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PL 2 · cols. 123–142
Tertullian, Liber de fuga in persecutione
Editors' preface
Q. SEPT. FLOR. TERTULLIANI
Of Q. Septimius Florens Tertullian
LIBER
Book
DE FUGA IN PERSECUTIONE.
On Flight in Persecution.
ARGUMENTUM. — Liber de Fuga in persecutione, hac jam fervente anno 202 scriptus, Tertulliani ingenii valde praefracti etiamnum signum est, in quo Paracletum Montani palam astruit : nondum tamen in Catholicos velut Psychicos insultat. Non inepte recentiores critici arbitrantur hunc tractatum eumdem esse quem in lib. de Corona, cap. 1, se editurum promisit de Quaestionibus Confessionum, utique contra pastores tempore persecutionum gregem suum deserentes. Orta inter Christianos contentione an persecutionis tempore fugere, aut auro argentove vexationem redimere sit licitum, Tertullianus, cum de hac quaestione ore tenus non nihil dissereret, interrogatus a Fabio quodam familiari, demum hunc tractatum exaravit, in quo late contra orthodoxos probare conatur, ministris Dei in persecutione nec fugiendum esse, nec persecutionem numerata pecunia redimendam, inter caetera ita disserens : Si constat a quo persecutio eveniat, possumus jam consultationem tuam inducere, et determinare ex hoc ipso pertractatu fugiendum in persecutione non esse. Si enim persecutio a Deo evenit, nullo modo fugiendum erit quod a Deo evenit. Sicut duplex ratio defendit, quia neque debeat devitari, neque evadi possit, quod a Deo evenit. Non debet devitari, quia bonus; necesse est enim bonum esse omne quod Deo visum est. — Caetera, quae in suae sententiae confirmationem addit pluribus persequi piget; quisque enim facile intelligit, insanire ibidem Tertullianum tam inepta argumentatione, cui Christi exemplum, atque Evangelium quo persecutionis tempore fuga praecipitur, et sanctorum virorum auctoritas apertissime adversantur. LUMP.
ARGUMENT. — The book On Flight in Persecution, written in the year 202 when this [persecution] was already raging, is a sign of Tertullian's still very headstrong temper; in it he openly asserts the Paraclete of Montanus, yet he does not yet insult the Catholics as Psychics. Not unreasonably the more recent critics judge this treatise to be the same one which, in the book On the Crown, chapter 1, he promised he would publish On the Questions of Confessions, directed, that is, against the pastors who desert their flock in time of persecutions. A dispute having arisen among Christians whether in time of persecution it is lawful to flee, or to buy off harassment with gold or silver, Tertullian, after he had discussed this question somewhat by word of mouth, was asked about it by a certain Fabius, a familiar friend, and at last composed this treatise, in which he tries at length to prove against the orthodox that the ministers of God must neither flee in persecution nor buy off persecution with counted money, reasoning thus among other things: If it is established from whom persecution comes, we can now bring your consultation to a close, and determine from this very treatment that one must not flee in persecution. For if persecution comes from God, in no way will one have to flee what comes from God. As a twofold reason maintains: because what comes from God neither ought to be avoided nor can be escaped. It ought not to be avoided, because [it is] good; for everything that has seemed [good] to God must be good. — The rest, which he adds in confirmation of his opinion, it is irksome to follow out at length; for anyone easily understands that Tertullian here raves with so inept an argument, to which the example of Christ, and the Gospel, by which flight is enjoined in time of persecution, and the authority of holy men are most openly opposed. LUMPER.
CAPUT PRIMUM.
CHAPTER I.
Quaesisti proxime, Fabi frater, ⟨f⟩ugiendum necne sit in persecutione, quod nescio quid annuntiaretur. Ibidem ego oblocutus aliquid pro loco ac tempore, et quarumdam personarum importunitate, semitractatam materiam abstuli mecum, plenius eam de stylo nunc renuntiaturus, utpote quam mihi et tua consultatio commendarat, et conditio temporum suo jam nomine injunxerat. Quanto enim ⟨f⟩requentiores imminent persecutiones, tanto examinatio procuranda est, quomodo eas excipere fides debeat. Procuranda autem examinatio penes vos, qui si forte, Paracletum non recipiendo deductorem omnis veritatis, merito adhuc etiam aliis quaestionibus obnoxii estis. Igitur consultationi tuae ordinem quoque induimus, animadvertentes ante determinari oportere de statu ipsius persecutionis, utrum a Deo obveniat, an a diabolo, quo facilius de obitu ejus constare possit. Omnis enim
You asked lately, brother Fabius, whether one ought to flee in persecution or not, because something or other was being announced. There, having said something in reply as suited the place and time, and owing to the importunity of certain persons, I took the half-treated matter away with me, intending now to report on it more fully by the pen, since both your consultation had commended it to me and the condition of the times had already enjoined it in its own name. For the more frequent the persecutions that threaten, the more must an examination be undertaken of how faith ought to meet them. And the examination must be undertaken among you, who perhaps, by not receiving the Paraclete, the guide into all truth, are rightly still liable to other questions as well. Therefore we put order also on your consultation, observing that it must first be determined concerning the nature of persecution itself, whether it comes from God or from the devil, so that its outcome may more easily be settled. For the inspection of every
Editors' notes and page, col. 123
Footnotes
<!-- The full-width small type at the head of the page (Lumper's prefatory notice, ending "LUMP.") stands above the author's text and is not a footnote; it is set in layer 1 in c123 as editors' matter, with the title. --> Variae lectiones. 1 ‹anchor: utpote quam mihi› · call in col 123 Quam ei Seml. Oberth. quam mihi et Rhen.; quam et Jun.
"Quam ei" Semler, Oberthür; "quam mihi et" Rhenanus; "quam et" Junius.
2 ‹anchor: penes vos, qui› · call in col 123 Qui deest Seml. Oberth.
"Qui" is missing in Semler, Oberthür.
3 ‹anchor: a Deo obveniat› · call in col 123 Obvenit Fran.
"Obvenit" (indicative) Franeker edition.
4 ‹anchor: quidem praescribere› · call in col 124 Perscribere Seml. Oberth.
"Perscribere" Semler, Oberthür.
5 ‹anchor: caeteris retractatibus› · call in col 124 Retractavimus Seml. Oberth. Retractaverimus Fran.
"Retractavimus" Semler, Oberthür; "Retractaverimus" Franeker edition.
6 ‹anchor: Hoc omne› · call in col 124 Domini Seml. Oberth. Leop. Nomen Rhen.
"Domini" Semler, Oberthür, Leopold; "Nomen" Rhenanus.
7 ‹anchor: frumentum martyrum› · call in col 124 Maturum Rhen.
"Maturum" Rhenanus.
Commentarius. (printed under page 66)
(1) ‹anchor: Fabi frater› · call in col 123
Fabi frater. Communi Christianorum nomine fratrem hic vocat. Quis autem fuerit, incertum. LE PR.
Brother Fabius. He calls him brother here by the name common to Christians. Who he was, however, is uncertain. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 66)
Page
- running head: 123 TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA. (head runs across cols 123–124)
- marginal letters: A ‹CAPUT PRIMUM› (letter in the gutter, level with the chapter heading); B ‹tuae ordinem quoque induimus›
- old-edition numerals: 108 before ‹CAPUT PRIMUM› (bold; possibly 103)
- other: full_width: the work's title (three lines) and the ARGUMENTUM are printed across both columns of the page 123–124; set once, whole, here at the head of the unit; the parts visible in col 124's images were read to complete each line.
- other: the ARGUMENTUM is editors' matter (Migne/Lumper), not Tertullian's; its italic quotation is Tertullian ch. IV as the editor prints it ('Sicut duplex', 'quia bonus' as printed).
- other: UNSURE: initial f of 'fugiendum' and 'frequentiores' not visible in the image (damaged/faint type), supplied in ⟨ ⟩.
- other: 'LIBER' has its own English line, Book; the first caption line's English no longer carries it.
rei inspectio, auctore cognito, planior. Satis est quidem praescribere nihil fieri sine Dei voluntate. Sed non statim hac sententia caeteris retractatibus locum dabimus, ne a praesenti articulo avocemur, si quis responderit : Ergo et malum a Deo, et delictum a Deo; nihil jam in diabolo, nihil etiam in nobis ipsis. De persecutione nunc quaeritur. Circa hanc interim dixerim nihil fieri sine Dei voluntate, respiciens eam in primis dignam Deo esse, et, ut ita dixerim, necessariam, ad probationem scilicet servorum ejus, sive reprobationem. Quis est enim exitus persecutionis, quis effectus alius, nisi probatio et reprobatio fidei, qua suos utique Dominus examinavit? Hoc omne judicium est persecutio per quam quis aut probatus aut reprobatus judicatur. Porro judicium soli Deo competit. Haec pala illa quae et nunc Dominicam aream purgat, Ecclesiam scilicet, confusum acervum fidelium eventilans, frumentum martyrum et paleas negatorum.
thing is plainer once its author is known. It is enough indeed to lay down that nothing happens without the will of God. But we shall not at once give room by this statement to further discussions, lest we be called away from the present point, should anyone reply: Then evil too is from God, and sin is from God; nothing any longer in the devil, nothing even in ourselves. It is persecution that is now in question. Concerning it, meanwhile, I would say that nothing happens without the will of God, considering that it is above all worthy of God and, so to speak, necessary, namely for the approving of His servants, or their reproving. For what is the outcome of persecution, what other effect, but the approving and reproving of faith, by which the Lord has surely examined His own? This whole judgement is persecution, through which one is judged either approved or reproved. Moreover, judgement belongs to God alone. This is that winnowing-fan which even now cleanses the Lord's threshing-floor, that is, the Church, winnowing the mixed heap of the faithful, the wheat of martyrs and the chaff of deniers.
Editors' notes and page, col. 124
Footnotes
(2) ‹anchor: Haec pala illa› · call in col 124
Haec pala illa. Recte Rhenanus interpretatur palam instrumentum rusticum : alludit enim ad illud Matth. III, juxta similem B. Cypriani versionem; quia veniet dominus ferens palam in manu sua, et mundabit aream suam. PAM.
This is that winnowing-fan. Rhenanus rightly takes pala as a farm implement: for he alludes to the passage in Matthew 3, following a version like blessed Cyprian's: that the Lord will come bearing the fan in His hand, and will cleanse His threshing-floor. Pamelius.
(printed under page 66)
Page
- running head: TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA. 124 (head runs across cols 123–124)
- marginal letters: A ‹rei inspectio, auctore cognito›; B ‹tur. Porro judicium soli Deo›
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: the right halves of the full-width title and ARGUMENTUM at the top of this page are set in c123_a.md (full_width), not here.
