PL 1 · cols. 607–618

Tertullian, On the Testimony of the Soul (De testimonio animae)

Editors' preface

Editors' notes and page, col. 607

Footnotes

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 342) (a) Tractatus de Testimonio animae cum Apologetico et libris adversus gentes conjunctus est. In hoc enim religionis argumentum, quod in Apologetico, cap. 17 protulerat, animam scilicet naturaliter agnoscere, et quasi invitam, unum duntaxat deum esse, et alteram vitam ista praeterita, extendit latiusque prosequitur. Hoc autem ex sensu natura ipsi insito demonstrat, et ita penitus ei insculpto, ut nulla re deleri queat; adeo ut ipsi imprudenti excidat: ut cum incogitanter jactatur, Deus velit, Quod Deo placitum erit, Adsit mihi Deus, etc., quae supponunt animam Dei notitia imbutam esse, ut mortis timor natura insitus, nomen immortalitati commendandi desiderium, misericordia in defunctos, supponunt aliam ab ista vitam esse. Cum autem hi sensus animae, et singulis hominibus natura sint insiti, a Deo eos manare necesse est. En quod in eo brevi tractatu lepide admodum Tertullianus amplificat. LUMP.

The treatise On the Testimony of the Soul is joined with the Apology and the books Against the Nations. For in it he extends and pursues more broadly the argument for religion which he had put forward in the Apology, ch. 17: namely, that the soul knows naturally, and as it were unwillingly, that there is only one God, and that there is another life after this one has passed. This he demonstrates from a sense implanted in it by nature, and so deeply engraved in it that nothing can efface it; so much so that it slips out of the soul even unawares: as when one throws out without thinking, God willing, What shall please God, God be with me, etc., which presuppose that the soul is imbued with the knowledge of God; just as the fear of death implanted by nature, the desire to commend one's name to immortality, and pity for the dead presuppose that there is another life than this. And since these senses of the soul are implanted by nature in every single man, they must necessarily flow from God. Here is what Tertullian amplifies very elegantly in this short treatise. LUMPER.

(printed under page 342) (b) Magna curiositate. Vox usitata in aevo medio: Vopiscus in Aureliano. Frivola haec fortassis cuipiam, (continues)

With great curiosity. A word in common use in the middle age: Vopiscus in the Aurelian: These things perhaps to someone frivolous, (continues)

(printed under page 342)

Editors' prose

ARGUMENTUM. — Post uberrimam Scriptorum segetem, qui religionis Christianae caussam egerant, in arenam descenderat Tertullianus, ut patet ex Apologetico et libris duobus contra Nationes; cum tamen caussam illam nihil juvisse videretur, hunc de Testimonio animae libellum exorsus est, ut novo pugnandi genere christiani nominis hostes adoriretur, conceptamque per-

ARGUMENT. — After the most abundant harvest of writers who had pleaded the cause of the Christian religion, Tertullian had gone down into the arena, as is plain from the Apologeticus and the two books against the Nations; yet since he seemed to have helped that cause not at all, he began this little book On the Testimony of the Soul, that he might attack the enemies of the Christian name with a new kind of fighting, and [tear out of their minds] the opinion per[versely] conceived

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: in unam arcam congregavit› · call in col 608 (end of the preceding work, Ad nationes)

(printed under page 342)

(a) ‹anchor: LIBER ADVERSUS GENTES (title, spanning both columns)› · call in col 608

(printed under page 342)

(b) ‹anchor: Magna curiositate› · call in col 608

(printed under page 342)

Editors' prose

verse ex eorumdem animis opinionem evelleret, et rem Christianam in tuto collocaret. Hujusce operis veluti fundamenta jecerat Apologetici, cap. 17, verum hic ea latius prosequitur, quae obiter tantum perstrinxerat: Deumque praesertim unum hic, et animae statum post mortem demonstrat.

[per]versely conceived, [might tear] out of their very minds, and set the Christian cause in safety. He had laid, as it were, the foundations of this work in the Apologeticus, ch. 17; but here he pursues more broadly what he had there only touched on in passing: and here above all he demonstrates that God is one, and the state of the soul after death.

Page

running head: TERTULLIANI 608
marginal letters: A ‹quaesita est? etsi a Numa›; B ‹os non amant. Sed quia›; C ‹(footnote line '(a) Virg. Aeneid., I, 20 et seqq.'; level with col. 607 'post summum imperium')›; D ‹Christianam in tuto collocaret (Argumentum)›
old-edition numerals: 28 before ‹Frugi›

PL 1:609

opus est ad studendum, si quis velit ex litteris receptissimis quibusque philosophorum vel poetarum vel quorumlibet doctrina sapientiae saecularis magistrorum testimonia excerpere christianae veritatis; ut aemuli persecutoresque ejus de suo proprio instrumento, et erroris in se, et iniquitatis in nos rei revincantur. Nonnulli quidem, quibus de pristina litteratura et curiositatis labor et memoriae tenor perseveravit, ad eum modum opuscula penes nos condiderunt, commemorantes et contestificantes in suggillationem et originem et traditionem et sententiarum argumenta, per quae recognosci possit, nihil nos aut novum aut portentosum suscepisse, de quo non etiam communes et publicae litterae ad suffragium nobis patrocinentur, si quid aut erroris ejecimus, aut aequitatis admisimus. Sed ne suis quidem magistris, alias probatissimis atque lectissimis, fidem inclinavit humana de incredulitate duritia, sicubi in argumenta christianae defensionis impingunt; tunc vani poetae, cum deos humanis passionibus et fabulis designant: tunc philosophi duri, cum veritatis fores pulsant. Hactenus sapiens et prudens habebitur, qui prope christianum pronuntiarit, cum si quid prudentiae aut sapientiae affectaverit, seu ceremonias despuens, seu saeculum revincens, pro christiano denotetur. Jam igitur nihil nobis erit cum litteris et doctrina perversae felicitatis, cui in falso potius creditur, quam in vero. Viderint si qui de unico et solo deo pronuntiaverunt. Imo nibil omnino relatum fit, quod agnoscat christianus,

is needed for the study, if anyone should wish to excerpt testimonies of the Christian truth from all the most accepted writings of the philosophers or the poets or of any masters of the learning and wisdom of the world, so that its rivals and persecutors may be convicted out of their own proper instrument, guilty both of error in themselves and of iniquity towards us. Some indeed, in whom the labour of curiosity and the tenacity of memory from their former literature have persevered, have composed little works among us after that manner, recalling and bearing joint witness, to [their opponents'] reproach, to both the origin and the tradition and the arguments of the opinions, by which it may be recognized that we have taken up nothing either new or monstrous for which even the common and public writings do not plead in our support, whether we have cast out anything of error or admitted anything of equity. But human hardness in its unbelief has not inclined its faith even to its own masters, otherwise most approved and most select, wherever they strike upon the arguments of the Christian defence: then the poets are vain, when they portray the gods with human passions and fables; then the philosophers are harsh, when they knock at the doors of truth. A man will be held wise and prudent only so far as he has spoken almost as a Christian, whereas if he has aimed at anything of prudence or wisdom, whether spitting upon ceremonies or confuting the world, he is branded as a Christian. Now therefore we shall have nothing to do with the writings and learning of a perverse felicity, which is believed rather in what is false than in what is true. Let them see to it, if any have pronounced concerning the one and only God. Nay, nothing at all is brought forward which a Christian would recognize,

Editors' notes and page, col. 609

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 343)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot crop› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (1) Adstudendum Rigalt.

Adstudendum ("to be studied at"): Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (2) Ex litteris receptissimi cujusque Jun. et P. Ciacon.

"From the writings of each most accepted (author)": Junius and P. Ciacconius.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (3) Doctrinae ac sapientiae Rigalt.

"Of learning and wisdom": Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (4) Rei evincantur: Ac nonnulli quidem Jun.

"Let them be convicted of the matter: And some indeed": Junius.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (5) Ad gentes Rigalt.

"To the nations": Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (6) In sugillationem et originum et traditionum, et sententiarum, argumenta Jun. et Latin. in singula rationem et o. Rigalt.

"For the discrediting both of origins and of traditions, and of opinions, arguments": Junius and Latinius; "against each thing reason and o[rigin]": Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (7) Re cognosci Le Prior.

"To be recognized in fact": Le Prieur.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (8) Absignant Jun.

Absignant ("they seal off"): Junius.

(printed under page 343)

(9) ‹anchor: in falso potius creditur› · call in col 609

(printed under page 343) (9) Cum in falso ejus creditur Vet. Cod. Rigalt.

"Since its (word) is believed in what is false": Rigault's old codex.

(printed under page 343)

(10) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (10) Relatum sit Jun. Rigalt.

"Let it have been reported": Junius, Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

(11) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (11) Tantum Jun.

"Only": Junius.

