Tertullian, To the Martyrs (Ad martyres)

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 348)

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Operibus Rhen. Franeq. Paris.

"Operibus" ("works"): Rhenanus's, the Franeker and the Paris editions.

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Aug. Neander emend. firmius.

August Neander emends to "firmius" ("stronger").

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Liber seu potius sermo ad Confessores, quos Martyras ex prisco loquendi more vocat, circa annum CXCVII. judice, Cl. Naesselto, exaratus est, eo fere tempore abs Tertulliano adhuc ex asse catholico, quo Severus in eos inquisiverat, qui partes Nigri et Albini secuti fuerant, quemadmodum haec ipsius Tertulliani verba innuunt (Tertullian. lib. ad. Martyr. c. 6): Ad hoc quidem vel praesentia vobis tempora documenta sint, quantae qualesque personae inopinatos natalibus et dignitatibus, et corporibus, et aetatibus suis exitus referunt, hominis caussa: aut ab ipso si contra eum fecerint, aut ab adversariis ejus, si pro eo steterint. Acris is liber est ad Martyres adhortatio, qua eos christianae religionis caussa in vinculis detentos ad constantiam in fide, alacritatem in perferendo carceris squallore et impendentibus sibi suppliciis vehementer movet et animat, eos vero potissimum ad pacem invitat, quam qui non habebant ab Ecclesia, a martyribus expetebant. Ab initio laudat pietatem fidelium, qui Martyribus in carcere constitutis alimenta corporalia ministrabant; dein ipsos Martyres hortatur, ne Spiritum sanctum contristari vellent, sed eum ita custodiant, ut pacem et concordiam invicem servent, quam quidem in Ecclesia non habentes, a Martyribus in carcere exorare consueverunt. Et ideo eam etiam propterea in vobis habere et fovere et custodire debetis: ut si forte et aliis praestare possitis (Id. ibid. cap. 1) Ex Tertulliono verbis viri docti colligunt, eumdem in communione Ecclesiae catholicae praesentem tractatum exarasse. Factus enim montanista haec omnia ludibrio habuit, ut patet ex libro de Pudicitia cap. XXII. et lib. de Jejunio cap. XII). Ut vero Tertullianus Martyribus ad perferendos carceris squallores animos addat, proponit illis ipsum magis mundum carcerem esse, at illico utilitates ex eorum in carceribus detentione profluentes enumerat ita disserens: Segregati estis ab ipso mundo, quanto magis a saeculo, rebusque ejus?... Non vides alienos deos, non imaginibus eorum incurris, non solemnes nationum dies ipsa commixtione participas, non nidoribus spurcis verberaris, non clamoribus spectaculorum, atrocitate, vel furore, vel impudicitia celebrantium caederis: non in loca libidinum publicarum oculi tui impingunt: vacas a scandalis, a tentationibus, a recordationibus malis, jam et a persecutione. Hoc praestat carcer Christiano, quod eremus Prophetis.... Auferamus carceris nomen, secessum vocemus: etsi corpus includitur, etsi caro detinetur, omnia spiritui patent. Vagare spiritu, spatiare spiritu, et non stadia opaca, aut porticus longas proponens tibi, sed illam viam, quae ad Deum ducit: quotiens eam spiritu deambulaveris, totiens in carcere non eris. Nihil crus sentit in nervo, cum animus in coelo est (Id., ibid., cap. II). Postea Martyres ad patientiam et constantiam adhuc excitare conatur petita ratione ab obligatione in baptismo contracta militandi pro servitio Dei. Sit nunc, inquit, carcer etiam christianis molestus: vocati sumus ad militiam Dei vivi jam tunc, cum in sacramenti verba respondimus: nemo miles ad bellum cum deliciis venit, nec de cubiculo ad aciem procedit.... etiam in pace, labore, et incommodis bellum pati jam ediscunt.... Sudore omnia constant, ne corpora atque animi expavescant, de umbra ad solem, de sole ad coelum (Id., ibid., cap. III). Tandem, ne tormentorum acerbitate vinci se sinant Confessores, exempla virorum et mulierum gentilium qui, ex solius vanae gloriae motivo, tormenta et mortem fortiter sustinuerant, adducit (Id., ibid., cap. IV et V). Nihil sane hoc brevi sermone vehementius, aut movendis animis aptius judice, perdocto viro Dupinio (Dupin. Biblioth. des auteurs, tom. I). Hoc in argumento Tertullianum postea imitatus est beatus Cyprianus in suo de Exhortatione et laude Martyrii libro, et in suis ad Martyres et Confessores epistolis. Caeterum ad martyres in aliquo oppido ditionis Carthaginensis, aut etiam in Carthagine ipsa captivos perscripsisse hunc sermonem Septimium, censent fere omnes eruditi propter haec illius verba: Judicia denique non Proconsulis, sed Dei sustinet (Tertull. in Tractat. ad Martyr. cap. II). Nam de Proconsule Africae plurima fit mentio in Notitia imperii. LUMP.

