the original institutor with whatever he has instituted, offends no one. No doubt, if it is proved that the sect is a bad one, and so its founder bad as well, that will prove that the name is bad and deserves our aversion, in respect of the character both of the sect and its author. Before, therefore, taking up a dislike to the name, it behoved you to consider the sect in the author, or the author in the sect. |
| [8] At nunc utriusque inquisitione et agnitione neglecta nomen detinetur, nomen expugnatur, et ignotam sectam, ignotum et auctorem vox sola praedamnat, quia nominantur, non quia revincuntur. |
[8] But now, without any sifting and knowledge of either, the mere name is made matter of accusation, the mere name is assailed, and a sound alone brings condemnation on a sect and its author both, while of both you are ignorant, because they have such and such a designation, not because they are convicted of anything wrong. |
| Capitulum IV |
Chapter IV. |
| [1] Atque adeo quasi praefatus haec ad suggillandam odii erga nos publici iniquitatem, jam de causa innocentiae consistam, nec tantum refutabo quae nobis objiciuntur, sed etiam in ipsos retorquebo, qui objiciunt, ut ex hoc quoque sciant homines in Christianis non esse quae in se nesciunt esse, simul uti erubescant accusantes, non dico pessimi optimos, se jam, ut volunt, compares suos. |
[1] And so, having made these remarks as it were by way of preface, that I might show in its true colours the injustice of the public hatred against us, I shall now take my stand on the plea of our blamelessness; and I shall not only refute the things which are objected to us, but I shall also retort them on the objectors, that in this way all may know that Christians are free from the very crimes they are so well aware prevail among themselves, that they may at the same time be put to the blush for their accusations against us,-accusations I shall not say of the worst of men against the best, but now, as they will have it, against those who are only their fellows in sin. |
| [2] Respondebimus ad singula, quae in occulto admittere dicimur - quae illos palam admittentes invenimus -, in quibus scelesti, in quibus vani, in quibus damnandi, in quibus irridendi deputamur. |
[2] We shall reply to the accusation of all the various crimes we are said to be guilty of in secret, such as we find them committing in the light of day, and as being guilty of which we are held to be wicked, senseless, worthy of punishment, deserving of ridicule. |
| [3] Sed quoniam, cum ad omnia occurrit veritas nostra, postremo legum obstruitur auctoritas adversus eam, ut aut nihil dicatur retractandum esse post leges aut ingratis necessitas obsequii praeferatur veritati, de legibus prius concurram vobiscum ut cum tutoribus legum. |
[3] But since, when our truth meets you successfully at all points, the authority of the laws as a last resort is set up against it, so that it is either said that their determinations are absolutely conclusive, or the necessity of obedience is, however unwillingly, preferred to the truth, I shall first, in this matter of the laws grapple with you as with their chosen protectors. |
| [4] Jam primum, cum dure definitis dicendo: “Non licet esse vos!” et hoc sine ullo retractatu humaniore praescribitis, vim profitemini et iniquam ex arce dominationem, si ideo negatis licere, quia vultis, non quia debuit non licere. |
[4] Now first, when you sternly lay it down in your sentences, "It is not lawful for you to exist," and with unhesitating rigour you enjoin this to be carried out, you exhibit the violence and unjust domination of mere tyranny, if you deny the thing to be lawful, simply on the ground that you wish it to be unlawful, not because it ought to be. |
| [5] Quodsi, quia non debet, ideo non vultis licere, sine dubio id non debet licere quod bene fit. Si bonum invenero esse quod lex tua prohibuit, nonne ex illo praejudicio prohibere me non potest, quod, si malum esset, jure prohiberet? Si lex tua erravit, puto, ab homine concepta est; neque enim de caelo ruit. |
[5] But if you would have it unlawful because it ought not to be lawful, without doubt that should have no permission of law which does harm; and on this ground, in fact, it is already determined that whatever is beneficial is legitimate. Well, if I have found what your law prohibits to be good, as one who has arrived at such a previous opinion, has it not lost its power to debar me from it, though that very thing, if it were evil, it would justly forbid to me? If your law has gone wrong, it is of human origin, I think; it has not fallen from heaven. |
| [6] Miramini hominem aut errare potuisse in lege condenda aut resipuisse in reprobanda? Non enim et ipsius Lycurgi leges a Lacedaemoniis emendatae tantum auctori suo doloris incusserunt, ut in secessu inedia de semet ipso judicarit? |
[6] Is it wonderful that man should err in making a law, or come to his senses in rejecting it? Did not the Lacedaemonians amend the laws of Lycurgus himself, thereby inflicting such pain on their author that he shut himself up, and doomed himself to death by starvation? |
| [7] Nonne et vos cottidie experimentis illuminantibus tenebras antiquitatis totam illam veterem et squalentem silvam legum novis principalium rescriptorum et edictorum securibus truncatis et caeditis? |
[7] Are you not yourselves every day, in your efforts to illumine the darkness of antiquity, cutting and hewing with the new axes of imperial rescripts and edicts, that whole ancient and rugged forest of your laws? |
| [8] Nonne vanissimas Papias leges, quae ante liberos suscipi cogunt quam Juliae matrimonium contrahi, post tantae auctoritatis senectutem heri Severus, constantissimus principum, exclusit? |
[8] Has not Severus, that most resolute of rulers, but yesterday repealed the ridiculous Papian laws5 which compelled people to have children before the Julian laws allow matrimony to be contracted, and that though they have the authority of age upon their side? |
| [9] Sed et judicatos in partes secari a creditoribus leges erant; consensu tamen publico crudelitas postea erasa est, in pudoris notam capitis poena conversa est. Bonorum adhibita proscriptio suffundere maluit hominis sanguinem quam effundere. |
[9] There were laws, too, in old times, that parties against whom a decision had been given might be cut in pieces by their creditors; however, by common consent that cruelty was afterwards erased from the statutes, and the capital penalty turned into a brand of shame. By adopting the plan of confiscating a debtor's goods, it was sought rather to pour the blood in blushes over his face than to pour it out. |
| [10] Quot adhuc vobis repurgandae latent leges! Quas neque annorum numerus neque conditorum dignitas commendat, sed aequitas sola, et ideo, cum iniquae recognoscuntur, merito damnantur, licet damnent. Quomodo iniquas dicimus? |
[10] How many laws lie hidden out of sight which still require to be reformed! For it is neither the number of their years nor the dignity of their maker that commends them, but simply that they are just; and therefore, when their injustice is recognized, they are deservedly condemned, even though they condemn. Why speak we of them as unjust? |
| [11] Immo, si nomen puniunt, etiam stultas; si vero facta, cur de solo nomine puniunt facta, quae in aliis de admisso, non de nomine probata defendunt? Incestus sum: Cur non requirunt? Infanticida: Cur non extorquent? In deos, in Caesares aliquid committo: Cur non audior qui habeo quo purger? |
[11] nay, if they punish mere names, we may well call them irrational. But if they punish acts, why in our case do they punish acts solely on the ground of a name, while in others they must have them proved not from the name, but from the wrong done? I am a practiser of incest (so they say); why do they not inquire into it? I am an infant-killer; why do they not apply the torture to get from me the truth? I am guilty of crimes against the gods, against the Caesars; why am I, who am able to clear myself, not allowed to be heard on my own behalf? |
| [12] Nulla lex vetat discuti quod prohibet admitti, quia neque judex juste ulciscitur, nisi cognoscat admissum esse quod non licet, neque civis fideliter legi obsequitur ignorans, quale sit quod ulciscitur lex. |
[12] No law forbids the sifting of the crimes which it prohibits, for a judge never inflicts a righteous vengeance if he is not well assured that a crime has been committed; nor does a citizen render a true subjection to the law, if he does not know the nature of the thing on which the punishment is inflicted. |
| [13] Nulla lex sibi soli conscientiam justitiae suae debet, sed eis, a quibus obsequium expectat. Ceterum suspecta lex est, quae probari se non vult, improba autem, si non probata dominetur. |
[13] It is not enough that a law is just, nor that the judge should be convinced of its justice; those from whom obedience is expected should have that conviction too. Nay, a law lies under strong suspicions which does not care to have itself tried and approved: it is a positively wicked law, if, unproved, it tyrannizes over men. |
| Capitulum V |
Chapter V. |
| [1] Ut de origine aliquid retractemus ejusmodi legum, vetus erat decretum, ne qui deus ab imperatore consecraretur nisi a senatu probatus. Scit M. Aemilius de deo suo Alburno. Facit et hoc ad causam nostram, quod apud vos de humano arbitratu divinitas pensitatur. Nisi homini deus placuerit, deus non erit; homo jam deo propitius esse debebit. |
[1] To say a word about the origin of laws of the kind to which we now refer, there was an old decree that no god should be consecrated by the emperor till first approved by the senate. Marcus Aemilius had experience of this in reference to his god Alburnus. And this, too, makes for our case, that among you divinity is allotted at the judgment of human beings. Unless gods give satisfaction to men, there will be no deification for them: the god will have to propitiate the man. |
| [2] Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Christianum in saeculum introivit, adnuntiatum sibi ex Syria Palaestina, quod illic veritatem ipsius divinitatis revelaverat, detulit ad senatum cum praerogativa suffragii sui. Senatus, quia non ipse probaverat, respuit; Caesar in sententia mansit, comminatus periculum accusatoribus Christianorum. |
[2] Tiberius6 accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its entry into the world, having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ's divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision in favour of Christ. The senate, because it had not given the approval itself, rejected his proposal. Caesar held to his opinion, threatening wrath against all accusers of the Christians. |
| [3] Consulite commentarios vestros; illic reperietis primum Neronem in hanc sectam cum maxime Romae orientem Caesariano gladio ferocisse. Sed tali dedicatore damnationis nostrae etiam gloriamur. Qui enim scit illum, intellegere potest non nisi grande aliquod bonum a Nerone damnatum. |
[3] Consult your histories; you will there find that Nero was the first who assailed with the imperial sword the Christian sect, making profess then especially at Rome. But we glory in having our condemnation hallowed by the hostility of such a wretch. For any one who knows him, can understand that not except as being of singular excellence did anything bring on it Nero's condemnation. |
| [4] Temptaverat et Domitianus, portio Neronis de crudelitate; sed, qua et homo, facile coeptum repressit, restitutis etiam quos relegaverat. Tales semper nobis insecutores, injusti, impii, turpes, quos et ipsi damnare consuestis, a quibus damnatos restituere soliti estis. |
[4] Domitian, too, a man of Nero's type in cruelty, tried his hand at persecution; but as he had something of the human in him, he soon put an end to what he had begun, even restoring again those whom he had banished. Such as these have always been our persecutors,-men unjust, impious, base, of whom even you yourselves have no good to say, the sufferers under whose sentences you have been wont to restore. |
| [5] Ceterum de tot exinde principibus ad hodiernum divinum humanumque sapientibus edite aliquem debellatorem Christianorum! |
[5] But among so many princes from that time to the present day, with anything of divine and human wisdom in them, point out a single persecutor of the Christian name. |
| [6] At nos e contrario edimus protectorem, si litterae Marci Aurelii, gravissimi imperatoris, requirantur, quibus illam Germanicam sitim Christianorum forte militum precationibus impetrato imbri discussam contestatur. Sicut non palam ab ejusmodi hominibus poenam dimovit, ita alio modo palam dispersit, adjecta etiam accusatoribus damnatione, et quidem taetriore. |
[6] So far from that, we, on the contrary, bring before you one who was their protector, as you will see by examining the letters of Marcus Aurelius, that most grave of emperors, in which he bears his testimony that that Germanic drought was removed by the rains obtained through the prayers of the Christians who chanced to be fighting under him. And as he did not by public law remove from Christians their legal disabilities, yet in another way he put them openly aside, even adding a sentence of condemnation, and that of greater severity, against their accusers. |
| [7] Quales ergo leges istae, quas adversus nos soli exercent impii injusti, turpes truces, vani dementes, quas Trajanus ex parte frustratus est vetando inquiri Christianos, quas nullus Hadrianus, quamquam omnium curiositatum explorator, nullus Vespasianus, quamquam Judaeorum debellator, nullus Pius, nullus Verus impressit. |
[7] What sort of laws are these which the impious alone execute against us - and the unjust, the vile, the bloody, the senseless, the insane? which Trajan to some extent made naught by forbidding Christians to be sought after; which neither a Hadrian, though fond of searching into all things strange and new, nor a Vespasian, though the subjugator of the Jews, nor a Pius, nor a Verus, ever enforced? |
| [8] Facilius utique pessimi ab optimis quibusque, ut ab aemulis, quam a suis sociis eradicandi judicarentur. |
[8] It should surely be judged more natural for bad men to be eradicated by good princes as being their natural enemies, than by those of a spirit kindred with their own. |
| Capitulum VI |
Chapter VI. |
| [1] Nunc religiosissimi legum et paternorum institutorum protectores et ultores respondeant velim de sua fide et honore et obsequio erga majorum consulta, si a nullo desciverunt, si in nullo exorbitaverunt, si non necessaria et aptissima quaeque disciplinae oblitteraverunt. |
[1] I would now have these most religious protectors and vindicators of the laws and institutions of their fathers, tell me, in regard to their own fidelity and the honour, and submission they themselves show to ancestral institutions, if they have departed from nothing - if they have in nothing gone out of the old paths - if they have not put aside whatsoever is most useful and necessary as rules of a virtuous life. |
| [2] Quonam illae leges abierunt sumptum et ambitionem comprimentes, quae centum aera non amplius in cenam subscribi jubebant, nec amplius quam unam inferri gallinam, et eam non saginatam, quae patricium, quod decem pondo argenti habuisset, pro magno ambitionis titulo senatu submovebant, quae theatra stuprandis moribus orientia statim destruebant, quae dignitatum et honestorum natalium insignia non temere nec impune usurpari sinebant? |
[2] What has become of the laws repressing expensive and ostentatious ways of living? which forbade more than a hundred asses to be expended on a supper, and more than one fowl to be set on the table at a time, and that not a fatted one; which expelled a patrician from the senate on the serious ground, as it was counted, of aspiring to be too great, because he had acquired ten pounds of silver; which put down the theatres as quickly as they arose to debauch the manners of the people; which did not permit the insignia of official dignities or of noble birth to be rashly or with impunity usurped? |
| [3] Video enim et centenarias cenas a centenis jam sestertiis dicendas, et in lances - parum est, si senatorum et non libertinorum vel adhuc flagra rumpentium - argentaria metalla producta. Video et theatra nec singula satis esse nec nuda. Nam ne vel hieme voluptas impudica frigeret, primi Lacedaemonii paenulam ludis excogitaverunt. Video et inter matronas atque prostibulas nullum de habitu discrimen relictum. |
[3] For I see the Centenarian suppers must now bear the name, not from the hundred asses, but from the hundred sestertia7 expended on them; and that mines of silver are made into dishes (it were little if this applied only to senators, and not to freedmen or even mere whip-spoilers8 ). I see, too, that neither is a single theatre enough, nor are theatres unsheltered: no doubt it was that immodest pleasure might not be torpid in the wintertime, the Lacedaemonians invented their woollen cloaks for the plays. I see now no difference between the dress of matrons and prostitutes. |
| [4] Circa feminas quidem etiam illa majorum instituta ceciderunt quae modestiae, quae sobrietati patrocinabantur, cum aurum nulla norat praeter unico digito, quem sponsus oppignerasset pronubo anulo; cum mulieres usque adeo vino abstinerentur, ut matronam ob resignatos cellae vinariae loculos sui inedia necarint, sub Romulo vero quae vinum attigerat impune a Metennio marito trucidata sit. |
[4] In regard to women, indeed, those laws of your fathers, which used to be such an encouragement to modesty and sobriety, have also fallen into desuetude, when a woman had yet known no gold upon her save on the finger, which, with the bridal ring, her husband had sacredly pledged to himself; when the abstinence of women from wine was carried so far, that a matron, for opening the compartments of a wine cellar, was starved to death by her friends,-while in the times of Romulus, for merely tasting wine, Mecenius killed his wife, and suffered nothing for the deed. |
| [5] Idcirco et oscula propinquis offerre etiam necessitas erat, ut spiritu judicarentur. |
[5] With reference to this also, it was the custom of women to kiss their relatives, that they might be detected by their breath. |
| [6] Ubi est illa felicitas matrimoniorum de moribus utique prosperata, qua per annos ferme sescentos ab urbe condita nulla repudium domus scripsit? At nunc in feminis prae auro nullum leve est membrum, prae vino nullum liberum est osculum, repudium vero jam et votum est, quasi matrimonii fructus. |
[6] Where is that happiness of married life, ever so desirable, which distinguished our earlier manners, and as the result of which for about 600 years there was not among us a single divorce? Now, women have every member of the body heavy laden with gold; wine-bibbing is so common among them, that the kiss is never offered with their will; and as for divorce, they long for it as though it were the natural consequence of marriage. |
| [7] Etiam circa ipsos deos vestros quae prospecte decreverant patres vestri, idem vos obsequentissimi rescidistis. Liberum Patrem cum mysteriis suis consules senatus auctoritate non modo urbe, sed universa Italia eliminaverunt. |
[7] The laws, too, your fathers in their wisdom had enacted concerning the very gods themselves, you their most loyal children have rescinded, The consuls, by the authority of the senate, banished Father Bacchus and his mysteries not merely from the city, but from the whole of Italy. |
| [8] Serapidem et Isidem et Arpocratem cum suo Cynocephalo Capitolio prohibitos inferri, id est curia deorum pulsos, Piso et Gabinius consules, non utique Christiani, eversis etiam aris eorum abdicaverunt, turpium et otiosarum superstitionum vitia cohibentes. His vos restitutis summam majestatem contulistis. |
[8] The consuls Piso and Gabinius, no Christians surely, forbade Serapis, and Isis, and Arpocrates, with their dogheaded friend,9 admission into the Capitol - in the act casting them out from the assembly of the gods - overthrow their altars, and expelled them from the country, being anxious to prevent the vices of their base and lascivious religion from spreading. These, you have restored, and conferred highest honours on them. |
| [9] Ubi religio, ubi veneratio majoribus debita a vobis? Habitu, victu, instructu, sensu, ipso denique sermone proavis renuntiastis. Laudatis semper antiquitatem, et nove de die vivitis. Per quod ostenditur, dum a bonis majorum institutis deceditis, ea vos retinere et custodire, quae non debuistis, cum quae debuistis non custodistis. |
[9] What has come to your religion - of the veneration due by you to your ancestors? In your dress, in your food, in your style of life, in your opinions, and last of all in your very speech, you have renounced your progenitors. You are always praising antiquity, and yet every day you have novelties in your way of living. From your having failed to maintain what you should, you make it clear, that, while you abandon the good ways of your fathers, you retain and guard the things you ought not. |
| [10] Adhuc quod videmini fidelissime tueri a patribus traditum, in quo principaliter reos transgressionis Christianos destinastis, studium dico deorum colendorum, de quo maxime erravit antiquitas, licet Serapidi eam Romano aras restruxeritis, licet Baccho jam Italico furias vestras immol[ar]etis, suo loco ostendam proinde despici et neglegi et destrui a vobis adversus majorum auctoritatem. |
[10] Yet the very tradition of your fathers, which you still seem so faithfully to defend, and in which you find your principal matter of accusation against the Christians - I mean zeal in the worship of the gods, the point in which antiquity has mainly erred - although you have rebuilt the altars of Serapis, now a Roman deity, and to Bacchus, now become a god of Italy, you offer up your orgies,-I shall in its proper place show that you despise, neglect, and overthrow, casting entirely aside the authority of the men of old. |
| [11] Nunc enim ad illam occultorum facinorum infamiam respondebo, ut viam mihi ad manifestiora purgem. |
[11] I go on meantime to reply to that infamous charge of secret crimes, clearing my way to things of open day. |
| Capitulum VII |
Chapter VII. |
| [1] Dicimur sceleratissimi de sacramento infanticidii et pabulo inde et post convivium incesto, quod eversores luminum canes, lenones scilicet tenebrarum, libidinum impiarum inverecundiam procurent. |
[1] Monsters of wickedness, we are accused of observing a holy rite in which we kill a little child and then eat it; in which, after the feast, we practise incest, the dogs - our pimps, forsooth, overturning the lights and getting us the shamelessness of darkness for our impious lusts. |
| [2] Dicimur tamen semper, nec vos quod tamdiu dicimur eruere curatis. Ergo aut eruite, si creditis, aut nolite credere, qui non eruistis! De vestra vobis dissimulatione praescribitur non esse quod nec ipsi audetis eruere. Longe aliud munus carnifici in Christianos imperatis, non ut dicant quae faciunt, sed ut negent quod sunt. |
[2] This is what is constantly laid to our charge, and yet you take no pains to elicit the truth of what we have been so long accused. Either bring, then, the matter to the light of day if you believe it, or give it no credit as having never inquired into it. On the ground of your double dealing, we are entitled to lay it down to you that there is no reality in the thing which you dare not expiscate. You impose on the executioner, in the case of Christians, a duty the very opposite of expiscation: he is not to make them confess what they do, but to make them deny what they are. |
| [3] Census istius disciplinae, ut jam edidimus, a Tiberio est. Cum odio sui coepit veritas; simul atque apparuit, inimica est. Tot hostes ejus quot extranei, et quidem proprie ex aemulatione Judaei, ex concussione milites, ex natura ipsi etiam domestici nostri. |
[3] We date the origin of our religion, as we have mentioned before, from the reign of Tiberius. Truth and the hatred of truth come into our world together. As soon as truth appears, it is regarded as an enemy. It has as many foes as there are strangers to it: the Jews, as was to be looked for, from a spirit of rivalry; the soldiers, out of a desire to extort money; our very domestics, by their nature. |
| [4] Cottidie obsidemur, cottidie prodimur, in ipsis plurimum coetibus et congregationibus nostris opprimimur. Quis umquam taliter vagienti infanti supervenit? |
[4] We are daily beset by foes, we are daily betrayed; we are oftentimes surprised in our meetings and congregations. Whoever happened withal upon an infant wailing, according to the common story? |
| [5] Quis cruenta, ut invenerat, Cyclopum et Sirenum ora judici reservavit? Quis vel in uxoribus aliqua immunda vestigia deprehendit? Quis talia facinora, cum invenisset, celavit aut vendidit, ipsos trahens homines? Si semper latemus, quando proditum est quod admittimus? |
[5] Whoever kept for the judge, just as he had found them, the gory mouths of Cyclops and Sirens? Whoever found any traces of uncleanness in their wives? Where is the man who, when he had discovered such atrocities, concealed them; or, in the act of dragging the culprits' before the judge, was bribed into silence? If we always keep our secrets, when were our proceedings made known to the world? |
| [6] Immo a quibus prodi potuit? Ab ipsis enim reis non utique, cum vel ex forma omnibus mysteriis silentii fides debeatur. Samothracia et Eleusinia reticentur: Quanto magis talia, quae prodita interim etiam humanam animadversionem provocabunt, dum divina servatur! |
[6] Nay, by whom could they be made known? Not, surely, by the guilty parties themselves; even from the very idea of the thing, the fealty of silence being ever due to mysteries. The Samothracian and Eleusinian make no disclosures - how much more will silence be kept in regard to such as are sure, in their unveiling, to call forth punishment from man at once, while wrath divine is kept in store for the future? |
| [7] Si ergo non ipsi proditores sui, sequitur ut extranei. Et unde extraneis notitia, cum semper etiam [in]piae initiationes arceant profanos et ab arbitris caveant? Nisi si impii minus metuunt. |
[7] If, then, Christians are not themselves the publishers of their crime, it follows of course it must be strangers. And whence have they their knowledge, when it is also a universal custom in religious initiations to keep the profane aloof, and to beware of witnesses, unless it be that those who are so wicked have less fear than their neighbors? |
[8] Natura famae omnibus nota est. Vestrum est:
“Fama malum, qua non aliud velocius ullum.”
Cur malum fama? Quia velox? Quia index? An quia plurimum mendax? Quae ne tunc quidem, cum aliquid veri affert, sine mendacii vitio est, detrahens, adjiciens, demutans de veritate. |
[8] Every one knows what sort of thing rumour is. It is one of your own sayings, that
"among all evils, none flies so fast as rumour."