(printed under page 343)

(12) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (12) Mentieris Latin. et Ciaconius.

"You will lie": Latinius and Ciacconius.

(printed under page 343)

(13) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (13) Debens Wouw. Rigalt.

"Owing": Wouwer, Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

(14) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (14) Inciperis Jun. incipis Rig.

Inciperis: Junius; incipis ("you begin"): Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

(15) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (15) Inde Riq.

"Thence": Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

(16) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (16) Academicis Paris.

"In the Academic (schools)": the Paris edition.

(printed under page 343)

(17) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (17) Pasta Rig.

"Fed": Rigault.

(printed under page 343)

(18) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (18) Eructas Wouw.

"You belch out": Wouwer.

(printed under page 343)

(19) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 343) (19) Te add. Rig.

Rigault adds te ("you").

(printed under page 343) (20) Tecum homini Rig.

"With you, against the man" (homini): Rigault.

(printed under page 343) (21) Soles Wouw. Rig.

Soles ("you are wont"): Wouwer, Rigault.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (a) Opus est adstudendum. Opus quod adstuderi debeat magna curiositate, et majore memoria. RIG.

It is a work to be studied at. A work which ought to be studied with great curiosity and greater memory. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (b) Nonnulli quidem. Alludit ad eos, qui ante se adversus gentes scripserunt, Graecos praesertim (nam secundus ab Apollonio Latinorum scriptorum a D. Hieron. in catalogo recensetur), Quadratum dico, Aristidem, Justinum philosophum, Anaxagoram, Melitonem, Theophilum Antiochenum, Apollinarium, Tatianum, Irenaeum, Clementem Alexandr. et Miltiadem: quorum quaedam ad verbum pene suo Apologetico insparsit, ad quem tacito nomine etiam hic videtur alludere. PAM.

Some indeed. He alludes to those who wrote against the nations before him, Greeks especially (for he is listed by St Jerome in his catalogue as second after Apollonius among the Latin writers): I mean Quadratus, Aristides, Justin the philosopher, Anaxagoras, Melito, Theophilus of Antioch, Apollinarius, Tatian, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Miltiades; some things of whom he scattered almost word for word through his Apology, to which, without naming it, he seems to allude here also. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 343)

(printed under page 343) (c) Et sententiarum argumenta. Legendum videtur, et argumenta sententiarum, et postea disjungendae voces quae recognosci, scribendumque re cognosci, disjunctim. LE PR.

And the arguments of opinions. It seems one should read "and the arguments of opinions", and afterwards the words quae recognosci should be separated, and re cognosci written, as two words. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (d) Veritatis fores pulsant. Hanc locutionem vidi etiam in epistola illa magni illius Clementis Papae ad Jacobum fratrem Domini, ubi loquens de iis qui nondum sunt Christiani, ait illos esse foris. LAC.

They knock at the doors of truth. I have seen this expression also in that letter of the great Pope Clement to James the brother of the Lord, where, speaking of those who are not yet Christians, he says that they are outside. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 343)

(e) ‹anchor: pro christiano denotetur› · call in col 609

(printed under page 343) (e) Denotetur. Hoc verbum, hic et saepe alias in malam partem sumitur. Hieronymus de suspecto contubernio. Vos cunctorum digiti denotabunt, id est, infamabunt. LAC.

Be marked. This word, here and often elsewhere, is taken in a bad sense. Jerome, on suspect cohabitation: The fingers of all will mark you out, that is, will defame you. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (f) Consiste in medio, anima. Prosopopoeia ad animam, a qua testimonium adversus gentes deposcit, in qua persistit, usque ad finem cap. 4. Varias autem de quibus hic paucis, Epicuri aliorumque philosophorum de anima opiniones latissime recenset infra lib. de anima. Hoc unum id dicam, nondum cum haec scriberet, fuisse Auctorem in errore de anima traduce aut corporea. PAM.

Stand forth in the midst, O soul. A prosopopoeia addressed to the soul, from which he demands testimony against the nations; he keeps it up to the end of ch. 4. The various opinions of Epicurus and other philosophers about the soul, touched here in a few words, he reviews at great length below, in the book On the Soul. This one thing I will say: when he wrote this, the Author was not yet in the error of the soul being transmitted by propagation or being corporeal. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 343)

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

(printed under page 343) (g) Eo magis mentiri non debens. In exemplaribus legitur, Non debebis. Animam compellat: Si divina, inquit, et aeterna res es, eo magis non mentiris, cum sit turpe et indignum Deo mendacium. Si minime divina res es, eo magis mentiri non debes, ut testimonium dicas in gratiam Dei, ad quem minime pertines. RIG.

Owing all the more not to lie. In the copies is read, You will not owe. He addresses the soul: If, he says, you are a divine and eternal thing, all the more you do not lie, since a lie is shameful and unworthy of God. If you are not a divine thing at all, all the more you ought not to lie, so as to bear witness in God's favour, to whom you do not belong at all. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 343) (h) Non nasci soles Christiana. Anima scilicet per fidem regeneratur, sicuti corpora a parentibus ge- (continues)

You are not wont to be born Christian. The soul, that is, is regenerated through faith, just as bodies are be- (continues)

(printed under page 343)

Page

running head: 609 LIBER DE TESTIMONIO [ANIMAE] (right part of the head beyond this column not seen)
marginal letters: A ‹moria opus est ad studendum›; B ‹erroris ejecimus, aut aequitatis›; C ‹(in the LECTIONES VARIANTES, level with variant (1))›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'quaepiam affert de Aristaea')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:610

ne exprobrare possit. Nam et quod relatum est, neque omnes sciunt; neque qui sciunt, constare confidunt. Tanto abest ut nostris litteris annuant homines, ad quas nemo venit nisi jam christianus. Novum testimonium advoco, imo omni litteratura notius, omni doctrina agitatius, omni editione vulgatius, toto homine majus, id est totum quod est hominis. Consiste in medio, anima, seu divina et aeterna res es secundum plures philosophos, eo magis non mentiens. Seu minime divina, quoniam quidem mortalis, ut Epicuro soli videtur, eo magis mentiri non debebis, seu de coelo exciperis, seu de terra conciperis, seu numeris, seu atomis concinnaris, seu cum corpore incoeperis, seu post corpus induceris, unde unde et quoquo modo hominem facis animal rationale, sensus et scientiae capacissimum. Sed non eam te advoco, quae scholis formata, bibliothecis exercitata, academiis et porticibus Attici partam sapientiam ructas.

lest he be able to reproach [them]. For even what has been reported, neither do all know; nor are those who know confident that it holds. So far are men from assenting to our writings, to which no one comes unless he is already a Christian. I call a new testimony, nay one better known than all literature, more debated than all learning, more widely spread than every publication, greater than the whole man, that is, the whole of what is man's. Stand forth in the midst, O soul: whether you are a divine and eternal thing, according to most philosophers, the more on that account not lying; or by no means divine, since indeed mortal, as it seems to Epicurus alone, the more on that account you will be bound not to lie; whether you are taken from heaven or conceived from the earth, whether you are fitted together from numbers or from atoms, whether you began with the body or are brought in after the body, from whencesoever and in whatever manner, you make man a rational animal, most capable of sense and knowledge. But I do not summon you as the one who, formed in the schools, trained in the libraries, belches up a wisdom got in the Attic academies and porches.

Te simplicem et rudem et impolitam et idioticam compello, qualem habent qui te solam habent, illam ipsam de compito, de trivio, de textrino totam. Imperitia tua mihi opus est, quoniam aliquantulae peritiae tuae nemo credit. Ea expostulo, quae tecum in hominem infers, quae aut ex temetipsa, aut ex quocumque auctore tuo sentire didicisti. Non es, quod sciam, christiana, fieri enim, non nasci solet christiana. Tamen nunc a te testimonium flagitant christiani, ab extranea adversus tuos, ut vel

I address you simple and rude and unpolished and unlettered, such as they have who have you alone, that very soul, wholly of the crossroads, of the street-corner, of the weaving-shop. I have need of your inexperience, since no one believes your little bit of experience. I demand those things which you bring with you into man, which you have learned to perceive either from yourself or from whatever author of yours. You are not, so far as I know, Christian; for [a soul] is wont to be made Christian, not born so. Yet now Christians demand testimony from you, from a stranger against your own, so that even

Editors' notes and page, col. 610

Footnotes

(20) ‹anchor: tecum in hominem› · call in col 610

(printed under page 343)

(21) ‹anchor: non nasci solet› · call in col 610

(printed under page 343)

(h) ‹anchor: christiana› · call in col 610

(printed under page 343)

Page

running head: [LIBER] DE TESTIMONIO ANIMAE. 610
marginal letters: A ‹ne exprobrare possit›; B ‹hominem facis animal rationale›; C ‹(in the LECTIONES VARIANTES, level with variant (11))›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'tubernio. Vos cunctorum')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:611

tibi erubescant, quod nos ob ea oderint et irrideant, quae te nunc consciam detineant.

may blush before you, that they hate and mock us on account of those things which now hold you fast as their accomplice.