- other: the column ends at 'negatorum.' with a full stop; whether the paragraph continues in col 125 is for the settle step.
Haec enim, scalae quas somniat Jacob, aliis ascensum in superiora, aliis descensum ad inferiora demonstrantes. Sic et agonem intelligi capit persecutionem. A quo certamen edicitur, nisi a quo corona et praemia proponuntur? Legis edictum agonis istius in Apocalypsi, quibus praemiis ad victoriam invitet, vel maxime illos qui proprie vicerint in persecutione, vincendo luctati, revera non adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus spiritalia (Ephes. VI, 12) nequitiae. Ita agnosces ad eumdem agonothetam pertinere certaminis arbitrium, qui invitat ad praemium. Totum quod agitur in persecutione, gloria Dei est probantis et reprobantis, imponentis et deponentis. Quod autem ad gloriam Dei pertinet, utique ex voluntate illius eveniet. Sed quando Deus magis creditur, ni⟨s⟩i cum magis timetur, nisi in tempore persecutionis? Tunc Ecclesia in attonito est; tunc et fides in expeditione sollicitior et disciplinatior in jejuniis et stationibus, et orationibus, et humilitate, in alterutra diligentia et dilectione, in sanctitate et sobrietate. Non enim vacatur nisi timori et spei. Adeo et ex hoc ipso ostenditur nobis non posse diabolo deputari eam, quae meliores efficit Dei servos.
For these are the ladders which Jacob dreams of, showing to some an ascent to higher things, to others a descent to lower things. So too persecution admits of being understood as a contest. By whom is the contest proclaimed, if not by Him by Whom the crown and the prizes are set forth? You read the edict of this contest in the Apocalypse, with what prizes He invites to victory, most of all those who have properly conquered in persecution, having wrestled by conquering, in truth not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual things (Eph. 6:12) of wickedness. Thus you will recognize that the judging of the contest belongs to the same president of the games Who invites to the prize. The whole of what is done in persecution is the glory of God, Who approves and rejects, Who sets in place and removes. But what pertains to the glory of God will certainly come about from His will. But when is God more believed in than when He is more feared, than in time of persecution? Then the Church is in alarm; then also faith is more watchful in readiness and more disciplined in fasts and stations, and prayers, and humility, in mutual diligence and love, in holiness and sobriety. For there is leisure for nothing but fear and hope. So by this very thing it is shown to us that that which makes the servants of God better cannot be ascribed to the devil.
CAPUT II.
Chapter II.
Si quod iniquitas a Deo non est, sed a diabolo, persecutio autem ex iniquitate consistit (quid enim iniquius quam veri Dei antistites, omnis sectatores veritatis, nocentissimorum more tractari)? ideo videtur persecutio a diabolo evenire, a quo iniquitas agitur, ex qua constat persecutio: scire debemus; quatenus nec persecutio est sine iniquitate diaboli, nec probatio fidei sine persecutione, propter probationem fidei necessariam iniquitatem, non patrocinium praestare persecutioni, sed ministerium; praecedere enim Dei voluntatem circa fidei probationem, quae est ratio persecutionis, sequi autem diaboli iniquitatem ad instrumentum persecutionis, quae ratio est probationis. Nam et alias, in quantum justitiae iniquitas aemula est, in tantum materia est ad testimonia ejus, cujus est aemula; ut sic justitia in iniquitate perficiatur, quomodo virtus in infirmitate perficitur (II Cor. XII, 9): Nam infirma mundi electa sunt a Deo, ut confundantur fortia; et stulta ejus, ut confundantur sapientia
If, because iniquity is not from God but from the devil, and persecution consists of iniquity (for what is more iniquitous than that the bishops of the true God, all the followers of the truth, should be treated in the manner of the most guilty?), persecution therefore seems to come about from the devil, by whom the iniquity is done of which persecution consists: we ought to know, inasmuch as there is neither persecution without the iniquity of the devil nor proving of faith without persecution, that the iniquity necessary for the proving of faith provides not patronage to persecution but service; for the will of God concerning the proving of faith, which is the reason for persecution, goes before, and the iniquity of the devil follows as the instrument of persecution, which is the reason for proving. For otherwise too, in so far as iniquity is the rival of justice, so far it is material for the testimonies of that of which it is the rival; so that thus justice is perfected in iniquity, as strength is perfected in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9): For the weak things of the world have been chosen by God, that the strong things may be confounded; and its foolish things, that the wise things may be confounded
Editors' notes and page, col. 125
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 8 ‹anchor: Haec enim› · call in col 125 Hae etiam Seml. Oberth. Leop.
"Hae etiam" Semler, Oberthür, Leopold.
9 ‹anchor: magis timetur, nisi› · call in col 125 Nisi cum — persecutionis Ecclesia Latin.
"Nisi cum — persecutionis Ecclesia" Latinius.
10 ‹anchor: Si quod› · call in col 125 Quoniam Latin.
"Quoniam" Latinius.
11 ‹anchor: omnis› · call in col 125 Omnes Semler. Oberth. Leop.
"Omnes" Semler, Oberthür, Leopold.
12 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call not in col 125 (no call 12 printed in this column; likely col 126) Verba ministerium — instructionem nescio qua de causa omisit Seml. ejusque sequax Oberth.
The words "ministerium — instructionem" were omitted, for some reason I do not know, by Semler and by his follower Oberthür.
13 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 125 or 126 (not visible) In tentationem victricem Seml. Oberth.
"In tentationem victricem" Semler, Oberthür.
Commentarius. (printed under page 67)
(3) ‹anchor: In alterutra diligentia et dilectione› · call in col 125
In alterutra diligentia et dilectione. His verbis significat : quaecunque sunt Christianae pietatis erga Deum et proximum officia, quales fidelium inter se, diligentium et dilectorum affectus, etiam ethnici laudabant, et mirabantur, in Apologet. RIG.
In mutual care and love. By these words he means: whatever duties of Christian piety there are towards God and neighbour, such as the affections of the faithful among themselves, loving and beloved, even the heathen praised and wondered at, in the Apologeticum. Rigault.
(printed under page 67)
(4) ‹anchor: Aut homines ejus fuisse traducat (not in col 125)› · call not in col 125 (no call (4) printed in this column; likely col 126)
Aut homines ejus fuisse traducat. Ostendat, demonstret homines fuisse diaboli, qui deserto Deo defecerint ad diabolum. RIG.
Or expose them as having been his men. Let it show, let it prove, that those men were the devil's who forsook God and fell away to the devil. Rigault.
(printed under page 67)
Page
- running head: DE FUGA IN PERSECU[TIONE] (cut off at the image edge), column number 125
- marginal letters: A Haec enim, scalae quas somniat Jacob; B illius eveniet. Sed quando Deus; C res veritatis, nocentissimorum more; D Nam infirma mundi electa sunt
- old-edition numerals: 104 after luctati,
- other: the word sapientia was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 126
(I Cor. I, 27). Ita et iniquitas adhibetur ut justitia probetur, confundens iniquitatem. Igitur quod ministerium non est arbitrii sed servitii (arbitrium enim Domini, persecutio, propter fidei probationem, ministerium autem iniquitas diaboli, propter persecutionis instructionem); ita eam per diabolum, si forte non a diabolo evenire credimus. Nihil Satanae in servos Dei vivi licebit, nisi permiserit Dominus, ut aut ipsum destruat per fidem electorum in tentatione victricem: aut homines ejus fuisse traducat, qui defecerint ad illum. Habes exemplum Job, cui diabolus nullam potuit incutere tentationem, nisi a Deo accepisset potestatem, nec in substantiam quidem ejus, nisi Dominus, Ecce, dixisset, omnia quae sunt ei, in manu tua do, in ipsum autem ne extenderis manum (Job, I, 12). Denique nec extendit, nisi posteaquam et hoc postulanti Dominus, Ecce, dixisset, trado tibi illum, tantum animam ejus custodi (Job. II, 6). Sic et in apostolos facultatem tentationis postulavit, non habens eam nisi ex permissu. Siquidem Dominus in Evangelio ad Petrum: Ecce, inquit, postulavit Satanas uti cerneret vos velut frumentum: verum ego rogavi pro te, ne deficeret fides tua (Luc. XXII, 31): id est, ne tantum diabolo permitteretur ut fides periclitaretur. Quo ostenditur, utrumque apud Deum esse, et concussionem fidei, et protectionem, cum utrumque ab eo petitur, concussio a diabolo, protectio a Filio. Et utique cum Filius Dei protectionem fidei babet in sua potestate quam a Patre postulat, a quo omnem accipit potestatem in coelis et in terris (Matth. XXVIII, 18), quale est ut concussionem fidei diabolus in manu sua habeat? Sed in legitima oratione cum dicimus ad Patrem: Ne nos inducas in tentationem (Matth. VI, 13) (quae aut major tentatio quam persecutio?); ab eo illam profitemur accidere, a quo veniam ejus deprecamur: hoc est enim quod sequitur: Sed erue nos a maligno (Ibid.); id est, ne nos induxeris in tentationem, permittendo nos maligno. Tunc enim eruimur diaboli manibus, cum illi non tradimur in tentationem. Nec in porcorum gregem diaboli legio habuit potestatem, nisi eam de Deo impetrasset, tantum abest ut in oves Dei habeat. Possum dicere, porcorum quoque setas tunc numeratas apud Deum fuisse; nedum capillos sanctorum.
(1 Cor. 1:27). So too iniquity is employed so that righteousness may be proved, confounding iniquity. Therefore, since the ministry is a matter not of free choice but of service (for the choice, persecution, is the Lord's, for the sake of the proving of faith, but the ministry, iniquity, is the devil's, for the sake of the carrying out of persecution), so we believe that it comes about through the devil, if at all, and not from the devil. Nothing will be permitted to Satan against the servants of the living God unless the Lord permits it, so that either He may destroy him through the faith of the elect, victorious in temptation, or may expose as having been his those men who have defected to him. You have the example of Job, on whom the devil could inflict no temptation unless he had received power from God, not even upon his substance, until the Lord had said, Behold, all things that are his I give into your hand, but upon himself do not stretch out your hand (Job 1:12). Finally, he did not stretch it out until the Lord, when he asked for this too, had said, Behold, I deliver him to you; only guard his soul (Job 2:6). So too he asked for the power of tempting the apostles, not having it except by permission. For indeed the Lord in the Gospel says to Peter: Behold, Satan has asked that he might sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith might not fail (Luke 22:31); that is, that so much might not be permitted to the devil that faith should be endangered. By this it is shown that both are with God, both the shaking of faith and its protection, since both are sought from Him, the shaking by the devil, the protection by the Son. And certainly, since the Son of God has the protection of faith in His power, which He asks of the Father, from Whom He receives all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), how could it be that the devil should have the shaking of faith in his own hand? But in the lawful prayer, when we say to the Father: Lead us not into temptation (Matt. 6:13) (and what greater temptation is there than persecution?), we profess that it comes from Him from Whom we beg to be spared it; for this is what follows: But deliver us from the evil one (ibid.); that is, do not lead us into temptation by giving us over to the evil one. For we are delivered from the devil's hands at the time when we are not handed over to him into temptation. Nor did the devil's legion have power over the herd of swine unless it had obtained it from God; so far is it from having power over the sheep of God. I can say that even the bristles of the swine were then numbered with God; much more the hairs of the saints.
