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PL 1 · cols. 661–696

Tertullian, On Idolatry (De idololatria)

Editors' preface

PL 1:661
QUINTI SEPTIMII FLORENTIS TERTULLIANI
OF QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENS TERTULLIAN
DE IDOLOLATRIA
ON IDOLATRY
LIBER.
A BOOK.
Editors' notes and page, col. 661

Footnotes

NOTE: these notes belong to the end of De spectaculis, which closes at the head of this page; De idololatria begins below them. Lectiones variantes, then Commentarius. [LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 369)

(1) ‹rota totus rubens› · call in col 661

Rubes Rig.

Rubes (red): Rigault.

(printed under page 369)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 661

Quaestuarii Fran.

Quaestuarii (of a woman who makes money [by her body]): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 369)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 661

In caelum recepti. Indicat gentilicas apotheoses: illustre exemplum est in Herodiano loquente de Severo, qui vixit aevo Tertulliani. Justinus Mart. apolog. 2. sane in Augusti funere, ac postea Drusillae idem fuisse affirmatum a viris ordinis Senatorii, constat ex Suetonio et Dione. Lac.

Taken up into heaven. He points to the pagan apotheoses: a famous example is in Herodian, speaking of Severus, who lived in Tertullian's own time. Justin Martyr, Apology 2. Certainly at the funeral of Augustus, and afterwards of Drusilla, the same was affirmed by men of the senatorial order, as is plain from Suetonius and Dio. La Cerda.

(printed under page 369)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 661

Una conflagrantibus. Hoc malum canit gentilibus, qui putabant non esse resurrectionem. Non sic est : resurgetis, sed ad poenam. Lac.

Burning together. He sings this evil to the pagans, who thought there was no resurrection. It is not so: you will rise again, but to punishment. La Cerda.

(printed under page 369)

(c) ‹histriones … solutiores› · call in col 661

Histriones solutiores multo per ignem. Soluti histriones, quia mollitia et lascivia effeminati, ac pene ultra foeminam fluentes. Solutiores vero per ignem, membris ustulatione liquescentibus. Rig.

Actors far more loose-limbed in the fire. Actors are "loose" because they are made womanish by softness and wantonness, and flow, almost beyond a woman. "Looser" indeed in the fire, their limbs melting in the scorching. Rigault.

(printed under page 369)

(d) ‹rota totus rubens› · call in col 661

Auriga in flammea rota totus ruber. Alludit ad agitatorum factionem Russatam. Ric.

The charioteer all red on a fiery wheel. He alludes to the Red faction of the charioteers. Rigault.

(printed under page 369)

(e) ‹non in gymnasiis› · call in col 661

Non in gymnasiis. Gymnici ludi locus, inquit Isid. lib. 18. cap. 17. gymnasium dicebatur, ubi exercebantur athletae, et cursorum velocitas comprobabatur : ita dictum, quod juvenes nudi exercerentur. Hinc accidit ut omnium prope artium exercitia gymnasia dicantur. Pam.

Not in the gymnasia. The place of the gymnastic games, says Isidore, book 18, chapter 17, was called the gymnasium, where athletes were trained and the speed of runners was tested: so called because the young men trained naked. Hence it came about that the exercises of almost all the arts are called gymnasia. Pamelius.

(printed under page 369)

Editors' prose

ARGUMENTUM.

ARGUMENT.

Post tractatum de Spectaculis alterum conscripsit Septimius de idololatria, in quo varios (si ita loqui fas est) conscientiae casus proponit, discutit, resolvit. Non deerant siquidem, qui tanta laborarent ignorantia, ut arbitrarentur idololatriae crimine non pollui, nisi illos, qui idolis vel thura adolerent, vel hostias offerrent, vel eorum mysteriis aut profano sacerdotio

After the treatise on the Shows, Septimius wrote another, on idolatry, in which he sets forth, discusses and resolves various cases (if one may so speak) of conscience. For there were not lacking some who laboured under such ignorance as to think that none were defiled by the crime of idolatry save those who either burned incense to idols, or offered victims, or [were initiated] into their mysteries or a profane priesthood

<!-- note: The heading (set in the column as ARGUMENTUM, its final letters cut by the image edge) and the Argumentum begin below the title QUINTI SEPTIMII FLOREN[TIS …] DE IDOLOL[ATRIA] LIBER, which stands below the end of De spectaculis, its variant readings and its commentary notes (a)–(f). The prose runs on mid-sentence into col. 662 ("initia[ti] …"); only what stands in col. 661 is set here. The English's "[were initiated]" completes the sentence from the next column. -->

Page

  • running head: 661 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA.
  • marginal letters: A ‹coelum recepti (De spectaculis, other unit)›; B ‹flammea rota totus rubens (De spectaculis)›; C ‹ignem, membris ustulatione (commentary)›; D ‹Post tractatum de Spectaculis (Argumentum)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: Top of column is the end of De spectaculis (other unit; not set) with its variant readings and commentary. De idololatria begins at the full-width title printed across both columns near the foot of the page (cols 661–662), set here once. Below it the editors' ARGUMENTUM begins (editors' prose, cols 661–662 and continuing): not set. No author's text of De idololatria in this column.
PL 1:662
Editors' notes and page, col. 662

Footnotes

(3) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 662

Adlaederentur Rig.

Adlaederentur (should be harmed): Rigault.

[COMMENTARIUS]

(continued) · col 661

occurrent in illo spectaculo consideranda! Rig.

...will meet the eye to be considered in that spectacle! Rigault.

(printed under page 369)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 662

Fabri aut Quaestuariae filius. Hieronymus Epist. ad Heliodorum : Hic est ille operarii et quaestuariae filius. Haec fuere Judaeorum in sanctissimam et immaculatam Virginem convicia, flammis luenda sulphuratissimis. Satanica hujusmodi leguntur apud Theodoritum lib. III, cap. 11. Felicis sub Juliano Caesare Gazae praepositi, ἰδοὺ ἐν τόιοις σκεύεσιν ὑπηρετεῖται ὁ Μαρίας υἱός, quod historia Tripertita latine reddit : Ecce quibus vasis Mariae filio ministratur? Apud eumdem scriptorem, ubi de Hormisdae martyrio agitur, tyrannus ait, Nega filium fabri. Rig. — Fabri aut quaestuariae filius. Non possum libenter assentiri huic Rigaltii lectioni, neque etiam alteri quam ex Hieronymo adducit in ambobus locis Lacerda, quaestuarii. Nam diu est quod annotarunt eruditi jurisconsulti quaestuariam esse, quae lucrum aut quaestum facit corpore, sic in Glossario quaestuaria πρακτικὴ πόρνη. Le Pr.

The son of a carpenter or of a woman who sells herself. Jerome, Letter to Heliodorus: "This is that son of a workman and of a woman who sells herself." These were the Jews' insults against the most holy and immaculate Virgin, to be paid for in the most sulphurous flames. Satanic words of this kind are read in Theodoret, book III, chapter 11, of Felix, the governor of Gaza under Julian Caesar: "See with what vessels the son of Mary is served!", which the Tripartite History renders in Latin: "Behold with what vessels the son of Mary is ministered to?" In the same writer, where the martyrdom of Hormisdas is treated, the tyrant says: "Deny the son of the carpenter." Rigault. — The son of a carpenter or of a woman who sells herself. I cannot willingly agree with this reading of Rigault's, nor with the other which La Cerda adduces from Jerome in both places, quaestuarii. For learned jurists long ago noted that a quaestuaria is a woman who makes gain or profit with her body; so in the Glossary quaestuaria is "a working harlot." Le Prieur.

(printed under page 369)

(g) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 662

Vel hortulanus detraxit. Ironia haec videtur irridere aliquem illorum haereticorum, qui Christum vere passum negant, Marcionem nempe, Cerdonem ejus magistrum, et ante eos Basilidem, et Simonem Magum. Pam.

Or the gardener took him away. This irony seems to mock one of those heretics who deny that Christ truly suffered: Marcion, namely, Cerdo his master, and before them Basilides and Simon Magus. Pamelius.

(printed under page 369)

(h) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 662

Ne lactucae suae frequentia commeantium adlaederentur. Ideoque in locis sacris aedificandis, quae apud antiquos in confinio fere, ubi trium vel quatuor possessionum terminatio conveniret, constitui solebant, unusquisque possessor donabat certum modum sacro illi ex agro suo, et quantum donasset scripto faciebat; ut per diem solemnitatis, privatorum agri nullam molestiam inculcantis populi sustinerent. Notat Aggenus ad lib. Frontini de Limitib. agror. Ric.

Lest his lettuces be damaged by the crowd of people passing by. And for this reason, in building sacred places, which among the ancients were usually set on a boundary, where the limits of three or four estates met, each owner gave a fixed measure of his land to that shrine, and recorded in writing how much he had given; so that on the feast day the private owners' fields should suffer no harm from the trampling crowd. So Aggenus notes on Frontinus's book On the Boundaries of Fields. Rigault.

(printed under page 369)

Editors' prose

initiarentur (c. 2). Inde idololatriam definit: « Omnis circa idolum famulatus et servitus, et nihil interest, dicit, an plastes effingat, aut caelator exsculpat, an phrygio detexat, nec de materia refert, an gypso, an coloribus, an lapide, an aere, an argento, an filo formetur idolum (cap. 3). » Addidit Deum, tam fieri idolum, quam coli, prohibere (cap. 4). Hinc dicit, non licere

were initiated (ch. 2). Next he defines idolatry: « Every service and servitude about an idol; and it makes no difference, he says, whether a modeller fashion it, or a chaser carve it, or an embroiderer weave it; nor does it matter as to the material, whether the idol be formed of plaster, of colours, of stone, of bronze, of silver, or of thread (ch. 3). » He added that God forbids an idol to be made, just as [He forbids it] to be worshipped (ch. 4). Hence he says that it is not lawful

<!-- note: The Argumentum runs on mid-sentence from col. 661 ("… aut profano sacerdotio") and stands at the foot of col. 662, below the end of De spectaculis, its variant reading (3) and its commentary notes (f, cont.)–(h), and below the title DE IDOLOLATRIA LIBER and the heading ARGUMENTUM, which are centred across both columns (the heading is set in ep_661). It runs on mid-sentence into col. 663 ("Hinc dicit, non licere …"); only what stands in col. 662 is set here. -->

Page

  • running head: DE IDOLOLATRIA. 662
  • marginal letters: A ‹malim ad eos potius (De spectaculis)›; B ‹vidit, nec auris audivit (De spectaculis)›; C ‹(g) Vel hortulanus detraxit (commentary)›; D ‹initiarentur (c. 2) (Argumentum)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: Column holds the close of De spectaculis (other unit; not set), its variants and commentary, the right half of the full-width title of De idololatria (set once at col 661), and the start of the editors' ARGUMENTUM (editors' prose; not set). No author's text of De idololatria in this column.
PL 1:663
CAPUT PRIMUM.
CHAPTER I.
Principale crimen generis humani, summus seculi reatus, tota caussa judicii, idololatria. Nam etsi suam speciem tenet unumquodque delictum, etsi suo quoque nomine judicio destinatur, in idololatriae tamen crimine expungitur. Omitte titulos, operas recognosce: idololatres, idem homicida est. Quaeris quem occiderit? si quid ad elogii ambitionem facit, non extraneum, nec inimicum, sed se ipsum. Quibus insidiis? erroris sui. Quo telo? offensa Dei. Quot plagis? quotquot idololatriis. Qui negat idololatren perisse, is negabit idololatren homicidium fecisse. Proinde adulterium et stuprum in eodem recognoscas: nam qui falsis deis servit, sine dubio adulter est veritatis, quia omne falsum adulterium est. Sic et in stupro mergitur. Quis enim immundis spiritibus operatus, non conspurcatus et constupratus incedit (Ezech., XXIII)? Atque adeo Scripturae sanctae stupri vocabulo utuntur in idololatriae exprobratione. Fraudis conditio ea est opinor, si quis alienum rapiat, aut alii debitum deneget, et utique erga hominem admissa fraus maximi criminis nomen est. Atenim idololatria fraudem Deo facit, honores illi suos denegans, et conferens aliis, ut fraudi etiam contumeliam conjungat. Quod si tam fraus quam stuprum atque adulterium mortem afferunt, jam in his aeque idololatria de homicidii reatu non liberatur. Post talia crimina, tam exitiosa, tam devoratoria salutis, caetera quoque aliquem ad modum et seorsum proinde disposita, in idololatria conditionem suam repraesentant. In illa et concupiscentiae saeculi. Quae enim idololatriae solemnitas sine ambitione cultus et ornatus? In illa lasciviae et ebrietates, cum plurimum victus et ventris et libidinis caussa frequentantur. In illa injustitia. Quid enim injustius ea, quae justitiae Patrem nescit? In illa etiam vanitas, quum tota ejus ratio vana sit; in illa mendacium,
The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt of the world, the whole cause of judgement, is idolatry. For although each offence keeps its own character, although it is also destined for judgement under its own name, yet it is summed up in the crime of idolatry. Set aside the titles, recognize the deeds: the idolater is likewise a murderer. Do you ask whom he has killed? If it adds anything to the ambition of the charge: not a stranger, nor an enemy, but himself. By what snares? Those of his own error. With what weapon? The offence of God. With how many blows? As many as his idolatries. He who denies that the idolater has perished will deny that the idolater has committed murder. Likewise you may recognize adultery and fornication in the same man: for he who serves false gods is without doubt an adulterer of the truth, because everything false is adultery. Thus he is also sunk in fornication. For who that has busied himself with unclean spirits does not go about defiled and debauched (Ezek. 23)? And so the holy Scriptures use the word fornication in reproaching idolatry. The nature of fraud, I think, is this: if someone seizes what is another's, or denies another what is owed; and certainly fraud committed against a man bears the name of a very great crime. But idolatry commits fraud against God, denying Him His honours and conferring them on others, so that it joins insult also to fraud. But if fraud, as much as fornication and adultery, brings death, then in these things equally idolatry is not freed from the guilt of murder. After such crimes, so ruinous, so devouring of salvation, the rest also, in some measure and separately arranged in like manner, show their own condition in idolatry. In it are also the lusts of the world. For what solemnity of idolatry is without the ambition of dress and adornment? In it are wantonness and drunkenness, since they are frequented for the most part for the sake of food and belly and lust. In it is injustice. For what is more unjust than that which does not know the Father of justice? In it too is vanity, since its whole system is vain; in it is falsehood,
Editors' notes and page, col. 663

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 372)

(1) ‹suo quoque nomine› · call in col 663

Quodque nomine Jun.

Quodque nomine (each by name): Junius.

(printed under page 372)

(2) ‹operas recognosce› · call in col 663

Opera recognosce Jun. Latin.

Opera recognosce (recognize the works): Junius; Latinius.

(printed under page 372)

(3) ‹Proinde› · call in col 663

Perinde Paris.

Perinde (in the same way): Paris edition.

(printed under page 372)

(4) ‹Sic et in› · call in col 663

In abest Rig.

In is absent: Rigault.

(printed under page 372)

(5) ‹in his aeque› · call in col 663

Jam his aeque Jun.

Jam his aeque (now by these equally): Junius.

(printed under page 372)

(6) ‹caussa frequentantur› · call in col 663

Frequententur Rig.

Frequententur (subjunctive, "are frequented"): Rigault.

(printed under page 372)

Editors' prose

Christianis idola fabrefacere, aut vendere adoraturis, ac quidem cum aliud non habent, unde vivant (cap. 5). Prohibet etiam aedificationem templi, arae, aediculae, domus in honorem idolorum (cap. 8). Quin etiam negotiationes mercium earum, quae ad idololatriam pertinent (cap. 11): a festis quoque diebus etiam extraordinariis abstinendum (cap. 13): neque servis licere ministros esse idololatriae (cap. 18): neque licitam militiam, in qua militandum sit sub signo diaboli (cap. 19); dejerationem omnem me Hercule, medius Fidius, nec non abjurationem Jupiter tibi sit iratus, et subsecutam, responsionem, imo tibi, damnat et execratur. Caeterum in perlegendo hoc tractatu discretione opus est: quae enim velut generalia principia Tertullianus hic ponit, fere omnia vera sunt; non autem omnia vera sunt, quae exinde deducit. LUMP.

for Christians to make idols, or to sell them to those who will worship them, and that even when they have nothing else whereby to live (ch. 5). He forbids also the building of a temple, an altar, a shrine, a house in honour of idols (ch. 8). Nay more, [he forbids] trading in those wares which pertain to idolatry (ch. 11); that one must abstain also from [their] festal days, even the extraordinary ones (ch. 13); that it is not lawful for servants to be ministers of idolatry (ch. 18); nor is that military service lawful in which one must serve under the standard of the devil (ch. 19); every oath such as "By Hercules", "So help me the god of faith", and also the imprecation "Jupiter be angry with you", and the answer that follows it, "Nay, with you", he condemns and execrates. For the rest, discernment is needed in reading this treatise through: for the things which Tertullian lays down here as general principles are almost all true; but not all the things which he deduces from them are true. LUMP.

<!-- note: The Argumentum runs on mid-sentence from col. 662 ("Hinc dicit, non licere …") and fills the top of col. 663, ending with the signature LUMP. (in small capitals); CAPUT PRIMUM and the text of De idololatria follow. Read as printed: "ac quidem" (perhaps for "ac" / "et quidem"); "subsecutam" read from the italic, where the first vowel is not wholly clear (possibly printed "sabsecutam"); the comma after it is as printed. The non-italic words (me Hercule, medius Fidius, Jupiter tibi sit iratus, imo tibi, dicit) are Tertullian's formulas quoted in roman type within the italic Argumentum. -->

Page

  • running head: 663 TERTULLIANI
  • marginal letters: A ‹Christianis idola fabrefacere (Argumentum)›; B ‹quae exinde deducit. LUMP. (Argumentum)›; C ‹et stuprum in eodem recognoscas›; D ‹tam devoratoria salutis›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: Top of column (to "quae exinde deducit. LUMP.") is the close of the editors' ARGUMENTUM (editors' prose, cols 661–663): not set. The author's text of De idololatria begins at CAPUT PRIMUM in this column. The last word, "men-|dacium", is hyphenated across the break and set whole here as "mendacium" (completion seen at the top of col 664). "seculi" printed so (later "saeculi"); kept as printed.
PL 1:664
quum tota substantia ejus mendax sit. Ita fit, ut omnia in idololatria, et in omnibus idololatria deprehendatur. Sed et alias quum universa delicta adversus Dominum sapiant, nihil autem quod adversus Dominum sapiat, non daemoniis et immundis spiritibus deputetur, quibus idola mancipantur: sine dubio idololatriam admittit, quicunque delinquit: id enim facit quod ad idolorum mancipes pertinet.
since its whole substance is lying. Thus it comes about that all things are found in idolatry, and idolatry in all things. But besides, since all offences savour of opposition to the Lord, and nothing that savours of opposition to the Lord is not assigned to demons and unclean spirits, to whom the idols are made over: without doubt whoever offends commits idolatry, for he does what pertains to the owners of the idols.
CAPUT II.
CHAPTER II.
Sed universa nomina criminum discedant in operum suorum proprietates; remaneat idololatria in eo quod ipsa est: sufficit sibi tam inimicum Deo nomen, tam locuples substantia criminis, quae tot ramos porrigit, tam venas defundit, ut de hoc cum maxime materia suscepta sit, quot modis nobis praecavenda sit idololatriae latitudo. Quoniam multifariam servos Dei nec tantum ignorata, sed etiam dissimulata subvertit. Plerique idololatriam simpliciter existimant his solis modis interpretandam: si quis aut incendat, aut immolet, aut polluceat, aut sacris aliquibus aut sacerdotiis obligetur: quemadmodum si quis existimet adulterium in osculis, et in amplexibus, et in ipsa carnis congressione censendum: aut homicidium in sola sanguinis profusione, et in animae ereptione reputandum (Matth., V, 22). Atenim Dominus quam extensius ista disponat certi sumus, cum adulterium etiam in concupiscentia designat, si oculum quis impegerit libidinose, et animam commoverit impudice (ibidem): cum homicidium etiam in verbo maledicti vel convicii judicat, et in omni impetu irae, et in negligentia caritatis in fratrem. Sicut (Joan., III, 15) Joannes docet homicidam esse qui oderit fratrem. Alioquin in modico consisteret, et diaboli ingenium de malitia, et Dei Domini de disciplina, qua nos adversus diaboli altitudines munit (Matth., V, cf. Apoc., V. 24), si in his tantum delictis judicaremur, quae etiam nationes decreverunt vindicanda. Quomodo abundabit justitia nostra super scribas et pharisaeos, ut Dominus praescripsit, nisi abundantiam adversariae ejus, id est injustitiae perspexerimus? Quod si caput injustitiae idololatria est, prius est uti adversus abundantiam idololatriae praemuniamur, dum illam non solum in manifestis recognoscimus.
But let all the names of crimes withdraw into the particular properties of their own works; let idolatry remain in that which it itself is. Sufficient to itself is a name so hostile to God, a substance of crime so rich, which stretches out so many branches and pours out so many veins, that from this above all the subject has been taken up: in how many ways the breadth of idolatry must be guarded against by us. For it overthrows the servants of God in manifold ways, not only when unrecognized but also when disguised. Most people think that idolatry is to be understood simply in these ways alone: if someone burns incense, or sacrifices, or gives a sacrificial feast, or is bound to some sacred rites or priesthoods; just as if someone were to think that adultery is to be reckoned in kisses and embraces and in the very union of the flesh, or murder to be counted only in the shedding of blood and the taking of life (Matt. 5:22). But we are certain how much more widely the Lord lays these things out, since He marks out adultery even in desire, if anyone has cast his eye lustfully and stirred his soul shamelessly (ibid.); since He judges murder even in a word of cursing or abuse, and in every impulse of anger, and in neglect of charity towards a brother. So (1 John 3:15) John teaches that he who hates his brother is a murderer. Otherwise both the devil's ingenuity in malice and the Lord God's in discipline, by which He fortifies us against the depths of the devil (Matt. 5; cf. Rev. 2:24), would amount to little, if we were judged only for those offences which even the nations have decreed are to be punished. How will our justice abound over that of the scribes and Pharisees, as the Lord prescribed, unless we have perceived the abundance of its adversary, that is, of injustice? But if the head of injustice is idolatry, our first task is to be forearmed against the abundance of idolatry, while we recognize it not only in what is manifest.
CAPUT III.
CHAPTER III.
Idolum aliquandiu retro non erat. Priusquam hujus monstri artifices ebullissent, sola templa et vacuae aedes erant, sicut in hodiernum quibusdam locis vetustatis vestigia permanent. Tamen idololatria agebatur, non in isto nomine, sed in isto opere. Nam et hodie extra templum et sine idolo agi potest. At ubi artifices statuarum et imaginum, et omnis generis simulacrorum diabolus saeculo intulit,
For a long while in the past there was no idol. Before the makers of this monstrosity had bubbled up, there were only temples and empty shrines, as to this day the traces of antiquity remain in certain places. Yet idolatry was practised, not under that name but in that work. For even today it can be practised outside a temple and without an idol. But when the devil brought into the world makers of statues and images and of likenesses of every kind,
Editors' notes and page, col. 664

Footnotes

(7) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 664

Deum — Deum Rig.

Deum — Deum (God … God): Rigault.

(printed under page 372)

(8) ‹tam venas defundit› · call in col 664

Diffundit Wouw. M. S.

Diffundit (spreads out): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 372)

(9) ‹vel convicii judicat› · call in col 664

Indicat Jun.

Indicat (points out): Junius.

(printed under page 372)

(10) ‹Dei Domini› · call in col 664

Dominum Jun.

Dominum (the Lord, accusative): Junius.

(printed under page 372)

(11) ‹diaboli altitudines› · call in col 664

Latitudines Wouw. M. S., Rig.

Latitudines (breadths): Wouwer's manuscript, Rigault.

(printed under page 372)

(12) ‹si in his› · call in col 664

Si his alii.

Si his (if by these): others.

(printed under page 372)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 664
  • marginal letters: A ‹dacium, quum tota substantia›; B ‹praecavenda sit idololatriae latitudo›; C ‹verbo maledicti vel convicii›; D ‹CAPUT III.›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: Column opens with "dacium", the end of "men-|dacium", set whole at the foot of col 663; this column's text begins at "quum". The references "(Joan., III, 15)" (the saying is 1 John 3:15) and "(Matth., V, cf. Apoc., V. 24)" (the "depths of the devil" is Revelation 2:24) are set and rendered as printed.
  • remark: Migne prints (Joan., III, 15) and (Apoc., V. 24); the passages meant are 1 John 3:15 and Rev. 2:24, which the English gives.
PL 1:665
rude illud negotium humanae calamitatis, et nomen de idolis consecutum est, et profectum. Exinde jam caput facta est idololatriae ars omnis quae idolum quomodo edit. Neque enim interest, an plastes effingat, an caelator exsculpat, an phrygio detexat: quia nec de materia refert, an gypso, an coloribus, an lapide, an aere, an argento, an filo formetur idolum. Quando enim et sine idolo idololatria fiat, utique cum adest idolum nihil interest quale sit, qua de materia, qua de effigie, ne qui putet id solum idolum habendum, quod humana effigie sit consecratum. Ad hoc necessaria est vocabuli interpretatio: εἶδος graece formam sonat; ab eo per diminutionem εἴδωλον deductum, aeque apud nos formulam fecit. Igitur omnis forma vel formula idolum se dici exposcit. Inde idololatria omnis circa omne idolum famulatus et servitus. Inde et omnis idoli artifex, ejusdem et unius est criminis: nisi parum idololatriam populus admisit, quia simulacrum vituli, et non hominis sibi consecravit.
that crude business of human calamity gained both its name from idols and its advance. From then on every art which in any way produces an idol became a source of idolatry. For it makes no difference whether the modeller shapes it, or the engraver carves it, or the embroiderer weaves it; because neither does it matter of what material an idol is formed, whether of plaster, of colours, of stone, of bronze, of silver, or of thread. For since idolatry takes place even without an idol, certainly when an idol is present it makes no difference of what sort it is, of what material, of what likeness, lest anyone think that only that is to be held an idol which is consecrated in human likeness. For this an interpretation of the word is necessary: εἶδος in Greek means form; εἴδωλον, derived from it by diminution, has likewise produced among us the word formula, a little form. Therefore every form or little form demands to be called an idol. Hence idolatry is every attendance and service about any idol. Hence too every maker of an idol is of one and the same crime; unless the people committed little idolatry because they consecrated to themselves the image of a calf and not of a man.
CAPUT IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Idolum tam fieri, quam coli, Deus prohibet. Quanto praecedit ut fiat quod coli possit, tanto prius est, ne fiat, si coli non licet. Propter hanc caussam, ad eradicandam scilicet materiam idololatriae, lex divina proclamat (Exod., XXXII; Levit., XXVI, 1; Deut., V, 8): Ne feceris idolum. Et conjungens (Exod., XX, 8), neque similitudinem eorum quae in coelo sunt, et quae in terra, et quae in mari. Toto mundo ejusmodi artibus interdixit servis Dei. Antecesserat praedicens Enoch omnia elementa, omnem mundi sensum quae coelo, quae mari, quae terra continentur, in idololatriam
God forbids an idol to be made as much as to be worshipped. In so far as the making of what can be worshipped comes first, by so much the more is it the prior rule that it not be made, if it may not be worshipped. For this cause, namely to root out the material of idolatry, the divine law proclaims (Exod. 32; Lev. 26:1; Deut. 5:8): You shall not make an idol. And, joining to it (Exod. 20:8): nor a likeness of the things that are in heaven, and that are on earth, and that are in the sea. He has debarred the servants of God from arts of this kind throughout the whole world. Enoch had gone before, foretelling that all the elements, all the sense of the world, the things contained in heaven, in the sea, on earth, into idolatry
Editors' notes and page, col. 665

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 373)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 665

Quave effigie Jun.

Quave effigie (or by what likeness): Junius.

(printed under page 373)

(2) ‹per diminutionem› · call in col 665

Deminutionem Jun. ex M. S.

Deminutionem (diminution, variant spelling): Junius, from a manuscript.

(printed under page 373)

(3) ‹Antecesserat› · call in col 665

Enim hoc add. Fran.

Franeker adds enim hoc (for this).

(printed under page 373)

(4) ‹praedicens Enoch› · call in col 665

Enoch abest Paris.

Enoch is absent: Paris edition.

(printed under page 373)

(5) ‹mundi sensum› · call in col 665

Censum Jun., Ciacon.

Censum (census, wealth): Junius, Chacón.

(printed under page 373)

(6) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 665

Praedamnat prorsus : Juro Jun.

Praedamnat prorsus : Juro (he condemns beforehand outright: I swear): Junius.

(printed under page 373)

(a) ‹ut fiat› · call in col 665

CAP. IV.—Quanto praecedit ut fiat. Locus notatissimus ut scias nunquam jure naturali prohibitas imagines veri Dei. Itaque ab omni aevo, ab ipso Adamo potuit fieri imago Dei ut coleretur. Hujus sententiae laudandus Tertullianus hoc loco : paritatem enim temporis in utraque constituit. Sicut nullo aevo potuit fieri quod non potuit coli; ita omni aevo potuit fieri quod potuit coli. An vero jure scripto id vetitum Judaeis, dissident : doctores duo aevi hujus gravissimi, Vasquius affirmat prohibitum, Soarius negat; postremo haereo ego tantulus. Lac.

CHAPTER IV.—As far as its being made comes first. A most noteworthy passage, that you may know images of the true God were never forbidden by natural law. So in every age, from Adam himself, an image of God could be made to be venerated. Tertullian is to be praised for this view in this place, for he sets the two on an equal footing in time. As in no age could a thing be made that could not be worshipped, so in every age a thing could be made that could be worshipped. Whether it was forbidden to the Jews by written law, they disagree: of the two weightiest doctors of this age, Vásquez affirms that it was forbidden, Suárez denies it; finally I, small as I am, am left in doubt. La Cerda.

(printed under page 373)

(b) ‹Ne feceris idolum› · call in col 665

Ne feceris idolum. Ad verbum transtulit, cum vulgato interprete, 70. Graece est εἴδωλον, quemadmodum et B. Cyprianus cap. lib. 1, de exhort. mart. qua versione explicatur verus hujus loci sensus, de quo Auctor latius lib II, adv. Marcionem ubi locum hujus Scripturae interpretatur de imaginibus idololatriae substantiam continentibus. Uno autem verbo, et quae in mari, pro eo quod ex graeco alii recte transferunt : et quaecumque in aquis sub terra. Pam.

