PL 2 · cols. 1159–1162

Appendix I: Carmina Tertulliano adscripta, Sodoma

Editors' preface

INCERTI AUCTORIS SODOMA.

THE SODOM OF AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR.

CAPUT PRIMUM.

CHAPTER ONE.

Jam Deus omnipotens primaevi tempora saecli, / Vindice diluvio, cunctis aboleverat undis, / Quas coelum sparsit terrae, maris exspuit aequor; / Hactenus, haud liquido poenas decernere pactus / Excidio, quoties hyemes induceret aer; / Fraenandis varium pluviis mandaverat arcum, / Purpureo et viridi signantem nubila limbo.

Now God almighty had abolished the times of the primeval age by an avenging flood, with all the waters which the sky scattered upon the earth and the surface of the sea spewed forth; having covenanted henceforth not to decree punishments by a watery destruction, whenever the air should bring on winters, He had charged the many-coloured bow with curbing the rains, marking the clouds with a border of purple and green.

CAPUT II.

CHAPTER II.

Sed recidiva hominum pariter cum gente secunda / Impietas, iterumque mali nova pullulat aetas, / Excidio jam non imbres sortita, sed ignes. / Sic Sodomum meruit tellus ardentibus uri / Roribus et finis portendere signa futuri / Effera luxuries illic, inimica pudoris, / Instar legis erat, fugeret quam praescius hospes; / Ante vel ad Scythicas, vel apud Busiridis aras / Exoptans per saera necem, caesusque cruorem / Fundere Bebrycium, et Libycas satiare palaestras, / Anteque vel Circea novas per pocula formas / Sumere, quam laesum Sodomis amittere sexum. / Pulsabant coelum invidia, connubia mixta / Incesta parili, generis natura rebellis, / In sese, laesumque viri cum corpore nomen. / Tempore sed certo Deus omnia perspeculatus, / Judicat injustos patiens, ubi criminis aetas / Cessandi spatium vis nulla coegerit irae. / Jamque dies ultrix aderat, duo de grege missi / Angelico forma juvenes, qui spiritus ambo / Diva ministerio Domini mandata ferebant, / Succedunt Sodomis; illic de stirpe piorum / Transvena Loth aderat, sapiens, justique colonus, / Unus erat meminisse Deum; solet utilis arbor / In sylvis latitare feris velut hospita fructu. / Is tunc pro porta residens (vix moenia adibant / Coelicolae) quamquam divinos nescius, ultro / Advocat, appellat, patrio veneratur honore, / Hospitioque vocat, longe stabulare parantes; / Enisus longis precibus, pia pignora mensa / Officiisque probis studio dispungit amicos. / Nox requiem dederat, lux solverat altera noctem, / Et Sodoma in foribus strepitat conquesta rudendum.

But impiety, recurring together with the second race of men, sprouts again, and a new age of evil, allotted for its destruction now not rains but fires. So the land of Sodom deserved to be burned with blazing dews, and to show forth the signs of the end to come. Savage luxury there, the enemy of modesty, stood in place of law, such that a guest who knew of it beforehand would flee it, preferring sooner, either at the Scythian altars or at those of Busiris, to long for death by sacrifice, and, slain, to shed his blood among the Bebrycians, and to glut the Libyan wrestling-grounds, and sooner to take on new shapes through Circe's cups, than to lose his outraged sex at Sodom. They assailed heaven with odium: marriages mingled incestuously with their like, nature in rebellion against its own kind, against itself, and the name of man outraged together with his body. But at a set time God, Who had watched over all things, patient, judges the unjust, when no force would compel the age of crime to [grant] wrath a space for ceasing. And now the avenging day was at hand: two youths sent from the angelic flock in form, both of them spirits, who bore the divine commands by the Lord's ministry, come to Sodom; there, of the stock of the pious, dwelt Lot the immigrant, wise, and a righteous settler; he alone was the one to remember God; so a useful tree is wont to lie hidden among wild ones in the woods, like a stranger by its fruit. He then, sitting before the gate (scarcely were the heaven-dwellers approaching the walls), although unaware they were divine, of his own accord invites them, addresses them, reveres them with ancestral honour, and calls them to his hospitality, though they were preparing to lodge far off; having prevailed by long entreaties, with his table, as pious pledges, and with good services he zealously discharges [his duty] to his friends. Night had given rest, the next day had dissolved the night, and Sodom makes a din at the doors, complaining with roaring.