Why is rumour such an evil thing? Is it because it is fleet? Is it because it carries information? Or is it because it is in the highest degree mendacious? - a thing, not even when it brings some truth to us, without a taint of falsehood, either detracting, or adding, or changing from the simple fact? |
| [9] Quid quod ea illi condicio est, ut non nisi cum mentitur, perseveret, et tamdiu vivit, quamdiu non probat? Siquidem, ubi probavit, cessat esse et quasi officio nuntiandi functa rem tradit; et exinde res tenetur, res nominatur. |
[9] Nay more, it is the very law of its being to continue only while it lies, and to live but so long as there is no proof; for when the proof is given, it ceases to exist; and, as having done its work of merely spreading a report, it delivers up a fact, and is henceforth held to be a fact, and called a fact. |
| [10] Nec quisquam dicit verbi gratia: “Hoc Romae ajunt factum”, aut: “Fama est illum provinciam sortitum”, sed: “Sortitus est ille provinciam”, et: “Hoc factum est Romae”. |
[10] And then no one says, for instance, "They say that it took place at Rome," or, "There is a rumour that he has obtained a province," but, "He has got a province," and, "It took place at Rome." |
| [11] Fama, nomen incerti, locum non habet, ubi certum est. An vero famae credat nisi inconsideratus? Quia sapiens non credit incerto. Omnium est aestimare, quantacumque illa ambitione diffusa sit, quantacumque adseveratione constructa, quod ab uno aliquando principe exorta sit necesse est. |
[11] Rumour, the very designation of uncertainty, has no place when a thing is certain. Does any but a fool put his trust in it? For a wise man never believes the dubious. Everybody knows, however zealously it is spread abroad, on whatever strength of asseveration it rests, that some time or other from some one fountain it has its origin. |
| [12] Exinde in traduces linguarum et aurium serpit, et ita modici seminis vitium cetera rumoris obscurat, ut nemo recogitet, ne primum illud os mendacium seminaverit, quod saepe fit aut ingenio aemulationis aut arbitrio suspicionis aut non nova, sed ingenita quibusdam mentiendi voluptate. |
[12] Thence it must creep into propagating tongues and ears; and a small seminal blemish so darkens all the rest of the story, that no one can determine whether the lips, from which it first came forth, planted the seed of falsehood, as often happens, from a spirit of opposition, or from a suspicious judgment, or from a confirmed, nay, in the case of some, an inborn, delight in lying. |
| [13] Bene autem quod omnia tempus revelat, testibus etiam vestris proverbiis atque sententiis, ex dispositione naturae, quae ita ordinavit, ut nihil diu lateat, etiam quod fama non distulit. |
[13] It is well that time brings all to light, as your proverbs and sayings testify, by a provision of Nature, which has so appointed things that nothing long is hidden, even though rumour has not disseminated it. |
| [14] Merito igitur fama tamdiu conscia sola est scelerum Christianorum; hanc indicem adversus nos profertis, quae quod aliquando jactavit tantoque spatio in opinionem corroboravit, usque adhuc probare non valuit. |
[14] It is just then as it should be, that fame for so long a period has been alone aware of the crimes of Christians. This is the witness you bring against us - one that has never been able to prove the accusation it some time or other sent abroad, and at last by mere continuance made into a settled opinion in the world. |
| Capitulum VIII |
Chapter VIII. |
| [1] Ut fidem naturae ipsius appellem adversus eos, qui talia credenda esse praesumunt, ecce proponimus horum «facinorum» mercedem: Vitam aeternam repromittunt. Credite interim! De hoc enim quaero, an et qui credideris tanti habeas ad eam tali conscientia pervenire. |
[1] In order that I might confidently appeal to Nature herself, ever true, against those who groundlessly hold that such things are to be believed: see now, we set before you the reward of these «enormities». They give promise of eternal life. Hold it meanwhile as your own belief. I ask you, then, whether, so believing, you think it worth attaining with a conscience such as you will have. |
| [2] Veni, demerge ferrum in infantem nullius inimicum, nullius rerum, omnium filium; vel, si alterius officium est, tu modo adsiste morienti homini, antequam vixit; fugientem animam novam expecta, excipe rudem sanguinem, eo panem tuum satia, vescere libenter! |
[2] Come, plunge your knife into the babe, enemy of none, accused of none, child of all; or if that is another's work, simply take your place beside a human being dying before he has really lived, await the departure of the lately given soul, receive the fresh young blood, saturate your bread with it, freely partake. |
| [3] Interea discumbens dinumera loca, ubi mater, ubi soror; nota diligenter, ut, cum tenebrae ceciderint caninae, non erres! Piaculum enim admiseris, nisi incestum feceris. |
[3] The while as you recline at table, take note of the places which your mother and your sister occupy; mark them well, so that when the dog-made darkness has fallen on you, you may make no mistake, for you will be guilty of a crime - unless you perpetrate a deed of incest. |
| [4] Talia initiatus et consignatus vivis in aevum. Cupio respondeas, si tanti aeternitas; aut si non, ideo nec credenda. Etiamsi credideris, nego te velle; etiamsi volueris, nego te posse. Cur ergo alii possint, si vos non potestis? cur non possitis, si alii possunt? |
[4] Initiated and sealed into things like these, you have life everlasting. Tell me, I pray you, is eternity worth it? If it is not, then these things are not to be credited. Even although you had the belief, I deny the will; and even if you had the will, I deny the possibility. Why then can others do it, if you cannot? why cannot you, if others can? |
| [5] Alia nos, opinor, natura, Cynopennae aut Sciapodes; alii ordines dentium, alii ad incestam libidinem nervi. Qui ista credis de homine, potes et facere; homo es et ipse, quod et Christianus. Qui non potes facere, non debes credere. Homo est enim et Christianus, et quod et tu. |
[5] I suppose we are of a different nature - are we Cynopae or Sciapodes?10 You are a man yourself as well as the Christian: if you cannot do it, you ought not to believe it of others, for a Christian is a man as well as you. |
| [6] “Sed ignorantibus subicitur et imponitur. Nihil enim tale de Christianis adseverari sciebant, observandum utique sibi et omni vigilantia investigandum.” |
[6] But the ignorant, forsooth, are deceived and imposed on. They were quite unaware of anything of the kind being imputed to Christians, or they would certainly have looked into it for themselves, and searched the matter out. |
| [7] Atquin volentibus initiari moris est, opinor, prius patrem illum sacrorum adire, quae praeparanda sint describere. Tum ille: “Infans tibi necessarius adhuc tener, qui nesciat mortem, qui sub cultro tuo rideat; item panis, quo sanguinis jurulentiam colligas; praeterea candelabra et lucernae et canes aliqui et offulae, quae illos ad eversionem luminum extendant; ante omnia cum matre et sorore tua venire debebis.” |
[7] Instead of that, it is the custom for persons wishing initiation into sacred rites, I think, to go first of all to the master of them, that he may explain what preparations are to be made. Then, in this case, no doubt he would say, "You must have a child still of tender age, that knows not what it is to die, and can smile under thy knife; bread, too, to collect the gushing blood; in addition to these, candlesticks, and lamps, and dogs - with tid-bits to draw them on to the extinguishing of the lights: above all things, you will require to bring your mother and your sister with you." |
| [8] Quid si noluerint vel nullae fuerint? Quid denique singulares Christiani? Non erit, opinor, legitimus Christianus nisi frater aut filius. |
[8] But what if mother and sister are unwilling? or if there be neither the one nor the other? What if there are Christians with no Christian relatives? He will not be counted, I suppose, a true follower of Christ, who has not a brother or a son. |
| [9] Quid nunc, et si ista omnia ignaris praeparantur? Certe postea cognoscunt et sustinent et ignoscunt. “Timent plecti, si proclament.” Qui defendi merebuntur, qui etiam ultro perire malint quam sub tali conscientia vivere? Age nunc, timeant; cur etiam perseverant? Sequitur enim, ne ultra velis id te esse quod, si prius scisses, non fuisses. |
[9] And what now, if these things are all in store for them without their knowledge? At least afterwards they come to know them; and they bear with them, and pardon them. They fear, it may be said, lest they have to pay for it if they let the secret out: nay, but they will rather in that case have every claim to protection; they will even prefer, one might think, dying by their own hand, to living under the burden of such a dreadful knowledge. Admit that they have this fear; yet why do they still persevere? For it is plain enough that you will have no desire to continue what you would never have been, if you had had previous knowledge of it. |
| Capitulum IX |
Chapter IX. |
| [1] Haec quo[que] magis refutaverim, a vobis fieri ostendam partim in aperto, partim in occulto, per quod forsitan et de nobis credidistis. |
[1] That I may refute more thoroughly these charges, I will show that in part openly, in part secretly, practices prevail among you which have led you perhaps to credit similar things about us. |
| [2] Infantes penes Africam Saturno immolabantur palam usque ad proconsulatum Tiberii, qui eosdem sacerdotes in eisdem arboribus templi sui obumbratricibus scelerum votivis crucibus exposuit, teste militia patriae nostrae, quae id ipsum munus illi proconsuli functa est. |
[2] Children were openly sacrificed in Africa to Saturn as lately as the proconsulship of Tiberius, who exposed to public gaze the priests suspended on the sacred trees overshadowing their temple - so many crosses on which the punishment which justice craved overtook their crimes, as the soldiers of our country still can testify who did that very work for that proconsul. |
| [3] Sed et nunc in occulto perseveratur hoc sacrum facinus. Non soli vos contemnunt Christiani, nec ullum scelus in perpetuum eradicatur, aut mores suos aliqui deus mutat. |
[3] And even now that sacred crime still continues to be done in secret. It is not only Christians, you see, who despise you; for all that you do there is neither any crime thoroughly and abidingly eradicated, nor does any of your gods reform his ways. |
| [4] Cum propriis filiis Saturnus non pepercit, extraneis utique non parcendo perseverabat, quos quidem ipsi parentes sui offerebant; et libentes respondebant et infantibus blandiebantur, ne lacrimantes immolarentur. Et tamen multum homicidio parricidium differt. |
[4] When Saturn did not spare his own children, he was not likely to spare the children of others; whom indeed the very parents themselves were in the habit of offering, gladly responding to the call which was made on them, and keeping the little ones pleased on the occasion, that they might not die in tears. At the same time, there is a vast difference between homicide and parricide. |
| [5] Major aetas apud Gallos Mercurio prosecatur. Remitto fabulas Tauricas theatris suis. Ecce in illa religiosissima urbe Aeneadarum piorum est Juppiter quidam, quem ludis suis humano sanguine proluunt. “Sed bestiarii”, inquitis. Hoc, opinor, minus quam hominis! An hoc turpius, quod mali hominis? certe tamen de homicidio funditur. O Jovem Christianum et solum patris filium de crudelitate! |
[5] A more advanced age was sacrificed to Mercury in Gaul. I hand over the Tauric fables to their own theatres. Why, even in that most religious city of the pious descendants of Aeneas, there is a certain Jupiter whom in their games they lave with human blood. It is the blood of a beast-fighter, you say. Is it less, because of that, the blood of a man?11 Or is it viler blood because it is from the veins of a wicked man? At any rate it is shed in murder. O Jove, thyself a Christian, and in truth only son of thy father in his cruelty! |
| [6] Sed quoniam de infanticidio nihil interest, sacro an arbitrio perpetretur, licet parricidium homicidio intersit, convertar ad populum. Quot vultis ex his circumstantibus et in Christianorum sanguinem hiantibus, ex ipsis etiam vobis justissimis et severissimis in nos praesidibus apud conscientias pulsem, qui natos sibi liberos enecent? |
[6] But in regard to child murder, as it does not matter whether it is committed for a sacred object, or merely at one's own self-impulse - although there is a great difference, as we have said, between parricide and homicide - I shall turn to the people generally. How many, think you, of those crowding around and gaping for Christian blood,-how many even of your rulers, notable for their justice to you and for their severe measures against us, may I charge in their own consciences with the sin of putting their offspring to death? |
| [7] Si quid[em] et de genere necis differt, utique crudelius in aqua spiritum extorquetis aut frigori et fami et canibus exponitis; ferro enim mori aetas quoque major optaverit. |
[7] As to any difference in the kind of murder, it is certainly the more cruel way to kill by drowning, or by exposure to cold and hunger and dogs. A maturer age has always preferred death by the sword. |
| [8] Nobis vero semel homicidio interdicto etiam conceptum utero, dum adhuc sanguis in hominem delib[er]atur, dissolvere non licet. Homicidii festinatio est prohibere nasci, nec refert, natam quis eripiat animam an nascentem disturbet. Homo est et qui est futurus; etiam fructus omnis jam in semine est. |
[8] In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed. |
| [9] De sanguinis pabulo et ejusmodi tragicis ferculis legite, necubi relatum sit - est apud Herodotum, opinor - defusum brachiis sanguinem ex alterutro degustatum nationes quasdam foederi comparasse. Nescio quid et sub Catilina degustatum est. Aiunt et apud quosdam gentiles Scytharum defunctum quemque a suis comedi. |
[9] As to meals of blood and such tragic dishes, read - I am not sure where it is told (it is in Herodotus, I think)-how blood taken from the arms, and tasted by both parties, has been the treaty bond among some nations. I am not sure what it was that was tasted in the time of Catiline. They say, too, that among some Scythian tribes the dead are eaten by their friends. |
| [10] Longe excurro. Hodie istic Bellonae sacratus sanguis de femore proscisso in palmulam exceptus et usui datus signat. |
[10] But I am going far from home. At this day, among ourselves, blood consecrated to Bellona, blood drawn from a punctured thigh and then partaken of, seals initiation into the rites of that goddess. |
| [11] Item illi, qui munere in arena noxiorum jugulatorum sanguinem recentem, de jugulo decurrentem [exceptum], avida siti comitiali morbo medentes hauserunt, ubi sunt? Item illi qui de arena ferinis obsoniis cenant, qui de apro, qui de cervo petunt? Aper ille quem cruentavit colluctando detersit, cervus ille in gladiatoris sanguine iacuit. Ipsorum ursorum alvei appetuntur cruditantes adhuc de visceribus humanis; ructatur proinde ab homine caro pasta de homine. |
[11] Those, too, who at the gladiator shows, for the cure of epilepsy, quaff with greedy thirst the blood of criminals slain in the arena, as it flows fresh from the wound, and then rush off - to whom do they belong? those, also, who make meals on the flesh of wild beasts at the place of combat - who have keen appetites for bear and stag? That bear in the struggle was bedewed with the blood of the man whom it lacerated: that stag rolled itself in the gladiator's gore. The entrails of the very bears, loaded with as yet undigested human viscera, are in great request. And you have men rifting up man-fed flesh? |
| [12] Haec qui editis, quantum abestis a conviviis Christianorum? 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. |
[12] If you partake of food like this, how do your repasts differ from those you accuse us Christians of? And do those, who, with savage lust, seize on human bodies, do less because they devour the living? Have they less the pollution of human blood on them because they only lick up what is to turn into blood? They make meals, it is plain, not so much of infants, as of grown-up men. |
| [13] Erubescat error vester Christianis, qui ne animalium quidem sanguinem in epulis esculentis habemus, qui propterea suffocatis quoque et morticinis abstinemus, ne quo [modo] sanguine contaminemur vel intra viscera sepulto. |
[13] Blush for your vile ways before the Christians, who have not even the blood of animals at their meals of simple and natural food; who abstain from things strangled and that die a natural death, for no other reason than that they may not contract pollution, so much as from blood secreted in the viscera. |
| [14] Denique inter temptamenta Christianorum botulos etiam cruore distensos admovetis, certissimi scilicet illicitum esse penes illos, per quod exorbitare eos vultis. Porro quale est, ut quos sanguinem pecoris horrere confiditis, humano inhiare credatis, nisi forte suaviorem eum experti? |
[14] To clench the matter with a single example, you tempt Christians with sausages of blood, just because you are perfectly aware that the thing by which you thus try to get them to transgress they hold unlawful.12 And how unreasonable it is to believe that those, of whom you are convinced that they regard with horror the idea of tasting the blood of oxen, are eager after blood of men; unless, mayhap, you have tried it, and found it sweeter to the taste! |
| [15] Quem quidem et ipsum proinde examinatorem Christianorum adhiberi oportebat, ut foculum, ut acerram. Proinde enim probarentur sanguinem humanum appetendo, quemadmodum sacrificium respuendo; alioquin negandi, si non gustassent, quemadmodum si immolassent. Et utique non deesset vobis in auditione custodiarum et damnatione sanguis humanus. |
[15] Nay, in fact, there is here a test you should apply to discover Christians, as well as the fire-pan and the censer. They should be proved by their appetite for human blood, as well as by their refusal to offer sacrifice; just as otherwise they should be affirmed to be free of Christianity by their refusal to taste of blood, as by their sacrificing; and there would be no want of blood of men, amply supplied as that would be in the trial and condemnation of prisoners. |
| [16] Proinde incesti qui magis quam quos ipse Juppiter docuit? Persas cum suis matribus misceri Ctesias refert. Sed et Macedones suspecti, quia, cum primum Oedipum tragoediam audissent, ridentes incesti dolorem: «HLAUNE», dicebant, «EIS THN MHTERA». |
[16] Then who are more given to the crime of incest than those who have enjoyed the instruction of Jupiter himself? Ctesias tells us that the Persians have illicit intercourse with their mothers. The Macedonians, too, are suspected on this point; for on first hearing the tragedy of Oedipus they made mirth of the incest-doer's grief, exclaiming, h9laune eij th\n mhte/ra. |
| [17] Jam nunc recognitate, quantum liceat erroribus ad incesta miscenda, suppeditante materias passivitate luxuriae. Imprimis filios exponitis suscipiendos ab aliqua praetereunte misericordia extranea, vel adoptandos melioribus parentibus emancipatis. Alienati generis necesse est quandoque memoriam dissipari; et simul error impegerit, exinde jam tradux proficient incesti serpente genere cum scelere. |
[17] Even now reflect what opportunity there is for mistakes leading to incestuous comminglings - your promiscuous looseness supplying the materials. You first of all expose your children, that they may be taken up by any compassionate passer-by, to whom they are quite unknown; or you give them away, to be adopted by those who will do better to them the part of parents. Well, some time or other, all memory of the alienated progeny must be lost; and when once a mistake has been made, the transmission of incest thence will still go on - the race and the crime creeping on together. |
| [18] Tunc deinde quocumque in loco, domi, peregre, trans freta, comes est libido, cujus ubique saltus facile possunt alicubi ignaris filios pangere vel ex aliqua seminis portione, ut ita sparsum genus per commercia humana concurrat in memorias suas, neque eas caecus incesti sangui[ni]s agnoscat. |
[18] Then, further, wherever you are - at home, abroad, over the seas - your lust is an attendant, whose general indulgence, or even its indulgence in the most limited scale, may easily and unwittingly anywhere beget children, so that in this way a progeny scattered about in the commerce of life may have intercourse with those who are their own kin, and have no notion that there is any incest in the case. |
| [19] Nos ab isto eventu diligentissima et fidelissima castitas saepsit, quantumque ab stupris et ab omni post matrimonium excessu, tantum et ab incesti casu tuti sumus. Quidam multo securiores totam vim huis erroris virgine continentia depellunt, senes pueri. |
[19] A persevering and stedfast chastity has protected us from anything like this: keeping as we do from adulteries and all post-matrimonial unfaithfulness, we are not exposed to incestuous mishaps. Some of us, making matters still more secure, beat away from them entirely the power of sensual sin, by a virgin continence, still boys in this respect when they are old. |
| [20] Haec in vobis esse si consideraretis, proinde in Christianis non esse perspiceretis. Idem oculi renuntiassent utrumque. Sed caecitatis duae species facile concurrunt, ut qui non vident quae sunt, videre videantur quae non sunt. Sic per omnia ostendam. Nunc de manifestioribus dicam. |
[20] If you would but take notice that such sins as I have mentioned prevail among you, that would lead you to see that they have no existence among Christians. The same eyes would tell you of both facts. But the two blindnesses are apt to go together; so that those who do not see what is, think they see what is not. I shall show it to be so in everything. But now let me speak of matters which are more dear. |
| Capitulum X |
Chapter X. |
| [1] “Deos”, iniquitis, “non colitis et pro imperatoribus sacrificia non penditis.” Sequitur, ut eadem ratione pro aliis non sacrificemus, qua nec pro nobis ipsis, semel deos non colendo. Itaque sacrilegii et majestatis rei convenimur. Summa haec causa, immo tota est et utique digna cognosci, si non praesumptio aut iniquitas judicet, altera quae desperat, altera quae recusat veritatem. |
[1] "You do not worship the gods," you say; "and you do not offer sacrifices for the emperors." Well, we do not offer sacrifice for others, for the same reason that we do not for ourselves,-namely, that your gods are not at all the objects of our worship. So we are accused of sacrilege and treason. This is the chief ground of charge against us - nay, it is the sum-total of our offending; and it is worthy then of being inquired into, if neither prejudice nor injustice be the judge, the one of which has no idea of discovering the truth, and the other simply and at once rejects it. |
| [2] Deos vestros colere desinimus, ex quo illos non esse cognoscimus. Hoc igitur exigere debetis, uti probemus non esse illos deos, et idcirco non colendos, quia tunc demum coli debuissent, si dei fuissent. Tunc et Christiani puniendi, si, quos non colerent, quia putarent non esse, constaret illos deos esse. |
[2] We do not worship your gods, because we know that there are no such beings. This, therefore, is what you should do: you should call on us to demonstrate their non-existence, and thereby prove that they have no claim to adoration; for only if your gods were truly so, would there be any obligation to render divine homage to them. And punishment even were due to Christians, if it were made plain that those to whom they refused all worship were indeed divine. |
| [3] «Sed nobis”, inquitis, “dei sunt.” Appellamus et provocamus a vobis ad conscientiam vestram; illa nos judicet, illa nos damnet, si poterit negare omnes istos deos vestros homines fuisse. |
[3] But you say, They are gods. We protest and appeal from yourselves to your knowledge; let that judge us; let that condemn us, if it can deny that all these gods of yours were but men. |
| [4] Si et ipsa infitias ierit, de suis antiquitatum instrumentis revincetur, de quibus eos didicit, testimonium perhibentibus ad hodiernum et civitatibus, in quibus nati sunt, et regionibus, in quibus aliquid operati vestigia reliquerunt, in quibus etiam sepulti demonstrantur. |
[4] If even it venture to deny that, it will be confuted by its own books of antiquities, from which it has got its information about them, bearing witness to this day, as they plainly do, both of the cities in which they were born, and the countries in which they have left traces of their exploits, as well as where also they are proved to have been buried. |
| [5] Nunc ergo per singulos decurram, tot ac tantos, novos veteres, barbaros Graecos, Romanos peregrinos, captivos adoptivos, proprios communes, masculos feminas, rusticos urbanos, nauticos militares? |
[5] Shall I now, therefore, go over them one by one, so numerous and so various, new and old, barbarian, Grecian, Roman, foreign, captive and adopted, private and common, male and female, rural and urban, naval and military? |
| [6] Otiosum et etiam titulos persequi. Ut colligam in compendium, et hoc non quo cognoscatis, sed recognoscatis - certe enim oblitos agitis -, ante Saturnum deus penes vos nemo est; ab illo census totius vel potioris et notioris divinitatis. Itaque quod de origine constiterit, id et de posteritate conveniet. |
[6] It were useless even to hunt out all their names: so I may content myself with a compend; and this not for your information, but that you may have what you know brought to your recollection, for undoubtedly you act as if you had forgotten all about them. No one of your gods is earlier than Saturn: from him you trace all your deities, even those of higher rank and better known. What, then, can be proved of the first, will apply to those that follow. |
| [7] Saturnum itaque, si quantum litterae docent, neque Diodorus Graecus aut Thallus neque Cassius Severus aut Cornelius Nepos neque ullus commentator ejusmodi antiquitatum aliud quam hominem promulgaverunt; si quantum rerum argumenta, nusquam invenio fideliora quam apud ipsam Italiam, in qua Saturnus post multas expeditiones postque Attica hospitia consedit, exceptus a Jano, vel Jane, ut Salii volut. |
[7] So far, then, as books give us information, neither the Greek Diodorus or Thallus, neither Cassius Severus or Cornelius Nepos, nor any writer upon sacred antiquities, have ventured to say that Saturn was any but a man: so far as the question depends on facts, I find none more trustworthy than those -that in Italy itself we have the country in which, after many expeditions, and after having partaken of Attic hospitalities, Saturn settled, obtaining cordial welcome from Janus, or, as the Salii will have it, Janis. |
| [8] Mons, quem incoluerat, Saturnius dictus; civitas, quam depalaverat, Saturnia usque nunc est, tota denique Italia post Oenotriam Saturnia cognominabatur. Ab ipso primum tabulae et imagine signatus nummus, et inde aerario praesidet. |
[8] The mountain on which he dwelt was called Saturnius; the city he founded is called Saturnia to this day; last of all, the whole of Italy, after having borne the name of Oenotria, was called Saturnia from him. He first gave you the art of writing, and a stamped coinage, and thence it is he presides over the public treasury. |
| [9] Tamen, si homo Saturnus, utique ex homine, et quia ab homine, non utique de Caelo et Terra. Sed cujus parentes ignoti erant, facile fuit eorum filium dici, quorum et omnes possumus videri. Quis enim non caelum ac terram matrem ac patrem venerationis et honoris gratia appellet vel ex consuetudine humana, qua ignoti vel ex inopinato apparentes de caelo supervenisse dicuntur? |
[9] But if Saturn were a man, he had undoubtedly a human origin; and having a human origin, he was not the offspring of heaven and earth. As his parents were unknown, it was not unnatural that he should be spoken of as the son of those elements from which we might all seem to spring. For who does not speak of heaven and earth as father and mother, in a sort of way of veneration and honour? or from the custom which prevails among us of saying that persons of whom we have no knowledge, or who make a sudden appearance, have fallen from the skies? |
| [10] Proinde Saturno repentino ubique caelitem contigit dici; nam et terrae filios vulgus vocat, quorum genus incertum est. Taceo quod ita rudes adhuc homines agebant, ut cujuslibet novi viri adspectu quasi divino commoverentur, cum hodie jam politi, quos ante paucos dies luctu publico mortuos sint confessi, in deos consecrent. |
[10] In this way it came about that Saturn, everywhere a sudden and unlooked-for guest, got everywhere the name of the Heaven-born. For even the common folk call persons whose stock is unknown, sons of earth. I say nothing of how men in these rude times were wont to act, when they were impressed by the look of any stranger happening to appear among them, as though it were divine, since even at this day men of culture make gods of those whom, a day or two before, they acknowledged to be dead men by their public mourning for them. |
| [11] Satis jam de Saturno, licet paucis. Etiam Jovem ostendemus tam hominem quam ex homine, et deinceps totum generis examen tam mortale quam seminis sui par. |
[11] Let these notices of Saturn, brief as they are, suffice. It will thus also be proved that Jupiter is as certainly a man, as from a man he sprung; and that one after another the whole swarm is mortal like the primal stock. |
| Capitulum XI |
Chapter XI. |
| [1] Et quoniam, sicut illos homines fuisse non audetis negare, ita post mortem deos factos instituistis adseverare, causas, quae hoc exegerint, retractemus. |
[1] And since, as you dare not deny that these deities of yours once were men, you have taken it on you to assert that they were made gods after their decease, let us consider what necessity there was for this. |
| [2] Imprimis quidem necesse est concedatis esse aliquem sublimiorem deum et mancipem quendam divinitatis, qui ex hominibus deos fecerit. Nam neque sibi illi sumere potuissent divinitatem, quam non habebant, nec alius praestare eam non habentibus, nisi qui proprie possidebat. |
[2] In the first place, you must concede the existence of one higher God - a certain wholesale dealer in divinity, who has made gods of men. For they could neither have assumed a divinity which was not theirs, nor could any but one himself possessing it have conferred it on them. |
| [3] Ceterum si nemo esset, qui deos faceret, frustra praesumitis deos factos, auferendo factorem. Certe quidem, si ipsi se facere potuissent, numquam homines fuissent, possidentes scilicet condicionis melioris potestatem. |
[3] If there was no one to make gods, it is vain to dream of gods being made when thus you have no god-maker. Most certainly, if they could have deified themselves, with a higher state at their command, they never would have been men. |
| [4] Igitur si est qui faciat deos, revertor ad causas examinandas faciendorum ex hominibus deorum, nec ullas invenio, nisi si ministeria et auxilia officiis divinis desideravit ille magnus deus. Primo indignum est, ut alicujus opera indegeret, et quidem mortui, cum dignius ab initio deum aliquem fecisset qui mortui erat operam desideraturus. |
[4] If, then, there be one who is able to make gods, I turn back to an examination of any reason there may be for making gods at all; and I find no other reason than this, that the great God has need of their ministrations and aids in performing the offices of Deity. But first it is an unworthy idea that He should need the help of a man, and in fact a dead man, when, if He was to be in want of this assistance from the dead, He might more fittingly have created some one a god at the beginning. |
| [5] Sed nec operae locum video. Totum enim hoc mundi corpus, sive innatum et infectum secundum Pythagoram sive natum factumve secundum Platonem, semel utique in ista constructione dispositum et instructum et ordinatum cum omnis rationis gubernaculo inventum est. Imperfectum non potuit esse quod perfecit omnia. |
[5] Nor do I see any place for his action. For this entire world-mass - whether self-existent and uncreated, as Pythagoras maintains, or brought into being by a creator's hands, as Plato holds - was manifestly, once for all in its original construction, disposed, and furnished, and ordered, and supplied with a government of perfect wisdom. That cannot be imperfect which has made all perfect. |
| [6] Nihil Saturnum et Saturniam gentem expectabat. Vani erunt homines, nisi certi sint a primordio et pluvias de caelo ruisse et sidera radiasse et lumina floruisse et tonitrua mugisse et ipsum Jovem quae in manu ejus imponitis fulmina timuisse, item omnem frugem ante Liberum et Cererem et Minervam, immo ante illum aliquem principem hominem de terra exuberasse, quia nihil continendo et sustinendo homini prospectum post hominem potuit inferri. |
[6] There was nothing waiting on for Saturn and his race to do. Men will make fools of themselves if they refuse to believe that from the very first ram poured down from the sky, and stars gleamed, and light shone, and thunders roared, and Jove himself dreaded the lightnings you put in his hands; that in like manner before Bacchus, and Ceres, and Minerva, nay before the first man, whoever that was, every kind of fruit burst forth plentifully from the bosom of the earth, for nothing provided for the support and sustenance of man could be introduced after his entrance on the stage of being. |
| [7] Denique invenisse dicuntur necessaria ista vitae, non instituisse. Quod autem invenitur, fuit, et quod fuit, non ejus deputabitur qui invenit, sed ejus qui instituit; erat enim antequam inveniretur. |
[7] Accordingly, these necessaries of life are said to have been discovered, not created. But the thing you discover existed before; and that which had a pre-existence must be regarded as belonging not to him who discovered it, hut to him who made it, for of course it had a being before it could be found. |
| [8] Ceterum si propterea Liber deus, quod vitem demonstravit, male cum Lucullo actum est, qui primus cerasia ex Ponto Italiae promulgavit, quod non est propterea consecratus ut frugis novae auctor, qui ostensor. |
[8] But if, on account of his being the discoverer of the vine, Bacchus is raised to godship, Lucullus, who first introduced the cherry from Pontus into Italy, has not been fairly dealt with; for as the discoverer of a new fruit, he has not, as though he were its creator, been awarded divine honours. |
| [9] Quamobrem, si ab initio et instructa et certis exercendorum officiorum suorum rationibus dispensata universitas constitit, vacat ex hac parte causa allegendae humanitatis in divinitatem, quia quas illis stationes et potestates distribuistis, tam fuerunt ab initio quam et fuissent etiamsi deos istos non creassetis. |
[9] Wherefore, if the universe existed from the beginning, thoroughly furnished with its system working under certain laws for the performance of its functions, there is, in this respect, an entire absence of all reason for electing humanity to divinity; for the positions and powers which you have assigned to your deities have been from the beginning precisely what they would have been, although you had never deified them. |
| [10] Sed convertimini ad causam aliam respondentes collationem divinitatis meritorum remunerandorum fuisse rationem. Et hinc conceditis, opinor, illum deum deificum justitia praecellere, qui non temere nec indigne nec prodige tantum praemium dispensarit. |
[10] But you turn to another reason, telling us that the conferring of deity was a way of rewarding worth. And hence you grant, I conclude, that the god-making God is of transcendent righteousness,-one who will neither rashly, improperly; nor needlessly bestow a reward so great. |
| [11] Volo igitur merita recensere, an ejusmodi sint, ut illos in caelum extulerint et non potius in imum Tartarum merserint, quem carcerem poenarum infernarum, cum vultis, affirmatis. |
[11] I would have you then consider whether the merits of your deities are of a kind to have raised them to the heavens, and not rather to have sunk them down into lowest depths of
Tartarus,-the place which you regard, with many, as the prison-house of infernal punishments. |
| [12] Illuc enim abstrudi solent impii quique in parentes et incesti in sorores et maritarum adulteri et virginum raptores et puerorum contaminatores, et qui saeviunt, et qui occidunt, et qui furantur, et qui decipiunt, et quicumque similes sunt alicujus dei vestri, quem neminem integrum a crimine aut vitio probare poteritis, nisi hominem negaveritis. |
[12] For into this dread place are wont to be cast all who offend against filial piety, and such as are guilty of incest with sisters, and seducers of wives, and ravishers of virgins, and boy-polluters, and men of furious tempers, and murderers, and thieves, and deceivers; all, in short, who tread in the footsteps of your gods, not one of whom you can prove free from crime or vice, save by denying that they had ever a human existence. |
| [13] Atquin, ut illos homines fuisse non potestis negare, etiam istae notae accedunt, quae nec deos postea factos credi permittunt. Si enim vos talibus puniendis praesidetis, si commercium, colloquium, convictum malorum et turpium probi quique respuitis, horum autem pares deus ille majestatis suae consortio adscivit, quid ergo damnatis, quorum collegas adoratis? |
[13] But as you cannot deny that, you have those foul blots also as an added reason for not believing that they were made gods afterwards. For if you rule for the very purpose of punishing such deeds; if every virtuous man among you rejects all correspondence, converse, and intimacy with the wicked and base, while, on the other hand, the high God has taken up their mates to a share of His majesty, on what ground is it that you thus condemn those whose fellow-actors you adore? |
| [14] Suggillatio est in caelo vestra justitia. Deos facite criminosissimos quosque, ut placeatis deis vestis! Illorum est honor consecratio coaequalium. |
[14] Your goodness is an affront in the heavens. Deify your vilest criminals, if you would please your gods. You honour them by giving divine honours to their fellows. |
| [15] Sed, ut omittam hujus indignitatis retractatum, probi et integri et boni fuerint! Quot tamen potiores viros apud inferos reliquistis! Aliquem de sapientia Socratem, de justitia Aristiden, de militia Themistoclem, de sublimitate Alexandrum, de felicitate Polycraten, de copia Croesum, de eloquentia Demosthenen. |
[15] But to say no more about a way of acting so unworthy, there have been men virtuous, and pure, and good. Yet how many of these nobler men you have left in the regions of doom! as Socrates, so renowned for his wisdom, Aristides for his justice, Themistocles for his warlike genius, Alexander for his sublimity of soul, Polycrates for his good fortune, Croesus for his wealth, Demosthenes for his eloquence. |
| [16] Quis ex illis deis vestris gravior et sapientior Catone, justior et militarior Scipione? quis sublimior Pompeio, felicior Sylla, copiosior Crasso, eloquentior Tullio? Quanto dignius istos deos ille adsumendos expectasset, praescius utique potiorum! Properavit, opinor, et caelum semel clusit et nunc utique melioribus apud inferos mussitantibus erubescit. |
[16] Which of these gods of yours is more remarkable for gravity and wisdom than Cato, more just and warlike than Scipio? which of them more magnanimous than Pompey, more prosperous than Sylla, of greater wealth than Crassus, more eloquent than Tullius? How much better it would have been for the God Supreme to have waited that He might have taken such men as these to be His heavenly associates, prescient as He must have surely been of their worthier character! He was in a hurry, I suppose, and straightway shut heaven's gates; and now He must surely feel ashamed at these worthies murmuring over their lot in the regions below. |
| Capitulum XII |
Chapter XII. |
| [1] Cesso jam de isto, ut qui sciam me ex ipsa veritate demonstraturum, quid non sint, cum ostendero, quid sint. Quantum igitur de deis vestris, nomina solummodo video quorundam veterum mortuorum et fabulas audio et sacra de fabulis recognosco: |
[1] But I pass from these remarks, for I know and I am going to show what your gods are not, by showing what they are. In reference, then, to these, I see only names of dead men of ancient times; I hear fabulous stories; I recognize sacred rites rounded on mere myths. |
| [2] quantum autem de simulacris ipsis, nihil aliud reprehendo quam materias sorores esse vasculorum instrumentorumque communium vel ex isdem vasculis et instrumentis quasi fatum consecratione mutantes, licentia artis transfigurante, et quidem contumeliosissime et in ipso opere sacrilege, ut revera nobis maxime, qui propter ipsos deos plectimur, solatium poenarum esse possit, quod eadem et ipsi patiuntur, ut fiant. |
[2] As to the actual images, I regard hem as simply pieces of matter akin to the vessels and utensils in common use among is, or even undergoing in their consecration a hapless change from these useful articles at the hands of reckless art, which in the transforming process treats them with utter contempt, nay, in the very act commits sacrilege; so that it might be no slight solace to us in all our punishments, suffering as we do because of these same gods, that in their making they suffer as we do themselves. |
| [3] Crucibus et stipitibus imponitis Christianos: Quod simulacrum non prius argilla deformat cruci et stipiti superstructa? in patibulo primum corpus dei vestri dedicatur. |
[3] You put Christians on crosses and stakes:13 what image is not formed from the clay in the first instance, set on cross and stake? The body of your god is first consecrated on the gibbet. |