CAP. II. Non placemus, Dominum praedicantes hoc nomine unico unicum, a quo omnia, et sub quo universa. Dic testimonium si ita scis. Nam te quoque palam et tota libertate, qua non licet nobis, domi ac foris audimus ita pronuntiare, Quod Deus dederit, et, Si Deus voluerit, ea voce et aliquem esse siguificas, et omnem illi confiteris potestatem, ad cujus spectas voluntatem, simul et caeteros negas deos esse, dum suis vocabulis nuncupas, Saturnum, Jovem, Martem, Minervam. Nam solum Deum confirmas, quem tantum Deum nominas, ut et cum illos interdum deos appellas, de alieno et quasi pro mutuo usa videaris. De natura quoque Dei quem praedicamus, nec te latet: Deus bonus est, Deus benefacit, tua vox est. Plane ea dicis, sed homo malus scilicet, contraria propositione oblique et figuraliter exprobrans, ideo malum hominem, quia a Deo bono abscesserit. Etiam quod penes Deum bonitatis et benignitatis omnis benedictio inter nos summum sit disciplinae et conversationis sacramentum, Benedicat te Deus, tam facile pronuntias, quam christiano necesse est. At cum in maledictum convertis benedictionem Dei, perinde dicto omnem super nos potestatem ejus consistere secundum nos confiteris. Sunt, qui etsi Deum non negent, dispectorem plane et arbitrum, et judicem non putent: in quo utique nos maxime rejiciunt, qui ad istam disciplinam metu praedicati judicii transvolamus; sic Deum honorantes, dum curis observationis, et molestiis animadversionis absolvunt, cui ne iram quidem

CHAPTER II. We do not please, preaching the Lord, the only One, by this one name, from Whom are all things and under Whom is the universe. Speak your testimony, if you know it to be so. For we hear you too, openly and with full liberty, such as is not allowed to us, at home and abroad, pronounce thus: "What God may grant", and "If God will". By that utterance you both signify that there is someone, and confess all power to be His, to Whose will you look; and at the same time you deny the others to be gods, while you call them by their own names, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Minerva. For you affirm Him alone as God Whom alone you name God, so that even when you sometimes call those others gods, you seem to have used [the name] as something not your own and as it were on loan. Concerning the nature also of the God Whom we preach, it is not hidden from you: "God is good", "God does good", is your utterance. Plainly you say this; but "man is evil", to be sure, reproaching obliquely and figuratively by the contrary proposition, [implying] that man is evil for this reason, because he has departed from the good God. Again, since among us every blessing in the name of the God of goodness and kindness is the highest sacrament of our discipline and way of life, you pronounce "God bless you" as readily as a Christian must. But when you turn the blessing of God into a curse, by the very same word you confess, as we do, that all His power over us stands. There are some who, although they do not deny God, plainly do not think Him an overseer and arbiter and judge: in which indeed they reject us most of all, who pass over to this discipline through fear of the judgement that is preached; so honouring God, while they release Him from the cares of watching and the troubles of punishing, to Whom not even anger

Editors' notes and page, col. 611

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 344)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot crop› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (1) Quia Rig.

"Because": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (2) Nam abest Rig.

Nam ("for") is absent in Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (3) Quam Rig.

"Than / which": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (4) Bonus Rig.

"Good": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (5) Plane addicis: sed homo malus; scilicet Rig.

"Plainly you add: but man is evil; that is": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (6) Christiane, alii.

Christiane: others.

(printed under page 344)

(7) ‹anchor: At cum› · call in col 611

(printed under page 344) (7) Quum in maledictum convertis benedictionem Dei Jun. Rig. in abest Lat. Veneta; Rhen. Pam. et Sem. legg. cum id maledictum convertis in benedictionem Dei.

"When you turn the blessing of God into a curse": Junius, Rigault; in is absent in Latinius and the Venice edition; Rhenanus, Pamelius and Semler read "when you turn that curse into the blessing of God".

(printed under page 344)

(8) ‹anchor: Deum non› · call in col 611

(printed under page 344) (8) Negant Rig.

"They deny": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

(9) ‹anchor: Deum honorantes› · call in col 611

(printed under page 344) (9) Inhonorantes Jun.

"Dishonouring": Junius.

(printed under page 344)

(10) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (10) Vult Rigalt.

"He wills": Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

(11) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (11) Dei abest Rigalt.

Dei is absent in Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

(12) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (12) Adeo Jun. Rigalt.

"So much": Junius, Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

(13) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (13) Et deae abest Rigalt.

"And of the goddess" is absent in Rigault.

(printed under page 344)

(14) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 344) (14) Lino tecta Jun.

"Covered with linen": Junius.

(printed under page 344) (15) Aere exaurans Rigalt.

Aere exaurans (for in aere exorans): Rigault.

(printed under page 344) (16) Minervam Paris.

Minervam: the Paris edition.

(printed under page 344) (17) Calcias Paris.

Calcias ("you shoe"): the Paris edition.

(printed under page 344) (18) Furnis Paris. farris Rigalt.

Furnis ("ovens"): the Paris edition; farris ("of spelt"): Rigault.

(printed under page 344) (19) Minervae furvis galeam formis calceans Jun.

"Shoeing Minerva's dark helmet on lasts": Junius.

(printed under page 344) (20) Te testem efficit Jun.

"Makes you a witness": Junius.

(printed under page 344) (21) Cum Rigalt.

"When": Rigault.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (a) Non placemus Deum. Rigaltius Deum legit cum Pamelio, cum tamen Lacerda Dominum habeat, suamque lectionem ex codicibus probet, et locis bene multis quibus utitur. LE PR.

We do not please God. Rigault reads Deum with Pamelius, although La Cerda has Dominum and proves his reading from manuscripts and from a good many passages which he uses. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 344)

(b) ‹anchor: in maledictum› · call in col 611

(printed under page 344) (b) At cum in maledictum. Pamelius habet perperam, at cum id maledictum convertis in benedictionem Dei, perperam inquam: nam nunquam praecessit maledictum, ut notat Latinus, cujus est lectio quam sequor. LAC.

But when into a curse. Pamelius has, wrongly, but when you turn that curse into the blessing of God; wrongly, I say, for no curse had gone before, as Latinius notes, whose reading I follow. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 344)

(printed under page 344) (c) Cui ne iram quidem. Fortassis hoc ad errorem Tertulliani vergit, quo Deum corporeum alicubi facit, et proinde passionibus obnoxium, nisi iram Dei improprie accipiamus, sicuti alii Patres pro vindicta Dei. PAM.

To whom not even anger. Perhaps this leans towards Tertullian's error by which he somewhere makes God corporeal, and therefore subject to passions, unless we take the anger of God improperly, as other Fathers take it for God's vengeance. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (d) Et tantum postremo auctorem. A quo scilicet tot beneficiis adaucta et cumulata est.

And lastly so great an author. By whom, that is, it has been enlarged and heaped with so many benefits.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (e) Quid timetur nisi ira? Iram, inquam, ait timendam, quae ejus est naturae, ut naturam invertat. Ideo enim illam Nicetas David in Vita Ignatii episcop. Constantinop. παράφυσιν vocat, quasi contra naturam, et ἔκστασιν, quae naturam depravat. LAC.

What is feared but anger? Anger, I say, he says is to be feared, which is of such a nature as to overturn nature. For that is why Nicetas David, in the Life of Ignatius, bishop of Constantinople, calls it paraphysis, as it were against nature, and ekstasis, which deprave nature. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (f) Vitta Cereris redimita. Frustra adducunt coronam Cereris spiceam, cum Tertullianus vittatam dicat. Moris enim fuit vittas capiti apponere, auctore Plinio lib. XVIII. c. 5. LAC.

Bound with the fillet of Ceres. In vain do they bring in Ceres' crown of ears of grain, since Tertullian says "filleted". For it was the custom to put fillets on the head, on the authority of Pliny, book 18, ch. 5. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 344)

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

(printed under page 344) (g) Et Isidis linteata. Pallio scilicet: ut Saturni coccineum fuerit Isidis linteum. Etenim fuit et pallium muliebre. In exemplari legitur: Et Deae Isidis lintiata. Adjectum Deae vocabulum putavimus ab iis, qui nomen Isidis quasi minus notum declaratione aliqua indigere crediderunt. Nam cur Isis Dea potius dicatur quam Ceres, Juno, Minerva? quae hic suis simpliciter nominibus appellantur. RIG. — Isidis linteata. Quae Dea Romanis Ceres dicitur, ea Isis est apud Aegyptios. LE PR.