Editors' notes and page, col. 1159

Footnotes

Variae lectiones. (Variant readings; one block set across both columns.) (printed under page 584)

(49) ‹anchor: Roribus› · call in col 1159

Flammis Fabric. Pamel. fascibus Cauchius, fontibus cod. Vict. facibus Morel. at roribus Baluz. ex cod. Colb.

Flammis ("with flames") in Fabricius and Pamelius; fascibus ("with bundles") in Cauchius; fontibus ("with springs") in the Victorine codex; facibus ("with torches") in Morel; but roribus ("with dews") in Baluze, from the Colbert codex.

(printed under page 584)

(50) ‹anchor: Angelico› · call in col 1159

Angelica duo mss. codices.

Angelica in two manuscript codices.

(printed under page 584)

(51) ‹anchor: In sylvis latitare feris› · call in col 1159

Feras alii.

Others read feras.

(printed under page 584)

(52) ‹anchor: conquesta ruden-dum› · call in col 1159

Cum lege pudenda Baluz. ex cod. Colb. cum lege rudendam Vict. congesta rudentum Oxon.

Cum lege pudenda ("with a shameful law") in Baluze, from the Colbert codex; cum lege rudendam in the Victorine; congesta rudentum in the Oxford edition.

(printed under page 584)

Page

running head: 1159 AD GENUINA TERTULLIANI OPERA 1160 (one head across the page)
marginal letters (printed in the gutter between the columns, shared with col 1160): A ‹CAPUT PRIMUM›; B ‹Roribus et finis›; C ‹Diva ministerio Domini›; D ‹Et Sodoma in foribus›
old-edition numerals: (none)
misprints kept as printed: saera (for sacra), in "Exoptans per saera necem"

PL 2:1160

Loth contra supplex: Ne vos nunc pacta libido / Incendat, juvenes, ipsam foedare juventam; / Quo lucus genitura vocat? quo semina frustra? / Quo nullae nuptant animae; non lustra colentes; / Non stabulis reduces, non undis subter hiantes; / Nec quae pennarum modulis prope nubila pendent, / Nec quae per terram protracto corpore manant. / Omne genus, luxus genus est; nisi femina conjux / Omnibus, et nunquam cuiquam nisi femina mater. / Nunc si fas juvenilis habet vastare pudorem / Sunt intus natae bijuges mihi, nubilis aetas, / Virginitas in flore tumet, jam dedita messi, / Signa cupido viris, tulerit quam vestra voluptas; / Cedo pater proque hospitibus pensabo dolorem. / Vulgus ad haec demens: Quis nam tu, quantus, et unde? / Qui nobis domineris, ait, legesque recondas, / Transvena corrector Sodomorum? duplicat iras: / Nunc igitur tute ipse lues, quod nostra cupido est / Pro natis, quoque hospitibus; satis unus in omnes. / Dicta et facta simul, vulgi mora nulla furentis. / Turbidus hiberno ut dum volvitur impete torens / Rivorum in numeros uno pede fertur in omnes, / Si qua illic arbor rapidis offenditur undis, / Haud mansura diu; quantum radice licebit / Crinitas durare moras, ubi subter adesam / Perdit humum circumfosso cum caudice pendens, / Huc illuc certam differt incerta ruinam: / Haud aliter Loth in media vertigine vulgi, / Nutabat vinci prope jam; sed diva potestas / Subvenit; angelici juvenes de limine raptum / Restituunt tectis, demens sed vulgus ibidem / Poenarum auspiciis multatur lumine dira.