This book, or rather sermon, to the Confessors, whom by the ancient manner of speaking he calls Martyrs, was written about the year 197, in the judgement of the illustrious Nösselt, by Tertullian while he was still wholly catholic, at about the time when Severus had made inquisition against those who had followed the party of Niger and Albinus, as these words of Tertullian himself suggest (Tertullian, book To the Martyrs, ch. 6): "To this, indeed, let even the present times be a lesson to you: how many persons, and of what rank, meet ends unlooked-for given their birth and dignities, their bodies and their ages, for the sake of a man: either at his own hands, if they have acted against him, or at the hands of his adversaries, if they have stood for him." The book is a sharp exhortation to the Martyrs, by which he vigorously stirs and heartens those held in chains for the Christian religion to constancy in the faith and eagerness in bearing the squalor of the prison and the punishments hanging over them; above all he invites them to peace, which those who did not have it from the Church used to seek from the martyrs. At the outset he praises the devotion of the faithful who supplied bodily food to the Martyrs held in prison; then he exhorts the Martyrs themselves not to wish to grieve the Holy Spirit, but to keep him by keeping peace and concord among themselves, the peace which those who did not have it in the Church were accustomed to beg from the Martyrs in prison: "And therefore you ought to have it in you and cherish and guard it for this reason too: that you may perhaps be able to bestow it on others as well" (the same, ibid., ch. 1). From Tertullian's words learned men gather that he wrote the present treatise in the communion of the Catholic Church. For once he had become a Montanist he made a mockery of all this, as is plain from the book On Modesty, ch. 22, and the book On Fasting, ch. 12. But to give the Martyrs courage to bear the squalor of the prison, Tertullian puts it to them that the world itself is rather the prison, and at once lists the benefits flowing from their detention in prison, arguing thus: "You have been separated from the world itself; how much more from the age and its affairs?... You do not see strange gods, you do not run into their images, you do not share by mingling in them the solemn days of the nations, you are not struck by foul smells of sacrifice, you are not battered by the clamour of the shows, by the cruelty or frenzy or shamelessness of those who throng them; your eyes do not strike against places of public lust; you are free from stumbling-blocks, from temptations, from evil memories, and now even from persecution. The prison does for the Christian what the desert did for the Prophets.... Let us take away the name of prison and call it a retreat: though the body is shut in, though the flesh is held, all things lie open to the spirit. Roam in spirit, walk abroad in spirit, setting before yourself not shady walks or long porticoes but that way which leads to God: as often as you walk it in spirit, so often you will not be in prison. The leg feels nothing in the stocks when the mind is in heaven" (the same, ibid., ch. 2). Next he tries to rouse the Martyrs further to patience and constancy by an argument drawn from the obligation, contracted in baptism, of serving as soldiers in the service of God. "Let the prison," he says, "be irksome even to Christians: we were called to the warfare of the living God already then, when we answered to the words of the sacrament. No soldier comes to war with luxuries, nor goes from his bedroom to the battle line.... even in peace they learn by toil and hardship to endure war.... All things stand by sweat, so that body and mind may not take fright, from shade to sun, from sun to heaven" (the same, ibid., ch. 3). Lastly, so that the Confessors may not let themselves be overcome by the bitterness of torments, he adduces examples of pagan men and women who, from the sole motive of vainglory, bravely endured torments and death (the same, ibid., chs. 4 and 5). Nothing is more vehement than this short sermon, or better fitted to move hearts, in the judgement of the very learned Dupin (Dupin, Bibliothèque des auteurs, vol. 1). On this theme the blessed Cyprian later imitated Tertullian in his book On the Exhortation and Praise of Martyrdom, and in his letters to the Martyrs and Confessors. For the rest, almost all the learned hold that Septimius wrote this sermon to martyrs held captive in some town of the jurisdiction of Carthage, or even in Carthage itself, because of these words of his: "Finally, it awaits the judgement not of the Proconsul but of God" (Tertullian, in the treatise To the Martyrs, ch. 2). For the Proconsul of Africa is very often mentioned in the Notitia imperii. LUMPER.