| [4] Ungulis deraditis latera Christianorum: At in deos vestros per omnia membra validius incumbunt asciae et runcinae et scobinae. Cervices ponimus: Ante plumbum et glutinum et gomphos sine capite sunt dei vestri. Ad bestias impellimur: Certe quas Libero et Cybele et Caelesti applicatis. |
[4] You tear the sides of Christians with your claws; but in the case of your own gods, axes, and planes, and rasps are put to work more vigorously on every member of the body. We lay our heads upon the block; before the lead, and the glue, and the nails are put in requisition, your deities are headless. We are cast to the wild beasts, while you attach them to Bacchus, and Cybele, and Caelestis. |
| [5] Ignibus urimur: Hoc et illi a prima quidem massa. In metalla damnamur: Inde censentur dei vestri. In insulis relegamur. Solet et in insula aliqui deus vester aut nasci aut mori. Si per haec constat divinitas aliqua, ergo qui puniuntur consecrantur et numina erunt dicenda supplicia. |
[5] We are burned in the flames; so, too, are they in their original lump. We are condemned to the mines; from these your gods originate. We are banished to islands; in islands it is a common thing for your gods to have their birth or die. If it is in this way a deity is made, it will follow that as many as are punished are deified, and tortures will have to be declared divinities. |
| [6] Sed plane non sentiunt has injurias et contumelias fabricationis suae dei vestri sicut nec obsequia. O impiae voces, o sacrilega convicia! Infrendite, inspumate! Idem estis, qui Senecam aliquem pluribus et amarioribus de vestra superstitione perorantem non> ;reprehendistis. |
[6] But plain it is these objects of your worship have no sense of the injuries and disgraces of their consecrating, as they are equally unconscious of the honours paid to them. O impious words! O blasphemous reproaches! Gnash your teeth upon us - foam with maddened rage against us - ye are the persons, no doubt, who censured a certain Seneca speaking of your superstition at much greater length and far more sharply! |
| [7] Igitur si statuas et imagines frigidas mortuorum suorum simillimas non adoramus, quas milvi et mures et araneae intellegunt, nonne laudem magis quam poenam merebatur repudium agniti erroris? Possumus enim videri laedere eos, quos certi sumus omnino non esse? Quod non est, nihil ab ullo patitur, quia non est. |
[7] In a word, if we refuse our homage to statues and frigid images, the very counterpart of their dead originals, with which hawks, and mice, and spiders are so well acquainted, does it not merit praise instead of penalty, that we have rejected what we have come to see is error? We cannot surely be made out to injure those who we are certain are nonentities. What does not exist, is in its nonexistence secure from suffering. |
| Capitulum XIII |
Chapter XIII. |
| [1] “Sed nobis dei sunt”, inquis. Et quomodo vos e contrario impii et sacrilegi et irreligiosi erga deos vestros deprehendimini, qui quos praesumitis esse, neglegitis, quos timetis, destruitis, quos etiam vindicatis, illuditis? |
[1] "But they are gods to us," you say. And how is it, then, that in utter inconsistency with this, you are convicted of impious, sacrilegious, and irreligious conduct to them, neglecting those you imagine to exist, destroying those who are the objects of your fear, making mock of those whose honour you avenge? |
| [2] Recognoscite, si mentior. Primo qui, cum alii alios colitis, utique quos non colitis, offenditis. Praelatio alterius sine alterius contumelia non potest procedere, quia nec electio sine reprobatione. |
[2] See now if I go beyond the truth. First, indeed, seeing you worship, some one god, and some another, of course you give offence to those you do not worship. You cannot continue to give preference to one without slighting another, for selection implies rejection. |
| [3] Jam ergo contemnitis quos reprobatis, quos reprobando offendere non timetis. Nam, ut supra praestrinximus, status dei cujusque in senatus aestimatione pendebat. Deus non erat, quem homo consultus noluisset et nolendo damnasset. |
[3] You despise, therefore, those whom you thus reject; for in your rejection of them, it is plain you have no dread of giving them offence. For, as we have already shown, every god depended on the decision of the senate for his godhead. No god was he whom man in his own counsels did not wish to be so, and thereby condemned. |
| [4] Domesticos deos, quos Lares dicitis, domestica potestate tractatis pignerando venditando demutando aliquando in caccabulum de Saturno, aliquando in trullam de Minerva, ut quisque contritus atque contusus est, dum diu colitur, ut quisque dominus sanctiorem expertus est domesticam necessitatem. |
[4] The family deities you call Lares, you exercise a domestic authority over, pledging them, selling them, changing them - making sometimes a cooking-pot of a Saturn, a firepan of a Minerva, as one or other happens to be worn done, or broken in its long sacred use, or as the family head feels the pressure of some more sacred home necessity. |
| [5] Publicos aeque publico jure foedatis, quos in hastario vectigales habetis. Sic Capitolium, sic olitorium forum petitur; sub eadem voce praeconis, sub eadem hasta, sub eadem adnotatione quaestoris divinitas addicta conducitur. |
[5] In like manner, by public law you disgrace your state gods, putting them in the auction-catalogue, and making them a source of revenue. Men seek to get the Capitol, as they seek to get the herb market, under the voice of the crier, under the auction spear, under the registration of the quaestor. Deity is struck off and farmed out to the highest bidder. |
| [6] Sed enim agri tributo onusti viliores, hominum capita stipendio censa ignobiliora (nam hae sunt notae captivitatis), dei vero, qui magis tributarii, magis sancti; immo qui magis sancti, magis tributarii. Majestas quaestuaria efficitur: Circuit cauponas religio mendicans; exigitis mercedem pro solo templi, pro aditu sacri. Non licet deos gratis nosse; venales sunt. |
[6] But indeed lands burdened with tribute are of less value; men under the assessment of a poll-tax are less noble; for these things are the marks of servitude. In the case of the gods, on the other hand, the sacredness is great in proportion to the tribute which they yield; nay, the more sacred is a god, the larger is the tax he pays. Majesty is made a source of gain. Religion goes about the taverns begging. You demand a price for the privilege of standing on temple ground, for access to the sacred services; there is no gratuitous knowledge of your divinities permitted - you must buy their favours with a price. |
| [7] Quid omnino ad honorandos eos facitis, quod non etiam mortuis vestris conferatis? Aedes proinde, aras proinde. Idem habitus et insignia in statuis; ut aetas, ut ars, ut negotium mortui fuit, ita deus est. Quo differt ab epulo Jovis silicernium, a simpulo obba, ab haruspice pollinctor? Nam et haruspex mortuis apparet. |
[7] What honours in any way do you render to them that you do not render to the dead? You have temples in the one case just as in the other; you have altars in the one case as in the other. Their statues have the same dress, the same insignia. As the dead man had his age, his art, his occupation, so it is with the deity. In what respect does the funeral feast differ from the feast of Jupiter? or the bowl of the gods from the ladle of the manes? or the undertaker from the soothsayer, as in fact this latter personage also attends upon the dead? |
| [8] Sed digne imperatoribus defunctis honorem divinitatis dicatis, quibus et viventibus eum addicitis. Accepto ferent dei vestri, immo gratulabuntur, quod pares eis fiant domini sui. |
[8] With perfect propriety you give divine honours to your departed emperors, as you worship them in life. The gods will count themselves indebted to you; nay, it will be matter of high rejoicing among them that their masters are made their equals. |
| [9] Sed cum Larentinam publicum scortum (velim saltim Laidem aut Phrynem), inter Junones et Cereres et Dianas adoratis; cum Simonem Magum statua et inscriptione Sancti Dei inauguratis; cum de paedagogiis aulicis nescio quem synodi deum facitis, licet non nobiliores dei veteres, tamen contumeliam a vobis deputabunt, hoc et aliis licuisse quod solis antiquitas contulit. |
[9] But when you adore Larentina, a public prostitute - I could have wished that it might at least have been Lais or Phryne - among your Junos, and Cereses, and Dianas; when you instal in your Pantheon Simon Magus,14 giving him a statue and the title of Holy God; when you make an infamous court page a god of the sacred synod, although your ancient deities are in reality no better, they will still think themselves affronted by you, that the privilege antiquity conferred on them alone, has been allowed to others. |
| Capitulum XIV |
Chapter XIV. |
| [1] Volo et ritus vestros recensere. Non dico quales sitis in sacrificando, cum enecta et tabidosa et scabiosa quaeque mactatis, cum de opimis et integris supervacua quaeque truncatis, capitula et ungulas, quae domi quoque pueris vel canibus destinassetis, cum de decima Herculis nec tertiam partem in aram ejus imponitis; laudabo magis sapientiam, quod de perdito aliquid eripitis. |
[1] I wish now to review your sacred rites; and I pass no censure on your sacrificing, when you offer the worn-out, the scabbed, the corrupting; when you cut off from the fat and the sound the useless parts, such as the head and the hoofs, which in your house you would have assigned to the slaves or the dogs; when of the tithe of Hercules you do not lay a third upon his altar (I am disposed rather to praise your wisdom in rescuing something from being lost); |
| [2] Sed conversus ad litteras vestras, quibus informamini ad prudentiam et liberalia officia, quanta invenio ludibria! Deos inter se propter Trojanos et Achivos ut gladiatorum paria congressos depugnasse; Venerem humana sagitta sauciatam, quod filium suum Aenean paene interfectum ab eodem Diomede rapere vellet; |
[2] but turning to your books, from which you get your training in wisdom and the nobler duties of life, what utterly ridiculous things I find!-that for Trojans and Greeks the gods fought among themselves like pairs of gladiators; that Venus was wounded by a man, because she would rescue her son Aeneas when he was in peril of his life from the same Diomede; |
| [3] Martem tredecim mensibus in vinculis paene consumptum; Jovem, ne eandem vim a ceteris caelitibus experiretur, opera cujusdam monstri liberatum, et nunc flentem Sarpedonis casum, nunc foede subantem in sororem sub commemoratione non ita dilectarum jampridem amicarum. |
[3] that Mars was almost wasted away by a thirteen months' imprisonment; that Jupiter was saved by a monster's aid from suffering the same violence at the hands of the other gods; that he now laments the fate of Sarpedon, now foully makes love to his own sister, recounting (to her) former mistresses, now for a long time past not so dear as she. |
| [4] Exinde quis non poeta ex auctoritate principis sui dedecorator invenitur deorum? Hic Apollinem Admeto regi pascendis pecoribus addicit; ille Neptuni structorias operas Laomedonti locat. |
[4] After this, what poet is not found copying the example of his chief, to be a disgracer of the gods? One gives Apollo to king Admetus to tend his sheep; another hires out the building labours of Neptune to Laomedon. |
| [5] Est et ille de lyricis, Pindarum dico, qui Aesculapium canit avaritiae merito, quia medicinam nocenter exercebat, fulmine judicatum. Malus Juppiter, si fulmen illius est, impius in nepotem, invidus in artificem! |
[5] A well-known lyric poet, too - Pindar, I mean - sings of Aesculapius deservedly stricken with lightning for his greed in practising wrongfully his art. A wicked deed it was of Jupiter - if he hurled the bolt - unnatural to his grandson, and exhibiting envious feeling to the Physician. |
| [6] Haec neque vera prodi neque falsa confingi apud religiosissimos oportebat. Nec tragici quidem aut comici parcunt, ut non aerumnas vel errores domus alicujus dei praefentur. |
[6] Things like these should not be made public if they are true; and if false, they should not be fabricated among people professing a great respect for religion. Nor indeed do either tragic or comic writers shrink from setting forth the gods as the origin of all family calamities and sins. |
| [7] Taceo de philosophis, Socrate contentus, qui in contumeliam deorum quercum et hircum et canem dejerabat. “Sed propterea damnatus est Socrates, quia deos destruebat.” Plane olim, id est semper, veritas odio est. |
[7] I do not dwell on the philosophers, contenting myself with a reference to Socrates, who, in contempt of the gods, was in the habit of swearing by an oak, and a goat, and a dog. In fact, for this very thing Socrates was condemned to death, that he overthrew the worship of the gods. Plainly, at one time as well as another, that is, always truth is disliked. |
| [8] Tamen cum paenitentia sententiae Athenienses et criminatores Socratis postea afflixerint et imaginem ejus auream in templo collocarint, rescissa damnatio testimonium Socrati reddit. |
[8] However, when rueing their judgment, the Athenians inflicted punishment on his accusers, and set up a golden image of him in a temple, the condemnation was in the very act rescinded, and his witness was restored to its former value. |
| [9] Sed et Diogenes nescio quid in Herculem ludit, et Romanus cynicus Varro trecentos Joves, sive Juppiteros dicendos, sine capitibus introducit. |
[9] Diogenes, too, makes utter mock of Hercules and the Roman cynic Varro brings forward three hundred Joves, or Jupiters they should be called, all headless. |
| Capitulum XV |
Chapter XV. |
| [1] Cetera lasciviae ingenia etiam voluptatibus vestris per deorum dedecus operantur. Dispicite Lentulorum et Hostiliorum venustates, utrum mimos an deos vestros in jocis et strophis rideatis: “moechum Anubin” et “masculum Lunam” et “Dianam flagellatam” et “Jovis mortui testamentum recitatum” et “tres Hercules famelicos irrisos”. |
[1] Others of your writers, in their wantonness, even minister to your pleasures by vilifying the gods. Examine those charming farces of your Lentuli and Hostilii, whether in the jokes and tricks it is the buffoons or the deities which afford you merriment; such farces I mean as Anubis the Adulterer, and Luna of the masculine gender, and Diana under the lash, and the reading the will of Jupiter deceased, and the three famishing Herculeses held up to ridicule. |
| [2] Sed et histrionum litterae omnem foeditatem eorum designant. Luget Sol filium de caelo jactatum laetantibus vobis, et Cybele pastorum suspirat fastidiosum non erubescentibus vobis, et sustinetis Jovis elogia cantari, et Junonem Venerem Minervam a pastore judicari. |
[2] Your dramatic literature, too, depicts all the vileness of your gods. The Sun mourns his offspring15 cast down from heaven, and you are full of glee; Cybele sighs after the scornful swain,16 and you do not blush; you brook the stage recital of Jupiter's misdeeds, and the shepherd17 judging Juno, Venus, and Minerva. |
| [3] Ipsum quod imago dei vestri ignominiosum caput et famosum vestit, quod corpus impurum et ad istam artem effeminatione productum Minervam aliquam vel Herculem repraesentat, nonne violatur majestas et divinitas constupratur laudantibus vobis? |
[3] Then, again, when the likeness of a god is put on the head of an ignominious and infamous wretch, when one impure and trained up for the art in all effeminacy, represents a Minerva or a Hercules, is not the majesty of your gods insulted, and their deity dishonored? Yet you not merely look on, but applaud. |
| [4] Plane religiosiores estis in cavea, ubi super sanguinem humanum, super inquinamenta poenarum proinde saltant dei vestri, argumenta et historias noxiis ministrantes, nisi quod et ipsos deos vestros saepe noxii induunt. |
[4] You are, I suppose, more devout in the arena, where after the same fashion your deities dance on human blood, on the pollutions caused by inflicted punishments, as they act their themes and stories, doing their turn for the wretched criminals, except that these, too, often put on divinity and actually play the very gods. |
| [5] Vidimus aliquando castratum Attin, illum deum ex Pessinunta, et qui vivus ardebat, Herculem induerat. Risimus et inter ludicras meridianorum crudelitates Mercurium mortuos cauterio examinantem; vidimus et Jovis fratrem gladiatorum cadavera cum malleo deducentem. |
[5] We have seen in our day a representation of the mutilation of Attis, that famous god of Pessinus, and a man burnt alive as Hercules. We have made merry amid the ludicrous cruelties of the noonday exhibition, at Mercury examining the bodies of the dead with his hot iron; we have witnessed Jove's brother,18 mallet in hand, dragging out the corpses of the gladiators. |
| [6] Singula ista quaeque adhuc investigare quis posset, si honorem inquietant divinitatis, si majestatis vestigia obsoletant, de contemptu utique censentur tam eorum, qui ejusmodi factitant, quam eorum, quibus factitant. |
[6] But who can go into everything of this sort? If by such things as these the honour of deity is assailed, if they go to blot out every trace of its majesty, we must explain them by the contempt in which the gods are held, alike by those who actually do them, and by those for whose enjoyment they are done. |
| [7] Sed ludicra ista sint! Ceterum si adjiciam, quae non minus conscientiae omnium recognoscent, in templis adulteria componi, inter aras lenocinia tractari, in ipsis plerumque aedituorum et sacerdotum tabernaculis, sub isdem vittis et apicibus et purpuris thure flagrante libidinem expungi, nescio, ne plus de vobis dei vestri quam de Christianis querantur. Certe sacrilegi de vestris semper apprehenduntur; Christiani enim templa nec interdiu norunt; spoliarent forsitan ea et ipsi, si et ipsi ea adorarent. |
[7] This it will be said, however, is all in sport. But if I add - it is what all know and will admit as readily to be the fact - that in the temples adulteries are arranged, that at the altars pimping is practised, that often in the houses of the temple-keepers and priests, under the sacrificial fillets, and the sacred hats,19 and the purple robes, amid the fumes of incense, deeds of licentiousness are done, I am not sure but your gods have more reason to complain of you than of Christians. It is certainly among the votaries of your religion that the perpetrators of sacrilege are always found, for Christians do not enter your temples even in the day-time. Perhaps they too would be spoilers of them, if they worshipped in them. |
| [8] Quid ergo colunt qui talia non colunt? Jam quidem intellegi subiacet veritatis esse cultores qui mendacii non sint, nec errare amplius in eo, in quo errasse se recognoscendo cessaverunt. Hoc prius capite et omnem hinc sacramenti nostri ordinem haurite, repercussis ante tamen opinionibus falsis. |
[8] What then do they worship, since their objects of worship are different from yours? Already indeed it is implied, as the corollary from their rejection of the lie, that they render homage to the truth; nor continue longer in an error which they have given up in the very fact of recognizing it to be an error. Take this in first of all, and when we have offered a preliminary refutation of some false opinions, go on to derive from it our entire religious system. |
| Capitulum XVI |
Chapter XVI. |
| [1] Nam, ut et quidam, somniastis caput asininum esse deum nostrum. Hanc Cornelius Tacitus suspicionem ejusmodi inseruit. |
[1] For, like some others, you are under the delusion that our god is an ass's head.20 Cornelius Tacitus first put this notion into people's minds. |
| [2] Is enim in quinta Historiarum suarum bellum Judaicum exorsus ab origine gentis etiam de ipsa tam origine quam de nomine et religione gentis quae voluit argumentatus, Judaeos refert Aegypto expeditos sive, ut putavit, extorres vastis Arabiae, in locis aquarum egentissimis cum siti macerarentur, onagris, qui forte de pastu potum petituri aestimabantur, indicibus fonti[bu]s usos ob eam gratiam consimilis bestiae superficiem consecrasse. |
[2] In the fifth book of his histories, beginning the (narrative of the) Jewish war with an account of the origin of the nation; and theorizing at his pleasure about the origin, as well as the name and the religion of the Jews, he states that having been delivered, or rather, in his opinion, expelled from Egypt, in crossing the vast plains of Arabia, where water is so scanty, they were in extremity from thirst; but taking the guidance of the wild asses, which it was thought might be seeking water after feeding, they discovered a fountain, and thereupon in their gratitude they consecrated a head of this species of animal. |
| [3] Atque ita inde praesumptum opinor nos quoque, ut Judaicae religionis propinquos, eidem simulacro initiari. At enim idem Cornelius Tacitus, sane ille mendaciorum loquacissimus, in eadem Historia refert Gnaeum Pompejum, cum Hierusalem cepisset proptereaque templum adisset speculandis Judaicae religionis arcanis, nullum illic repperisse simulacrum. |
[3] And as Christianity is nearly allied to Judaism, from this, I suppose, it was taken for granted that we too are devoted to the worship of the same image. But the said Cornelius Tacitus (the very opposite of tacit in telling lies) informs us in the work already mentioned, that when Gnaeus Pompejus captured Jerusalem, he entered the temple to see the arcana of the Jewish religion, but found no image there. |
| [4] Et utique, si id colebatur, quod aliqua effigie repraesentabatur, nusquam magis quam in sacrario suo exhiberetur, eo magis, quia nec verebatur extraneos arbitros quamquam vana cultura. Solis enim sacerdotibus adire licitum; etiam conspectus ceterorum velo oppanso interdicebatur. |
[4] Yet surely if worship was rendered to any visible object, the very place for its exhibition would be the shrine; and that all the more that the worship, however unreasonable, had no need there to fear outside beholders. For entrance to the holy place was permitted to the priests alone, while all vision was forbidden to others by an outspread curtain. |
| [5] Vos tamen non negabitis et jumenta omnia et totos cantherios cum sua Epona coli a vobis. Hoc forsitan improbamur, quod inter cultores omnium pecudum bestiarumque asinarii tantum sumus. |
[5] You will not, however, deny that all beasts of burden, and not parts of them, but the animals entire, are with their goddess Epona objects of worship with you. It is this, perhaps, which displeases you in us, that while your worship here is universal, we do homage only to the ass. |
| [6] Sed et qui crucis nos religiosos putat consecraneus erit noster. Cum lignum aliquod propitiatur, viderit habitus, cum materiae qualitas eadem sit; viderit forma, dum id ipsum dei corpus sit. Et tamen quanto distinguitur a crucis stipite Pallas Attica, et Ceres Pharia, quae sine effigie rudi palo et informi ligno prostat? |
[6] Then, if any of you think we render superstitious adoration to the cross, in that adoration he is sharer with us. If you offer homage to a piece of wood at all, it matters little what it is like when the substance is the same: it is of no consequence the form, if you have the very body of the god. And yet how far does the Athenian Pallas differ from the stock of the cross, or the Pharian Ceres as she is put up uncarved to sale, a mere rough stake and piece of shapeless wood? |
| [7] Pars crucis est omne robur, quod erecta statione defigitur. Nos, si forte, integrum et totum deum colimus. Diximus originem deorum vestrorum a plastis de cruce induci. Sed et Victorias adoratis in tropaeis, cum cruces intestina sint tropaeorum. |
[7] Every stake fixed in an upright position is a portion of the cross; we render our adoration, if you will have it so, to a god entire and complete. We have shown before that your deities are derived from shapes modelled from the cross. But you also worship victories, for in your trophies the cross is the heart of the trophy.21 |
| [8] Religio Romanorum tota castrensis signa veneratur, signa jurat, signa omnibus deis praeponit. Omnes illi imaginum suggestus in signis monilia crucum sunt; siphara illa vexillorum et cantabrorum stolae crucum sunt. Laudo diligentiam: Noluistis incultas et nudas cruces consecrare. |
[8] The camp religion of the Romans is all through a worship of the standards, a setting the standards above all gods. Well, as those images decking out the standards are ornaments of crosses. All those hangings of your standards and banners are robes of crosses. I praise your zeal: you would not consecrate crosses unclothed and unadorned. |
| [9] Alii plane humanius et versimulius solem credunt deum nostrum. Ad Persas, si forte, deputabimur, licet solem non in linteo depictum adoremus habentes ipsum ubique in suo clipeo. |
[9] Others, again, certainly with more information and greater verisimilitude, believe that the sun is our god. We shall be counted Persians perhaps, though we do not worship the orb of day painted on a piece of linen cloth, having himself everywhere in his own disk. |
| [10] Denique inde suspicio, quod innotuerit nos ad orientis regionem precari. Sed et plerique vestrum affectatione aliquando et caelestia adorandi ad solis ortum labia vibratis. |
[10] The idea no doubt has originated from our being known to turn to the east in prayer.22 But you, many of you, also under pretence sometimes of worshipping the heavenly bodies, move your lips in the direction of the sunrise. |
| [11] Aeque si diem solis laetitiae indulgemus, alia longe ratione quam religione solis, secundo loco ab eis sumus, qui diem Saturni otio et victui decernunt exorbitantes et ipsi a Judaico more, quem ignorant. |
[11] In the same way, if we devote Sun-day to rejoicing, from a far different reason than Sun-worship, we have some resemblance to those of you who devote the day of Saturn to ease and luxury, though they too go far away from Jewish ways, of which indeed they are ignorant. |
| [12] Sed nova jam dei nostri in ista proxime civitate editio publicata est, ex quo quidam frustrandis bestiis mercenarius noxius picturam proposuit cum ejusmodi inscriptione: “Deus Christianorum ONOKOITHS». Is erat auribus asininis, altero pede ungulatus, librum gestans et togatus. Risimus et nomen et formam. |
[12] But lately a new edition of our god has been given to the world in that great city: it originated with a certain vile man who was wont to hire himself out to cheat the wild beasts, and who exhibited a picture with this inscription: The God of the Christians, born of an ass.23 He had the ears of an ass, was hoofed in one foot, carried a book,24 and wore a toga. Both the name and the figure gave us amusement. |
| [13] Sed illi debebant adorare statim biforme numen, qui et canino et leonino capite commixtos et de capro et de ariete cornutos et a lumbis hircos et a cruribus serpentes et planta vel tergo alites deos receperunt. |
[13] But our opponents ought straightway to have done homage to this biformed divinity, for they have acknowledged gods dog-headed and lion-headed, with horn of buck and ram, with goat-like loins, with serpent legs, with wings sprouting from back or foot. |
| [14] Haec ex abundanti, ne quid rumoris irrepercussum quasi de conscientia praeterissemus. Quae omnia conversi jam ad demonstrationem religionis nostrae repurgabimus. |
[14] These things we have discussed ex abundanti, that we might not seem willingly to pass by any rumor against us unrefuted. Having thoroughly cleared ourselves, we turn now to an exhibition of what our religion really is. |
| Capitulum XVII |
Chapter XVII. |
| [1] Quod colimus deus unus est, qui totam molem istam cum omni instrumento elementorum corporum spirituum verbo quo jussit, ratione qua disposuit, virtute qua potuit, de nihilo expressit in ornamentum majestatis suae, unde et Graeci nomen mundo KOSMON accommodaverunt. |
[1] The object of our worship is the One God,25 He who by His commanding word, His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire mass of our world, with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the glory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed on it the name of Ko/smoj. |
| [2] Invisibilis est, etsi videatur; incomprehensibilis, etsi per gratiam repraesentetur; inaestimabilis, etsi humanis sensibus aestimetur; ideo verus et tantus est. Ceterum quod videri communiter, quod comprehendi, quod aestimari potest, minus est et oculis, quibus occupatur, et manibus, quibus contaminatur, et sensibus, quibus invenitur; quod vero inmensum est, soli sibi notum est. |
[2] The eye cannot see Him, though He is (spiritually) visible. He is incomprehensible, though in grace He is manifested. He is beyond our utmost thought, though our human faculties conceive of Him. He is therefore equally real and great. But that which, in the ordinary sense, can be seen and handled and conceived, is inferior to the eyes by which it is taken in, and the hands by which it is tainted, and the faculties by which it is discovered; but that which is infinite is known only to itself. |
| [3] Hoc est, quod deum aestimari facit, dum aestimari non capit; ita eum vis magnitudinis et notum hominibus objicit et ignotum. Et haec est summa delicti nolentium recognoscere, quem ignorare non possunt. |
[3] This it is which gives some notion of God, while yet beyond all our conceptions - our very incapacity of fully grasping Him affords us the idea of what He really is. He is presented to our minds in His transcendent greatness, as at once known and unknown. And this is the crowning guilt of men, that they will not recognize One, of whom they cannot possibly be ignorant. |
| [4] Vultis ex operibus ipsius tot ac talibus, quibus continemur, quibus sustinemur, quibus oblectamur, etiam quibus exterremur, vultis ex animae ipsius testimonio comprobemus? |
[4] Would you have the proof from the works of His hands, so numerous and so great, which both contain you and sustain you, which minister at once to your enjoyment, and strike you with awe; or would you rather have it from the testimony of the soul itself? |
| [5] Quae licet carcere corporis pressa, licet institutionibus pravis circumscripta, licet libidinibus et concupiscentiis evigorata, licet falsis deis exancillata, cum tamen resipiscit, ut ex crapula, ut ex somno, ut ex aliqua valetudine, et sanitatem suam patitur, “deum” nominat, hoc solo, quia proprie verus hic unus. “Deus bonus et magnus” et “quod deus dederit” omnium vox est. |
[5] Though under the oppressive bondage of the body, though led astray by depraving customs, though enervated by lusts and passions, though in slavery to false gods; yet, whenever the soul comes to itself, as out of a surfeit, or a sleep, or a sickness, and attains something of its natural soundness, it speaks of God; using no other word, because this is the peculiar name of the true God. "God is great and good"-"Which may God give," are the words on every lip. |
| [6] Judicem quoque contestatur illum: “Deus videt” et “deo commendo” et “deus mihi reddet”. O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae! Denique pronuntians haec non ad Capitolium, sed ad caelum respicit. Novit enim sedem dei vivi; ab illo, et inde descendit. |
[6] It bears witness, too, that God is judge, exclaiming, "God sees," and, "I commend myself to God," and, "God will repay me." O noble testimony of the soul by nature26 Christian! Then, too, in using such words as these, it looks not to the Capitol, but to the heavens. It knows that there is the throne of the living God, as from Him and from thence itself came down. |
| Capitulum XVIII |
Chapter XVIII. |
| [1] Sed quo plenius et impressius tam ipsum quam dispositiones ejus et voluntates adiremus, adjecit instrumentum litteraturae, si qui velit de deo inquirere et inquisito invenire et invento credere et credito deservire. |
[1] But, that we might attain an ampler and more authoritative knowledge at once of Himself, and of His counsels and will, God has added a written revelation for the behoof of every one whose heart is set on seeking Him, that seeking he may find, and finding believe, and believing obey. |
| [2] Viros enim justitiae innocentia dignos deum nosse et ostendere a primordio in saeculum emisit spiritu divino inundatos, quo praedicarent deum unicum esse, qui universa condiderit, qui hominem de humo struxerit - hic enim est verus Prometheus -, qui saeculum certis temporum dispositionibus et exitibus ordinavit, |
[2] For from the first He sent messengers into the world,-men whose stainless righteousness made them worthy to know the Most High, and to reveal Him,-men abundantly endowed with the Holy Spirit, that they might proclaim that there is one God only who made all things, who formed man from the dust of the ground (for He is the true Prometheus who gave order to the world by arranging the seasons and their course), |
| [3] exinde quae signa majestatis suae judicantis ediderit per imbres, per ignes, quas demerendo sibi disciplinas determinaverit, quae ignoratis et desertis et observatis his praemia destinarit, ut qui prodacto aevo isto judicaturus sit suos cultores in vitae aeternae retributionem, profanos in ignem aeque perpetem et jugem, suscitatis omnibus ab initio defunctis et reformatis et recensitis ad utriusque meriti dispunctionem. |
- [3] these have further set before us the proofs He has given of His majesty in H judgments by floods and fires, the rules appointed by Him for securing His favour, as well as the retribution in store for the ignoring, forsaking and keeping them, as being about at the end of all to adjudge His worshippers to everlasting life, and the wicked to the doom of fire at once without ending and without break, raising up again all the dead from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with the object of awarding either recompense. |
| [4] Haec et nos risimus aliquando. De vestris sumus: Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani. |
[4] Once these things were with us, too, the theme of ridicule. We are of your stock and nature: men are made, not born, Christians. |
| [5] Quos diximus praedicatores prophetae de officio praefandi vocantur. Voces eorum itemque virtutes, quas ad fidem divinitatis edebant, in thesauris litterarum manent, nec istae latent. Ptolemaeorum eruditissimus, quem Philadelphum supernominant, et omnis litteraturae sagacissimus, cum studio bibliothecarum Pisistratum, opinor, aemularetur, inter cetera memoriarum, quibus aut vetustas aut curiositas aliqua ad famam patrocinabatur, ex suggestu Demetrii Phalerei, grammaticorum tunc probatissimi, cui praefecturam mandaverat, libros a Judaeis quoque postulavit, proprias atque vernaculas litteras, quas soli habebant. |
[5] The preachers of whom we have spoken are called prophets, from the office which belongs to them of predicting the future. Their words, as well as the miracles which they performed, that men might have faith in their divine authority, we have still in the literary treasures they have left, and which are open to all. Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, the most learned of his race, a man of vast acquaintance with all literature, emulating, I imagine, the book enthusiasm of Pisistratus, among other remains of the past which either their antiquity or something of peculiar interest made famous, at the suggestion of Demetrius Phalereus, who was renowned above all grammarians of his time, and to whom he had committed the management of these things, applied to the Jews for their writings - I mean the writings peculiar to them and in their tongue, which they alone possessed, |
| [6] Ex ipsis enim et ad ipsos semper prophetae peroraverant, scilicet ad domesticam dei gentem ex patrum gratia. Hebraei retro, qui nunc Judaei; igitur et litterae Hebraeae et eloquium. |
[6] for from themselves, as a people dear to God for their fathers' sake, their prophets had ever sprung, and to them they had ever spoken. Now in ancient times the people we call Jews bare the name of Hebrews, and so both their writings and their speech were Hebrew. |
| [7] Sed ne notitia vacaret, hoc quoque a Judaeis Ptolemaeo subscriptum est septuaginta et duobus interpretibus indultis, quos Menedemus quoque philosophus, providentiae vindex, de sententiae communione suspexit. Affirmavit haec vobis etiam Aristaeus. |
[7] But that the understanding of their books might not be wanting, this also the Jews supplied to Ptolemy; for they gave him seventy-two interpreters - men whom the philosopher Menedemus, the well-known asserter of a Providence, regarded with respect as sharing in his views. The same account is given by Aristaeus. |
| [8] Ita in Graecum stilum exaperta monumenta reliquit; hodie apud Serapeum Ptolemaei bibliothecae cum ipsis Hebraicis exhibentur. |
[8] So the king left these works unlocked to all, in the Greek language.27 To this day, at the temple of Serapis, the libraries of Ptolemy are to be seen, with the identical Hebrew originals in them. |
| [9] Sed et Judaei palam lectitant. Vectigalis libertas; vulgo aditur sabbatis omnibus. Qui audierit, inveniet deum; qui etiam studuerit intellegere, cogetur et credere. |
[9] The Jews, too, read them publicly. Under a tribute-liberty, they are in the habit of going to hear them every Sabbath. Whoever gives ear will find God in them; whoever takes pains to understand, will be compelled to believe. |
| Capitulum XIX |
Chapter XIX. |
| [1] Primam instrumentis istis auctoritatem summa antiquitas vindicat; apud vos quoque religionis est instar fidem de temporibus adserere. |
[1] Their high antiquity, first of all, claims authority for these writings. With you, too, it is a kind of religion to demand belief on this very ground. |
| Fragmentum Fuldense: |
[Fulda fragment present here in Oehler but not included by the translator]. |
| [1] Auctoritatem litteris praestat antiquitas summa. Primus enim prophetes, Moyses, qui mundi conditionem et generis humani pullulationem et mox ultricem iniquitatis illius aevi vim cataclysmi de praeterito exorsus est per vaticinationem usque ad suam aetatem, et deinceps per res suas futurorum imagines edidit, penes quem et temporum ordo, digestus ab initio, supputationem saeculi praestitit, superior invenitur annis circiter trecentis quam ille antiquissimus penes vos Danaus in Argos transvenisset. |
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| [2] Trojano denique proelio ad mille annos ante est, unde et ipso Saturno. Secundum enim historiam Thalli, qua relatum est Belum Assyriorum et Saturnum Titanorum reges cum Jove dimicasse, ostenditur Belum CCCXX et duobus annis Iliacum exitum antecessisse. Per hunc Moysen etiam illa lex propria Judaeis a deo missa est. |
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| [3] Deinceps multa et alii prophetae, vetustiores litteris vestris; nam et qui ultimo cecinit, aut aliquantulo praecucurrit aut certe concurrit aetate sapientiae auctoribus, etiam latoribus legis. |
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| [4] Cyri enim et Darii regno fuit Zacharias, quo in tempore Thales, physicorum princeps, sciscitanti Croeso nihil certum de divinitate respondit, turbatus scilicet vocibus prophetarum. Solon eidem regi finem longae vitae intuendum praedicavit, non aliter quam prophetae. |
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| [5] Adeo respici potest tam jura vestra quam studia de lege deque divina doctrina concepisse. Quod prius est, hoc sit semen necesse est. Inde quaedam nobiscum vel prope nos habetis: |
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| [6] De sophia amor ejus philosophia vocitatus est; de prophetia adfectatio ejus poeticam vaticinationem deputavit. Gloriae homines si quid invenerant, ut proprium facerent, adulteraverunt. Etiam fructibus a semine degenerare contigit. |
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| [7] Multis adhuc de vetustate modis consisterem divinarum litterarum, si non major auctoritas illis ad fidem de veritatis suae viribus quam de aetatis annalibus suppetisset. Quid enim potentius patrocinabitur testimonio earum, nisi dispunctio cotidiana saeculi totius, cum dispositiones regnorum, cum casus urbium, cum exitus gentium, cum status temporum ita omnibus respondent, quemadmodum ante milia annorum praenuntiabantur? |
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| [8] Unde et spes nostra, quam ridetis, animatur, et fiducia, quam praesumptionem vocatis, corroboratur. Idonea est enim recognitio praeteritorum ad disponendam fiduciam futurorum: Eadem voces praedicaverunt utramque partem, eadem litterae notaverunt. |
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| [9] Unum est tempus apud illas, quod apud nos separari videtur. Ita omnia, quae supersunt, jam probata sunt nobis, quia cum illis, quae probata sunt, tunc futuris praedicabantur. Habetis, quod sciam, et vos Sibyllam, quatinus appellatio ista verae vatis dei veri passim super ceteros, qui vaticinari videbantur, usurpata est, sicut vestrae Sibyllae nomen de veritate mentitae, quemadmodum et dei vestri. |
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| [2] Omnes itaque substantias omnesque materias origines ordines venas veterani cujusque stili vestri, gentes etiam plerasque et urbes insignes historiarum et canas memoriarum, ipsas denique effigies litterarum, indices custodesque rerum, et - puto adhuc minus dicimus - ipsos, inquam, deos vestros, ipsa templa et oracula et sacra unius interim prophetae scrinium saeculis vincit, in quo videtur thesaurus collocatus totius Judaici sacramenti et inde jam nostri. |
[2] Well, all the substances, all the materials, the origins, classes, contents of your most ancient writings, even most nations and cities illustrious in the records of the past and noted for their antiquity in books of annals,-the very forms of your letters, those revealers and custodiers of events, nay (I think I speak still within the mark), your very gods themselves, your very temples and oracles, and sacred rites, are less ancient than the work of a single prophet, in whom you have the thesaurus of the entire Jewish religion, and therefore too of ours. |