Editors' notes and page, col. 126
Footnotes
(5) ‹anchor: Postulavit Satanas, uti cerneret vos (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 126 (inferred)
Postulavit Satanas, uti cerneret vos. Cernere pro cribrare, quod vox Graeca κοσκινάσαι, Luc. XXII, significat, etiam Plinio usitatum est lib. XVIII, cap. 11. PAM.
Satan has asked to sift you. "Cernere" for "cribrare" (to sift), which is what the Greek word κοσκινάσαι in Luke 22 means, is used by Pliny too, book 18, chapter 11. Pamelius.
(printed under page 67)
(6) ‹anchor: legitima oratione› · call in col 126
Sed in legitima oratione. Orationem legitimam dicit, quam nobis dictavit Christus coelestis juris peritus. Sic precem legitimam dixit Augustinus, serm. 125, de Temp. RIG.
But in the lawful prayer. He calls "lawful prayer" the one that Christ, learned in heavenly law, dictated to us. So Augustine spoke of the lawful prayer, sermon 125, De tempore. Rigault.
(printed under page 67)
Page
- running head: GA IN PERSECUTIONE. (left part of running head cut off at image edge; page number 126)
- marginal letters: A pientia (I Cor. I, 27). Ita et iniquitas; B manu tua do, in ipsum autem ne extenderis; C que cum Filius Dei protectionem fidei; D Possum dicere, porcorum quoque setas
- old-edition numerals: 105 after permiserit
- other: the word sanctorum. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 127
Habere videtur diabolus propriam jam potestatem, si forte in eos qui ad Deum non pertinent, semel in stillam situlae (Isa. XL, 15), et in pulverem areae et in salivam nationibus deputatis a Deo, ac per hoc diabolo expositis in vacuam quodammodo possessionem. Caeterum, in domesticos Dei uihil illi licet ex propria potestate; quia quando liceat, id est, ex quibus causis, exempla in Scripturis signata demonstrant. Aut enim ex causa probationis conceditur ei jus tentationis provocato vel provocanti, ut in superioribus: aut ex causa reprobationis traditur ei peccator quasi carnifici in poenam, ut Saul: Et abscessit, inquit, spiritus Domini a Saule, et concutiebat eum spiritus nequam a Domino, et suffocabat (II Reg. XVI, 2). Aut ex causa cohibitionis, ut Apostolus refert (II Cor. XII, 7) datum sibi sudem angelum Satanae ut colaphizetur: nec hanc speciem permitti diabolo in sanctos humiliandos per carnis vexationem, nisi simul ut et virtus tolerantiae scilicet in infirmitate perfici possit; nam et ipse Apostolus Phigellum et Hermogenem tradidit Satanae, uti emendentur, ne blasphement (II Tim. I, 15). Vides jam et a servis Dei facilius diabolum accipere potestatem, tanto abest ut eam ex proprietate possideat.
The devil seems to have a power of his own now, if perhaps over those who do not belong to God, the nations having once been reckoned by God as a drop of a bucket (Isa. 40:15), and as the dust of the threshing floor, and as spittle, and through this exposed to the devil as a possession that is in a manner vacant. But against the household of God nothing is permitted him by his own power; for when it is permitted, that is, for what causes, the examples recorded in the Scriptures show. For either for the sake of proving, the right of tempting is granted him, whether he has been challenged or is challenging, as in the cases above; or for the sake of reproving, the sinner is handed over to him as to an executioner for punishment, as Saul was: And the Spirit of the Lord, it says, departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and choked him (1 Sam. 16:14). Or for the sake of restraint, as the Apostle relates (2 Cor. 12:7) that a stake was given him, an angel of Satan, that he might be buffeted: and not even this kind of power is permitted to the devil for humbling the saints through vexation of the flesh, except so that at the same time the virtue of endurance may be made perfect, namely in weakness; for the Apostle himself also handed over Phigellus and Hermogenes to Satan, that they might be corrected, that they might not blaspheme (2 Tim. 1:15). You see now that the devil receives power more readily even from the servants of God, so far is he from possessing it as his own.
CAPUT III.
Chapter III.
Cum ergo et haec exempla magis in persecutionibus eveniant, siquidem magis tunc probamur vel reprobamur, et magis tunc humiliamur vel emendamur, ab eo permittatur vel imperetur necesse est catholice fieri haec, a quo et ex parte, scilicet ab illo qui dicit: Ego sum qui facio pacem, et condo mala (Isa. XLV, 7), id est bellum. Hoc est enim contrarium paci. Nostrae autem paci quid est bellum, quam persecutio? Si persecutionis vel maxime exitus aut vitam afferunt aut mortem, aut plagam aut sanationem, habes auctorem ejusdem: Ego percutiam, et sanabo; ego vivificabo, et mortificabo (Deut. XXXII, 39). Uram, inquit, illos, sicut uritur argentum; et probabo, inquit, illos, sicut probatur aurum (Zachar. XIII, 9). Cum enim exurimur persecutionis ardore, tunc probamur de fidei tenore. Haec erunt ignea jacula (Ephes. III) diaboli, per quae fidei ustio et conflatio administratur; ex Dei tamen voluntate. De ⟨i⟩sto quis dubitare possit ignoro, nisi plane frivola et frigida fides, deprehendens eos qui timide conveniunt in Ecclesiam. Dicitis enim, Quoniam incondite convenimus, simul convenimus, et complures
Since, then, these examples too occur chiefly in persecutions, inasmuch as it is then above all that we are proved or reproved, and then above all that we are humbled or corrected, it must be that these things are, universally, permitted or commanded to happen by Him by Whom they also happen in part, namely by Him Who says: I am He Who makes peace and creates evils (Isa. 45:7), that is, war. For this is the contrary of peace. But what is war to our peace, if not persecution? If the outcomes of persecution above all bring either life or death, either wound or healing, you have the author of the same: I will strike, and I will heal; I will make alive, and I will put to death (Deut. 32:39). I will burn them, He says, as silver is burned; and I will prove them, He says, as gold is proved (Zech. 13:9). For when we are burned through by the heat of persecution, then we are proved as to the steadfastness of our faith. These will be the fiery darts (Eph. 6:16) of the devil, by which the burning and smelting of faith is carried out; yet by the will of God. Who could doubt this I do not know, unless it be a plainly frivolous and cold faith, which catches out those who assemble timidly in the church. For you say, Since we assemble in disorder, we assemble together, and many of us
Editors' notes and page, col. 127
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 14 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 127 (inferred) Cohabitationis Seml. Oberth.
"Cohabitationis" Semler, Oberthür.
15 ‹anchor: Nostrae autem paci quid› · call in col 127 Quod Pam. Seml. Oberth.
"Quod" Pamelius, Semler, Oberthür.
16 ‹anchor: sicut uritur argentum› · call in col 127 Argentum aur. Franeq.
"Argentum aur." Franeker edition.
17 ‹anchor: Dicitis enim› · call in col 127 Inquit addit Rigalt.
Rigault adds "inquit".
18 ‹anchor: simul› · call in col 127 Et add. Seml. Oberth.
Semler, Oberthür add "et".
19 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 128 (inferred) Non Rhen.
"Non" Rhenanus.
20 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 128 (inferred) Dependit Pam. Seml. Oberth.
"Dependit" Pamelius, Semler, Oberthür.
21 ‹anchor: sensus hominis praejudicat› · call in col 128 Praejudicavit Fran.
"Praejudicavit" Franeker edition.
22 ‹anchor: Status enim uniuscujusque› · call in col 128 Unusquisque Rhen.
"Unusquisque" Rhenanus.
23 ‹anchor: et dat› · call in col 128 Sed da Seml. Oberth.
"Sed da" Semler, Oberthür.
24 ‹anchor: status in tuto› · call in col 128 In toto Rhen. Rig. Venet.
"In toto" Rhenanus, Rigault, the Venice edition.
25 ‹anchor: illud malum rationem› · call in col 128 Rationale Seml. Oberth.
"Rationale" Semler, Oberthür.
26 ‹anchor: etiam in mali› · call in col 128 Et jam in malis Pam.
"Et jam in malis" Pamelius.
27 ‹anchor: parte bonum est› · call in col 128 In malis par bonum est Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"In malis par bonum est" Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
Commentarius. (printed under page 68)
(7) ‹anchor: Et in salivam nationibus deputatis (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 127 (inferred)
Et in salivam nationibus deputatis. Despectim conspuendis. RIG.
And to those assigned to the nations for spittle. That is, to be spat upon in contempt. Rigault.
(printed under page 68)
(8) ‹anchor: Datum sibi sudem (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 127 (inferred)
Datum sibi sudem. Palum Σκόλοπα τῇ σαρκί. Sic lib. V adv. Marc. Creatorem dicit angelum Satanae colaphizando apostolo suo applicuisse. RIG. — Datum sibi sudem. Stimulum, σκόλοπα. LE PR.
The stake given to him. A stake, σκόλοπα τῇ σαρκί ("a thorn in the flesh"). So in book 5 against Marcion he says the Creator applied an angel of Satan to buffet his apostle. Rigault. — The stake given to him. A goad, σκόλοπα. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 68)
Page
- running head: 127 TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — (cut off at right edge)
- marginal letters: A rum. Habere videtur diabolus; B causa cohibitionis; C mur, ab eo permittatur; D luntate. De isto quis dubitare
- old-edition numerals: 106 after reprobationis
concurrimus in Ecclesiam, quaerimur a nationibus, et timemus ne turbentur nationes. Annon scitis quod Deus omnium sit Dominus? Et si velit Deus, tunc persecutionem patieris; si vero noluerit, silebunt nationes. Credas utique; si tamen in eum Deum credis, sine cujus voluntate nec passer unius assis cadit in terram (Matth. X, 29). Nos autem, puto, multis passeribus antistamus.
flock together into the Church, we are complained of by the nations, and we fear that the nations may be stirred up. Do you not know that God is Lord of all? And if God wills, then you will suffer persecution; but if He does not will it, the nations will keep silent. Believe it by all means, if indeed you believe in that God without Whose will not even a sparrow worth one as falls to the ground (Matt. 10:29). And we, I think, are worth more than many sparrows.