Thou shalt not make an idol. He translated word for word, with the Vulgate translator, from the Seventy. The Greek is εἴδωλον (idol), as also blessed Cyprian, book 1, chapter, On Exhortation to Martyrdom; by this rendering the true sense of this passage is explained, of which the Author speaks more fully in book II Against Marcion, where he interprets the place of this Scripture of images that contain the substance of idolatry. In one word, however, "and the things that are in the sea," for what others rightly translate from the Greek: "and whatsoever things are in the waters under the earth." Pamelius.

(printed under page 373)

(c) ‹praedicens Enoch› · call in col 665

Antecesserat Enoch. Liber Enoch, cui titulus duodecim patriarcharum testamentum, saepe citatur ab Origene, Procopio, Tertulliano, et aliis. Multa ibi vaticinia de sceleribus Hebraeorum et poenis, interque illa tum et hoc propagandae per universum terrarum orbem idololatriae. Jactatum et illud vulgo de duabus columnis, lapidea : quae resisteret aquis; lateritia, quae ignibus; in quibus inclusi libri hujus viri. Lac.

Enoch had gone before. The book of Enoch, whose title is the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, is often cited by Origen, Procopius, Tertullian and others. In it are many prophecies of the crimes and punishments of the Hebrews, and among them this one too, of idolatry to be spread through the whole world. That story too was commonly bandied about of the two pillars, one of stone, to withstand the waters, one of brick, to withstand fire, in which this man's books were enclosed. La Cerda.

(printed under page 373)

Page

  • running head: 665 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA.
  • marginal letters: A ‹rude illud negotium›; B ‹idololatria omnis circa omne idolum›; C ‹coelo, quae mari, quae terra›; D ‹(commentary: sident : doctores duo)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:666
versuros daemonas et spiritus desertorum angelorum, ut pro Deo adversus Dominum consecrarentur. Omnia igitur colit humanus error, praeter ipsum omnium conditorem. Eorum imagines idola, imaginum consecratio idololatria. Quicquid idololatria committit, in artificem quemcunque et cujuscunque idoli deputetur necesse est. Denique idem Enoch simul et cultores idoli et fabricatores in comminatione praedamnat. Et rursus: Juro vobis peccatores, quod in diem sanguinis perditionis poenitentia parata est. Qui servitis lapidibus, et qui imagines facitis aureas et argenteas, et ligneas, et lapideas, et fictiles, et servitis phantasmatibus, et daemoniis, et spiritibus infamibus, et omnibus erroribus non secundum scientiam, nullum ab iis invenietis auxilium. Esaias vero (Is., XLIV, 8), Testes, ait, non vos estis, si est Deus absque me. Et non erant tunc qui fingunt et exsculpunt, omnes vani, qui faciunt libita sibi, quae illis non proderunt. Et deinceps tota illa pronuntiatio, qua in artifices, qua in cultores detestatur, cujus clausula est (Is. XLIV, 20), Cognoscite quod cinis sit cor illorum, et errant et nemo animam suam liberare possit. Ubi aeque David, Et tales fiant, inquit, qui faciunt ea (Ps. CXIII, 8). Et quid ego modicae memoriae homo? ultra quid suggeram? quid recolam de Scripturis? quasi aut non sufficiat vox Spiritus Sancti, aut ultra deliberandum sit, an maledixerit atque damnaverit Dominus ipsos prius artifices eorum, quorum cultores maledicit et damnat?
the demons and the spirits of the deserting angels would turn [them], so that they might be consecrated in place of God, against the Lord. Human error therefore worships all things except the very Founder of all. Their images are idols; the consecration of images is idolatry. Whatever idolatry commits must of necessity be charged to every maker of any idol whatever. In short, the same Enoch condemns beforehand in his threatening both the worshippers of an idol and its makers together. And again: I swear to you, sinners, that for the day of the blood of perdition repentance is prepared. You who serve stones, and you who make images of gold and of silver and of wood and of stone and of clay, and serve phantoms and demons and infamous spirits, and all errors not according to knowledge, will find no help from them. And Isaiah says (Isa. 44:8): You are not witnesses, if there is a God besides Me. And then there were none who mould and carve, all vain, who make what pleases them, which will not profit them. And then that whole declaration in which he execrates the makers and the worshippers, whose close is (Isa. 44:20): Know that their heart is ashes, and they go astray, and no one can set his soul free. Where David likewise says: And let those who make them become like them (Ps. 115:8). And why should I, a man of small memory, suggest anything further? What more should I recall from the Scriptures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient, or there were need to deliberate further whether the Lord has cursed and condemned first the very makers of those whose worshippers He curses and condemns!
CAPUT V.
CHAPTER V.
Plane impensius respondebimus ad excusationes
Plainly we shall answer more earnestly to the excuses
Editors' notes and page, col. 666

Footnotes

(7) ‹diem sanguinis› · call in col 666

Sanguinis et Jun.

Sanguinis et (of blood and): Junius.

(printed under page 373)

(8) ‹spiritibus infamibus› · call in col 666

Infamis Paris. Jun.; insanis Wouw. M S.

Infamis (infamous): Paris edition, Junius; insanis (mad): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 373)

(9) ‹et errant› · call in col 666

Terra Rig.

Terra (earth): Rigault.

(printed under page 373)

(10) ‹Ubi› · call in col 666

Uti Jun.

Uti (as): Junius.

(printed under page 373)

(11) ‹Et tales› · call in col 666

Factores add. Jun. Paris. Rig.

Junius, the Paris edition and Rigault add factores (makers).

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 373)

(d) ‹spiritibus infamibus› · call in col 666

Et spiritibus infamibus. In cod. Fulvii Ursini legitur, insanis. At in cod. Agobardi, infamis. Rig. — Spiritibus infamibus. Desertores hic spiritus infames dici existimo, desertoris nomen a militia desumptum est, at miles desertor infamis erat ut videre est l. I, D. de his qui notantur infamia. Le Pr.

And to infamous spirits. In Fulvio Orsini's codex one reads insanis (mad). But in the Agobard codex, infamis. Rigault. — To infamous spirits. I think deserter spirits are here called infamous; the name of deserter is taken from soldiering, and a deserting soldier was infamous, as may be seen in law 1, Digest, On those who are branded with infamy. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 373)

(e) ‹et errant› · call in col 666

Cognoscite quod cinis sit cor illorum et errant. Sic omnino restituendus est hic locus, pro eo quod corruptissime legebantur, et terra. Nam magna dictionum vicinitas ob easdem litteras, et graece est καὶ πλανῶνται. Pam. — Cognoscite quod cinis sit, etc. Hoc Isaias non dicit; imponit ergo illi Tertullianus? non, sed explicat. Ait Isaias ita homines stultos fuisse, ut medium lignum crement ad calefaciendum se, ad coquendos panes et carnes, de reliquo ligno sibi Deum faciant, et adorent. Ait ergo Tertullianus sub persona Isaiae cor deorum esse cinerem, quia media pars arboris et princeps conversa in cinerem. Itaque cor Septimii et medium Isaiae idem est. Lac.

Know that their heart is ash, and they go astray. So this passage must certainly be restored, in place of the most corrupt reading et terra (and earth). For the two words are very close because of the same letters, and the Greek is καὶ πλανῶνται (and they go astray). Pamelius. — Know that it is ash, etc. Isaiah does not say this; does Tertullian then foist it on him? No, he explains it. Isaiah says men were so foolish that they burned half the wood to warm themselves and to bake bread and cook meat, and of the rest of the wood made themselves a God and worshipped it. So Tertullian says, in Isaiah's person, that the heart of the gods is ash, because the middle and chief part of the tree was turned to ash. And so Septimius's "heart" and Isaiah's "middle" are the same. La Cerda.

(printed under page 373)

(f) ‹tales fiant› · call in col 666

Et tales fiant qui faciunt ea. Quum repetitio alioquin esset ejusdem supervacanea, omisimus factores. Nam lib. adv. Gnosticos non aliud legit, quam : Similes erunt illis qui ea faciunt. Lac.

And let those who make them become such. Since the repetition of the same word would otherwise be superfluous, we have omitted factores (makers). For in the book Against the Gnostics he reads nothing other than: "They that make them shall be like unto them." La Cerda.

(printed under page 373)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 666
  • marginal letters: A ‹versuros daemonas et spiritus›; B ‹Esaias vero (Is., XLIV, 8)›; C ‹Plane impensius respondebimus›; D ‹(commentary: dere est l. I, D.)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:667
hujusmodi artificum, quos nunquam in domum Dei admitti oportet, si quis eam disciplinam norit. Jam illa objici solita vox: Non habeo aliud quo vivam. Districtius repercuti potest: vivere ergo habes, Quid tibi cum Deo est, si tuis legibus? Tum quod et de Scripturis audent argumentari, dixisse apostolum, ut quisque fuerit inventus, ita et perseveret (I Cor. VII, 20). Possumus igitur omnes in peccatis perseverare ex ista interpretatione. Nec enim quisquam nostrum non peccator inventus est (I Cor., IV), cum Christus non alia ex caussa descenderit, quam peccatorum liberandorum. Item eumdem praecepisse (I Thess., IV, 11) dicunt secundum suum exemplum, ut manibus unusquisque operetur ad victum. Si hoc praeceptum ab omnibus manibus defendatur, credo et fures balnearios manibus suis vivere, et ipsos latrones manibus agere quo vivant. Item falsarios utique non pedibus, sed manibus operari malas litteras. Histriones vero non manibus solis, sed totis membris victum elaborare. Pateat igitur Ecclesia omnibus, qui manibus et suo opere tolerantur, si nulla exceptio est artium, quas Dei disciplina non recipit. Sed ait quidam adversus similitudinis interdictae propositionem (Num. XXI): Cur ergo Moses in eremo simulacrum serpentis ex aere fecit? Seorsum figurae, quae dispositioni alicui arcanae praestruebantur, non ad derogationem legis, sed ad exemplarium caussae suae. Alioquin si haec ut adversarii legis interpretemur, numquid et nos, quod et Marcionitae, inconstantiam adscribimus Omnipotenti? quem illi hoc modo destruunt ut mutabilem, dum alibi vetat, alibi mandat? Si quis autem dissimulat illam effigiem aerei serpentis, suspensi in modum, figuram designasse dominicae crucis, a serpentibus, id est
of craftsmen of this kind, who ought never to be admitted into the house of God, if anyone knows that discipline. Now comes that saying which is usually put forward: I have nothing else by which to live. It can be struck back more sharply: you have to live, then? What have you to do with God, if [you live] by your own laws? Then, because they even dare to argue from the Scriptures that the apostle said: as each one was found, so let him also remain (1 Cor. 7:20). By that interpretation, then, we can all remain in our sins. For not one of us was found other than a sinner (1 Cor. 4), since Christ came down for no other cause than to set sinners free. Again, they say that the same [apostle] commanded (1 Thess. 4:11), after his own example, that each should work with his hands for his living. If this precept is upheld for all hands, I suppose even the thieves of the baths live by their hands, and the robbers themselves get with their hands that by which they live. Likewise forgers, certainly not with their feet but with their hands, work their bad letters. And actors labour out their living not with their hands alone but with all their limbs. Let the Church, then, be open to all who are sustained by their hands and their own work, if there is no exception of the arts which the discipline of God does not admit. But someone says against the proposition that the likeness is forbidden (Num. 21): Why then did Moses make an image of a serpent out of bronze in the desert? Figures which were laid down beforehand for some hidden dispensation stand apart, not to the derogation of the law but as patterns of their own cause. Otherwise, if we interpret these things as the adversaries of the law do, do we too, as the Marcionites also do, ascribe inconstancy to the Almighty, Whom they in this way destroy as changeable, while in one place He forbids and in another commands? But if anyone pretends not to know that that image of the bronze serpent, hung up in the manner [of one crucified], designated the figure of the Lord's cross, from serpents, that is
Editors' notes and page, col. 667

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 374)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 667

Sit vis tuis legibus Cod. Wouw. Fit vit tuis legibus Fuln. Ursin.

Sit vis tuis legibus (let there be force to your laws): Wouwer's codex. Fit vit tuis legibus [sic]: Fulvio Orsini.

(printed under page 374)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 667

Enim abest. Paris.

Enim (for) is absent: Paris edition.

(printed under page 374)

(3) ‹fures balnearios› · call in col 667

Fures et aleatores Rig.

Fures et aleatores (thieves and dice-players): Rigault.

(printed under page 374)

(4) ‹non recipit› · call in col 667

Recepit Fran.

Recepit (has received): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 374)

(5) ‹ad derogationem› · call in col 667

Erogationem Seml.

Erogationem (paying out): Semler.

(printed under page 374)

(6) ‹quem illi› · call in col 667

Omnipotenti? Quod illi Wouwer. M. S.

Omnipotenti? Quod illi (to the Almighty? Which they): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 374)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 667

CAP. V. — Non habeo aliud quo vivam. Satis indicat, multos praevaricari solitos a fide propter necessitatem : de his qui praeter illam adhuc praevaricarentur est can. II, conc. Nic. Lac.

CHAPTER V. — I have nothing else to live by. He shows clearly enough that many were accustomed to fall away from the faith through necessity: concerning those who still fell away without that necessity there is canon II of the Council of Nicaea. La Cerda.

(printed under page 374)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 667

Audent argumentari. Homines quibus hic ausus ad torquendas Scripturas, vocantur ab Alexandro episc. Alexandrino χαμαιλέοντες, quibus animalculis insita mutatio. Vide illum in epist. quae proponitur Nicaenae synodo. Notetur verbum Theodoriti lib. 1, hist. cap. IV, ταῖς γραφαῖς ἐμπαροινοῦντες. Loquitur de haereticis iis scilicet qui audent vim sacris Scripturis adducere, qui veluti debacchari per ebrietatem in sacras litteras videntur. Lac.

They dare to argue. Men who have this daring in twisting the Scriptures are called by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, χαμαιλέοντες (chameleons), little animals with change built into them. See him in the letter set before the Nicene synod. Note the word of Theodoret, book 1 of the History, chapter IV: ταῖς γραφαῖς ἐμπαροινοῦντες (abusing the Scriptures like drunkards). He speaks of those heretics, that is, who dare to do violence to the sacred Scriptures, who seem as it were to rave drunkenly against the sacred writings. La Cerda.

(printed under page 374)

(c) ‹fures (c) balnearios› · call in col 667

Fures balnearios. Cod. Agobardi, fures et balneatores. Emendat Rigalt., fures et aleatores. Nam et alea manibus exercetur. Si quis tamen retinere velit, fures balneatores, non contradicit. Nam et libro de Fuga, dixit Noster, fures balnearum. Imo addidit, et aleones. In Apologetico, p. 496, reperitur, lavantium praedo. Ric. — Fures balnearios habet Pamelius, quam lectionem veram puto, nam sic Catull. — Io furum optime balneariorum. Fures erant nimirum adversus quos in balneis constituebantur custodes ad servandas vestes, custodes ii dicebantur capsarii. Si vero ii quoque furati essent, in jus vocabantur coram praefecto vigilum sic l. nam salutem III, dig. de off. praef. vig. Le Pr.

Bath-thieves. The Agobard codex has fures et balneatores (thieves and bath-keepers). Rigault emends to fures et aleatores (thieves and dice-players), for dice too is played with the hands. If anyone wishes to keep fures balneatores, however, he does not object. For in the book On Flight too our author said "thieves of the baths"; indeed he added "and dicers." In the Apology, p. 496, is found "robber of bathers." Rigault. — Pamelius has fures balnearios, which I think the true reading, for so Catullus: "O best of bath-thieves." There were of course thieves, against whom keepers were placed in the baths to guard the clothes; these keepers were called capsarii. And if they too had stolen, they were summoned to law before the prefect of the watch: so the law "nam salutem," 3, Digest, On the office of the prefect of the watch. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 374)

(d) ‹totis membris› · call in col 667

Totis membris victum elaborare. Pantomimos significat. Ric.

To work for their living with all their limbs. He means the pantomimes. Rigault.

(printed under page 374)

(e) [printed (c)] ‹exemplarium caussae suae› · call in col 667

Exemplarium. Quod esset posteris pro signo, figura, aenigmate. Ric. Caussae suae. Hoc est, rei significatae, nimirum Dominicae crucis. Ric.

Of patterns. Something to serve posterity as a sign, a figure, a riddle. Rigault.

(printed under page 374)

(f) ‹dominicae crucis› · call in col 667

Figuram designasse Dominicae crucis. Latius hoc tractat. lib. adv. Judaeos, et lib. III adv. Marcionem. Pam.

To have signified a figure of the Lord's cross. He treats this more fully in the book Against the Jews, and in book III Against Marcion. Pamelius.

(printed under page 374)

Page

  • running head: 667 TERTULLIANI
  • marginal letters: A ‹hujusmodi artificum›; B ‹credo et fures balnearios›; C ‹illi hoc modo destruunt›; D ‹(commentary: ad torquendas Scripturas)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:668
ab angelis diaboli liberaturae nos, dum per semetipsum diabolum, id est, serpentem interfectum suspendit, sive quae alia figurae istius expositio dignioribus revelata est, dummodo (I Cor., X) apostolus affirmet omnia tunc figurate populo accidisse: bene quod idem Deus qui lege vetuit similitudinem fieri, extraordinario praecepto serpentis similitudinem indixit. Si eumdem Deum observas, habes legem ejus (Exod., XX, 4), Ne feceris similitudinem. Si et praeceptum factae postea similitudinis respicis, et tu imitare Moysen, ne facias adversus legem simulacrum aliquod, nisi et tibi Deus jusserit.
from the angels of the devil, [the cross] which was to set us free, when through itself it hung up the devil, that is, the serpent, slain; or whatever other exposition of that figure has been revealed to worthier men, provided that the apostle affirms (1 Cor. 10) that all things then happened to the people in figure: it is well that the same God Who by the law forbade a likeness to be made, by an extraordinary precept enjoined the likeness of a serpent. If you observe the same God, you have His law (Exod. 20:4): You shall not make a likeness. If you look also to the precept of the likeness made afterwards, then you too imitate Moses: do not make any image against the law unless God has commanded you too.
CAPUT VI.
CHAPTER VI.
Si nulla lex Dei prohibuisset idola fieri a nobis, si nulla vox Spiritus sancti fabricatoribus idolorum non minus quam cultoribus comminaretur: de ipso sacramento nostro interpretaremur nobis adversas esse fidei ejusmodi artes. Quomodo enim renuntiavimus diabolo et angelis ejus, si eos facimus? Quod repudium diximus iis, non dico cum quibus, sed de quibus vivimus? Quam discordiam suscepimus in eos, quibus exhibitionis nostrae gratia obligati sumus? Potes lingua negasse, quod manu confiteris? verbo destruere, quod facto struis? unum Deum praedicare, qui tantos efficis? verum Deum praedicare, qui falsos facis? Facio (ait quidam), sed non colo. Quasi ob aliquam caussam colere non audeat, nisi ob quam et facere non debeat, scilicet ob Dei offensam utrobique. Imo tu colis, qui facis ut coli possint. Colis autem, non spiritu vilissimi nidoris alicujus, sed tuo proprio: nec anima pecudis impensa, sed anima tua. Illis ingenium tuum immolas, illis sudorem tuum libas, illis prudentiam tuam accendis. Plus es illis quam sacerdos, cum per te habeant sacerdotem.
If no law of God had forbidden idols to be made by us, if no voice of the Holy Spirit threatened the makers of idols no less than their worshippers, we should still interpret from our very sacrament that arts of this kind are opposed to the faith. For how have we renounced the devil and his angels, if we make them? What divorce have we declared against those on whom, I do not say with whom, we live? What discord have we taken up against those to whom we are bound for the sake of our maintenance? Can you deny with the tongue what you confess with the hand? Destroy by word what you build by deed? Preach one God, you who produce so many? Preach the true God, you who make false ones? I make them (says someone), but I do not worship them. As though there were any cause for which he dare not worship, other than that for which he ought not to make them either, namely the offence of God in both cases. Nay, you who make it possible for them to be worshipped, you worship. And you worship not with the breath of some vile savour, but with your own; not with the life of a beast spent, but with your own life. To them you sacrifice your talent, to them you pour out your sweat as a libation, for them you kindle your skill. You are more to them than a priest, since it is through you that they have a priest.
Editors' notes and page, col. 668

Footnotes

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Et lege Paris. Jun.

Et lege (and by the law): Paris edition, Junius.

(printed under page 374)

(8) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 668

Fieri jussit Latin. interduxit Jun. interdixit Fran.

Fieri jussit (ordered to be made): Latinius; interduxit [sic]: Junius; interdixit (forbade): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 374)

(9) ‹ob aliquam› · call in col 668

Aliam Fran.

Aliam (another): Franeker edition.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 374)

(g) ‹adversas (g)› · call in col 668

CAP. VI. — Adversas esse fidei. Ad sententiam legantur quae scripta de quinque martyribus, qui passi, quod nollent facere idolorum statuas. Habentur in vita sanctorum quatuor coronatorum. Certe quia putarunt hanc artem esse adversam fidei. Lac.

CHAPTER VI. — That they are contrary to the faith. For this view read what is written of the five martyrs who suffered because they would not make statues of idols. It is found in the life of the Four Crowned Saints. Certainly because they thought this art contrary to the faith. La Cerda.

(printed under page 374)

(h) ‹exhibitionis nostrae› · call in col 668

Exhibitionis nostrae gratia. Quod capite praecedenti ad victum dixit, hic ita circumloquitur, in qua significatione eadem voce utitur, cap. VIII, et XII. Pam.

For the sake of our maintenance. What he said in the preceding chapter as "for a living," he here expresses by circumlocution; and he uses the same word in that sense in chapters VIII and XII. Pamelius.

(printed under page 374)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 668
  • marginal letters: A ‹ab angelis diaboli liberaturae›; B ‹rum non minus quam cultoribus›; C ‹alicujus, sed tuo proprio›; D ‹(commentary: significat. RIG.)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:669
Diligentia tua numen illorum est. Negas te, quod facis, colere? Sed illi non negant, quibus hanc saginatiorem et auratiorem et majorem hostiam caedis, salutem tuam.
Your diligence is their divinity. Do you deny that you worship what you make? But they do not deny it, they for whom you slaughter this fatter and more gilded and greater victim, your salvation.
CAPUT VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Tota die ad hanc partem zelus fidei perorabit, ingemens christianum ab idolis in Ecclesiam venire, de adversarii officina in domum Dei venire, attollere ad Deum patrem manus matres idolorum, his manibus adorare quae foris adversus Deum adorantur, eas manus admovere corpori Domini, quae daemoniis corpora conferunt. Nec hoc sufficit. Parum sit, si ab aliis manibus accipiant quod contaminant; sed etiam ipsi tradunt aliis quod contaminaverunt. Alleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum. Pro scelus! Semel Judaei Christo manus intulerunt, isti quotidie corpus ejus lacessunt. O manus praecidendae! Viderint jam an per similitudinem dictum sit, Si te manus tua scandalizat, amputa eam (Matth., VIII, 8). Quae magis amputandae, quam in quibus Domini corpus scandalizatur?
All day long the zeal of faith will plead on this point, groaning that a Christian comes from idols into the Church, comes from the adversary's workshop into the house of God, lifts up to God the Father hands that are the mothers of idols, adores with those hands which outside are adored in opposition to God, brings near to the body of the Lord those hands which confer bodies on demons. Nor is this enough. Let it be a small thing if they receive from other hands what they contaminate; but they themselves even hand on to others what they have contaminated. Makers of idols are chosen into the ecclesiastical order. O wickedness! Once the Jews laid hands on Christ; these men assail His body every day. O hands to be cut off! Let them see now whether it was said by way of similitude: If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off (Matt. 18:8). Which hands are more to be cut off than those in which the Lord's body is made to stumble?
CAPUT VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Sunt et aliae complurium artium species, quae etsi non contingant idolorum fabricationem, tamen ea sine quibus idola nil possunt, eodem crimine
There are also other kinds of very many arts which, although they do not touch the making of idols, yet those things without which idols can do nothing, with the same crime
Editors' notes and page, col. 669

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 375)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 669

Nomen Venet.

Nomen (name): Venice edition.

(printed under page 375)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 669

De adversaria officina in domum Dei, Seml.

De adversaria officina in domum Dei (from the hostile workshop into the house of God): Semler.

(printed under page 375)

(3) ‹quod contaminant› · call in col 669

Contaminent Wouwer. M. S.

Contaminent (subjunctive, "contaminate"): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 375)

(4) ‹sed etiam ipsi› · call in col 669

Ipsam Fran.

Ipsam (itself): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 375)

(5) ‹quam in quibus› · call in col 669

Quam quibus Jun.

Quam quibus (than those by which): Junius.

(printed under page 375)

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Auratiorem et majorem hostiam. Hostia, inquit Festus, dicta ab eo, quod est hostire, ferire. Alii ab hostibus derivant, quod post victoriam immolari soleant, sicuti et ipse Festus alibi. Alludit autem ad eas hostias quae auro ornabantur, quas proinde auratas vocat; solebant enim subinde boum cornua deaurari, qui immolabantur. Pam. — Et majorem hostiam. Major victima aut hostia est taurus, bos, vacca : Minor, ovis, capra, sus. Hoc certius discrimen quam ut majora dicantur de victimis, minora de hostiis. Scias etiam inter primas majorem esse taurum, inter alteras majorem esse ovem. Lac.

A more gilded and greater victim. Hostia, says Festus, is so called from hostire, to strike. Others derive it from hostes (enemies), because victims used to be sacrificed after a victory, as Festus himself does elsewhere. He alludes to those victims which were adorned with gold, which he therefore calls gilded; for the horns of the oxen that were sacrificed were often gilded. Pamelius. — And a greater victim. The greater victim or offering is the bull, ox, cow; the lesser, the sheep, goat, pig. This is a surer distinction than to say "greater" of victimae and "lesser" of hostiae. Know too that among the first the greater is the bull, among the second the greater is the sheep. La Cerda.

(printed under page 375)

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CAP. VII.—Ab idolis in Ecclesiam. Prolixius viri eruditi Pamelius et Lacerda nomina congerunt quae Dei domui tribuuntur apud veteres : post ipsorum messem nullum restat spicilegium. Qui primus Ecclesiam seu conventum christianorum aggressus est, fuit Eustathius illo qui contemnendas esse Ecclesias dicebat. In hunc congregata Gangrensis Synodus, eumque fulmine percussit can. V. Hunc secuti sunt Patareni in quos restant Honorii Tertii P. constit. et Frederici II, imper. Imitati quoque sunt pessima haec exempla Valdenses, Wiclefistae, Hussitae et alii qui cum Eustathio satis damnati frustra objiciunt illud Act. XVII : Deus in manufactis templis non habitat. Legenda tantum sunt quae sequuntur, ut os obturetur impudentissimis homuncionibus, nimirum, nec manibus humanis colitur indigens aliquo cum ipse det omnibus, etc. Le Pr.

CHAPTER VII.—From the idols into the Church. The learned men Pamelius and La Cerda gather at length the names given to the house of God among the ancients: after their harvest no gleaning remains. The first to attack the Church, or the assembly of Christians, was that Eustathius [sic] who said the churches were to be despised. The Synod of Gangra was gathered against him, and struck him with its thunderbolt in canon V. The Patarenes followed him, against whom stand the constitutions of Pope Honorius III and of the Emperor Frederick II. These worst examples were imitated too by the Waldensians, Wycliffites, Hussites and others, who, condemned enough along with Eustathius, vainly object that text of Acts XVII: "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands." One need only read what follows, to stop the mouths of these most shameless manikins: "neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all," etc. Le Prieur.

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De adversarii officina in domum Dei venire. Haec non videntur esse Tertulliani, sed glossatoris alicujus in illud comm. quod praecedit, ab idolis Ecclesiam venire. Rig.

To come from the adversary's workshop into the house of God. These words seem not to be Tertullian's but some glossator's, on the preceding phrase "to come from the idols into the Church." Rigault.

(printed under page 375)

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His manibus adorare. Adorabant enim manibus ad Deum elatis, allevatis, expansis. Ric.

To worship with these hands. For they worshipped with hands raised, lifted up and spread out to God. Rigault.

(printed under page 375)

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Quae foris adversus Deum adorantur. Matres et artifices idolorum manus adorabantur ab Ethnicis idolorum cultoribus. Quid enim erat statua sive idolum priusquam accederet manus artificis, nisi bruta materia, quam periti artificis manus exsculpsit in alicujus numinis effigiem? Praeclare Septimius lib. de Resurr. : « Phidiae manus, inquit, Jovem Olympium ex ebore molitae adorantur; nec jam bestiae, et quidem insulsissimae deus est, sed summum saeculi numen; non quia elephantus, sed quia Phidias tantus. Ric.

Which outside are worshipped against God. The hands that were the mothers and makers of idols were worshipped by the pagan idol-worshippers. For what was a statue or idol before the craftsman's hand came to it, but brute matter, which the skilled craftsman's hand carved into the likeness of some divinity? Excellently Septimius in the book On the Resurrection: "The hands of Phidias," he says, "which wrought Olympian Jove from ivory, are worshipped; and now it is no longer the god of a beast, and a most stupid one at that, but the highest divinity of the world; not because the elephant, but because Phidias, is so great." Rigault.

(printed under page 375)

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Manus admovere corpori Domini. Pertinet hic locus ad eam consuetudinem, qua in manus tradebatur Eucharistia, quam testati sunt pro suis quoque temporibus B. Cypr. (l. de lapsis); B. Cornel. (ad Fab. Antioch.); B. Dionys. Alex. (ad Xist. pontif.); B. Ambros. (Orat. ad Theodos. imper.); Hieronym. (ad Theophil.), etc. Edd.

To lay hands on the body of the Lord. This passage relates to the custom by which the Eucharist was given into the hands, to which for their own times too bear witness blessed Cyprian (book On the Lapsed), blessed Cornelius (to Fabius of Antioch), blessed Dionysius of Alexandria (to Pope Xystus), blessed Ambrose (Oration to the Emperor Theodosius), Jerome (to Theophilus), etc. The Editors.