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ARGUMENTUM. — Quinta persecutione jamjam imminente sub Severo opusculum istud scripsit Septimius, in quo martyres adhortatur ad constantiam in fide, et alacritatem in subeundo carceris squallore, judicumque decretis. Eos vero potissimum ad pacem invitat, quam qui non habebant in Ecclesia, a martyribus petebant.

ARGUMENT. — With the fifth persecution already impending under Severus, Septimius wrote this little work, in which he exhorts the martyrs to constancy in the faith, and to eagerness in undergoing the squalor of the prison and the decrees of the judges. But above all he invites them to peace, which those who did not have it in the Church used to seek from the martyrs.

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Alii, supervacue.

Others read "supervacue" ("superfluously").

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 348)

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Benedicti martyres. Id est laudandi: hoc epithe- (continues)

"Blessed martyrs": that is, to be praised; this epithet (continues)

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#### LECTIONES VARIANTES — Variant readings (printed under page 349)

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Odiis Fran., inediis Rhen., pro vilibus Jun. mavult utilibus; scidiis reposuit Rigalt.

"Odiis" (hatreds) Fran.; "inediis" (fastings) Rhen.; for "vilibus" (cheap) Jun. prefers "utilibus" (useful); Rigalt. restored "scidiis" (splinters).

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Defectionibus Rhen.

"Defectionibus" (defections) Rhen.

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A mundo abest Rigalt.

"A mundo" (from the world) is absent in Rigalt.

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In meo sunt, tentabo illos vilibus odiis. Hanc esse Vaticanorum scripturam Pamelius testatur. Sed martyrum inter ipsos odia et quidem vilia, fuisse nemo christianus consenserit. Tum, si odia fuisse inter martyras Tertullianus tradidit, profecto futilem et frivolam affectionum ac dissensionum exprobrationem adjecit. Nam quae odia sine affectionibus ac dissensione? Imo frigidissima fuerit Satanae techna: Martyres qui sunt in carceres compulsi in meo sunt, tentabo igitur eos vilibus odiis. Quem non quotidie hujusmodi odiis tentat? etiam non in suo? etiam extra carcerem? Itaque non video qua ratione defendi queat Vaticanorum scriptura. In editionibus ante Pamelium vulgatis legebatur, Tentabo illos vilibus inediis, defectionibus, aut inter se dissensionibus. Sed nec sensus inde boni colligitur quidquam. Etenim quis sanus unquam dixerit, viles inedias? aut cur inedias hic ullas suspicabimur, inter carnis alimenta quae his ipsis martyribus domina mater Ecclesia de uberibus suis in carcerem subministrabit? sic enim disertissime traditur istius scriptionis principio: quo satis etiam refellitur interpretatio Rhenani, vocabulum, defectionibus, ad rerum penuriam transferentis. Quare, nec illae ante Pamelium editiones difficultatem solvunt. Digitum ad veri fontem intendit quisquis codicem Divionensem exaravit. Illic enim legitur, Tentabo illos vilibuscidiis defectionibus, aut inter se dissensionibus. Disjungamus quae prave cohaerent, et genuinam Auctoris scripturam habemus: Tentabo illos vilibus scidiis. Audierat Tertullianus esse quaedam inter martyras non odia, sed defectionum ac dissensionum semina, quibusdam forte sic disputantibus, Scripturarum auctoritate non prohiberi, quominus vincula sua mortemque ipsam annumerata concussoribus pecunia deprecarentur. Itaque hortatur, id potissimum videant ne consilia Satanas adversus ipsos coquat volvendo secum ista: Homines ego tentavi quondam, cum in meo non erant: nempe cum erant in paradiso, tentavi autem praestantissimo divinae cujusdam arboris fructu: istos hodie, qui in meo sunt, nempe in carcere, tentabo quoque, sed vilibus scidiis. Quasi diceret: Olim tentando homini, cum esset in paradiso, adhibenda fuit magni apparatus tentatio, appetentia scilicet fructus qui de hominibus faceret deos: nunc vero in meo positos, quippe in carcere ac tenebrarum regno, tentabo nugis et quisquiliis, puta momentaneae cujusdam vexationis formidine, aut producendae in aliquot annos vitae in dies mortalis desiderio: denique committam ipsos et exagitabo dissensionibus. Haec sunt parabilia et obviam atque ad manum Satanae tela; quasi de vilibus scopis et scidiis arborum cremialibus. Scidiae sive scidia, unde et discidia, sunt σχίδακες, κλάσματα ξύλων, vilia caesarum arborum segmina. Vitruvius lib. II. cap. 1. Intervalla scidiis et luto obstruunt. RIG.