CAPUT IV.
Chapter IV.
Igitur si constat a quo persecutio eveniat, possumus jam consultationem tuam inducere, et determinare ex hoc ipso praetractatu, fugiendum in persecutione non esse. Si enim persecutio a Deo evenit, nullo modo fugiendum erit quod a Deo evenit. Sicut duplex ratio defendit, quia neque debeat devitari, neque evadi possit quod a Deo evenit. Non debet devitari, quia bonum. Necesse est enim bonum esse omne quod Deo visum est. Et numquid ideo in Genesi sic positum est: Et vidit Deus quia bonum est (Gen. I, passim): non quod ignoraret bonum esse, nisi vidisset; sed ut hoc sono portenderet bonum esse, quod Deo visum est? Multa quidem sunt, quae a Deo eveniant, et alicujus malo eveniant. Imo bonum est ideo, quia a Deo evenit, ut divinum et rationale. Quid enim divinum non rationale, non bonum? Quid bonum non divinum? Si autem sensui cujusque videtur, non sensus hominis praejudicat statui, sed status sensui. Status enim uniuscujusque certum quid est, et dat sensui legem, ita sentiendi statum, sicuti est. Si autem statu quidem bonum quod a Deo venit (nihil enim a Deo non bonum, quia divinum, quia rationale), sensui vero malum videtur, erit status in tuto, sensus in vitio. Statu optima res pudicitia, et veritas, et justitia, quae a multorum sensu displicent. Nunquid ideo status sensui addicitur? Ita et persecutio statu bona est, quia divina et rationalis dispositio; sensui eorum vero quorum malo venit, displicet. Vides etiam illud malum rationem apud Deum habere, cum quis in persecutione evertitur de salute, sicut et illud bonum ratione contingere, cum quis ex persecutione proficit in salute? Nisi si irrationaliter quis aut perit apud Dominum, aut salvus est: is non poterit persecutionem malum dicere, quae etiam in mali parte bonum est, dum ratione administratur. Ita si bonum persecutio quoquo modo, quia de statu constat, merito definimus, quod bonum est, vitari non oportere: quia
Therefore, if it is established from whom persecution comes, we can now dispose of your query, and determine from this very preliminary treatment that one must not flee in persecution. For if persecution comes from God, in no way will one have to flee what comes from God. A twofold reason maintains this: that what comes from God neither ought to be avoided nor can be escaped. It ought not to be avoided, because it is good. For whatever has seemed good to God must necessarily be good. And was it not for this reason that it was set down thus in Genesis: And God saw that it is good (Gen. 1, passim): not that He would have been ignorant that it was good had He not seen it, but that by this utterance He might signify that what has seemed good to God is good? There are indeed many things which come from God and come to someone's harm. Nay rather, a thing is good for this very reason, that it comes from God, as being divine and rational. For what is divine that is not rational, not good? What is good that is not divine? But if it seems [otherwise] to anyone's perception, a man's perception does not prejudge the real state of the thing, but the state prejudges the perception. For the state of each thing is something fixed, and it gives the perception its law, namely to perceive the state as it is. But if what comes from God is indeed good in its state (for nothing from God is not good, because it is divine, because it is rational), yet seems evil to the perception, the state will be secure, the perception at fault. In their state chastity, and truth, and justice are the best of things, which displease the perception of many. Is the state therefore made subject to the perception? So too persecution is good in its state, because it is a divine and rational disposition; but it displeases the perception of those to whose harm it comes. Do you see, too, that that evil has its reason with God, when someone in persecution is overthrown from salvation, just as that good also comes about by reason, when someone through persecution advances in salvation? Unless someone either perishes before the Lord or is saved irrationally, he will not be able to call persecution an evil, which even on the side of evil is good, so long as it is administered by reason. Thus, if persecution is in any case good, because it rests on its state, we rightly determine that what is good ought not to be avoided: because
Editors' notes and page, col. 128
Footnotes
(9) ‹anchor: Consultationem tunc inducere (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 128 (inferred)
Consultationem tunc inducere, etc. Inducitur, inquit Rhen., proprie quod deletur, hic consultationem inducere, est tollere dubium consultationis : exponit autem seipsum, cum addit, et determinare. In sequentibus est egregia ejusdem recognitio. PAM.
Then to strike out the inquiry, etc. "Inducitur," says Rhenanus, is properly said of what is deleted; here "to strike out the inquiry" is to remove the doubt raised by the inquiry; and he explains himself when he adds and to settle it. In what follows there is an excellent review of the same. Pamelius.
(printed under page 68)
Page
- running head: PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA.
- marginal letters: A plures concurrimus in Ecclesiam; B beat devitari, neque evadi; C legem, ita sentiendi statum; D dicere, quae etiam in mali
- old-edition numerals: 107 after possumus
- other: running head cut off at left edge (a letter "d" visible before PARS); left column fragments belong to col. 127, not set; Variae lectiones and Commentarius (note 9, Rhenanus/Pamelius on "consultationem inducere") at foot not set; "nationcs", "dal" read as nationes, dat (worn type)
delictum sit, quod bonum est recusare; eo amplius, quod Deo visum est: jam vero nec posse vitari, quia a Deo evenit, cujus voluntas non poterit evadi. Igitur qui putant fugiendum, aut malum exprobrant Deo, si persecutionem uti malum fugiant; bonum enim nemo devitat; aut fortiores se Deo existimant, qui putant se evadere posse, si Deus tale aliquid voluerit evenire.
it is a fault to refuse what is good; all the more, what has seemed good to God: and further, that it cannot even be avoided, because it comes from God, Whose will cannot be escaped. Therefore those who think one must flee either reproach God with evil, if they flee persecution as an evil (for no one shuns a good), or they reckon themselves stronger than God, who think that they can escape, if God has willed some such thing to happen.
CAPUT V.
Chapter V.
Sed, Quod meum est, inquit, fugio, ne peream si negavero; illius est, si voluerit, etiam fugientem me reducere in medium. Hoc mihi prius responde: Certus es te negaturum si non fugeris, an incertus? Si enim certus, jam negasti; quia praesumendo te negaturum, id despopondisti, de quo praesumpsisti; et vane jam fugis ne neges, qui si negaturus es, jam negasti. Si vero incertus es, cur non ex aequalitate incerti metus inter utrumque eventum, etiam confiteri te posse praesumis, et salvum magis fieri quominus fugias, sicut negaturum te praesumis, ut fugias? Jam nunc aut in nobis est utrumque, aut totum in Deo. Si in nobis est confiteri aut negare, cur non id praesumimus quod est melius, id est, confessuros nos? nisi, si vis confiteri, pati non vis. Nolle autem confiteri, negare est. Si vero in Deo totum est, cur non totum relinquimus arbitrio ejus? agnoscentes virtutem et potestatem, quod possit nos sicut fugientes reducere in medium; ita et non fugientes, imo et in medio populo conversantes obumbrare. Quale est, ut ad fugiendum Deo honorem reddas, qui possit te etiam fugientem producere in medium, ad contestandum autem inhonores illum, desperans potentiam protectionis ab illo? Quare non magis, ex hac parte constantiae et fiduciae in Deum, dicis: Ego, quod meum est, facio, non discedo: Deus si voluerit, ipse me proteget: hoc potius nostrum est, stare sub Dei arbitrio, quam fugere sub nostro? Rutilius sanctissimus martyr, cum totiens fugisset persecutionem de loco in locum, etiam periculum (ut putabat) nummis redemisset, post totam securitatem quam sibi prospexerat, ex inopinato apprehensus, et praesidi oblatus, tormentis dissipatus, credo pro fugae castigatione, dehinc ignibus datus, passionem, quam vitarat, misericordiae Dei retulit. Quid aliud voluit Dominus nobis demonstrare hoc documento, quam fugiendum non esse, quia uihil fuga prosit si Deus nolit?
But, he says, I do what is mine: I flee, lest I perish if I should deny; it is His part, if He wills, to bring me back into the open even as I flee. First answer me this: are you certain that you will deny if you do not flee, or uncertain? For if certain, you have already denied; because by presuming that you will deny, you have pledged yourself to that which you presumed; and now you flee in vain lest you deny, you who, if you are going to deny, have already denied. But if you are uncertain, why, from the equal balance of an uncertain fear between either outcome, do you not presume that you can also confess, and rather be saved by not fleeing, just as you presume that you will deny, so that you flee? Now then, either both are in our power, or the whole is in God's. If it is in our power to confess or to deny, why do we not presume that which is better, that is, that we shall confess? unless, if you are willing to confess, you are not willing to suffer. But to be unwilling to confess is to deny. But if the whole is in God's power, why do we not leave the whole to His decision? acknowledging His might and power, that He can bring us back into the open as we flee, and likewise overshadow us when we do not flee, nay even when we are moving about in the midst of the people. What sort of thing is it, that in fleeing you pay honour to God, as One Who can bring you out into the open even as you flee, but in bearing witness you dishonour Him, despairing of the power of protection from Him? Why do you not rather, on this side of steadfastness and trust in God, say: I do what is mine, I do not depart: God, if He wills, will Himself protect me: this rather is our part, to stand under God's decision rather than to flee under our own? Rutilius, a most holy martyr, when he had so often fled persecution from place to place, and had even bought off the danger (as he thought) with money, after all the security which he had provided for himself, was unexpectedly seized, and brought before the governor, torn apart by tortures, I believe as a chastisement for his flight, then given to the flames, and he credited to the mercy of God the passion which he had shunned. What else did the Lord wish to show us by this example, than that one must not flee, because flight profits nothing if God does not will it?
Editors' notes and page, col. 129
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 28 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 129 (inferred) Praesumendo Rigalt.
"Praesumendo" Rigault.
29 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 129 (inferred) Si cum Rhen.
"Si cum" Rhenanus.
30 ‹anchor: nos sicut fugientes reducere› · call in col 129 Educere Pam. Seml.
"Educere" Pamelius, Semler.
31 ‹anchor: ad contestandum› · call in col 129 Ad constandum Rhen.
"Ad constandum" Rhenanus.
32 ‹anchor: Quare› · call in col 129 Quanto Rhen.
"Quanto" Rhenanus.
33 ‹anchor: quam vitarat, misericordiae› · call in col 129 Misericordia Rhen.
"Misericordia" Rhenanus.
34 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 130 (inferred) Ea Cod. Wouw.
"Ea" Wouwer's manuscript.
35 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 130 (inferred) Persona Pam. Rhen.