| [3] Si quem audistis interim Moysen, Argivo Inacho pariter aetate est; quadringentis paene annis - nam et septem minus - Danaum, et ipsum apud vos vetustissimum, praevenit; mille circiter cladem Priami antecedit; possem etiam dicere quingentis amplius et Homerum, habens quos sequar. |
[3] If you happen to have heard of a certain Moses, I speak first of him: he is as far back as the Argive Inachus; by nearly four hundred years - only seven less - he precedes Danaus, your most ancient name; while he antedates by a millennium the death of Priam. I might affirm, too, that he is five hundred years earlier than Homer, and have supporters of that view. |
| [4] Ceteri quoque prophetae etsi Moysi postumant, extremissimi tamen eorum non retrosiores reprehenduntur primoribus vestris sapientibus et legiferis et historicis? |
[4] The other prophets also, though of later date, are, even the most recent of them, as far back as the first of your philosophers, and legislators, and historians. |
| [5] Haec quibus ordinibus probari possint, non tam difficile est nobis exponere quam enorme, nec arduum, sed interim longum. Multis instrumentis cum digitorum supputariis gesticulis adsidendum est; reseranda antiquissimarum etiam gentium archiva, Aegyptiorum Chaldaeorum Phoenicum; |
[5] It is not so much the difficulty of the subject, as its vastness, that stands in the way of a statement of the grounds on which these statements rest; the matter is not so arduous as it would be tedious. It would require the anxious study of many books, and the fingers busy reckoning. The histories of the most ancient nations, such as the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, would need to be ransacked; |
| [6] advocandi municipes eorum, per quos notitia subministrata est, aliqui Manethon Aegyptius et Berosus Chaldaeus, sed et Hieromus Phoenix, Tyri rex; sectatores quoque ipsorum Mendesius Ptolemaeus et Menander Ephesius et Demetrius Phalereus et rex Juba et Apion et Thallus et, si quis istos aut probat aut revincit, Judaeus Josephus, antiquitatum Judaicarum vernaculus vindex; |
[6] the men of these various nations who have information to give, would have to be called in as witnesses. Manetho the Egyptian, and Berosus the Chaldean, and Hieromus the Phoenician king of Tyre; their successors too, Ptolemy the Mendesian, and Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and Apion, and Thallus, and their critic the Jew Josephus, the native vindicator of the ancient history of his people, who either authenticates or refutes the others. |
| [7] Graecorum etiam censuales conferendi, et quae quando sint gesta, ut concatenationes temporum aperiantur, per quae luceant annalium numeri; peregrinandum est in historias et litteras orbis. Et tamen quasi partem jam probationis intulimus, cum per quae probari possint, adspersimus. |
[7] Also the Greek censors' lists must be compared, and the dates of events ascertained, that the chronological connections may be opened up, and thus the reckonings of the various annals be made to give forth light. We must go abroad into the histories and literature of all nations. And, in fact, we have already brought the proof in part before you, in giving those hints as to how it is to be effected. |
| [8] Verum differre praestat, vel ne minus persequamur festinando vel diutius evagemur persequendo. |
[8] But it seems better to delay the full discussion of this, lest in our haste we do not sufficiently carry it out, or lest in its thorough handling we make too lengthened a digression. |
| Capitulum XX |
Chapter XX. |
| [1] Plus jam offerimus pro ista dilatione: Majestatem scripturarum, si non vetustate divinas probamus, si dubitatur antiquitas. Nec hoc tardius aut aliunde discendum; coram sunt quae docebunt: Mundus et saeculum et exitus. |
[1] To make up for our delay in this, we bring under your notice something of even greater importance; we point to the majesty of our Scriptures, if not to their antiquity. If you doubt that they are as ancient as we say, we offer proof that they are divine. And you may convince yourselves of this at once, and without going very far. Your instructors, the world, and the age, and the event, are all before you. |
| [2] Quicquid agitur, praenuntiabatur; quicquid videtur, audiebatur. Quod terrae vorant urbes, quod insulas maria fraudant, quod externa atque interna bella dilaniant, quod regnis regna compulsant, quod fames et lues et locales quaeque clades et frequentiae plerumque mortium vastant, quod humiles sublimitate, sublimes humilitate mutantur, |
[2] All that is taking place around you I was fore-announced; all that you now see with your eye was previously heard by the ear. The swallowing up of cities by the earth; the theft of islands by the sea; wars, bringing external and internal convulsions; the collision of kingdoms with kingdoms; famines and pestilences, and local massacres, and widespread desolating mortalities; the exaltation of the lowly, and the humbling of the proud; |
| [3] quod justitia rarescit, iniquitas increbrescit, bonarum omnium disciplinarum cura torpescit, quod etiam officia temporum et elementorum munia exorbitant, quod et monstris et portentis naturalium forma turbatur, providenter scripta sunt. Dum patimur, leguntur; dum recognoscimus, probantur. Idoneum, opinor, testimonium divinitatis veritas divinationis. |
[3] the decay of righteousness, the growth of sin, the slackening interest in all good ways; the very seasons and elements going out of their ordinary course, monsters and portents taking the place of nature's forms - it was all foreseen and predicted before it came to pass. While we suffer the calamities, we read of them in the Scriptures; as we examine, they are proved. Well, the truth of a prophecy, I thinks is the demonstration of its being from above. |
| [4] Hinc igitur apud nos futurorum quoque fides tuta est, jam scilicet probatorum, quia cum illis, quae cottidie probantur, praedicebantur: Eaedem voces sonant, eaedem litterae notant, idem spiritus pulsat, unum tempus est divinationi futura praefanti; |
[4] Hence there is among us an assured faith in regard to coming events as things already proved to us, for they were predicted along with what we have day by day fulfilled. They are uttered by the same voices, they are written in the same books - the same Spirit inspires them. All time is one to prophecy foretelling the future. |
| [5] apud homines, si forte, distinguitur, dum expungitur, dum ex futuro praesens, dehinc ex praesenti praeteritum deputatur. Quid delinquimus, oro vos, futura quoque credentes, qui jam didicimus illi per duos gradus credere? |
[5] Among men, it may be, a distinction of times is made while the fulfilment is going on: from being future we think of it as presents and then from being present we count it as belonging to the past. How are we to blame, I pray you, that we believe in things to come as though they already were, with the grounds we have for our faith in these two steps? |
| Capitulum XXI |
Chapter XXI. |
| [1] Sed quoniam edidimus antiquissimis Judaeorum instrumentis sectam istam esse suffultam, quam aliquanto novellam, ut Tiberiani temporis, plerique sciunt profitentibus nobis quoque, fortasse an hoc nomine de statu ejus retractetur, quasi sub umbraculo insignissimae religionis, certe licitae, aliquid propriae praesumptionis abscondat, |
[1] But having asserted that our religion is supported by the writings of the Jews, the oldest which exist, though it is generally known, and we fully admit that it dates from a comparatively recent period - no further back indeed than the reign of Tiberius - a question may perhaps be raised on this ground about its standing, as if it were hiding something of its presumption under shadow of an illustrious religion, one which has at any rate undoubted allowance of the law, |
| [2] vel quia praeter aetatem neque de victus exceptionibus neque de solemnitatibus dierum neque de ipso signaculo corporis neque de consortio nominis cum Judaeis agimus, quod utique oporteret, si eidem deo manciparemur. |
[2] or because, apart from the question of age, we neither accord with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food, nor in their sacred days, nor even in their well-known bodily sign, nor in the possession of a common name, which surely behoved to be the case if we did homage to the same God as they. |
| [3] Sed et vulgus jam scit Christum ut hominum aliquem, qualem Judaei indicaverunt: quo facilius quis nos hominis cultores existimaverit. Verum neque de Christo erubescimus, cum sub nomine ejus deputari et damnari juvat, neque de deo aliter praesumimus. Necesse est igitur pauca de Christo ut deo. |
[3] Then, too, the common people have now some knowledge of Christ, and think of Him as but a man, one indeed such as the Jews condemned, so that some may naturally enough have taken up the idea that we are worshippers of a mere human being. But we are neither ashamed of Christ - for we rejoice to be counted His disciples, and in His name to suffer - nor do we differ from the Jews concerning God. We must make, therefore, a remark or two as to Christ's divinity. |
| [4] Totum Judaeis erat apud deum gratia, ubi et insignis justitia et fides originalium auctorum. Unde illis et generis magnitudo et regni sublimitas floruit et tanta felicitas, ut de dei vocibus, quibus edocebantur, de promerendo deo et non offendendo praemonerentur. |
[4] In former times the Jews enjoyed much of God's favour, when the fathers of their race were noted for their righteousness and faith. So it was that as a people they flourished greatly, and their kingdom attained to a lofty eminence; and so highly blessed were they, that for their instruction God spake to them in special revelations, pointing out to them beforehand how they should merit His favor and avoid His displeasure. |
| [5] Sed quanta deliquerint, fiducia patrum inflati ad declinandum, derivantes a disciplina in profanum modum, etsi ipsi non confiterentur, probaret exitus hodiernus ipsorum. Dispersi, palabundi, et soli et caeli sui extorres vagantur per orbem sine homine, sine deo rege, quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltim vestigio salutare conceditur. |
[5] But how deeply they have sinned, puffed up to their fall with a false trust in their noble ancestors, turning from God's way into a way of sheer impiety, though they themselves should refuse to admit it, their present national ruin would afford sufficient proof. Scattered abroad, a race of wanderers, exiles from their own land and clime, they roam over the whole world without either a human or a heavenly king, not possessing even the stranger's right to set so much as a simple footstep in their native country. |
| [6] Cum haec illis sanctae voces praeminarentur, eadem semper omnes ingerebant fore, uti sub extimis curriculis saeculi ex omni jam gente et populo et loco cultores sibi allegeret deus multo fideliores, in quos gratiam transferret, pleniorem quidem ob disciplinae auctioris capacitatem. |
[6] The sacred writers withal, in giving previous warning of these things, all with equal clearness ever declared that, in the last days of the world, God would, out of every nation, and people, and country, choose for Himself more faithful worshippers, upon whom He would bestow His grace, and that indeed in ampler measure, in keeping with the enlarged capacities of a nobler dispensation. |
| [7] Venit igitur qui ad reformandam et illuminandam eam venturus a deo praenuntiabatur, Christus ille filius dei. Hujus igitur gratiae disciplinaeque arbiter et magister, illuminator atque deductor generis humani filius dei adnuntiabatur - non quidem ita genitus, ut erubescat in filii nomine aut de patris semine. |
[7] Accordingly, He appeared among us, whose coming to renovate and illuminate man's nature was pre-announced by God - I mean Christ, that Son of God. And so the supreme Head and Master of this grace and discipline, the Enlightener and Trainer of the human race, God's own Son, was announced among us, born-but not so born as to make Him ashamed of the name of Son or of His paternal origin. |
| [8] Non de sororis incesto nec de stupro filiae aut conjugis alienae deum patrem passus est squamatum aut cornutum aut plumatum, amatorem in auro conversum Danaidis. Jovis ista sunt numina vestra. |
[8] It was not His lot to have as His father, by incest with a sister, or by violation of a daughter or another's wife, a god in the shape of serpent, or ox, or bird, or lover, for his vile ends transmuting himself into the gold of Danaus. They are your divinities upon whom these base deeds of Jupiter were done. |
| [9] Ceterum dei filius nullam de impudicitia habet matrem; etiam quam videtur habere, non nupserat. Sed prius substantiam edisseram, et ita nativitatis qualitas intellegetur. |
[9] But the Son of God has no mother in any sense which involves impurity; she, whom men suppose to be His mother in the ordinary way, had never entered into the marriage bond.28 But, first, I shall discuss His essential nature, and so the nature of His birth will be understood. |
| [10] Jam ediximus deum universitatem hanc mundi verbo et ratione et virtute molitum. Apud vestros quoque sapientes LOGON, id est sermonem atque rationem, constat artificem videri universitatis. Hunc enim Zeno determinat factitatorem, qui cuncta in dispositione formaverit; eundem et fatum vocari et deum et animum Jovis et necessitatem omnium rerum. Haec Cleanthes in spiritum congerit, quem permeatorem universitatis affirmat. |
[10] We have already asserted that God made the world, and all which it contains, by His Word, and Reason, and Power. It is abundantly plain that your philosophers, too, regard the Logos - that is, the Word and Reason - as the Creator of the universe. For Zeno lays it down that he is the creator, having made all things according to a determinate plan; that his name is Fate, and God, and the soul of Jupiter, and the necessity of all things. Cleanthes ascribes all this to spirit, which he maintains pervades the universe. |
| [11] Et nos autem sermoni atque rationi itemque virtuti, per quae omnia molitum deum ediximus, propriam substantiam spiritum inscribimus, cui et sermo insit pronuntianti et ratio adsit disponenti et virtus praesit perficienti. Hunc ex deo prolatum didicimus et prolatione generatum et idcirco filium dei et deum dictum ex unitate substantiae; nam et deus spiritus. |
[11] And we, in like manner, hold that the Word, and Reason, and Power, by which we have said God made all, have spirit as their proper and essential substratum, in which the Word has in being to give forth utterances, and reason abides to dispose and arrange, and power is over all to execute. We have been taught that He proceeds forth from God, and in that procession He is generated; so that He is the Son of God, and is called God from unity of substance with God. For God, too, is a Spirit. |
| [12] Et cum radius ex sole porrigitur, portio ex summa; sed sol erit in radio, quia solis est radius nec separatur substantia sed extenditur, [ita de spiritu spiritus et de deo deus] ut lumen de lumine accensum. Manet integra et indefecta materiae matrix, etsi plures inde traduces qualitatis mutueris. |
[12] Even when the ray is shot from the sun, it is still part of the parent mass; the sun will still be in the ray, because it is a ray of the sun - there is no division of substance, but merely an extension. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled.29 The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its qualities; |
| [13] Ita et quod de deo profectum est, deus et dei filius et unus ambo; ita et de spiritu spiritus et de deo deus modulo alter[num], numerum gradu, non statu fecit, et a matrice non recessit, sed excessit. |
[13] so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and God of God, He is made a second in manner of existence - in position, not in nature; and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth. |
| [14] Iste igitur dei radius, ut retro semper praedicabatur, delapsus in virginem quandam et in utero ejus caro figuratus nascitur homo deo mixtus. Caro spiritu instructa nutritur adolescit affatur docet operatur et Christus est. Recipite interim hanc fabulam - similis est vestris -, dum ostendimus, quomodo Christus probetur et qui penes vos ejusmodi fabulas aemulas ad destructionem veritatis istius [modi] praeministraverint. |
[14] This ray of God, then, as it was always foretold in ancient times, descending into a certain virgin, and made flesh in her womb, is in His birth God and man united. The flesh formed by the Spirit is nourished, grows up to manhood, speaks, teaches, works, and is the Christ. Receive meanwhile this fable, if you choose to call it so - it is like some of your own - while we go on to show how Christ's claims are proved, and who the parties are with you by whom such fables have been set a going to overthrow the truth, which they resemble. |
| [15] Sciebant et Judaei venturum esse Christum, scilicet quibus prophetae loquebantur. Nam et nunc adventum ejus expectant, nec alia magis inter nos et illos compulsatio est, quam quod jam venisse non credunt. Duobus enim adventibus ejus significatis, primo, qui jam expunctus est in humilitate condicionis humanae, secundo, qui concludendo saeculo imminet in sublimitate divinitatis exsertae, primum non intellegendo secundum, quem manifestius praedicatum sperant, unum existimaverunt. |
[15] The Jews, too, were well aware that Christ was coming, as those to whom the prophets spake. Nay, even now His advent is expected by them; nor is there any other contention between them and us, than that they believe the advent has not yet occurred. For two comings of Christ having been revealed to us: a first, which has been fulfilled in the lowliness of a human lot; a second, which impends over the world, now near its close, in all the majesty of Deity unveiled; and, by misunderstanding the first, they have concluded that the second - which, as matter of more manifest prediction, they set their hopes on - is the only one. |
| [16] Ne enim intellegerent pristinum, credituri, si intellexissent, et consecuturi salutem, si credidissent, meritum fuit delictorum. Ipsi legunt ita scriptum multatos se sapientia et intellegentia et oculorum et aurium fruge. |
[16] It was the merited punishment of their sin not to understand the Lord's first advent: for if they had, they would have believed; and if they had believed, they would have obtained salvation. They themselves read how it is written of them that they are deprived of wisdom and understanding - of the use of eyes and ears.30 |
| [17] Quem igitur hominem solummodo praesumpserant de humilitate, sequebatur, uti magum aestimarent de potestate, cum ille verbo daemonia de hominibus excuteret, caecos reluminaret, leprosos purgaret, paralyticos restringeret, mortuos denique verbo redderet vitae, elementa ipsa famularet compescens procellas et freta ingrediens, ostendens se esse verbum dei id est LOGON illud primordiale, primogenitum, virtute et ratione comitatum et spiritu fultum, eundem qui verbo omnia et faceret et fecisset. |
[17] As, then, under the force of their pre-judgment, they had convinced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was no more than man, it followed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician from the powers which He displayed,-expelling devils from men by a word, restoring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, reinvigorating the paralytic, summoning the dead to life again, making the very elements of nature obey Him, stilling the storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the Logos of God, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and based on Spirit,-that He who was now doing all things by His word, and He who had done that of old, were one and the same. |
| [18] Ad doctrinam vero ejus, qua revincebantur, magistri primoresque Judaeorum ita exasperabantur, maxime quod ingens ad eum multitudo deflecteret, ut postremo oblatum Pontio Pilato, Syriam tunc ex parte Romana procuranti, violentia suffragiorum in crucem [Jesum] dedi sibi extorserint. Praedixerat et ipse ita facturos; parum, si non et prophetae retro. |
[18] But the Jews were so exasperated by His teaching, by which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chiefly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they brought Him before Pontius Pilate, at that time Roman governor of Syria; and, by the violence of their outcries against Him, extorted a sentence giving Him up to them to be crucified. He Himself had predicted this; which, however, would have signified little had not the prophets of old done it as well. |
| [19] Et tamen suffixus multa mortis illius propria ostendit insignia. Nam spiritum cum verbo sponte dimisit praevento carnificis officio. Eodem momento dies medium orbem signante sole subducta est. Deliquium utique putaverunt qui id quoque super Christo praedicatum non scierunt. Et tamen eum mundi casum relatum in arcanis vestris habetis. |
[19] And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner's work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.31 |
| [20] Tunc Judaei detractum et sepulcro conditum magna etiam militari manu custodiae diligentia circumsederunt, ne, quia praedixerat tertia die resurrecturum se a morte, discipuli furto amoliti cadaver fallerent suspectos. |
[20] Then, when His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a sepulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted His resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous. |
| [21] Sed ecce tertia die concussa repente terra et mole revoluta, quae obstruxerat sepulcrum, et custodia pavore disjecta, nullis apparentibus discipulis, nihil in sepulcro repertum est praeterquam exuviae sepulti. |
[21] But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, and the stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but the clothes of the buried One. |
| [22] Nihilominus tamen primores, quorum intererat et scelus divulgare et populum vectigalem et famularem sibi a fide revocare, subreptum a discipulis jactitaverunt. Nam nec ille se in vulgus eduxit, ne impii errore liberarentur, ut et fides, non mediocri praemio destinata, difficultate constaret. |
[22] But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews, whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep back a people tributary and submissive to them from the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His followers. For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that faith also, destined to a great reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. |
| [23] Cum discipulis autem quibusdam apud Galilaeam, Judaeae regionem, ad quadraginta dies egit docens eos quae docerent. Dehinc ordinatis eis ad officium praedicandi per orbem circumfusa nube in caelum est receptus multo verius quam apud vos adseverare de Romulo Proculi solent. |
[23] But He spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others. Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world, He was encompassed with a cloud and taken up to heaven,-a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus.32 |
| [24] Ea omnia super Christo Pilatus, et ipse jam pro sua conscientia Christianus, Caesari tunc Tiberio nuntiavit - sed et Caesares credidissent super Christo, si aut Caesares non essent necessarii saeculo, aut si et Christiani potuissent esse Caesares. |
[24] All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and the Caesars too would have believed on Christ, if either the Caesars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been Caesars. |
| [25] Discipuli quoque diffusi per orbem ex praecepto magistri dei paruerunt, qui et ipsi a Judaeis insequentibus multa perpessi utique pro fiducia veritatis libenter Romae postremo per Neronis saevitiam sanguinem Christianum seminaverunt. |
[25] His disciples also, spreading over the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after suffering greatly themselves from the persecutions of the Jews, and with no unwilling heart, as having faith undoubting in the truth, at last by Nero's cruel sword sowed the seed of Christian blood at Rome.33 |
| [26] Sed monstrabimus vobis idoneos testes Christi ipsos illos, quos adoratis. Multum est, si eos adhibeam, ut credatis Christianis, propter quos non creditis Christianis. |
[26] Yes, and we shall prove that even your own gods are effective witnesses for Christ. It is a great matter if, to give you faith in Christians, I can bring forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom you refuse them credit. |
| [27] Interim hic est ordo nostrae institutionis, hunc edidimus et sectae et nominis censum cum suo auctore. Nemo jam infamiam incutiat, nemo aliud existimet, quia nec fas est ulli de sua religione mentiri. Ex eo enim, quod aliud a se coli dicit quam colit, negat quod colit, et culturam et honorem in alterum transfert et transferendo jam non colit, quod negavit. |
[27] Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We have set forth this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christianity. Let no one henceforth charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one think that it is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a false account of his religion. For in the very fact that he says he worships another god than he really does, he is guilty of denying the object of his worship, and transferring his worship and homage to another; and, in the transference, he ceases to worship the god he has repudiated. |
| [28] Dicimus et palam dicimus et vobis torquentibus lacerati et cruenti vociferamur: “Deum colimus per Christum”. Illum hominem putate; per eum et in eo se cognosci et coli deus vult. |
[28] We say, and before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your tortures, we cry out, "We worship God through Christ." Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God would be known and be adored. |
| [29] Ut Judaeis respondeamus, et ipsi deum per hominem Moysen colere didicerunt; ut Graecis occurram, Orpheus Pieriae, Musaeus Athenis, Melampus Argis, Trophonius Boeotiae initiationibus homines obligaverunt; ut ad vos quoque dominatores gentium adspiciam, homo fuit Pompilius Numa, qui Romanos operosissimis superstitionibus oneravit. |
[29] If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Musaeus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Boeotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. |
| [30] Licuerit et Christo commentari divinitatem, rem propriam, non qua rupices et adhuc feros homines multitudini tot numinum demerendorum attonitos efficiendo ad humanitatem temperaret, quod Numa, sed qua jam expolitos et ipsa urbanitate deceptos in agnitionem veritatis ocularet. |
[30] Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was in fact His own essential possession, not with the object of bringing boors and savages by the dread of multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won into some civilization, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and under illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. |
| [31] Quaerite igitur, si vera est ista divinitas Christi, si ea est, qua cognita ad bonum quis reformatur, sequitur ut falsae renuntietur, comperta inprimis illa omni ratione, quae delitiscens sub nominibus et imaginibus mortuorum quibusdam signis et miraculis et oraculis fidem divinitatis operatur. |
[31] Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ be true. If it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the names and images of dead, the labours to convince men of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles. |
| Capitulum XXII |
Chapter XXII. |
| [1] Atque adeo dicimus esse substantias quasdam spiritales. Nec novum nomen est; sciunt daemones philosophi Socrate ipso ad daemonii arbitrium exspectante. Quidni? Cum et ipsi daemonium a pueritia adhaesisse dicatur, dehortatorium plane a bono. |
[1] And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is their name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons; Socrates himself waiting on a demon's will. Why not? since it is said an evil spirit attached itself specially to him even from his childhood - turning his mind no doubt from what was good. |
| [2] Omnes sciunt poetae; etiam vulgus indoctum in usum maledicti frequentat. Nam et Satanan, principem hujus mali generis, proinde de propria conscientia animae eadem exsecramenti voce pronuntiat. Angelos quoque etiam Plato non negavit. Utriusque nominis testes esse vel magi adsunt. |
[2] The poets are all acquainted with demons too; even the ignorant common people make frequent use of them in cursing. In fact, they call upon Satan, the demon-chief, in their execrations, as though from some instinctive soul-knowledge of him. Plato also admits the existence of angels. The dealers in magic, no less, come forward as witnesses to the existence of both kinds of spirits. |
| [3] Sed quomodo de angelis quibusdam sua sponte corruptis corruptior gens daemonum evaserit, damnata a deo cum generis auctoribus et cum eo, quem diximus, principe, apud litteras sanctas ordo cognoscitur. |
[3] We are instructed, moreover, by our sacred books how from certain angels, who fell of their own free will, there sprang a more wicked demon-brood, condemned of God along with the authors of their race, and that chief we have referred to. |
[4] Nunc de operatione eorum satis erit exponere.
Operatio eorum est hominis eversio; sic malitia spiritalis a primordio auspicata est in hominis exitium. Itaque corporibus quidem et valetudines infligunt et aliquos casus acerbos, animae vero repentinos et extraordinarios per vim excessus. |
[4] It will for the present be enough, however, that some account is given of their work. Their great business is the ruin of mankind. So, from the very first, spiritual wickedness sought our destruction. They inflict, accordingly, upon our bodies diseases and other grievous calamities, while by violent assaults they hurry the soul into sudden and extraordinary excesses. |
| [5] Suppetit illis ad utramque substantiam hominis adeundam subtilitas et tenuitas sua. Multum spiritalibus viribus licet, ut invisibiles et insensibiles in effectu potius quam in actu suo appareant, si poma, si fruges nescio quod aurae latens vitium in flore praecipitat, in germine exanimat, in pubertate convulnerat, ac si caeca ratione temptatus aer pestilentes haustus suos offundit. |
[5] Their marvellous subtleness and tenuity give them access to both parts of our nature. As spiritual, they can do no harm; for, invisible and intangible, we are not cognizant of their action save by its effects, as when some inexplicable, unseen poison in the breeze blights the apples and the grain while in the flower, or kills them in the bud, or destroys them when they have reached maturity; as though by the tainted atmosphere in some unknown way spreading abroad its pestilential exhalations. |
| [6] Eadem igitur obscuritate contagionis adspiratio daemonum et angelorum mentis quoque corruptelas agit furoribus et amentiis foedis aut saevis libidinibus cum erroribus variis, quorum iste potissimus, quo deos istos captis et circumscriptis hominum mentibus commendat, ut et sibi pabula propria nidoris et sanguinis procuret simulacris imaginibus oblata. |
[6] So, too, by an influence equally obscure, demons and angels breathe into the soul, and rouse up its corruptions with furious passions and vile excesses; or with cruel lusts accompanied by various errors, of which the worst is that by which these deities are commended to the favour of deceived and deluded human beings, that they may get their proper food of flesh - fumes and blood when that is offered up to idol-images. |
| [7] Et quae illi accuratior pascua est, quam ut hominem e cogitatu verae divinitatis avertat praestigiis falsis? Quas et ipsas quomodo [ut] operetur expediam. |
[7] What is daintier food to the spirit of evil, than turning men's minds away from the true God by the illusions of a false divination? And here I explain how these illusions are managed. |
| [8] Omnis spiritus ales est: hoc angeli et daemones. Igitur momento ubique sunt. Totus orbis illis locus unus est; quid ubi geratur tam facile sciunt quam adnuntiant. Velocitas divinitas creditur, quia substantia ignoratur. Sic et auctores interdum videri volunt eorum, quae adnuntiant; et sunt plane malorum nonnumquam, bonorum tamen numquam. |
[8] Every spirit is possessed of wings. This is a common property of both angels and demons. So they are everywhere in a single moment; the whole world is as one place to them; all that is done over the whole extent of it, it is as easy for them to know as to report. Their swiftness of motion is taken for divinity, because their nature is unknown. Thus they would have themselves thought sometimes the authors of the things which they announce; and sometimes, no doubt, the bad things are their doing, never the good. |
| [9] Dispositiones etiam dei et tunc prophetis contionantibus excerpunt et nunc lectionibus resonantibus carpunt. Ita et hinc sumentes quasdam temporum sortes aemulantur divinitatem, dum furantur divinationem. |
[9] The purposes of God, too, they took up of old from the lips of the prophets, even as they spoke them; and they gather them still from their works, when they hear them read aloud. Thus getting, too, from this source some intimations of the future, they set themselves up as rivals of the true God, while they steal His divinations. |
| [10] In oraculis autem quo ingenio ambiguitates temperent in eventus, sciunt Croesi, sciunt Pyrrhi. Ceterum testudinem decoqui cum carnibus pecudis Pythius eo modo renuntiavit, quo supra diximus: momento apud Lydiam fuerat. Habentes de incolatu aeris et de vicinia siderum et de commercio nubium caelestes sapere paraturas, ut et pluvias, quas jam sentiunt, repromittant. |
[10] But the skill with which their responses are shaped to meet events, your Croesi and Pyrrhi know too well. On the other hand, it was in that way we have explained, the Pythian was able to declare that they were cooking a tortoise34 with the flesh of a lamb; in a moment he had been to Lydia. From dwelling in the air, and their nearness to the stars, and their commerce with the clouds, they have means of knowing the preparatory processes going on in these upper regions, and thus can give promise of the rains which they already feel. |
| [11] Benefici plane et circa curas valetudinum. Laedunt enim primo, dehinc remedia praecipiunt ad miraculum nova sive contraria; post quae desinunt laedere, et curasse creduntur. |
[11] Very kind too, no doubt, they are in regard to the healing of diseases. For, first of all, they make you ill; then, to get a miracle out of it, they command the application of remedies either altogether new, or contrary to those in use, and straightway withdrawing hurtful influence, they are supposed to have wrought a cure. |
| [12] Quid ergo de ceteris ingeniis vel etiam viribus fallaciae spiritalis edisseram, phantasmata Castorum et aquam cribro gestatam et navem cingulo promotam et barbam tactu irrufatam, ut numina lapides crederentur, ut deus verus non quaereretur? |
[12] What need, then, to speak of their other artifices, or yet further of the deceptive power which they have as spirits: of these Castor apparitions,35 of water carried by a sieve, and a ship drawn along by a girdle, and a beard reddened by a touch, all done with the one object of showing that men should believe in the deity of stones, and not seek after the only true God? |
| Capitulum XXIII |
Chapter XXIII. |
| [1] Porro si et magi phantasmata edunt et jam defunctorum informant animas, si pueros in eloquium oraculi elidunt, si multa miracula circulatoriis praestigiis ludunt, si et somnia immittunt, habentes semel invitatorum angelorum et daemonum adsistentem sibi potestatem, per quos et caprae et mensae divinare consuerunt: quanto magis ea potestas de suo arbitrio et pro suo negotio studeat totis viribus operari quod alienae praestat negotiationi! |
[1] Moreover, if sorcerers call forth ghosts, and even make what seem the souls of the dead to appear; if they put boys to death, in order to get a response from the oracle; if, with their juggling illusions, they make a pretence of doing various miracles; if they put dreams into people's minds by the power of the angels and demons whose aid they have invited, by whose influence, too, goats and tables used to be made to divine, - how much more likely is this power of evil to be zealous in doing with all its might, of its own inclination, and for its own objects, what it does to serve the ends of others! |
| [2] Aut si eadem et angeli et daemones operantur, quae et dei vestri, ubi est ergo praecellentia divinitatis, quam utique superiorem omni potestate credendum est? Non ergo dignius praesumetur ipsos esse, qui se deos faciant, cum eadem edant, quae faciant deos credi, quam pares angelis et daemonibus deos esse? |
[2] Or if both angels and demons do just what your gods do, where in that case is the pre-eminence of deity, which we must surely think to be above all in might? Will it not then be more reasonable to hold that these spirits make themselves gods, giving as they do the very proofs which raise your gods to godhead, than that the gods are the equals of angels and demons? |
| [3] Locorum differentia distinguitur, opinor, ut a templis deos existimetis, quos alibi deos non dicitis, ut aliter dementire videatur qui sacras turres pervolat, aliter qui tecta viciniae transilit, et alia vis pronuntietur in eo, qui genitalia vel lacertos, alia in eo, qui sibi gulam prosecat. Compar exitus furoris et una ratio est instigationis. |
[3] You make a distinction of places, I suppose, regarding as gods in their temple those whose divinity you do not recognize elsewhere; counting the madness which leads one man to leap from the sacred houses, to be something different from that which leads another to leap from an adjoining house; looking on one who cuts his arms and secret pans as under a different furor from another who cuts his throat. The result of the frenzy is the same, and the manner of instigation is one. |
| [4] Sed hactenus verba; jam hinc demonstratio rei ipsius, qua ostendemus unam esse utriusque nominis qualitatem. Edatur hic aliqui ibidem sub tribunalibus vestris, quem daemone agi constet; jussus a quolibet Christiano loqui spiritus ille tam se daemonem confitebitur de vero quam alibi deum de falso. |
[4] But thus far we have been dealing only in words: we now proceed to a proof of facts, in which we shall show that under different names you have real identity. Let a person be brought before your tribunals, who is plainly under demoniacal possession. The wicked spirit, bidden to speak by a follower of Christ,36 will as readily make the truthful confession that he is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is a god. |
| [5] Aeque producatur aliquis ex his, qui de deo pati existimantur, qui aris inhalantes numen de nidore concipiunt, qui ructando curantur, qui anhelando praefantur. |
[5] Or, if you will, let there be produced one of the god-possessed, as they are supposed, who, inhaling at the altar, conceive divinity from the fumes, who are delivered of it by retching, who vent it forth in agonies of gasping. |
| [6] Ista ipsa Virgo Caelestis, pluviarum pollicitatrix, ipse iste Aesculapius, medicinarum demonstrator, alia die morituris socordio et thanatio et asclepiodoto vitae subministrator, nisi se daemones confessi fuerint, Christiano mentiri non audentes, ibidem illius Christiani procacissimi sanguinem fundite! |
[6] Let that same Virgin Caelestis herself the rain-promiser, let Aesculapius discoverer of medicines, ready to prolong the life of Socordius, and Tenatius, and Asclepiodotus, now in the last extremity, if they would not confess, in their fear of lying to a Christian, that they were demons, then and there shed the blood of that most impudent follower of Christ. |
| [7] Quid isto opere manifestius? Quid hac probatione fidelius? Simplicitas veritatis in medio est; virtus illi sua adsistit; nihil suspicari licebit. Magia aut aliqua ejusmodi fallacia fieri [dictis non] dicetis, si oculi vestri et aures permiserint vobis. |
[7] What clearer than a work like that? what more trustworthy than such a proof? The simplicity of truth is thus set forth; its own worth sustains it; no ground remains for the least suspicion. Do you say that it is done by magic, or some trick of that sort? You will not say anything of the sort, if you have been allowed the use of your ears and eyes. |
| [8] Quid autem injici potest adversus id, quod ostenditur nuda sinceritate? Si altera parte vere dei sunt, cur sese daemonia mentiuntur? An ut nobis obsequantur? Jam ergo subjecta est Christianis divinitas vestra; nec divinitas deputanda est, quae subdita est homini et, si quid ad dedecus facit, aemulis suis. |
[8] For what argument can you bring against a thing that is exhibited to the eye in its naked reality? If, on the one hand, they are really gods, why do they pretend to be demons? Is it from fear of us? In that case your divinity is put in subjection to Christians; and you surely can never ascribe deity to that which is under authority of man, nay (if it adds aught to the disgrace) of its very enemies. |
| [9] Si altera parte daemones sunt vel angeli, cur se alibi pro deis agere respondent? Nam sicut illi, qui dei habentur, daemones se dicere noluissent, si vere dei essent, scilicet ne se de majestate deponerent, ita et isti, quos directo daemonas nostis, non auderent alibi pro deis agere, si aliqui omnino dei essent, quorum nominibus utuntur; vererentur enim abuti majestatem superiorum sine dubio et timendorum. |
[9] If, on the other hand, they are demons or angels, why, inconsistently with this, do they presume to set themselves forth as acting the pan of gods? For as beings who put themselves out as gods would never willingly call themselves demons, if they were gods indeed, that they might not thereby in fact abdicate their dignity; so those whom you know to be no more than demons, would not dare to act as gods, if those whose names they take and use were really divine. For they would not dare to treat with disrespect the higher majesty of beings, whose displeasure they would feel was to be dreaded.