And in the linen of Isis. In a cloak, that is: as Saturn's was scarlet, so Isis's was linen. For there was also a women's cloak. In the copy is read: And in the linen of the goddess Isis. We judged the word "goddess" to have been added by those who thought the name of Isis, as less well known, needed some explanation. For why should Isis be called a goddess rather than Ceres, Juno, Minerva, who are named here simply by their own names? RIGAULT. — In the linen of Isis. The goddess whom the Romans call Ceres is Isis among the Egyptians. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 344) (h) Qui ea soli de corporibus exigimus. Sic lib. de Anima, pag. 504: Christiana potestas vim istam per- (continues)

We who alone drive them out of bodies. So in the book On the Soul, p. 504: Christian power [drives out] that force (continues)

(printed under page 344)

Page

running head: 611 TERTULLIANI
marginal letters: A ‹tibi erubescant, quod nos›; B ‹dicamus, nec te latet›; C ‹Deum honorantes, dum curis›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'nymus, habenturque epist.')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:612

adscribunt. Nam si Deus (inquiunt) irascitur, corruptibilis et passionalis est. Porro quod patitur, quodque corrumpitur, etiam interitum potest capere, quem Deus non capit. At iidem alibi animam divinam et a Deo conlatam confitentes, cadunt in testimonium ipsius animae, retorquendum adversus opinionem superiorem. Si enim anima aut divina aut a Deo data est, sine dubio datorem suum novit. Et si novit, utique et timet, ut tantum postremo auctorem. An non timet, quem magis propitium velit, quam iratum? Unde igitur naturalis timor animae in Deum, si Deus non novit irasci? Quomodo timetur, qui nescit offendi? Quid timetur, nisi ira? unde ira, nisi ex animadversione? Unde animadversio, nisi de Dei judicio? Unde judicium, nisi de potestate? Cujus potestas summa, nisi Dei solius? Hinc ergo tibi anima de conscientia suppetit domi ac foris, nullo irridente vel prohibente praedicare, Deus videt omnia, et Deo commendo, et Deus reddet, et Deus inter nos jubicabit. Unde hoc tibi non Christianae? Atque id plerumque et vitta Cereris redimita, et pallio Saturni coccinata et deae Isidis linteata? In ipsis denique templis Deum judicem imploras, sub Esculapio stans, Junonem in aere exorans, Minervae calceans furvis galeam formis, et neminem de praesentibus deis contestaris; in tuo foro aliunde judicem appellas, in tuis templis alium deum pateris. O testimonium veritatis, quae apud ipsa daemonia testem efficit christianorum.

ascribe. For if God, they say, is angry, He is corruptible and subject to passion. Moreover, what suffers and what is corrupted can also undergo destruction, which God does not undergo. But the same men, confessing elsewhere that the soul is divine and conferred by God, fall into the testimony of the soul itself, which is to be turned back against the former opinion. For if the soul is either divine or given by God, without doubt it knows its Giver. And if it knows Him, surely it also fears Him, as being, after all, so great an Author. Or does it not fear Him Whom it would rather have propitious than angry? Whence then the soul's natural fear towards God, if God does not know how to be angry? How is He feared Who does not know how to be offended? What is feared, except anger? Whence anger, except from punishment? Whence punishment, except from the judgement of God? Whence judgement, except from power? Whose power is supreme, except God's alone? Hence therefore, O soul, it comes readily to you from conscience, at home and abroad, with no one mocking or forbidding, to proclaim: "God sees all things", and "I commend it to God", and "God will repay", and "God will judge between us." Whence have you this, not being Christian? And that commonly even when crowned with the fillet of Ceres, and clad in scarlet with the cloak of Saturn, and in the linen of the goddess Isis? In the very temples, finally, you implore God as Judge, standing beneath Aesculapius, entreating Juno in bronze, fitting Minerva's helmet with dark shapes, and you call to witness none of the gods present; in your own forum you appeal to a Judge from elsewhere, in your own temples you allow another God. O testimony of truth, which even in the presence of the very demons makes a witness for the Christians!

CAP. III. Enimvero cur daemonia affirmamus esse? sane quasi non et probemus, qui ea soli de corporibus exigimus. Aliqui Chrysippi adsentator

CHAPTER III. But indeed, why do we affirm that demons exist? As if, to be sure, we did not also prove it, we who alone drive them out of bodies. Some follower of Chrysippus

Editors' notes and page, col. 612

Footnotes

(15) ‹anchor: Junonem in aere exorans› · call in col 612

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(16) ‹anchor: Minervae› · call in col 612

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(17) ‹anchor: calceans› · call in col 612

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(18) ‹anchor: furvis galeam› · call in col 612

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(19) ‹anchor: formis› · call in col 612

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(20) ‹anchor: testem› · call in col 612

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(21) ‹anchor: Enimvero cur› · call in col 612

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(h) ‹anchor: corporibus exigimus› · call in col 612

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Page

running head: TERTULLIANI 612
marginal letters: A ‹dem adscribunt. Nam si Deus›; B ‹potestas summa, nisi Dei›; C ‹esse? sane quasi non›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'Ideo enim illam Nicetas')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:613

illudit ea, et esse, et abominationem sustinere, execrationes tuae respondent. Daemonium vocas, hominem aut immunditia, aut malitia, aut insolentia, aut quacunque macula, quam nos daemoniis deputamus, aut ad necessitatem odii opportunam. Satanam denique in omni aversatione et aspernatione et detestatione pronuntias, quem nos dicimus malitiae angelum, totius erroris artificem, totius saeculi interpolatorem, per quem homo a primordio circumventus, ut praeceptum Dei excederet, et propterea in mortem datus, exinde totum genus de suo semine infectum, suae etiam damnationis traducem fecit. Sentis igitur perditorem tuum. Et licet soli illum noverint christiani, vel quaecunque apud Dominum secta, et tu tamen eum nosti, dum odisti.

mocks them; [but] that they both exist and bear abomination, your execrations answer. You call a man a demon, [one marked] either by uncleanness, or malice, or insolence, or whatever stain we assign to demons, or fit for the necessity of hatred. Satan, finally, you name in every [expression of] aversion and scorn and detestation, whom we call the angel of malice, the artificer of all error, the falsifier of the whole world, by whom man was circumvented from the beginning so as to transgress the precept of God, and on that account was given over to death; and thereafter he made the whole race, infected from his seed, the transmitter also of his own damnation. You perceive, therefore, your destroyer. And although Christians alone know him, or whatever sect is with the Lord, yet you too know him, while you hate him.

CAP. IV. Jam nunc quod ad necessariorem sententiam tuam spectet, quantum et ad ipsum statum tuum tendit, affirmamus, te manere post vitae dispunctionem, et exspectare diem judicii, proque meritis aut cruciatui destinari, aut refrigerio, utroque sempiterno. Quibus sustinendis necessario tibi substantiam pristinam, ejusdemque hominis materiam, et memoriam reversuram, quod et nihil mali ac boni sentire possis, sine carnis passionalis facultate, et nulla ratio sit judicii sine ipsius exhibitione, qui meruit judicii passionem. Ea opinio Christiana etsi honestior multo pythagorica, quae te non in bestias transfert; etsi plenior platonica, quae tibi etiam dotem corporis reddit; etsi epicurea gratior,

CHAPTER IV. Now, as to what concerns an opinion of yours more necessary, inasmuch as it bears even on your very state, we affirm that you remain after the closing of life's account, and await the day of judgement, and according to your merits are destined either to torment or to refreshment, each everlasting. To endure these, [we affirm that] your former substance, and the matter and memory of the same man, must necessarily return to you, both because you could feel nothing evil or good without the faculty of the passible flesh, and because there is no ground for judgement without the presentation of the very one who has deserved to suffer judgement. That Christian opinion, though far more honourable than the Pythagorean, which does not transfer you into beasts; though fuller than the Platonic, which also restores to you the dowry of the body; though more pleasing than the Epicurean,

Editors' notes and page, col. 613

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 345)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot crop› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (1) Ea abest Rigalt.

Ea is absent in Rigault.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (2) Et Wouwer.

"And": Wouwer.

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

(printed under page 345) (3) Importunum Rigalt. odiis opportunum Jun.

"Troublesome": Rigault; "exposed to hatreds": Junius.

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

(printed under page 345) (4) Vexatione Paris.

"By harassment": the Paris edition.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (5) Vel quaecumque capit Latin. sapit Ciaconius.

"Or whatever it takes in": Latinius; "tastes": Ciacconius.

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

(printed under page 345) (6) In quantum Jun.

"Insofar as": Junius.

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(7) ‹anchor: epicurea gratior› · call in col 613

(printed under page 345) (7) Gravior. Rig.

"Weightier": Rigault.

(printed under page 345)

(8) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ? (numeral blurred in the scan; read as 8)

(printed under page 345) (8) Suum abest Latin. Rigalt. solum Latin. Rigalt.