"They are in my domain; I will tempt them with cheap hatreds." Pamelius attests that this is the reading of the Vatican manuscripts. But that there were hatreds among the martyrs themselves, and cheap ones at that, no Christian would grant. Then, if Tertullian recorded that there were hatreds among the martyrs, he surely added a futile and frivolous reproach of passions and dissensions; for what hatreds are there without passions and dissension? Indeed it would have been a most feeble device of Satan: "The martyrs who have been driven into prison are in my domain; I will therefore tempt them with cheap hatreds." Whom does he not tempt daily with hatreds of this kind? even those not in his domain? even outside prison? So I do not see by what reasoning the Vatican reading can be defended. In the editions published before Pamelius it read: "I will tempt them with cheap fastings, defections, or dissensions among themselves." But no good sense can be drawn from that either. For what sane man would ever have said "cheap fastings"? Or why should we suspect any fastings here, amid the bodily nourishment which our lady mother the Church will supply from her breasts to these very martyrs in prison? For so it is most plainly stated at the beginning of this writing; and this sufficiently refutes the interpretation of Rhenanus, who takes the word "defections" to mean want of things. So neither do those editions before Pamelius solve the difficulty. Whoever wrote out the Dijon manuscript pointed his finger at the source of the truth. For there it reads: "I will tempt them with cheapsplinters defections, or dissensions among themselves." Let us separate what is wrongly joined together, and we have the Author's genuine reading: "I will tempt them with cheap splinters." Tertullian had heard that there were among the martyrs, not hatreds, but seeds of defections and dissensions, some perhaps arguing that the authority of the Scriptures did not forbid them to buy off their chains and death itself by money counted out to extortioners. So he urges them to see to this above all, lest Satan cook up plans against them, turning these things over with himself: "I once tempted men when they were not in my domain, namely when they were in paradise; but I tempted them with the most excellent fruit of a certain divine tree. These today, who are in my domain, namely in prison, I will tempt too, but with cheap splinters." As if he said: Once, to tempt man when he was in paradise, a temptation of great apparatus had to be applied, namely the craving for a fruit that would make gods of men; but now those placed in my domain, that is in prison and the kingdom of darkness, I will tempt with trifles and rubbish, for instance with fear of some momentary harassment, or with the desire of prolonging for some years a life that is daily mortal; and finally I will set them against one another and stir them up with dissensions. These are Satan's cheap and ready weapons, at hand; as it were made of cheap twigs and splinters of trees fit for burning. "Scidiae" or "scidia", whence also "discidia", are σχίδακες, "broken pieces of wood", cheap chips of felled trees. Vitruvius, book II, chapter 1: "They block up the gaps with splinters and mud." RIG[ALTIUS].

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Quam pacem quidam, etc. De pace seu reconciliatione cum caeteris christianis ac Deo primum haec intelligenda. Mos quippe inoleverat, ut qui prae tyrannide in carceribus detinebantur libellos petentibus darent fidelibus in poenitentia constitutis, quorum ope pacem Dei obtinebant et cum caeteris fratribus communicabant. Ad indulgentiarum vero auctoritatem plurimum ista conducunt, quarum forsan nimiam facilitatem arguebat olim Cyprianus. Atque superiori saeculo synodus Tridentina quae adversus haeresin ex abusus indulgentiarum pretextu pullulantem coacta, haeresi et abusui occurrit: haeresi quidem, cum definit ab Ecclesia pendere, concedere indulgentias (nam B. Paulus Alexandro et Hymenaeo olim concessit). Abusui vero, cum in his concedendis moderationem, juxta veterem et probatam in Ecclesia consuetudinem, adhiberi cupit, etc. sess. 25. Dec. de indulg. unde nos ad antiquos canones rejicit conciliorum veluti ad Ancyranum multis in can. Neocaesariense, Carthag. Agatense, etc. LE PR.