"Persona" Pamelius, Rhenanus.
36 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 130 (inferred) Verba uncis inclusa Pamel. addidit recepitque Rig.
Pamelius added the words enclosed in brackets, and Rigault accepted them.
37 ‹anchor: Sic› · call in col 130 Si Rhen.
"Si" Rhenanus.
38 ‹anchor: apud quos› · call in col 130 Apud nos Venet.
"Apud nos" the Venice edition.
39 ‹anchor: propter eludendum› · call in col 130 Elidendum Rhen. Seml. etc.
"Elidendum" Rhenanus, Semler, etc.
40 ‹anchor: periculum proprio› · call in col 130 Pro nomine Jun.
"Pro nomine" Junius.
41 ‹anchor: ne, statim› · call in col 130 Statum Rhen. Jun.
"Statum" Rhenanus, Junius.
42 ‹anchor: replerent doctrina sua› · call in col 130 Doctrinam suam Pam.
"Doctrinam suam" Pamelius.
Commentarius. (printed under page 69)
(10) ‹anchor: Igitur qui putant fugiendum (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 129 (inferred)
Igitur qui putant fugiendum. In codice Divionensi, Eo ad igitur. Ibidemque in margine, Eo ad, id est, adeo. RIG.
Therefore those who think one should flee. In the Dijon manuscript, Eo ad igitur. And in its margin, Eo ad, that is, adeo. Rigault.
(printed under page 69)
(11) ‹anchor: Rutilius sanctissimus martyr› · call in col 129
Rutilius sanctissimus martyr. Passus est in Africa cum Silvano et Maximo ut ex Martyrologio patet, in quo male, Rutilus. LE PR.
Rutilius, a most holy martyr. He suffered in Africa with Silvanus and Maximus, as is clear from the Martyrology, in which he is wrongly called Rutilus. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 69)
Page
- running head: 129 DE FUGA IN PERSECU (cut off at the image edge; runs on into the next column)
- marginal letters: A quod Deo visum est; B sumendo te negaturum, id despopondisti, de; C tem et potestatem, quod possit nos sicut fugientes; D securitatem quam sibi prospexerat, ex inopinato
- old-edition numerals: 106 at the head of the paragraph, before Sed
CAPUT VI.
Chapter VI.
Imo, inquit, quia praeceptum adimplevit, fugiens de civitate in civitatem. Sic enim voluit quidam, sed et ipse fugitivus, argumentari, et qui proinde nolunt intelligere sensum Domini illius pronuntiationis, ut eam ad velamentum timiditatis suae utantur, cum et personas suas habuerit et tempora et causas: Cum coeperint, inquit, persequi vos, fugite de civitate in civitatem (Matth. X, 23). Hoc in personas proprie apostolorum, et in tempora, et in causas eorum pertinere defendimus, sicut (praecedentes et) subsequentes sensus probabunt, qui nonnisi in apostolos competunt: In viam nationum ne ieritis; et in civitatem Samaritanorum ne introieritis, sed ite potius ad oves perditas domus Israelis (Matth. X. 5. 6). Nobis autem et via nationum patet, in qua et inventi sumus, et usque in finem incedimus; et nulla civitas excepta est, qua per totum orbem praedicamus; sed nec cura nobis Israelis injuncta est extra ordinem, nisi qua et omnibus gentibus praedicare debemus. Etiamsi apprehendamur, non in concilia eorum perducemur, nec in synagogis illorum flagellabimur, sed Romanis utique potestatibus et tribunalibus objiciemur. Sic igitur et fugae praeceptum apostolorum conditio desiderabat, quoniam primo praedicandum erat ad oves perditas domus Israelis. Ut ergo perficeretur praedicatio, apud quos priores perfici oportebat, uti panem ante filii quam canes sumerent, ideo illis fugere tunc ad tempus praecipit: non propter eludendum periculum proprio nomine persecutionis (atquin persecutiones eos passuros praedicabat, et tolerandas docebat); sed propter profectum annuntiationis, ne, statim oppressis, Evangelii quoque disseminatio perimeretur. Neque enim quasi tacite in aliquam civitatem transfugiendum erat, sed quasi ubique annuntiaturis, et ex hoc ubique persecutiones subituris, donec replerent doctrina sua. Denique: Non consummabitis, inquit, civitates Israelis (Matth. X, 33) Adeo intra terminos Judaeae praeceptum fugae continebatur. Nobis autem nulla Judaeae praefinitio competit praedicationis, in omnem jam carnem effuso Spiritu sancto. Itaque Paulus, et apostoli ipsi, memores praecepti dominici, contestantur illud apud Israel, quem jam doctrina sua impleverant: Vobis oportuit in primis sermonem Dei tradi. Sed quoniam repulistis eum, nec dignos vos aeterna vita existimastis, ecce convertimus nos ad nationes (Act. XIII, 46). Atque exinde conversi et ipsi, sicut antecessores
Rather, he says, [it was] because he fulfilled the precept, fleeing from city to city. For so a certain man, himself also a fugitive, chose to argue, and so do those who accordingly refuse to understand the sense of that pronouncement of the Lord, so that they use it as a veil for their timidity, although it had its own persons and times and causes: When they begin, He says, to persecute you, flee from city to city (Matt. 10:23). This we maintain pertains properly to the persons of the apostles, and to their times and causes, as the preceding and the following sentences will prove, which apply to none but the apostles: Do not go into the way of the nations, and do not enter into the city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:5–6). But to us the way of the nations lies open, in which we were also found, and along which we proceed even to the end; and no city is excepted, inasmuch as we preach throughout the whole world; nor is the care of Israel enjoined on us out of the order, except in so far as we ought to preach to all the nations as well. Even if we are apprehended, we shall not be led into their councils, nor be scourged in their synagogues, but we shall certainly be cast before Roman powers and tribunals. Thus, therefore, the condition of the apostles required also the precept of flight, since preaching had first to be made to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So then, in order that the preaching might be completed among those among whom it had to be completed first, so that the children might take the bread before the dogs, He therefore commands them to flee then for a time: not for the sake of evading danger under the proper name of persecution (and yet He foretold that they would suffer persecutions, and taught that these were to be endured), but for the sake of the advance of the proclamation, lest, if they were at once crushed, the dissemination of the Gospel too should be destroyed. For they were not to take refuge in some city as if in silence, but as men who would proclaim everywhere, and for that reason would undergo persecutions everywhere, until they should fill [it] with their teaching. Finally: You will not finish, He says, the cities of Israel (Matt. 10:23). So far was the precept of flight confined within the bounds of Judaea. But to us no limitation of preaching to Judaea applies, the Holy Spirit having now been poured out upon all flesh. Accordingly Paul and the apostles themselves, mindful of the Lord's precept, testify it before Israel, which they had already filled with their teaching: It was necessary that the word of God be delivered to you first. But since you have rejected it, and have not judged yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations (Acts 13:46). And from then on, having themselves too turned, just as their predecessors
Editors' notes and page, col. 130
Page
- running head: GA IN PERSECUTIONE. (cut off at left edge; presumably DE FUGA IN PERSECUTIONE.)
- marginal letters: A Imo, inquit, quia praeceptum; B (Matth. X. 5. 6). Nobis autem; C ante filii quam canes sumerent; D effuso Spiritu sancto. Itaque Paulus
- old-edition numerals: 109 after cum
instituerant, in viam nationum abierunt, et in civitates Samaritanorum introierunt; ut In totam scilicet terram exiret sonus eorum, et in terminos orbis voces eorum (Psal. XVIII, 1). Si ergo cessavit exceptio viae nationum, et introitus in civitates Samaritanorum, cur non cessaverit et fugae praeceptum pariter emissum? Denique ex quo saturato Israele apostoli in nationes transierunt, nec fugerunt de civitate in civitatem, nec pati dubitaverunt. Atquin et Paulus, qui se per murum concesserat expediri de persecutione, qua ad hoc tempus erat praecepti; idem jam in clausula officii, et in consummatione praecepti, discipulis magnopere deprecantibus, ne se Hierosolyma committeret, passurus illic quae Agabus prophetaverat, sollicitudini eorum non subscripsit; sed e contrario: Quid, inquit, facitis lacrymantes et conturbantes cor meum? Ego enim non modo vincula pati optaverim, sed etiam mori Hierosolymis pro nomine Domini mei Jesu Christi. Atque ita omnes aierunt: Fiat voluntas Domini (Act. XXI, 17). Quae erat voluntas Domini? utique non fugiendi jam persecutionem. Caeterum, poterant et priorem Domini voluntatem proposuisse qua fugere mandaverat, qui illam persecutionem vitasse maluerant. Igitur, cum etiam sub apostolis ipsis temporale fuit fugae praeceptum, sicut et reliquorum praescriptorum, non potest apud nos perseverare quod apud doctores nostros concessavit, etsi non proprie ad illos fuisset emissum: aut si perseverare illud Dominus voluit, deliquerunt apostoli qui non usque in finem fugere curaverunt.
had established, they went off into the way of the gentiles, and entered into the cities of the Samaritans; so that, that is, Into the whole earth their sound should go out, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps. 18:1). If, then, the exclusion of the way of the gentiles has ceased, and of entry into the cities of the Samaritans, why should the command to flee, issued at the same time, not have ceased also? In fact, from the time when, Israel having been filled, the apostles crossed over to the gentiles, they neither fled from city to city nor hesitated to suffer. Indeed Paul too, who had allowed himself to be got away from persecution over the wall, as was then the time of the command, the same man, now at the close of his ministry and at the fulfilment of the command, when the disciples earnestly entreated him not to entrust himself to Jerusalem, where he was to suffer what Agabus had prophesied, did not assent to their anxiety; but on the contrary: Why, he says, do you act so, weeping and troubling my heart? For I would choose not only to suffer chains, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. And so they all said: Let the will of the Lord be done (Acts 21:17). What was the will of the Lord? Surely no longer to flee persecution. Otherwise, those who had preferred him to have avoided that persecution could also have put forward the earlier will of the Lord, by which He had commanded flight. Therefore, since even under the apostles themselves the command to flee was temporary, as also that of the other precepts, what ceased with our teachers cannot continue with us, even if it had not been issued properly to them: or if the Lord willed it to continue, the apostles who did not take care to flee right to the end did wrong.
CAPUT VII.
Chapter VII.