(printed under page 375)

Page

  • running head: 669 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA.
  • marginal letters: A ‹cerdotem. Diligentia tua›; B ‹Judaei Christo manus intulerunt›; C ‹(variant-readings area, below the text)›; D ‹(commentary: eebat. In hunc congregata)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • remark: Migne prints (Matth., VIII, 8); the verse meant is Matt. 18:8, which the English gives.
PL 1:670
expediunt. Nec enim differt, an extruas vel exornes, si templum, si aram, si aediculam ejus instauraveris, si bracteam expresseris, aut insignia, aut etiam domum fabricaveris. Major est ejusmodi opera, quae non effigiem confert, sed auctoritatem. Si ita necessitas exhibitionis extenditur, habent et alias species, quae sine exorbitatione disciplinae, id est, sine idoli confectura opem victus praestent. Scit albarius tector et tecta sarcire, et tectoria inducere, et cisternam liare, et cymatia distendere, et multa alia ornamenta praeter simulacra parietibus incrustare. Scit et pictor, et marmorarius, et aerarius, et quicumque caelator, latitudines suas utique multo faciliores. Nam qui signum describit, quanto facilius abacum linit? Qui de tilia Martem exsculpit, quanto citius armarium compingit? Nulla ars non alterius artis, aut mater, aut propinqua est. Nihil alterius vacat. Tot sunt artium venae, quot hominum concupiscentiae. Sed de mercedibus et manuspretiis interest. Proinde interest et de labore. Minor merces frequentiore actu repensatur. Quot parietes signa desiderant? Quot templa et aedes idolis aedificantur? Domus vero, et praetoria et balnea et insulae quantae? Soccus et baxa quotidie deaurantur, Mercurius et Serapis non quotidie. Sufficiat ad quaestum artificiorum
they furnish. For it makes no difference whether you build or adorn, if you have restored a temple, an altar, a shrine of it, if you have beaten out gold leaf, or made its insignia, or even its house. Greater is work of that kind, which confers not the likeness but the authority. If the necessity of maintenance is stretched so far, they have other kinds too which, without straying from discipline, that is, without the making of an idol, supply the means of living. The plasterer knows how to mend roofs and lay on stucco and smooth a cistern and run out mouldings, and encrust walls with many other ornaments besides images. The painter too, and the marble-worker, and the bronze-worker, and any engraver whatever, know their own wider fields, which are certainly much easier. For he who paints a figure, how much more easily does he coat a sideboard? He who carves a Mars out of lime-wood, how much more quickly does he put together a cupboard? There is no art that is not either the mother or the kin of another art. Nothing stands apart from another. The veins of the arts are as many as the desires of men. But there is a difference in wages and in the price of handiwork. So too there is a difference in the labour. A smaller wage is made up by more frequent work. How many walls want statues? How many temples and shrines are built for idols? But houses, and official residences and baths and apartment blocks, how many are there? Slippers and sandals are gilded every day; Mercury and Serapis not every day. Let it suffice for the gain of the crafts
Editors' notes and page, col. 670

Footnotes

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Obteuditur Wouw. M. S. Rig. Leopold.; attenditur Jun.

Obteuditur [sic, for obtenditur, "is put forward"]: Wouwer's manuscript, Rigault, Leopold; attenditur (is attended to): Junius.

(printed under page 375)

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Conflictura Paris. Jun.

Conflictura [sic]: Paris edition, Junius.

(printed under page 375)

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Incrispare Paris. Jun. Rig. Rhen.

Incrispare (to crimp, ripple): Paris edition, Junius, Rigault, Rhenanus.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 375)

(g) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 670

CAP. VIII. — Expediunt. Conficiunt, adornant. Ric.

CHAPTER VIII. — They get ready. They make, they furnish. Rigault.

(printed under page 375)

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Si bracteam expresseris. Si de aurea massa bracteam expresseris statuae inducendam aereae. Ric.

If you have beaten out a gold leaf. If from a mass of gold you have beaten out a leaf to overlay a bronze statue. Rigault.

(printed under page 375)

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Cisternam liare. Albarii tectoris etiam opificium esse indicat Plin. lib. XXXVI, c. 23. Atqui ego quidem existimo legendum prorsus ligare, non liare. Verum nolui immutare veterem lectionem, si forte, uti multae aliae, vox sit Tertulliano peculiaris jam obsoleta. Pam.

To plaster a cistern. Pliny, book XXXVI, chapter 23, shows this to be the work of the stucco-plasterer too. Yet I for my part think one should certainly read ligare (to bind), not liare. But I did not wish to change the old reading, in case, like many others, the word is one peculiar to Tertullian and now obsolete. Pamelius.

(printed under page 375)

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Cymatia distendere. Videtur cymatia nuncupare arcus ipsos templorum seu tectorum, creta incrustatos, voce derivata a κυματία, id est illuvie aquarum, quod illi arcus pluviarum illuviem impediant. Pam. — Cymatia. Esse haec omnes ὑπεροχάς, id est prominentias in aedificiis, tum Hesychius definit, tum id facile colliget qui Vitruvium legerit. Itaque injuste Pamelius arctat hanc vocem ad arcus tectorum et templorum. Sunt enim prominentiae quae in modum undae sinuantur. Suidae λυσεῖς dicuntur. Vitruvio simae a forma. Lac.

To spread out cymatia. He seems to call cymatia the very arches of temples or roofs, encrusted with chalk, the word being derived from κυματία, that is, a flood of waters, because those arches hold back the flood of rain. Pamelius. — Cymatia. That these are all ὑπεροχαί, that is, projections on buildings, Hesychius defines, and anyone who has read Vitruvius will easily gather it. So Pamelius unjustly narrows this word to the arches of roofs and temples. For they are projections curved in the manner of a wave. In Suidas they are called λυσεῖς [as printed]; in Vitruvius simae, from their shape. La Cerda.

(printed under page 375)

(k) ‹alterius vacat› · call in col 670

Nihil alterius vacat. Horatius : (continues)

Nothing is free of another. Horace: (continues)

(printed under page 375)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 670
  • marginal letters: A ‹mine expediunt›; B ‹quanto citius armarium compingit›; C ‹(variant-readings area, below the text)›; D ‹(commentary: CAP. VIII. — (g) Expediunt)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:671
frequentior est omni superstitione luxuria et ambitio. Lances et scyphos facilius ambitio, quam superstitio desiderabit. Coronas quoque magis luxuria, quam solemnitas erogat. Cum igitur ad haec artificiorum genera cohortemur, quae idolum quidem, et quae idolo competunt, non attingant, sint autem et hominibus communia saepe quae et idolis, hoc quoque cavere debemus, ne quid, scientibus nobis, ab aliquibus de manibus nostris in rem idolorum postuletur. Quod si concesserimus, et non remediis jam usitatis egerimus, non puto nos a contagio idololatriae vacare, quorum manus non ignorantium in officio vel in honore et usu daemoniorum deprehenduntur.
[for] luxury and ambition are more frequent than all superstition. Ambition will desire dishes and cups more readily than superstition [will]. Luxury, too, lays out garlands more than solemnity does. Since, therefore, we urge [men] to those kinds of crafts which do not touch the idol itself or what pertains to the idol, while things that are common to men are often common also to idols, we ought to beware of this too: that nothing be asked of our hands by anyone, with our knowledge, for the business of idols. And if we grant it, and have not acted with the remedies already customary, I do not think we are free from the contagion of idolatry, whose hands are caught, not as of men who do not know, in the service or in the honour and use of demons.
CAPUT IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Animadvertimus inter artes etiam professiones quasdam obnoxias idololatriae. De astrologis ne loquendum quidem est. Sed quoniam quidam istis diebus provocavit defendens sibi perseverantiam professionis istius, paucis utar. Non allego quod idola honoret, quorum nomina coelo inscripsit, quibus omnem Dei potestatem addixit: quod propterea homines non putant Deum requirendum, praesumentes stellarum nos immutabili arbitrio agi. Unum propono, angelos esse illos desertores Dei (Gen., VI), amatores foeminarum, proditores etiam hujus curiositatis, propterea quoque damnatos a Deo. O divina sententia usque ad terram pertinax, cui etiam ignorantes testimonium reddunt. Expelluntur mathematici sicut angeli eorum. Urbs et Italia interdicitur mathematicis, sicut coelum angelis eorum. Eadem poena est exilii discipulis
We observe among the arts also certain professions liable to idolatry. Of astrologers one ought not even to speak. But since a certain man in these days has issued a challenge, defending for himself his perseverance in that profession, I shall use a few [words]. I do not allege that he honours idols, whose names he has inscribed on the heaven, to whom he has made over the whole power of God; [nor] that men for this reason think that God need not be sought, presuming that we are driven by the unchangeable will of the stars. One thing I put forward: that those angels, the deserters from God (Gen. 6), the lovers of women, were also the betrayers of this curious art, and for this reason too were condemned by God. O divine sentence, reaching steadfastly even to the earth, to which even the ignorant bear witness! The astrologers are expelled, just as their angels [were]. The City and Italy are forbidden to the astrologers, as heaven is to their angels. The same penalty of exile is for the disciples
Editors' notes and page, col. 671

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 376)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

Sufficiant — frequentiores Franeq.

Sufficiant (subjunctive, "let suffice") — frequentiores (more frequent): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 376)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

Tam Seml.

Tam (so): Semler.

(printed under page 376)

(3) ‹homines non putant› · call in col 671

Putent Jun.

Putent (subjunctive, "think"): Junius.

(printed under page 376)

(4) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

Stellam Wouw. M. S. Rigalt.

Stellam (star): Wouwer's manuscript, Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

(a) ‹mathematici› · call in col 671

CAP. IX. — Expelluntur mathematici. Si quis haec, tanquam inutilia et superflua, deleri oportere censuerit, habet ecce me adstipulatorem. Ric.

CHAPTER IX. — The astrologers are expelled. If anyone thinks these words should be deleted as useless and superfluous, behold, he has me to back him. Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

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Primi igitur stellarum interpretes. Chalcidius in Tim. Plat. ad Osium Cordubensem ex historia quam vocat sanctiorem et venerabiliorem, ait, ortu stellae cujusdam non morbos mortesque denuntiatas, sed descensum Dei venerabilis ad humanae conservationis, rerumque mortalium gratiam. STELLAM CHRISTI. Magi in Evangelio secundum Matthaeum : « vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente ». Primasius in haeresim Priscillianistarum : « A signo Christi ad signa astrologica migraverunt. » Rig.

The first interpreters of the stars, then. Chalcidius, on Plato's Timaeus, to Hosius of Córdoba, from the history he calls holier and more venerable, says that by the rising of a certain star were announced not diseases and deaths but the descent of the venerable God for the grace of the preservation of mankind and of mortal things. THE STAR OF CHRIST. The Magi in the Gospel according to Matthew: "We have seen his star in the East." Primasius against the heresy of the Priscillianists: "From the sign of Christ they passed over to the signs of astrology." Rigault.

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Primi muneraverunt. Chalcidius : « Chaldaeorum profecto sapientes viri, et consideratione rerum coelestium satis exercitati, quaesisse dicuntur recentem ortum Dei : repertaque illa majestate puerili, veneratos esse, et vota Deo tanto convenientia nuncupasse. » Rig.

They were the first to bring gifts. Chalcidius: "Wise men of the Chaldeans indeed, well practised in the contemplation of heavenly things, are said to have sought the newly risen God; and having found that infant majesty, to have worshipped it and offered vows befitting so great a God." Rigault.

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(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

De Christo scilicet est mathesis hodie. Hodierna, inquit, mathesis est disciplina Christi. Stella Christi, hoc est, genesis Christi, exempla et mandata ejus observanda sunt nobis et praedicanda. Ric. — De Christo scilicet. Ironice, mathesis enim hodie e Christi disciplina non est; quia nulla hodie stella Christus dicitur. Doctrina illa eorum est qui cognominem stellam habuerunt ut Jupiter, ut Saturnus, etc. Frustra autem ex hoc loco Christi genesim e stellarum cursu metiri posse contendunt homines perverse curiosi, inter quos familiam ducunt Petrus de Alliaco, et Hieronymus Cardanus Le Pr.

Astrology today, that is, concerns Christ. Today's astrology, he says, is the teaching of Christ. The star of Christ, that is, Christ's nativity, his examples and commands, are to be kept and preached by us. Rigault. — Concerns Christ, that is. Ironically, for astrology today is not from Christ's teaching, since no star today is called Christ. That doctrine belongs to those who had a star of their own name, like Jupiter, like Saturn, etc. In vain do perversely curious men contend from this passage that Christ's nativity can be measured from the course of the stars; among them Pierre d'Ailly and Girolamo Cardano lead the troop. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 376)

(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

Et cujusque ex eodem ordine mortuorum. Hoc est, ex ordine illo septenario planetarum, Saturni, Martis, Mercurii, et id genus aliorum, qui non dii, sed homines fuere, et jam quidem mortui. Ric.

And of each one of the same order of the dead. That is, of that sevenfold order of the planets, Saturn, Mars, Mercury and others of that kind, who were not gods but men, and are now indeed dead. Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 671

Usque ad Evangelium. Ne putet lector concessam divinis legibus, sed tantum humanis, quia ante Christum non punita, imo per omnes nationes vagata insolenter, et in pretio ac gloria habita. Neque contra hoc est, concessam Magis adoratoribus Christi, nam isti illa usi sunt ex mera pietate et religione, non ut aliae gentes ad usus maleficos. Sed et explicandus Tertull. cum ait concessam usque ad Evangelium, scilicet concessam ut plurimum. Lac.

Until the Gospel. Let the reader not think it was permitted by divine laws, but only by human ones, because before Christ it was not punished, but rather roamed insolently through all nations and was held in esteem and glory. Nor is it against this that it was permitted to the Magi who worshipped Christ, for they used it out of pure piety and religion, not, like other nations, for evil purposes. But Tertullian must also be explained when he says it was permitted until the Gospel: that is, permitted for the most part. La Cerda.

(printed under page 376)

Page

  • running head: 671 TERTULLIANI (right part of head cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A rum, frequentior est; B Animadvertimus inter artes; C sicut coelum angelis eorum; D (beside the commentary, at stellam ejus in Oriente)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:672
et magistris. Sed magi et astrologi ab oriente venerunt (Matth., II). Scimus magiae et astrologiae inter se societatem. Primi igitur stellarum interpretes natum Christum annuntiaverunt, primi muneraverunt. Hoc nomine Christum (opinor) sibi obligaverunt. Quid tum? Ideo nunc et mathematicis patrocinabitur illorum magorum religio? De Christo scilicet est mathesis hodie, stellas Christi, non Saturni et Martis et cujusque, ex eodem ordine mortuorum observat et praedicat. At enim scientia illa usque ad Evangelium fuit concessa, ut Christo edito nemo exinde nativitatem alicujus de coelo interpretetur. Nam et thus illud et myrrham et aurum ideo infanti tunc Domino obtulerunt, quasi clausulam sacrificationis et gloriae saecularis, quam Christus erat adempturus. Quod igitur iisdem magis somnium sine dubio ex Dei voluntate suggessit, ut irent in sua, sed alia, non qua venerant, via, id est, ne pristina secta sua incederent: nonne illos Herodes persequeretur, qui nec persecutus est, etiam ignorans alia via digressos, quoniam et qua venerant ignorabat. Adeo viam rectam et disciplinam intelligere debemus. Itaque magis praeceptum, ut exinde aliter incederent. Sic et alia illa species magiae quae miraculis operatur, etiam adversus (Exod., VII) Moysen aemulata, patientiam Dei traxit ad Evangelium usque (Act., VIII, 18). Nam exinde et Simon Magus jam fidelis, quoniam aliquid adhuc de circulatoria secta cogitaret, ut scilicet inter miracula professionis suae etiam Spiritum Sanctum per manuum impositionem
and the masters. But magi and astrologers came from the east (Matt. 2). We know the alliance of magic and astrology with each other. The interpreters of the stars, then, were the first to announce Christ born, the first to bring Him gifts. By this title (I suppose) they put Christ under obligation to themselves. What then? Shall the religion of those magi therefore now be patron to the astrologers as well? Astrology today is about Christ, of course: it observes and proclaims the stars of Christ, not those of Saturn and Mars and each one of the same order of the dead! But that science was allowed only up to the Gospel, so that, once Christ was born, no one thereafter should interpret anyone's nativity from the heaven. For that is why they then offered to the Lord, still an infant, that frankincense and myrrh and gold: as the close, as it were, of the sacrificing and of the worldly glory which Christ was going to take away. So the dream which, without doubt by the will of God, was suggested to those same magi, that they should go to their own [country], but by another way, not that by which they had come, that is, that they should not walk in their former sect, [was it not given] lest Herod should pursue them? Yet he did not even pursue them, not knowing that they had departed by another way, since he did not know either by which way they had come. So we ought to understand [by it] the right way and discipline. And so the precept to the magi was that thenceforth they should walk otherwise. So too that other species of magic, which works by wonders, having vied even against Moses (Exod. 7), drew out the patience of God up to the Gospel (Acts 8:18). For thereafter Simon Magus too, already a believer, since he was still thinking something of his juggling sect, namely that among the wonders of his profession he might [buy] even the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands
Editors' notes and page, col. 672

Footnotes

(5) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 672

Interpretatur Rigalt.

Interpretatur (interprets): Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

(6) ‹nonne› · call in col 672

Non abest Seml.

Non is absent: Semler.

(printed under page 376)

(7) ‹viam rectam› · call in col 672

Sectam Jun.

Sectam (sect, school): Junius.

(printed under page 376)

(8) ‹alia illa species› · call in col 672

Aliam illam speciem — patientia Fran.

Aliam illam speciem (that other kind, accusative) — patientia (patience, nominative): Franeker edition.

[COMMENTARIUS]

(continued) · col 671

Alterius sic Altera poscit opem res et conjurat amice. Rig.

So one thing asks the help of another, and they conspire in friendship. Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

(g) ‹sacrificationis› · call in col 672

Clausulam sacrificationis. Ut exinde Christus fideles suos abstinere voluerit pontificatu et saeculari gloria. Clausulam, finem et terminium. Sic in Scorp. ubi de Joan. Bapt. : Clausula legis et prophetarum. Rig.

The close of sacrificing. So that from then on Christ willed his faithful to abstain from priesthood and worldly glory. Clausula: end and limit. So in the Scorpiace, where of John the Baptist: "the close of the law and the prophets." Rigault.

(printed under page 376)

(h) ‹Spiritum Sanctum› · call in col 672

Spiritum Sanctum per manuum impositionem enundinaret. Convenientissimo verbo Simonis istius crimen damnat. Sed et hodiernae nundinationi eorum quae feudali vocabulo beneficia nuncupantur, simoniae crimen tribuere solemus, etsi inter emptorem et venditorem de comparando Spiritu Sancto nequidem cogitetur. Nam inter eos hoc tantum agitur ut in emptorem transeat jus percipiendi reditus ex pos- (continues)

That he might buy and sell the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. With a most fitting word he condemns the crime of that Simon. But to today's trafficking in what are called by a feudal word "benefices" we also commonly attribute the crime of simony, even if between buyer and seller there is not even a thought of acquiring the Holy Spirit. For between them all that is done is that the right of receiving the income from pos- (continues)

(printed under page 376)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 672
  • marginal letters: A pulis et magistris; B sulam sacrificationis; C etiam Spiritum Sanctum; D (beside the commentary, at tra hoc est)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:673
enundinaret, maledictus ab (Act., VIII, 20) apostolis de fide ejectus est: et alter magus qui cum Sergio Paulo, quoniam iisdem adversabatur apostolis, luminum amissione mulctatus est (Act., XIII, 6 seqq.). Hoc et astrologi retulissent credo, si quis in apostolos incidisset. Attamen cum magia punitur, cujus est species astrologia, utique et species in genere damnatur. Post Evangelium nusquam invenias aut sophistas, aut chaldaeos, aut incantatores, aut conjectores, aut magos, nisi plane punitos. Ubi sapiens, ubi litterator, ubi conquisitor hujus aevi? Nonne infatuavit Deus sapientiam hujus saeculi (I Cor.I, 20)? Nihil scis, mathematice, si nesciebas te futurum christianum. Sin sciebas, hoc quoque scire debueras, nihil tibi futurum cum ista professione. Ipsa te de periculo suo instrueret, quae aliorum climacterica praecanit, Non est tibi pars neque sors in ista ratione (Act., VIII, 21). Non potest regna coelorum sperare, cujus digitus aut radius abutitur coelo.
should buy up, was cursed by the apostles (Acts 8:20) and cast out of the faith; and the other magician, who was with Sergius Paulus, since he opposed the same apostles, was punished with the loss of his sight (Acts 13:6 ff.). The astrologers too, I believe, would have got the same, if any of them had fallen in with the apostles. Yet when magic is punished, of which astrology is a species, the species is assuredly condemned in the genus. After the Gospel you will nowhere find sophists, or Chaldeans, or enchanters, or diviners, or magicians, except plainly punished. Where is the wise man, where the man of letters, where the searcher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 1:20)? You know nothing, astrologer, if you did not know that you would become a Christian. But if you knew it, you ought to have known this too, that you would have nothing [more] to do with that profession. It would itself instruct you about its own danger, since it foretells the climacterics of others: You have no part nor lot in this matter (Acts 8:21). He cannot hope for the kingdoms of the heavens whose finger or rod abuses the heaven.
CAPUT X.
CHAPTER X.
Quaerendum autem est etiam de ludi magistris
But inquiry must also be made about schoolmasters
Editors' notes and page, col. 673

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 377)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 673

Fide dejectus est Jun.

Fide dejectus est (was cast down from the faith): Junius.

(printed under page 377)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 673

Si qui — incidissent Rigalt.

Si qui — incidissent (if any — had fallen): Rigault.

(printed under page 377)

(3) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 673

Sic scriptum est in cod. Agob., Rhenan : quis ludi magister si non tabularia frequentabit. Rigalt : tamen non frequentabit. Latin. tamen non. Jun. mavult. non Quinquatris t. frequentabit?

So it is written in the Agobard codex and Rhenanus: quis ludi magister si non tabularia frequentabit (what schoolmaster, if he will not frequent the record-offices). Rigault: tamen non frequentabit (yet will not frequent). Latinius: tamen non. Junius prefers: non Quinquatris t[amen] frequentabit? (will he not yet frequent the Quinquatria?)

(printed under page 377)

(a) ‹climacterica praecanit› · call in col 673

Aliorum climacterica praecanit. Climacterica dicit certa vitae spatia per annos novem aut septem scansili ratione currentia, quae chaldaei periculosa esse affirmant, praecipue vero annum 63. Hunc enim illi climactera androclam esse aiunt graeco vocabulo. Quod latini dicerent virifragum. De hoc vero climactere locus est insignis Jul. Firmici Mathes. IV, quem ab Jos. Scaligero jam indicatum satis esse concederem, nisi emendatior hic a nobis exiret e Biblioth. regia. Sic enim legimus in vetusto exemplari : Sane extra caeteros climacteras, etiam septimi anni et noni, per omne vitae tempus multiplicata ratione currentes, naturali quadam et latenti ratione, variis hominem periculorum discriminibus semper afficiunt. Unde et 63. annus, quia utriusque numeri summam pariter accipit, androclas appellatus est. Et paulo post : Hac ex caussa ab Aegyptiis androclas dictus est, quod omnem viri substantiam frangat ac debilitet. Eadem vero occasione describentur hic etiam et veteribus libris quaedam ab Agellio citata ex primo librorum quos M. Varro inscripsit hebdomades, vel de imaginibus septenarii numeri. Climacteras gravissimos quosque fieri septenarios. Rig.

He foretells the climacterics of others. By climacterics he means fixed spans of life running by nine or seven years in a stepwise reckoning, which the Chaldeans affirm to be dangerous, but above all the 63rd year. For they say this climacteric is androclas, by a Greek word, which the Latins would say "man-breaker." On this climacteric there is a notable passage of Julius Firmicus, Mathesis IV, which I would grant has been pointed out sufficiently by Joseph Scaliger already, were it not that it here comes out from us in a better text from the Royal Library. For so we read in an old copy: "Indeed, beyond the other climacterics, those too of the seventh and ninth year, running multiplied through the whole of life, by a certain natural and hidden reason always afflict a man with various crises of danger. Whence the 63rd year too, because it takes in the sum of both numbers alike, is called androclas." And a little after: "For this reason it was called androclas by the Egyptians, because it breaks and weakens the whole substance of a man." On the same occasion there will also be copied here from old books certain things cited by Agellius from the first of the books M. Varro entitled Hebdomades, or On the images of the number seven: "that all the gravest climacterics are sevenfold." Rigault.

(printed under page 377)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 673

CAP. X.—Quis ludimagister, sine tabula septem idolorum. Antea legebatur : Quis ludi magister, si non tabularia idolorum, quinquatria tamen frequentabit. Nullo sensu. Rectissima erat scriptura vetus, jam observata quidem Barraeo, nunc etiam Agobardi codice confirmata. Ea est hujusmodi : Quis ludi magister sine tabula septem idolorum quinquatria tamen frequentabit. Verum ut constet sensus, adhibenda distinctio. Quis ludimagister, sine tabula septem idolorum? Deinde non interrogatione, sed asseveranter, quinquatria tamen frequentabit. Aut si interrogatio ponitur in fine, necessario legendum sicut edidimus : Quis ludimagister sine tabula septem idolorum, quinquatria tamen non frequentabit? Sic, utrovis modo legas, idem erit sensus. Nullum esse ludimagistrum, qui non habeat in ludo suo sive schola tabulam septem idolorum, hoc est, septem planetarum; Lunae, Martis, Mercurii, et caeterorum, unde nomina dierum hebdomadis cujusque. Aut si quis reperiatur absque hujusmodi tabula, hunc tamen quinquatria frequentatorum. Quis autem fuerit apud ludimagistros istius tabulae sive laterculi septem dierum usus, diligentius inquirere non tanti est. Forsitan praescriptum aut significatum illic fuit quid quaque die discipulis tradi reddive oporteret. Juvenalis, Sat. VII : Nil salit arcadico juveni, cujus mihi sexta / Quaque die miserum dirus caput Hannibal implet. Ea die, scilicet, totius hebdomadis summa colligebatur. Septima die, quies et otium. Ipse Tertullianus libro ad Nationes primo, cap. XIII : « Vos certe estis, qui in laterculum septem dierum solem recepistis, et ex diebus ipsum praelegistis, quo die lavacrum subtrahatis, aut in vesperam differatis, aut otium et prandium curetis. » Ric.

CHAPTER X.—What schoolmaster, without the table of the seven idols. Formerly the reading was: "What schoolmaster, if not the record-offices of the idols, will yet frequent the Quinquatria." With no sense. The old text was quite right, already noticed by Barraeus, and now confirmed by the Agobard codex too. It runs thus: "What schoolmaster without the table of the seven idols will yet frequent the Quinquatria." But to make the sense clear a pause must be put in. "What schoolmaster is without the table of the seven idols?" Then not as a question but as an assertion: "he will yet frequent the Quinquatria." Or if the question is put at the end, one must read as we have printed: "What schoolmaster without the table of the seven idols will not yet frequent the Quinquatria?" So, whichever way you read it, the sense will be the same: there is no schoolmaster who does not have in his school a table of the seven idols, that is, of the seven planets, the Moon, Mars, Mercury and the rest, from which come the names of the days of each week. Or if one is found without such a table, he will nonetheless frequent the Quinquatria. What the use of that table or list of the seven days was among schoolmasters is not worth inquiring into more carefully. Perhaps it prescribed or indicated what had to be taught to the pupils, or recited by them, on each day. Juvenal, Satire VII: "Nothing leaps in the Arcadian youth, with whom every sixth day dire Hannibal fills my wretched head." On that day, namely, the sum of the whole week was gathered up. On the seventh day, rest and leisure. Tertullian himself in the first book To the Nations, chapter XIII: "It is you, surely, who have taken the sun into the list of the seven days, and chosen it before the other days, on which day you omit the bath, or put it off till evening, or give yourselves to leisure and dining." Rigault.

(printed under page 377)

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Quinquatria tamen frequentabit. Quinquatria, seu Quinquatrus, — sacra Minervae, Nomina quae a junctis quinque diebus habent. Ad haec sacra ludimagistros vocat idem Ovidius lib. III. Fastor. : Nec vos turba feri censu fraudata magistri / Spernite, discipulos attrahit ille novos. Rig.

Yet he will frequent the Quinquatria. The Quinquatria, or Quinquatrus, — "the rites of Minerva, which have their name from five days joined together." To these rites the same Ovid calls the schoolmasters, in book III of the Fasti: "Nor do you, crowd of the harsh master cheated of his fee, scorn her: she draws new pupils to him." Rigault.

(printed under page 377)

Page

  • running head: 673 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A enundinaret, maledictus; B canit, Non est tibi pars (line beside it); C (beside the commentary, at Jam vero pridem); D (beside the commentary, at post: Hac ex caussa)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:674
et de caeteris professoribus litterarum, imo non dubitandum affines illos esse multimodae idololatriae. Primum, quibus necesse est deos nationum praedicare, nomina, genealogias, fabulas, ornamenta honorifica quaeque eorum enuntiare, tum solemnia festaque eorumdem observare, ut quibus vectigalia sua suppetant. Quis ludimagister, sine tabula septem idolorum, quinquatria tamen frequentabit? Ipsam primam novi discipuli stipem Minervae et honori et nomini consecrat, ut etsi non profanatus alicui idolo, verbotenus de idolothyto esse dicatur. Quid minus est inquinamenti eo quod praestat quaestus et nominibus et honoribus idolo nuncupatus? tam Minervalia Minervae, quam Saturnalia Saturni, quae etiam serviculis sub tempore Saturnalium celebrari necesse est. Etiam strenae captandae, et septimontium, et brumae, et carae cognationis honoraria exigenda omnia, Florae scholae coronandae. Flaminicae et aediles sacrificant, creatis schola honoratur feriis. Idem fit idoli natali omnis diaboli pompa frequentatur.
and about the other professors of letters; indeed, it is not to be doubted that they are akin to idolatry in many forms. First, they must preach the gods of the nations, declare their names, genealogies, fables and each of their honorific ornaments, and then observe their solemnities and feasts, as those by whom their revenues are supplied. What schoolmaster, without a tablet of the seven idols, will yet keep the Quinquatria? The very first fee of a new pupil he consecrates both to the honour and to the name of Minerva, so that, even if he is not profaned to any idol, he is said, in word at least, to live on what is offered to idols. What less defilement is there in this, that the gain he takes is dedicated by name and honours to an idol? The Minervalia are as much Minerva's as the Saturnalia are Saturn's, which must be celebrated even by little slaves at Saturnalia time. New-year gifts too must be caught at, and the Septimontium, and Midwinter, and the presents of Dear Kinship must all be exacted; the schools must be garlanded for Flora. The flaminicae and the aediles sacrifice; the school is honoured with holidays appointed [for it]. The same is done on an idol's birthday; every pomp of the devil is frequented.
Editors' notes and page, col. 674

Footnotes

(4) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 674

Et ut si Paris.

Et ut si (and as if): Paris edition.

(printed under page 377)

(5) ‹menti› · call in col 674

Inquinamento Paris. Jun. eo abest Paris. Jun.

Inquinamento (by defilement): Paris edition, Junius; eo is absent: Paris edition, Junius.

(printed under page 377)

(6) ‹Florae› · call in col 674

Flore Fran.

Flore: Franeker edition.

(printed under page 377)

(7) ‹creatis› · call in col 674

Aedibus sacris Cereri. Rhenan.

Aedibus sacris Cereri (in the temples sacred to Ceres): Rhenanus.