|
| [10] Adeo nulla est divinitas ista, quam tenetis, quia, si esset, neque a daemoniis affectaretur in confessione neque a deis negaretur. Cum ergo utraque pars concurrit in confessionem deos esse se negans, agnoscite unum genus esse, id est daemonas utrobique. |
[10] So this divinity of yours is no divinity; for if it were, it would not be pretended to by demons, and it would not be denied by gods. But since on beth sides there is a concurrent acknowledgment that they are not gods, gather from this that there is but a single race - I mean the race of demons, the real race in both cases. |
| [11] Jam deos quaerite; quos enim praesumpseratis, daemonas esse cognoscitis. Eadem vero opera nostra ab eisdem deis vestris non tantum hoc detegentibus, quod neque ispi dei sint neque ulli alii, etiam illud in continenti cognoscitis, qui sit vere deus, et an ille et an unicus, quem Christiani profitemur, et an ita credendus colendusque, ut fides, ut disciplina disposita est Christianorum. |
[11] Let your search, then, now be after gods; for those whom you had imagined to be so you find to be spirits of evil. The truth is, as we have thus not only shown from our own gods that neither themselves nor any others have claims to deity, you may see at once who is really God, and whether that is He and He alone whom we Christians own; as also whether you are to believe in Him, and worship Him, after the manner of our Christian faith and discipline. |
| [12] Dicent ibidem et quis ille “Christus cum sua fabula”, si homo communis condicionis, si magus, si post mortem de sepulchro a discipulis subreptus, si nunc denique penes inferos, si non in caelis potius et inde venturus cum totius mundi motu, cum orbis horrore, cum planctu omnium, sed non Christianorum, ut dei virtus et dei spiritus et sermo et sapientia et ratio, et dei filius. |
[12] But at once they will say, Who is this Christ with his fables? is he an ordinary man? is he a sorcerer? was his body stolen by his disciples from its tomb? is he now in the realms below? or is he not rather up in the heavens, thence about to come again, making the whole world shake, filling the earth with dread alarms, making all but Christians wail - as the Power of God, and the Spirit of God, as the Word, the Reason, the Wisdom, and the Son of God? |
| [13] Quodcumque ridetis, rideant et illi vobiscum; negent Christum omnem ab aevo animam restituto corpore judicaturum, dicant hoc pro tribunali, si forte, Minoen et Rhadamanthum secundum consensum Platonis et poetarum hoc esse sortitos. |
[13] Mock as you like, but get the demons if you can to join you in your mocking; let them deny that Christ is coming to judge every human soul which has existed from the world's beginning, clothing it again with the body it laid aside at death; let them declare it, say, before your tribunal, that this work has been allotted to Minos and Rhadamanthus, as Plato and the poets agree; let them put away from them at least the mark of ignominy and condemnation. |
| [14] Suae saltim ignominiae et damnationis notam refutent: Renu[nti]ant se immundos spiritus esse, quod vel ex pabulis eorum, sanguine et fumo et putidis rogis pecorum, et impuratissimis linguis ipsorum vatum intellegi debuit; renuant ob malitiam praedamnatos se in eundem judicii diem cum omnibus cultoribus et operationibus suis. |
[14] They disclaim being unclean spirits, which yet we must hold as indubitably proved by their relish for the blood and fumes and foetid carcasses of sacrificial animals, and even by the vile language of their ministers. Let them deny that, for their wickedness condemned already, they are kept for that very judgment-day, with all their worshippers and their works. |
| [15] Atquin omnis haec nostra in illos dominatio et potestas de nominatione Christi valet et de commemoratione eorum, quae sibi a deo per arbitrum Christum imminentia exspectant. Christum timentes in deo et deum in Christo subiciuntur servis dei et Christi. |
[15] Why, all the authority and power we have over them is from our naming the name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the woes with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as Judge, and which they expect one day to overtake them. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they become subject to the servants of God and Christ. |
| [16] Ita de contactu deque afflatu nostro, contemplatione et repraesentatione ignis illius correpti etiam de corporibus nostro imperio excedunt inviti et dolentes et vobis praesentibus erubescentes. |
[16] So at our touch and breathing, overwhelmed by the thought and realization of those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies they have entered, unwilling, and distressed, and before your very eyes put to an open shame. |
| [17] Credite illis, cum verum de se loquuntur, qui mentientibus creditis! Nemo ad suum dedecus mentitur, quin potius ad honorem. Magis fides proxima est adversus semetipsos confitentes quam pro semetipsis negantes. |
[17] You believe them when they lie; give credit to them, then, when they speak the truth about themselves. No one plays the liar to bring disgrace upon his own head, but for the sake of honour rather. You give a readier confidence to people making confessions against themselves, than denials in their own behalf. |
| [18] Haec denique testimonia deorum vestrorum Christianos facere consuerunt; quam plurimum illis credendo in Christo deum credimus. Ipsi litterarum nostrarum fidem accendunt, ipsi spei nostrae fidentiam aedificant. |
[18] It has not been an unusual thing, accordingly, for those testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity; for in giving full belief to them, we are led to believe in Christ. Yes, your very gods kindle up faith in our Scriptures, they build up the confidence of our hope. |
| [19] Colitis illos, quod sciam, etiam de sanguine Christianorum. Nollent itaque vos tam fructuosos, tam officiosos sibi amittere, vel ne a vobis quandoque Christianis, fugentur, si illis sub Christiano volente vobis veritatem probare, mentiri liceret. |
[19] You do homage, as I know, to them also with the blood of Christians. On no account, then, would they lose those who are so useful and dutiful to them, anxious even to hold you fast, lest some day or other as Christians you might put them to the rout,-if under the power of a follower of Christ, who desires to prove to you the Truth, it were at all possible for them to lie. |
| Capitulum XXIV |
Chapter XXIV. |
| [1] Omnis ista confessio illorum, qua se deos negant esse quaque non alium deum respondent praeter unum, cui nos mancipamur, satis idonea est ad depellendum crimen laesae maxime Romanae religionis. Si enim non sunt dei pro certo, nec religio pro certo est; si religio non est, quia nec dei, pro certo, nec nos pro certo rei sumus laesae religionis. |
[1] This whole confession of these beings, in which they declare that they are not gods, and in which they tell you that there is no God but one, the God whom we adore, is quite sufficient to clear us from the crime of treason, chiefly against the Roman religion. For if it is certain the gods have no existence, there is no religion in the case. If there is no religion, because there are no gods, we are assuredly not guilty of any offence against religion. |
| [2] At e contrario in vos exprobratio resultabit, qui mendacium colentes veram religionem veri dei non modo neglegendo, quin insuper expugnando, in verum committitis crimen verae irreligiositatis. |
[2] Instead of that, the charge recoils on your own head: worshipping a lie, you are really guilty of the crime you charge on us, not merely by refusing the true religion of the true God, but by going the further length of persecuting it. |
| [3] Nunc ut constaret illos deos esse, nonne conceditis de aestimatione communi aliquem esse sublimiorem et potentiorem, velut principem mundi perfectae [peritiae] majestatis? Nam et sic plerique disponunt divinitatem, ut imperium summae dominationis esse penes unum, officia ejus penes multos velint, ut Plato Jovem magnum in caelo comitatum exercitu describit deorum pariter et daemonum; itaque oportere et procurantes et praefectos et praesides pariter suspici. |
[3] But now, granting that these objects of your worship are really gods, is it not generally held that there is one higher and more potent, as it were the world's chief ruler, endowed with absolute power and majesty? For the common way is to apportion deity, giving an imperial and supreme domination to one, while its offices are put into the hands of many, as Plato describes great Jupiter in the heavens, surrounded by an array at once of deities and demons. It behooves us, therefore, to show equal respect to the procurators, prefects, and governors of the divine empire. |
| [4] Et tamen quod facinus admittit, qui magis ad Caesarem promerendum et operam et spem suam transfert nec appellationem dei, ita ut imperatoris, in alio quam principe confitetur, cum capitale esse judicetur alium praeter Caesarem et dicere et audire? |
[4] And yet how great a crime does he commit, who, with the object of gaining higher favour with the Caesar, transfers his endeavours and his hopes to another, and does not confess that the appellation of God as of Emperor belongs only to the Supreme Head, when it is held a capital offence among us to call, or hear called, by the highest title any other than Caesar himself! |
| [5] Colat alius deum, alius Jovem; alius ad caelum manus supplices tendat, alius ad aram Fidei manus; alius (si hoc putatis) nubes numeret orans, alius lacunaria; alius suam animam deo suo voveat, alius hirci. |
[5] Let one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens, another to the altar of Fides; let one - if you choose to take this view of it - count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. |
| [6] Videte enim, ne et hoc ad irreligiositatis elogium concurrat, adimere libertatem religionis et interdicere optionem divinitatis, ut non liceat mihi colere quem velim, sed cogar colere quem nolim. Nemo se ab invito coli volet, ne homo quidem. |
[6] For see that you do not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religious liberty,37 and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer worship according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him; |
| [7] Atque adeo et Aegyptiis permissa est tam vanae superstitionis potestas avibus et bestiis consecrandis et capite damnandi qui aliquem hujusmodi deum occiderint. |
[7] and so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any One who kills a god of their sort. |
| [8] Unicuique etiam provinciae et civitati suus deus est, ut Syriae Atargatis, ut Arabiae Dusares, ut Noricis Belenus, ut Africae Caelestis, ut Mauritaniae reguli sui. Romanas, ut opinor, provincias edidi, nec tamen Romanos deos earum, quia Romae non magis coluntur quam qui per ipsam quoque Italiam municipali consecratione censentur: Casiniensium Delventinus, Narnensium Visidianus, Asculanorum Ancharia, Volsiniensium Nortia, Ocriculanorum Valentia, Sutrinorum Hostia; Faliscorum in honorem patris Curris et accepit cognomen Juno. |
[8] Every province even, and every city, has its god. Syria has Astarte, Arabia has Dusares, the Norici have Belenus, Africa has its Caelestis, Mauritania has its own princes. I have spoken, I think, of Roman provinces, and yet I have not said their gods are Roman; for they are not worshipped at Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over Italy itself by municipal consecration, such as Delventinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia, Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocriculum, Hostia of Satrium, Father Curls of Falisci, in honour of whom, too, Juno got her surname. |
| [9] Sed nos soli arcemur a religionis proprietate. Laedimus Romanos nec Romani habemur, qui non Romanorum deum colimus. |
[9] In, fact, we alone are prevented having a religion of our own. We give offence to the Romans, we are excluded from the rights and privileges of Romans, because we do not worship the gods of Rome. |
| [10] Bene quod omnium deus est, cujus, velimus ac nolimus, omnes sumus. Sed apud vos quodvis colere jus est praeter deum verum, quasi non hic magis omnium sit deus, cujus omnes sumus. |
[10] It is well that there is a God of all, whose we all are, whether we will or no. But with you liberty is given to worship any god but the true God, as though He were not rather the God all should worship, to whom all belong. |
| Capitulum XXV |
Chapter XXV. |
| [1] Satis quidem mihi videor probasse de falsa et vera divinitate, cum demonstravi, quemadmodum probatio consistat, non modo disputationibus, nec argumentationibus, sed ipsorum etiam testimoniis, quos deos creditis, ut nihil jam ad hanc causam sit retractandum. |
[1] I think I have offered sufficient proof upon the question of false and true divinity, having shown that the proof rests not merely on debate and argument, but on the witness of the very beings whom you believe are gods, so that the point needs no further handling. |
| [2] Quoniam tamen Romani nominis proprie mentio occurrit, non omittam congressionem, quam provocat illa praesumptio dicentium Romanos pro merito religiositatis diligentissimae in tantum sublimitatis elatos, ut orbem occuparint, et adeo deos esse, ut praeter ceteros floreant qui illis officium praeter ceteros faciant. |
[2] However, having been led thus naturally to speak of the Romans, I shall not avoid the controversy which is invited by the groundless assertion of those who maintain that, as a reward of their singular homage to religion, the Romans have been raised to such heights of power as to have become masters of the world; and that so certainly divine are the beings they worship, that those prosper beyond all others, who beyond all others honour them.38 |
| [3] Scilicet ista merces Romano nomini a Romanis deis pro gratia expensa est: Sterculus et Mutunus et Larentina provexit imperium. Peregrinos enim deos non putem extraneae genti magis factum voluisse quam suae et patrium solum, in quo nati, adulti, nobilitati sepultique sunt, transfretanis dedisse. |
[3] This, forsooth, is the wages the gods have paid the Romans for their devotion. The progress of the empire is to be ascribed to Sterculus, the Mutunus, and Larentina! For I can hardly think that foreign gods would have been disposed to show more favour to an alien race than to their own, and given their own fatherland, in which they had their birth, grew up to manhood, became illustrious, and at last were buried, over to invaders from another shore! |
| [4] Viderit Cybele, si urbem Romanam ut memoriam Trojani generis adamavit, vernaculi sui scilicet, adversus Achivorum arma protecti, si ad ultores transire prospexit, quos sciebat Graeciam Phrygiae debellatorem subacturos. |
[4] As for Cybele, if she set her affections on the city of Rome as sprung of the Trojan stock saved from the arms of Greece, she herself forsooth being of the same race,-if she foresaw her transference39 to the avenging people by whom Greece the conqueror of Phrygia was to be subdued, let her look to it (in regard of her native country's conquest by Greece). |
| [5] Itaque majestatis suae in urbem collatae grande documentum nostra etiam aetate proposuit, cum M. Aurelio apud Sirmium rei publicae exempto die sexto decimo Kalendarum Aprilium archigallus ille sanctissimus die nono Kalendarum earundem, quo sanguinem impurum lacertos quoque castrando libabat, pro salute imperatoris Marci jam intercepti solita aeque imperia mandavit. |
[5] Why, too, even in these days the Mater Magna has given a notable proof of her greatness which she has conferred as a boon upon the city; when, after the loss to the State of Marcus Aurelius at Sirmium, on the sixteenth before the Kalends of April, that most sacred high priest of hers was offering, a week after, impure libations of blood drawn from his own arms, and issuing his commands that the ordinary prayers should be made for the safety of the emperor already dead. |
| [6] O nuntios tardos, o somniculosa diplomata, quorum vitio excessum imperatoris non ante Cybele cognovit, ne deam talem riderent Christiani! |
[6] O tardy messengers! O sleepy despatches! through whose fault Cybele had not an earlier knowledge of the imperial decease, that the Christians might have no occasion to ridicule a goddess so unworthy. |
| [7] Sed non statim et Juppiter Cretam suam Romanis fascibus concuti sineret, oblitus antrum illud Idaeum et aera Corybantia et jocundissimum illic nutricis suae odorem. Nonne omni Capitolio tumulum illum suum praeposuisset, ut ea potius orbi terra praecelleret, quae cineres Jovis texit? |
[7] Jupiter, again, would surely never have permitted his own Crete to fall at once before the Roman Fasces, forgetful of that Idean cave and the Corybantian cymbals, and the sweet odour of her who nursed him there. Would he not have exalted his own tomb above the entire Capitol, that the land which covered the ashes of Jove might rather be the mistress of the world? |
[8] Vellet et Juno Punicam urbem “posthabita Samo” dilectam ab Aeneadarum utique gente deleri? Quod sciam:
“hic illius arma,
hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse
- si qua fata sinant - jam tum tenditque fovetque.”
Misera illa “conjunx Jovis et soror” adversus fata non valuit! Plane“fato stat Juppiter ipse”. |
[8] Would Juno have desired the destruction of the Punic city, beloved even to the neglect of Samos, and that by a nation of Aeneadae? So far as I know,
“Here were her arms,
here was her chariot; this kingdom
- if the Fates should permit - the goddess strives and wants to be mistress of the nations.”40
That hapless “wife and sister of Jove” had no power to prevail against the Fates! Clearly“Jupiter himself is subject to fate.”
|
| [9] Nec tantum tamen honoris fatis Romani dicaverunt dedentibus sibi Carthaginem adversus destinatum votumque Junonis, quantum prostitutissimae lupae Larentinae. |
[9] And yet the Romans have never done such homage to the Fates, which gave them Carthage against the purpose and the will of Juno, as to the abandoned harlot Larentina. |
| [10] Plures deos vestros regnasse certum est. Igitur si conferendi imperii tenent potestatem - cum ipsi regnarent, a quibus acceperant eam gratiam? Quem coluerat Saturnus et Juppiter? Aliquem, opinor, Sterculum. Sed postea Romani cum indigitamentis suis. |
[10] It is undoubted that not a few of your gods have reigned on earth as kings. If, then, they now possess the power of bestowing empire, when they were kings themselves, from whence had they received their kingly honours? Whom did Jupiter and Saturn worship? A Sterculus, I suppose. But did the Romans, along with the native-born inhabitants, |
| [11] Etiam si qui non regnaverunt, tamen regnabantur ab aliis nondum cultoribus suis, ut qui nondum dei habebantur. Ergo aliorum est regnum dare, quia regnabatur multo ante quam isti dei inciderentur. |
[11] afterwards adore also some who were never kings? In that case, however, they were under the reign of others, who did not yet bow down to them, as not yet raised to godhead. It belongs to others, then, to make gift of kingdoms, since there were kings before these gods had their names on the roll of divinities. |
| [12] Sed quam vanum est fastigium Romani nominis religiositatis meritis deputare, cum post imperium sive adhuc regnum religio profecerit, age jam, rebus religio profecerit. Nam, etsi a Numa concepta est curiositas superstitiosa, nondum tamen aut simulacris aut templis res divina apud Romanos constabat. |
[12] But how utterly foolish it is to attribute the greatness of the Roman name to religious merits, since it was after Rome became an empire, or call it still a kingdom, that the religion she professes made its chief progress! Is it the case now? Has its religion been the source of the prosperity of Rome? Though Numa set agoing an eagerness after superstitious observances, yet religion among the Romans was not yet a matter of images or temples. |
| [13] Frugi religio et pauperes ritus et nulla Capitolia certantia ad caelum, sed temeraria de caespite altaria, et vasa adhuc Samia, et nidor exilis et deus ipse nusquam. Nondum enim tunc ingenia Graecorum atque Tuscorum fingendis simulacris urbem inundaverant. Ergo non ante religiosi Romani quam magni, ideoque non ob hoc magni, quia religiosi. |
[13] It was frugal in its ways, its rites were simple, and there were no capitols struggling to the heavens; but the altars were offhand ones of turf, and the sacred vessels were yet of Samian earthen-ware, and from these the odours rose, and no likeness of God was to be seen. For at that time the skill of the Greeks and Tuscans in image-making had not yet overrun the city with the products of their art. The Romans, therefore, were not distinguished for their devotion to the gods before they attained to greatness; and so their greatness was not the result of their religion. |
| [14] Atquin quomodo ob religionem magni, quibus magnitudo de irreligiositate provenit? Ni fallor enim, omne regnum vel imperium bellis quaeritur et victoriis propagatur. Porro bella et victoriae captis et eversis plurimum urbibus constant. Id negotium sine deorum injuria non est; eaedem strages moenium et templorum, pares caedes civium et sacerdotum nec dissimiles rapinae sacrarum divitiarum et profanarum. |
[14] Indeed, how could religion make a people great who have owed their greatness to their irreligion? For, if I am not mistaken, kingdoms and empires are acquired by wars, and are extended by victories. More than that, you cannot have wars and victories without the taking, and often the destruction, of cities. That is a thing in which the gods have their share of calamity. Houses and temples suffer alike; there is indiscriminate slaughter of priests and citizens; the hand of rapine is laid equally upon sacred and on common treasure. |
| [15] Tot igitur sacrilegia Romanorum quot tropaea, tot de deis quot de gentibus triumphi, tot manubiae quot manent adhuc simulacra captivorum deorum. |
[15] Thus the sacrileges of the Romans are as numerous as their trophies. They boast as many triumphs over the gods as over the nations; as many spoils of battle they have still, as there remain images of captive deities. |
| [16] Et ab hostibus ergo suis sustinent adorari et illis “imperium sine fine” decernunt, quorum magis injurias quam adulationes remunerasse debuerant. Sed qui nihil sentiunt, tam impune laeduntur quam frustra coluntur. |
[16] And the poor gods submit to be adored by their enemies, and they ordain illimitable empire to those whose injuries rather than their simulated homage should have had retribution at their hands. But divinities unconscious are with impunity dishonoured, just as in vain they are adored. |
| [17] Certe non potest fidei convenire, ut religionis meritis excrevisse videantur qui, ut suggessimus, religionem aut laedendo creverunt aut crescendo laeserunt. Etiam illi, quorum regna conflata sunt in imperii Romanii summam, cum ea amitterent, sine religionibus non fuerunt. |
[17] You certainly never can believe that devotion to religion has evidently advanced to greatness a people who, as we have put it, have either grown by injuring religion, or have injured religion by their growth. Those, too, whose kingdoms have become part of the one great whole of the Roman empire, were not without religion when their kingdoms were taken from them. |
| Capitulum XXVI |
Chapter XXVI. |
| [1] Videte igitur, ne ille regna dispenset cujus est et orbis qui regnatur et homo ipse qui regnat; ne ille vices dominationum ipsis temporibus in saeculo ordinarit, qui ante omne tempus fuit et saeculum corpus temporum fecit; ne ille civitates extollat aut deprimat, sub quo fuit sine civitatibus aliquando gens hominum! |
[1] Examine then, and see if He be not the dispenser of kingdoms, who is Lord at once of the world which is ruled, and of man himself who rules; if He have not ordained the changes of dynasties, with their appointed seasons, who was before all time, and made the world a body of times; if the rise and the fall of states are not the work of Him, under whose sovereignty the human race once existed without states at all. |
| [2] Quid erratis? Prior est quibusdam deis suis silvestris Roma; ante regnavit quam tantum ambitum Capitolii extrueret[ur]. Regnaverant et Babylonii ante pontifices et Medi ante quindecimviros et Aegyptii ante Salios et Assyrii ante Lupercos et Amazones ante virgines Vestales. |
[2] How do you allow yourselves to fall into such error? Why, the Rome of rural simplicity is older than some of her gods; she reigned before her proud, vast Capitol was built. The Babylonians exercised dominion, too, before the days of the Pontiffs; and the Medes before the Quindecemvirs; and the Egyptians before the Salii; and the Assyrians before the
Luperci; and the Amazons before the Vestal Virgins. |
| [3] Postremo si Romanae religiones regna praestant, numquam retro Judaea regnasset despectrix communium istarum divinitatum, cujus et deum victimis et templum donis et gentem foederibus aliquamdiu, Romani, honorastis, numquam dominaturi ejus, si non deliquisset ultimo in Christum. |
[3] And to add another point: if the religions of Rome give empire, ancient Judea would never have been a kingdom, despising as it did one and all these idol deities; Judea, whose God you Romans once honoured with victims, and its temple with gifts, and its people with treaties; and which would never have been beneath your sceptre but for that last and crowning offence against God, in rejecting and crucifying Christ |
| Capitulum XXVII |
Chapter XXVII. |
| [1] Satis haec adversus intentationem laesae divinitatis, quo non videamur laedere eam, quam ostendimus non esse. Igitur provocati ad sacrificandum obstruimus gradum pro fide conscientiae nostrae, qua certi sumus, ad quos ista perveniant officia sub imaginum prostitutione et humanorum nominum consecratione. |
[1] Enough has been said in these remarks to confute the charge of treason against your religion: for we cannot be held to do harm to that which has no existence. When we are called therefore to sacrifice, we resolutely refuse, relying on the knowledge we possess, by which we are well assured of the real objects to whom these services are offered, under profaning of images and the deification of human names. |
| [2] Sed quidam dementiam existimant, quod, cum possimus et sacrificare in praesenti et illaesi abire manente apud animum proposito, obstinationem saluti praeferamus. |
[2] Some, indeed, think it a piece of insanity that, when it is in our power to offer sacrifice at once, and go away unharmed, holding as ever our convictions we prefer an obstinate persistence in our confession to our safety. |
| [3] Datis scilicet consilium, quo vobis abutamur; sed agnoscimus, unde talia suggerantur, quis totum hoc agitet, et quomodo nunc astutia suadendi, nunc duritia saeviendi ad constantiam nostram deiciendam operetur: |
[3] You advise us, forsooth, to take unjust advantage of you; but we know whence such suggestions come, who is at the bottom of it all, and how every effort is made, now by cunning suasion, and now by merciless persecution, to overthrow our constancy. |
| [4] Ille scilicet spiritus daemonicae et angelicae paraturae, qui noster ob divortium aemulus et ob dei gratiam invidus, de mentibus vestris adversus nos proeliatur occulta inspiratione modulatis et subornatis ad omnem, quam in primordio exorsi sumus, et judicandi perversitatem et saeviendi iniquitatem. |
[4] No other than that spirit, half devil and half angel, who, hating us because of his own separation from God, and stirred with envy for the favour God has shown us, turns your minds against us by an occult influence, moulding and instigating them to all that perversity in judgment, and that unrighteous cruelty, which we have mentioned at the beginning of our work, when entering on this discussion. |
| [5] Nam licet subjecta sit nobis tota vis daemonum et ejusmodi spirituum, ut nequam tamen [et] servi metu nonnumquam contumaciam miscent et laedere gestiunt quos alias verentur; odium enim etiam timor spirat, |
[5] For, though the whole power of demons and kindred spirits is subject to us, yet still, as ill-disposed slaves sometimes conjoin contumacy with fear, and delight to injure those of whom they at the same time stand in awe, so is it here. For fear also inspires hatred. |
| [6] praeterquam et desperata condicio eorum ex praedamnatione solatium reputat fruendae interim malignitatis de poenae mora. Et tamen apprehensi subiguntur et condicioni suae succidunt, et quos de longinquo oppugnant, de proximo obsecrant. |
[6] Besides, in their desperate condition, as already under condemnation, it gives them some comfort, while punishment delays, to have the usufruct of their malignant dispositions. And yet, when hands are laid on them, they are subdued at once, and submit to their lot; and those whom at a distance they oppose, in close quarters they supplicate for mercy. |
| [7] Itaque, cum vice rebellantium ergastulorum sive carcerum vel metallorum vel hoc genus poenalis servitutis erumpunt adversus nos, in quorum potestate sunt, certi et impares se esse et hoc magis perditos, ingratis resistimus ut aequales et repugnamus perseverantes in eo, quod oppugnant et illos numquam magis detriumphamus quam cum pro fideli obstinatione damnamur. |
[7] So when, like insurrectionary workhouses, or prisons, or mines, or any such penal slaveries, they break forth against us their masters, they know all the while that they are not a match for us, and just on that account, indeed, rush the more recklessly to destruction. We resist them, unwillingly, as though they were equals, and contend against them by persevering in that which they assail; and our triumph over them is never more complete than when we are condemned for resolute adherence to our faith. |
| Capitulum XXVIII |
Chapter XXVIII. |
| [1] Quoniam autem facile iniquum videretur liberos homines invitos urgeri ad sacrificandum - nam et alias divinae rei faciundae libens animus indicitur -, certe ineptum existimaretur, si quis ab alio cogeretur ad honorem deorum, quos ultro sui causa placare deberet, ne prae manu esset jure libertatis dicere: “Nolo mihi Jovem propitium; tu quis es? Me conveniat Janus iratus ex qua velit fronte; quid tibi mecum est?” |
[1] But as it was easily seen to be unjust to compel freemen against their will to offer sacrifice (for even in other acts of religious service a willing mind is required), it should be counted quite absurd for one man to compel another to do honour to the gods, when he ought ever voluntarily, and in the sense of his own need, to seek their favour, lest in the liberty which is his right he should be ready to say, "I want none of Jupiter's favours; pray who art thou? Let Janus meet me with angry looks, with whichever of his faces he likes; what have you to do with me? |
| [2] Formati estis ab isdem utique spiritibus, uti nos pro salute imperatoris sacrificare cogatis, et imposita est tam vobis necessitas cogendi quam nobis obligatio periclitandi. |
[2] "You have been led, no doubt, by these same evil spirits to compel us to offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperor; and you are under a necessity of using force, just as we are under an obligation to face the dangers of it. |
| [3] Ventum est igitur ad secundum titulum laesae augustioris majestatis, siquidem majore formidine et callidiore timiditate Caesarem observatis quam ipsum de Olympo Jovem. Et merito, si sciatis. Quis enim ex viventibus quilibet non mortuo potior? |
[3] This brings us, then, to the second ground of accusation, that we are guilty of treason against a majesty more august; for you do homage with a greater dread and an intenser reverence to Caesar, than Olympian Jove himself. And if you knew it, upon sufficient grounds. For is not any living man better than a dead one, whoever he be? |
| [4] Sed nec hoc vos ratione facitis potius quam respectu praesentaneae potestatis; adeo et in isto irreligiosi erga deos vestros deprehendemini, cum plus timoris humano dominio dicatis. Citius denique apud vos per omnes deos quam per unum genium Caesaris pejeratur. |
[4] But this is not done by you on any other ground than regard to a power whose presence you vividly realize; so that also in this you are convicted of impiety to your gods, inasmuch as you show a greater reverence to a human sovereignty than you do to them. Then, too, among you, people far more readily swear a false oath in the name of all the gods, than in the name of the single genius of Caesar. |
| Capitulum XXiX |
Chapter XXIX. |
| [1] Constet igitur prius, si isti, quibus sacrificatur, salutem imperatoribus vel cuilibet homini impertire possunt, et ita nos crimini majestatis addicite, si angeli aut daemones substantia pessimi spiritus beneficium aliquod operantur, si perditi conservant, si damnati liberant, si denique, quod in conscientia vestra est, mortui vivos tuentur. |
[1] Let it be made clear, then, first of all, if those to whom sacrifice is offered are really able to protect either emperor or anybody else, and so adjudge us guilty of treason, if angels and demons, spirits of most wicked nature, do any good, if the lost save, if the condemned give liberty, if the dead (I refer to what you know well enough) defend the living. |
| [2] Nam utique suas primo statuas et imagines et aedes tuerentur, quae, ut opinor, Caesarum milites excubiis salva praestant. Puto autem, eae ipsae materiae de metallis Caesarum veniunt, et tota templa de nutu Caesaris constant. |
[2] For surely the first thing they would look to would be the protection of their statues, and images, and temples, which rather owe their safety, I think, to the watch kept by Caesar's guards. Nay, I think the very materials of which these are made come from Caesar's mines, and there is not a temple but depends on Caesar's will. |
| [3] Multi denique dei habuerunt Caesarem iratum; facit ad causam, si et propitium, cum illis aliquid liberalitatis aut privilegii confert. Ita qui sunt in Caesaris potestate, cujus et toti sunt, quomodo habebunt salutem Caesaris in potestate, ut eam praestare posse videantur, quam facilius ipsi a Caesare consequantur? |
[3] Yes, and many gods have felt the displeasure of the Caesar. It makes for my argument if they are also partakers of his favour, when he bestows on them some gift or privilege. How shall they who are thus in Caesar's power, who belong entirely to him, have Caesar's protection in their hands, so that you can imagine them able to give to Caesar what they more readily get from him? |
| [4] Ideo ergo committimus in majestatem imperatorum, quia illos non subicimus rebus suis, quia non ludimus de officio salutis ipsorum, qui eam non putamus in manibus esse plumbatis! |
[4] This, then, is the ground on which we are charged with treason against the imperial majesty, to wit, that we do not put the emperors under their own possessions; that we do not offer a mere mock service on their behalf, as not believing their safety rests in leaden hands. |
| [5] Sed vos irreligiosi, qui eam quaeritis ubi non est, petitis a quibus dari non potest, praeterito eo, in cujus est potestate, insuper eos debellatis, qui eam sciunt petere, qui etiam possunt impetrare, dum sciunt petere! |
[5] But you are impious in a high degree who look for it where it is not, who seek it from those who have it not to give, passing by Him who has it entirely in His power. Besides this, you persecute those who know where to seek for it, and who, knowing where to seek for it, are able as well to secure it. |
| Capitulum XXX |
Chapter XXX. |
| [1] Nos enim pro salute imperatorum deum invocamus aeternum, deum verum, deum vivum, quem et ipsi imperatores propitium sibi praeter ceteros malunt. Sciunt, quis illis dederit imperium; sciunt, qua homines, quis et animam; sentiunt eum esse deum solum, in cujus solius potestate sint, a quo sint secundi, post quem primi, ante omnes et super omnes deos. Quidni? Cum super omnes homines, qui utique vivunt et mortuis antistant. |
[1] For we offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favour, beyond all others, they must themselves desire. They know from whom they have obtained their power; they know, as they are men, from whom they have received life itself; they are convinced that He is God alone, on whose power alone they are entirely dependent, to whom they are second, after whom they occupy the highest places, before and above all the gods. Why not, since they are above all living men, and the living, as living, are superior to the dead? |