"Which peace some, etc." This is to be understood first of all of peace, or reconciliation, with the other Christians and with God. For the custom had grown up that those held in prison by tyranny gave letters, at their request, to the faithful who were doing penance, by whose help these obtained the peace of God and communicated with the other brethren. These things contribute greatly to the authority of indulgences, whose excessive ease Cyprian perhaps once censured. And in the last century the Synod of Trent, assembled against the heresy that sprang up on the pretext of the abuse of indulgences, met both the heresy and the abuse: the heresy, when it defines that it rests with the Church to grant indulgences (for blessed Paul once granted them to Alexander and Hymenaeus); the abuse, "when it desires that moderation be used in granting them, according to the ancient and approved custom in the Church, etc." (session 25, Decree on indulgences); whence it refers us to the ancient canons of the councils, such as Ancyra in many canons, Neocaesarea, Carthage, Agde, etc. LE PR[IEUR].

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Carcas Rigalt.

"Carcas" Rigalt.

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Imbuit Seml.

"Imbuit" (imbues) Seml.

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Lumen vos ipsi Rigalt.

"Lumen vos ipsi" (you yourselves [are] light) Rigalt.

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(7) ‹anchor: Judex exspectatur› · call in col 622

Rhen. add. de judicibus.

Rhen. adds "de judicibus" (concerning the judges).

#### COMMENTARIUS — Commentary

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to martyres ornat Tertullianus, ut paulo post Imprimis ergo benedicti, et infra ad Martyres. Quod Eleutherio pontifici Rom. et martyri jam defuncto superius etiam attribuit. Cyprianus fortissimos et beatissimos subinde vocare solet, quodam loco fortissimos et fidelissimos. RHEN.

[…] Tertullian adorns the martyrs [with this title], as a little later "First of all, then, blessed ones", and below "to the martyrs". He also gave it above to Eleutherius, pontiff of Rome and martyr, then already dead. Cyprian is wont to call them now and again "most brave and most blessed", in one place "most brave and most faithful". RHEN[ANUS].

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Judicia denique non proconsulis, sed Dei sustinet. Sustinet, exspectat. RIG.—Nobis liceat dubitare de interpretatione virorum eruditorum, qui in hac palaestra nomen aliquod sibi quaesiverunt: putant nimirum ferme omnes, in aliquo oppido ditionis Carthag. aut etiam in Carthagine ipsa captivos fuisse, propter hanc vocem Proconsulis; nam, inquiunt, de proconsule Afri- (continues)

"Finally it awaits the judgements not of the proconsul but of God." "Sustinet": it awaits. RIG[ALTIUS]. — Let us be allowed to doubt the interpretation of the learned men who have won themselves some name in this arena: nearly all of them think that the prisoners were in some town of the territory of Carthage, or even in Carthage itself, because of this word "proconsul"; for, they say, of the proconsul of Afri- (continues)

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LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 350)

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Amisisti Jun.

"Amisisti" ("you have lost"): Junius.

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Proponens Fran. Paris.

"Proponens" ("setting before"): the Franeker and Paris editions.

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Quum manus Seml.

"Quum manus" ("when the hand"): Semler.

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Sic Rig.

So Rigault.

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Respondemus Seml.

"Respondemus" ("we answer"): Semler.

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Labor est Rhen.

"Labor est" ("it is toil"): Rhenanus.

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(continued) cae plurima fit mentio in Notitia imperii. Verum pro Caesarum cupiditate mutatos fuisse magistratus nullus ignorat. LE PR.

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(a) ‹anchor: stadia opaca› · call in col 623

Stadia opaca. Arboribus longa utrinque serie dispositis. LE PR.

"Shady walks": with trees set in a long row on either side. LE PRIEUR.

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(b) ‹anchor: crus sentit in nervo› · call in col 623

Nihil crus sentit in nervo. Nervus hic ligni genus est multis foraminibus distinctum, quo tyranni utebantur, ut martyres cruciarent, cruraque disjuncta et luxata frangerentur; genus illud supplicii graecis nonnullis est ξύλον, sed pluribus vetustiorum, est κᾶλον, quae duo vocabula idem significant. Atque docuit me Scaliger ἐγκαλοσκελεῖς dictos fuisse reos apud Athenienses. LE PR.