[COMMENTARIUS]

(continued) · col 673

sessionibus beneficii titulo comprehensis. Et quae apud nos pinguia sunt beneficia, veteres, etiam extra Dei civitatem, dixere ἀγαθὰς ἱερωσύνας. Jam vero pridem saeculi vitio evanuere de rebus christianis praeclara illa Sancti Spiritus miracula. Ric.

...possessions comprised under the title of the benefice. And what with us are rich benefices the ancients, even outside the city of God, called ἀγαθὰς ἱερωσύνας (good priesthoods). But long since, by the fault of the age, those splendid miracles of the Holy Spirit have vanished from Christian affairs. Rigault.

(printed under page 377)

(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 674

Verbotenus de idolothyto esse dicatur. Sequitur in vulgatis editionibus, Pro idololatra vitetur. Quod non videtur esse Tertulliani, etsi in cod. Agobardi reperiatur, Pro idololatria vitatur.

Let it be said to be of a thing offered to idols in word only. In the common editions there follows: "Let it be shunned as idolatrous." This does not seem to be Tertullian's, though in the Agobard codex is found: "It is shunned as idolatry."

(printed under page 377)

(e) ‹scholae coronandae› · call in col 674

Florae scholae coronandae. Floralibus scilicet, Florae sacris.

The schools to be garlanded for Flora. At the Floralia, that is, the rites of Flora.

(printed under page 377)

(f) ‹schola (f)› · call in col 674

Creatis schola honoratur feriis. Sic habet vetus exemplar. Ineptissime antea legebatur, Cereris schola. Creatas ferias dicit, quae non erant statae aut solemnes, sed indictivae : ab Aedilibus scilicet aut Flaminicis ob sacrificia quaedam indictae.

The school is honoured with created holidays. So the old copy has it. Formerly the most absurd reading was "the school of Ceres." He calls "created" those holidays which were not fixed or solemn but proclaimed: proclaimed, that is, by the aediles or the flaminicae on account of certain sacrifices.

(printed under page 377)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 674
  • marginal letters: A et de caeteris professoribus; B culis sub tempore Saturnalium; C (beside the commentary, at sus. Nullum esse); D (beside the commentary, at et prandium curetis)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:675
Quis haec competere christiano existimabit, nisi qui putabit convenire etiam non magistro? Scimus dici posse: «si docere litteras Dei servis non licet, etiam nec discere licebit. Et quomodo quis institueretur ad prudentiam interim humanam, vel ad quemcumque sensum vel actum, cum instrumentum sit ad omnem vitam litteratura? Quomodo repudiamus saecularia studia, sine quibus divina non possunt?» Videamus igitur necessitatem litteratoriae eruditionis; respiciamus ex parte eam admitti non posse, ex parte vitari. Fideles magis discere, quam docere litteras capit. Diversa est enim ratio discendi et docendi. Si fidelis litteras doceat insertas idolorum praedicatione, sine dubio, dum docet, commendat: dum tradit, affirmat: dum commemorat, testimonium dicit (Exod.XXIII,13); deos ipsos hoc nomine obsignat, cum lex prohibeat (ut diximus) deos pronuntiari (Exod.XX), et nomen hoc in vano collocari. Hinc prima diabolo fides aedificatur ab initiis eruditionis. Quare an idololatriam committat qui de idolis catechizat? At cum fidelis haec discit; si jam sapit qui sit, neque recipit, neque admittit, multo magis si nondum sapit. Aut ubi coeperit sapere, prius sapiat oportet, quod prius didicit, id est, de Deo et fide: proinde illa respuet, nec recipiet. Et erit tam tutus, quam qui sciens venenum ab ignaro accipit, nec bibit. Huic necessitas ad excusationem deputatur, quia aliter discere non potest. Tanto autem facilius est litteras non docere, quam non discere, quanto et reliqua scholarum de publicis propriis solemnitatibus inquinamenta facilius discipulis fidelis non adibit, quam magister non frequentabit.
Who will think that these things befit a Christian, except one who will think they suit even one who is not a master? We know it can be said: “If it is not lawful for the servants of God to teach letters, neither will it be lawful to learn them. And how would anyone be trained meanwhile in human prudence, or in any understanding or action whatever, since letters are the instrument for the whole of life? How do we repudiate secular studies, without which divine studies are not possible?” Let us look, then, at the necessity of literary education; let us consider that in part it cannot be admitted, in part [it cannot be] avoided. It befits believers rather to learn letters than to teach them. For the case of learning and that of teaching are different. If a believer teaches letters interwoven with the proclamation of idols, without doubt, while he teaches, he commends; while he hands on, he affirms; while he recalls, he bears witness (Exod. 23:13). He seals the gods themselves with this name, although the law forbids, as we have said, that gods be so named (Exod. 20), and that this name be set to vain use. Hence the first faith in the devil is built up from the beginnings of education. Ask whether he commits idolatry who catechizes about idols. But when a believer learns these things, if he already understands what he is, he neither receives nor admits them; much more [is he safe] if he does not yet understand. Or, when he has begun to understand, he must first understand what he first learned, that is, about God and the faith: accordingly he will spit those things out and not receive them. And he will be as safe as one who knowingly accepts poison from someone who does not know it, and does not drink it. For him necessity is reckoned as an excuse, because he cannot learn otherwise. And it is as much easier not to teach letters than not to learn them, as it is easier for a believing pupil not to go near the other defilements of the schools that come from public [and] private solemnities than for a master not to frequent them.
CAPUT XI.
CHAPTER XI.
De negotiationibus, si caetera delictorum recogitemus, in primis cupiditatem radicem omnium
As to trades: if we reconsider the rest of the offences, first of all covetousness, the root of all
Editors' notes and page, col. 675

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 378)

(1) ‹cum instrumentum› · call in col 675

Cui Rigalt.

Cui (to whom): Rigault.

(printed under page 378)

(2) ‹insertas› · call in col 675

Inserta Wouw. M. S.

Inserta (inserted, neuter): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 378)

(3) ‹praedicatione› · call in col 675

Praedicationes Rigalt.

Praedicationes (proclamations, plural): Rigault.

(printed under page 378)

(4) ‹si nondum› · call in col 675

Dudum Venet. Seml.

Dudum (a while ago): Venice edition, Semler.

(printed under page 378)

(5) ‹De negotiationibus› · call in col 675

Degenerabimus Fran. Degenerationibus Jun. Paris. De gravioribus, Lat. De negotiatione vero, si caetera etc. de publicis ac propriis solemnitatibus Wouw. M. S. De generationibus. Rhenan. et Jun.

Degenerabimus (we shall degenerate): Franeker edition. Degenerationibus (degenerations): Junius, Paris edition. De gravioribus (of the graver things): Latinius. De negotiatione vero, si caetera etc. (but of trade, if the rest, etc.) de publicis ac propriis solemnitatibus (of public and private festivals): Wouwer's manuscript. De generationibus (of generations): Rhenanus and Junius.

(printed under page 378)

(a) ‹christiano existimabit› · call in col 675

Quis haec competere christiano existimabit. Hoc est omni christiano, tam discipulo, quam magistro. Ait enim excusari posse discipulum, cui necesse est discere litteras ab ethnico magistro; at ferri non posse christianum, qui post fidem Christo datam fiat ludimagister, et litteras doceat crebris poetarum praelectionibus, idolorum inquinamenta, quae probare tamen videatur enarrando explicandoque. Ric.

Who will think these things befit a Christian? That is, any Christian, pupil as much as master. For he says the pupil can be excused, who must learn letters from a pagan master; but that a Christian cannot be tolerated who, after giving his faith to Christ, becomes a schoolmaster and teaches letters by frequent readings of the poets, the defilements of the idols, which he would seem to approve by expounding and explaining them. Rigault.

(printed under page 378)

(b) ‹de idolis catechizat› · call in col 675

Qui de idolis catechizat. Hinc apparet Auctoris sententia, quod in praecedentibus non loquitur de nuda deorum ac nominum eorumdem pronuntiatione, sed catechizatione et praedicatione, ac honorifica mentione, ut id nemo contra me detorqueat, qui fortassis quibusdam videbor in his explicandis prolixior. Sed meminerit lector me non doctis, sed potissimum rudibus has annotationes scribere. Pam.

Who catechizes about the idols. From this the Author's meaning is plain: that in what precedes he is speaking not of the bare pronouncing of the gods and their names, but of catechizing and proclaiming them, and of honourable mention, so that no one may twist this against me, who will perhaps seem to some too long in explaining these things. But let the reader remember that I write these notes not for the learned but chiefly for beginners. Pamelius.

(printed under page 378)

(c) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 676

CAP. XI. — Circa fidem naufragium sunt passi. Ubique fere Tertullianus dum citat aliquem e sacris codicibus, Graecos sectatur; hic naufragium passi tamen ait pro, erraverunt, habetur quippe in graeco : ἀπεπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως. Le Pr.

CHAPTER XI. — They have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith. Almost everywhere, when Tertullian quotes something from the sacred books, he follows the Greek; here, however, he says "suffered shipwreck" for "they erred," since the Greek has ἀπεπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως (they have wandered from the faith). Le Prieur.

(printed under page 378)

(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 676

Sane annon illa principalis Idololatria? scripsi annon, etc. Notam interrogationis adjunxi qua carent vulgati codices. Scripsi ad sacrificium idolorum, secutus Junium, nam in omnibus deest praepositio, ut videtur addenda ex sequentibus. Ita enim clariora omnia. Lac.

Surely, is not that the chief idolatry? I have written annon, etc. I have added the question mark, which the common copies lack. I have written "for the sacrifice of the idols," following Junius, for the preposition is missing in all, as it seems it should be added from what follows. So everything is clearer. La Cerda.

(printed under page 378)

Page

  • running head: 675 TERTULLIANI (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A tur. Quis haec competere; B lex prohibeat (ut diximus); C pulis fidelis non adibit; D (beside the commentary, at bare tamen videatur)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:676
malorum, qua quidam irretiti, circa fidem naufragium sunt passi; quamvis et idololatria ab eodem apostolo dicta sit cupiditas. Tum mendacium, cupiditatis ministrum. Taceo de perjurio, quando ne jurare quidem liceat. Negotiatio servo Dei apta est? Caeterum, si cupiditas abscedat, quae est caussa acquirendi, cessante caussa acquirendi, non erit necessitas negotiandi. Sit nunc aliqua justitia quaestus, secura de cupiditatis et mendacii observatione, in crimen offendere idololatriae eam opinor, quae ad ipsam idolorum animam et spiritum pertinet, quae omne daemonium saginat. Sane annon illa principalis idololatria? viderint si eaedem merces, thura dico et caetera peregrinitatis ad sacrificium idolorum, etiam hominibus ad pigmenta medicinalia, nobis quoque insuper ad solatia sepulturae usui sunt. Certe cum pompae, cum sacerdotia, cum sacrificia idolorum de periculis, de damnis, de incommodis, de cogitationibus, de discursibus negotiationibusve instruuntur, quid aliud quam procurator idolorum demonstraris? Nemo contendat posse hoc modo omnibus negotiationibus controversiam fieri. Graviora delicta quaeque pro magnitudine periculi diligentiam extendunt observationis, ut non ab his tantum abscedamus, sed et ab iis per quae fiunt. Licet enim ab aliis fiat, non interest, si per me. In nullo necessarius esse debeo alii, cum facit quod mihi non licet. Ex hoc quod vetor facere, intelligere debeo curandum mihi esse, ne fiat per me. Denique in alia caussa non levioris reatus praejudicium istud observo. Nam quod mihi de stupro interdictum sit, aliis ad eam rem nihil aut operae aut conscientiae exhibeo. Nam quod ipsam carnem meam a lupanaribus segregavi, agnosco me, neque lenocinium, neque id genus lucrum alterius caussa exercere
evils, ensnared by which some have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith; although covetousness has also been called idolatry by the same apostle. Then lying, the minister of covetousness. I say nothing of perjury, since it is not lawful even to swear. Is trade fit for a servant of God? But if covetousness departs, which is the cause of acquiring, then, the cause of acquiring ceasing, there will be no necessity of trading. Suppose now that there is some justice in the gain, safe from the charge of covetousness and lying: I think that that trade falls into the crime of idolatry which pertains to the very soul and spirit of idols, which fattens every demon. Truly, is not that the principal idolatry? Let them see to it whether the same wares, frankincense, I mean, and the other foreign goods for the sacrifice of idols, are of use to men also for medicinal ointments, and to us besides for the comforts of burial. Certainly, when the processions, the priesthoods, the sacrifices of idols are furnished out of [your] perils, losses, inconveniences, plans, journeys or trades, what else are you shown to be but the agent of idols? Let no one contend that in this way objection can be raised against all trades. All the graver offences extend the diligence of watchfulness in proportion to the greatness of the danger, so that we withdraw not only from them but also from those things through which they are done. For though it be done by others, it makes no difference if it is through me. In nothing ought I to be necessary to another when he does what is not lawful for me. From the very fact that I am forbidden to do it, I ought to understand that I must take care that it be not done through me. In short, in another case of no lighter guilt I keep that prejudgment. For since fornication is forbidden me, I lend others neither help nor complicity in that matter. For since I have kept my own flesh apart from brothels, I acknowledge that I [may] practise neither pandering nor that kind of gain for another's sake
Editors' notes and page, col. 676

Footnotes

(6) ‹si (6) per me› · call in col 676

Nisi Jun.

Nisi (unless): Junius.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 378)

(e) ‹peregrinitatis› · call in col 676

Caetera peregrinitatis. Constructio est graeca, notat scilicet exotica odoramenta, quae ex Arabia in nostrum orbem advehuntur. Lac.

The other things of foreignness. The construction is Greek; he means exotic perfumes, which are brought from Arabia into our world. La Cerda.

(printed under page 378)

(f) ‹medicinalia› · call in col 676

Etiam hominibus ad pigmenta medicinalia. Nam et pigmenta sunt utilia medicinae Unde et pigmentarii dicti pharmacopolae. Julius Firmicus, lib. VIII, cap. 17 : Quicumque sub hoc sidere nati fuerint, marsi erunt, vel qui venenis ex herbarum pigmentis confectis salutaria soleant hominibus remedia comparare. Pigmenta etiam dixere condimenta. Cassianus, Collat. 15, cap. 3 : Corpora mortuorum pigmentis condita redolentibus in editioribus cellulis recondantur. Sit etiam Exodi cap. XXXVII, sub finem, Opus pigmentarii dicitur, quod Septuaginta, ἔργον μυρεψοῦ. Ric.

Also for men, for medicinal preparations. For spices too are useful to medicine, whence druggists are also called pigmentarii. Julius Firmicus, book VIII, chapter 17: "Whoever are born under this star will be snake-charmers, or such as are wont to prepare healing remedies for men from poisons made from the juices of herbs." They also called seasonings pigmenta. Cassian, Conference 15, chapter 3: "Let the bodies of the dead, embalmed with fragrant spices, be laid in the higher cells." So too in Exodus chapter XXXVII, near the end, it is called "the work of the perfumer," which the Septuagint renders ἔργον μυρεψοῦ. Rigault.

(printed under page 378)

(g) ‹negotiationibusve› · call in col 676

De negotiationibus. Mirum sane hic interpretes ita varias amplecti sententias, alii enim de generationibus, habent alii de gravioribus, alii, degenerabimus, alii de negotiatione. Nescio an assentiri debeam Ludovico de La Cerda qui lectionem primam, de generationibus, retinendam censet. Le Pr.

Of trades. It is truly remarkable how varied the readings the interpreters adopt here: some have de generationibus (of generations), others de gravioribus (of the graver things), others degenerabimus (we shall degenerate), others de negotiatione (of trade). I do not know whether I ought to agree with Luis de La Cerda, who thinks the first reading, de generationibus, should be kept. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 378)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 676
  • marginal letters: A nium malorum; B pompae, cum sacerdotia; C interdictum sit, aliis; D (beside the commentary, at nostrum orbem advehuntur)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:677
posse. Sic et homicidii interdictio ostendit mihi lanistam quoque ab Ecclesia arceri: nec per se non faciet, quod faciendum aliis subministrat. Ecce magis proximum praejudicium. Si publicarum victimarum redemptor ad fidem accedat, permittes ei in eo negotio permanere? Aut si jam fidelis id agere susceperit, retinendum in Ecclesia putabis? Non opinor, nisi si quis et de thurario dissimulabit, scilicet ad alios pervenit procuratio sanguinis, ad alios odorum. Si antequam idola in saeculo essent, his mercibus adhuc informis idololatria transigebatur, sic et nunc fere sine idolo opus idololatriae incendiis odorum perpetratur, ecquid majoris operae et erga daemonia thurarius? nam facilius sine idolo idololatria, quam sine thurarii merce. Ipsius fidei conscientiam perrogemus. Quo ore christianus thurarius, si per templa transibit, fumantes aras despuet, et exsufflabit, quibus ipse prospexit? Qua constantia exorcizabit alumnos suos, quibus domum suam cellariam praestat? Ille quidem si excluserit daemonium, non sibi placeat de fide. Neque enim inimicum exclusit. Facile debuit de eo impetrare, quem quotidie pascit. Nulla igitur ars, nulla professio, nulla negotiatio, quae quid aut instruendis aut formandis idolis administrat, carere poterit titulo idololatriae: nisi si aliud omnino interpretemur idololatriam, quam famulatum idolorum colendorum.
[to] be able [to]. So too the prohibition of murder shows me that the trainer of gladiators also is kept away from the Church: he will not fail to do through himself what he supplies to others to be done. Here is a prejudgment nearer still. If a contractor for the public victims comes to the faith, will you allow him to remain in that business? Or if one already a believer has undertaken to do it, will you think he should be kept in the Church? I think not, unless someone will also wink at the incense-dealer; the supplying of blood, you see, falls to some, that of scents to others. If, before there were idols in the world, idolatry, still formless, was transacted with these wares, and if even now the work of idolatry is for the most part carried out without an idol by the burning of scents, is not the incense-dealer of greater service even towards demons? For idolatry is carried on more easily without an idol than without the incense-dealer's wares. Let us question the conscience of faith itself. With what mouth will a Christian incense-dealer, if he passes through the temples, spit upon and blow out the smoking altars for which he himself has provided? With what constancy will he exorcize his own foster-children, to whom he lends his own house as a storeroom? Indeed, if he has driven out a demon, let him not congratulate himself on his faith. For he has not driven out an enemy. He was bound to obtain his request easily from one whom he feeds every day. No art, then, no profession, no trade which ministers anything to the equipping or forming of idols will be able to be free of the title of idolatry, unless we interpret idolatry as something wholly other than the service of idols to be worshipped.
CAPUT XII.
CHAPTER XII.
Male nobis de necessitatibus humanae exhibitionis supplaudimus, si post fidem obsignatam dicimus:
We applaud ourselves wrongly over the necessities of human maintenance if, after the faith has been sealed, we say:
Editors' notes and page, col. 677

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 379)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 677

Id. Abest Rig.

Id (it) is absent: Rigault.

(printed under page 379)

(2) ‹thurarius› · call in col 677

Nescio, inquit Leop., an sit scribendum : ecquid majoris operae est erga daemonia, quam thurarius ?

I do not know, says Leopold, whether one should write: "is anything of greater service to the demons than the incense-seller?"

(printed under page 379)

(3) ‹si (3) per templa› · call in col 677

Si abest Latin.

Si (if) is absent: Latinius.

(printed under page 379)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 677

Lanistam quoque. Supervacaneum forsan erit hic repetere quod nemo nescit, Lanistam esse gladiatorum praefectum. In gloss. lanista ἐπιστάτης μονομάχων [print unclear]. Le Pr.

The trainer of gladiators too. It will perhaps be superfluous to repeat here what nobody is ignorant of, that a lanista is the master of gladiators. In the Glossary, lanista: "overseer of gladiators." Le Prieur.

(printed under page 379)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 677

His mercibus adhuc informis. Informem idololatriam dicit; quae sine ulla forma, sive statua aut figura, sine idolo transigebatur : solo scilicet odorum incendio, mensibus arabicis, thure. Ric.

Still formless with these wares. He calls idolatry formless, which was carried on without any form, or statue or figure, without an idol: by the mere burning of perfumes, that is, the Arabian harvests, incense. Rigault.

(printed under page 379)

(c) ‹christianus thurarius› · call in col 677

Quo ore christianus thurarius. Si quis hanc lectionem, quae sane est codicis Agobardi, retinere velit, omnino sic distinguat : Quo ore christianus thurarius, si per templa transibit? quo ore fumantes aras despuet et exsufflabit, quibus ipse prospexit? Alias commodissime scriberetur : Quo ore christianus thurarius, si per templa transibit, fumantes aras despuet, etc. Ric.

With what face will a Christian incense-seller. If anyone wishes to keep this reading, which is indeed that of the Agobard codex, let him punctuate entirely thus: "With what face will a Christian incense-seller pass through the temples? With what face will he spit upon and blow out the smoking altars which he himself has supplied?" Otherwise it would be written most conveniently: "With what face will a Christian incense-seller, if he passes through the temples, spit upon the smoking altars," etc. Rigault.

(printed under page 379)

(d) ‹et exsufflabit› · call in col 677

Et exsufflabit. Alludit ad exsufflationem daemonum, quae fit in exorcismis ante baptismum. Unde subjungit, quae constantia exorcizabit alumnos suos. De quibus omnibus latius lib. de baptismo. Pam.

And blow out. He alludes to the blowing out of demons that is done in the exorcisms before baptism. Hence he adds: "with what constancy will he exorcize his foster-children?" Of all this more fully in the book On Baptism. Pamelius.

(printed under page 379)

(e) ‹famulatum› · call in col 677

Quam famulatum idolorum. Proprie usus voce; notat enim servitium, id est servitutem qua gentiles addicti daemonibus. Atqui famulatus proprie est illorum qui dicuntur familiares, id est servi. Senec. ep. 47, et Plaut. in amphit. Itaque honesta vox, ne servi notarentur contumelia, erat familia et famulatus : et ipsi domini dicebantur patres familias. Lac.

Than the service of the idols. He uses the word properly, for it denotes service, that is, the slavery by which the pagans were bound to the demons. Now famulatus properly belongs to those who are called familiares, that is, slaves. Seneca, letter 47, and Plautus in the Amphitruo. So, lest slaves be branded with an insult, the decent words were familia and famulatus; and the masters themselves were called fathers of the family. La Cerda.

(printed under page 379)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 677

CAP. XII. — Aedificis illius. Aedifex pro aedificatore, non aedium duntaxat, sed cujusvis structurae et mox defunctus non pro mortuo, sed pro eo qui ab opere coepto defungitur. Pam.

CHAPTER XII. — Of his building. Aedifex for aedificator, a builder not only of houses but of any structure; and presently defunctus, not for one dead, but for one who is discharged from a work he has begun. Pamelius.

(printed under page 379)

Page

  • running head: 677 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A posse. Sic et homicidii; B christianus thurarius (c), si per templa; C (beside the Lectiones variae); D (beside the commentary, at Alias commodissime)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:678
non habeo quo vivam. Jam hic enim plenius illi abruptae propositioni respondebo: Sero dicitur. Ante enim fuit deliberandum, ex similitudine providentisssimi aedificis illius qui prius sumptus operis cum viribus suis supputat, ne, ubi coeperit, defectus postea erubescat. Sed et nunc habes dicta Domini, et exempla adimentia tibi omnem caussationem. Quid enim dicis? «Egebo». Sed felices egenos Dominus appellat. «Victum non habebo.» Sed nolite, inquit, cogitare de victu. Et vestitus habemus exemplum lilia. «Substantia mihi opus erat:» Atquin omnia vendenda sunt, et egentibus dividenda. «Sed filiis et posteritati providendum.» Nemo aratro manum imponens et retro spectans aptus est operi. «Sed conditionalis eram.» Nemo duobus dominis servire potest. Si vis Domini discipulus esse, crucem tuam tollas, et Dominum sequaris necesse est, id est, angustias et cruciatus tuos, vel corpus solum, quod in modum crucis est. Parentes, conjuges, liberi propter Deum relinquendi erunt. De artibus et negotiationibus, et de professionibus etiam liberorum et parentum caussa dubitas? Jam tunc demonstratum est nobis et pignora, et artificia, et negotia propter Dominum derelinquenda, cum Jacobus et Joannes vocati a Domino et patrem navemque derelinquunt; cum Matthaeus de teloneo suscitatur; cum etiam sepelire patrem tardum fuit fidei. Nemo eorum quos Dominus allegit, non habeo, dixit, quo vivam. Fides famem non timet. Scit etiam famem non
I have nothing to live on. For here I shall now answer that abrupt proposition more fully: it is said too late. It should have been considered beforehand, after the likeness of that most provident builder who first reckons up the cost of the work against his means, lest, having begun and failed, he afterwards blush. But even now you have the sayings of the Lord, and examples that take from you every pretext. For what do you say? “I shall be in want.” But the Lord calls the needy blessed. “I shall have no food.” But take no thought, He says, for food. And for clothing we have the lilies as an example. “I needed property.” Yet all things are to be sold and divided among the needy. “But I must provide for my children and posterity.” No one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the work. “But I was bound under contract.” No one can serve two masters. If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, you must take up your cross and follow the Lord, that is, your straits and your torments, or your body alone, which is in the manner of a cross. Parents, wives, children will have to be left for God's sake. Do you hesitate about arts and trades and professions, for the sake of children and parents too? Already then it was shown to us that pledges [of love] and crafts and business are all to be forsaken for the Lord's sake, when James and John, called by the Lord, leave both father and ship; when Matthew is roused from the toll-booth; when even to bury a father was too slow for faith. None of those whom the Lord chose said: I have nothing to live on. Faith does not fear hunger. It knows also that hunger [is] not
Editors' notes and page, col. 678

Footnotes

(4) ‹defectus› · call in col 678

Defunctus Fran.

Defunctus (discharged, dead): Franeker edition.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 379)

(g) ‹conditionalis eram› · call in col 678

Sed conditionalis eram. Emendavimus ex codice Agobardi, in quo sic legitur : Nemo aratro manum imponens et retro spectans aptus est operis et conditionalis eram. Quae, ut edidimus, distingui oportere manifestum est. Conditionalis dicitur servus certae conditioni adscriptus et mancipatus. l. VII. de jure fisci. Actuarii conditionales, Cod. Theod. De numerariis, actuariis, etc. Ric.

But I was bound by contract. We have corrected this from the Agobard codex, in which one reads: "No one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the work and I was bound by contract." It is plain that this must be punctuated as we have printed it. A conditionalis is a slave assigned and bound over to a fixed condition: law VII, On the right of the treasury. "Contract clerks," Theodosian Code, On accountants, clerks, etc. Rigault.

(printed under page 379)

(h) ‹in modum crucis est› · call in col 678

Quod in modum crucis est. Hanc fuisse veterem scripturam arbitramur, et quae adhuc cernuntur in antiquis exemplaribus vestigia, persuadent. In iis enim ita scribitur : Aut corpus solum, quod in modum Xps est. Si copia nobis esset principalium exemplorum, unde suum describi jussit Agobardus, mendosae lectionis origo patesceret. Interim opinari liceat, scriptum fuisse in antiquissimis, Quod in modum Xis quae nota cum esset crucis, in hunc facile transiit Xps, quae Christus est. Quo etiam modo Barraeus in exemplari suo scriptum fuisse testatur. Quod autem hic ait Tertullianus, corpus nostrum in modum esse crucis, idem etiam clarius explicat lib. I ad Nationes, cap. 12. Ipsi quoque corpori nostro, tacita et secreta linea, crucis situs est. Quod caput emicat, quod spina dirigitur, quod humerorum obligatio... Si hominem statuaris manibus expansis, imaginem crucis feceris. Ric.

Which is in the shape of a cross. We judge this to have been the old reading, and the traces still to be seen in ancient copies persuade us of it. For in them it is written thus: "Or the body alone, which is in the shape of Xps." If we had access to the principal exemplars from which Agobard had his copied, the origin of the faulty reading would be clear. Meanwhile one may conjecture that in the most ancient copies was written "which is in the shape of an X," and since this was the mark of the cross, it easily passed into "Xps," which is Christ. Barraeus too testifies that it was so written in his copy. What Tertullian says here, that our body is in the shape of a cross, he explains still more clearly in book I To the Nations, chapter 12: "Our very body too has the position of a cross, in a silent and secret line. In that the head rises up, the spine runs straight, the shoulders are joined across... If you set a man upright with hands spread out, you will have made the image of a cross." Rigault.

(printed under page 379)

(i) ‹non timet› · call in col 678

Fides famem non timet. Magni semper fecit Tertullianum Hieronymus, nam ab hoc plures ille sumpsit sententias, interque illas etiam hanc. Ita enim ad Heliodor. : De cibo cogitas? sed fides famem non timet. Arat. lib. II, hist. Apostol. dixit : Neque enim discrimina novit / Formidare fides. Lac.

Faith does not fear hunger. Jerome always thought highly of Tertullian, for he took many sayings from him, and this one among them. So to Heliodorus: "Are you thinking of food? But faith does not fear hunger." Arator, book II of the History of the Apostles, said: "For faith knows not how to fear dangers." La Cerda.