Lot in turn, a suppliant: "Let not lust now inflame you, young men, against the compacts [of nature], to defile youth itself. Whither does begetting summon the grove? whither seeds in vain? [A way] in which no living creatures mate: not those that haunt the glades, not those returning to the stalls, not those gaping beneath the waters, nor those that hang near the clouds on the measures of their wings, nor those that creep over the earth with outstretched body. Every kind, its pleasure is in kind: for all, none but a female is wife, and never for anyone is any but a female mother. Now if your youthful [desire] holds it lawful to lay waste modesty, I have within two daughters of marriageable age; their virginity swells in flower, already given to the harvest, a pledge for men's desire, which your pleasure may take. I, their father, yield [them], and for my guests I will pay the price of grief." The crazed mob at this: "Who then are you, how great, and whence, that you should lord it over us," it says, "and lay down laws, an immigrant corrector of the Sodomites?" It doubles its wrath: "Now therefore you yourself shall pay what our desire is, in place of your daughters and of your guests too; one is enough for all." Word and deed together; the raging mob made no delay. As, while a turbid torrent rolls with wintry onrush, it is borne at one pace into all the courses of the streams, if any tree there is struck by the swift waves, not to stand for long, as far as by its root it may, the leafy one endures delays, where below it loses the eaten-away soil, hanging with its trunk undermined round about, and, uncertain, puts off its certain fall now this way, now that: not otherwise was Lot tottering in the midst of the mob's whirl, now near to being overcome; but the divine power came to his help; the angelic youths, snatching him from the threshold, restore him to the house, but the crazed mob on the very spot, as an earnest of its punishments, is fined with dread loss of sight.

CAPUT III.

CHAPTER III.

Tunc decreta Dei reserant, dignam adfore poenam / De coelo Sodomis, ipsum meruisse salutem / Justitiae titulo. Quin ergo accingeris isthinc / Festinare fugam, pariterque educere si quid / Gentis habes? nos exitium jam inducimus urbi. / Loth generos citus adloquitur, sed dura hominum mens / Credere despexit monitum, risitque timorem.

Then they disclose the decrees of God: that a fitting punishment from heaven was at hand for Sodom, [and that] he himself had deserved safety by title of righteousness. "Why then do you not gird yourself to hasten your flight from here, and likewise to lead out whatever of your kin you have? We are now bringing destruction upon the city." Lot swiftly addresses his sons-in-law, but the hard mind of men disdained to believe the warning, and laughed at the fear.

Editors' notes and page, col. 1160

Footnotes

(53) ‹anchor: pacta libido› · call in col 1160

Pasta ed. Oxon.

Pasta in the Oxford edition.

(printed under page 584)

(54) ‹anchor: Transvena corrector› · call in col 1160

Num rector Baluz. conrector cod. Vict. non rector Colbert.

Num rector ("is it as ruler…?") in Baluze; conrector in the Victorine codex; non rector ("not ruler") in the Colbert.

(printed under page 584)

(55) ‹anchor: Sodomorum? duplicat› · call in col 1160

Ut ingerat Baluz. ex cod. Vict. et Morel. atque ingerit, ed Oxod.

Ut ingerat ("that he may heap on") in Baluze, from the Victorine codex, and in Morel; atque ingerit ("and heaps on") in the Oxford edition.

(printed under page 584)

(56) ‹anchor: Rivorum in numeros› · call in col 1160

In numeros, sic Baluz. ex cod. Colb. numeros alii.

In numeros: so Baluze, from the Colbert codex; others numeros.

(printed under page 584)

(57) ‹anchor: uno pede fertur in omnes› · call in col 1160

Amnes, sic Baluz. ex cod. Vict. omnes alii, pro fertur, vehitur cod. Vict. Colb.

Amnes ("rivers"): so Baluze, from the Victorine codex; others omnes. For fertur, the Victorine and Colbert codices have vehitur ("is carried").

(printed under page 584)

(58) ‹anchor: multatur lumine dira› · call in col 1160

Interdum lumine multant, Morel. et duo codices mss. nisi quod Victorinus habet lumina, Interdiu legendum videtur Baluzio.

Interdum lumine multant in Morel and two manuscript codices, except that the Victorine has lumina; Baluze thinks Interdiu ("by day") should be read.