"The leg feels nothing in the stocks." The "nervus" here is a kind of timber pierced with many holes, which tyrants used to torture the martyrs, so that their legs, spread apart and dislocated, might be broken; this kind of punishment is called ξύλον by some Greeks, but by most of the older writers κᾶλον, and the two words mean the same thing. And Scaliger taught me that accused men at Athens were called ἐγκαλοσκελεῖς ("with legs in the stocks"). LE PRIEUR.

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Sed de papilionib. Rhenanum sequor qui tentoria involuta expediri ait, cum in castris extenduntur, et funiculis ad palos terrae fixos substringuntur, alliganturque, ne vento disturbante corruant. LE PR.

"But from the tents." I follow Rhenanus, who says that rolled-up tents are unfolded when they are spread out in camp, and are drawn tight and tied with cords to stakes fixed in the ground, so that they do not collapse when the wind disturbs them. LE PRIEUR.

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Testudinem densando. Sic habent libri veteres: alii vero perperam, desudando, aut desidendo. Livius lib. XLIV: Quadrato agmine facto, scutis super capita densatis, stantibus primis, secundis submissioribus, tertiis magis et quartis, postremis etiam genu nixis, fastigiatam, sicut tecta aedificiorum sunt, testudinem faciebant. Lucanus, III: Ut tamen hostiles densa testudine muros / Tecta subit virtus. — RIG.

"By closing up the tortoise." So the old books have it; others wrongly read "desudando" or "desidendo". Livy, book 44: "Forming a square column, with their shields packed close above their heads, the first rank standing, the second stooping lower, the third and fourth lower still, the last even resting on one knee, they made a tortoise sloping like the roofs of buildings." Lucan, book 3: "Yet as valour, roofed by a dense tortoise, comes up beneath the enemy walls." — RIGAULT.

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Desiccando Rhen. densitando Lacerda, desidendo, vel desudando alii.

"Desiccando" ("by drying out"): Rhenanus; "densitando" ("by thickening"): Lacerda; "desidendo" ("by sinking") or "desudando" ("by sweating hard"): others.

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De sole ad gelu Latin. de sole ad gelum Jun.

"De sole ad gelu" ("from sun to frost"): Latinius; "de sole ad gelum": Junius.

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Finem Rigalt.

"Finem" ("end"): Rigault.

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Benedictae — subiturae Rhen.

"Benedictae — subiturae" (feminine forms: "blessed — about to undergo"): Rhenanus.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 350)

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Testudinem densando. Omnium optima mihi videtur haec Rigaltii lectio, densando, id enim intelligendum censeo de testudine scutorum, quae densatis scutis fiebat. Junius habet desudando; forte ipsius sensum, non contemnendum. Rhenanus desiccando, alii desidendo, alii desudando, Lacerda densitando rescripsit. LE PR.

"By closing up the tortoise." Rigault's reading "densando" seems to me the best of all, for I judge it is to be understood of the tortoise of shields, which was made by packing the shields close. Junius has "desudando"; perhaps his sense is not to be despised. Rhenanus wrote "desiccando", others "desidendo", others "desudando", Lacerda "densitando". LE PRIEUR.

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(f) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 624

Xystarches spiritus sanctus. Eleganter xystarchen vocat spiritum sanctum. Nam hujus auxilio constantiam martyres debent. Proinde supra dixit de Spiritu sancto: Si enim non vobiscum nunc introisset, nec vos hodie illic fuissetis. Significat autem Xystarches Xysti praesidem. RHEN.

"The Holy Spirit your trainer (xystarches)." He elegantly calls the Holy Spirit the xystarches, for the martyrs owe their constancy to his help. Accordingly he said above of the Holy Spirit: "For if he had not now gone in with you, neither would you be there today." Xystarches means the president of the xystus (the covered exercise ground). RHENANUS.

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Itaque epistates vester Christus. Epistatem hic accipit pro magistro qui athletis praeest, nam utitur hac metaphora Tertullianus. Apud Athenienses qui decem viris diurno imperio praeerat, ἐπιστάτης appellatur Demostheni; alioqui in acie ἐπιστάς et παραστὰς substites et astites dicuntur apud Aelianum, quemadmodum elegantissime vertit Thessalonicensis Gaza. RHEN.