Suum is absent in Latinius and Rigault; solum ("only"): Latinius, Rigault.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (9) Non uti de bono vitae dereptum Lat.

"Not, as of the good of life, snatched away": Latinius.

(printed under page 345)

(10) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (10) Quod abest Jun. uti de bono Rig.

Quod is absent in Junius; "as of a good": Rigault.

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(11) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (11) Et mattyis Jun.

"And with dainties (mattyis)": Junius.

(printed under page 345)

(12) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (12) Eorum abest Rig. quem addit Lat.

Eorum is absent in Rigault; Latinius adds quem.

(printed under page 345)

(13) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (13) Lautius Ciacon.

"More sumptuously": Ciacconius.

(printed under page 345)

(14) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 345) (14) Si add. Jun.

Junius adds si ("if").

(printed under page 345) (15) Malim, si nihil es? tibi timendum p. mortem?

I should prefer: "if you are nothing? to be feared by you after death?"

(printed under page 345) (16) Dici potest Rig.

"It can be said": Rigault.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (a) Aliqui Chrysippi assentator. Est plane Tertullianicum, aliqui pro aliquis. Videtur autem Chrysippus philosophus, (de quo latius infra lib. de Anima) daemonia illusisse, libro quantum apparet de Divinatione, quem citat Lactantius lib. I. PAM.

Some follower of Chrysippus. Aliqui for aliquis is plainly Tertullianic. The philosopher Chrysippus (of whom more fully below, in the book On the Soul) seems to have mocked the demons, in his book On Divination, so far as appears, which Lactantius cites in book I. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (b) Satanam denique in omni aversatione pronuntias. Ergo Satanae vocabulum usurpatum Graecis aut Latinis nondum Christianis? etenim alloquitur animam non Christianam, minime vero: Sed Malum dixere, nota interjectione apud Comicos aversantium aliquid, aut aspernantium ac detestantium. Terentius Eunucho, qui, malum, alii? Plautus Epidico: Quae, malum, haec, impudentia est. At Christianis, Malus, absolute ponitur pro Satana. et hoc loco vicissim Tertullianus Satanam posuit pro Malo. RIG.

Finally, in every act of loathing you pronounce "Satan". Was the word "Satan" then used by Greeks or Latins not yet Christian? For he is addressing the soul that is not Christian. Not at all: but they said Malum, a well-known interjection in the comic poets of people turning from something, or spurning and detesting it. Terence in the Eunuch: who, the plague, others? Plautus in the Epidicus: What, the plague, is this impudence? But among Christians Malus, absolutely, stands for Satan; and in this place Tertullian in turn has put "Satan" for Malum. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 345)

(printed under page 345) (c) Proque meritis, etc. Auctor libri de fide, pag. 43. habituri unusquisque nostrum specialem resurrectionem, pro merito fidei ac vitae, sive ad refrigerium sive ad ustionem. Vide quae ad illud Septimii: Modico quoque delicto mora resurrectionis expenso, pag. 338. RIG. — Locus pro operum meritis, quales alibi complures. En vero rursus vocem obsoletam, passionalis pro passioni obnoxia. PAM.

And according to merits, etc. The author of the book On Faith, p. 43: each one of us is to have his own special resurrection, according to the merit of faith and life, whether to refreshment or to burning. See what [is said] on that saying of Septimius, "even a small fault being paid for by the delay of resurrection", p. 338. RIGAULT. — A passage for the merits of works, of which there are many such elsewhere. And here again is an obsolete word, passionalis for "subject to suffering". PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (d) Praesumptioni deputatur. Resurrectio hoc nomine enuntiabatur a gentilibus. Christiani enim gloriosi hoc titulo, praesumptuosi vocabantur. Ita Apuleius, lib. IX. Christianam foeminam lancinabat. Tum spretis atque calcatis divinis numinibus, in vicem certae Religionis, mentia sacrilega praesumptione Dei, quem praedicaret unicum, etc. LAC.

Is reckoned as presumption. The resurrection was spoken of by this name by the gentiles. For Christians, glorious under this title, were called presumptuous. So Apuleius, book IX, tore at a Christian woman: Then, the divine powers spurned and trampled, in place of a sure religion, with a lying, sacrilegious presumption of a God whom she proclaimed as the only one, etc. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (e) Extra portam. Cautum erat et prohibitum olim Romae atque legibus 12 tabularum, ne quis intra urbem, sepeliretur aut ureretur. Unde Juvenal sat. 1: Experiar quid concedatur in illos / Quorum flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina. LE PR.

Outside the gate. It was once provided and forbidden at Rome, and by the laws of the Twelve Tables, that anyone be buried or burned within the city. Hence Juvenal, Satire 1: "I will try what is allowed against those whose ashes are covered by the Flaminian and the Latin way." LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (f) Cum obsoniis et matteis. Certum est hic Matteas esse convivia illa feralia, quae in sepulcris fieri consueverant, legendum porro videtur Mattyis, Nam apud Athenaeum Ματτύη πᾶν τὸ πολυτελὲς ἔδεσμα, id. est Mattya opiparum quodlibet est ferculum. LE PR.

With viands and dainties. It is certain that matteae here are those funeral feasts which used to be held at the tombs; further, it seems one should read mattyis, for in Athenaeus "mattye is every costly dish", that is, a mattya is any sumptuous course. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (g) Ad busta recedis. Recedere eos dicit, qui extra urbem ad busta parentatum ibant. RIG.

You withdraw to the tombs. He says those "withdraw" who went outside the city to the tombs to make offerings to their dead. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 345)

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

(printed under page 345) (h) Terram gravem imprecaris. Plinius lib. XI. ubi de Terra: Cujus numen ultimum jam nullis imprecemur irati grave; tanquam nesciamus hanc esse solam quae nunquam irascatur homini. Jam nullis, id est mortuis. Cicero Tusculanarum 1. De mortuis loquor, qui nulli sunt. RIG. — Proverbialis haec est formula, sit tibi terra gravis, ut et altera sub hujus capitis finem, abiit jam et reverti debet, quae etiamnum vulgo quoque Teutonico in ore est. PAM.

You call down heavy earth. Pliny, book XI, where he speaks of the Earth: Whose final power we in anger call down as heavy on those who are now nothing; as if we did not know that she alone is never angry with man. "Those now nothing", that is, the dead. Cicero, Tusculans 1: I speak of the dead, who are nothing. RIGAULT. — This is a proverbial formula, may the earth be heavy on you, as is the other near the end of this chapter, he has gone now and must come back, which is still in the mouth of the common German people too. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 345) (i) Qua nec experiundum post mortem? Semper (continues)

Since there is nothing to be experienced after death? Always (continues)

(printed under page 345)

Page

running head: 613 LIBER DE TESTIMONIO [ANIMAE] (right part of the head beyond this column not seen)
marginal letters: A ‹tator illudit ea›; B ‹tiam tuam spectet, quantum›; C ‹(in the LECTIONES VARIANTES, level with variant (2))›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'tias. Ergo Satanae vocabulum')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:614

quae te ab interitu defendit: tamen propter suum nomen soli vanitati et stupori, et ut dicitur, praesumptioni deputatur. Sed non erubescimus, si tecum erit nostra praesumptio. Primo enim cum alicujus defuncti recordaris, misellum vocas eum: non utique quod de bono vitae ereptum, sed ut poenae et judicio jam adscriptum. Caeterum alias securos vocas defunctos. Profiteris et vitae incommodum, et mortis beneficium. Vocas porro securos, si quando extra portam cum obsoniis et matteis tibi potius parentans ad busta recedis, aut a bustis dilutior redis. At ego sobriam tuam sententiam exigo: misellos vocas mortuos, cum de tuo loqueris, cum ab eis longe es. Nam in convivio eorum quasi praesentibus et conrecumbentibus sortem suam exprobrare non possis, debes adulari propter quos laetius vivis. Misellum ergo vocas, qui nihil sentit? quid quod ut sentienti maledicis, cujus memoriam cum alicujus offensae morsu facis. Terram gravem imprecaris, et cineri penes inferos tormentum. Aeque ex bona parte, cui gratiam debes, ossibus et cineribus ejus refrigerium comprecaris, et ut bene requiescat apud inferos cupis. Si nihil passionis est tibi post mortem, si nulla sen⟨s⟩us perseverantia, si denique nihil es ipsa ubi corpus reliquisti: cur mentiris in te, quasi aliquid ultra pati possis? Imo cur in totum times mortem, si nihil est tibi timendum post mortem, qua nec experiundum post mortem? Nam etsi dicere potes, ideo

which defends you from destruction: yet because of its name it is set down solely to vanity and stupidity and, as it is said, to presumption. But we do not blush if our presumption is to be shared with you. For first, when you recall someone who has died, you call him "poor wretch": not, surely, because he has been snatched from the good of life, but as one already assigned to punishment and judgement. At other times, however, you call the dead "free from care". You profess both the hardship of life and the boon of death. You call them, moreover, free from care whenever, going outside the gate with viands and dainties to the tombs, you make offerings to the dead rather for yourself, or come back from the tombs somewhat the worse for wine. But I demand your sober opinion: you call the dead "poor wretches" when you speak from your own [mind], when you are far from them. For at their banquet, with them as it were present and reclining at table with you, you could not reproach them with their lot; you must flatter those on whose account you live more merrily. Do you then call him "poor wretch" who feels nothing? What of this, that you curse him as one who feels, whose memory you call up with the sting of some offence? You imprecate that the earth lie heavy on him, and torment on his ashes among those below. Likewise, on the good side, for one to whom you owe gratitude, you pray refreshment for his bones and ashes, and you desire that he rest well among those below. If there is no suffering for you after death, if no persistence of sense, if finally you yourself are nothing when you have left the body, why do you lie against yourself, as though you could suffer something further? Nay, why do you fear death at all, if there is nothing for you to fear after death, since there is nothing even to be experienced after death? For although you can say, therefore