(printed under page 379)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 678
  • marginal letters: A non habeo quo vivam; B servire potest. Si vis; C (beside the Lectiones variae); D (beside the commentary, at dosae lectionis origo)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:679
minus sibi contemnendam propter Deum, quam omne mortis genus. Didicit non respicere vitam, quanto magis victum? Quotusquisque haec adimplevit? Sed quae penes homines difficilia, penes Deum facilia.
less to be despised by it for God's sake than every kind of death. It has learned not to regard life; how much more food? How many have fulfilled these things? But what is difficult with men is easy with God.
CAPUT XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Sic tamen nobis de mansuetudine et clementia Dei blandiamur, ut non usque ad idololatriae affinitates necessitatibus largiamur: sed omnem adflatum ejus vice pestis etiam de longinquo devitemus, non his tantum quae praemisimus, sed in universa serie humanae superstitionis, sive deis suis, sive defunctis, sive regibus mancipatae, ut ad eosdem spiritus immundos pertinentis, modo per sacrificia et sacerdotia, modo per spectacula, et hoc genus, modo per festos dies. Sed de sacrificiis et de sacerdotiis quid loquar? De spectaculis autem et voluptatibus ejusmodi suum jam volumen implevimus. Hoc loco retractari oportet de festis diebus, et aliis extraordinariis solemnitatibus, quas interdum lasciviae, interdum timiditati nostrae subscribimus, adversus fidei disciplinam communicantes nationibus in idolicis
Yet let us so flatter ourselves on the gentleness and clemency of God as not to make concessions to necessities even as far as kinship with idolatry; but let us shun every breath of it, like a plague, even from afar: not only in the things we have set out above, but in the whole range of human superstition, whether made over to its gods, or to the dead, or to kings, as pertaining to the same unclean spirits, now through sacrifices and priesthoods, now through spectacles and that kind of thing, now through festal days. But what shall I say of sacrifices and priesthoods? Of spectacles, moreover, and pleasures of that kind we have already filled a volume of their own. In this place we must go over the festal days and the other extraordinary solemnities, which we sometimes put down to our wantonness, sometimes to our timidity, sharing with the nations, against the discipline of the faith, in idolatrous
Editors' notes and page, col. 679

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 380)

Page

  • running head: 679 TERTULLIANI (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A minus sibi contemnendam; B per festos dies; C (beside the commentary, at verbis Domini ad latronem); D (beside the commentary, at et apud inferos esse paradisum)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:680
rebus. De hoc quidem primo consistam, an cum ipsis quoque nationibus communicare in hujusmodi servus Dei debeat, sive habitu, sive victu, vel quo alio genere laetitiae earum. Gaudere cum gaudentibus, et lugere cum lugentibus, de fratribus dictum est ab apostolo ad unanimitatem cohortante (Rom., XII, 15). Caeterum ad haec nihil communionis est lumini et tenebris vitae et morti: aut scindimus quod est scriptum (II Cor.VI, 14; Joan., XVI, 20): Saeculum gaudebit, vos vero lugebitis. Si cum saeculo gaudemus, verendum est, ne cum saeculo et lugeamus. Saeculo autem gaudente lugeamus, et saeculo postea lugente gaudebimus (Luc, XVI, 19). Sic et Lazarus apud inferos in sinu Abrahae refrigerium consecutus; contra dives in tormento ignis constitutus, alternas malorum et bonorum vices aemula retributione compensant. Sunt quidam dies munerum, quae apud alios honoris titulum, apud alios mercedis debitum expungunt. Nunc ergo, inquis, recipiam meum, vel rependam alienum. Si hunc morem sibi homines de superstitione consecraverunt, tu extraneus ab omni eorum vanitate, quid participas idolo-
things. On this point first I shall take my stand: whether a servant of God ought to share with the nations themselves in things of this kind, whether in dress, or in food, or in any other kind of their rejoicing. To rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn was said of the brethren by the apostle, exhorting to unanimity (Rom. 12:15). But for these things there is no communion between light and darkness, life and death; or else we tear up what is written (2 Cor. 6:14; John 16:20): The world will rejoice, but you will mourn. If we rejoice with the world, it is to be feared that we may also mourn with the world. But let us mourn while the world rejoices, and when the world afterwards mourns we shall rejoice (Luke 16:19). So too Lazarus, having obtained refreshment among the dead in the bosom of Abraham, and the rich man, set on the contrary in the torment of fire, balance the alternate turns of evil and good by a matching retribution. There are certain days of gifts, which with some discharge a title of honour, with others a debt of wages. Now then, you say, I shall receive what is mine, or pay back what is another's. If men have consecrated this custom to themselves out of superstition, why do you, a stranger to all their vanity, share in idol[…]
Editors' notes and page, col. 680

Footnotes

(1) ‹Sic et Lazarus› · call in col 680

Eleazar Paris. alii.

Eleazar: Paris edition, others.

(printed under page 380)

(2) ‹compensant› · call in col 680

Compensatur Paris.

Compensatur (is compensated): Paris edition.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 380)

(a) ‹Sic et Lazarus› · call in col 680

CAP. XIII. — Sic et Lazarus. « In exemplari Agobardi, ubique scribitur, Eleazar, non Lazarus. Sic etiam apud Prudentium, Hym. de Exequiis : Gremio senis abdita sancti / Recubabit, ubi est Eleazar. Ric. Sic et Lazarus apud inferos in sinu Abrahae. Ex verbis Domini ad latronem, hodie mecum eris in paradiso, et Abrahae de Lazaro ad divitem purpuratum, et Joannis martyrum animas videntis sub altari, et Pauli ad Thessal. 1, cap. IV. veterum plerique in ea sententia fuere, ut crederent esse apud inferos animarum receptacula piarum et impiarum divini judicii diem exspectantium. Interea tamen pias quidem pace, quiete, refrigerio gaudere; impias contra carcere, ignibus, gehenna cruciari. Piarum receptacula in recessu quidem subterraneo, sed inferioribus multo impiarum abyssis superstructo. Inter utrumque autem insuperabilis altitudinis chaos obfirmatum. Quum igitur in hac sententia fuerit Tertullianus, nihil est quod hic miremur, et Lazarum et Abrahae sinum apud inferos censeri. Nam et ipse eodem sensu lib. de anima, animam Christi ait egressam de crucifixo corpore ad inferos descendisse, ut compotes sui faceret patriarchas. Alii vero eadem quoque fide et apud inferos esse paradisum credidere, quo latroni Christus condixit; etenim paradisi vocabulo significari hortum seu pratum, seu quemvis alium amoeni refrigerii locum, ubi patriarchae, ubi Abraham, ubi Jacob, ubi Lazarus, ubi ille de latrone fidelis, ubi etiam martyrum animae placidum quiescant. Ac de martyribus quidem Septimius noster ita sensisse videtur in Scorpiace, cum ait animas eorum sub altari patientiam pascere, et indutas stolam candidam claritatis usurpare. Quasi sedes illa sub altari, ὑποκάτω θυσιαστηρίου, Joanni revelata, nomine altaris terram significet, super quam immolata martyrum corpora, veluti super altare jacuerunt, unde ipsorum animae in subterraneas amoenitates ab angelis sunt delatae, ubi resurrectionem ac Dei regnum praestolantur : moram vero tantulam, licet complurium annorum, sanctis minime gravem aeternae gloriae fiducia saecularis. Veruntamen Septimium in hac sententia parum fuisse constantem arguunt ea quae libro de Resurrectione tradidit. Etenim posteaquam probavit omnem animam apud inferos sequestrari in diem Domini, confestim eximit ab ea dispositione martyrum animas, paradiso, inquit, non inferis deversuras. Quibus certe verbis paradisum esse apud inferos negat; etsi lib. de anima, secundum Irenaei sententiam, Christum ipsum dixisset forma humanae mortis apud inferos functum; eosque superbe nimis censere, qui non putarent animas fidelium inferis dignas. Servi super dominum, inquit, et discipuli super magistrum, aspernati si forte in Abrahae sinu expectandae resurrectionis solatium capere. Ex his igitur id colligimus, homines adhuc aevo illo valde fuisse harum rerum incertos ac dubios. » Hactenus Rigaltius; caetera vero quae subjunxit ad infirmandam, ut videtur, catholicam de Christi ad inferos descensu doctrinam, veritate carent et haeresim sapiunt. Sufficiat adversus hunc commentatorem opposuisse ea, quae Natalis Alexander, in sua Dissertatione de Symbolo fidei asseruit : « Ad inferos, inquit ille (hoc est, ad locum illum, quem theologi Limbum Patrum vocant), animam Christi, non virtute tantum et operatione, sed re et praesentia descendisse, dogma fidei est, Scripturae sacrae testimoniis, et unanimi Patrum consensu firmatum. Graeci vero Latinique Patres in ejusdem catholici dogmatis assertionem conspirant. » (Theol. Curs. compl., t. VI, p. 239 et seq.). V. etiam professionem fidei catholicae (Theol. Curs. compl., t. I, p. 1000). Quum vero Rigaltius Rufinum in gratiam suae sententiae citaverit, tanquam si Ecclesiae catholicae symbolo Christi descensus ad inferos non legeretur, libet praesertim ea referre, quae de Symbolo Apostolorum expresserat ille ipse Rufinus : « Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato, et sepultus, DESCENDIT IN INFERNA. » (Exposit. in Symb. Apost. Auct. Rufino, inter opera S. Cypriani, edit. Pamel., p. 544). Edd.

CHAPTER XIII. — So too Lazarus. "In the Agobard copy, Eleazar is written everywhere, not Lazarus. So too in Prudentius, Hymn on the Funeral: 'Hidden in the bosom of the holy old man he will lie, where Eleazar is.' Rigault. So too Lazarus in the underworld in Abraham's bosom. From the Lord's words to the thief, 'Today you shall be with me in paradise,' and Abraham's about Lazarus to the rich man in purple, and John's seeing the souls of the martyrs under the altar, and Paul's in 1 Thessalonians chapter IV, most of the ancients were of the view that there are in the underworld receptacles of the souls of the righteous and the wicked, awaiting the day of God's judgement. Meanwhile, however, the righteous rejoice in peace, quiet and refreshment; the wicked, on the contrary, are tormented by prison, fires, Gehenna. The receptacles of the righteous are in an underground recess indeed, but built above the far lower abysses of the wicked. And between the two a chaos of insurmountable depth is fixed. Since Tertullian, then, was of this view, there is nothing here to wonder at in his reckoning both Lazarus and Abraham's bosom to be in the underworld. For he himself in the same sense, in the book On the Soul, says that the soul of Christ, having gone out of the crucified body, went down to the underworld to make the patriarchs sharers in himself. Others, however, believed with the same faith that paradise too, which Christ promised the thief, is in the underworld; for by the word paradise is signified a garden or meadow, or any other place of pleasant refreshment, where the patriarchs, where Abraham, where Jacob, where Lazarus, where that faithful thief, where the souls of the martyrs too rest in peace. And of the martyrs our Septimius seems to have thought so in the Scorpiace, when he says that their souls feed their patience under the altar, and, clothed, take up the white robe of glory. As though that seat under the altar, 'beneath the altar,' revealed to John, signified by the name of altar the earth, upon which the sacrificed bodies of the martyrs lay as upon an altar, whence their souls were carried by angels to the underground delights, where they await the resurrection and the kingdom of God: a delay so slight, though of many years, and not at all burdensome to the saints in their confidence of eternal glory. Yet what he taught in the book On the Resurrection shows that Septimius was not very constant in this view. For after proving that every soul is held in custody in the underworld until the day of the Lord, he at once exempts from that arrangement the souls of the martyrs, 'who will lodge,' he says, 'in paradise, not in the underworld.' With these words he certainly denies that paradise is in the underworld; though in the book On the Soul, following Irenaeus's view, he had said that Christ himself underwent the form of human death in the underworld, and that those thought too proudly who did not deem the souls of the faithful worthy of the underworld: 'servants above their lord,' he says, 'and disciples above their master, disdaining, it may be, to take the comfort of awaiting the resurrection in Abraham's bosom.' From these things, then, we gather that in that age men were still very uncertain and doubtful of these matters." So far Rigault; but the rest that he added, to weaken, as it seems, the Catholic doctrine of Christ's descent to the underworld, lacks truth and smacks of heresy. Against this commentator it will suffice to set what Natalis Alexander asserted in his Dissertation on the Creed: "That the soul of Christ descended to the underworld," he says (that is, to the place theologians call the Limbo of the Fathers), "not only by power and operation but in reality and presence, is a dogma of faith, established by the testimonies of sacred Scripture and the unanimous consent of the Fathers. The Greek and Latin Fathers agree in asserting this same Catholic dogma." (Theologiae Cursus completus, vol. VI, p. 239 ff.). See also the profession of the Catholic faith (Theologiae Cursus completus, vol. I, p. 1000). And since Rigault cited Rufinus in support of his view, as though Christ's descent to the underworld were not read in the creed of the Catholic Church, it is worth reporting especially what that same Rufinus set down about the Apostles' Creed: "Crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried, HE DESCENDED INTO HELL." (Exposition of the Apostles' Creed, by Rufinus, among the works of St Cyprian, Pamelius's edition, p. 544). The Editors.

(printed under page 380)

(b) ‹dies munerum› · call in col 680

Dies munerum quae apud alios honoris titulum expungunt. Habebant ethnici dies munerum et dies strenarum. Ipse Tertullianus pag. seq. Munera commeant, strenae consonant. Ric.

Days of gifts, which with some discharge a title of honour. The pagans had days of gifts and days of New Year presents. Tertullian himself, on the following page: "Gifts go to and fro, New Year presents ring together." Rigault.

(printed under page 380)

(c) ‹mercedis debitum› · call in col 680

Apud alios mercedis debitum. Unde et Mercedonius seu Mercedinus mensis dictus, postea que dies Mercedini, in tres menses tributi. Ric.

With others a debt of wages. Whence too the month called Mercedonius or Mercedinus, and afterwards the Mercedinian days, distributed among three months. Rigault.

(printed under page 380)

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  • running head: TERTULLIANI 680
  • marginal letters: A rebus. De hoc quidem; B lorum et bonorum vices; C (beside the commentary, at mortis apud inferos functum); D (beside the commentary, at matis assertionem conspirant)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:681
thyta solemnia, quasi tibi quoque praescriptum sit de die, quo minus id quod homini debes, vel tibi ab homine debetur, citra diei observationem luas, vel recipias. Da formam in qua velis agi tecum. Cur enim et lateas, cum ignorantia alterius tuam conscientiam contamines? si non ignoraris quod sis christianus, tentaris, et contra conscientiam alterius agis, tanquam non christianus. Enimvero etsi simulaveris, tentatus, addictus es. Certe sive hac, sive illac, reus es confusionis in Deo (Matth., X, 32; Luc, IX, 26). Qui autem confusus super me fuerit penes homines, et ego confundar super illo, inquit, penes Patrem meum, qui est in coelis.
…[their] solemnities, as if for you too it had been prescribed concerning the day, that you should not pay what you owe to a man, or receive what is owed to you by a man, without observance of the day. Give the form in which you wish to be dealt with. For why should you even lie hidden, when you defile your own conscience by the ignorance of another? If it is not unknown that you are a Christian, you are put to the test, and you act against the other's conscience as though not a Christian. But indeed, even if you have dissembled, being put to the test, you are bound over. Certainly, whether this way or that, you are guilty of shame in respect of God (Matt. 10:32; Luke 9:26). "But whoever has been ashamed of Me before men, I too," He says, "will be ashamed of him before My Father, Who is in heaven."
CAPUT XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
Sed enim plerique jam induxerunt animo, ignoscendum esse, si quando, quae ethnici, faciunt, ne nomen blasphemetur. Porro blasphemia, quae nobis omnino devitanda est, haec opinor est: si quis nostrum ad justam blasphemiam ethnicum deducat, aut fraude, aut injuria, aut contumelia, aliave materia dignae querelae, in qua nomen merito percutitur, ut merito irascatur et Dominus. Caeterum si de omni blasphemia dictum est: vestri caussa nomen meum blasphematur (Rom. II, 24), perimus universi; cum totus circus scelestis suffragiis nullo merito nomen lacessit. Desinamus, et non blasphemabitur. Imo blasphemetur, dum sumus in observatione, non in exorbitatione disciplinae, dum probamur, non dum reprobamur. O blasphemiam martyrii affinem, quae tunc me testatur Christianum, cum propter eam detestatur! Benedictio est nominis, maledictio custoditae disciplinae. Si hominibus, inquit, vellem placere, servus Christi non essem (Gal., I, 10). Sed idem alibi (I Cor., X, 33) jubet, omnibus placere curemus. Quemadmodum ego, inquit, omnibus per omnia placeo. Nimirum Saturnalia et Kalendas januarias
But indeed most have now persuaded themselves that it is to be pardoned if at any time they do what the heathen do, lest the Name be blasphemed. Now the blasphemy which is wholly to be shunned by us is, I think, this: if any of us leads a heathen into just blasphemy, by fraud, or injury, or insult, or other matter of worthy complaint, in which the Name is deservedly struck, so that the Lord too is deservedly angered. But if it was said of every blasphemy, "On your account My name is blasphemed" (Rom. 2:24), we perish one and all, since the whole circus with its wicked votes assails the Name for no desert of ours. Let us cease, and it will not be blasphemed. Nay rather, let it be blasphemed, while we are in the keeping, not in the straying, of discipline; while we are approved, not while we are reproved. O blasphemy akin to martyrdom, which then bears witness that I am a Christian, when on that account it detests me! It is a blessing of the Name, the cursing of a discipline kept. "If I wished," he says, "to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10). But the same man elsewhere (1 Cor. 10:33) bids that we take care to please all: "Just as I," he says, "please all in all things." Doubtless it was the Saturnalia and the Kalends of January
Editors' notes and page, col. 681

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 381)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 681

Formam qua Rigalt.

Formam qua (the form by which): Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 681

Et dissimulaberis Paris. Rig.

Et dissimulaberis (and you will be disguised): Paris edition, Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

(3) ‹si quando› [the call reads (5) on the scan] · call in col 681

Quandoque his Fran. Rig.

Quandoque his (whenever these things): Franeker edition, Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

(4) ‹et Dominus› · call in col 681

Irascatur ei Dominus Leop. primus et unus.

Irascatur ei Dominus (let the Lord be angry with him): Leopold, first and alone.

(printed under page 381)

(5) ‹vestri› · call in col 681

Est vae, cujus caussa Paris. Jun. Pamel.; vestra caussa Leop.

Est vae, cujus caussa (it is "woe to him on whose account"): Paris edition, Junius, Pamelius; vestra caussa (on your account): Leopold.

(printed under page 381)

(6) ‹blasphemiam› · call in col 681

Ob blasphemiam Fran.

Ob blasphemiam (on account of blasphemy): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 381)

(7) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 681

Exiretis Paris. Pet. Rhen. Rig. exissetis Semler, Ciacon.

Exiretis (you would go out): Paris edition, Pet., Rhenanus, Rigault; exissetis (you would have gone out): Semler, Chacón.

(printed under page 381)

(8) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 681

Commisceri Paris.

Commisceri (to be mingled): Paris edition.

(printed under page 381)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 681

Da formam qua velis agi tecum, cur enim et lateas. Elige, inquit, qua tecum agi velis formula : christiani inter ethnicos noti vel ignoti. Nam cum apud ethnicos, solemnes ethnicorum dies observas, id efficies ut lateas, atque ut te non esse christianum ethnicus putet; et fraus est quae, hoc ipso quod ignorantiam veritatis inducit, conscientiam tuam contaminat. Ric.

Give the form by which you wish to be dealt with; for why should you also lie hidden? Choose, he says, the formula by which you wish to be dealt with: as a Christian known among the pagans, or unknown. For when, among the pagans, you keep the pagans' solemn days, you will bring it about that you lie hidden, and that the pagan thinks you are not a Christian; and it is a deceit which, by the very fact that it induces ignorance of the truth, defiles your conscience. Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

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  • running head: 681 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 682 (right half cut off in image; read as LIBER DE IDOLOLA…)
  • marginal letters: A ‹thyta solemnia, quasi tibi›; B ‹scendum esse, si quando›; C ‹quae tunc me testatur›; D ‹(a) Da formam qua velis (commentary)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:682
celebrans hominibus placebat? an modestia et patientia, an gravitate, an humanitate, an integritate? Proinde cum dicit, Omnia omnibus factus sum, ut omnes lucrifaciam (I Cor. IX, 22), numquid idololatris idololatres, numquid ethnicis ethnicus, numquid saecularibus saecularis? Sed etsi non prohibet nos conversari cum idololatris et adulteris et caeteris criminosis, dicens (I Cor., V, 10): caeterum de mundo exiretis; non utique eas habenas conversationis immutat, ut quoniam necesse sit et convivere nos et commisceri cum peccatoribus, ideo et cum eis peccare possimus. Ibi est commercium vitae, quod Apostolus concedit; hic peccare, quod nemo permittit. Licet convivere cum ethnicis, commori non licet. Convivamus cum omnibus: conlaetemur ex communione naturae, non superstitionis. Pares anima sumus, non disciplina: compossessores mundi, non erroris. Quod si nobis nullum jus est communionis in ejusmodi cum extraneis, quanto scelestius est, haec inter fratres frequentare! Quis hoc sustinere aut defendere potest? Judaeis dies suos fastos exprobrat Spiritus sanctus: Sabbata, inquit, vestra et neomenias et caeremonias odit anima mea (Is., I, 14). Nobis quibus sabbata extranea sunt et neomeniae et feriae a Deo aliquando dilectae, Saturnalia, et Januariae, et Brumae, et Matronales frequentantur? munera commeant? strenae consonant? lusus, convivia constrepunt? O melior fides nationum in suam sectam! quae nullam solemnitatem Christianorum sibi vindicat, non Dominicum diem, non Pentecosten, etiamsi nossent, nobiscum communicassent; timerent enim ne Christiani viderentur. Nos ne ethnici pronuntiemur, non veremur. Si quid et carni indulgendum est, habes, non dicam duos dies tantum, sed et plures. Nam ethnicis semel annuus dies quisque festus est: tibi octavus
…celebrating, that he pleased men? Or by modesty and patience, by gravity, by kindness, by integrity? So too, when he says, "I have become all things to all, that I may gain all" (1 Cor. 9:22), was he to idolaters an idolater, to heathens a heathen, to worldlings a worldling? But although he does not forbid us to associate with idolaters and adulterers and other criminals, saying (1 Cor. 5:10), "otherwise you would go out of the world," he certainly does not so loosen the reins of our conduct that, since it is necessary for us both to live with sinners and to mingle with them, we may therefore also sin with them. There is a commerce of life, which the Apostle grants; here there is sinning, which no one permits. It is lawful to live with the heathen; to die with them is not lawful. Let us live with all; let us rejoice together from a fellowship of nature, not of superstition. We are equals in soul, not in discipline; joint possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of fellowship in things of this kind with outsiders, how much more wicked it is to frequent them among brethren! Who can endure or defend this? The Holy Spirit reproaches the Jews with their own festal days: "Your sabbaths," He says, "and new moons and ceremonies My soul hates" (Isa. 1:14). Are the Saturnalia, and the January [feasts], and the Brumalia, and the Matronalia frequented by us, to whom sabbaths are foreign, and new moons, and festivals once loved by God? Do presents go to and fro? Do New Year's gifts ring together? Do games and banquets clamour? O the better faith of the nations towards their own sect! which claims for itself no solemnity of the Christians: neither the Lord's day nor Pentecost, even if they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they seem Christians. We are not afraid lest we be declared heathens. If anything is to be indulged to the flesh as well, you have, I will not say two days only, but even more. For to the heathen each festal day comes once a year; to you every eighth day
Editors' notes and page, col. 682

Footnotes

(9) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 682

Ideo et compeccare Rig.

Ideo et compeccare (therefore also to sin together): Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

(10) ‹naturae› · call in col 682

Cod. Agob. Paris. animae sumus, non disciplinae.

Agobard codex, Paris edition: animae sumus, non disciplinae (we are [alike] of soul, not of discipline).

(printed under page 381)

(11) ‹frequentare› · call in col 682

Frequentari Jun.

Frequentari (to be frequented): Junius.

(printed under page 381)

(12) ‹dies suos fastos› · call in col 682

Festos Paris.

Festos (festal): Paris edition.

(printed under page 381)

(13) ‹convivia constrepunt› · call in col 682

Commeant et strenae, consonant lusus, conv. constr. Jun.

Commeant et strenae, consonant lusus, conv[ivia] constr[epunt] (New Year gifts too go to and fro, games ring together, banquets resound): Junius.

(printed under page 381)

(14) ‹duos› · call in col 682

Suos Ciacc. Jun. tuos Rig. Seml.; non tamen dies tantum, sed et plures Rig.

Suos (their own): Chacón, Junius; tuos (your own): Rigault, Semler; non tamen dies tantum, sed et plures (yet not only days, but even more): Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

(15) ‹dies (15) tantum› · call in col 682

Non tamen dies Rigalt.

Non tamen dies (yet not days): Rigault.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 381)

(b) ‹et Brumae› · call in col 682

CAP. XIV.—Et Brumae. Ferias Brumales intelligit quae Brumalia dicebantur, fiebant autem in honorem Bacchi torcularium et praelorum inventoris circa mensem Lenaeonem, hoc est, Januarium nostrum. Eae etiam feriae Ambrosia vocabantur graecis, quae Brumalia Romanis, nam Dionysius apud hosce est Brumus. Hac in interpretatione forte hallucinatus est Pamelius Lilium Gyraldum secutus. De hac voce Tzetzes in schol. Hesiodi, II, operum late disserit. Le Pr.

CHAPTER XIV.—And the Brumae. He means the winter holidays called Brumalia; they were held in honour of Bacchus, inventor of the wine-vats and presses, about the month Lenaeon, that is, our January. Those holidays which the Romans called Brumalia the Greeks also called Ambrosia, for Dionysus among these is Brumus. In this interpretation Pamelius perhaps went astray, following Lilio Gregorio Giraldi. Tzetzes discusses this word at length in his scholia on Hesiod, Works, II. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 381)

(c) ‹Matronales› · call in col 682

Et Matronalia. Feriarum harum celebritas Calendis Martiis occurrebat, in iis de Matribus et Matronis erat solemnitas, dicebantur quoque Matralia. Le Pr.

And the Matronalia. The celebration of these holidays fell on the Kalends of March; at them there was a solemn feast concerning mothers and matrons; they were also called Matralia. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 381)

(d) ‹Pentecosten› · call in col 682

Non Pentecosten. Intelligere Auctorem non solum Pentecostes festum, sed etiam, uti loquitur (de Cor. mil.), tempus illud integrum a die Paschae in Pentecosten, patet ex eo quod mox sequitur, excerpe singulas solemnitates nationum, et in ordinem nexe, Pentecosten implere non poterunt. Eodem modo et B. Hieronymus, lib. advers. Montanum et Luciferianos, per omnem Pentecosten dixit. Pam.

Not Pentecost. That the Author means not only the feast of Pentecost but also, as he says (On the Soldier's Crown), that whole season from the day of Easter to Pentecost, is clear from what follows shortly: "pick out the single festivals of the nations and string them in order, they will not be able to fill up a Pentecost." In the same way blessed Jerome too, in the book against Montanus and the Luciferians, said "through the whole of Pentecost." Pamelius.

(printed under page 381)

(e) ‹indulgendum est› · call in col 682

Si quid carni indulgendum est. Alloquitur christianum : Si quid voluptati indulgendum est, habes etiam dies festos, sicut habent ethnici, non tamen dies tantum atque illi habent, sed et plures. Ric.

If anything is to be granted to the flesh. He addresses the Christian: if anything is to be granted to pleasure, you too have feast days, as the pagans have, yet not only as many days as they have, but even more. Rigault.

(printed under page 381)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 682 (left part with 681 cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹celebrans hominibus placebat›; B ‹turae, non superstitionis›; C ‹norum sibi vindicat›; D ‹schol. Hesiodi (commentary)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:683
quisque dies. Excerpe singulas solemnitates nationum, et in ordinem texe, Pentecosten implere non poterunt.
…is a festal day. Pick out the several solemnities of the nations and weave them into a series: they will not be able to fill up Pentecost.
CAPUT XV.
CHAPTER XV.
Sed (Matth., V, 16) luceant, inquit, opera vestra. At nunc lucent tabernae et januae nostrae: plures jam invenies ethnicorum fores sine lucernis et laureis quam Christianorum. De ista quoque specie quid videtur? Si idoli honor est, sine dubio idoli honor idololatria est. Si hominis caussa est, recogitemus omnem idololatriam in hominis caussam esse. Recogitemus omnem idololatriam in homines esse culturam, cum ipsos deos nationum homines retro fuisse, etiam apud suos constet. Itaque nihil interest, superioris, an hujus saeculi viris superstitio ista praestetur. Idololatria non propter personas quae opponuntur, sed propter officia ista damnata est, quae ad daemones pertinent. Reddenda sunt (Matth., XXII) Caesari quae sunt Caesaris, bene quod opposuit, et quae sunt Dei Deo. Quae ergo sunt Caesaris? scilicet de quibus tunc consultatio movebatur, praestandusne esset census Caesari, an non: Ideo et monetam ostendi sibi Dominus postulavit, et de imagine, cujus esset, requisivit. Et cum audisset, Caesaris: Reddite, ait, quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo; id est imaginem Caesaris Caesari, quae in nummo est, et imaginem Dei Deo, quae in homine est: ut Caesari quidem pecuniam reddas, Deo temetipsum. Alioquin, quid erit Dei, si omnia Caesaris? Ergo, inquis, honor Dei est, lucernae pro foribus, et laurus in postibus? non utique quod Dei honor est, sed quod ejus qui pro Deo hujusmodi officiis honoratur, quantum in manifesto est, salva operatione quae est in occulto, ad daemonia perveniens. Certi enim esse debemus, si quos latet per ignorantiam litteraturae saecularis, etiam ostiorum deos apud Romanos, Cardeam a cardinibus appellatam, et Forculum a foribus, et Limentinum a limine, et ipsum Janum a janua: et utique scimus, licet nomina inania atque conficta sint,
But "let your works shine," He says (Matt. 5:16). Yet now it is our shops and our doors that shine: you will now find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurels than of Christians. What is thought about this kind of thing too? If it is an idol's honour, without doubt an idol's honour is idolatry. If it is for a man's sake, let us reflect that all idolatry is for a man's sake. Let us reflect that all idolatry is a worship directed to men, since it is agreed even among their own people that the very gods of the nations were once men. And so it makes no difference whether this superstition is rendered to men of a former age or of this one. Idolatry has been condemned, not on account of the persons who are set forth [as its objects], but on account of those services which pertain to demons. "There must be rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" (Matt. 22) — and well that He set against it, "and to God the things that are God's." What, then, are Caesar's? Those, namely, about which the question was then being raised, whether the tax should be paid to Caesar or not. For this reason the Lord also asked that the coin be shown Him, and inquired about the image, whose it was. And when He had heard "Caesar's," "Render," He said, "the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God"; that is, the image of Caesar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is in man, to God: so that to Caesar you render money, but to God your very self. Otherwise, what will be God's, if all things are Caesar's? "Then," you say, "lamps before the doors and laurel on the doorposts are an honour to God?" Certainly not because it is God's honour, but because it is the honour of him who is honoured in God's place by services of this kind; and, so far as is manifest, saving the working which is in secret, it reaches to the demons. For we ought to be certain, in case any are unaware of it through ignorance of secular literature, that among the Romans there are gods even of doorways: Cardea, named from hinges, and Forculus from doors, and Limentinus from the threshold, and Janus himself from the gate: and certainly we know that, although the names are empty and invented,
Editors' notes and page, col. 683

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 382)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

Octavo quoque die Fran.

Octavo quoque die (every eighth day): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 382)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

Exsere Fran.

Exsere (put forth): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 382)

(3) ‹quae opponuntur› · call in col 683

Apponuntur Latin. Rig. Fr. Jun. Leopold., caeteri opponuntur.

Apponuntur (are set beside): Latinius, Rigault, Franeker edition, Junius, Leopold; the others, opponuntur (are set against).

(printed under page 382)

(4) ‹et Forculum› · call in col 683

Cod. Rig. habet foriculum aut foreculum.

Rigault's codex has foriculum or foreculum.