"And so Christ is your epistates." He takes epistates here for the master in charge of the athletes, for Tertullian is using this metaphor. Among the Athenians the one who presided over the ten men with a day's authority is called ἐπιστάτης by Demosthenes; otherwise, in the battle line, ἐπιστάς and παραστάς are rendered "substites" and "astites" (the man behind and the man beside) in Aelian, as Gaza of Thessalonica most elegantly translated. RHENANUS.

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LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 351)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 625

Esse addit Franeq.

The Franeker edition adds "esse" ("to be").

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(2) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 625

Ipsa Fran. Paris. Rig.

"Ipsa" ("herself/itself"): the Franeker and Paris editions, Rigault.

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(3) ‹anchor: Dido› · call in col 625

Cum Rhen.

"Cum" ("when"): Rhenanus.

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(4) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 625

Quum abest Pam.

"Quum" ("when") is absent in Pamelius.

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(5) ‹anchor: quantus tormentorum› · call in col 625

Quantus tormenti. Non itaque cessit carnifici, etc. Jun. itaque nec cessit Latin.

"Quantus tormenti. Non itaque cessit carnifici, etc." ("as that of torment. So she did not yield to the executioner"): Junius; "itaque nec cessit" ("so neither did she yield"): Latinius.

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(6) ‹anchor: cessit carnifici› · call in col 625

Carnificis Seml.

"Carnificis" ("of the executioner"): Semler.

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(a) ‹anchor: Animo suo ducti› · call in col 625

Animo suo ducti. Praeclare: nam martyr verus non debet sequi ductum suum, sed Dei: non se interficere, sed tunc cadere cum Deus voluerit. LAC.

"Led by their own mind." Excellently put: for a true martyr ought to follow not his own leading but God's; not to kill himself, but to fall when God wills. LACERDA.

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(b) ‹anchor: Ut gloriam castitati suae pareret› · call in col 625

Ut gloriam castitati suae pareret. Non fuit pudicitiae caritas, sed pudoris infirmitas. Augustinus lib. de Civ. Dei. RIG.

"To win glory for her chastity." It was not love of chastity but weakness of shame. Augustine, book of The City of God. RIGAULT.

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(c) ‹anchor: Mutius dexteram suam› · call in col 625

Mutius dexteram suam. Proculdubio sentit Tertullianus Mutium ex eo vulnere crematae dexterae animam amisisse, quod in nemine scriptorum vidi. Ponit enim in Catalogo eorum, qui se voluntaria morte confecerint. LAC.

"Mucius his right hand." Doubtless Tertullian thinks that Mucius lost his life from the wound of his burnt right hand, which I have seen in none of the writers. For he places him in the Catalogue of those who made away with themselves by a voluntary death. LACERDA.

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(d) ‹anchor: Heraclitus› · call in col 625

Heraclitus. Is, uti annotavit Rhen., laborabat morbo aquae intercutis, et cum obscuris sermonibus assuetus homo, quaerendum e medicis jussisset, num ex imbre siccitatem facere possent; et ab illis ludi se putantibus fuisset neglectus, tandem ipse sibi subvenire volens, bubulis excrementis oblini corpus suum inflatum fecit. Est apud Laertium. PAM.

"Heraclitus." He, as Rhenanus noted, suffered from dropsy, and being a man used to obscure speech, he had bidden the physicians be asked whether they could make a drought out of a rainstorm; and when he was ignored by them, as they thought they were being mocked, at last, wishing to help himself, he had his swollen body smeared with cow dung. It is in Laertius. PAMELIUS.

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(7) ‹anchor: Nam quod› · call in col 626

Quae Fran.

"Quae" ("which"): the Franeker edition.

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(8) ‹anchor: quanti› · call in col 626

Tanti vitreum? quanti verum margaritum Rhen.

"Is a thing of glass worth so much? how much a true pearl?": Rhenanus.

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(9) ‹anchor: ad gladium› · call in col 626

Fortasse vocat Jun.

"Vocat" ("calls"), perhaps: Junius.

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(10) ‹anchor: et nunc› · call in col 626

Tunc alii.

"Tunc" ("then"): others.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 351)

(e) ‹anchor: διαμαστίγωσις› · call in col 626

Διαμαστίγωσις, Id est flagellatio. Hujus meminit et in Apolog. sub finem. RHEN.