Editors' notes and page, col. 614

Footnotes

(8) ‹anchor: tamen propter suum› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(d) ‹anchor: praesumptioni deputatur› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(9) ‹anchor: misellum vocas eum: non utique› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(10) ‹anchor: non utique quod› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(e) ‹anchor: extra portam› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(11) ‹anchor: cum obsoniis et matteis› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(f) ‹anchor: matteis› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

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(g) ‹anchor: ad busta recedis› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(12) ‹anchor: in convivio eorum› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(13) ‹anchor: propter quos laetius› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(14) ‹anchor: maledicis, cujus› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(h) ‹anchor: Terram gravem› · call in col 614 (text with n613)

(printed under page 345)

(15) ‹anchor: si nihil est› · call in col 614

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(16) ‹anchor: etsi dicere› · call in col 614

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(i) ‹anchor: post mortem› · call in col 614

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Page

running head: [LIBER] DE TESTIMONIO ANIMAE. 614
marginal letters: A ‹quae te ab interitu defendit›; B ‹quos laetius vivis›; C ‹(in the LECTIONES VARIANTES, level with variant (10))›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with the Juvenal verse 'Quorum flaminia')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:615

mortem timeri, non ut aliquid minantem, sed ut commodum vitae amputantem: atquin cum et incommoda longe plura vitae pariter excedas, et lucratione gravioris partis metum diluis, nec jam timenda est amissio bonorum, quae altero bono, id est incommodorum pace, pensatur. Non est timendum, quod nos liberat ab omni timendo. Si times vita decedere, quia optimam nosti: certe mortem timere non debes, quam malam nescis. At cum times, scis malam. Non scires autem malam quia nec timeres, si non scires aliquid esse post mortem, quod eam malam faciat, ut timeas. Omittamus nunc naturalem formam timendi mortem. Nemo timeat, quod evadere non potest. Ex altera parte congredior, laetioris spei post mortem. Nam omnibus fere ingenita est famae post mortem cupido. Longum est retexere Curtios et Regulos, vel Graecos viros, quorum innumera elogia sunt contemptae mortis propter posthumam famam. Quis non hodie memoriae post mortem frequentandae ita studet, ut vel litteraturae operibus, vel simplici laude morum, vel ipsorum sepulcrorum ambitione, nomen fuum servet? Unde anima hodie affectare aliquid, quod velit post mortem, et tantopere praeparare, quo sit usura post obitum: si nihil de postero sciret? Sed forsitan de sensu post excessum tui certiores, quam de resurrectione quandoque, cujus nos praesumptores denotamur. Atquin hoc quoque ab anima praedicatur. Nam si de aliquo jam pridem defuncto tanquam vivo quis requirat, prae manu occurrit dicere: Abiit jam, et reverti debet.

that death is feared, not as threatening anything, but as cutting off the advantage of life: yet since you equally leave behind the far more numerous disadvantages of life as well, you wash away the fear by the gain of the weightier portion; and the loss of goods is no longer to be feared, since it is offset by another good, that is, peace from disadvantages. That is not to be feared which frees us from everything to be feared. If you fear to depart from life because you know it to be very good, certainly you ought not to fear death, which you do not know to be evil. But when you fear it, you know it to be evil. You would not, however, know it to be evil, for you would not even fear it, unless you knew that there is something after death which makes it evil, so that you fear it. Let us now leave aside the natural manner of fearing death. Let no one fear what he cannot escape. I engage from the other side, that of a happier hope after death. For a desire for fame after death is inborn in almost all. It would be long to recount the Curtii and the Reguli, or the Greek men, whose eulogies for despising death on account of posthumous fame are innumerable. Who today does not so strive to have his memory frequented after death that he preserves his name either by works of literature, or by the simple praise of his character, or by the very ostentation of tombs? Whence does the soul today aim at something which it wishes [to have] after death, and prepare so earnestly what it is to use after its decease, if it knew nothing of the hereafter? But perhaps [you are] more certain of sensation after your departure than of a resurrection at some time, of which we are branded the presumers. And yet this too is proclaimed by the soul. For if anyone asks after someone long since dead as though he were living, it comes readily to hand to say: "He has gone now, and must return."

CAP. V. Haec testimonia animae quanto vera, tanto simplicia; quanto simplicia, tanto vulgaria; quanto vulgaria, tanto communia: quanto communia, tanto naturalia: quanto naturalia, tanto divina. Non

CHAPTER V. These testimonies of the soul are as simple as they are true; as commonplace as they are simple; as universal as they are commonplace; as natural as they are universal; as divine as they are natural. Not

Editors' notes and page, col. 615

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 346)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot crop› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (1) Ultre quid Rig.

Ultre quid (sic): Rigault.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (2) Excedant Veneta.

"They depart": the Venice edition.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (3) Ea lucratione Jun.

"By that gain": Junius.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (4) Ellogia Jun.

Ellogia (epitaphs): Junius.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (5) Animae Rig.

"Of the soul": Rigault.

(printed under page 346)

(6) ‹anchor: tantopere praeparare› · call in col 615

(printed under page 346) (6) Quae al.

"Which": others.

(printed under page 346)

(7) ‹anchor: defuncto tanquam› · call in col 615

(printed under page 346) (7) De add. Rig.

Rigault adds de.

(printed under page 346)

(8) ‹anchor: tanto divina. Non› · call in col 615

(printed under page 346) (8) Puto Rig.

"I think": Rigault.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (9) Est in te Rig.

"Is in you": Rigault.

(printed under page 346)

(10) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (10) Et abest Paris.

Et is absent in the Paris edition.

(printed under page 346)

(11) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (11) Eruptionis Wouwer.

"Of the outbreak": Wouwer.

(printed under page 346)

(12) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (12) Et abest Rig.

Et is absent in Rigault.

(printed under page 346)

(13) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (13) Tacite commissam Wouwer.

"Silently committed": Wouwer.

(printed under page 346)

(14) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col ?

(printed under page 346) (14) Publicatum Jun.

"Made public": Junius.

(printed under page 346) (15) Contigit? Unde nosse Jun.

"Has it befallen? Whence to know": Junius.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (a) Non est timendum, etc. S. Chrysostomus ad pop. hom. 21. nihil ex morte timendum docet quoniam ad meliorem vitam et optabiliorem, καὶ πάσης ἀπηλλαγμένην ἀνωμαλίας tendimus. Sicque Seneca etiam epist. 102: Proinde intrepidus horam illam decretoriam prospice, non est animo suprema, sed corpori. LE PR.

There is nothing to be feared, etc. St Chrysostom, To the People, homily 21, teaches that nothing is to be feared from death, since we are heading for a better and more desirable life, and one freed from all unevenness. And so Seneca too, letter 102: Therefore look forward fearless to that decisive hour; it is not the last for the mind, but for the body. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (b) Longum est retexere. Notior est Curtiorum et Reguli qui pro patria mortem oppetierunt, historia, quam ut pluribus sit opus. Posthumam famam postea metaphoricôn dixit, eam quae post mortem perdurat. PAM.

It would be long to recount. The story of the Curtii and of Regulus, who met death for their country, is too well known to need more words. Afterwards he spoke metaphorically of posthumous fame, that which lasts on after death. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 346)

(printed under page 346) (c) Curtios. Hic est ille qui se diis manibus dicavit pro salute patriae: cum enim ingenti hiatu desedisset terra in medio foro, responsumque accepissent Romani non coituram labem, nisi aliquis ex nobilibus eo se dejecisset, Curtius vitam impendit patriae. LAC.