Videamus nunc an et caetera Domini edicta congruant perpetuo fugae praecepto. Primo quidem, si a Deo persecutio est, quale est ut idem fugiendam eam mandet, qui et infert? quam si evadi vellet, melius non immitteret, ne voluntate praevaricari videretur. Aut pati enim nos voluit persecutionem, aut fugere. Si fugere, quomodo pati? si pati, quomodo fugere? Jam vero quanta inaequalitas sententiarum jubentis fugere, et invitantis ad passionem, contrariam fugae? Qui confessus fuerit me, et ego confitebor eum coram Patre meo (Matth. X, 31). Quomodo confitebitur fugiens? quomodo fugiet confitens? Qui in me confusus fuerit, et ego confundar in illo coram Patre (Marc. VIII, 38; Luc. XIX, 26). Si devito passionem, confundo confessionem, Felices qui persecutionem passi fuerint causa nominis mei (Matth. V, 11). Infelices ergo qui fugiendo ex praecepto non erunt passi. Qui sustinuerit in finem, iste salvabitur (Matth. X, 22). Quid ergo, me jubens fugere, vis in finem sustinere? Tanta diversitas sententiarum si non congruit divinae gravitati, apparet
Let us see now whether the other edicts of the Lord also agree with a perpetual command to flee. In the first place, if persecution is from God, what sort of thing is it that the same One should command it to be fled from Who also brings it on? If He wished it to be escaped, He would do better not to send it, lest He should seem to transgress against His own will. For either He willed us to suffer persecution, or to flee it. If to flee, how to suffer? If to suffer, how to flee? And then how great an inconsistency of pronouncements in One Who commands flight and invites to suffering, which is the opposite of flight! Whoever shall have confessed Me, I also will confess him before My Father (Matt. 10:31). How will the one fleeing confess? How will the one confessing flee? Whoever shall have been ashamed in Me, I also will be ashamed in him before the Father (Mark 8:38; Luke 19:26). If I shun suffering, I confound confession. Blessed are those who shall have suffered persecution for the sake of My name (Matt. 5:11). Unblessed, then, are those who by fleeing in accordance with the command will not have suffered. Whoever shall have endured to the end, he will be saved (Matt. 10:22). What then, while commanding me to flee, do You wish me to endure to the end? If so great a diversity of pronouncements does not befit the divine gravity, it appears
Editors' notes and page, col. 131
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 43 ‹anchor: Dominus voluit, deliquerunt› · call in col 131 Dereliquerunt quidam male.
"Dereliquerunt" some, wrongly.
44 ‹anchor: omnia evangelizare› · call in col 132 Evangelii revolverunt Ed. 1 Rhen. prob. Jun.
"Evangelii revolverunt" Rhenanus's first edition, approved by Junius.
Commentarius. (printed under page 70)
Page
- running head: TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — (cut off at right edge)
- marginal letters: A cessores instituerant, in viam; B surus illic quae Agabus; C apostoli qui non usque; D Quomodo confitebitur fugiens
- old-edition numerals: 110 after consummatione praecepti,
ex his quoque praeceptum fugae suam tunc habuisse rationem quam ostendimus. Sed infirmitatem, inquit, quorumdam prospiciens Dominus, pro sua humanitate nihilominus et portum fugae demonstravit: non enim idoneus erat etiam sine fuga tam turpi, et indigno et servili praesidio salvos facere in persecutione, quos sciret infirmos. Atquin non fovet, sed recusat semper infirmos; primum docens non fugiendos esse persecutores, sed potius non timendos. Nolite timere eos qui corpus occidere possunt, animae autem nihil valent facere. Sed timete eum qui et corpus et animam perdere potest in gehennam (Matth. X, 28). Atque exinde quae timidis praefinit? Qui pluris fecerit animam suam quam me, non est me dignus; et: Qui non tollit crucem suam et sequitur me, non potest esse meus discipulus (Luc. XIV, 26). Postremo, in Apocalypsi non fugam timidis offert, sed inter caeteros reprobos particulam in stagno sulphuris et ignis, quod est mors secunda (cap. XXI, v. 8).
from these things also that the precept of flight then had its own reason, the one we have shown. But, he says, the Lord, foreseeing the weakness of certain people, in His humanity nonetheless also pointed out a harbour of flight: for He was not able even without so shameful a flight, and so unworthy and servile a protection, to keep safe in persecution those whom He knew to be weak. And yet He does not cherish the weak but always rejects them; teaching first that persecutors are not to be fled from, but rather not to be feared. Do not fear those who can kill the body, but are able to do nothing to the soul. But fear Him Who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna (Matt. 10:28). And then what does He appoint for the fearful? Whoever values his soul more than Me is not worthy of Me; and: Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26). Finally, in the Apocalypse He offers the fearful not flight, but a portion among the other reprobates in the lake of sulphur and fire, which is the second death (ch. 21, v. 8).
CAPUT VIII.
Chapter VIII.
Refugit et ipse vim interdum, sed eadem ratione qua apostolis fugere praeceperat; donec scilicet doctrinam suam impleret; qua consummata, non dico stetit, sed nec auxilium a Patre angelorum exercituum desideravit, increpito etiam Petri gladio, professus quidem et ipse est animam anxiam usque ad mortem et carnem infirmam; ut tibi ostenderet, primo, in se utramque substantiam humanam fuisse, ex proprietate anxietatis animae, et imbecillitatis carnis; ne aliam (ut quidam nunc induxerunt) aut carnem aut animam Christi interpretareris; dehinc, ut demonstratis conditionibus earum, scires illas nihil valere per semetipsas sine spiritu. Et ideo praeponit, Spiritus promptus (Matth. XXVI, 41), ut utramque conditionem substantiae utriusque respiciens, intelligas in te esse etiam fortitudinem spiritus, quomodo et infirmitatem carnis; ac jam hinc scias quid unde facias, et quid cui subjicias; infirmum scilicet forti: ne, ut nunc facis, de carnis quidem infirmitate causeris, de spiritus autem firmitate dissimules. Postulavit et ipse a Patre: Si fieri posset, transiret ab illo calix passionis. Postula et tu, sed stans ut ille, sed postulans tantum, sed subjungens et reliqua: Verum non quod ego volo, sed quod tu (Matth. XXVI, 29). Fugiens autem quomodo hoc postulabis, ipse tibi praestans calicis translationem, nec quod Pater vult faciens, sed quod tu?
He Himself too at times withdrew from violence, but for the same reason for which He had instructed the apostles to flee: namely, until He should complete His teaching; and once that was accomplished, I do not say He stood firm, but He did not even desire help from the Father in the form of armies of angels, even rebuking Peter's sword. He did indeed Himself also profess a soul anxious even unto death and a weak flesh; so that He might show you, first, that both substances in Him had been human, from the property of anxiety of soul and of feebleness of flesh, lest you should interpret either the flesh or the soul of Christ as something other (as certain people have now introduced); and then, so that, their conditions having been demonstrated, you might know that they avail nothing by themselves without the spirit. And therefore He puts first, The spirit is willing (Matt. 26:41), so that, considering the condition of each of the two substances, you may understand that there is in you the strength of the spirit too, just as there is the weakness of the flesh; and may know from this what you should act from, and what you should subject to what, namely the weak to the strong: lest, as you now do, you plead the weakness of the flesh while dissembling the firmness of the spirit. He Himself also asked of the Father: If it were possible, that the cup of the passion might pass from Him. Ask you also, but standing as He did, but only asking, but adding the rest as well: Yet not what I will, but what Thou [wilt] (Matt. 26:29). But how will you ask this while fleeing, yourself granting yourself the removal of the cup, and doing not what the Father wills but what you will?
CAPUT IX.
Chapter IX.
Omnia apostoli secundum Deum utique docuerunt, omnia evangelizare voluerunt. Ubi illos
The apostles certainly taught all things according to God, they wished to preach all things as gospel. Where them
Editors' notes and page, col. 132
Footnotes
(12) ‹anchor: Refugit et ipse vim interdum› · call in col 132
Refugit et ipse vim interdum. Variis rationibus et exemplis, etiam Christi Domini fuga, quam eleganter explicat, fugiendum non esse probat. LE PR.
He too sometimes fled from violence. By various reasons and examples, even by the flight of Christ the Lord, which he explains elegantly, he proves that one must not flee. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 70)
Page
- running head: ...M PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA. 132 (left end cut off at image edge)
- marginal letters: A paret ex his quoque; B non est me dignus; et: Qui; C tenderet, primo, in se utramque; D et tu, sed stans ut ille
- old-edition numerals: 111 after Qui (bold block, reading uncertain)
ostendis praeceptum fugiendi de civitate in civitatem restaurasse? quia nec potuissent tale quid constituere tam contrarium exemplis suis, ut fugam mandarent; qui cum maxime de vinculis vel insulis, quibus ob confessionem, non ob fugam nominis, continebantur, ad Ecclesias scribebant. Infirmos sustinere jubet Paulus; utique enim non fugientes ( quomodo enim sustinebantur absentes?). An patientia dicit sustinendos, sicubi per infirmitatem fidei suae offenderint? Sic et pusillanimes consolari, non tamen in fugam mitti. Sed cum admonet : Ne locum malo demus (Ephes. IV, 27), non fugae suggerit consilium, sed iracundiae docet temperamentum. Et siredimendum tempus dicit (Ephes. V, 16), quia dies nequam sunt : non per fugam, sed per sapientiam conversationis, lucrari nos vult commeatum. Caeterum, qui lucere nos jubet velut filios lucis, non jubet fuga abscondi ut filios tenebrarum. Stare immobiles praecipit, utique nec fuga mobiles, et accinctos, in fugam an in occursum Evangelii? Arma quoque demonstrat, quae fugituris non essent necessaria, inter quae et clypeum, quo possitis tela diaboli exstinguere (Ephes. VI, 16), resistentes sine dubio, et excipientes omnem vim illius. Proinde et Joannes pro fratribus quoque animas ponendas docet (I Joan. III, 16), nedum pro Domino. Hoc a fugientibus non potest adimpleri. Denique memor Apocalypsis suae, in qua timidorum exitum audierat, de sensu admonet et ipse timorem rejiciendum : Timor, inquit, non est in dilectione. Sedenim perfecta dilectio foras mittit timcrem (I Joan. IV, 18); quia timor suppliciamentum habet, utique ignem stagni. Qui autem timet, non est perfectus, in dilectione Dei scilicet. Porro, quis fugiet persecutionem, nisi qui timebit? Quis timebit, nisi qui non amavit? Spiritum vero si consulas, quid magis sermone illo Spiritus probat? Namque omnes pene ad martyrium exhortatur, non ad fugam, ut et illius commemoremur: Publicaris, inquit, bonum tibi est. Qui enim non publicatur in hominibus, publicatur in Domino. Ne confundaris, justitia te producit in medium. Quid confunderis, laudem serens? Potestas fit, cum conspiceris ab hominibus. Sic et alibi: Nolite in lectulis, necin ardoribus et febribus mollibus optare exire, sed in martyriis; ut glorificetur qui est passus pro vobis.