(printed under page 382)

(5) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

Adornentur Jun.

Adornentur (let them be adorned): Junius.

(printed under page 382)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

CAP. XV.—Sed luceant, inquit, opera vestra. Inquit Christus. Sic lib. de Pallio : Ipsum, inquit, ferrum virum trahit. Hoc est, inquit Homerus. Ric.

CHAPTER XV.—But let your works shine, he says. Christ says. So in the book On the Cloak: "The iron itself," he says, "draws a man on." That is, Homer says. Rigault.

(printed under page 382)

(b) ‹Dei Deo› · call in col 683

Et quae sunt Dei, Deo. Notetur explicatio ista Tertulliani plena acuminis, quam rimatur ex verbis Christi. Ut enim nummus dandus Caesari, quia nummus imago est Caesaris : sic homo dandus Deo, quia homo est imago Dei. Lac.

And the things that are God's, to God. Note this explanation of Tertullian's, full of sharpness, which he draws out from Christ's words. For as the coin is to be given to Caesar, because the coin is the image of Caesar, so man is to be given to God, because man is the image of God. La Cerda.

(printed under page 382)

(c) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

Apollinem Thyraeum. Fuit Apollo praeses portarum, videlicet quia per illas aditus est luci in domum, inde θυραῖος dictus. Nam Graecis θύρα est janua. Macrob. lib. I Satur., cap. 9, rationem adhibet. Huc pertinent verba Scholiastae Soph. in Elect. : cum enim Phoebum prostaterium vocet Sophocles, schol. ait, προστατήριε, ὅτι πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἵδρυται, prostaterie, quoniam ante fores statuitur. Et Aristides hymno ad Miner. meminit Apollinis προπυλαίου. Et quidem Phoebum olim depictum in foribus videtur effici ex verbis Arnobii, lib. VI. Lac.

Apollo of the Door. Apollo was guardian of gates, evidently because through them light enters the house; hence he was called θυραῖος (of the door). For to the Greeks θύρα is a door. Macrobius, Saturnalia I, chapter 9, gives the reason. To this belong the words of the scholiast on Sophocles's Electra: for when Sophocles calls Phoebus prostaterios, the scholiast says, "prostaterie, because he is set up before the doors," that is, "since he is placed before the doors." And Aristides in his hymn to Minerva mentions Apollo προπύλαιος (before the gateway). And indeed that Phoebus was once painted on doors seems to follow from the words of Arnobius, book VI. La Cerda.

(printed under page 382)

(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 683

Et Antelios daemonas. Rhen., lib. de Cor. Antelii Graecis Dii sunt, qui foribus dedicantur. Sic enim aras vel divorum statuas vocabant subdivales, ut quae Soli forent expositae : Hinc Hesychius : ἀντήλιοι θεοὶ οἱ πρὸ τῶν πυλῶν ἱδρυμένοι, et rursus, ἀντήλιος, ὁ ἀντικρὺ ἡλίου ἱδρυμένος βωμὸς ἢ θεός. Pam.

And the Antelian demons. Rhenanus, on the book On the Crown: to the Greeks the Antelii are gods dedicated to doors. For so they called altars or statues of gods standing in the open air, as being exposed to the Sun. Hence Hesychius: "antelian gods, those set up before the gates," and again, "antelios, an altar or god set up facing the sun." Pamelius.

(printed under page 382)

Page

  • running head: 683 TERTULLIANI (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹quisque dies. Excerpe›; B ‹Idololatria non propter personas›; C ‹Dei honor est, sed quod›; D ‹(beside the Lectiones variantes, foot of page)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:684
cum tamen in superstitionem deducuntur, rapere ad se daemonia et omnem spiritum immundum per consecrationis obligamentum. Alioquin daemonia nullum habent nomen singulatim, sed ibi nomen inveniunt, ubi et pignus. Etiam apud Graecos Apollinem θυραῖον, et Antelios daemonas ostiorum praesides legimus. Haec igitur ab initio praevidens Spiritus sanctus, etiam ostia in superstitionem ventura praececinit per antiquissimum prophetam Enoch. Nam et alia ostia in balneis adorari videmus. Si autem eorum sunt quae in ostiis adorentur, ad eos et lucernae et laureae pertinebunt. Idolo feceris, quicquid ostio feceris. Hoc in loco ex auctoritate quoque Dei contestor, quia nec tutum est subtrahere quodcumque uni fuerit ostensum, utique omnium caussa. Scio fratrem per visionem eadem nocte castigatum graviter, quod januam ejus subito annuntiatis gaudiis publicis servi coronassent. Et tamen non ipse coronaverat, aut praeceperat, nam ante processerat, et regressus reprehenderat factum: adeo apud Dominum in hujusmodi etiam disciplina familiae nostrae aestimatur. Igitur quod attineat ad honores regum vel imperatorum (Rom., XIII, 7), satis praescriptum habemus, in omni obsequio esse nos oportere, secundum Apostoli praeceptum, subditos magistratibus et principibus et potestatibus: sed intra limites disciplinae, quousque ab idololatria separamur. Propterea enim et illud exemplum trium fratrum praecucurrit, qui alias obsequentes erga regem Nabuchodonosor (Dan., III, 12, seqq.), honorem imaginis ejus constantissime respuerunt, probantes idololatriam esse, quicquid ultra humani honoris modum ad instar divinae sublimitatis extollitur. Sic et Daniel (Dan. VI, 5, seqq.) caetera Dario subnixus, tamdiu fuit in officio, quamdiu a periculo disciplinae vacaret. Nam id ne subiret, non magis leones regios timuit, quam illi regios ignes. Accendant igitur quotidie lucernas, quibus lux nulla est, affigant postibus lauros postmodum arsuras, quibus ignes imminent; illis competunt et testimonia
…yet, when they are drawn into superstition, the demons and every unclean spirit seize them for themselves through the bond of consecration. Otherwise the demons have no name individually; but they find a name where they also find a pledge. Among the Greeks too we read of Apollo Thyraeus, and of the Antelii, demons who preside over doorways. Foreseeing these things, then, from the beginning, the Holy Spirit foretold, through the most ancient prophet Enoch, that even doors would come into superstition. For we see other doors also worshipped in the baths. But if there are beings who are worshipped in doorways, to them both the lamps and the laurels will belong. Whatever you have done to a door, you will have done to an idol. In this place I bear witness from the authority of God also, since it is not safe to keep back whatever has been shown to one, being surely for the sake of all. I know a brother who was severely chastised through a vision that same night, because, when public rejoicings had suddenly been announced, his slaves had crowned his gate. And yet he had not crowned it himself, nor ordered it; for he had gone out beforehand, and on his return had rebuked the deed: so much, with the Lord, are we judged even in things of this kind by the discipline of our household. Therefore, as regards the honours of kings or emperors (Rom. 13:7), we have it sufficiently prescribed that we ought to be in all obedience, according to the Apostle's precept, subject to magistrates and princes and powers; but within the limits of discipline, so long as we are kept apart from idolatry. For it was for this reason that the example of the three brothers went before as well, who, obedient in other respects towards King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 3:12 ff.), most steadfastly spurned the honour of his image, proving that whatever is exalted beyond the measure of human honour to the likeness of divine sublimity is idolatry. So also Daniel (Dan. 6:5 ff.), submissive to Darius in other things, remained in office so long as he was free of danger to discipline. For to avoid incurring that, he feared the royal lions no more than they the royal fires. Let them, then, light lamps daily, they who have no light; let them fix to their doorposts laurels that are later to burn, they over whom fires impend; to them belong both the testimonies
Editors' notes and page, col. 684

Footnotes

(6) ‹reprehenderat› · call in col 684

Coronaverat, a. p. (nam ante processerat) et regressus deprehenderat Jun. Latin.

Coronaverat, a[ut] p[raeceperat] (nam ante processerat) et regressus deprehenderat (had crowned it or ordered it (for he had gone out earlier) and on returning had discovered it): Junius, Latinius.

(printed under page 382)

(7) ‹familiae nostrae aestimatur› · call in col 684

Apud deum — aestimamur Rigalt. Leop.

Apud deum — aestimamur (with God — we are judged): Rigault, Leopold.

(printed under page 382)

(8) ‹extollitur› · call in col 684

Extollit Rigalt.

Extollit (exalts): Rigault.

(printed under page 382)

(9) ‹disciplinae› · call in col 684

Disciplina Jun.

Disciplina (discipline, ablative): Junius.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 382)

(e) ‹disciplina (e)› · call in col 684

Disciplina familiae nostrae aestimamur. Sic vetus exemplar : Apud Deum, inquit, in hujusmodi factis censemur ex disciplina familiae nostrae : hoc est, in iis quae ad crimen idololatriae pertinent, imputari nobis a Deo quae ob pravam disciplinam familia nostra peccaverit. Idem.

We are judged by the discipline of our household. So the old copy. With God, he says, in deeds of this kind we are rated by the discipline of our household: that is, in what pertains to the crime of idolatry, whatever our household has sinned through bad discipline is imputed to us by God. The same [Rigault].

(printed under page 382)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 684 (left part with 683 cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹cum tamen in superstitionem›; B ‹nem eadem nocte castigatum›; C ‹runt, probantes idololatriam›; D ‹(beside the Lectiones variantes, foot of page)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:685
tenebrarum, et auspicia poenarum (Matth., V). Tu lumen es mundi, et arbor virens semper (Ps. I). Si templis renuntiasti, ne feceris templum januam tuam. Minus dixi: si lupanaribus renuntiasti, ne indueris domi tuae faciem novi lupanaris.
…of darkness, and the omens of punishments (Matt. 5). You are the light of the world, and a tree ever green (Ps. 1). If you have renounced temples, do not make your gate a temple. I have said too little: if you have renounced brothels, do not clothe your house with the face of a new brothel.
CAPUT XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
Circa officia vero privatarum et communium solemnitatum, ut togae purae, ut sponsalium, ut nuptialium, ut nominalium, nullum putem periculum observari de flatu idololatriae quae intervenit: caussae enim sunt considerandae, quibus praestatur officium. Eas mundas esse opinor per semet ipsas, quia neque vestitus virilis, neque annulus aut conjunctio maritalis, de alicujus idoli honore descendit. Nullum denique cultum a Deo maledictum invenio, nisi muliebrem in viro (Deut., XXII, 5): Maledictus enim, inquit, omnis qui muliebribus induitur. Toga vero etiam appellatione virilis est. Nuptias
But concerning the duties of private and common solemnities, such as those of the white toga, of betrothals, of weddings, of name-givings, I should think no danger is to be guarded against from the breath of idolatry that enters into them: for the causes must be considered for which the duty is rendered. These I think clean in themselves, because neither the garment of manhood, nor the ring or the marriage union, derives from the honour of any idol. In short, I find no dress cursed by God except a woman's dress on a man (Deut. 22:5): "For cursed," He says, "is everyone who puts on women's clothes." But the toga is of manhood even by its name. Marriages
Editors' notes and page, col. 685

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 383)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

Domui Jun.

Domui (to the house): Junius.

(printed under page 383)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

Ita Rigaltius emendavit; in caeteris editionibus μηδὲν ὑγιές [Greek faint on the scan].

So Rigault corrected; in the other editions μηδὲν ὑγιές (nothing sound).

(printed under page 383)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

CAP. XVI.—Communium. Ut privatae solemnitates dicuntur, quae uni tantum personae conveniunt ita communes quae duabus, ut sunt nuptiae et sponsalia. Lac.

CHAPTER XVI.—Of common [festivals]. As those festivals are called private which concern one person only, so those are called common which concern two, as weddings and betrothals are. La Cerda.

(printed under page 383)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

Ut togae purae. Quam hic intelligat, mox tum his verbis manifestat, vestitu virilis, tum illis, Toga vero etiam appellationis virilis est, quam nempe deposita praetexta assumebant pueri an. aetatis 17. Quae et pura nuncupatur (Budaeo teste), quod nec picta esset, nec triumphalis, nec praetexta. Meminit ejusdem Cicero lib. IX, epist. ad Atticum, cum scribit Ciceroni suo se puram togam dedisse. Pam.

As of the plain toga. Which he means here he soon makes plain, both by the words "of manly dress" and by "But the toga is also manly in its name": the one, namely, which boys put on in their seventeenth year, laying aside the bordered toga. It is also called pura (on Budé's testimony), because it was neither embroidered, nor triumphal, nor bordered. Cicero mentions it in book IX of the letters to Atticus, when he writes that he has given his Cicero the plain toga. Pamelius.

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(c) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

Ut nominalium, etc. Arguit hic pro more suo ethnicorum superstitionem ridiculam, qui ex eo die quo puero nomen imponebatur, bonum omen, aut malum captabant; is autem dies erat hebdomadis septimus, licet Lacerda decimo die id fieri scribat, qui Latinis lustricus dicebatur, Graecis vero ἀμφιδρόμια, vocatus idem dies Nominalia propter illam celebritatem. Videsis hac de re θαυμαστόν Scaligerum in Festum et in Ausonium, Casaubonum in 2 Persii satyram, et Tullium, Philipp. 13 Le Pr.

As of name-days, etc. Here, as is his custom, he rebukes the ridiculous superstition of the pagans, who from the day on which a name was given to a boy took a good or bad omen; this was the seventh day of the week [of life], though La Cerda writes that it was done on the tenth day; it was called lustricus by the Latins, but by the Greeks ἀμφιδρόμια (the running-round), and the same day was called Nominalia on account of that celebration. On this see the admirable Scaliger on Festus and on Ausonius, Casaubon on Persius's second satire, and Tully, Philippic 13. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 383)

(d) ‹virilis est› · call in col 685

Toga vero etiam appellationis virilis est. Appellatur enim toga virilis, non simpliciter toga. Ric.

But the toga is also manly in its name. For it is called the toga virilis (the toga of manhood), not simply the toga. Rigault.

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(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 685

Sim vocatus, nec adsacrificii sit titulus. Hunc locum in omnibus libris editis depravatissimum emendavimus ex codice Agobardi. Emendationem verissimam esse facile probabimus explicatione. Christianis Gentilium dominio subditis, frequentissime occurrebant rationes haesitandi consultandique an et quatenus potestatibus ethnicis imperantibus aut vocantibus operae sive officia absque idololatriae periculo deberentur. Nimirum in familia forte aut comitatu Praesidis sive Proconsulis servi sunt et liberti, apparitores, scribae, librarii, praecones, inter hos et christiani, et solemnia quaedam incidunt, quorum occasione festa et sacrificia certa de more celebrantur : Praeses aliqua procurari jubet ad hasce solemnitates pertinentia. Quid hic consilii capiet christianus? Parebit imperanti? erit idololatriae fautor et administer. Obsequium negabit? erit adversus potestatem contumax. Certe idolorum cultum qualemcumque execratur Deus. Sed et Principum ac Potestatum jura confirmat, nemini christiano contumaciam indulget, imo cunctos ad obsequendi officia compellit. Hac in specie Tertullianus discrimen statuit, ut quod attineat ad honores Regum vel Imperatorum, satis praescriptum habeant Christiani, in omni se obsequio esse debere, secundum Apostoli praeceptum, subditos magistratibus et principibus et potestatibus : sed intra limites disciplinae, quousque ab idololatria separamur. Circa officia vero privatarum et communium solemnitatum, ut togae purae, ut sponsalium, ut nuptialium, ut nominalium, nullum putem, inquit, periculum observari de flatu idololatriae quae intervenit, caussae enim sunt considerandae, quibus praestatur officium. Deinde objicit : Sed his, nempe sponsalibus, nominalibus, ac caeteris hujusmodi solemnitatibus, accommodantur sacrificia. Ipse continuo objectionem solvit, sumpta persona servi seu liberti christiani, quem dominus gentilis adesse aut apparere sibi jussit filiove, ob togae purae vel sponsalium solemnia sacrificanti. Sim vocatus, inquit, dum officium meum et opera mea non possit haberi pro adsacrificio, id est, administratione seu participatione aut consensu sacrificii, utatur ille et opera mea et officio meo quantum sibi libet. Mox voto dictum castigat : Utinam quantum sibi quidem, quasi diceret, Utinam illud quod proxime dixi, quantum sibi quidem, disjungi queat ab officio operave mea, ut jam dominus ille gentilis ad eas solemnitates neminem vocaret christianum, nec videre possemus quae facere nobis nefas est. Sed quoniam Satanas ita circumdedit saeculum idololatria, licebit adesse in quibusdam quae nos homini non idolo officiosos habent. Deinde sententiam suam concludit : Caeterum, id est, absque hujusce distinctionis indulgentia, quid facient servi vel liberi fideles, item officiales, sacrificantibus dominis vel patronis vel praesidibus adhaerentes? Hujus autem loci depravandi occasionem dedit minime intellecta vox, ad sacrificii. Etenim ignari significationis mutavere, ac pro ea scripsere, in sacrificiis, nullo sensu adsacrificii titulus dicitur, quemadmodum admilitiae gratia, l. un. De offic. Praes. Praetorio. Arcadius ait, cum apud veteres Dictatoribus ad tempus summa potestas crederetur, magistros equitum sibi eligebant, qui associati, participales curae admilitiae gratia, secundum post eos potestatem gererent. Sic legitur in Pandectis Florentinis, non ut vulgo, militiae gratia. Magistri equitum admilitabant Praefectis Praetorio, eorumque cura dicebatur admilitia, quia additi et adsociati erant curae Praefectorum Praetorio. Sic etiam in sacrificiis adsacrificare dicebantur, qui propter sacrificium aderant sacrificanti, qui consilio sumptuve sacra facientem adjuvabant. Officii et operae expunctio, est persolutio et praestatio. Ric.

Let me be invited, provided the title is not that of assisting at the sacrifice. This passage, most corrupt in all the printed books, we have corrected from the Agobard codex. That the correction is entirely true we shall easily prove by explaining it. Christians subject to the rule of the Gentiles very frequently met with reasons for hesitating and deliberating whether, and how far, services or duties were owed without danger of idolatry to pagan authorities who commanded or summoned them. In the household, say, or retinue of a governor or proconsul there are slaves and freedmen, attendants, scribes, copyists, heralds, and among these Christians too; and certain solemnities come round, on the occasion of which feasts and fixed sacrifices are celebrated according to custom; the governor orders certain things belonging to these solemnities to be seen to. What course will the Christian take here? Will he obey the one who commands? He will be a patron and minister of idolatry. Will he refuse obedience? He will be defiant against authority. Certainly God execrates any worship of idols whatever. But he also confirms the rights of princes and authorities, indulges no Christian in defiance, and indeed compels all to the duties of obedience. In this case Tertullian lays down the distinction: as regards the honours of kings or emperors, Christians have it sufficiently prescribed that they ought to be in all obedience, according to the Apostle's precept, subject to magistrates and princes and powers; but within the limits of discipline, so far as we are kept apart from idolatry. But concerning the duties of private and common solemnities, such as the plain toga, betrothals, weddings, name-days, "I should think," he says, "no danger is incurred from the breath of idolatry that comes in; for the causes are to be considered for which the duty is performed." Then he objects: "But to these," namely betrothals, name-days and other solemnities of this kind, "sacrifices are attached." He at once answers the objection, taking the person of a Christian slave or freedman whom a pagan master has ordered to be present or to attend him as he sacrifices for his son's plain toga or betrothal. "Let me be invited," he says, so long as my duty and my service cannot be held as assistance at the sacrifice, that is, as administration of, participation in, or consent to the sacrifice; let him use my service and my duty as much as he pleases. Presently he corrects what he said with a wish: "Would that, as much as he pleases indeed," as if to say, Would that what I have just said, "as much as he pleases," could be separated from my duty or service, so that that pagan master would call no Christian to those solemnities, and we could not see what it is unlawful for us to do. "But since Satan has so surrounded the world with idolatry, it will be lawful to be present at some things which make us dutiful to a man, not to an idol." Then he concludes his view: "Otherwise," that is, without the indulgence of this distinction, "what will faithful slaves or freedmen do, and likewise officials, attached to masters or patrons or governors who are sacrificing?" The occasion for corrupting this passage was given by the word ad sacrificii, which was not at all understood. For those ignorant of its meaning changed it and wrote in its place in sacrificiis, with no sense; one speaks of the title of adsacrificium as one speaks of admilitia, in the single law On the office of the Praetorian Prefect. Arcadius says: "When among the ancients supreme power was entrusted to dictators for a time, they chose for themselves masters of the horse, who, associated as sharers of the care by way of admilitia, held the second power after them." So it is read in the Florentine Pandects, not, as commonly, militiae gratia. The masters of the horse served alongside (admilitabant) the praetorian prefects, and their charge was called admilitia, because they were added and associated to the charge of the praetorian prefects. So too in sacrifices those were said to adsacrificare who were present beside the sacrificer for the sake of the sacrifice, who helped the one performing the rites with counsel or expense. The "discharging" of duty and service is its paying and performing. Rigault.

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  • running head: 685 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹tenebrarum, et auspicia›; B ‹invenio, nisi muliebrem›; C ‹(in the Commentarius)›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:686
quoque celebrari non magis Deus prohibet quam nomen imponi. Sed his accommodantur sacrificia. Sim vocatus, nec adsacrificii sit titulus officii et operae meae expunctio, quantum sibi libet. Utinam quantum sibi quidem, nec videre possimus quae facere nobis nefas est! Sed quoniam ita Malus circumdedit saeculum idololatria, licebit adesse in quibusdam, quae nos homini, non idolo, officiosos habent. Plane ad sacerdotium et sacrificium vocatus non ibo (proprium enim idoli officium est): sed neque consilio, neque sumptu, aliave opera in ejusmodi fungar. Si propter sacrificium vocatus assistam, ero particeps idololatriae: si me alia caussa conjungit sacrificanti, ero tantum spectator sacrificii.
…God no more forbids to be celebrated than a name to be given. "But sacrifices are attached to these." Let me be invited, provided that the title of my duty and the discharge of my service be not that of assisting at sacrifice, [and let him do] as much as he pleases. Would that, as much as he pleases indeed, we might not even be able to see what it is unlawful for us to do! But since the Evil One has so encompassed the world with idolatry, it will be lawful to be present at some [occasions] which hold us in duty to a man, not to an idol. Certainly, if invited to a priesthood and a sacrifice, I will not go (for that is a duty proper to an idol); but neither will I take part in such things by counsel, or by expense, or by other service. If I attend because invited for the sake of the sacrifice, I shall be a partaker of idolatry: if some other cause joins me to one who is sacrificing, I shall be only a spectator of the sacrifice.
CAPUT XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Caeterum quid facient servi vel liberi fideles, item officinales sacrificantibus dominis vel patronis vel praesidibus suis adhaerentes? Sed si merum
But what will faithful slaves or freedmen do, likewise officials, attending on their masters or patrons or governors when they sacrifice? But if unmixed wine
Editors' notes and page, col. 686

Footnotes

(3) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 686

Quid tum? si libet. Utinam quidem nec Seml.

Quid tum? si libet. Utinam quidem nec (What then? if it pleases. Would indeed that not even): Semler.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 383)

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  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 686 (left part with 685 cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹quoque celebrari non magis›; B ‹Caeterum quid facient servi›; C ‹(in the Commentarius)›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:687
quis sacrificanti tradiderit, imo si verbo quoque aliquo sacrificio necessario adjuverit, minister habebitur idololatriae. Hujus regulae memores etiam magistratibus et potestatibus officium possumus reddere secundum patriarchas et caeteros majores, qui regibus idololatris usque ad finem idololatriae apparuerunt. Hinc proxime disputatio suborta est, an servus Dei alicujus dignitatis aut potestatis administrationem capiat, si ab omni specie idololatriae intactum se, aut gratia aliqua, aut astutia etiam praestare possit: secundum quod et Joseph (Gen., XLI), et Daniel (Dan., II et VII) mundi ab idololatria exstitere, et dignitatem et potestatem administraverunt in ornamento et purpura totius Aegypti sive Babyloniae. Credamus itaque succedere alicui posse, ut in quoquo honore, ut in solo honoris nomine incedat, neque sacrificet, neque sacrificiis auctoritatem suam accommodet, non hostias locet, non curas templorum deleget, non vectigalia eorum procuret, non spectacula edat de suo aut de publico, aut edendis praesit: nihil solemne pronuntiet vel edicat, ne juret quidem: jam vero quae sunt potestatis, neque judicet de capite alicujus vel pudore (feras enim de pecunia), neque damnet neque praedamnet, neminem vinciat, neminem recludat, aut torqueat; si haec credibile est fieri posse.
…anyone hands to one who is sacrificing, nay, if he assists the sacrifice even by some word necessary to it, he will be held a minister of idolatry. Mindful of this rule, we can render duty even to magistrates and powers, after the example of the patriarchs and the other forefathers, who attended on idolatrous kings up to the limit of idolatry. Hence a dispute arose lately whether a servant of God may take on the administration of some dignity or power, if he can keep himself untouched by every kind of idolatry, whether by some favour or even by cunning: according as both Joseph (Gen. 41) and Daniel (Dan. 2 and 7), standing clean of idolatry, administered both dignity and power in the adornment and purple of all Egypt or Babylonia. Let us then believe that it can fall to someone's lot to go about in whatever honour as in the mere name of honour, and neither sacrifice, nor lend his authority to sacrifices; not contract for victims, not assign the care of temples, not see to their revenues, not give shows at his own or the public charge, nor preside over the giving of them; proclaim or decree nothing solemn, not even swear; and further, as to the things that belong to power, neither judge concerning anyone's life or honour (for you might bear with it concerning money), nor condemn nor condemn beforehand, bind no one, shut up no one, nor torture; if it is credible that these things can be done.
CAPUT XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Jam vero de solo suggestu et apparatu honoris retractandum; proprius habitus uniuscujusque est, tam ad usum quotidianum, quam ad honorem et dignitatem. Igitur purpura illa et aurum cervicis ornamentum eodem more apud Aegyptios et Babylonios insignia erant dignitatis, quo more nunc praetextae, vel trabae, vel palmatae, et coronae aureae sacerdotum provincialium, sed non
Now we must consider the mere display and apparatus of honour. Each [office] has its proper dress, as much for daily use as for honour and dignity. So that purple and the gold as an ornament of the neck were insignia of dignity among the Egyptians and Babylonians in the same way as now are the praetextae, or trabeae, or palmatae, and the golden crowns of the provincial priests; but not
Editors' notes and page, col. 687

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 384)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 687

Oborta Rig.

Oborta (arisen): Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(2) ‹purpura totius› · call in col 687

In ornamento praefecturae totius Rig.

In ornamento praefecturae totius (in the ornament of the prefecture of all [Egypt]): Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(3) ‹ut (3) in solo› · call in col 687

Ut abest Rig.

Ut (that) is absent: Rigault.

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(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 687

CAP. XVII.— An servus Dei. Unde apud Philonem multa legere est, in hunc sensum lib. Quod vir bonus liber sit. Ibi mirifice extollit senarii istius auctorem : τίς ἐστι δοῦλος; τοῦ θανεῖν ἄφροντις ὤν. Le Pr.

CHAPTER XVII.— Whether the servant of God. On this one may read much in Philo, to this effect, in the book That every good man is free. There he wonderfully extols the author of this senarius: "Who is a slave, if he takes no thought of dying?" Le Prieur.

(printed under page 384)

(b) ‹Aegypti› · call in col 687

Potestatem administraverunt in ornamento et purpura totius Aegypti. Sic emendavimus ex praecedentibus actionibus secum invicem collatis. Vulgo legebatur, In ornamento et purpura extitere totius Aegypti. Edd.

They administered power in the ornament and purple of all Egypt. So we have corrected, from the preceding editions compared with one another. Commonly it was read: "They stood forth in the ornament and purple of all Egypt." The Editors.

(printed under page 384)

(c) ‹praedamnet› · call in col 687

Neque damnet, neque praedamnet. Damnat judex, praedamnat legislator. Utroque abstineat Christianus, nec de capite cujusquam aut legem aut sententiam ferat. Ric.

Neither condemn nor condemn beforehand. The judge condemns, the lawgiver condemns beforehand. Let the Christian abstain from both, and pass neither law nor sentence on anyone's life. Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(d) ‹recludat› · call in col 687

Neminem recludat. Profani auctores, quotquot sunt, hoc verbo utuntur, pro resero et aperio : Ecclesiastici vero saepissime pro contrario significato, videlicet pro includo. Ita hoc loco Tertull. et Hier. epist. ad Paulinum : post solitudinis libertatem urbe quasi carcere sunt reclusi. Lac.

Shut up no one. The secular authors, as many as there are, use this verb for "unbar" and "open"; but the ecclesiastical writers very often in the contrary sense, namely "shut in." So Tertullian in this place, and Jerome in the letter to Paulinus: "after the freedom of solitude they are shut up in the city as in a prison." La Cerda.

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(e) ‹praetextae› · call in col 687

CAP. XVIII.— Praetextae. Non dubium quin duplex fuerit praetexta : puerorum, de qua infra loquitur, quae non obligata sacris ullis; et magistratuum, de qua hic, et haec obnoxia erat idololatriae. Lac.

CHAPTER XVIII.— Bordered togas. There is no doubt that the praetexta was of two kinds: that of boys, of which he speaks below, which was bound to no rites; and that of magistrates, of which he speaks here, and this was liable to idolatry. La Cerda.

(printed under page 384)

(f) ‹palmatae› · call in col 687

Palmatae. Palmatam vestem, sive toga, sive tunica fuerit, nam utriusque usus fuit, obligatam fuisse idololatriae : quod hic attingitur, liquet ex more romano, quo illam gestabant triumphatores : triumphus autem totus mancipatus fuit idolis. Lac.

Palm-embroidered robes. That the palm-embroidered garment, whether toga or tunic, for there was a use of both, was bound to idolatry, as is touched on here, is plain from the Roman custom by which triumphing generals wore it; and the triumph was wholly made over to the idols. La Cerda.

(printed under page 384)

(g) ‹sacerdotum› · call in col 687

Coronae aureae sacerdotum provincialium. Satis indecorum videtur coronas aureas dari sacerdotibus in provinciis, non etiam Romae. Hoc tamen innuit lectio vulgata, Sacerdotum provincialium. Quid si disjungamus? ut aureae coronae fuerint sacerdotum, fuerint et provincialium; nempe Magistratuum; de quibus ipse lib de Corona, cap. 13 : Sunt et provinciales aureae, imaginum jam, non virorum capita majora quaerentes. Ric.