The Curtii. This is he who devoted himself to the gods of the dead for the safety of his country: for when the earth had sunk in a huge chasm in the middle of the Forum, and the Romans had received the oracle that the gap would not close unless one of the nobles threw himself into it, Curtius spent his life for his country. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (d) Nomen suum servet. Virgilius lib. VII. Aeneidos de Cajeta Aeneae nutrice paria ferme habet. Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen / Hesperia in magna, si qua est ea gloria, signat. LE PR.

Let it keep its name. Virgil, Aeneid book VII, has much the same of Caieta, Aeneas's nurse: "And now your honour keeps your resting place, and your name marks your bones in great Hesperia, if that is any glory." LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 346)

(e) ‹anchor: Abiit jam› · call in col 615

(printed under page 346) (e) Abiit jam. Veteres pro mortuus est dicebant, vixit, abiit, abiit ad plures, apud Festum etiam abitio pro morte sumitur. LE PR.

He has gone now. The ancients said for he is dead: he has lived, he has gone, he has gone to the majority; in Festus too abitio (departure) is taken for death. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 346)

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

(printed under page 346) (f) Certe prior anima quam littera. Locus iste quandoquidem paulo post hanc animae loquelam, Traditionem nuncupat, optime potest adaptari ad Traditionum ecclesiast. auctoritatem, quippe quae libris omnibus et stylo, id est litteratura omni priores sunt. PAM. — Prior anima quam littera. Idem argumentum conficit Magnus Antonius teste Athanasio in ejus vita, contra philosophos quosdam. LAC.

Surely the soul is earlier than the letter. Since a little after this he calls the soul's speech Tradition, this passage can very well be applied to the authority of the Church's traditions, which are earlier than all books and than the pen, that is, than all literature. PAMELIUS. — The soul is earlier than the letter. The great Antony makes the same argument against certain philosophers, as Athanasius witnesses in his Life. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 346)

Page

running head: 615 TERTULLIANI
marginal letters: A ‹mortem timeri, non ut›; B ‹bus fere ingenita est›; C ‹manu occurrit dicere›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'haec particula significat')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:616

putem cuiquam frivolum et frigidum videri posse, si recogitet naturae majestatem, ex qua censetur auctoritas animae. Quantum dederis magistrae, tantum adjudicabis discipulae. Magistra natura, anima discipula. Quicquid aut illa edocuit, aut ista perdidicit: a Deo traditum est, magistro scilicet ipsius magistrae. Quid anima possit de principali institutore praesumere, in te est aestimare de ea quae in te est. Senti illam, quae ut sentias efficit! recogita in praesagiis vatem, in ominibus augurem, in eventibus prospicem. Mirum si a Deo data homini, novit divinare. Tam mirum, si eum a quo data est, novit. Etiam circumventa ab adversario, meminit sui auctoris, et bonitatis, et decreti ejus, et exitus sui et adversarii ipsius. Sic mirum, si a Deo data, eadem canit, quae Deus suis dedit nosse. Sed qui ejusmodi eruptiones animae non putavit doctrinam esse naturae et congenitae et ingenitae conscientiae tacita commissa, dicet potius diventilatis in vulgus opinionibus, publicatarum litterarum usum, jam et quasi vitium corroboratum taliter sermocinandi. Certe prior anima, quam littera; et prior sermo, quam liber, et prior sensus, quam stylus; et prior homo ipse, quam philosophus et poeta. Numquid ergo credendum est, ante litteraturam et divulgationem ejus mutos absque hujusmodi pronuntiationibus homines vixisse? Nemo deum et bonitatem ejus, nemo mortem, nemo inferos loquebatur: mendicabat sermo, opinor, imo nec ullus esse poterat, cessantibus etiam tunc, sine quibus etiam hodie jam beatior, et locupletior, et prudentior esse non potest, si ea quae tam facilia, tam assidua, tam proxima hodie sunt, in ipsis quodammodo labiis parta, retro non fuerunt, antequam litterae in saeculo germinassent, antequam Mercurius (opinor) natus fuisset. Et unde ordo ipsis litteris contingit, nosse,

I should think can seem trivial and frigid to anyone, if he reflects on the majesty of nature, by which the authority of the soul is reckoned. As much as you grant to the mistress, so much will you adjudge to the pupil. Nature is the mistress, the soul the pupil. Whatever the one has taught or the other has thoroughly learned has been handed down by God, the Master, that is, of the mistress herself. What the soul can presume concerning its principal Founder, it is in your power to judge from that soul which is in you. Perceive her who makes you perceive! Consider her a prophetess in presentiments, an augur in omens, a foreseer in events. A wonder, if, being given to man by God, she knows how to divine! As much a wonder, if she knows Him by Whom she was given! Even when circumvented by the adversary, she remembers her Author, and His goodness and decree, and her own end and that of the adversary himself. So [it is] a wonder if, being given by God, she sings the same things which God has given His own to know! But he who has not thought such outbursts of the soul to be the teaching of nature and the silent trusts of a conscience congenital and inborn will say rather that it is the habit of published writings, from opinions scattered among the common people, and now, as it were, a hardened vice of speaking in this way. Certainly the soul is prior to the letter, and speech prior to the book, and sense prior to the pen, and man himself prior to the philosopher and the poet. Is it then to be believed that before literature and its spread men lived dumb, without utterances of this kind? That no one spoke of God and His goodness, no one of death, no one of those below? Speech was beggared, I suppose; nay, none could exist at all, since those things were then still lacking without which even today it cannot be richer or fuller or wiser, if those things which today are so easy, so constant, so near, born as it were on the very lips, did not exist of old, before letters sprouted in the world, before Mercury (I suppose) was born. And whence, in due order, does it befall letters themselves to know,

Editors' notes and page, col. 616

Footnotes

(15) ‹anchor: litteris contingit› · call in col 616

(printed under page 346)

Page

running head: TERTULLIANI 616
marginal letters: A ‹putem cuiquam frivolum›; B ‹eadem canit, quae Deus›; C ‹beatior, et locupletior›; D ‹(in the COMMENTARIUS, level with 'mani non coituram labem')›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:617

et in usum loquelae disseminare, quae nulla unquam mens conceperat, aut lingua protulerat, aut auris exceperat? At enim quum divinae Scripturae, quae penes nos vel Judaeos sunt, in quorum oleastro insiti sumus, multo saecularibus litteris non modica tantum aetate aliqua antecedant, ut loco suo edocuimus ad fidem earum demonstrandam; etsi haec eloquia de litteris usurpavit anima, utique de nostris credendum erit, non de vestris: quia potiora sunt ad instruendam animam priora, quam postera, quae et ipsa a prioribus instrui sustinebant; cum, etsi de vestris instructam concedamus, ad originem tamen principalem traditio pertineat, nostrumque omnino sit, quodcunque de nostris sumpsisse et tradidisse contigit vobis. Quod cum ita sit, non multum refert, an a Deo formata sit animae conscientia, an litteris Dei. Quid igitur vis, homo, de humanis sententiis litterarum tuarum exisse haec in usus communis callositatem?

and to scatter into the usage of speech things which no mind had ever conceived, or tongue uttered, or ear received? But indeed, since the divine Scriptures, which are in the keeping of us or of the Jews, into whose wild olive we have been grafted, precede secular letters by far, not merely by some modest age, as we have shown in its place in order to establish their credibility; even if the soul has taken these sayings over from letters, it must surely be believed to have taken them from ours, not from yours: for things earlier are more powerful to instruct the soul than things later, which themselves waited to be instructed by the earlier; since, even if we grant that it was instructed from yours, the tradition nevertheless goes back to the principal origin, and whatever you happened to take from ours and hand on is wholly ours. Since this is so, it matters not much whether the conscience of the soul was formed by God or by the letters of God. Why then, man, do you want these things to have gone out from the human opinions of your letters into the callousness of common usage?

CAPUT VI.

CHAPTER VI.

Crede itaque tuis, et de commentariis nostris tanto magis crede divinis, sed de animae ipsius arbitrio perinde crede naturae. Elige quam ex his fidelius sororem observes veritatis. Si de tuis litteris dubitas, neque Deus, neque natura mentitur: ut et naturae et Deo credas, crede animae; ita fiet, ut et tibi credas. Illa certe est, quam tanti facis, quantum illa te facit: cujus es totus; quae tibi omnia est; sine qua nec vivere potes nec mori; propter quam Deum negligis. Quum enim times fieri christianus,

Believe, then, your own [writings], and of our commentaries believe all the more the divine ones, but likewise believe nature in the judgement of the soul itself. Choose which of these you may regard as the more faithful sister of truth. If you doubt your own letters, neither God nor nature lies: that you may believe both nature and God, believe the soul; so it will come about that you also believe yourself. She surely it is whom you value as much as she makes you of value: whose you wholly are; who is all things to you; without whom you can neither live nor die; for whose sake you neglect God. For when you fear to become a Christian,

Editors' notes and page, col. 617

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES. (printed under page 347)

(1) ‹anchor: in quorum oleastro› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (1) In quorum olea ex oleastro insiti sumus, Lat. Rigal.