(printed under page 584)

(59) ‹anchor: Tunc decreta› · call in col 1160

Secreta Colbert.

Secreta ("secret [decrees]") in the Colbert.

(printed under page 584)

Footnotes

Variae lectiones. (Variant readings; one block set across both columns.) (printed under page 585)

(60) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 1161 (inferred)

Fuga, si certe manibus Colb.

Fuga, si certe manibus in the Colbert.

(printed under page 585)

(61) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 1161 (inferred)

Mihi est : favere precanti Colb. Vict. Morel, nisi quod iste legit, favete.

Mihi est: favere precanti ("it is mine to favour one who prays") in the Colbert, the Victorine and Morel, except that the last reads favete ("be favourable").

(printed under page 585)

(62) ‹anchor: formam sine corpore servans› · call in col 1161

Occidit ille prior feritas. Obscurus versus, ubi si faritas pro fortitate accipiatur ratione carminis, constabit sensus, uti feritas a ferendo dicatur. Vox eo significatu nunc obsoleta. PAM. Corruptum locum sic emendari et expleri posse putat editor Oxoniensis : Occidit illa prior species, quam prospiciens Lot / Deseruisse pii fertur commercia fratris. BALUZ.

Occidit ille prior feritas. An obscure verse; if faritas [sic] is taken for fortitas (strength) for the sake of the metre, the sense will stand, so that feritas is said to come from ferendo (bearing). The word in that meaning is now obsolete. PAMELIUS. The Oxford editor thinks the corrupt place can be emended and filled out thus: "That former beauty perished, which, looking back, Lot's [wife] is said to have deserted the fellowship of her pious brother." BALUZE.

(printed under page 585)

(63) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call position not visible

Carne reservans cod. Colb. forma Morel, pro formam.

Carne reservans in the Colbert codex; forma in Morel, for formam.

(printed under page 585)

Page

running head: 1161 APPENDIX I. — SO[...] (cut off at image edge)
marginal letters: A Tempore mox quo lux; B Nec longe, nec magna; C (none seen); D Nec pluviis dilapsa situ
old-edition numerals: 1104 after imber (at head of the Sulphura line)

PL 2:1162

Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera complet. Dicitur et vivens alio jam corpore, sexus Munificos solito dispungere sanguine menses. Nusquam sunt Sodomi, nusquam illorum impia lucent Moenia; cum dominis domus omnis inops ita nusquam Tota rogus regio est, hinc atro horrore favillae, Hincque situ cano cineres incendia signant. Occidit illa prior feritas quam prospiciens Lot, Nullus arat frustra piceas fuligine glebas. Semiperempta etiam si qua illic jugera laetas Autumni conantur opes, facile optima sese Promittunt oculis, pira, persica, et omnia mala, Donec carpuntur; nam protinus indice tactum Solvitur in cinerem, fit vana favillaque pomum. Sic igitur coelo pariter terraque sepultis, Nec mare vixit ibi, mors est maris illa quieti, Quod nullos animat per anhela volumina fluctus; Quodque etiam patrio nunquam suspirat ab austro, Quodque nequit proferre aliquam de gurgite gentem Squamigeram, laevive cuti vel cortice septam, Vel crispam concham, aut duplici compagine clausam. Solum illic proprio mentitur fruge bitumen, Exusti fuligo maris; quod vividus ardor Subter stagna coquens, de sulphuris et salis aestu Temperat inque picem dat terrae haerere marinam. Invehitur proprio cum tempore pingue crematae Virus aquae, spumisque cutis super aequora nigra Texitur; appellunt queis est ea captio mercis. Acclimant leves laterum libramine lembos, Ut semel impositam doceant conscendere venam. Nam se sponte levans adnabit mercis ad ora Navigii, pretiumque dabit pro munere largo, Ni plaga contigerit, quam mensis femina vestit. Ecce aliud monstrum pelagi de clade notatur; Cuncta illic immissa natant; natura recessit Mergendis data corporibus; si denique teste Luciferam narem insistens, qua spiritus igni est, Velificavit apex, flammae si flamma perempta est, Ibit subter aquas destructio naufraga lucis. Hae Sodomum et Gomorum signatae in saecula poenae Gentibus injustis, queis pectora dura timorem Deseruere Dei; de coelo jura tueri, Inque unum rerum Dominum spectare docebunt.