Golden crowns of the provincial priests. It seems unfitting enough that golden crowns should be given to priests in the provinces and not also at Rome. Yet the common reading, "of provincial priests," implies this. What if we separate the words? So that golden crowns belonged to priests, and belonged also to the provincials, namely the magistrates; of whom he himself speaks in the book On the Crown, chapter 13: "There are also the provincial golden crowns, seeking heads larger now than men's, those of images." Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

Page

  • running head: 687 TERTULLIANI (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹rum quis sacrificanti tradiderit›; B ‹ut in quoquo honore›; C ‹que est, tam ad usum›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:688
eadem conditione. Tantum enim honoris nomine conferebantur his qui familiaritatem regum merebantur. Unde et purpurati regum vocabantur a purpura, sicut apud nos a toga candida candidati: sed non ut suggestus ille sacerdotiis quoque aut aliquibus idolorum officiis adstringeretur. Nam si ita esset, utique tantae sanctitatis et constantiae viri statim habitus inquinatos recusassent, statimque apparuisset Danielem (Dan., XII) idolis non deservisse, nec Belem nec draconem colere, quod multo postea apparuit. Simplex igitur purpura illa, nec jam dignitatis erat, sed ingenuitatis apud Barbaros insigne. Quemadmodum enim et Joseph (Gen., XLI) qui servus fuerat, et Daniel (Dan., VII) qui per captivitatem statum verterat, civitatem Babyloniam et Aegyptiam sunt consecuti per habitum barbaricae ingenuitatis: sic penes nos quoque fideles si necesse fuerit, poterit et pueris praetexta concedi, et puellis stola, nativitatis insignia, non potestatis: generis, non honoris: ordinis, non superstitionis. Caeterum purpura vel caetera insignia dignitatum et potestatum, insertae dignitati et potestatibus idololatriae ab initio dicata, habent profanationis suae maculam: cum praeterea ipsis etiam idolis induantur praetextae, et trabeae et laticlavi, fasces quoque et virgae praeferantur, et merito. Nam daemonia magistratus sunt saeculi, hujus collegii insignia fasces et purpuras gestant. Quid ergo proficies, si suggestu quidem utaris, opera vero ejus non administres? Nemo in immundis mundus videri potest. Tunicam si induas inquinatam per se, poterit forsitan illa non inquinari per te, sed tu per illam mundus esse non poteris. Jam nunc qui de Joseph (Gen., XLI) et Daniel (Dan., VII) argumentaris, scito non semper comparanda esse vetera et nova, rudia et polita, coepta et explicita, servilia et liberalia.
…on the same condition. For they were conferred only by way of honour on those who had earned the intimacy of kings. Hence too those of the kings were called purpurati, from the purple, as among us candidates are named from the white toga: but not so that that apparel was bound also to priesthoods or to any services of idols. For if it had been so, men of such holiness and constancy would surely have refused the polluted garments at once, and it would at once have been plain that Daniel (Dan. 12) was not devoted to idols, nor worshipped Bel or the dragon, which became plain much later. That purple, then, was simple, and among the barbarians was not yet the badge of dignity but of free birth. For just as both Joseph (Gen. 41), who had been a slave, and Daniel (Dan. 7), who had changed his status through captivity, attained the citizenship of Babylon and of Egypt through the dress of barbarian free birth: so among us believers too, if need be, the praetexta may be granted to boys and the stola to girls, as insignia of birth, not of power; of race, not of honour; of rank, not of superstition. But the purple and the other insignia of dignities and powers, dedicated from the beginning to the idolatry that is bound up with dignity and powers, carry the stain of their profanation: since, moreover, the idols themselves too are clothed in praetextae and trabeae and laticlaves, and fasces and rods are borne before them; and rightly. For the demons are the magistrates of the world; they bear the fasces and the purple as the insignia of this college. What, then, will you gain if you use the apparel but do not perform its works? No one can appear clean in unclean things. If you put on a tunic defiled in itself, perhaps it may not be defiled through you, but you will not be able to be clean through it. Now, you who argue from Joseph (Gen. 41) and Daniel (Dan. 7), know that old and new, rough and polished, begun and completed, servile and free are not always to be compared.
Editors' notes and page, col. 688

Footnotes

(4) ‹et Aegyptiam› · call in col 688

Aegyptum Fran.

Aegyptum (Egypt): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 384)

(5) ‹quoque fideles› · call in col 688

Fideli Rig.

Fideli (to the faithful one): Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(6) ‹et puellis› · call in col 688

Puerilis — puerilis Rig.

Puerilis — puerilis (boyish — boyish): Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(7) ‹idolis induantur› · call in col 688

Idolis induantur praetextae Latin. Jun.

Idolis induantur praetextae (the bordered togas are put on the idols): Latinius, Junius.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 384)

(h) ‹laticlavi› · call in col 688

Et laticlavi. Latum clavum hic idololatriae attribuit, et quidem optime; nam, ut auctorum omnium testimoniis constat, senatores non modo jus habebant, laticlavi sed etiam sacerdotes et sacrificuli. Vestis autem illa κατ' ἐναλλαγήν dicitur latus clavus, pro veste cui affixus erat latus clavus. Le Pr.

And the broad stripes. Here he assigns the broad stripe to idolatry, and very rightly; for, as is established by the testimonies of all authors, not only senators had the right of the broad stripe, but priests too and sacrificers. That garment is called "broad stripe" by enallage, for the garment to which the broad stripe was attached. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 384)

(i) ‹gestant› · call in col 688

Hujus collegii insignia fasces et purpuras. Poterat ferri vulgata lectio, Unius collegii. Magistratus hujus saeculi collegas habent Daemonia, quae ob eam caussam insignia collegii gestant, fasces et purpuras, etc. Ric.

The insignia of this college, the fasces and purple. The common reading, "of one college," could be tolerated. The magistrates of this world have the demons as colleagues, who for that reason bear the insignia of the college, the fasces and purple, etc. Rigault.

(printed under page 384)

(j) ‹in immundis› · call in col 688

In immundis. Scilicet vestibus, quemadmodum (continues)

In unclean things. That is, garments, as (continues)

(printed under page 384)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 688 (left part with 687 cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹eadem conditione. Tantum›; B ‹per habitum barbaricae›; C ‹videri potest. Tunicam›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:689
Nam illi etiam servi conditione erant: tu vero nullius servus, in quantum solius Christi, qui te etiam captivitate saeculi liberavit, ex forma dominica agere debebis. Ille Dominus in humilitate et ignobilitate incessit domicilio incertus (Luc., IX): Nam Filius, inquit, hominis non habet ubi caput suum collocet; vestitu incultus, neque enim dixisset (Matth. XI, 8): Ecce qui teneris vestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt; vultu denique et aspectu inglorius, sicut et Esaias (Is. LIII, 2) pronuntiaverat. Si potestatem quoque nullam ne in suos quidem exercuit, quibus sordido ministerio functus est (Joan. XIII): si regem se denique fieri, conscius sui regni, refugit (Joan. VI), plenissime dedit formam suis dirigendo omni fastigio et suggestu tam dignitatis quam potestatis. Quis enim magis his usus fuisset quam Dei Filius? quales et quanti eum fasces producerent! qualis purpura de humeris ejus floreret! quale aurum de capite radiaret, nisi gloriam saeculi alienam et sibi et suis judicasset! Igitur, quae noluit, rejecit; quae rejecit, damnavit; quae damnavit, in pompa diaboli deputavit. Non enim damnasset, nisi non sua: alterius autem esse non possent, nisi diaboli, quae Dei non sunt. Tu si diaboli pompam ejerasti, quicquid ex ea attigeris, id scias esse idololatriam; vel hoc
For they were even of slave condition: but you, the slave of no one, in so far as you are the slave of Christ alone, Who freed you even from the captivity of the world, will be bound to act after the Lord's pattern. That Lord walked in humility and obscurity, with no certain dwelling (Luke 9): "For the Son of man," He says, "has nowhere to lay His head"; plain in dress, for otherwise He would not have said (Matt. 11:8), "Behold, those who are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings"; in short, without glory in face and aspect, as Isaiah too (Isa. 53:2) had declared. If He exercised no power even over His own, for whom He performed a menial service (John 13); if, in short, though conscious of His own kingship, He shrank from being made a king (John 6), He gave His own the fullest pattern for laying aside all loftiness and display, of dignity as much as of power. For who would have used these more than the Son of God? What fasces, and how many, would have escorted Him! What purple would have bloomed from His shoulders! What gold would have shone from His head, had He not judged the glory of the world alien both to Himself and to His own! What He did not want, therefore, He rejected; what He rejected, He condemned; what He condemned, He reckoned as belonging to the pomp of the devil. For He would not have condemned them, unless they were not His own: but things which are not God's can belong to no other than the devil. If you have forsworn the pomp of the devil, know that whatever of it you touch is idolatry; or this
Editors' notes and page, col. 689

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 385)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Et Fran.

Et (and): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 385)

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Domicilii Ciacon.

Domicilii (of the dwelling): Chacón.

(printed under page 385)

(3) ‹dirigendo› · call in col 689

Derigendo Jun.

Derigendo: Junius.

(printed under page 385)

(4) ‹suggestu tam› · call in col 689

Quam Rig.

Quam (than, as): Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(5) ‹quales et quanti› · call in col 689

Scribendum fortasse : quales ante eum Leop.

Perhaps one should write: quales ante eum (what [fasces] before him): Leopold.

(printed under page 385)

(6) ‹quae (6) rejecit› · call in col 689

Quam — quam — quam Rigalt.

Quam — quam — quam: Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Ex forma dominica. Velim notes hac forma usos scriptores ecclesiasticos cum respectu ad Filium, non ad Patrem. Itaque cum dicunt dominicum, respiciunt Dominum Filium : ita Graeci, ita et Latini. Lac.

From the Lord's pattern. I should like you to note that ecclesiastical writers used this form with reference to the Son, not to the Father. So when they say dominicum (the Lord's), they have in view the Lord the Son: so the Greeks, so the Latins too. La Cerda.

(printed under page 385)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Si regem denique fieri conscius sui regni refugit. Dominus noster noluit rex hominum fieri, conscius regnum suum non esse regnum mundi hujus. Eodem sensu in Apologetico dixit, Caesares esse necessarios saeculo, verum Christianos non posse esse Caesares. Ric.

If finally, conscious of his own kingdom, he fled from being made king. Our Lord would not be made king of men, conscious that his kingdom was not the kingdom of this world. In the same sense he said in the Apology that Caesars are necessary to the world, but Christians cannot be Caesars. Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(c) ‹fastigio› · call in col 689

Dirigendo omni fastigio. Sic vetus exemplar, neque est mutandum quicquam. Derigere, seu dirigere hoc loco est solvi ac subsidere. Glossae veteres, ἀποπήγνυμαι, Derigeor, ἀποπηγνύω, Diriguo. Legendum, Derigeo, vel Dirigeo. Riget statua, riget fastigium, riget quivis suggestus, et habent in rigore velut superbiam; nec facile cedunt; imo resistunt, nam sunt in duritiem stipata. Ea vero cum solvuntur, ut igne metalla, et sole glacies, derigere dicuntur, quia jam non rigent. Ric.

By loosening every eminence. So the old copy, and nothing is to be changed. Derigere or dirigere in this place is to be loosened and to sink down. The old glossaries: ἀποπήγνυμαι, Derigeor; ἀποπηγνύω, Diriguo. One should read Derigeo or Dirigeo. A statue is stiff, an eminence is stiff, any platform is stiff, and they have in their stiffness a kind of pride; they do not easily yield, but resist, for they are packed into hardness. But when they are loosened, as metals by fire and ice by the sun, they are said derigere, because they are no longer stiff. Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(d) ‹ejerasti› · call in col 689

Tu si Diaboli pompam ejerasti. Vide lib. de Baptismo, de renuntiatione pompae diaboli, et alicubi de ejeratione. Pam.

If you have renounced the pomp of the Devil. See the book On Baptism, on the renunciation of the devil's pomp, and somewhere on renouncing. Pamelius.

(printed under page 385)

(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Quod per illas adversus Dei servos supplicia consulta sunt. Sic Rhenanus, et post Rhenanum, editiones aliae omnes constanter. At in codice Agobardi legitur Convulsa sunt. Ric.

Because through them punishments were devised against the servants of God. So Rhenanus, and after Rhenanus all the other editions consistently. But in the Agobard codex is read convulsa sunt (were wrenched). Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 689

Per illas et poenae ad impios paratae irrogantur. Mendose prorsus. Verissima autem est lectio vulgata, quam tuetur etiam codex Agobardi : Per illas et poenae ad impios paratae ignorantur. Ait Tertull. Per iniquam saecularium potestatem adversus Christianos saevitiam fieri, quo minus religio christiana proficiat; ac per hoc, ignorari quae sint a Deo poenae adversus impios paratae. Itaque omnes hujus saeculi potestates et dignitates non solum alienas, verum et inimicas Dei esse, adeoque Christianis Dei cultoribus minime ambiendas aut suscipiendas. Ric.

Through them too the punishments prepared for the wicked are inflicted. Quite faulty. The common reading is entirely true, which the Agobard codex also upholds: "Through them too the punishments prepared for the wicked are not known." Tertullian says that through the unjust cruelty of the secular powers against the Christians it comes about that the Christian religion makes less progress; and by this, that it is not known what punishments are prepared by God against the wicked. And so all the powers and dignities of this world are not only foreign to God but hostile to him, and therefore not at all to be sought or taken up by Christians, the worshippers of God. Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

Page

  • running head: 689 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA (right part cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹lia. Nam illi etiam servi›; B ‹tis. Quis enim magis›; C ‹(beside the Lectiones variantes)›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:690
te commonefaciat omnes hujus saeculi potestates, et dignitates, non solum alienas, verum et inimicas Dei esse, quod per illas adversus Dei servos supplicia consulta sunt, per illas et poenae ad impios paratae irrogantur. Sed et nativitas et substantia tua molestae tibi sunt adversus idololatriam. Ad evitandum remedia deesse non possunt; cum etsi defuerint, supersit unicum illud quo felicior factus non in terris magistratus, sed in coelis.
…let it remind you that all the powers and dignities of this world are not only alien to God but hostile to Him, since through them punishments have been decreed against the servants of God, and through them too the penalties prepared for the wicked are inflicted. But your birth also and your substance are troublesome to you against idolatry. Remedies for avoiding it cannot be lacking; since, even if they should fail, there remains that one [remedy] by which you will be made a happier magistrate, not on earth but in heaven.
CAPUT XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
Posset in isto capitulo etiam de militia definitum videri, quae inter dignitatem et potestatem est. At nunc de isto quaeritur, an fidelis ad militiam converti possit, et an militia ad fidem admitti etiam caligata, vel inferior quaeque, cui non sit necessitas immolationum vel capitalium judiciorum. Non convenit sacramento divino et humano, signo Christi et signo diaboli, castris lucis et castris tenebrarum: non potest una anima duobus deberi, Deo et Caesari (Matth., XXII; Exod., III; Exod., XXVIII; Matth., III; Exod., XVII; Luc., III; Matth., VIII; Matth. XXVI). Et virgam portavit Moyses, fibulam et Aaron; cingitur loro et Joannes; agmen agit et Jesus Nave; bellavit et populus, si placet ludere. Quomodo autem bellabit, imo
In this chapter it might seem that a ruling has also been given concerning military service, which lies between dignity and power. But now the question is this: whether a believer may turn to military service, and whether military service may be admitted to the faith, even that of the common soldier, or of any lower grade, on whom there is no necessity of sacrifices or of capital judgements. The divine oath and the human do not agree, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness: one soul cannot be owed to two, to God and to Caesar (Matt. 22; Exod. 3; Exod. 28; Matt. 3; Exod. 17; Luke 3; Matt. 8; Matt. 26). "But Moses carried a rod, and Aaron a buckle; John too is girded with a leather belt; Jesus son of Nave leads a column; the people too waged war" — if it pleases you to make sport. But how will he wage war, nay,
Editors' notes and page, col. 690

Footnotes

(7) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 690

Ignorantur Franeq.

Ignorantur (are unknown): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 385)

(8) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 690

Quod Rigalt.

Quod (which, that): Rigault.

(printed under page 385)

(9) ‹inferior quaeque› · call in col 690

Quoque Wouw. MS.

Quoque (also): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 385)

(10) ‹imo (10)› · call in col 690

Jam? Jun.

Jam? (now?): Junius.

[COMMENTARIUS]

(continued) · col 689

Ovidius : Sive erit in Cois, Coa decere puta. Idem.

Ovid: "If she is in Coan silks, think Coan silks become her." The same [Rigault].

(printed under page 385)

(g) ‹fibulam› · call in col 690

CAP. XIX.— Fibulam et Aaron. Uncinos et aureos intelligit, quibus colligabantur superhumerale et rationale, quemadmodum, lori nomine, Joannis Baptistae zonam pelliceam. Pam.

CHAPTER XIX.— Aaron too a clasp. He means the golden hooks by which the ephod and the breastplate were fastened together, just as, by the name of "thong," John the Baptist's leather girdle. Pamelius.

(printed under page 385)

(h) ‹bellabit› · call in col 690

Quomodo autem bellabit : imo quomodo etiam in pace militabit, sine gladio, quem Dominus abstulit? In pace militare dicuntur, qui etiam extra belli tempus in stationibus et praesidiis degunt armati, aut in armis apparent principi caeterisque potestatibus ad jussa exequenda. Ea vero priscorum Christianorum disciplina fuit, ut quos fides in quavis militia deprehenderat, ii secundum Joannis praescriptum in militia sua permanerent. Sed vix erat, ut qui ante fidem non militarent, post fidem nomina militiae darent sua; imo plerique ante fidem milites, posteaquam ad fidem conversi fuerant, et cingulum et gladium deponebant. Itaque hanc etiam ob caussam Christiani ethnicis odio ludibrioque fuere, tanquam inertes et ignavi, ac denique imperii romani hostes. Cum igitur hac invidia plurimum laborarent, tandem visum, tam abruptum et praeceps consilium sic temperare, ut pace ab ethnicis Ecclesiae concessa, Christiani etiam cum ethnicis militarent. Unde Septimius ipse in Apologetico diluens objecta Christianis ignaviae probra, Navigamus, inquit, et nos vobiscum militamus. Atque in hanc sententiam apertissimus Arelatensis Concilii Canon tertius, De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, placuit abstineri eos a communione. At Septimius noster in illo de Corona, atque hoc etiam de Idololatria opere, pro naturae suae austeri- (continues)

But how will he make war; nay, how will he even serve as a soldier in peace, without the sword, which the Lord took away? Those are said to serve in peace who, even outside the time of war, live under arms in garrisons and posts, or appear in arms before the prince and other authorities to carry out orders. Now the discipline of the early Christians was that those whom faith had found in any military service should remain in their service, according to John's precept. But it was rare that those who were not soldiers before the faith should enlist after the faith; indeed most who were soldiers before the faith, once converted to it, laid down both belt and sword. So for this reason too the Christians were hated and mocked by the pagans as idle and cowardly, and finally as enemies of the Roman empire. Since, then, they suffered greatly from this ill will, it was at length decided to temper so abrupt and headlong a policy, so that, once peace had been granted to the Church by the pagans, Christians would serve as soldiers alongside the pagans too. Hence Septimius himself in the Apology, washing away the charges of cowardice brought against the Christians, says: "We sail, and we serve as soldiers with you." And quite openly to this effect is the third canon of the Council of Arles: "Concerning those who throw away their arms in peace, it is resolved that they be kept from communion." But our Septimius, in that work On the Crown and in this one On Idolatry too, in keeping with the austerity of his nature (continues)

(printed under page 385)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 690 (left part with 689 cut off in image)
  • marginal letters: A ‹te commonefaciat omnes›; B ‹ferior quaeque, cui non sit›; C ‹(beside the Lectiones variantes)›; D ‹(in the Commentarius)›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 1:691
quomodo etiam in pace militabit, sine gladio, quem Dominus abstulit? Nam, etsi adierant milites ad Joannem, et formam observationis acceperant, si etiam centurio crediderat; omnem postea militem Dominus, in Petro exarmando, discinxit. Nullus habitus licitus est apud nos illicito actui adscriptus.
how indeed will he serve as a soldier even in peace, without the sword, which the Lord has taken away? For although soldiers had come to John and had received a rule of conduct, and although a centurion too had believed, the Lord afterwards, in disarming Peter, ungirded every soldier. No dress is lawful among us that is assigned to an unlawful act.
CAPUT XX.
CHAPTER XX.
Sed enim, cum conversatio divinae disciplinae non factis tantum, verum etiam verbis periclitetur (nam, sicut scriptum est: Ecce homo et facta ejus, ita (Matth., XII, 37): Ex ore tuo justificaberis); meminisse debemus etiam in verbis quoque idololatriae incursum praecavendum, aut de consuetudinis vitio, aut timiditatis. Deos nationum nominari lex prohibet (Exod., XXIII, 13), non utique ne nomina eorum pronuntiemus, quae nobis ut dicamus conversatio extorquet; nam id plerumque dicendum est: in templo Aesculapii illum haqes, et, vico Isidis habito, et, sacerdos Jovis factus est, et multa alia in hunc modum, quando et hominibus hoc genus nomina inducuntur. Neque enim Saturnum honoro, si ita vocavero eum suo nomine, tam non honoro quam Marcum, si vocavero Marcum. Sed ait: Nomen aliorum deorum ne commemoremini, neque audiatur de ore tuo. Hoc praecepit, ne deos vocemus illos. Nam et in prima parte legis (Exod., XX, 7): Non sumes, inquit, nomen Domini Dei tui in vano, id est, idolo. Cecidit igitur in idololatriam, qui idolum nomine Dei honoraverit. Quod si deos dicendum erit, adjiciendum est aliquid, quo appareat, quia non ego illos deos dico. Nam et Scriptura deos nominat; sed adjicit suos, vel nationum. Sicut David cum deos nominasset, ubi ait (Ps. CXV, 4): Dei autem nationum daemonia. Sed hoc mihi ad sequentia magis praestructum
But indeed, since the conduct of the divine discipline is endangered not by deeds only but also by words (for, as it is written: Behold the man and his deeds, so (Matt. 12:37): By your mouth you shall be justified), we must remember that in words also the inroad of idolatry is to be guarded against, whether from the fault of custom or of timidity. The law forbids the gods of the nations to be named (Exod. 23:13), not, surely, so that we should not pronounce their names, which ordinary intercourse wrings from us to say; for this must commonly be said: "You have him in the temple of Aesculapius", and, "I live in Isis Street", and, "He has been made priest of Jupiter", and many other things in this manner, since names of this kind are given to men too. For I do not honour Saturn if I call him by his own name, any more than I honour Marcus if I call Marcus. But it says: Make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth. What it commanded is that we should not call them gods. For in the first part of the law too: You shall not take, it says, the name of the Lord your God in vain (Exod. 20:7), that is, for an idol. He therefore has fallen into idolatry who honours an idol with the name of God. But if one must say "gods", something is to be added by which it may appear that it is not I who call them gods. For Scripture too names gods, but it adds "their" or "of the nations". So David, when he had named gods, where he says (Ps. 95:5): But the gods of the nations are demons. But I have set this down rather in preparation for what follows
Editors' notes and page, col. 691

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 386)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 691

Debemus esse in verbis Wouwer. MS.

Debemus esse in verbis (we ought to be in words): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 386)

(2) ‹suo nomine› · call in col 691

Si ita quem vocavere suo nomine Wouw. MS.

Si ita quem vocavere suo nomine (if they have so called someone by his name): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 386)

(3) ‹ne commemoremini› · call in col 691

Commemorabitur Wouw. MS.

Commemorabitur (shall be mentioned): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 386)

(4) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 691

Erit Wouw. M. S. Latin. Jun.

Erit (will be): Wouwer's manuscript, Latinius, Junius.

(printed under page 386)

(5) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 691

Si add. Paris.

The Paris edition adds si (if).

(printed under page 386)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 691

Quomodo etiam in pace militabit. Hoc est, quomodo christianus implicabitur saecularibus curis? quomodo geret magistratus? Etenim in pace militant magistratus, militant officia et ministeria magistratuum quibus est concessum jus gladii, in facinorosos animadvertendi caussa. Discincto semel Petro, cunctis christianis gladium Dominus abstulit. Et tamen Apologetico suo ad proceres romanos, pag. 491, Septimius noster ait : Navigamus et nos vobiscum, militamus. Sed hic quaerit, an fidelis ad militiam converti possit. Illic agit de militibus ad fidem conversis, quos fides in militia deprehenderat. Idem.

How will he even serve as a soldier in peace? That is, how will a Christian be entangled in worldly cares? how will he hold magistracies? For in peace magistrates serve, and the offices and services of the magistrates serve, to whom is granted the right of the sword, to punish the wicked. When once Peter had been ungirded, the Lord took away the sword from all Christians. And yet in his Apology to the Roman nobles, p. 491, our Septimius says: "We too sail with you, we serve as soldiers." But here he asks whether a believer can turn to military service. There he treats of soldiers converted to the faith, whom faith had found in military service. The same [Rigault].

(printed under page 386)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 691

CAP. XX. — Ecce homo et facta ejus. Haeret hic Pamelius, aitque nescire se ubinam ille locus Scripturae reperiatur, qui et ab Augustino citatur medit. pag. 39. Sequor hic lubens Junium qui id ex libro Enoch desumptum conjicit. Le Pr.

CHAPTER XX. — Behold the man and his deeds. Pamelius is stuck here, and says he does not know where that passage of Scripture is found, which is also cited by Augustine, Meditations, p. 39. Here I gladly follow Junius, who conjectures that it is taken from the book of Enoch. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 386)

(c) ‹Marcum› · call in col 691

Si vocavero Marcum. Notat Brissonius in indice Juris nomen Marcus usurpari a Tertulliano pro quidam, ad eum modum, quo ab aliis ponitur Caius et Lucius, sic et a Persio Sat. 5. Marcus dicitur quidam manumissus veluti pro exemplo, ut potuisset dici Caius, quam vocem quinquies repetit. Lac.

If I call him Marcus. Brisson notes in his index of the Law that the name Marcus is used by Tertullian for "someone," in the way that others use Caius and Lucius; so too in Persius, Satire 5, a certain freedman is called Marcus as it were by way of example, as he could have been called Caius, which word he repeats five times. La Cerda.

(printed under page 386)

(d) ‹deos nominat› · call in col 691

Nam et Scriptura Deos nominat, sed adjicit, etc. Locos ad quos alludit, videre est separatim in oeconomia methodica concordantiarum S. Scripturae Georgii Bulloci. Neque interim sola adjectione praedicta utitur Scriptura, sed vocat deos alienos, aureos, Aegypti, tuos, meos, conflatiles, gentium, quos ignorabant patres eorum, Amorrhaeorum, Syriae, Sidonis, ac Moab, montium, terrarum, populorum, terrae, filiorum Seir, Edom, regum Syriae, Damasci, patrum suorum, opera manuum, Juda, quos fecisti, illorum, falsi, lignei, qui non vident, denique muti, et qui natura non sunt dii. Pam.

For Scripture too names gods, but adds, etc. The passages he alludes to may be seen separately in George Bullock's Methodical Economy of the Concordances of Holy Scripture. Nor does Scripture use only the addition mentioned, but it calls them gods strange, golden, of Egypt, yours, mine, molten, of the nations, which their fathers knew not, of the Amorites, of Syria, of Sidon and of Moab, of the mountains, of the lands, of the peoples, of the land, of the children of Seir, of Edom, of the kings of Syria, of Damascus, of their fathers, the work of hands, O Judah, which you have made, theirs, false, wooden, which see not, finally dumb, and which by nature are not gods. Pamelius.

(printed under page 386)

Page

  • running head: 691 TERTULLIANI
  • marginal letters: A ‹quomodo etiam in pace militabit›; B ‹nomina eorum pronuntiemus›; C ‹dum est aliquid, quo appareat›; D ‹(in the Commentarius) modo christianus implicabitur›
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: column ends "praestruc-"; completed "praestructum" from the first word "tum" of col. 692's top line, visible in the same image. Exod. ref read as XXIII, 13 (bold 3/5 hard to tell; may print 15). Ps. CXV, 4 is as printed (the verse is Vulgate Ps. 95:5); English keeps the printed reference. Variant calls (1)-(3) and note calls (a)-(d) dropped. Page foot holds Lectiones variantes and the editors' Commentarius (notes), not set.
  • remark: Migne prints (Ps. CXV, 4); the verse quoted is Vulgate Ps. 95:5, which the English gives.
PL 1:692
tum est: caeterum consuetudinis vitium est me Hercule dicere, me Dius fidius, accedente ignorantia quorumdam, qui ignorant jusjurandum esse per Herculem. Porro quid erat dejeratio per eos quos ejerasti, quam praevaricatio fidei cum idololatria? Quis enim per quos dejerat, non honorat?
laid down. Further, it is a fault of custom to say "me Hercule", "me Dius fidius", with the added ignorance of some who do not know that it is an oath by Hercules. Moreover, what would swearing by those whom you have forsworn be but a betrayal of the faith together with idolatry? For who does not honour those by whom he swears?
CAPUT XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
Timiditatis est autem, cum te alius per deos suos obligat juratione vel aliqua testificatione, et tu ne intelligaris quiescis. Nam aeque quiescendo confirmas majestatem eorum, cujus caussa videberis obligatus. Quid refert deos nationum dicendo deos, an audiendo confirmes? jures per idola, an ab alio adjuratus acquiescas? Cur non agnoscamus versutias Satanae, qui quod ore nostro perficere non potest, id agit, ut suorum ore perficiat, per aures inferens nobis idololatriam? Certe quisquis ille est, aut amica aut inimica congressione adstringit. Si inimica, jam ad pugnam vocaris, et scis tibi dimicandum esse. Si amica, quanto securius in Dominum transferes responsionem tuam, ut dissolvas obligationem ejus, per quem te Malus honori idolorum, id est, idololatriae quaerebat annectere. Omnis patientia ejusmodi idololatria. Honoras eos, quibus impositis obsequium praestitisti. Scio quemdam (cui Dominus ignoscat), cum illi in publico per litem dictum esset, Jupiter tibi sit iratus, respondisse, imo tibi. Quid aliter fecisset ethnicus, qui Jovem deum credidit? Etiamsi non per eumdem retorsisset maledictum, nec per ullum Jovis similem; confirmaverat Jovem deum, per quem se maledictum indigne tulisse demonstraverat remaledicens. Ad quid enim indigneris per eum quem scis nihil esse? Nam si insanis, jam esse confirmas, et erit idololatriae professio timoris tui:
But it belongs to timidity when another binds you by his gods with an oath or some attestation, and you keep quiet so as not to be found out. For by keeping quiet you equally confirm their majesty, on whose account you will be seen to be bound. What difference does it make whether you confirm the gods of the nations by calling them gods or by hearing them so called? whether you swear by idols, or acquiesce when adjured by another? Why should we not recognize the craftiness of Satan, who, what he cannot accomplish by our mouth, contrives to accomplish by the mouth of his own, bringing idolatry into us through the ears? Certainly, whoever that man is, he binds you in either a friendly or a hostile encounter. If hostile, you are already called to battle, and you know that you must fight. If friendly, how much more safely will you transfer your answer to the Lord, so as to undo the binding of him through whom the Evil One sought to fasten you to the honour of idols, that is, of idolatry. All such passive endurance is idolatry. You honour those whose imposition you have submitted to. I know of a certain man (may the Lord forgive him) who, when it had been said to him in public during a quarrel, "May Jupiter be angry with you", answered, "No, with you." What else would a heathen have done, who believed Jupiter to be a god? Even if he had not thrown back the curse by the same Jupiter, nor by any like Jupiter, he had confirmed Jupiter as a god, by cursing back showing that he took it ill to be cursed by him. For why should you be indignant at being cursed by one whom you know to be nothing? For if you rage, you already confirm that he exists, and the avowal of your fear will be idolatry:
Editors' notes and page, col. 692

Footnotes

(6) ‹jures› · call in col 692

Juret Paris.