Διαμαστίγωσις, that is, scourging. He mentions this also in the Apology, near the end. RHENANUS.

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(f) ‹anchor: Si tanti vitrum› · call in col 626

Tanti vitrum, quanti margaritum? Forma adagii. Hieronym. ad Laetam: si tanti vitrum, quare non majoris pretii sit margaritum? Et ad Demetriadem, adhuc ad Salvinam. Sumitur ad explicandam ingentem rerum inaequalitatem et distantiam. Nam quis comparat vitrum cum margarito, nisi amens? LAC.

"Is glass worth as much as a pearl?" The form of a proverb. Jerome to Laeta: "If glass is worth so much, why should a pearl not be of greater price?" And to Demetrias, and again to Salvina. It is used to express a vast inequality and distance between things. For who but a madman compares glass with a pearl? LACERDA.

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(g) ‹anchor: apud homines affectatio› · call in col 626

Apud homines affectatio. Quae ab Ethnicis paulo religiosius fieri videbantur, ea affectationi tanquam morbo cuidam tribuebantur, ita ut fictum judicetur, et tantum ad ostentationem, non vera virtus. LAC.

"Among men, affectation." Things that seemed to be done somewhat too scrupulously by the heathen were put down to affectation as to a kind of disease, so that it was judged feigned and only for show, not true virtue. LACERDA.

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(h) ‹anchor: in tunica ardente› · call in col 626

In tunica ardente. Tunica illa erat pice et bitumine illita, qua induebantur olim sancti martyres antequam in ignem projicerentur. Tunica dicitur molesta Martiali, epigr. 25. lib. 10 et Juvenali Sat. 8. ... Quod liceat tunica punire molesta. RIG.

"In a burning tunic." That tunic was smeared with pitch and bitumen; the holy martyrs were once clothed in it before being thrown into the fire. It is called the "tunica molesta" (the tunic of torment) by Martial, epigram 25, book 10, and by Juvenal, Satire 8: "... that one may punish with the tunic of torment." RIGAULT.

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(a) ‹Quoties enim incendia vivos cremaverunt› · call in col 627

Quoties enim incendia vivos cremaverunt. Omisit morborum quorumdam acutissimos cruciatus, et febrium, quarum incendia plerumque tyrannicis tetriora, certe diuturniora; quod eleganter observavit ad Epictetum suum Arrianus, lib. II: Οὐδέποτε οὐδεὶς τύραννος ἐξ μησί τινα ἔσφαξε, πυρετὸς δὲ καὶ ἐνιαυτῷ πολλάκις. Ibidem ait nihil referre qua via perveniatur ad mortem. Imo, si verum amamus, eam esse breviorem, qua duci jubet tyrannus. Rig.

For how often have fires burned men alive. He has left out the most acute torments of certain diseases, and of fevers, whose burnings are for the most part fouler than a tyrant's, and certainly longer; which Arrian elegantly observed in his Epictetus, book II: "No tyrant ever took six months to kill anyone, but a fever often takes even a year." In the same place he says that it makes no difference by which road one comes to death. Nay, if we love the truth, that road is the shorter by which the tyrant orders one to be led. Rig[altius].

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(b) ‹Et in mediis civitatibus elapsae caveis› · call in col 627

Et in mediis civitatibus elapsae caveis. Hic venit mihi in mentem duarum saevarum ursarum, quas Valentinianus Augustus alebat, earum caveas juxta cubiculum suum locare solitus. Alteri Micae aureae nomen erat, alteri Innocentiae. Multos illae mortales laniarunt, ridente et hac saevitia delectato principe. Auctor Ammianus Marcell. lib. 39. Rhen.

And having escaped from their cages in the midst of cities. Here there comes into my mind the two savage she-bears which the Emperor Valentinian kept, being wont to place their cages next to his bedchamber. One was named Golden Crumb, the other Innocence. Those two mangled many mortals, while the prince laughed and took delight in this savagery. The authority is Ammianus Marcellinus, book XXIX. Rhen[anus].

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(c) ‹Omni contumelia expuncti› · call in col 627

Omni contumelia expuncti. Hic audis Tertulliani verbum, significat nihil contumeliae omissum, quod illi non sint perpessi. Rhen.

Put through every outrage. Here you hear a word of Tertullian's: it means that no outrage was left out which they did not suffer. Rhen[anus].

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