"Into whose olive tree we have been grafted from the wild olive": Latinius, Rigault.

(printed under page 347)

(2) ‹anchor: fidelius› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (2) Fidelibus Rig.

"For the faithful": Rigault.

(printed under page 347)

(3) ‹anchor: quantum› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (3) Quanti Jun.

"At how much": Junius.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (4) Nec Rig.

"Nor": Rigault.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (5) Habes Jun. Rig.

"You have": Junius, Rigault.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (6) Unus homo, varium nomen est Jun. Rigalt. Omnium gentium varium nomen est Wouw.

"Man is one, his name is various": Junius, Rigault. "The name of all nations is various": Wouwer.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (7) Nec Wouwer. Rig.

"Nor": Wouwer, Rigault.

(printed under page 347) (8) Et add. Rig.

Rigault adds et.

(printed under page 347) (9) Nihil habens dicere. sed audiens dicere, Deum praedicabas, Jun.

"Having nothing to say, but hearing it said, 'You proclaimed God'": Junius.

COMMENTARIUS. (printed under page 347)

(a) ‹anchor: instrui sustinebant› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (a) Instrui sustinebant. Hoc est, exspectabant. RIG.

They bore to be furnished. That is, they waited. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 347)

(b) ‹anchor: in usus communis callositatem› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (b) In usus communis callositatem. Consuetudinem significat, quae longo usu veluti callum obduxit.

Into the callousness of common use. He means custom, which by long use has drawn on, as it were, a callus.

(printed under page 347)

(printed under page 347) (c) Sororem observes veritatis. Id est quae propius ad veritatem accedat, τῆς ἀληθείας ἀδελφήν. LE PR.

That you may regard the sister of truth. That is, one which comes closer to the truth, "the sister of truth". LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 347)

(d) ‹anchor: Deum negligis› · call in col 617

(printed under page 347) (d) Propter quam Deum negligis. Qui scilicet times fieri christianus, ne nobiscum pro nomine Christi animam, hoc est vitam, ponas. RIG.

For whose sake you neglect God. You, that is, who fear to become a Christian, lest you lay down your soul, that is your life, with us for the name of Christ. RIGAULT.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (e) Cur ad coelum contestatur. Notat Macrobius lib. 3. cap. 9. et Servius lib. 3. Aeneid. Veteres pro qualitate numinum, interdum ima, interdum summa respexisse. Et Contestari testem palam ciere. Cicero in Verrem: Deos hominesque contestatus. Idem Cic. appellat contestatum (de Divinat.): Quem enim non moveat clarissimis monumentis contestata consignataque auctoritas. Est autem detestor execror, et abominor. LAC.

Why does it call heaven to witness? Macrobius, book 3, ch. 9, and Servius on Aeneid book 3 note that the ancients, according to the character of the deities, looked sometimes to the depths, sometimes to the heights. And contestari is to summon a witness openly. Cicero, Against Verres: having called gods and men to witness. The same Cicero uses contestatum (On Divination): For whom would authority not move, attested and sealed by the most illustrious records? But detestor means "I curse" and "I abhor". LA CERDA.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (f) Cur alibi servit, alibi vindicem convenit? Alludit ad id quod supra cap. 2 dixit, in ipsis denique templis Deum judicem imploras, praeterquam quod hic non solum ut judicem, sed et ut vindicem invocari ab ipsis Deum innuit, id est ut redemptorem et assertorem, quemadmodum ad leges 12 tab. hunc locum citans latius interpretatur Reynardus noster cap. 8. et 9. PAM.

Why does it serve in one place, and in another appeal to a champion? He alludes to what he said above in ch. 2, in the very temples, finally, you implore God as judge, except that here he hints that God is invoked by them not only as judge but also as champion, that is, as redeemer and liberator, as our Reynardus, citing this passage on the laws of the Twelve Tables, interprets it more fully in chs. 8 and 9. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (g) Quae propinquae inter se habentur. Veteres enim graecas litteras easdem pene fuisse, quae nunc latinae sunt, indicio esse scribit Plinius. PAM.

Which are held to be near each other. For Pliny writes that it is evidence that the ancient Greek letters were almost the same as those that are now Latin. PAMELIUS.

(printed under page 347)

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

(printed under page 347) (h) Deus ubique, etc. Ubique praesens est et omnia replet, Ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν καὶ πάντα πληρῶν, inquit S. Chrysostomus orat. 2. adversus Judaeos. LE PR. [the article's first letter is blurred in the scan; it may be printed Ρὸ]

God is everywhere, etc. He is present everywhere and fills all things: "He who is present everywhere and fills all things", says St Chrysostom, oration 2 against the Jews. LE PRIEUR.

(printed under page 347) (i) Et stabit ante aulas Dei. Rhenanus, et stabilis. Nihil mutandum Illud, ante aulas Dei, est ante palatia Dei, nisi fortasse sermo ad oves pertineat, et legendum sit, ante caulas Dei; nihil tamen mutandum. LAC.

And it will stand before the courts of God. Rhenanus has stabilis. Nothing is to be changed. "Before the courts of God" means before the palaces of God, unless perhaps the language concerns sheep and one should read before the sheepfolds of God; nothing, however, is to be changed. LA CERDA.

(printed under page 347)

Page

running head: 617 DE TESTIMONIO ANIMAE (right half of head cut off in the image)
marginal letters: A ‹et in usum loquelae disseminare›; B ‹Deo formata sit animae conscientia›; C (in footnote area); D (in footnote area)
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 1:618

eam conveni: cur alium colens, Deum nominat? Cur, cum maledicendos spiritus denotat, daemonia pronuntiat? Cur ad coelum contestatur, et ad terram detestatur? Cur alibi servit, alibi vindicem convenit? Cur de mortuis judicat? Cur verba habet Christianorum, quos ne auditos visosque vult? Cur aut nobis dedit ea verba, aut accepit a nobis? Cur aut docuit, aut didicit? Suspectam habe convenientiam praedicationis in tanta disconvenientia conversationis. Vanus es, si huic linguae soli aut graecae, quae propinquae inter se habentur, reputabis ejusmodi, ut neges naturae universitatem. Non Latinis nec Argivis solis anima de coelo cadit. Omnium gentium unus homo nomen est, una anima, varia vox, unus spiritus, varius sonus; propria cuique genti loquela, sed loquelae materia communis. Deus ubique, et bonitas Dei ubique; daemonium ubique, et maledictio daemonii ubique, judicii divini invocatio ubique, mors ubique, et conscientia mortis ubique et testimonium ubique. Omnis anima suo jure proclamat, quae nobis ne mutire conceditur. Merito igitur omnis anima rea et testis est, in tantum et rea erroris, in quantum testis veritatis; et stabit ante aulas Dei die judicii, nihil habens dicere. Deum praedicabas, et non requirebas; daemonia abominabaris, et illa adorabas, judicium Dei appellabas, nec esse credebas; inferna supplicia praesumebas, et non praecavebas; Christianum nomen sapiebas et Christianum persequebaris.

accost her: why, while worshipping another, does she name God? Why, when she marks out spirits to be cursed, does she pronounce them demons? Why does she call heaven to witness, and curse by the earth? Why does she serve in one place, and in another appeal to an avenger? Why does she pass judgement on the dead? Why does she have the words of Christians, whom she wishes neither to be heard nor seen? Why has she either given those words to us, or received them from us? Why has she either taught or learned? Hold suspect the agreement of the preaching amid so great a disagreement of conduct. You are foolish if you reckon this to belong only to this tongue or to the Greek, which are held to be near to each other, so as to deny the universality of nature. Not for the Latins nor for the Argives alone does the soul fall from heaven. Of all nations man is one name, one soul, the voice various, one spirit, the sound various; each nation has its own speech, but the matter of speech is common. God everywhere, and the goodness of God everywhere; the demon everywhere, and the cursing of the demon everywhere, the invocation of the divine judgement everywhere, death everywhere, and the awareness of death everywhere, and the testimony everywhere. Every soul by her own right proclaims aloud what we are not allowed even to mutter. Rightly, therefore, is every soul both defendant and witness, as much a defendant for error as she is a witness to truth; and she will stand before the courts of God on the day of judgement, having nothing to say. You preached God, and did not seek Him; you abominated demons, and adored them; you appealed to the judgement of God, and did not believe it existed; you anticipated the punishments of hell, and did not guard against them; you knew the savour of the Christian name, and persecuted the Christian.

Editors' notes and page, col. 618

Footnotes

(8) ‹anchor: in quantum› · call in col 618

(printed under page 347)

(9) ‹anchor: Dei die judicii› · call in col 618

(printed under page 347)

(i) ‹anchor: ante aulas› · call in col 618

(printed under page 347)