Juret (he swears): Paris edition.

(printed under page 386)

(7) ‹congressione› · call in col 692

Te add. Latin.

Latinius adds te (you).

(printed under page 386)

(8) ‹Quid aliter› · call in col 692

Aliud Latin.

Aliud (other): Latinius.

(printed under page 386)

(9) ‹nihil esse› · call in col 692

Per eum maledictus, quem scis nihil esse Wouwer. MS.

Per eum maledictus, quem scis nihil esse (cursed by him whom you know to be nothing): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 386)

(10) ‹idololatriae› · call in col 692

Idololatria Lat.

Idololatria (idolatry, nominative): Latinius.

[COMMENTARIUS]

(continued) · col 691

tate christianis omnibus, etiam Ecclesia nullis persecutionibus vexata, omne militiae genus, omnem gladii usum adimit. Rig.

...takes away from all Christians, even when the Church is troubled by no persecutions, every kind of military service, every use of the sword. Rigault.

(printed under page 386)

(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 692

Me Dius fidius. Juramentum hoc esse per Herculem nonnulli asserunt, quasi ita me amet Hercules Jovis filius; alii putant esse per Jovem fidei praesidem, μὰ Δία τὸν πίστιον. Ait autem Varro perforatum tectum Herculis, ut videatur dium, hoc est coelum. Notandum vero eruditum Turnebum nostrum observasse, hoc juramenti genere usas non fuisse foeminas. Le Pr.

So help me the god of faith. Some assert this is an oath by Hercules, as if "so may Hercules son of Jove love me"; others think it is by Jove the guardian of good faith, "by Zeus of faith." Varro says that the roof of Hercules' shrine was pierced, so that the dium, that is, the sky, might be seen. Note that our learned Turnèbe observed that women did not use this kind of oath. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 386)

Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI 692
  • marginal letters: A ‹tum est: caeterum consuetudinis›; B ‹test, id agit, ut suorum›; C ‹ullum Jovis similem›; D (none in the text; D falls in the Commentarius)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: first word "tum" completes "praestructum" from col. 691. Variant calls (4)-(10) and note call (e) dropped. Page foot holds Lectiones variantes and the editors' Commentarius, not set.
PL 1:693
quanto magis cum per ipsum remaledicis, eodem Jovis honorem facis, quo et ille, qui te provocavit? Fidelis autem in ejusmodi ridere debet, non insanire: imo, secundum praeceptum, ne per Deum quidem remaledicere, sed plane benedicere per Deum, ut et idola destruas, et Deum praedices, et adimpleas disciplinam.
how much more when, cursing back by him, you do Jupiter the same honour as did he who provoked you? But the believer ought to laugh at such things, not rage: nay rather, according to the precept, not even to curse back by God, but plainly to bless by God, so that you may both destroy the idols and proclaim God and fulfil the discipline.
CAPUT XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
Aeque benedici per deos nationum Christo initiatus non sustinebit, ut semper rejiciat immundam benedictionem, et eam sibi in Deum convertens emundet. Benedici per deos nationum, maledici est per Deum. Si dedero eleemosynam, vel aliquid praestitero beneficii, et ille mihi deos suos, vel coloniae genium, propitios imprecetur, jam oblatio mea vel operatio idolorum honor erit, per quae benedictionis gratiam compensat. Cur autem non sciat me Dei caussa fecisse, ut et Deus potius glorificetur, et daemonia non honorentur in eo quod propter Deum feci? Deus videt quoniam propter ipsum feci: pariter videt quoniam propter ipsum fecisse me nolui ostendere, et praeceptum ejus idolothytum quodammodo feci. Multi dicunt: «Nemo se debet promulgare:» puto autem, nec negare; negat enim quicumque dissimulat, in quacumque caussa pro ethnico habitus. Et utique omnis negatio, idololatria est, sicut omnis idololatria negatio, sive in factis, sive in verbis.
Equally, one initiated into Christ will not endure being blessed by the gods of the nations, so that he will always reject the unclean blessing and cleanse it for himself by turning it towards God. To be blessed by the gods of the nations is to be cursed by God. If I give alms, or render some kindness, and that man prays that his gods, or the genius of the colony, be propitious to me, at once my offering or my act will be an honour to the idols, through whom he repays the favour with a blessing. But why should he not know that I did it for God's sake, so that God rather may be glorified, and demons not be honoured in what I did on account of God? God sees that I did it on His account: He sees equally that I was unwilling to show that I had done it on His account, and that in a manner I have made His precept a thing offered to idols. Many say: "No one ought to publish himself"; but, I think, nor to deny himself either; for whoever dissembles denies, when in any matter whatever he is taken for a heathen. And certainly every denial is idolatry, just as every idolatry is denial, whether in deeds or in words.
CAPUT XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Sed est quaedem ejusmodi species in facto et in verbo, bis acuta et infesta utrinque, licet tibi blandiatur, quasi vacet in utroque, dum factum non videtur, quia dictum non tenetur. Pecuniam
But there is a certain kind of this sort in deed and in word, twice-edged and dangerous on both sides, although it flatters you as though it were void in both, since it does not seem to be a deed, because it is not held to be a word. Money
Editors' notes and page, col. 693

Footnotes

[LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 387)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

Jovi Wouwer. MS.

Jovi (to Jove): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 387)

(2) ‹Si (2) dedero› · call in col 693

Si cui Wouw. MS.

Si cui (if to anyone): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 387)

(3) ‹gratiam compensat› · call in col 693

Compensant, Seml.

Compensant (they repay): Semler.

(printed under page 387)

(4) ‹Deus videt› · call in col 693

Feci. Sed Deus videt Wouw. MS.

Feci. Sed Deus videt (I did it. But God sees): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 387)

(5) ‹bis (5) acuta› · call in col 693

In facto et in verbis, acute. Rig.

In facto et in verbis, acute (in deed and in words, sharply): Rigault.

(printed under page 387)

(6) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

Hic ego Wouw. MS.

Hic ego (here I): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 387)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

CAP. XXI. — Disciplinam. Semper haec vox in hoc viro notat non simpliciter disciplinam, sed disciplinam severiorem, ut etiam in Cypriano locis infinitis. Lac.

CHAPTER XXI. — Discipline. In this man this word always denotes not simply discipline but a stricter discipline, as also in Cyprian in countless places. La Cerda.

(printed under page 387)

(b) ‹coloniae genium› · call in col 693

CAP. XXII.— Vel coloniae genium. In marmoribus antiquis exstant inscriptiones : GENIO COLONIAE. GENIO MUNICIPII. GENIO LOCI. GENIO FONTIS, imo et GENIO HORREORUM, etc. Ric.

CHAPTER XXII.— Or the genius of the colony. On ancient marbles there are inscriptions: TO THE GENIUS OF THE COLONY. TO THE GENIUS OF THE TOWN. TO THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE. TO THE GENIUS OF THE SPRING, and even TO THE GENIUS OF THE GRANARIES, etc. Rigault.

(printed under page 387)

(c) ‹dissimulat› · call in col 693

Negat enim quicumque dissimulat. Locus insignis contra simulatores, et quodammodo libellaticos (cujusvis aetatis), qui excusari se credunt, si loco juramenti, quod contra fidem et Religionem christianam exigitur, simulatione quapiam aliud praestent. Pam.

For whoever dissembles denies. A notable passage against dissemblers and, in a manner, against the libellatici (of any age), who think themselves excused if, in place of an oath demanded against the faith and the Christian religion, they render something else by some pretence. Pamelius.

(printed under page 387)

(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

CAP. XXIII.—Sub pignoribus fiduciati jurati cavent, et sic negant scire. Creditor ethnicus mutuanti christiano pecuniam dedit sub pignoribus et jurejurando. Confectis fiduciarii contractus tabulis praescriptum est, quid praediorum obligaret; praeterea vero quid juraret. Jurari autem oportuit quod sibi jurari voluerat creditor, propria superstitione. Christianus lingua non juravit, sed tabulas testes jurisjurandi quod creditor exegerat signavit. Quaeritur an idololatriae crimine teneatur? Debitor negat se teneri, eo quia cautionis seu fiduciae instrumentum signaverit, non inquisito neque intellecto quid esset pro jurejurando praescriptum. Tertullianus contra, teneri ait. Nam cum caveres, inquit, scisti. Ethnicum scilicet creditorem commodasse tibi pecuniam ea lege, ut caveres et pignoribus et jurejurando. Et cum scires, utique voluisti. Pam.

CHAPTER XXIII.—Under pledges, as men under trust and oath, they give security, and so deny that they know. A pagan creditor lent money to a Christian borrower under pledges and an oath. When the tablets of the trust contract were drawn up, it was written down what estates he was pledging, and besides, what he was swearing. And he had to swear what the creditor wished sworn to him, by his own superstition. The Christian did not swear with his tongue, but he sealed the tablets that witnessed the oath the creditor had demanded. The question is whether he is held guilty of the crime of idolatry. The debtor says he is not, because he sealed the instrument of security or trust without asking or understanding what was written there in place of an oath. Tertullian on the contrary says he is held. "For when you gave security," he says, "you knew": namely, that the pagan creditor had lent you the money on condition that you gave security both by pledges and by oath. "And since you knew, you certainly willed it." Pamelius.

(printed under page 387)

(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

Jurati cavent. Non solum jureconsulti, sed passim alii latini auctores, similes schedulas aut syngraphas vocant cautiones : et cavent; quia scilicet cavemus ita nobis, et reddimur securi, cum mutuum damus. Lac.

Under oath they give security. Not only the jurists but other Latin authors everywhere call such notes or bonds cautiones (securities); and "they give security," because by this we safeguard ourselves and are made secure when we lend. La Cerda.

(printed under page 387)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

Negant scire. Hanc scripturam verissimam esse, docent quae sequuntur. Nam cum caveres, scisti : cum scires, utique voluisti. Ric.

They deny that they know. That this reading is entirely true, what follows shows: "For when you gave security, you knew; since you knew, you certainly willed it." Rigault.

(printed under page 387)

(g) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 693

Praescribit Christus non esse jurandum. Non intelligere auctorem omni juramento simpliciter abstinendum, patet vel ex Apolog. c. 32. Pam.

Christ lays down that one must not swear. That the author does not mean one must abstain simply from every oath is plain even from the Apology, chapter 32. Pamelius.

(printed under page 387)

Page

  • running head: 693 LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA.
  • marginal letters: A ‹quanto magis cum per ipsum remaledicis›; B ‹oblatio mea vel operatio idolorum›; C ‹Sed est quaedem ejusmodi species›; D (none in the text; D falls in the Commentarius)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: "facis" read through a damaged/faint "f" (printed looks like "ſacis"/"lacis"), taken as facis. Variant calls (1)-(5) and note calls (a)-(c) dropped. Page foot holds Lectiones variantes and the editors' Commentarius, not set.
PL 1:694
de ethnicis mutuantes sub pignoribus fiduciati, jurati cavent, et sic negant. Scire volunt scilicet tempus persecutionis, et locum tribunalis, et personam praesidis. Praescribit Christus, non esse jurandum. Scripsi, inquit; sed nihil dixi: lingua, non littera occidit. Hic ergo naturam et conscientiam advoco: naturam, quia nihil potest manus scribere, etiamsi lingua in dictitando cessat immobilis et quieta, quod non anima dictaverit, quanquam et ipsi linguae anima dictaverit, aut a se conceptum, aut ab alio traditum. Jam ne dicatur, «alius dictavit,» hic conscientiam appello, an quod alius dictavit anima suscipiat, et sive comitante sive residente lingua ad manum transmittat. Et bene, quod in animo et conscientia delinqui dominus dixit. Si, inquit (Matth., V, 28) concupiscentia vel malitia in cor hominis ascenderit, pro facto teneris. Cavisti igitur quod in cor tuum plane ascendit, quod neque ignorasse te contendere potes, neque noluisse. Nam cum caveres, scisti: cum scires, utique voluisti, et haeres tam in facto quam cogitatu, nec potes leviore crimine majus excludere, ut dicas falsum plane effici, cavendo quod non facis. «Tamen non negavi, quia non juravi.» Imo etsi nihil tale fecisses, tamen dicereris dejerare si consenseris. Non valet tacita vox in stylo, et mutus in litteris sonus. At enim (Luc., I) Zacharias temporali vocis orbatione mulctatus, cum animo collocutus linguam irritam transit, manibus suis a corde dictat, et nomen filii sine ore pronuntiat, loquitur in stylo, auditur in cera manus omni seno clarior, littera omni ore vocalior. Quaere an dixerit, qui dixisse compertus est. Dominum oremus ne qua nos ejusmodi contractus necessitas
Borrowing money from heathens under pledges given in trust, they give security under oath, and so deny. They wish, forsooth, to know the time of persecution, and the place of the tribunal, and the person of the governor. Christ prescribes that one must not swear. "I wrote," he says, "but I said nothing: it is the tongue, not the letter, that kills." Here then I call nature and conscience to witness: nature, because the hand can write nothing, even if the tongue in dictating ceases, motionless and quiet, which the soul has not dictated, although the soul dictates to the tongue itself too, whether something conceived by itself or handed on by another. Now, lest it be said, "Another dictated it," here I appeal to conscience, whether the soul does not take up what another dictated, and pass it on to the hand, whether the tongue accompanies it or stays still. And well did the Lord say that sin is committed in the mind and conscience. If, He says (Matt. 5:28), lust or malice has gone up into the heart of a man, you are held as for the deed. You have therefore given a security which plainly went up into your heart, which you can contend neither that you did not know nor that you did not will. For when you gave the security, you knew: since you knew, you certainly willed; and you are held fast as much in the deed as in the thought, nor can you exclude the greater crime by a lighter one, so as to say that what is done is plainly false, since you give security for what you do not do. "Yet I have not denied, because I have not sworn." Nay, even if you had done nothing of the kind, you would still be said to forswear yourself if you consented. A silent voice in the pen is of no avail, nor a mute sound in letters. But indeed Zacharias (Luke 1), punished with a temporary loss of voice, when he had held converse with his mind, passes over his useless tongue, dictates with his hands from the heart, and pronounces the name of his son without a mouth; he speaks in the pen, he is heard in the wax, his hand clearer than any sound, his letter more vocal than any mouth. Ask whether he spoke who is found to have spoken. Let us pray the Lord that no necessity of contracts of this kind may
Editors' notes and page, col. 694

Footnotes

(7) ‹teneris› · call in col 694

Teneri Wouw. MS.

Teneri (to be held): Wouwer's manuscript.

(printed under page 387)

(8) ‹potes› · call in col 694

Potest Semler.

Potest (he can): Semler.

(printed under page 387)

(9) ‹et haeres› · call in col 694

Et es Seml.

Et es (and you are): Semler.

(printed under page 387)

(10) ‹majus› · call in col 694

Majus Lat. Jun. Rig. Leop. manus Rhen. Franeq. Semler.

Majus (the greater): Latinius, Junius, Rigault, Leopold; manus (hand): Rhenanus, Franeker edition, Semler.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 387)

(h) ‹concupiscentia› · call in col 694

Si, inquit, concupiscentia. Cum ipsa haec verba in S. Scripturis reperire hactenus non potuerim, videtur mihi in compendium contraxisse illud Ecclesiast. V : Ne sequaris in fortitudine tua concupiscentiam cordis tui, et ne dixeris : Quomodo potui, aut quis me subjiciet propter facta mea? Deus enim vindicans vindicabit. Aut potius illud saepe citatum alludit Matth. V : Qui viderit mulierem, etc. Pam.

If, he says, lust. Since I have not so far been able to find these very words in the holy Scriptures, he seems to me to have condensed that passage of Ecclesiasticus V: "Follow not in your strength the desire of your heart, and say not: How mighty was I? or, Who shall bring me under for my deeds? For God the avenger will avenge." Or rather he alludes to that often-cited text, Matthew V: "Whoever looks on a woman," etc. Pamelius.

(printed under page 387)

(i) ‹irritam› · call in col 694

Linguam irritam transit. Irretitam et residem nihil moratur. Ric.

He passes by the useless tongue. He pays no heed to the tongue, entangled and idle. Rigault.

(printed under page 387)

Page

  • running head: LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 694
  • marginal letters: A ‹de ethnicis mutuantes sub pignoribus›; B ‹concupiscentia vel malitia in cor›; C ‹ore pronuntiat, loquitur in stylo›; D (none in the text; D falls in the Commentarius)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: column ends with "neces-" hyphenated across the break; the word is set whole here as necessitas (English "necessity"). "cor" (B line) and "manum" partly blotted, read from context of visible letters. "seno" kept as printed (heavy type; probably a misprint for "sono"). Variant calls (6)-(10) and note calls (d)-(i) are dropped from the source line. The footnotes (6) and (d)-(g), whose calls stand in this column, are set in n693 (printed in the left foot of page 387); (7)-(10), (h) and (i) are set above.
PL 1:695
circumsistat. Et si ita evenerit, det fratribus operandi copiam, vel nobis abrumpendae omnis necessitatis constantiam, ne illae litterae negatrices vicariae oris nostri in die judicii adversus nos proferantur signatae signis, non jam advocatorum, sed angelorum.
beset us. And if it should so happen, may He give the brethren the means of doing good, or to us the constancy to break off every necessity, lest those denying letters, deputies of our mouth, be brought forth against us on the day of judgement, sealed with the seals no longer of advocates but of angels.
CAPUT XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Inter hos scopulos et sinus, inter haec vada et freta idololatriae, velificata spiritu Dei fides navigat, tuta si cauta, secura si attonita. Caeterum inenatabile excussis profundum est, inextricabile impactis naufragium est, irrespirabile devoratis hypobrychium in idololatria: quicumque fluctus ejus offocant; omnis vortex ejus ad inferos desorbet. Nemo dicat: «quis tam tuto praecavebit? exeundum de saeculo erit;» quasi non tanti sit exire, quam idololatren in saeculo stare. Nihil esse facilius
Among these rocks and bays, among these shallows and straits of idolatry, faith sails, its sails filled by the Spirit of God, safe if cautious, secure if watchful. But for those thrown overboard the deep is one from which there is no swimming out; for those driven aground the shipwreck is one from which there is no extricating oneself; for those swallowed up the drowning in idolatry is one in which there is no breathing: whatever waves it has, they choke; every whirlpool of it sucks down to hell. Let no one say: "Who will guard himself so safely? One will have to go out of the world"; as if it were not worth as much to go out as to stand in the world an idolater. Nothing can be easier
Editors' notes and page, col. 695

Footnotes

NOTE: De idololatria ends on this page; the Monitum to Ad Scapulam printed below the notes is editors' matter, not a footnote, and is not set here. [LECTIONES VARIANTES] (printed under page 388)

(1) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Si attenta. Rigalt. ex cod. fulvii Ursini.

Si attenta (if attentive): Rigault, from Fulvio Orsini's codex.

(printed under page 388)

(a) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Det fratribus operandi copiam. Optime Pamelius explicat de eleemosyna. Verbum enim operari, est largiri eleemosynam, fortasse quia inter bona opera quae conferuntur fratribus, principem locum habeat eleemosyna. Hinc Cyprianus librum inscripsit, de Opere et Eleemosynis, ubi saepe hanc rem inculcat. Lac.

Let him give the brethren the means of doing works. Pamelius explains it very well of almsgiving. For the verb operari is to give alms, perhaps because among the good works bestowed on the brethren almsgiving holds the chief place. Hence Cyprian entitled a book On Works and Alms, where he often presses this point. La Cerda.

(printed under page 388)

(b) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Litterae vicariae oris nostri. Hoc imitatus est Cyprianus, epist. ad Rogatianum : Has pro me ad aures et ad oculos vestros vicarias litteras mitto. Ric.

Letters standing in for our mouth. Cyprian imitated this in the letter to Rogatianus: "I send this letter in my stead, as my substitute, to your ears and eyes." Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(c) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Signatae signis, non jam advocatorum, sed angelorum. Advocatos dicit, qui amico praesentiam suam commodabant signando, subscribendo, testimonio dicundo. Sic Varro, lib. II, de re rust., cap. 5 : Tu vero, Murri, veni mi advocatus, dum asses solvo Palilibus, si postea a me repetant, ut testimonium perhibere possis. Ric.

Sealed with the seals not now of advocates but of angels. He calls advocates those who lent their presence to a friend by sealing, signing, giving testimony. So Varro, On Agriculture, book II, chapter 5: "But you, Murrius, come as my advocate while I pay the money at the Palilia, so that if they claim it from me later you may be able to bear witness." Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(d) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

CAP. XXIV.—Freta idololatriae. Consentit Petrus Chrysolog., serm. 21, qui scopulos et sinus et freta, qua praetervehitur navis dominica, id est Ecclesia, explicat esse tum extrinsecus gentium moles, quae undabundae illam quatiunt, tum intrinsecus tumidos haereticorum fluctus, qui irruunt in eam et saeviunt. Lac.

CHAPTER XXIV.—The straits of idolatry. Peter Chrysologus agrees, sermon 21, who explains that the rocks and bays and straits past which the Lord's ship, that is, the Church, sails are both from without the masses of the nations, which in their surging shake her, and from within the swelling waves of the heretics, which rush upon her and rage. La Cerda.

(printed under page 388)

(e) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Velificata spiritu Dei. Haec vox Auctori nostro peculiaris, inter caetera effecit, ut Sixto Senensi assentiar, quod carmina illa Genesis et Sodomae quae a me post Morelium et Fabricium B. Cypriano adscripta sunt, Tertulliani esse putem. Pam. — Velificata spiritu Dei. Quid hic sibi velit Pamelius non satis assequor, vox quippe velificari vulgaris est, et passim occurret apud aureae latinitatis scriptores, et in eo ferme sensu. Le Pr.

Sailing before the Spirit of God. This word, peculiar to our Author, has among other things led me to agree with Sixtus of Siena in thinking that those poems On Genesis and On Sodom, which I, after Morel and Fabricius, ascribed to blessed Cyprian, are Tertullian's. Pamelius. — Sailing before the Spirit of God. I do not well follow what Pamelius means here, since the word velificari is common, and occurs everywhere in the writers of the golden Latinity, and in almost this sense. Le Prieur.

(printed under page 388)

(f) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Secura, si attenta (v. lect. var.). Postrema hujusce opusculi capita desiderantur in codice Agob. ea re, secuti hoc loco sumus codicem Fulvii Ursini. Editiones Rhenani, Secura, si attonita. Quod minime spernendum. Sic enim libro de Fuga in praesc. : Sed quando Deus magis creditur, nisi cum magis timetur, nisi in tempore persecutionis? Tunc Ecclesia in attonito est. Ric.

Secure, if attentive (see the variant readings). The last chapters of this little work are missing in the Agobard codex; for that reason we have here followed Fulvio Orsini's codex. Rhenanus's editions have Secura, si attonita (secure, if awestruck), which is by no means to be scorned. For so in the book On Flight, at the beginning: "But when is God more believed in than when he is more feared, than in time of persecution? Then the Church is awestruck." Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(g) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 695

Inextricabile impactis naufragium est. Lucifer Calaritanus dixit inextricabiles tenebras, lib. de Contem. mor. pro Chr. Ric.

For those who strike, the shipwreck is inescapable. Lucifer of Cagliari said "inescapable darkness," in the book On Despising Death for Christ. Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(h) ‹desorbet› · call in col 695

Desorbet. Mihi non dubium quin quae scripsit Tertull. de hypobrychio, de fluctibus offocantibus, de vortice desorbente, dixerit cum respectu ad Charibdin, videlicet ex magna notitia hujus nautici periculi. Vide me, lib. III Aeneid., ad illud : Sorbet in abruptum fluctus. Lac.

Sucks down. I have no doubt that what Tertullian wrote of drowning, of choking waves, of the swallowing whirlpool, he said with reference to Charybdis, out of a great knowledge of that sailor's peril. See my note on Aeneid III, at the line: "She sucks the waves down into the abyss." La Cerda.

(printed under page 388)

Editors' prose

MONITUM.

NOTICE.

Hunc ad Scapulam librum, etsi fuerit post susceptum ab Auctore montanismum, omnibus fere confitentibus, exaratus, tamen aliis praecedentibus ante Tertulliani lapsum compositis, tum ob rerum connexionem, tum forsan

This book To Scapula, although, as almost all acknowledge, it was written after the Author had embraced Montanism, [we have] nevertheless [thought fit to place immediately after] the others preceding [it], composed before Tertullian's fall, both on account of the connexion of the matters and perhaps

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  • running head: 695 TERTULLIANI LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA.
  • marginal letters: A ‹sitas circumsistat. Et si ita evenerit›; B ‹quam idololatren in saeculo stare›; C (none in the text; C falls in the Commentarius); D (none in the text; D falls in the Commentarius)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: first word "sitas" completes "neces-" at the end of col. 694 (necessitas). Variant call (1) and note calls (a)-(h) dropped. Page foot holds Lectiones variantes and the editors' Commentarius, not set. Below them, across the page foot, begins the editors' MONITUM to Ad Scapulam ("Hunc ad Scapulam librum ...") — editors' prose, not set.
PL 1:696
potest, quam cautio idololatriae, si timor ejus in capite sit. Quaecumque necessitas minor est periculo, tanto comparata. Propterea Spiritus Sanctus, consultantibus tunc apostolis, vinculum et jugum nobis relaxavit, ut idololatriae devitandae vacaremus. Haec erit lex nostra quo expedita, hoc plenius administranda, propria Christianorum, per quam ab ethnicis agnoscimur et examinamur: haec accedentibus ad fidem proponenda (Is., XXXIII; Matth., VII; Phil., III; Luc, X), et ingredientibus in fidem inculcanda est ut accedentes deliberent, observantes perseverent, non observantes renuntient sibi. Viderimus enim si secundum arcae (Gen., VII) typum et corvus et milvus et lupus et canis et serpens in Ecclesia erit, certe idololatres in arcae typo non habetur. Nullum animal in idololatren figuratum est: quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit.
be than caution against idolatry, if the fear of it is foremost. Any necessity whatever is less than so great a peril when compared with it. For this reason the Holy Spirit, when the apostles were then consulting, loosened the bond and the yoke for us, so that we might be free to shun idolatry. This will be our law, to be administered the more fully the more unencumbered it is, the law proper to Christians, through which we are recognized and tested by the heathens: this is to be set before those approaching the faith (Isa. 33; Matt. 7; Phil. 3; Luke 10), and impressed upon those entering into the faith, so that those approaching may deliberate, those who keep it may persevere, and those who do not keep it may renounce themselves. For we shall see whether, after the type of the ark (Gen. 7), the raven and the kite and the wolf and the dog and the serpent will be in the Church; certainly the idolater is not found in the type of the ark. No animal was figured as an idolater: what was not in the ark, let it not be in the Church.
Editors' notes and page, col. 696

Footnotes

(2) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 696

Perseverent, non observantes abest Rig.

Perseverent, non observantes (let them persevere, not observing) is absent: Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(3) ‹arcae typum› · call in col 696

Archetypum Fran.

Archetypum (archetype): Franeker edition.

(printed under page 388)

(4) ‹non habetur› · call in col 696

Archetypo Fran.

Archetypo (in the archetype): Franeker edition.

[COMMENTARIUS] (printed under page 388)

(i) ‹anchor not visible› · call in col 696

Renuntient sibi. Desinant esse Christiani. Ric.

Let them renounce themselves. Let them cease to be Christians. Rigault.

(printed under page 388)

(j) ‹arcae typum› · call in col 696

Secundum arcae typum. Typum hoc loco dicit, quod alibi exemplum, imaginem, figuram, sacramentum, mysterium, similitudinem, aenigma, parabolam, memoriam, allegoriam, speculum, comparationem, umbram, nebulam. Hieron. lib., II advers. Jovinianum, Typus sanguinis Christi, vinum. Lac.

According to the type of the ark. By type he means here what elsewhere he calls example, image, figure, sacrament, mystery, likeness, riddle, parable, memorial, allegory, mirror, comparison, shadow, cloud. Jerome, book II against Jovinian: "Wine, the type of the blood of Christ." La Cerda.

(printed under page 388)

(k) ‹in Ecclesia non sit› · call in col 696

Quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit. Epiphonema istud prioribus longe est obscurius. Hoc interim velle videtur. Cum in arca Noe fuerint omnis generis animalia, munda septena et septena, immunda vero duo et duo, exclusae vero fuerint idololatriae omnes, consequitur, ut quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit. Eam enim Ecclesiae figuram gessisse tradit hic auctor, lib. de Baptismo. Pam.

What was not in the ark, let it not be in the Church. This closing saying is far more obscure than what precedes. Meanwhile it seems to mean this: since in Noah's ark there were animals of every kind, the clean by sevens and the unclean by twos, but all idolatries were shut out, it follows that what was not in the ark should not be in the Church. For this author teaches, in the book On Baptism, that the ark bore the figure of the Church.

(printed under page 388)

Editors' prose

ob nonnullam aetatis relationem, uti videre est in dissertatione D. Le Nourry infra afferenda, statim subjiciendum duximus. EDD.

on account of some relation in date, as may be seen in the dissertation of Dom Le Nourry to be adduced below, we have thought fit to place immediately after [them]. THE EDITORS.

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Page

  • running head: TERTULLIANI LIBER DE IDOLOLATRIA. 696
  • marginal letters: A ‹potest, quam cautio idololatriae›; B ‹quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit›; C (none in the text; C falls in the Commentarius); D (none in the text; D falls in the Commentarius)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: De idololatria ENDS in this column, at the end of the B line, the 15th text line: "quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit." The rest of the text area holds the Lectiones variantes (3)-(4) and the editors' Commentarius (notes f-k), then a rule and the second half of the editors' MONITUM to Ad Scapulam, which spans cols 695-696 ("... statim subjiciendum duximus. Edd."). None of that is set, and nothing of Ad Scapulam itself appears in this column. Variant calls (2)-(4) and note calls (i)-(k) dropped. "Luc," printed without its period, kept.