at once of herself, by her own supply, she fills up her wounds. It is said too that, living now in another body, she completes with the accustomed blood the bountiful months of her sex. Nowhere are the Sodomites, nowhere do their impious walls shine; together with its masters every house, left destitute, is thus nowhere. The whole region is a pyre; hence the embers with black horror, and hence the ashes with hoary decay, mark the burnings. That former fertility which Lot beheld has perished; no one ploughs in vain the clods pitch-black with soot. Even if any half-destroyed acres there attempt the glad riches of autumn, the finest fruits readily promise themselves to the eyes, pears, peaches and all apples, until they are plucked; for at once, touched by the finger, the fruit dissolves into ash and becomes empty cinder. Thus then, with sky and earth alike buried, not even the sea lived there; that is the death of the sea for its stillness, that it stirs no waves through panting rolls; and that it never sighs from its native south wind; and that it cannot bring forth from its depths any scaly race, or one enclosed in smooth skin or shell, or the wrinkled shellfish, or one shut within a double fastening. There only bitumen counterfeits a crop of its own, the soot of a burnt-out sea; which a lively heat, cooking beneath the pools, tempers from the seething of sulphur and salt, and causes the sea-pitch to cling to the earth. At its own season the fat poison of the burnt water is borne in, and over the black waters a skin is woven with foams; those whose business is the taking of this merchandise put in to shore. They tilt light skiffs by the balancing of their sides, so that they may teach the vein, once laid on, to climb aboard. For, rising of its own accord, the merchandise will swim to the edges of the vessel and will yield its price as a large gift, unless a wound has touched it which a woman clothes with her monthly courses. Behold, another prodigy of the sea is noted from the disaster: all things thrown in there float; the nature given to bodies for sinking has withdrawn; finally, if, with a witness pressing upon the light-bearing wick where breath is given to the fire, the tip has sailed on, and if the flame of the flame is extinguished, the shipwrecked destruction of the light will go beneath the waters. These penalties of Sodom and Gomorrah, marked out for the ages, will teach unjust nations, whose hard breasts have abandoned the fear of God, to look upon the laws from heaven, and to look to the one Lord of things.

Editors' notes and page, col. 1162

Footnotes

(63) ‹anchor: Occidit illa prior feritas› · call in col 1162

The call printed here is 63, but the foot notes 62 and 63 are transposed in print: the note that concerns this line is the one numbered 62 at the foot (Occidit ille prior feritas …), set with n1161; foot note 63 (Carne reservans …) belongs to the call printed 62 at servans in col 1161.

Call 63 printed at feritas; its note is the foot's no. 62 (see n1161). Notes 62 and 63 are transposed in print.

(printed under page 585)

(64) ‹anchor: favillaque pomum› · call in col 1162

Vacui favillaque pomi duo cod. mss.

Vacui favillaque pomi in two manuscript codices.

(printed under page 585)

(65) ‹anchor: Quod nullos animat … fluctus› · call in col 1162 (printed twice, after animat and after fluctus)

Quod nullos animat Colb. Morel. Idque anima mullus Fabric. et edit. Oxon.

Quod nullos animat in the Colbert and Morel; Idque anima mullus in Fabricius and the Oxford edition.

(printed under page 585)

(66) ‹anchor: Cuncta illic immissa› · call in col 1162

Invita duo cod. mss.

Invita in two manuscript codices.

(printed under page 585)

(67) ‹anchor: queis pectora dura› · call in col 1162

Corda obdura Baluz. cod. Colb. corpora dura Morel. cod. Victor. Paulo post jura veteri. Colb.

Corda obdura in Baluze and the Colbert codex; corpora dura in Morel and the Victorine codex. A little after, jura veteri in the Colbert.

(printed under page 585)