do you show to have restored the precept of fleeing from city to city? Because they could not have established any such thing, so contrary to their own examples, as to command flight; they who, at the very time they were writing to the Churches, were held in chains or on islands on account of confessing the name, not of fleeing from it. Paul bids [us] support the weak; certainly not those who flee (for how were the absent supported?). Or does he say that they are to be supported with patience, if anywhere they have stumbled through the weakness of their faith? So too the faint-hearted are to be consoled, yet not sent off into flight. But when he admonishes: Let us not give place to evil (Eph. 4:27), he does not suggest the counsel of flight, but teaches the moderation of anger. And if he says that the time is to be redeemed (Eph. 5:16), because the days are evil: it is not by flight, but by wisdom of conduct, that he wishes us to gain our sojourn. Moreover, he who bids us shine as sons of light does not bid us hide by flight as sons of darkness. He commands us to stand immovable, certainly not movable by flight, and girded: for flight, or for going to meet the Gospel? He also points out arms, which would not be necessary for those about to flee, among which also the shield, with which you may be able to extinguish the darts of the devil (Eph. 6:16), [we] resisting without doubt, and receiving all his force. Accordingly John too teaches that lives are to be laid down even for the brethren (1 John 3:16), much more for the Lord. This cannot be fulfilled by those who flee. Finally, mindful of his Apocalypse, in which he had heard the end of the fearful, he himself also admonishes from that understanding that fear is to be cast away: Fear, he says, is not in love. But indeed perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18); because fear has punishment, namely the fire of the lake. But he who fears is not perfect, in the love of God, that is. Further, who will flee persecution, except he who will fear? Who will fear, except he who has not loved? But if you consult the Spirit, what does the Spirit approve more than that saying? For He exhorts almost all to martyrdom, not to flight, so that we may call that saying of His to mind as well: You are made public, He says; it is good for you. For he who is not made public among men is made public in the Lord. Be not confounded; righteousness brings you forth into the midst. Why are you confounded, bearing praise? Power arises when you are gazed upon by men. So also elsewhere: Do not desire to depart in beds, nor in burning heats and soft fevers, but in martyrdoms; that He may be glorified Who suffered for you.
CAPUT X.
Chapter X.
Sed omissis quidam divinis exhortationibus, illum
But some, leaving aside the divine exhortations, that
Editors' notes and page, col. 133
Footnotes
<!-- No Variae lectiones are printed on this page. --> Commentarius. (printed under page 71)
(13) ‹anchor: Lucrari nos vult commeatum (not visible in the foot crop)› · call in col 133 (inferred)
Lucrari nos vult commeatum? Commeatum saeculi dicit, moram in saeculo nostram. Lucrari autem nos vult commeatum, hoc est, pro lucro nobis poni diem, quemcumque innocenter, sive, ut ait, sapienti conversatione, transigimus. RIG.
Does he want us to gain a furlough? By "the furlough of the world" he means our stay in the world. He wants us to gain the furlough, that is, that every day we pass innocently, or, as he says, in wise conduct, be set down to us as gain. Rigault.
(printed under page 71)
(14) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 133 (inferred)
Ἀνὴρ ὁ φεύγων καὶ πάλιν μαχήσεται;
"The man who flees will fight again"?
(printed under page 71)
Page
- running head: DE FUGA IN PERSEC⟨UTIONE⟩ (cut off at the image edge; column number 133 at left)
- marginal letters: A ostendis praeceptum fugiendi de civitate in civita-; B per sapientiam conversationis, lucrari nos vult; C ipse timorem rejiciendum : Timor, inquit, non est; D ribus et febribus mollibus optare exire, sed in mar-
- old-edition numerals: 112 after jubet
magis Graecum versiculum saecularis sententiae sibi adhibent: Qui fugiebat, rursus praeliabitur; ut et rursus forsitan fugiat. Et quando vincet, qui, cum fugerit, victus est? Bonum militem Christo imperatori suo praestat, qui tam plene ab Apostolo armatus, tuba persecutionis audita, diem deserit persecutionis? Respondebo et ego de saeculo aliquid:
little Greek verse of worldly wisdom they rather apply to themselves: He who was fleeing will fight again; so that perhaps he may also flee again. And when will he conquer, who, when he has fled, is conquered? Does he present a good soldier to Christ his commander, who, so fully armed by the Apostle, on hearing the trumpet of persecution, deserts the day of persecution? I too will answer with something from the world:
Usque adeone mori miserum est? (VIRG. Aeneid. XII, 616.
Is it then so very wretched to die? (Virgil, Aeneid 12.616)
Moriatur quoquo modo, aut victus, aut victor. Nam ets negando ceciderit, cum tormentis tamen praeliatus. Malo miserandum quam erubescendum. Pulchrior est miles in praelio amissus, quam in fuga salvus. Times hominem, Christiane, quem timeri oportet ab angelis, siquidem agelos judicaturus es; quem timeri oportet a daemoniis, siquidem et in daemonas accepisti potestatem; quem timeri oportet ab universo mundo, siquidem et in te mundus judicatur. Christum indutus es, siquidem in Christum tinctus es. Qui fugis diabolum, depreciasti Christum, qui in te est. Fugitivum cum diabolo te reddidisti. Sed Dominum fugiens, exprobras omnibus fugitivis sui vanitatem consilii. Fugerat et quidam animosus prophetes Dominum, trajecerat ab Joppe Tarsum, quasi a Deo transfretaret; sed illum non dico in mari et in terra, verum in utero etiam bestiae invenio, in quo nec mori per triduum potuit, nec vel sic Deum evadere. Quanto melius Dei servus? qui sive inimicus Dei imminet, non fugit eum; sed potius contemnit, confidens scilicet de tutela Domini, sive Deum reformidat, quanto magis sub oculis ejus astitit, dicens: Dominus est, potens est: omnia illius sunt: ubi ubi fuero, in manu ejus sum; faciat quod vult, non discedo; et si perire me volet, ipse me perdat, dum me ego servo illi. Malo invidiam ei facere per voluntatem ipsius pereundo, quam bilem, per meam evadendo.
Let him die in whatever way, either conquered or conqueror. For even if he has fallen by denying, he has nevertheless fought with the tortures. I would rather be pitied than be blushed for. More glorious is the soldier lost in battle than the one saved in flight. You fear man, Christian, you who ought to be feared by angels, since you are to judge angels; who ought to be feared by demons, since you have also received power over demons; who ought to be feared by the whole world, since the world too is judged in you. You have put on Christ, since you have been dipped into Christ. You who flee the devil have cheapened Christ, Who is in you. You have made yourself a fugitive together with the devil. But in fleeing the Lord, you reproach all fugitives with the futility of their design. A certain bold prophet too had fled the Lord, had crossed over from Joppa to Tarsus, as though he could sail away from God; but I find him, I do not say on sea and on land, but even in the belly of a beast, in which for three days he could neither die nor even so escape God. How much better is the servant of God, who, whether the enemy of God threatens, does not flee him but rather despises him, trusting, that is, in the protection of the Lord; or whether he stands in awe of God, all the more stands under His eyes, saying: He is the Lord, He is mighty: all things are His: wherever I may be, I am in His hand; let Him do what He wills, I do not depart; and if He wills me to perish, let Him Himself destroy me, provided that I keep myself for Him. I would rather bring odium upon Him by perishing through His will than [rouse His] anger by escaping through my own.
CAPUT XI.
Chapter XI.
Hoc sentire et facere omnem servum Dei oportet, etiam minoris loci, ut majoris fieri possit, si quem gradum ex persecutionis tolerantia ascenderit. Sed cum ipsi auctores, id est, ipsi diaconi, presbyteri et episcopi fugiunt, quomodo laicus intelligere poterit, qua ratione dictum (Matth. X. 23): Fugite de civitate in civitatem? Itaque cum duces fugiunt, quis de gregario numero sustinebit ad gradum in acie figendum suadentes?
Every servant of God ought to think and do this, even one of lesser rank, so that he may become one of greater, if he has climbed some step through the endurance of persecution. But when the authorities themselves, that is, the deacons, presbyters and bishops themselves, flee, how will a layman be able to understand for what reason it was said (Matt. 10:23): Flee from city to city? And so when the leaders flee, who of the rank and file will bear with them when they urge him to plant his foot in the battle line?
Editors' notes and page, col. 134
Footnotes
(15) ‹anchor: ut majoris fieri possit› · call in col 134
Ut majoris loci fieri possit. Sic libro de Baptismo, majores dicit eos, qui in ordinem ecclesiasticum sunt allecti. RIG.
That he may become of higher place. So in the book On Baptism he calls majores (the greater) those who have been chosen into the ecclesiastical order. Rigault.
(printed under page 71)
(16) ‹anchor: Sed cum ipsi auctores› · call in col 134
Sed cum ipsi auctores. Auctores dicit Ecclesiae praepositos et magistros, quos penes est Ecclesiae habendae auctoritas. Et in Glossis Philoxeni, Auctor, ἀρχηγὸς, αὐθέντης, et in Agrimensorum libris auctores absolute ponuntur pro doctoribus et magistris. RIG.
But when the authorities themselves. By "authorities" he means the Church's overseers and teachers, with whom lies the authority of governing the Church. And in the Glosses of Philoxenus, Auctor = ἀρχηγός, αὐθέντης; and in the books of the land-surveyors "auctores" is used absolutely for teachers and masters. Rigault.
(printed under page 71)
(17) ‹anchor: presbyteri et episcopi fugiunt› · call in col 134
Ipsi diaconi, presbyteri et episcopi fugiunt. Hoc dedecus exprobrat lib. de Corona : « Novi et pastores eorum, in pace leones, in praelio cervos. » RIG.
The deacons, presbyters and bishops themselves flee. He reproaches this disgrace in the book On the Crown: "I know their shepherds too, lions in peace, deer in battle." Rigault.
(printed under page 71)
(18) ‹anchor: cum duces fugiunt› · call in col 134
Cum duces fugiunt. Hoc est auctores, ut modo dixit, et pastores, qui in pace leones, in praelio cervi esse solent, ut exprobrat de Corona. milit., (continues)
When the leaders flee. That is, the authorities, as he has just said, and the shepherds, who are wont to be lions in peace and deer in battle, as he reproaches in On the Soldier's Crown, (continues)
(printed under page 71)
Page
- running head: [cut off at left edge] GA IN PERSECUTIONE. 134
- marginal letters: A ‹magis Graecum versiculum›; B ‹ab angelis, siquidem agelos›; C ‹inimicus Dei imminet›; D ‹laicus intelligere poterit›
- old-edition numerals: 113 after ‹prophetes›
- other: the call (14) is printed in THIS column, after ‹rursus praeliabitur› (line 2); its note (the Greek verse, printed under page 71) is set in n133.md, which gives the call as "col 133 (inferred)". Move it here, or correct its call line, in the settle step (Q1a, 2026-10-18).