| [2] Recogitant quousque vires imperii sui valeant, et ita deum intellegunt; adversus quem valere non possunt, per eum valere se cognoscunt. Caelum denique debellet imperator, caelum captivum triumpho suo invehat, caelo mittat excubias, caelo vectigalia imponat! Non potest. |
[2] They reflect upon the extent of their power, and so they come to understand the highest; they acknowledge that they have all their might from Him against whom their might is nought. Let the emperor make war on heaven; let him lead heaven captive in his triumph; let him put guards on heaven; let him impose taxes on heaven! He cannot. |
| [3] Ideo magnus est, quia caelo minor est; illius enim est ipse, cujus et caelum est et omnis creatura. Inde est imperator, unde et homo antequam imperator; inde potestas illi, unde et spiritus. |
[3] Just because he is less than heaven, he is great. For he himself is His to whom heaven and every creature appertains. He gets his sceptre where he first got his humanity; his power where he got the breath of life. |
| [4] Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis, capite nudo, quia non erubescimus, denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus, precantes sumus semper pro omnibus imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, quaecumque hominis et Caesaris vota sunt. |
[4] Thither we lift our eyes, with hands outstretched, because free from sin; with head uncovered, for we have nothing whereof to be ashamed; finally, without a monitor, because it is from the heart we supplicate. Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer. We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Caesar, an emperor would wish. |
| [5] Haec ab alio orare non possum quam a quo me scio consecuturum, quoniam et ipse est, qui solus praestat, et ego sum, cui impetrare debetur, famulus ejus, qui eum solus observo, qui propter disciplinam ejus occidor, qui ei offero opimam et majorem hostiam, quam ipse mandavit, orationem de carne pudica, de anima innocenti, de spiritu sancto profectam, |
[5] These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage to Him alone, persecuted for His doctrine, offering to Him, at His own requirement, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer41 despatched from the chaste body, an unstained soul, a sanctified spirit, |
| [6] non grana turis unius assis, Arabicae arboris lacrimas, nec duas meri guttas, nec sanguinem reprobi bovis mori optantis, et post omnia inquinamenta etiam conscientiam spurcam: ut mirer, cum hostiae probantur penes vos a vitiosissimis sacerdotibus, cur [quibus] praecordia potius victimarum quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinentur. |
[6] not the few grains of incense a farthing buys42 -tears of an Arabian tree,-not a few drops of wine,-not the blood of some worthless ox to which death is a relief, and, in addition to other offensive things, a polluted conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims are examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not rather of the sacrificers than the sacrifices. |
| [7] Sic itaque nos ad deum expansos ungulae fodiant, cruces suspendant, ignes lambant, gladii guttura detruncent, bestiae insiliant: paratus est ad omne supplicium ipse habitus orantis Christiani. Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam deo supplicantem pro imperatore! Hic erit crimen, ubi veritas et dei devotio est! |
[7] With our hands thus stretched out and up to God, rend us with your iron claws, hang us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take our heads from us with the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us,-the very attitude of a Christian praying is one of preparation for all punishment.43 Let this, good rulers, be your work: wring from us the soul, beseeching God on the emperor's behalf. Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His name, put the brand of crime. |
| Capitulum XXXI |
Chapter XXXI. |
| [1] Adolati nunc sumus imperatori et mentiti vota, quae diximus, ad evadendam scilicet vim? Plane proficit ista fallacia; admittitis nos enim probare quodcumque defendimus. Qui ergo putaveris nihil nos de salute Caesarum curare, inspice dei voces, litteras nostras, quas neque ipsi supprimimus et plerique casus ad extraneos transferunt. |
[1] But we merely, you say, flatter the emperor, and feign these prayers of ours to escape persecution. Thank you for your mistake, for you give us the opportunity of proving our allegations. Do you, then, who think that we care nothing for the welfare of Caesar, look into God's revelations, examine our sacred books, which we do not keep in hiding, and which many accidents put into the hands of those who are not of us. |
| [2] Scitote ex illis praeceptum esse nobis ad redundantiam benignitatis etiam pro inimicis deum orare et persecutoribus nostris bona precari. Qui magis inimici et persecutores Christianorum quam de quorum majestate convenimur in crimen? |
[2] Learn from them that a large benevolence is enjoined upon us, even so far as to supplicate God for our enemies, and to beseech blessings on our persecutors.44 Who, then, are greater enemies and persecutors of Christians, than the very parties with treason against whom we are charged? |
| [3] Sed etiam nominatim atque manifeste: “Orate”, inquit, “pro regibus et pro principibus et potestatibus, ut omnia tranquilla sint vobis!” Cum enim concutitur imperium, concussis etiam ceteris membris ejus, utique et nos, licet extranei a turbis aestimemur, in aliquo loco casus invenimur. |
[3] Nay, even in terms, and most clearly, the Scripture says, "Pray for kings, and rulers, and powers, that all may be peace with you."45 For when there is disturbance in the empire, if the commotion is felt by its other members, surely we too, though we are not thought to be given to disorder, are to be found in some place or other which the calamity affects. |
| Capitulum XXXII |
Chapter XXXII. |
| [1] Est et alia major necessitas nobis orandi pro imperatoribus, etiam pro omni statu imperii rebusque Romanis, qui vim maximam universo orbi imminentem ipsamque clausulam saeculi acerbitates horrendas comminantem Romani imperii commeatu scimus retardari. Itaque nolumus experiri et, dum precamur differri, Romanae diuturnitati favemus. |
[1] There is also another and a greater necessity for our offering prayer in behalf of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Roman interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock impending over the whole earth - in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes - is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire.46 We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's duration. |
| [2] Sed et juramus sicut non per genios Caesarum, ita per salutem eorum, quae est augustior omnibus geniis. Nescitis genios “daemonas” dici et inde diminutiva voce “daemonia”? Nos judicium dei suspicimus in imperatoribus, qui gentibus illos praefecit. |
[2] More than this, though we decline to swear by the genii of the Caesars, we swear by their safety, which is worth far more than all your genii, Are you ignorant that these genii are called “Daemones,” and thence the diminutive name “Daemonia” is applied to them? We respect in the emperors the ordinance of God, who has set them over the nations. |
| [3] Id in eis scimus esse, quod deus voluit, ideoque et salvum volumus esse quod deus voluit, et pro magno id juramento habemus. Certerum daemonas, id est genios, adjurare consuevimus, ut illos de hominibus exigamus, non dejerare, ut eis honorem divinitatis conferamus. |
[3] We know that there is that in them which God has willed; and to what God has willed we desire all safety, and we count an oath by it a great oath. But as for demons, that is, your genii, we have been in the habit of exorcising them, not of swearing by them, and thereby conferring on them divine honour. |
| Capitulum XXXIII |
Chapter XXXIII. |
| [1] Sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate Christiana in imperatorem? quem necesse est suspiciamus ut eum, quem dominus noster elegit, ut merito dixerim: “Noster est magis Caesar, a nostro deo constitutus.” |
[1] But why dwell longer on the reverence and sacred respect of Christians to the emperor, whom we cannot but look up to as called by our Lord to his office? So that on valid grounds I might say Caesar is more ours than yours, for our God has appointed him. |
| [2] Itaque ut meo plus ego illi operor in salutem, si quidem non solum ab eo postulo eam, qui potest praestare, aut quod talis postulo, qui merear impetrare, sed etiam quod temperans majestatem Caesaris infra deum magis illum commendo deo, cui soli subicio; subicio autem, cui non adaequo. |
[2] Therefore, as having this propriety in him, I do more than you for his welfare, not merely because I ask it of Him who can give it, or because I ask it as one who deserves to get it, but also because, in keeping the majesty of
Caesar within due limits, and putting it under the Most High, and making it less than divine, I commend him the more to the favour of Deity, to whom I make him alone inferior. But I place him in subjection to one I regard as more glorious than himself. |
| [3] Non enim deum imperatorem dicam, vel quia mentiri nescio, vel quia illum deridere non audeo, vel quia nec ipse se deum volet dici. Si homo sit, interest homini deo cedere; satis habeat appellari imperator; grande et hoc nomen est, quod a deo traditur. Negat illum imperatorem qui deum dicit; nisi homo sit, non est imperator. |
[3] Never will I call the emperor God, and that either because it is not in me to be guilty of falsehood; or that I dare not turn him into ridicule; or that not even himself will desire to have that high name applied to him. If he is but a man, it is his interest as man to give God His higher place. Let him think it enough to bear the name of emperor. That, too, is a great name of God's giving. To call him God, is to rob him of his title. If he is not a man, emperor he cannot be. |
| [4] Hominem se esse etiam triumphans in illo sublimissimo curru admonetur; suggeritur enim ei a tergo: “Respice post te! Hominem te memento!” Et utique hoc magis gaudet tanta se gloria coruscare, ut illi admonitio condicionis suae sit necessaria. Minor erat, si tunc deus diceretur, quia non vere diceretur. Major est qui revocatur, ne se deum existimet. |
[4] Even when, amid the honours of a triumph, he sits on that lofty chariot, he is reminded that he is only human. A voice at his back keeps whispering in his ear, "Look behind thee; remember thou art but a man." And it only adds to his exultation, that he shines with a glory so surpassing as to require an admonitory reference to his condition.47 It adds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think himself divine. |
| Capitulum XXXIV |
Chapter XXXIV. |
| [1] Augustus, imperii formator, ne dominum quidem dici se volebat. Et hoc enim dei est cognomen. Dicam plane imperatorem dominum, sed more communi, sed quando non cogor, ut dominum dei vice dicam. Ceterum liber sum illi; dominus enim meus unus est, deus omnipotens, aeternus, idem qui et ipsius. |
[1] Augustus, the founder of the empire, would not even have the title Lord; for that, too, is a name of Deity. For my part, I am willing to give the emperor this designation, but in the common acceptation of the word, and when I am not forced to call him Lord as in God's place. But my relation to him is one of freedom; for I have but one true Lord, the God omnipotent and eternal, who is Lord of the emperor as well. |
| [2] Qui pater patriae est, quomodo dominus est? Sed et gratius est nomen pietatis quam potestatis; etiam familiae magis patres quam domini vocantur. |
[2] How can he, who is truly father of his country, be its lord? The name of piety is more grateful than the name of power; so the heads of families are called fathers rather than lords. |
| [3] Tanto abest, ut imperator deus debeat dici, quod non potest credi - non modo turpissima, sed et perniciosa adulatione. Tamquam si habens imperatorem alterum appelles, nonne maximam et inexorabilem offensam contrahes ejus, quem habuisti, etiam ipsi timendam, quem appellasti? Esto religiosus in deum, qui vis illum propitium imperatori! Desine alium deum credere atque ita et hunc deum dicere, cui deo opus est! |
[3] Far less should the emperor have the name of God. We can only profess our belief that he is that by the most unworthy, nay, a fatal flattery; it is just as if, having an emperor, you call another by the name, in which case will you not give great and unappeasable offence to him who actually reigns?-an offence he, too, needs to fear on whom you have bestowed the title. Give all reverence to God, if you wish Him to be propitious to the emperor. Give up all worship of, and belief in, any other being as divine. Cease also to give the sacred name to him who has need of God himself. |
| [4] Si non de mendacio erubescit adulatio ejusmodi hominem deum appellans, timeat saltim de infausto: Maledictum est ante apotheosin deum Caesarem nuncupari. |
[4] If such adulation is not ashamed of its lie, in addressing a man as divine, let it have some dread at least of the evil omen which it bears. It is the invocation of a curse, to give Caesar the name of god before his apotheosis. |
| Capitulum XXXV |
Chapter XXXV. |
| [1] Propterea igitur publici hostes Christiani, quia imperatoribus neque vanos neque mentientes neque temerarios honores dicant, quia verae religionis homines etiam solemnia eorum conscientia potius quam lascivia celebrant. |
[1] This is the reason, then, why Christians are counted public enemies: that they pay no vain, nor false, nor foolish honours to the emperor; that, as men believing in the true religion, they prefer to celebrate their festal days with a good conscience, instead of with the common wantonness. |
| [2] Grande videlicet officium focos et toros in publicum educere, vicatim epulari, civitatem tabernae habitu abolefacere, vino lutum cogere, catervatim cursitare ad injurias, ad impudentias, ad libidinis illecebras! Sicine exprimitur publicum gaudium per dedecus publicum? Haecine solemnes dies principum decent, quae alios dies non decent? |
[2] It is, forsooth, a notable homage to bring fires and couches out before the public, to have feasting from street to street, to turn the city into one great tavern, to make mud with wine, to run in troops to acts of violence, to deeds of shamelessness to lust allurements! What! is public joy manifested by public disgrace? Do things unseemly at other times beseem the festal days of princes? |
| [3] Qui observant disciplinam de Caesaris respectu, hi eam propter Caesarem deserunt, et malorum morum licentia pietas erit, occasio luxuriae religio deputabitur! |
[3] Do they who observe the rules of virtue out of reverence for Caesar, for his sake turn aside from them? Shall piety be a license to immoral deeds, and shall religion be regarded as affording the occasion for all riotous extravagance? |
| [4] O nos merito damnandos! Cur enim vota et gaudia Caesarum casti et sobrii et probi expungimus? cur die laeto non laureis postes obumbramus nec lucernis diem infringimus? Honesta res est solemnitate publica exigente induere domui tuae habitum alicujus novi lupanaris! |
[4] Poor we, worthy of all condemnation! For why do we keep the votive days and high rejoicings in honour of the Caesars with chastity, sobriety, and virtue? Why, on the day of gladness, do we neither cover our door-posts with laurels, nor intrude upon the day with lamps? It is a proper thing, at the call of a public festivity, to dress your house up like some new brothel.48 |
| [5] Velim tamen in hac quoque religione secundae majestatis, de qua in secundum sacrilegium convenimur Christiani non celebrando vobiscum solemnia Caesarum, quo more celebrari nec modestia nec verecundia nec pudicitia permittunt, sed occasio voluptatis magis quam digna ratio persuasit, fidem et veritatem vestram demonstrare, ne forte et istic deteriores Christianis deprehendantur qui nos nolunt Romanos haberi, sed ut hostes principum Romanorum. |
[5] However, in the matter of this homage to a lesser majesty, in reference to which we are accused of a lower sacrilege, because we do not celebrate along with you the holidays of the Caesars in a manner forbidden alike by modesty, decency, and purity,-in truth they have been established rather as affording opportunities for licentiousness than from any worthy motive;-in this matter I am anxious to point out how faithful and true you are, lest perchance here also those who will not have us counted Romans, but enemies of Rome's chief rulers, be found themselves worse than we wicked Christians! |
| [6] Ipsos Quirites, ipsam vernaculam septem collium plebem convenio, an alicui Caesari suo parcat illa lingua Romana: Testis est Tiberis, et scholae bestiarum. |
[6] I appeal to the inhabitants of Rome themselves, to the native population of the seven hills: does that Roman vernacular of theirs ever spare a Caesar? The Tiber and the wild beasts' schools bear witness. |
| [7] Jam si pectoribus ad translucendum quandam specularem materiam natura obduxisset, cujus non praecordia insculpta apparerent novi ac novi Caesaris scaenam congiario dividundo praesidentis, etiam illa hora, qua acclamant:
“de nostris annis augeat tibi Juppiter annos!”
Haec Christianus tam enuntiare non novit quam de novo Caesare optare. |
[7] Say now if nature had covered our hearts with a transparent substance through which the light could pass, whose hearts, all graven over, would not betray the scene of another and another Caesar presiding at the distribution of a largess? And this at the very time they are shouting,
"May Jupiter take years from us, and with them lengthen like to you,
- words as foreign to the lips of a Christian as it is out of keeping with his character to desire a change of emperor. |
| [8] “Sed vulgus”, inquis. Ut vulgus, tamen Romani, nec ulli magis depostulatores Christianorum quam vulgus. Plane ceteri ordines pro auctoritate religiosi ex fide; nihil hosticum de ipso senatu, de equite, de castris, de palatiis ipsis spirat! |
[8] But this is the rabble, you say; yet, as the rabble, they still are Romans, and none more frequently than they demand the death of Christians.49 Of course, then, the other classes, as befits their higher rank, are religiously faithful. No breath of treason is there ever in the senate, in the equestrian order, in the camp, in the palace. |
| [9] Unde Cassii et Nigri et Albini? Unde qui inter duas laurus obsident Caesarem? Unde qui faucibus ejus exprimendis palaestricam exercent? Unde qui armati palatium irrumpunt, omnibus tot Sigeriis atque Partheniis audaciores? De Romanis, nisi fallor, id est de non Christianis. |
[9] Whence, then, came a Cassius, a Niger, an Albinus? Whence they who beset the Caesar50 between the two laurel groves? Whence they who practised wrestling, that they might acquire skill to strangle him? Whence they who in full armour broke into the palace,51 more audacious than all your Tigerii and Parthenii.52 If I mistake not, they were Romans; that is, they were not Christians. |
| [10] Atque adeo omnes illi sub ipsa usque impietatis eruptione et sacra faciebant pro salute imperatoris et genium ejus dejerabant, alii foris, alii intus, et utique publicorum hostium nomen Christianis dabant. |
[10] Yet all of them, on the very eve of their traitorous outbreak, offered sacrifices for the safety of the emperor, and swore by his genius, one thing in profession, and another in the heart; and no doubt they were in the habit of calling Christians enemies of the state. |
| [11] Sed et qui nunc scelestarum partium socii aut plausores cottidie revelantur, post vindemiam parricidarum racematio superstes, quam recentissimis et ramosissimis laureis postes praestruebant, quam elatissimis et clarissimis lucernis vestibula nebulabant, quam cultissimis et superbissimis toris forum sibi dividebant, non ut gaudia publica celebrarent, sed ut vota propria jam ediscerent in aliena sollemnitate et exemplum atque imaginem spei suae inaugurarent nomen principis in corde mutantes. |
[11] Yes, and persons who are now daily brought to light as confederates or approvers of these crimes and treasons, the still remnant gleanings after a vintage of traitors, with what verdant and branching laurels they clad their door-posts, with what lofty and brilliant lamps they smoked their porches, with what most exquisite and gaudy couches they divided the Forum among themselves; not that they might celebrate public rejoicings, but that they might get a foretaste of their own votive seasons in partaking of the festivities of another, and inaugurate the model and image of their hope, changing in their minds the emperor's name. |
| [12] Eadem officia dependunt et qui astrologos et haruspices et augures et magos de Caesarum capite consultant, quas artes ut ab angelis desertoribus proditas et a deo interdictas ne suis quidem causis adhibent Christiani. |
[12] The same homage is paid, dutifully too, by those who consult astrologers, and soothsayers, and augurs, and magicians, about the life of the Caesars,-arts which, as made known by the angels who sinned, and forbidden by God, Christians do not even make use of in their own affairs. |
| [13] Cui autem opus est perscrutari super Caesaris salute, nisi a quo aliquid adversus illam cogitatur vel optatur, aut post illam speratur et sustinetur? Non enim ea mente de caris consulitur qua de dominis. Aliter curiosa est sollicitudo sanguinis, aliter servitutis. |
[13] But who has any occasion to inquire about the life of the emperor, if he have not some wish or thought against it, or some hopes and expectations after it? For consultations of this sort have not the same motive in the case of friends as in the case of sovereigns. The anxiety of a kinsman is something very different from that of a subject. |
| Capitulum XXXVI |
Chapter XXXVI. |
| [1] Si haec ita sunt, ut hostes deprehendantur qui Romani vocabantur, cur nos, qui hostes existimamur, Romani negamur? Non possumus et Romani non esse et hostes esse, cum hostes reperiantur qui Romani habebantur. |
[1] If it is the fact that men bearing the name of Romans are found to be enemies of Rome, why are we, on the ground that we are regarded as enemies, denied the name of Romans? We may be at once Romans and foes of Rome, when men passing for Romans are discovered to be enemies of their country. |
| [2] Adeo pietas et religio et fides imperatoribus debita non in hujusmodi officiis consistit, quibus et hostilitas magis ad velamentum sui potest fungi, sed in his moribus, quibus divinitas imperat tam vere, quam circa omnes necesse habet, exhiberi. |
[2] So the affection, and fealty, and reverence, due to the emperors do not consist in such tokens of homage as these, which even hostility may be zealous in performing, chiefly as a cloak to its purposes; but in those ways which Deity as certainly enjoins on us, as they are held to be necessary in the case of all men as well as emperors. |
| [3] Neque enim haec opera bonae mentis solis imperatoribus debentur a nobis. Nullum bonum sub exceptione personarum administramus, quia nobis praestamus, qui non ab homine aut laudis aut praemii expensum captamus, sed a deo exactore et remuneratore indifferentis benignitatis. |
[3] Deeds of true heart-goodness are not due by us to emperors alone. We never do good with respect of persons; for in our own interest we conduct ourselves as those who take no payment either of praise or premium from man, but from God, who both requires and remunerates an impartial benevolence.53 |
| [4] Iidem sumus imperatoribus, qui et vicinis nostris. Male enim velle, male facere, male dicere, male cogitare de quoquam ex aequo vetamur. Quodcumque non licet in imperatorem, id nec in quemquam; quod in neminem, eo forsitan magis nec in ipsum, qui per deum tantus est. |
[4] We are the same to emperors as to our ordinary neighbors. For we are equally forbidden to wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill, to think ill of all men. The thing we must not do to an emperor, we must not do to any one else: what we would not do to anybody, a fortiori, perhaps we should not do to him whom God has been pleased so highly to exalt. |
| Capitulum XXXVII |
Chapter XXXVII. |
| [1] Si inimicos, ut supra diximus, jubemur diligere, quem habemus odisse? Item, si laesi vicem referre prohibemur, ne de facto pares simus, quem possumus laedere? |
[1] If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have remarked above, whom have we to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to retaliate, lest we become as bad ourselves: who can suffer injury at our hands? |
| [2] Nam de isto ipsi recognoscite! Quotiens enim in Christianos desaevitis, partim animis propriis, partim legibus obsequentes! Quotiens etiam praeteritis vobis suo jure nos inimicum vulgus invadit lapidibus et incendiis! Ipsis Bacchanalium furiis nec mortuis parcunt Christianis, quin illos de requie sepulturae, de asylo quodam mortis, jam alios, jam nec totos avellant, dissecent, distrahant. |
[2] In regard to this, recall your own experiences. How often you inflict gross cruelties on Christians, partly because it is your own inclination, and partly in obedience to the laws! How often, too, the hostile mob, paying no regard to you, takes the law into its own hand, and assails us with stones and flames! With the very frenzy of the Bacchanals, they do not even spare the Christian dead, but tear them, now sadly changed, no longer entire, from the rest of the tomb, from the asylum we might say of death, cutting them in pieces, rending them asunder. |
| [3] Quid tamen de tam conspiratis umquam denotatis, de tam animatis ad mortem usque pro injuria repensatis, quando vel una nox pauculis faculis largiter ultionis posset operari, si malum malo dispungi penes nos liceret? Sed absit, ut aut igni humano vindicetur divina secta aut doleat pati, in quo probatur! |
[3] Yet, banded together as we are, ever so ready to sacrifice our lives, what single case of revenge for injury are you able to point to, though, if it were held right among us to repay evil by evil, a single night with a torch or two could achieve an ample vengeance? But away with the idea of a sect divine avenging itself by human fires, or shrinking from the sufferings in which it is tried. |
| [4] Si enim et hostes exsertos, non tantum vindices occultos agere vellemus, deesset nobis vis numerorum et copiarum? Plures nimirum Mauri et Marcomanni ipsique Parthi, vel quantaecumque unius tamen loci et suorum finium gentes quam totius orbis. Hesterni sumus, et vestra omnia implevimus, urbes insulas castella municipia conciliabula castra ipsa tribus decurias palatium senatum forum; sola vobis reliquimus templa. |
[4] If we desired, indeed, to act the part of open enemies, not merely of secret avengers, would there be any lacking in strength, whether of numbers or resources? The Moors, the Marcomanni, the Parthians themselves, or any single people, however great, inhabiting a distinct territory, and confined within its own boundaries, surpasses, forsooth, in numbers, one spread over all the world! We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you - cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum,-we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods. |
| [5] Cui bello non idonei, non prompti fuissemus etiam impares copiis, qui tam libenter trucidamur, si non apud istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret quam occidere? |
[5] For what wars should we not be fit, not eager, even with unequal forces, we who so willingly yield ourselves to the sword, if in our religion it were not counted better to be slain than to slay? |
| [6] Potuimus et inermes nec rebelles, sed tantummodo discordes, solius divortii invidia adversus vos dimicasse. Si enim tanta vis hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus a vobis, suffudisset utique dominationem vestram tot qualiumcumque civium amissio, immo etiam et ipsa destitutione punisset. |
[6] Without arms even, and raising no insurrectionary banner, but simply in enmity to you, we could carry on the contest with you by an ill-willed severance alone. For if such multitudes of men were to break away from you, and betake themselves to some remote corner of the world, why, the very loss of so many citizens, whatever sort they were, would cover the empire with shame; nay, in the very forsaking, vengeance would be inflicted. |
| [7] Procul dubio expavissetis ad solitudinem vestram, ad silentium rerum et stuporem quendam quasi mortui orbis; quaesissetis quibus imperaretis; plures hostes quam cives vobis remansissent. |
[7] Why, you would be horror-struck at the solitude in which you would find yourselves, at such an all-prevailing silence, and that stupor as of a dead world. You would have to seek subjects to govern. You would have more enemies than citizens remaining. |
| [8] Nunc enim pauciores hostes habetis prae multitudine Christianorum, paene omnium civitatum paene omnes cives Christianos habendo. Sed hostes maluistis vocare generis humani potius quam erroris humani. |
[8] For now it is the immense number of Christians which makes your enemies so few,-almost all the inhabitants of your various cities being followers of Christ.54 Yet you choose to call us enemies of the human race, rather than of human error. |
| [9] Quis autem vos ab illis occultis et usquequaque vastantibus mentes et valetudines vestras hostibus raperet, a daemoniorum incursibus dico, quae de vobis sine praemio, sine mercede depellimus? Suffecisset hoc solum nostrae ultioni, quod vacua exinde possessio immundis spiritibus pateretis. |
[9] Nay, who would deliver you from those secret foes, ever busy both destroying your souls and ruining your health? Who would save you, I mean, from the attacks of those spirits of evil, which without reward or hire we exorcise? This alone would be revenge enough for us, that you were henceforth left free to the possession of unclean spirits. |
| [10] Porro nec tanti praesidii compensationem cogitantes non modo non molestum vobis genus, verum etiam necessarium hostes judicare maluistis, qui sumus plane, non generis humani tamen, sed potius erroris. |
[10] But instead of taking into account what is due to us for the important protection we afford you, and though we are not merely no trouble to you, but in fact necessary to your well-being, you prefer to hold us enemies, as indeed we are, yet not of man, but rather of his error. |
| Capitulum XXXVIII |
Chapter XXXVIII. |
| [1] Proinde nec paulo lenius inter illicitas factiones sectam istam deputari oportebat, a qua nihil tale committitur, quale de illicitis factionibus timeri solet. |
[1] Ought not Christians, therefore, to receive not merely a somewhat milder treatment, but to have a place among the law-tolerated societies, seeing they are not chargeable with any such crimes as are commonly dreaded from societies of the illicit class? |
| [2] Nisi fallor enim, prohibendarum factionum causa de providentia constat modestiae publicae, ne civitas in partes scinderetur, quae res facile comitia concilia curias contiones, spectacula etiam aemulis studiorum compulsationibus inquietaret, cum jam et in quaestu habere coepissent venalem et mercenariam homines violentiae suae operam. |
[2] For, unless I mistake the matter, the prevention of such associations is based on a prudential regard to public order, that the state may not be divided into parties, which would naturally lead to disturbance in the electoral assemblies, the councils, the curiae, the special conventions, even in the public shows by the hostile collisions of rival parties; especially when now, in pursuit of gain, men have begun to consider their violence an article to be bought and sold. |
| [3] At enim nobis ab omni gloriae et dignitatis ardore frigentibus nulla est necessitas coetus nec ulla magis res aliena quam publica. Unam omnium rem publicam agnoscimus, mundum. |
[3] But as those in whom all ardour in the pursuit of glory and honour is dead, we have no pressing inducement to take part in your public meetings; nor is there aught more entirely foreign to us than affairs of state. We acknowledge one all-embracing commonwealth - the world. |
| [4] Aeque spectaculis vestris in tantum renuntiamus, in quantum originibus eorum, quas scimus de superstitione conceptas, cum et ipsis rebus, de quibus transiguntur, praetersumus. Nihil est nobis dictu visu auditu cum insania circi, cum impudicitia theatri, cum atrocitate arenae, cum xysti vanitate. |
[4] We renounce all your spectacles, as strongly as we renounce the matters originating them, which we know were conceived of superstition, when we give up the very things which are the basis of their representations. Among us nothing is ever said, or seen, or heard, which has anything in common with the madness of the circus, the immodesty of the theatre, the atrocities of the arena, the useless exercises of the wrestling-ground. |
| [5] Licuit Epicureis aliam decernere voluptatis veritatem, id est animi aequitatem: In quo vos offendimus, si alias praesumimus voluptates? Si oblectari novissime nolumus, nostra injuria est, si forte, non vestra. Sed reprobamus, quae placent vobis. Nec vos nostra delectant. |
[5] The Epicureans were allowed by you to decide for themselves one true source of pleasure - I mean equanimity; the Christian, on his part, has many such enjoyments - what harm in that? Why do you take offence at us because we differ from you in regard to your pleasures? If we will not partake of your enjoyments, the loss is ours, if there be loss in the case, not yours. We reject what pleases you. You, on the other hand, have no taste for what is our delight. |
| Capitulum XXXIX |
Chapter XXXIX. |
| [1] Edam jam nunc ego ipse negotia Christianae factionis, ut, qui mala refutaverim, bona ostendam. Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis et disciplinae unitate et spei foedere. |
[1] I shall at once go on, then, to exhibit the peculiarities of the Christian society, that, as I have refuted the evil charged against it, I may point out its positive good.55 We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. |
| [2] Coimus in coetum et congregationem, ut ad deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus orantes. Haec vis deo grata est. Oramus etiam pro imperatoribus, pro ministris eorum et potestatibus, pro statu saeculi, pro rerum quiete, pro mora finis. |
[2] We meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This violence God delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation.56 |
| [3] Coimus ad litterarum divinarum commemorationem, si quid praesentium temporum qualitas aut praemonere cogit aut recognoscere. Certe fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus, spem erigimus, fiduciam figimus, disciplinam praeceptorum nihilominus inculcationibus densamus. |
[3] We assemble to read our sacred writings, if any peculiarity of the times makes either forewarning or reminiscence needful.57 However it be in that respect, with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more stedfast; and no less by inculcations of God's precepts we confirm good habits. |
| [4] Ibidem etiam exhortationes, castigationes et censura divina. Nam et judicatur magno cum pondere, ut apud certos de dei conspectu, summumque futuri judicii praejudicium est, si quis ita deliquerit, ut a communicatione orationis et conventus et omnis sancti commercii relegetur. |
[4] In the same place also exhortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered. For with a great gravity is the work of judging carried on among us, as befits those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable example of judgment to come when any one has sinned so grievously as to require his severance from us in prayer, in the congregation and in all sacred intercourse. |
| [5] Praesident probati quique seniores, honorem istum non pretio, sed testimonio adepti, neque enim pretio ulla res dei constat. Etiam, si quod arcae genus est, non de honoraria summa quasi redemptae religionis congregatur. Modicam unusquisque stipem menstrua die, vel cum velit et si modo velit et si modo possit, apponit. Nam nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert. |
[5] The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purchase, but by established character. There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God.
Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day,58 if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. |
| [6] Haec quasi deposita pietatis sunt. Nam inde non epulis nec potaculis nec ingratis voratrinis dispensatur, sed egenis alendis humandisque et pueris ac puellis re ac parentibus destitutis iamque domesticis senibus, item naufragis et si qui in metallis et si qui in insulis vel in custodiis, dumtaxat ex causa dei sectae, alumni confessionis suae fiunt. |
[6] These gifts are, as it were, piety's deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, they become the nurslings of their confession. |
| [7] Sed ejusmodi vel maxime dilectionis operatio notam nobis inurit penes quosdam. “Vide”, inquiunt, “ut invicem se diligant” - ipsi enim invicem oderunt- «et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati”; ipsi enim ad occidendum alterutrum paratiores erunt. |
[7] But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one59 another, for themselves are animated by mutual hatred; how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to death. |
| [8] Sed et quod fratres nos vocamus, non alias, opinor, insaniunt, quam quod apud ipsos omne sanguinis nomen de affectione simulatum est. Fratres autem etiam vestri sumus jure naturae matris unius, etsi vos parum homines, quia mali fratres. |
[8] And they are wroth with us, too, because we call each other brethren; for no other reason, as I think, than because among themselves names of consanguinity are assumed in mere pretence of affection. But we are your brethren as well, by the law of I our common mother nature, though you are hardly men, because brothers so unkind. |
| [9] At quanto dignius fratres et dicuntur et habentur, qui unum patrem deum agnoverint, qui unum spiritum biberint sanctitatis, qui de uno utero ignorantiae ejusdem ad unam lucem expaverint veritatis! |
[9] At the same time, how much more fittingly they are called and counted brothers who have been led to the knowledge of God as their common Father, who have drunk in one spirit of holiness, who from the same womb of a common ignorance have agonized into the same light of truth! |
| [10] Sed eo fortasse minus legitimi existimamur, quia nulla de nostra fraternitate tragoedia exclamat, vel quia ex substantia familiari fratres sumus, quae penes vos fere dirimit fraternitatem. |
[10] But on this very account, perhaps, we are regarded as having less claim to be held true brothers, that no tragedy makes a noise about our brotherhood, or that the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. |
| [11] Itaque qui animo animaque miscemur, nihil de rei communicatione dubitamus. Omnia indiscreta sunt apud nos praeter uxores. |
[11] One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. |
| [12] In isto loco consortium solvimus, in quo solo ceteri homines consortium exercent, qui non amicorum solummodo matrimonia usurpant, sed et sua amicis patientissime subministrant - ex illa, credo, majorum et sapientissimorum disciplina, Graeci Socratis et Romani Catonis, qui uxores suas amicis communicaverunt, quas in matrimonium duxerant liberorum causa et alibi creandorum, nescio quidem an invitas; |
[12] We give up our community where it is practised alone by others, who not only take possession of the wives of their friends, but most tolerantly also accommodate their friends with theirs, following the example, I believe, of those wise men of ancient times, the Greek Socrates and the Roman Cato, who shared with their friends the wives whom they had married, it seems for the sake of progeny both to themselves and to others; whether in this acting against their partners' wishes, I am not able to say. |
| [13] quid enim de castitate curarent, quam mariti tam facile donaverant? O sapientiae Atticae, o Romanae gravitatis exemplum: leno est philosophus et censor! |
[13] Why should they have any care over their chastity, when their husbands so readily bestowed it away? O noble example of Attic wisdom, of Roman gravity - the philosopher and the censor playing pimps! |
| [14] Quid ergo mirum, si tanta caritas convivatur? Nam et cenulas nostras, praeterquam sceleris infames, ut prodigas quoque suggillatis. De nobis scilicet Diogenis dictum est: “Megarenses obsonant quasi crastina die morituri, aedificant vero quasi numquam morituri.” |
[14] What wonder if that great love of Christians towards one another is desecrated by you! For you abuse also our humble feasts, on the ground that they are extravagant as well as infamously wicked. To us, it seems, applies the saying of Diogenes: "The people of Megara feast as though they were going to die on the morrow; they build as though they were never to die!" |
| [15] Sed stipulam quis in alieno oculo facilius perspicit quam in suo trabem. Tot tribubus et curiis et decuriis ructantibus acescit aer; Saliis cenaturis creditor erit necessarius; Herculanarum decimanarum et polluctorum sumptus tabularii supputabunt; Apaturiis, Dionysiis, mysteriis Atticis cocorum dilectus indicitur; ad fumum cenae Serapiacae sparteoli excitabuntur - de solo triclinio Christianorum retractatur. |
[15] But one sees more readily the mote in another's eye than the beam in his own. Why, the very air is soured with the eructations of so many tribes, and curiae, and decuriae. The Salii cannot have their feast without going into debt; you must get the accountants to tell you what the tenths of Hercules and the sacrificial banquets cost; the choicest cook is appointed for the Apaturia, the Dionysia, the Attic mysteries; the smoke from the banquet of Serapis will call out the firemen. Yet about the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado is made. |
| [16] Cena nostra de nomine rationem sui ostendit: Id vocatur quod dilectio penes Graecos. Quantiscumque sumptibus constet, lucrum est pietatis nomine facere sumptum, siquidem inopes quosque refrigerio isto juvamus, non qua penes vos parasiti affectant ad gloriam famulandae libertatis sub auctoramento ventris inter contumelias saginandi, sed qua penes deum major est contemplatio mediocrium. |
[16] Our feast explains itself by its name The Greeks call it agape, i.e., affection. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of piety is gain, since with the good things of the feast we benefit the needy; not as it is with you, do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment,-but as it is with God himself, a peculiar respect is shown to the lowly. |
| [17] Si honesta causa est convivii, reliquum ordinem disciplinae de causa aestimate! Quod sit de religionis officio, nihil vilitatis, nihil immodestiae admittit. Non prius discumbitur quam oratio ad deum praegustetur; editur quantum esurientes capiunt; bibitur quantum pudicis utile est. |
[17] If the object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. |
| [18] Ita saturantur, ut qui meminerint, etiam per noctem adorandum deum sibi esse; ita fabulantur, ut qui sciant dominum audire. Post aquam manualem et lumina, ut quisque de scripturis sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest, provocatur in medium deo canere; hinc probatur quomodo biberit. Aeque oratio convivium dirimit. |
[18] They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each60 is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,-a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed. |
| [19] Inde disceditur non in catervas caesionum nec in classes discursationum nec in eruptiones lasciviarum, sed ad eandem curam modestiae et pudicitiae, ut qui non tam cenam cenaverint quam disciplinam. |
[19] We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as much care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet. |
| [20] Haec coitio Christianorum merito sane illicita, si illicitis par, merito damnanda, si quis de ea queritur eo titulo, quo de factionibus querela est. |
[20] Give the congregation of the Christians its due, and hold it unlawful, if it is like assemblies of the illicit sort: by all means let it be condemned, if any complaint can be validly laid against it, such as lies against secret factions. |
| [21] In cujus perniciem aliquando convenimus? Hoc sumus congregati, quod et dispersi, hoc universi, quod et singuli: Neminem laedentes, neminem contristantes. Cum probi, cum boni coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda, sed curia. |
[21] But who has ever suffered harm from our assemblies? We are in our congregations just what we are when separated from each other; we are as a community what we are individuals; we injure nobody, we trouble nobody. When the upright, when the virtuous meet together, when the pious, when the pure assemble in congregation, you ought not to call that a faction, but a curia-[i.e., the court of God.] |
| Capitulum XL |
Chapter XL. |
| [1] At e contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum est, qui in odium bonorum et proborum conspirant, qui adversum sanguinem innocentium conclamant, praetexentes sane ad odii defensionem illam quoque vanitatem, quod existiment omnis publicae cladis, omnis popularis incommodi Christianos esse in causa. |
[1] On the contrary, they deserve the name of faction who conspire to bring odium on good men and virtuous, who cry out against innocent blood, offering as the justification of their enmity the baseless plea, that they think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. |
| [2] Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia, si Nilus non ascendit in arva, si caelum stetit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues, statim: “Christianos ad leonem!” acclamatur. Tantos ad unum? |
[2] If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry61 is, "Away with the Christians to the lion!” What! shall you give such multitudes to a single beast? |
| [3] Oro vos, ante Tiberium, id est ante Christi adventum, quantae clades orbem et urbes ceciderunt! Legimus Hieran, Anaphen et Delon et Rhodon et Co insulas multis cum milibus hominum pessum abisse. |
[3] Pray, tell me how many calamities befell the world and particular cities before Tiberius reigned - before the coming, that is, of Christ? We read of the islands of Hiera, and Anaphe, and Delos, and Rhodes, and Cos, with many thousands of human beings, having been swallowed up. |
| [4] Memorat et Plato majorem Asiae vel Africae terram Atlantico mari ereptam. Sed et mare Corinthium terrae motus ebibit, et vis undarum Lucaniam abscisam in Siciliae nomen relegavit. Haec utique non sine injuria incolentium accidere potuerunt. |
[4] Plato informs us that a region larger than Asia or Africa was seized by the Atlantic Ocean. An earthquake, too, drank up the Corinthian sea; and the force of the waves cut off a part of Lucania, whence it obtained the name of Sicily. These things surely could not have taken place without the inhabitants suffering by them. |
| [5] Ubi vero tunc, non dicam deorum vestrorum contemptores Christiani, sed ipsi dei vestri, cum totum orbem cataclysmus abolevit vel, ut Plato putavit, campestre solummodo? |
[5] But where - I do not say were Christians, those despisers of your gods - but where were your gods themselves in those days, when the flood poured its destroying waters over all the world, or, as Plato thought, merely the level portion of it? |
| [6] Posteriores enim illos clade diluvii contestantur ipsae urbes, in quibus nati mortuique sunt, etiam quas condiderunt; neque enim alias hodiernum manerent nisi et ipsae postumae cladis illius. |
[6] For that they are of later date than that calamity, the very cities in which they were born and died, nay, which they founded, bear ample testimony; for the cities could have no existence at this day unless as belonging to postdiluvian times. |
| [7] Nondum Judaeum ab Aegypto examen Palaestina susceperat, nec jam illic Christianae sectae origo consederat, cum regiones adfines ejus, Sodoma et Gomorra, igneus imber exussit. Olet adhuc incendio terra, et si qua illic arborum poma, conantur oculis tenus, ceterum contacta cinerescunt. |
[7] Palestine had not yet received from Egypt its Jewish swarm (of emigrants), nor had the race from which Christians sprung yet settled down there, when its neighbors Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by fire from heaven. The country yet smells of that conflagration; and if there are apples there upon the trees, it is only a promise to the eye they give - you but touch them, and they turn to ashes. |
| [8] Sed nec Tuscia jam tunc atque Campania de Christianis querebantur, cum Vulsinios de caelo, Pompeios de suo monte perfudit ignis. Nemo adhuc Romae deum verum adorabat, cum Hannibal apud Cannas per Romanos anulos caedes suas modio metiebatur. Omnes dei vestri ab omnibus colebantur, cum ipsum Capitolium Senones occupaverant. |
[8] Nor had Tuscia and Campania to complain of Christians in the days when fire from heaven overwhelmed Vulsinii, and Pompeji was destroyed by fire from its own mountain. No one yet worshipped the true God at Rome, when Hannibal at Cannae counted the Roman slain by the pecks of Roman rings. Your gods were all objects of adoration, universally acknowledged, when the Senones closely besieged the very Capitol. |
| [9] Et bene quod, si quid adversi urbibus accidit, eaedem clades templorum quae et moenium fuerunt, ut jam hoc revincam non ab eis evenire, quia et ipsis evenit. |
[9] And it is in keeping with all this, that if adversity has at any time befallen cities, the temples and the walls have equally shared in the disaster, so that it is clear to demonstration the thing was not the doing of the gods, seeing it also overtook themselves. |
| [10] Semper humana gens male de deo meruit, primo quidem ut inofficiosa ejus, quem cum intellegeret ex parte, non requisivit, sed et alios insuper sibi commentata, quos coleret; dehinc quod non inquirendo innocentiae magistrum et nocentiae judicem et exactorem omnibus vitiis et criminibus inolevit. |
[10] The truth is, the human race has always deserved ill at God's hand. First of all, as undutiful to Him, because when it knew Him in part, it not only did not seek after Him, but even invented other gods of its own to worship; and further, because, as the result of their willing ignorance of the Teacher of righteousness, the Judge and Avenger of sin, all vices and crimes grew and flourished. |
| [11] Ceterum si requisisset, sequebatur, ut cognosceret requisitum et recognitum observaret et observatum propitium magis experiretur quam iratum. |
[11] But had men sought, they would have come to know the glorious object of their seeking; and knowledge would have produced obedience, and obedience would have found a gracious instead of an angry God. |
| [12] Eundem igitur nunc quoque scire debet iratum, quem et retro semper, priusquam Christiani nominarentur. Cujus bonis utebatur ante editis quam sibi deos fingeret, cur non ab eo etiam mala intellegat evenire, cujus bona esse non sensit? Illius rea est, cujus et ingrata. |
[12] They ought then to see that the very same God is angry with them now as in ancient times, before Christians were so much as spoken of. It was His blessings they enjoyed - created before they made any of their deities: and why can they not take it in, that their evils come from the Being whose goodness they have failed to recognize? They suffer at the hands of Him to whom they have been ungrateful. |
| [13] Et tamen pristinas clades comparemus, leviora nunc accidunt, ex quo Christianos a deo orbis accepit. Ex eo enim et innocentia saeculi iniquitates temperavit et deprecatores dei esse coeperunt. |
[13] And, for all that is said, if we compare the calamities of former times, they fall on us more lightly now, since God gave Christians to the world; for from that time virtue put some restraint on the world's wickedness, and men began to pray for the averting of God's wrath. |
| [14] Denique cum ab imbribus aestiva hiberna suspendunt et annus in cura est, vos quidem cottidie pasti statimque pransuri balneis et cauponis et lupanaribus operantibus aquilicia Jovi immolatis, nudipedalia populo denuntiatis, caelum apud Capitolium quaeritis, nubila de laquearibus exspectatis, aversi ab ipso et deo et caelo. |
[14] In a word, when the summer clouds give no rain, and the season is matter of anxiety, you indeed - full of feasting day by day, and ever eager for the banquet, baths and taverns and brothels always busy - offer up to Jupiter your rain-sacrifices; you enjoin on the people barefoot processions; you seek heaven at the Capitol; you look up to the temple-ceilings for the longed-for clouds - God and heaven not in all your thoughts. |
| [15] Nos vero jejuniis aridi et omni continentia expressi, ab omni vitae fruge dilati, in sacco et cinere volutantes invidia caelum tundimus, deum tangimus et, cum misericordiam extorserimus - Juppiter honoratur. |
[15] We, dried up with fastings, and our passions bound tightly up, holding back as long as possible from all the ordinary enjoyments of life, rolling in sackcloth and ashes, assail heaven with our importunities - touch God's heart - and when we have extorted divine compassion, why, Jupiter gets all the honour! |
| Capitulum XLI |
Chapter XLI. |
| [1] Vos igitur importuni rebus humanis, vos rei, publicorum incommodorum illices semper, apud quos deus spernitur, statuae adorantur. Etenim credibilius haberi debet eum irasci, qui neglegatur quam qui coluntur; |
[1] You, therefore, are the sources of trouble in human affairs; on you lies the blame of public adversities, since you are ever attracting them - you by whom God is despised and images are worshipped. It should surely seem the more natural thing to believe that it is the neglected One who is angry, and not they to whom all homage is paid; |
| [2] aut ne illi iniquissimi, si propter Christianos etiam cultores suos laedunt, quos separare deberent a meritis Christianorum! “Hoc”, inquitis, “et in deum vestrum repercutere est, si quod et ipse patitur, propter profanos etiam suos cultores laedi.” Admittite prius dispositiones ejus, et non retorquebitis. |
[2] or most unjustly they act, if, on account of the Christians, they send trouble on their own devotees, whom they are bound to keep clear of the punishments of Christians. But this, you say, hits your God as well, since He permits His worshippers to suffer on account of those who dishonour Him. But admit first of all His providential arrangings, and you will not make this retort. |
| [3] Qui enim semel aeternum judicium destinavit post saeculi finem, non praecipitat discretionem, quae est condicio judicii, ante saeculi finem. Aequalis est interim super omne hominum genus, et indulgens et increpans; communia voluit esse et commoda profanis et incommoda suis, ut pari consortio omnes et lenitatem ejus et severitatem experiremur. |
[3] For He who once for all appointed an eternal judgment at the world's close, does not precipitate the separation, which is essential to judgment, before the end. Meanwhile He deals with all sorts of men alike, so that all together share His favours and reproofs. His will is, that outcasts and elect should have adversities and prosperities in common, that we should have all the same experience of His goodness and severity. |
| [4] Quia haec ita didicimus apud ipsum, diligimus lenitatem, metuimus severitatem; vos contra utramque despicitis; et sequitur, ut omnes saeculi plagae nobis, si forte, in admonitionem, vobis in castigationem a deo obveniant. |
[4] Having learned these things from His own lips, we love His goodness, we fear His wrath, while both by you are treated with contempt; and hence the sufferings of life, so far as it is our lot to be overtaken by them, are in our case gracious admonitions, while in yours they are divine punishments. |
| [5] Atquin nos nullo modo laedimur; inprimis quia nihil nostra refert in hoc aevo nisi de eo quam celeriter excedere; dehinc quia, si quid adversi infligitur, vestris meritis deputatur. Sed et si aliqua nos quoque praestringunt ut vobis cohaerentes, laetamur magis recognitione divinarum praedicationum, confirmantium scilicet fiduciam et fidem spei nostrae. Sin vero ab eis, quos colitis, omnia vobis mala eveniunt nostri causa, quid colere perseveratis tam ingratos, tam injustos, qui magis vos in dolore Christianorum juvare et adserere debuerant [quos separare deberent a meritis Christianorum]? |
[5] We indeed are not the least put about: for, first, only one thing in this life greatly concerns us, and that is, to get quickly out of it; and next, if any adversity befalls us, it is laid to the door of your transgressions. Nay, though we are likewise involved in troubles because of our close connection with you, we are rather glad of it, because we recognize in it divine foretellings, which, in fact, go to confirm the confidence and faith of our hope. But if all the evils you endure are inflicted on you by the gods you worship out of spite to us, why do you continue to pay homage to beings so ungrateful, and unjust; who, instead of being angry with you, should rather have been aiding and abetting you by persecuting Christians - keeping you clear of their sufferings? |
| Capitulum XLII |
Chapter XLII. |
| [1] Sed alio quoque injuriarum titulo postulamur: et infructuosi [in] negotiis dicimur. Quo pacto homines vobiscum degentes, ejusdem victus habitus instructus, ejusdem ad vitam necessitatis? Neque enim Brachmanae aut Indorum gymnosophistae sumus, silvicolae et exules vitae. |
[1] But we are called to account as harm-doers on another62 ground, and are accused of being useless in the affairs of life. How in all the world can that be the case with people who are living among you, eating the same food wearing the same attire, having the same habits, under the same necessities of existence? We are not Indian Brahmins or Gymnosophists, who dwell in woods and exile themselves from ordinary human life. |
| [2] Meminimus gratiam debere nos deo domino creatori; nullum fructum operum ejus repudiamus, plane temperamus, ne ultra modum aut perperam utamur. Itaque non sine foro, non sine macello, non sine balneis tabernis officinis stabulis nundinis vestris ceterisque commerciis cohabitamus in hoc saeculo. |
[2] We do not forget the debt of gratitude we owe to God, our Lord and Creator; we reject no creature of His hands, though certainly we exercise restraint upon ourselves, lest of any gift of His we make an immoderate or sinful use. So we sojourn with you in the world, abjuring neither forum, nor shambles, nor bath, nor booth, nor workshop, nor inn, nor weekly market, nor any other places of commerce. |
| [3] Navigamus et nos vobiscum et militamus et rusticamur et mercatus proinde miscemus, artes, opera nostra publicamus usui vestro. Quomodo infructuosi videmur negotiis vestris, cum quibus et de quibus vivimus, non scio. |
[3] We sail with you, and fight with you,63 and till the ground with you; and in like manner we unite with you in your traffickings - even in the various arts we make public property of our works for your benefit. How it is we seem useless in your ordinary business, living with you and by you as we do, I am not able to understand. |
| [4] Sed si caerimonias tuas non frequento, attamen et illa die homo sum. Non lavor diluculo Saturnalibus, ne et noctem et diem perdam; attamen lavor honesta hora et salubri, quae mihi et calorem et sanguinem servet; rigere et pallere post lavacrum mortuus possum. |
[4] But if I do not frequent your religious ceremonies, I am still on the sacred day a man. I do not at the Saturnalia bathe myself at dawn, that I may not lose both day and night; yet I bathe at a decent and healthful hour, which preserves me both in heat and blood. I can be rigid and pallid like you after ablution when I am dead. |
| [5] Non in publico Liberalibus discumbo, quod bestiariis supremam cenantibus mos est; attamen ubi, de copiis tuis ceno. |
[5] I do not recline in public at the feast of Bacchus, after the manner of the beast-fighters at their final banquet. Yet of your resources I partake, wherever I may chance to eat. |
| [6] Non emo capiti coronam; quid tua interest, emptis nihilominus floribus quomodo utar? Puto gratius esse liberis et solutis et undique vagis; sed et si in coronam coactis, nos coronam naribus novimus; viderint qui per capillum odorantur! |
[6] I do not buy a crown for my head. What matters it to you how I use them, if nevertheless the flowers are purchased? I think it more agreeable to have them free and loose, waving all about. Even if they are woven into a crown, we smell the crown with our nostrils: let those look to it who scent the perfume with their hair. |
| [7] Spectaculis non convenimus; quae tamen apud illos coetus venditantur si desideravero, liberius de propriis locis sumam. Tura plane non emimus; si Arabiae queruntur, sciant Sabaei plures et cariores suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam deis fumigandis. |
[7] We do not go to your spectacles; yet the articles that are sold there, if I need them, I will obtain more readily at their proper places. We certainly buy no frankincense. If the Arabias complain of this, let the Sabaeans be well assured that their more precious and costly merchandise is expended as largely in the burying of Christians64 as in the fumigating of the gods. |
| [8] “ Certe », inquitis, “templorum vectigalia cottidie decoquunt; stipes quotusquisque jam jactat?” Non enim sufficimus et hominibus et deis vestris mendicantibus opem ferre, nec putamus aliis quam petentibus impertiendum. Denique porrigat manum Juppiter et accipiat, cum interim plus nostra misericordia insumit vicatim quam vestra religio templatim. |
[8] At any rate, you say, the temple revenues are every day falling off:65 how few now throw in a contribution! In truth, we are not able to give alms both to your human and your heavenly mendicants; nor do we think that we are required to give any but to those who ask for it. Let Jupiter then hold out his hand and get, for our compassion spends more in the streets than yours does in the temples. |
| [9] Sed cetera vectigalia gratias Christianis agent ex fide dependetibus debitum, qua alieno fraudando abstinemus, ut, si ineatur, quantum vectigalibus pereat fraude et mendacio vestrarum professionum, facile ratio haberi possit, unius speciei querela compensata pro commodo ceterarum rationum. |
[9] But your other taxes will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Christians; for in the faithfulness which keeps us from fraud upon a brother, we make conscience of paying all their dues: so that, by ascertaining how much is lost by fraud and falsehood in the census declarations - the calculation may easily be made - it would be seen that the ground of complaint in one department of revenue is compensated by the advantage which others derive. |
| Capitulum XLIII |
Chapter XLIII. |
| [1] Plane confitebor, quinam, si forte, vere de sterilitate Christianorum conqueri possint. Primi erunt lenones perductores aquarioli, tum sicarii venenarii magi, item haruspices harioli mathematici. |
[1] I will confess, however, without hesitation, that there are some who in a sense may complain of Christians that they are a sterile race: as, for instance, pimps, and panders, and bath-suppliers; assassins, and poisoners, and sorcerers; soothsayers, too, diviners, and astrologers. |
| [2] His infructuosos esse magnus est fructus. Et tamen, quodcumque dispendium est rei vestrae per hanc sectam, cum aliquo praesidio compensari potest. Quanti habetis, non dico jam qui de vobis daemonia excutiant, non dico jam qui pro vobis quoque vero deo preces sternant, quia forte non creditis, sed a quibus nihil timere possitis? |
[2] But it is a noble fruit of Christians, that they have no fruits for such as these. And yet, whatever loss your interests suffer from the religion we profess, the protection you have from us makes amply up for it. What value do you set on persons, I do not here urge who deliver you from demons, I do not urge who for your sakes present prayers before the throne of the true God, for perhaps you have no belief in that - but from whom you can have nothing to fear? |
| Capitulum XLIV |
Chapter XLIV. |
| [1] At enim illud detrimentum rei publicae tam grande quam verum nemo circumspicit, illam injuriam civitatis nullus expendit, cum tot justi impendimur, cum tot innocentes erogamur. |
[1] Yes, and no one considers what the loss is to the common weal,-a loss as great as it is real, no one estimates the injury entailed upon the state, when, men of virtue as we are, we are put to death in such numbers; when so many of the truly good suffer the last penalty. |
| [2] Vestros enim jam contestamur actus, qui cottidie judicandis custodiis praesidetis, qui sententiis elogia dispungitis. Tot a vobis nocentes variis criminum elogiis recensentur: quis illic sicarius, quis manticularius, quis sacrilegus aut corruptor aut lavantium praedo, quis ex illis etiam Christianus adscribitur? aut cum Christiani suo titulo offeruntur, quis ex illis etiam talis quales tot nocentes? |
[2] And here we call your own acts to witness, you who are daily presiding at the trials of prisoners, and passing sentence upon crimes. Well, in your long lists of those accused of many and various atrocities, has any assassin, any cutpurse, any man guilty of sacrilege, or seduction, or stealing bathers' clothes, his name entered as being a Christian too? Or when Christians are brought before you on the mere ground of their name, is there ever found among them an ill-doer of the sort? |
| [3] De vestris semper aestuat carcer, de vestris semper metalla suspirant, de vestris semper bestiae saginantur, de vestris semper munerarii noxiorum greges pascunt. Nemo illic Christianus, nisi plane tantum Christianus; aut, si et aliud, jam non Christianus. |
[3] It is always with your folk the prison is steaming, the mines are sighing, the wild beasts are fed: it is from you the exhibitors of gladiatorial shows always get their herds of criminals to feed up for the occasion. You find no Christian there, except simply as being such; or if one is there as something else, a Christian he is no longer.66 |
| Capitulum XLV |
Chapter XLV. |
| [1] Nos ergo soli innocentes! Quid mirum, si necesse est? Enimvero necesse est. Innocentiam a deo edocti et perfecte eam novimus, ut a perfecto magistro revelatam, et fideliter custodimus, ut ab incontemptibili dispectore mandatam. |
[1] We, then, alone are without crime. Is there ought wonderful in that, if it be a very necessity with us? For a necessity indeed it is. Taught of God himself what goodness is, we have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed to us by a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as enjoined on us by a Judge we dare not despise. |
| [2] Vobis autem humana aestimatio innocentiam tradidit, humana item dominatio imperavit; inde nec plenae nec adeo timendae estis disciplinae ad innocentiae veritatem. Tanta est prudentia hominis ad demonstrandum bonum quanta auctoritas ad exigendum; tam illa falli facilis quam ista contemni. |
[2] But your ideas of virtue you have got from mere human opinion; on human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of practical morality is deficient, both in the fulness and authority requisite to produce a life of real virtue. Man's wisdom to point out what is good, is no greater than his authority to exact the keeping of it; the one is as easily deceived as the other is despised. |
| [3] Atque adeo quid plenius, dicere: “Non occides” an docere: “Ne irascaris quidem”? Quid perfectius, prohibere adulterium an etiam ab oculorum solitaria concupiscentia arcere? Quid eruditius, de maleficio an et de maliloquio interdicere? Quid instructius, injuriam non permittere an nec vicem injuriae sinere? |
[3] And so, which is the ampler rule, to say, "Thou shalt not kill," or to teach, "Be not even angry? "Which is more perfect, to forbid adultery, or to restrain from even a single lustful look? Which indicates the higher intelligence, interdicting evil-doing, or evil-speaking? Which is more thorough, not allowing an injury, or not even suffering an injury done to you to be repaid? |
| [4] Dum tamen sciatis ipsas leges quoque vestras, quae videntur ad innocentiam pergere, de divina lege ut antiquiore forma mutuatas. Diximus jam de Moysi aetate. |
[4] Though withal you know that these very laws also of yours, which seem to lead to virtue, have been borrowed from the law of God as the ancient model. Of the age of Moses we have already spoken. |
| [5] Sed quanta auctoritas legum humanarum, cum illas et evadere homini contingat [et] plerumque in admissis delitiscenti, et aliquando contemnere ex voluntate vel necessitate deliquenti? |
[5] But what is the real authority of human laws, when it is in man's power both to evade them, by generally managing to hide himself out of sight in his crimes, and to despise them sometimes, if inclination or necessity leads him to offend? |
| [6] Recogitate ea etiam pro brevitate supplicii cujuslibet non tamen ultra mortem remansuri. Sic et Epicurus omnem cruciatum doloremque depretiat, modicum quidem contemptibilem pronuntiando, magnum vero non diuturnum. |
[6] Think of these things, too, in the light of the brevity of any punishment you can inflict - never to last longer than till death. On this ground Epicurus makes light of all suffering and pain, maintaining that if it is small, it is contemptible; and if it is great, it is not long-continued. |
| [7] Enimvero nos, qui sub deo omnium speculatore dispungimur quique aeternam ab eo poenam providemus, merito soli innocentiae occurrimus et pro scientiae plenitudine et pro latebrarum difficultate et pro magnitudine cruciatus, non diuturni, verum sempiterni, eum timentes, quem timere debebit et ipse, qui timentes judicat, deum, non proconsulem timentes. |
[7] No doubt about it, we, who receive our awards under the judgment of an all-seeing God, and who look forward to eternal punishment from Him for sin,-we alone make real effort to attain a blameless life, under the influence of our ampler knowledge, the impossibility of concealment, and the greatness of the threatened torment, not merely long-enduring but everlasting, fearing Him, whom he too should fear who the fearing judges,-even God, I mean, and not the proconsul. |
| Capitulum XLVI |
Chapter XLVI. |
| [1] Constitimus, ut opinor, adversus omnium criminum intentationem, quae Christianorum sanguinem flagitat; ostendimus totum statum nostrum, et quibus modis probare possimus ita esse sicut ostendimus, ex fide scilicet et antiquitate divinarum litterarum, item ex confessione spiritualium potestatum. Qui nos revincere audebit, non arte verborum, sed eadem forma, qua probationem constituimus, de veritate? |
[1] We have sufficiently met, as I think, the accusation of the various crimes on the ground of which these fierce demands are made for Christian blood. We have made a full exhibition of our case; and we have shown you how we are able to prove that our statement is correct, from the trustworthiness, I mean, and antiquity of our sacred writings, and from the confession likewise of the powers of spiritual wickedness themselves. Who will venture to undertake our refutation; not with skill of words, but, as we have managed our demonstration, on the basis of reality? |
| [2] Sed dum unicuique manifestatur veritas nostra, interim incredulitas, dum de bono sectae hujus obducitur, quod usu jam et de commercio innotuit, non utique divinum negotium existimat, sed magis philosophiae genus. “Eadem”, inquit, “et philosophi monent atque profitentur, innocentiam justitiam patientiam sobrietatem pudicitiam.” |
[2] But while the truth we hold is made clear to all, unbelief meanwhile, at the very time it is convinced of the worth of Christianity, which has now become well known for its benefits as well as from the intercourse of life, takes up the notion that it is not really a thing divine, but rather a kind of philosophy. These are the very things, it says, the philosophers counsel and profess - innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, chastity. |
| [3] Cur ergo quibus comparamur de disciplina, non proinde illis adaequamur ad licentiam impunitatemque disciplinae? vel cur et illi, ut pares nostri, non urgentur ad officia, quae nos non obeuntes periclitamur? |
[3] Why, then, are we not permitted an equal liberty and impunity for our doctrines as they have, with whom, in respect of what we teach, we are compared? or why are not they, as so like us, not pressed to the same offices, for declining which our lives are
imperilled? |
| [4] Quis enim philosophum sacrificare aut dejerare aut lucernas meridie vanas proferre compellit? Quin immo et deos vestros palam destruunt et superstitiones vestras commentariis quoque accusant laudantibus vobis. Plerique etiam in principes latrant sustinentibus vobis, et facilius statuis et salariis remunerantur quam ad bestias pronuntiantur. |
[4] For who compels a philosopher to sacrifice or take an oath, or put out useless lamps at midday? Nay, they openly overthrow your gods, and in their writings they attack your superstitions; and you applaud them for it. Many of them even, with your countenance, bark out against your rulers, and are rewarded with statues and salaries, instead of being given to the wild beasts. |
| [5] Sed merito; philosophi enim, non Christiani cognominantur. Nomen hoc philosophorum daemonia non fugat. Quidni? Cum secundum deos philosophi daemonas deputent. Socratis vox est: “Si daemonium permittat.” Idem et cum aliquid de veritate sapiebat deos negans, Aesculapio tamen gallinaceum prosecari jam in fine jubebat, credo, ob honorem patris ejus, quia Socratem Apollo sapientissimum omnium cecinit. O Apollinem inconsideratum! Sapientiae testimonium reddidit ei viro, qui negabat deos esse. |
[5] And very right it should be so. For they are called philosophers, not Christians. This name of philosopher has no power to put demons to the rout. Why are they not able to do that too? since philosophers count demons inferior to gods. Socrates used to say, "If the demon grant permission." Yet he, too, though in denying the existence of your divinities he had a glimpse of the truth, at his dying ordered a cock to be sacrificed to Aesculapius, I believe in honour of his father,67 for Apollo pronounced Socrates the wisest of men. Thoughtless Apollo! testifying to the wisdom of the man who denied the existence of his race. |
| [6] In quantum odium flagrat veritas, in tantum qui eam ex fide praestat offendit; qui autem adulterat et affectat, hoc maxime nomine gratiam pangit apud insectatores veritatis. |
[6] In proportion to the enmity the truth awakens, you give offence by faithfully standing by it; but the man who corrupts and makes a mere pretence of it precisely on this ground gains favour with its persecutors. |
| [7] Quam illusores et corruptores inimice philosophi affectant veritatem et affectando corrumpunt, ut qui gloriam captant, Christiani et necessario appetunt et integre praestant, ut qui saluti suae curant. |
[7] The truth which philosophers, these mockers and corrupters of it, with hostile ends merely affect to hold, and in doing so deprave, caring for nought but glory, Christians both intensely and intimately long for and maintain in its integrity, as those who have a real concern about their salvation. |
| [8] Adeo neque de scientia neque de disciplina, ut putatis, aequamur. Quid enim Thales, ille princeps physicorum, sciscitanti Croeso de divinitate certum renuntiavit, commeatus deliberandi saepe frustratus? |
[8] So that we are like each other neither in our knowledge nor our ways, as you imagine. For what certain information did Thales, the first of natural philosophers, give in reply to the inquiry of Croesus regarding Deity, the delay for further thought so often proving in vain? |
| [9] Deum quilibet opifex Christianus et invenit et ostendit et exinde totum, quod in deum quaeritur, re quoque adsignat, licet Plato affirmet factitatorem universitatis neque inveniri facilem et inventum enarrari in omnes difficilem. |
[9] There is not a Christian workman but finds out God, and manifests Him, and hence assigns to Him all those attributes which go to constitute a divine being, though Plato affirms that it is far from easy to discover the Maker of the universe; and when He is found, it is difficult to make Him known to all. |
| [10] Ceterum si de pudicitia provocemur, lego partem sententiae Atticae, in Socratem corruptorem adolescentium pronuntiatum. Sexum nec femineum mutat Christianus. Novi et Phrynen meretricem Diogenis supra recumbentis ardore subantem; audio et quendam Speusippum de Platonis schola in adulterio perisse. Christianus uxori suae soli masculus nascitur. |
[10] But if we challenge you to comparison in the virtue of chastity, I turn to a part of the sentence passed by the Athenians against Socrates, who was pronounced a corrupter of youth. The Christian confines himself to the female sex. I have read also how the harlot Phryne kindled in Diogenes the fires of lust, and how a certain Speusippus, of Plato's school, perished in the adulterous act. The Christian husband has nothing to do with any but his own wife. |
| [11] Democritus excaecando semetipsum, quod mulieres sine concupiscentia adspicere non posset et doleret, si non esset potitus, incontinentiam emendatione profitetur. At Christianus salvis oculis feminas non videt; animo adversus libidinem caecus est. |
[11] Democritus, in putting out his eyes, because he could not look on women without lusting after them, and was pained if his passion was not satisfied, owns plainly, by the punishment he inflicts, his incontinence. But a Christian with grace-healed eyes is sightless in this matter; he is mentally blind against the assaults of passion. |
| [12] Si de probitate defendam, ecce lutulentis pedibus Diogenes superbos Platonis toros alia superbia deculcat; Christianus nec in pauperem superbit. |
[12] If I maintain our superior modesty of behaviour, there at once occurs to me Diogenes with filth-covered feet trampling on the proud couches of Plato, under the influence of another pride: the Christian does not even play the proud man to the pauper. |
| [13] Si de modestia certem, ecce Pythagoras apud Thurios, Zenon apud Prienenses tyrannidem affectant; Christianus vero nec aedilitatem. |
[13] If sobriety of spirit be the virtue in debate, why, there are Pythagoras at Thurii, and Zeno at Priene, ambitious of the supreme power: the Christian does not aspire to the aedileship. |
| [14] Si de aequanimitate congrediar, Lycurgus apocarteresin optavit, quod leges ejus Lacones emendassent; Christianus etiam damnatus gratias agit. Si de fide comparem, Anaxagoras depositum hospitibus denegavit; Christianus et extra fidelis vocatur. |
[14] If equanimity be the contention, you have Lycurgus choosing death by self-starvation, because the Lacons had made some emendation of his laws: the Christian, even when he is condemned, gives thanks.68 If the comparison be made in regard to trustworthiness, Anaxagoras denied the deposit of his enemies: the Christian is noted for his fidelity even among those who are not of his religion. |
| [15] Si de simplicitate consistam, Aristoteles familiarem suum Hermian turpiter loco excedere fecit; Christianus nec inimicum suum laedit. Idem Aristoteles tam turpiter Alexandro, regendo potius, adulatur, quam Plato a Dionysio ventris gratia venditatur. |
[15] If the matter of sincerity is to be brought to trial, Aristotle basely thrust his friend Hermias from his place: the Christian does no harm even to his foe. With equal baseness does Aristotle play the sycophant to Alexander, instead of exercising to keep him in the right way, and Plato allows himself to be bought by Dionysius for his belly's sake. |
| [16] Aristippus in purpura sub magna gravitatis superficie nepotatur, Icthy[di]as, dum civitati insidias disponit, occiditur. Hoc pro suis omni atrocitate dissipatis nemo umquam temptavit Christianus. |
[16] Aristippus in the purple, with all his great show of gravity, gives way to extravagance; and Hippias is put to death laying plots against the state: no Christian ever attempted such a thing in behalf of his brethren, even when persecution was scattering them abroad with every atrocity. |
| [17] Sed dicet aliquis etiam de nostris excidere quosdam a regula disciplinae. Desinunt tamen Christiani haberi penes nos; philosophi vero illi cum talibus factis in nomine et honore sapientiae perseverant. |
[17] But it will be said that some of us, too, depart from the rules of our discipline. In that case, however, we count them no longer Christians; but the philosophers who do such things retain still the name and the honour of wisdom. |
| [18] Adeo quid simile philosophus et Christianus, Graeciae discipulus et caeli, famae negotiator et vitae, verborum et factorum operator, et rerum aedificator et destructor, amicus et inimicus erroris, veritatis interpolator et integrator et expressor, et furator ejus et custos? |
[18] So, then, where is there any likeness between the Christian and the philosopher? between the disciple of Greece and of heaven? between the man whose object is fame, and whose object is life? between the talker and he doer? between the man who builds up and the man who pulls down? between the friend and the foe of error? between one who corrupts the truth, and one who restores and teaches it? between its chief and its custodian? |
| Capitulum XLVII |
Chapter XLVII. |
| [1] Antiquior omnibus veritas, nisi fallor: et hoc mihi proficit antiquitas praestructa divinae litteraturae, quo facile credatur thesaurum eam fuisse posteriori cuique sapientiae. Et si non onus jam voluminis temperarem, excurrerem in hanc quoque probationem. |
[1] Unless I am utterly mistaken, there is nothing so old as the truth; and the already proved antiquity of the divine writings is so far of use to me, that it leads men more easily to take it in that they are the treasure-source whence all later wisdom has been taken. And were it not necessary to keep my work to a moderate size, I might launch forth also into the proof of this. |
| [2] Quis poetarum, quis sophistarum, qui non omnino de prophetarum fonte potaverit? Inde igitur philosophi sitim ingenii sui rigaverunt, ut quae de nostris habent, ea nos comparent illis. Inde, opinor, et a quibusdam philosophia quoque ejecta est, a Thebaeis dico et a Spartiatis et Argivis. |
[2] What poet or sophist has not drunk at the fountain of the prophets? Thence, accordingly, the philosophers watered their arid minds, so that it is the things they have from us which bring us into comparison with them. For this reason, I imagine, philosophy was banished by certain states - I mean by the Thebans, by the Spartans also, and the Argives - |
| [3] Dum ad nostra conantur et homines gloriae, ut diximus, et eloquentiae solius libidinosi, si quid in sanctis [scripturis] offenderunt digestis [ex] pro instituto curiositatis, ad propria opera verterunt, neque satis credentes divina esse, quo minus interpolarent, neque satis intellegentes, ut adhuc tunc subnubila, etiam ipsis Judaeis obumbrata, quorum propria videbantur. |
[3] its disciples sought to imitate our doctrines; and ambitious, as I have said, of glory and eloquence alone, if they fell upon anything in the collection of sacred Scriptures which displeased them, in their own peculiar style of research, they perverted it to serve their purpose: for they had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from changing them, nor had they any sufficient understanding of them, either, as being still at the time under veil - even obscure to the Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession they seemed to be. |
| [4] Nam et si qua simplicitas erat veritatis, eo magis scrupulositas humana fidem aspernata nutabat, per quod in incertum miscuerunt etiam quod invenerant certum. |
[4] For so, too, if the truth was distinguished by its simplicity, the more on that account the fastidiousness of man, too proud to believe, set to altering it; so that even what they found certain they made uncertain by their admixtures. |
| [5] Inventum enim solummodo deum non ut invenerant disputaverunt, ut et de qualitate et de natura ejus et de sede disceptent. |
[5] Finding a simple revelation of God, they proceeded to dispute about Him, not as He had revealed to them, but turned aside to debate about His properties, His nature, His abode. |
| [6] Alii incorporalem adseverant, alii corporalem, ut tam Platonici quam Stoici; alii ex atomis, alii ex numeris, qua Epicurus et Pythagoras; alius ex igni, qua Heraclito visum est; et Platonici quidem curantem rerum, contra Epicurei otiosum et inexercitum et, ut ita dixerim, neminem humanis rebus; |
[6] Some assert Him to be incorporeal; others maintain He has a body,-the Platonists teaching the one doctrine, and the Stoics the other. Some think that He is composed of atoms, others of numbers: such are the different views of Epicurus and Pythagoras. One thinks He is made of fire; so it appeared to Heraclitus. The Platonists, again, hold that He administers the affairs of the world; the Epicureans, on the contrary, that He is idle and inactive, and, so to speak, a nobody in human things. |
| [7] positum vero extra mundum Stoici, qui figuli modo extrinsecus torqueat molem hanc; intra mundum Platonici, qui gubernatoris exemplo intra id maneat, quod regat. |
[7] Then the Stoics represent Him as placed outside the world, and whirling round this huge mass from without like a potter; while the Platonists place Him within the world, as a pilot is in the ship he steers. |
| [8] Sic et de ipso mundo, natus innatusve sit, decessurus mansurusve sit, variant; sic et de animae statu, quam alii divinam et aeternam, alii dissolubilem contendunt; ut quis sensit, ita et intulit aut reformavit. |
[8] So, in like manner, they differ in their views about the world itself, whether it is created or uncreated, whether it is destined to pass away or to remain for ever. So again it is debated concerning the nature of the soul, which some contend is divine and eternal, while others hold that it is dissoluble. According to each one's fancy, He has introduced either something new, or refashioned the old. |
| [9] Nec mirum, si vetus instrumentum ingenia philosophorum interverterunt. Ex horum semine etiam nostram hanc noviciolam paraturam viri quidam suis opinionibus ad philosophicas sententias adulteraverunt et de una via obliquos multos et inexplicabiles tramites sciderunt. Quod ideo suggesserim, ne cui nota varietas sectae hujus in hoc quoque nos philosophis adaequare videatur et ex varietate defensionum judicet veritatem. |
[9] Nor need we wonder if the speculations of philosophers have perverted the older Scriptures. Some of their brood, with their opinions, have even adulterated our new-given Christian revelation, and corrupted it into a system of philosophic doctrines, and from the one path have struck off many and inexplicable by-roads.69 And I have alluded to this, lest any one becoming acquainted with the variety of parties among us, this might seem to him to put us on a level with the philosophers, and he might condemn the truth from the different ways in which it is defended. |
| [10] Expedite autem praescribimus adulteris nostris illam esse regulam veritatis, quae veniat a Christo transmissa per comites ipsius, quibus aliquanto posteriores diversi isti commentatores probabuntur. |
[10] But we at once put in a plea in bar against these tainters of our purity, asserting that this is the rule of truth which comes down from Christ by transmission through His companions, to whom we shall prove that those devisers of different doctrines are all posterior. |
| [11] Omnia adversus veritatem de ipsa veritate constructa sunt, operantibus aemulationem istam spiritibus erroris. Ab his adulteria hujusmodi salutaris disciplinae subornata, ab his quaedam etiam fabulae immissae, quae de similitudine fidem infirmarent veritatis vel eam sibi potius evincerent, ut quis ideo non putet Christianis credendum, quia nec poetis nec philosophis, vel ideo magis poetis et philosophis existimet credendum, quia non Christianis. |
[11] Everything opposed to the truth has been got up from the truth itself, the spirits of error carrying on this system of opposition. By them all corruptions of wholesome discipline have been secretly instigated; by them, too, certain fables have been introduced, that, by their resemblance to the truth, they might impair its credibility, or vindicate their own higher claims to faith; so that people might think Christians unworthy of credit because the poets or philosophers are so, or might regard the poets and philosophers as worthier of confidence from their not being followers of Christ. |
| [12] Itaque ridemur praedicantes deum judicaturum. Sic enim et poetae et philosophi tribunal apud inferos ponunt. Et gehennam si comminemur, quae est ignis arcani subterraneam ad poenam thesaurus, proinde decachinnamur. Sic enim et Pyriphlegethon apud mortuos amnis est. |
[12] Accordingly, we get ourselves laughed at for proclaiming that God will one day judge the world. For, like us, the poets and philosophers set up a judgment-seat in the realms below. And if we threaten Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret fire under the earth for purposes of punishment, we have in the same way derision heaped on us. For so, too, they have their Pyriphlegethon, a river of flame in the regions of the dead. |
| [13] Et si paradisum nominemus, locum divinae amoenitatis recipiendis sanctorum spiritibus destinatum, maceria quadam igneae illius zonae a notitia orbis communis segregatum, Elysii campi fidem occupaverunt. |
[13] And if we speak of Paradise,70 the place of heavenly bliss appointed to receive the spirits of the saints, severed from the knowledge of this world by that fiery zone as by a sort of enclosure, the Elysian plains have taken possession of their faith. |
| [14] Unde haec, oro vos, philosophis aut poetis tam consimilia? Non nisi de nostris sacramentis. Si de nostris sacramentis, ut de prioribus, ergo fideliora sunt nostra magisque credenda, quorum imagines quoque fidem inveniunt. Si de suis sensibus, jam ergo sacramenta nostra imagines posteriorum habebuntur, quod rerum forma non sustinet; numquam enim corpus umbra aut veritatem imago praecedit. |
[14] Whence is it, I pray you have all this, so like us, in the poets and philosophers? The reason simply is, that they have been taken from our religion. But if they are taken from our sacred things, as being of earlier date, then ours are the truer, and have higher claims upon belief, since even their imitations find faith among you. If they maintain their sacred mysteries to have sprung from their own minds, in that case ours will be reflections of what are later than themselves, which by the nature of things is impossible, for never does the shadow precede the body which casts it, or the image the reality.71 |
| Capitulum XLVIII |
Chapter XLVIII. |
| [1] Age jam, si qui philosophus adfirmet, ut ait Laberius de sententia Pythagorae, hominem fieri ex mulo, colubram ex muliere, et in eam opinionem omnia argumenta eloquii virtute distorserit, nonne consensum movebit et fidem infiget? Etiam ab animalibus abstinendi propterea persuasum quis habeat, ne forte bubulam de aliquo proavo suo obsonet? At enim Christianus si de homine hominem ipsumque de Gajo Gajum reducem repromittat, lapidibus magis nec saltem coetibus a populo exigetur. |
[1] Come now, if some philosopher affirms, as Laberius holds, following an opinion of Pythagoras, that a man may have his origin from a mule, a serpent from a woman, and with skill of speech twists every argument to prove his view, will he not gain acceptance for and work in some the conviction that, on account of this, they should even abstain from eating animal food? May any one have the persuasion that he should so abstain, lest by chance in his beef he eats of some ancestor of his? But if a Christian promises the return of a man from a man, and the very actual Gajus from Gajus,72 the cry of the people will be to have him stoned; they will not even so much as grant him a hearing. |
| [2] Si quaecumque ratio praeest animarum humanarum reciprocandarum in corpora, cur non in eandem substantiam redeant, cum hoc sit restitui: Id esse, quod fuerat? Jam non ipsae sunt, quae fuerant, quia non potuerunt esse quod non erant, nisi desinant esse quod fuerant. |
[2] If there is any ground for the moving to and fro of human souls into different bodies, why may they not return into the very substance they have left, seeing this is to be restored, to be that which had been? They are no longer the very things they had been; for they could not be what they were not, without first ceasing to be what they had been. |
| [3] Multis etiam locis ex otio opus erit, si velimus ad hanc partem lascivire, quis in quam bestiam reformari videretur. Sed de nostra magis defensione, qui proponimus multo utique dignius credi hominem ex homine rediturum, quemlibet pro quolibet, dum hominem, ut eadem qualitas animae in eandem restau[ra]retur condicionem, etsi non effigiem. |
[3] If we were inclined to give all rein upon this point, discussing into what various beasts one and another might probably be changed, we would need at our leisure to take up many points. But this we would do chiefly in our own defence, as setting forth what is greatly worthier of belief, that a man will come back from a man - any given person from any given person, still retaining his humanity; so that the soul, with its qualities unchanged, may be restored to the same condition, thought not to the same outward framework. |
| [4] Certe quia ratio restitutionis destinatio judicii est, necessario idem ipse, qui fuerat, exhibebitur, ut boni seu contrarii meriti judicium a deo referat. Ideoque repraesentabuntur et corpora, quia neque pati quicquam potest anima sola sine materia stabili, id est carne, et, quod omnino de judicio dei pati debent animae, non sine carne meruerunt, intra quam omnia egerunt. |
[4] Assuredly, as the reason why restoration takes place at all is the appointed judgment, every man must needs come forth the very same who had once existed, that he may receive at God's hands a judgment, whether of good desert or the opposite. And therefore the body too will appear; for the soul is not capable of suffering without the solid substance (that is, the flesh; and for this reason, also) that it is not right that souls should have all the wrath of God to bear: they did not sin without the body, within which all was done by them. |
| [5] “Sed quomodo”, inquis, “dissoluta materia exhiberi potest?” Considera temetipsum, o homo, et fidem rei invenies. Recogita, quid fueris antequam esses. Utique nihil; meminisses enim, si quid fuisses. Qui ergo nihil fueras priusquam esses, idem nihil factus cum esse desieris, cur non possis rursus esse de nihilo ejusdem ipsius auctoris voluntate, qui te voluit esse de nihilo? Quid novi tibi eveniet? |
[5] But how, you say, can a substance which has been dissolved be made to reappear again? Consider thyself, O man, and thou wilt believe in it! Reflect on what you were before you came into existence. Nothing. For if you had been anything, you would have remembered it. You, then, who were nothing before you existed, reduced to nothing also when you cease to be, why may you not come into being again out of nothing, at the will of the same Creator whose will created you out of nothing at the first? Will it be anything new in your case? |
| [6] Qui non eras, factus es; cum iterum non eris, fies. Redde, si potes, rationem qua factus es, et tunc require, qua fies! Et tamen facilius utique fies quod fuisti aliquando, quia aeque non difficile factus es, quod numquam fuisti aliquando. |
[6] You who were not, were made; when you cease to be again, you shall be made. Explain, if you can, your original creation, and then demand to know how you shall be re-created. Indeed, it will be still easier surely to make you what you were once, when the very same creative power made you without difficulty what you never were before. |
| [7] Dubitabitur, credo, de dei viribus, qui tantum corpus hoc mundi de eo, quod non fuerat, non minus quam de morte vacationis et inanitatis imposuit, animatum spiritu omnium animarum animatore, signatum et ipsum humanae resurrectionis exemplum in testimonium vobis. |
[7] There will be doubts, perhaps, as to the power of God, of Him who hung in its place this huge body of our world, made out of what had never existed, as from a death of emptiness and inanity, animated by the Spirit who quickens all living things, its very self the unmistakable type of the resurrection, that it might be to you a witness - nay, the exact image of the resurrection. |
| [8] Lux cottidie interfecta resplendet et tenebrae pari vice decedendo succedunt, sidera defuncta vivescunt, tempora ubi finiuntur incipiunt; fructus consummantur et redeunt, certe semina non nisi corrupta et dissoluta fecundius surgunt; omnia pereundo servantur, omnia de interitu reformantur. |
[8] Light, every day extinguished, shines out again; and, with like alternation, darkness succeeds light's outgoing. The defunct stars re-live; the seasons, as soon as they are finished, renew their course; the fruits are brought to maturity, and then are reproduced. The seeds do not spring up with abundant produce, save as they rot and dissolve away;-all things are preserved by perishing, all things are refashioned out of death. |
| [9] Tu homo, tantum nomen, si intellegas te, vel de titulo Pythiae discens, dominus omnium morientium et resurgentium, ad hoc morieris, ut pereas? Ubicumque resolutus fueris, quaecumque te materia destruxerit, hauserit, aboleverit, in nihilum prodegerit, reddet te. Eius est nihilum ipsum, cujus et totum. |
[9] Thou, man of nature so exalted, if thou understandest thyself, taught even by the Pythian73 words, lord of all these things that die and rise,-shalt thou die to perish evermore? Wherever your dissolution shall have taken place, whatever material agent has destroyed you, or swallowed you up, or swept you away, or reduced you to nothingness, it shall again restore you. Even nothingness is His who is Lord of all. |
| [10] “Ergo”, inquitis, “semper moriendum erit et semper resurgendum?” Si ita rerum dominus destinasset, ingratis experireris conditionis tuae legem. At nunc non aliter destinavit quam praedicavit. |
[10] You ask, Shall we then be always dying, and rising up from death? If so the Lord of all things had appointed, you would have to submit, though unwillingly, to the law of your creation. But, in fact, He has no other purpose than that of which He has informed us. |
| [11] Quae ratio universitatem ex diversitate composuit, ut omnia aemulis substantiis sub unitate constarent, ex vacuo et solido, ex animali et inanimali, ex comprehensibili et incomprehensibili, ex luce et tenebris, ex ipsa vita et morte, eadem aevum quoque ita destinata et distincta conditione conseruit, ut prima haec pars, ab exordio rerum quam incolimus, temporali aetate ad finem defluat, sequens vero, quam expectamus, in infinitam aeternitatem propagetur. |
[11] The Reason which made the universe out of diverse elements, so that all things might be composed of opposite substances in unity - of void and solid, of animate and inanimate, of comprehensible and incomprehensible, of light and darkness, of life itself and death - has also disposed time into order, by fixing and distinguishing its mode, according to which this first portion of it, which we inhabit from the beginning of the world, flows down by a temporal course to a close; but the portion which succeeds, and to which we look forward continues forever. |
| [12] Cum ergo finis et limes, medius qui interhiat, adfuerit, ut etiam ipsius mundi species transferatur aeque temporalis, quae illi dispositioni aeternitatis aulaei vice oppansa est, tunc restituetur omne humanum genus ad expungendum, quod in isto aevo boni seu mali meruit, et exinde pendendum in immensam aeternitatis perpetuitatem. |
[12] When, therefore, the boundary and limit, that millennial interspace, has been passed, when even the outward fashion of the world itself - which has been spread like a veil over the eternal economy, equally a thing of time - passes away, then the whole human race shall be raised again, to have its dues meted out according as it has merited in the period of good or evil, and thereafter to have these paid out through the immeasurable ages of eternity. |
| [13] Ideoque nec mors jam, nec rursus ac rursus resurrectio, sed erimus idem qui nunc, nec alii post, dei quidem cultores apud deum semper, superinduti substantia propria aeternitatis; profani vero et qui non integre ad deum, in poena aeque jugis ignis, habentes ex ipsa natura ejus divina scilicet, subministrationem incorruptibilitatis. |
[13] Therefore after this there is neither death nor repeated resurrections, but we shall be the same that we are now, and still unchanged - the servants of God, ever with God, clothed upon with the proper substance of eternity; but the profane, and all who are not true worshippers of God, in like manner shall be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire - that fire which, from its very nature indeed, directly ministers to their incorruptibility. |
| [14] Noverunt et philosophi diversitatem arcani et publici ignis. Ita longe alius est, qui usui humano, alius qui judicio dei apparet, sive de caelo fulmina stringens, sive de terra per vertices montium eructans; non enim absumit quod exurit, sed dum erogat, reparat. |
[14] The philosophers are familiar as well as we with the distinction between a common and a secret fire. Thus that which is in common use is far different from that which we see in divine judgments, whether striking as thunderbolts from heaven, or bursting up out of the earth through mountain-tops; for it does not consume what it scorches, but while it burns it repairs. |
| [15] Adeo manent montes semper ardentes, et qui de caelo tangitur, salvus est, ut nullo jam igni decinerescat. Et hoc erit testimonium ignis aeterni, hoc exemplum jugis judicii poenam nutrientis: Montes uruntur et durant. Quid nocentes et dei hostes? |
[15] So the mountains continue ever burning; and a person struck by lighting is even now kept safe from any destroying flame. A notable proof this of the fire eternal! a notable example of the endless judgment which still supplies punishment with fuel! The mountains burn, and last. How will it be with the wicked and the enemies of God?74 |
| Capitulum XLIX |
Chapter XLIX. |
| [1] Haec sunt, quae in nobis solis praesumptiones vocantur, in philosophis et poetis summae scientiae et insignia ingenia. Illi prudentes, nos inepti; illi honorandi, nos irridendi, immo eo amplius et puniendi. |
[1] These are what are called presumptuous speculations in our case alone; in the philosophers and poets they are regarded as sublime speculations and illustrious discoveries. They are men of wisdom, we are fools. They are worthy of all honour, we are folk to have the finger pointed at; nay, besides that, we are even to have punishments inflicted on us. |
| [2] Falsa nunc sint quae tuentur et merito praesumptio, attamen necessaria; inepta, attamen utilia, siquidem meliores fieri coguntur qui eis credunt, metu aeterni supplicii et spe aeterni refrigerii. Itaque non expedit falsa dici nec inepta haberi quae expedit vera praesumi. Nullo titulo damnari licet omnino quae prosunt. In vobis itaque praesumptio est haec ipsa, quae damnat utilia. Proinde nec inepta esse possunt. |
[2] But let things which are the defence of virtue, if you will, have no foundation, and give them duly the name of fancies, yet still they are necessary; let them be absurd if you will, yet they are of use: they make all who believe them better men and women, under the fear of never-ending punishment and the hope of never-ending bliss. It is not, then, wise to brand as false, nor to regard as absurd, things the truth of which it is expedient to presume. On no ground is it right positively to condemn as bad what beyond all doubt is profitable. Thus, in fact, you are guilty of the very presumption of which you accuse us, in condemning what is useful. |
| [3] Certe, etsi falsa et inepta, nulli tamen noxia. Nam et multis aliis similia, quibus nullas poenas inrogatis, vanis et fabulosis, inaccusatis et impunitis, ut innoxiis. Sed in ejusmodi enim, si utique, inrisui judicandum est, non gladiis et ignibus et crucibus et bestiis. |
[3] It is equally out of the question to regard them as nonsensical; at any rate, if they are false and foolish, they hurt nobody. For they are just (in that case) like many other things on which you inflict no penalties - foolish and fabulous things, I mean, which, as quite innocuous, are never charged as crimes or punished. But in a thing of the kind, if this be so indeed, we should be adjudged to ridicule, not to swords, and flames, and crosses, and wild beasts, |
| [4] De qua iniquitate saevitiae non modo caecum hoc vulgus exsultat et insultat, sed et quidam vestrum, quibus favor vulgi de iniquitate captatur, gloriantur; quasi non totum, quod in nos potestis, nostrum sit arbitrium. |
[4] in which iniquitous cruelty not only the blinded populace exults and insults over us, but in which some of you too glory, not scrupling to gain the popular favour by your injustice. As though all you can do to us did not depend upon our pleasure. |
| [5] Certe, si velim, Christianus sum. Tunc ergo me damnabis, si damnari velim. Cum vero quod in me potes, nisi velim, non potes, jam meae voluntatis est quod potes, non tuae potestatis. Proinde et vulgus vane de nostra vexatione gaudet. |
[5] It is assuredly a matter of my own inclination, being a Christian. Your condemnation, then, will only reach me in that case, if I wish to be condemned; but when all you can do to me, you can do only at my will, all you can do is dependent on my will, and is not in your power. The joy of the people in our trouble is therefore utterly reasonless. |
| [6] Proinde enim nostrum est gaudium, quod sibi vindicat, qui malumus damnari quam a deo excidere. Contra illi, qui nos oderunt, dolere, non gaudere debebant, consecutis nobis quod elegimus. |
[6] For it is our joy they appropriate to themselves, since we would far rather be condemned than apostatize from God; on the contrary, our haters should be sorry rather than rejoice, as we have obtained the very thing of our own choice. |
| Capitulum L |
Chapter L. |
| [1] “Ergo”, inquitis, “cur querimini, quod vos insequamur, si pati vultis, cum diligere debeatis per quos patimini quod vultis?” Plane volumus pati, verum eo more, quo et bellum miles. Nemo quidem libens patitur, cum et trepidare et periclitari sit necesse; |
[1] In that case, you say, why do you complain of our persecutions? You ought rather to be grateful to us for giving you the sufferings you want. Well, it is quite true that it is our desire to suffer, but it is in the way that the soldier longs for war. No one indeed suffers willingly, since suffering necessarily implies fear and danger. |
| [2] tamen et proeliatur omnibus viribus et vincens in proelio gaudet qui de proelio querebatur, quia et gloriam consequitur et praedam. Proelium est nobis, quod provocamur ad tribunalia, ut illic sub discrimine capitis pro veritate certemus. Victoria est autem, pro quo certaveris, obtinere. Ea victoria habet et gloriam placendi deo et praedam vivendi in aeternum. |
[2] Yet the man who objected to the conflict, both fights with all his strength, and when victorious, he rejoices in the battle, because he reaps from it glory and spoil. It is our battle to be summoned to your tribunals that there, under fear of execution, we may battle for the truth. But the day is won when the object of the struggle is gained. This victory of ours gives us the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil of life eternal. |
| [3] Sed obducimur. Certe, cum obtinuimus. Ergo vicimus, cum occidimur, denique evadimus, cum obducimur. Licet nunc sarmenticios et semaxios appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis revincti sarmentorum ambitu exurimur, hic est habitus victoriae nostrae, haec palmata vestis, tali curru triumphamus. |
[3] But we are overcome. Yes, when we have obtained our wishes. Therefore we conquer in dying;75 we go forth victorious at the very time we are subdued. Call us, if you like, Sarmenticii and Semaxii, because, bound to a half-axle stake, we are burned in a circle-heap of fagots. This is the attitude in which we conquer, it is our victory-robe, it is for us a sort of triumphal, car. |
| [4] Merito itaque victis non placemus; propterea enim desperati et perditi existimamur. Sed haec desperatio atque perditio penes vos in causa gloriae et famae vexillum virtutis extollunt. |
[4] Naturally enough, therefore, we do not please the vanquished; on account of this, indeed, we are counted a desperate, reckless race. But the very desperation and recklessness you object to in us, among yourselves lift high the standard of virtue in the cause of glory and of fame. |
| [5] Mucius dexteram suam libens in ara reliquit: O sublimitas animi! Empedocles totum sese [Atheniensium] Aetnaeis incendiis donavit: O vigor mentis! Aliqua Carthaginis conditrix rogo [se] secundum matrimonium dedit: O praeconium castitatis! |
[5] Mucius of his own will left his right hand on the altar: what sublimity of mind! Empedocles gave his whole body at Catana to the fires of Aetna: what mental resolution! A certain foundress of Carthage gave herself away in second marriage to the funeral pile: what a noble witness of her chastity! |
| [6] Regulus, ne unus pro multis hostibus viveret, toto corpore cruces patitur: O virum fortem et in captivitate victorem! Anaxarchus cum in exitum ptisanae pilo contunderetur: “Tunde, tunde”, ajebat, “Anaxarchi follem; Anaxarchum enim non tundis!” O philosophi magnanimitatem, qui de tali exitu suo etiam jocabatur! |
[6] Regulus, not wishing that his one life should count for the lives of many enemies, endured these crosses over all his frame: how brave a man - even in captivity a conqueror! Anaxarchus, when he was being beaten to death by a barley-pounder, cried out, "Beat on, beat on at the case of Anaxarchus; no stroke falls on Anaxarchus himself." O magnanimity of the philosopher, who even in such an end had jokes upon his lips! |
| [7] Omitto eos, qui cum gladio proprio vel alio genere mortis mitiore de laude pepigerunt. Ecce enim et tormentorum certamina coronantur a vobis. |
[7] I omit all reference to those who with their own sword, or with any other milder form of death, have bargained for glory. Nay, see how even torture contests are crowned by you. |
| [8] Attica meretrix carnifice jam fatigato postremo linguam suam comesam in faciem tyranni saevientis exspellit, ut exspueret et vocem, ne conjuratos confiteri posset, si etiam victa voluisset. |
[8] The Athenian courtesan, having wearied out the executioner, at last bit off her tongue and spat it in the face of the raging tyrant, that she might at the same time spit away her power of speech, nor be longer able to confess her fellow-conspirators, if even overcome, that might be her inclination. |
| [9] Zeno Eleates consultus a Dionysio, quidnam philosophia praestaret, cum respondisset: “Contemptum mortis”, impassibilis flagellis tyranni objectus sententiam suam ad mortem usque signabat. Certe Laconum flagella sub oculis etiam hortantium propinquorum acerbata tantum honorem tolerantiae domui conferunt, quantum sanguinis fuderint. |
[9] Zeno the Eleatic, when he was asked by Dionysius what good philosophy did, on answering that it gave contempt of death, was all unquailing, given over to the tyrant's scourge, and sealed his opinion even to the death. We all know how the Spartan lash, applied with the utmost cruelty under the very eyes of friends encouraging, confers on those who bear it honor proportionate to the blood which the young men shed. |
| [10] O gloriam licitam, quia humanam, cui nec praesumptio perdita nec persuasio desperata reputatur in contemptu mortis et atrocitatis omnimodae, cui tantum pro patria, pro imperio, pro amicitia pati permissum est, quantum pro deo non licet! |
[10] O glory legitimate, because it is human, for whose sake it is counted neither reckless foolhardiness, nor desperate obstinacy, to despise death itself and all sorts of savage treatment; for whose sake you may for your native place, for the empire, for friendship, endure all you are forbidden to do for God! |
| [11] Et tamen illis omnibus et statuas defunditis et imagines inscribitis et titulos inciditis in aeternitatem. Quantum de monumentis potestis scilicet, praestatis et ipsi quodammodo mortuis resurrectionem. Hanc qui veram a deo sperat, si pro deo patiatur, insanus est! |
[11] And you cast statues in honour of persons such as these, and you put inscriptions upon images, and cut out epitaphs on tombs, that their names may never perish. In so far you can by your monuments, you yourselves afford a son of resurrection to the dead. Yet he who expects the true resurrection from God, is insane, if for God he suffers! |
| [12] Sed hoc agite, boni praesides, meliores multo apud populum, si illis Christianos immolaveritis, cruciate, torquete, damnate, atterite nos: probatio est enim innocentiae nostrae iniquitas vestra. Ideo nos haec pati deus patitur. Nam et proxime ad lenonem damnando Christianam potius quam ad leonem, confessi estis labem pudicitiae apud nos atrociorem omni poena et omni morte reputari. |
[12] But go zealously on, good presidents, you will stand higher with the people if you sacrifice the Christians at their wish, kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. Therefore God suffers that we thus suffer; for but very lately, in condemning a Christian woman to the leno rather than to the leo you made confession that a taint on our purity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any death.76 |
| [13] Nec quicquam tamen proficit exquisitior quaeque crudelitas vestra; illecebra est magis sectae. Plures efficimur, quotiens metimur a vobis: semen est sanguis Christianorum. |
[13] Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.77 |
| [14] Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris et mortis hortantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut Seneca in Fortuitis, ut Diogenes, ut Pyrrhon, ut Callinicus; nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos, quantos Christiani factis docendo. |
[14] Many of your writers exhort to the courageous bearing of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculans, as Seneca in his Chances, as
Diogenes, Pyrrhus, Callinicus; and yet their words do not find so many disciples as Christians do, teachers not by words, but by their deeds. |
| [15] Illa ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis, magistra est. Quis enim non contemplatione ejus concutitur ad requirendum, quid intus in re sit? Quis non, ubi requisivit, accedit, ubi accessit, pati exoptat, ut totam dei gratiam redimat, ut omnem veniam ab eo compensatione sanguinis sui expediat? |
[15] That very obstinacy you rail against is the preceptress. For who that contemplates it, is not excited to inquire what is at the bottom of it? who, after inquiry, does not embrace our doctrines? and when he has embraced them, desires not to suffer that he may become partaker of the fulness of God's grace, that he may obtain from God complete forgiveness, by giving in exchange his blood? |
| [16] Omnia enim huic operi delicta donantur. Inde est, quod ibidem sententiis vestris gratias agimus. Ut est aemulatio divinae rei et humanae, cum damnamur a vobis, a deo absolvimur. |
[16] For that secures the remission of all offences. On this account it is that we return thanks on the very spot for your sentences. As the divine and human are ever opposed to each other, when we are condemned by you, we are acquitted by the Highest. |
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This document (last modified February 03, 1998) from the Christian Classics Electronic Library server, at
Wheaton College
Typographic errors corrected R.Pearse May 18th 2001.
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