- other: misprints kept as printed: ‹ets› (for etsi) in ‹Nam ets negando›; ‹agelos› (for angelos) in ‹siquidem agelos judicaturus›.
Certe quidem bonus pastor animam pro pecoribus ponit; ut Moyses, non Domino adhuc Christo revelato, etiam in se figurato, ait (Exod. XXXII, 32): Si perdis hunc populum, inquit, et me pariter cum eo disperde. Caeterum, Christo confirmante figuras suas, malus pastor est, qui viso lupo fugit, et pecora diripienda dcrelinquit (Joan. X, 12): projicietur de villa pastor hujusmodi: detinebuntur illi missionis suae mercedes in compensationem, imo et de priore peculio ejus exigetur detrimenti Dominici restitutio. Etenim qui habet, dabitur ei; ab eo autem qui non habet, etiam quod videtur habere auferetur (Matth. XIII, 12). Sic Zacharias (XIII, 7) comminatur: Exsurge romphaea in pastores, et evellite oves, superducam manum meam in pastores. In quos et Ezechiel (Ezech. XXXIV, 2) et Jeremias iisdem minis perorant, quod non tantum de pecoribus improbe vescantur, pascentes potius semetipsos, verum quod dispersum gregem faciant in praedam esse omnibus bestiis agri, dum non est pastor illis. Quod nunquam magis fit, quam cum in persecutione destituitur Ecclesia a clero. Si et Spiritum quis agnoverit, audiet et fugitivos denotantem. Porro, si eos qui gregi praesunt, fugere, cum lupi irruunt, nec decet, imo nec licet (qui enim talem pastorem malum pronuntiavit, utique damnavit, omne autem quod damnatur, illicitum factum est sine dubio), ideo praepositos Ecclesiae in persecutione fugere non oportebit. Caeterum, si grex fugere deberet, non deberet praepositus gregis stare, sine causa staturus ad tutelam gregis, quam grex non desideraret, ex licentia fugae scilicet.
Certainly the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; as Moses, when the Lord Christ had not yet been revealed, though He was already prefigured in him, says (Exod. 32:32): If Thou destroyest this people, he says, destroy me too along with it. But, as Christ confirms His own figures, a bad shepherd is he who, on seeing the wolf, flees and abandons the flock to be torn apart (John 10:12): a shepherd of this kind will be thrown off the farm; the wages of his hire will be withheld from him by way of compensation, and indeed restitution for the Lord's loss will be exacted even from his former savings. For to him who has, it shall be given; but from him who does not have, even what he seems to have shall be taken away (Matt. 13:12). Thus Zechariah (13:7) threatens: Arise, sword, against the shepherds, and pluck out the sheep; I will bring My hand upon the shepherds. Against these both Ezekiel (Ezek. 34:2) and Jeremiah declaim with the same threats, that not only do they wickedly feed upon the sheep, feeding themselves rather [than the flock], but that they make the scattered flock a prey to all the beasts of the field, since there is no shepherd for them. This never happens more than when in persecution the Church is abandoned by the clergy. If anyone acknowledges the Spirit as well, he will hear Him also branding the fugitives. Moreover, if it is neither fitting nor even lawful for those who are set over the flock to flee when the wolves rush in (for He who declared such a shepherd bad certainly condemned him, and everything that is condemned has without doubt been made unlawful), then it will not be right for the leaders of the Church to flee in persecution. But if the flock ought to flee, the leader of the flock ought not to stand his ground, since he would be standing without reason for the protection of the flock, which the flock would not need, namely because of the licence to flee.
CAPUT XII.
Chapter XII.
Quod pertineat, frater, ad tuum problema, habes sententiae nostrae responsionem et exhortationem. Porro, qui quaerit an persecutio fugienda sit, sequentem quoque quaestionem jam prospiciat necesse est, an, si fugienda non est, redimenda certe sit. Ultro igitur et de hoc tibi suggeram, definiens persecutionem, quam constat non esse fugiendam,
As far as concerns your problem, brother, you have the answer and exhortation of our opinion. Moreover, whoever asks whether persecution is to be fled must already foresee the following question as well: whether, if it is not to be fled, it may at least be bought off. Of my own accord, therefore, I will advise you on this too, defining that persecution, which it is established is not to be fled,
Editors' notes and page, col. 135
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 45 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred) Suadere Rhen., Semler. figendam suadere Pam.
"Suadere" Rhenanus, Semler; "figendam suadere" Pamelius.
46 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred) Messionis, Latin.
"Messionis" Latinius.
47 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred) Vel inser. Lat.
Latinius inserts "vel".
48 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred) Suae in compensatione, Pam.
"Suae in compensatione" Pamelius.
49 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred) Et Seml. Rhen.
"Et" Semler, Rhenanus.
50 ‹anchor: sine causa staturus› · call in col 135 Debere praepositos g. s. s. c. staturos Rhen.
"Debere praepositos g. s. s. c. staturos" (i.e. "debere praepositos gregis stare, sine causa staturos") Rhenanus.
51 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 136 (inferred) Timiditas cod Wouw.
"Timiditas" Wouwer's manuscript.
52 ‹anchor: imo depretiat› · call in col 136 De pretio Seml.
"De pretio" Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 72)
(19) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 (inferred)
Detinebuntur illi missionis suae mercedes in compensationem. Pecoris scilicet a lupo direpti per negligentiam aut perfidiam pastoris, cujus fidei vigilantiaeque commissum fuerat pacta commissionis mercede. RIG.
The wages of his discharge will be withheld from him by way of compensation. That is, for the flock torn by the wolf through the negligence or faithlessness of the shepherd, to whose faith and vigilance it had been entrusted for an agreed wage of the charge. Rigault.
(printed under page 72)
(20) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 135 or 136 (not visible)
Pedibus stetisti, cucurristi nummis. Haec propter Libellaticos qui judicibus libellum offerebant, quo se christianos esse profitebantur, adeoque sibi non licere profanorum sacris contaminari; poenam vero numerata pecunia redimebant. Iis autem non multo mitior fuit Ecclesia, quam lapsis, sive ἐπιτεθυκόσι εἰδώλοις. LE PR.
You stood on your feet, you ran with your coins. This concerns the libellatici, who offered the judges a certificate in which they professed themselves Christians, and therefore not allowed to be defiled by the rites of the profane, but bought off the penalty with money paid down. Yet the Church was not much gentler with them than with the lapsed, or those who had sacrificed to idols. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 72)
Page
- running head: 135 TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — (cut off at right edge)
- marginal letters: A ‹dentes ? Certe quidem bonus pastor›; B ‹in pastores. In quos et Ezechiel›; C ‹grex fugere deberet, non deberet›; D ‹c. 1. Ad quos adduco illud Aristophanis› (in the Commentarius)
- old-edition numerals: 114 after ‹verum quod›
proinde nec redimendam. Pretium interest. Caeterum, sicut fuga redemptio gratuita est, ita redemptio nummaria fuga est. Certe et hujus timiditatis consilium est. Quod times, redimis; ergo fugis. Pedibus stetisti, cucurristi nummis. Hoc ipsum quod stetisti ex redemptione, fugisti. Ut autem redimas hominem tuum nummis, quem sanguine suo redemit Christus, quam indignum Deo et dispositione ejus, qui Filio suo non pepercit pro te (Rom. VIII, 32), ut fieret maledictum pro nobis; quia maledictus qui pependerit in ligno (Deut. XXI, 23; Galat. III, 13); qui tanquam ovis ad victimam ductus est, et tanquam agnus ante tondentem, sic non aperuit os (Isa. LIII, 7); sed posuit dorsum suum in flagella, maxillas autem in palmas, et faciem non avertit a sputaminibus (Isa. L. 6), et inter iniquos deputatus est (Isa. LIII, 12), et traditus est in mortem, mortem autem crucis (Philipp. II, 8): totum hoc, ut nos a peccatis lucraretur! Sol cessit diem emptionis nostrae. Apud inferos emancipatio nostra est, et stipulatio nostra in coelis. Sublevatae sunt portae sempiternae, ut imtroiret rex gloriae, Dominus virtutum (Psal. XXIII, 9), hominem de terris, imo ab inferis, mercatus in coelos. Quis est nunc qui adversus illum reluctatur, imo depretiat, et mercedem ejus tam magno comparatam, pretiosissimo scilicet sanguine, commaculat? Jam ergo melius fugere quam fieri viliorem, si non tanto sibi constabit homo, quanti constitit Domino. Et Dominus quidem illum redemit. ab angelis munditenentibus potestatibus, a spiritalibus nequitiae, a tenebris hujus aevi, a judicio aeterno, a morte perpetua. Tu autem pro eo pacisceris cum delatore, vel milite, vel furunculo aliquo praeside, sub tunica et sinu (quod aiunt) ut furtivo, quem coram toto mundo Christus emit, imo et manumisit! Hunc ergo liberum pretio aestimabis, et pretio possidebis, nisi eodem, quanto (ut diximus) Domino constitit, sanguine suo scilicet? Ut quid ergo de homine Christum redimis in homine, in quo Christus est? Non aliter et Simon facere tentavit, cum pecuniam apostolis obtulit pro spiritu
and therefore not to be redeemed either. The price makes the difference. For the rest, just as flight is a redemption without payment, so redemption with money is a flight. Certainly this too is the counsel of timidity. What you fear, you buy off; therefore you flee. On your feet you stood; with your coins you ran. This very standing of yours was, by way of the redemption, a fleeing. But that you should redeem with money your man, whom Christ redeemed with His own blood, how unworthy of God and of His dispensation, Who did not spare His own Son for you (Rom. 8:32), that He might become a curse for us, because cursed is he who has hung on a tree (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13); Who as a sheep was led to the sacrifice, and as a lamb before the shearer, so He did not open His mouth (Isa. 53:7); but He set His back to the scourges, and His cheeks to the palms, and did not turn His face away from spittings (Isa. 50:6), and was reckoned among the wicked (Isa. 53:12), and was delivered to death, and the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8): all this, that He might win us from sins! The sun yielded the day of our purchase. Among those below is our emancipation, and our stipulation is in the heavens. The everlasting gates were lifted up, that the King of glory, the Lord of powers, might enter (Ps. 23:9), having bought man from the earth, nay, from the underworld, into the heavens. Who is there now who struggles against Him, nay, depreciates and defiles His merchandise, acquired at so great a cost, namely by the most precious blood? Now then it is better to flee than to become cheaper, if man is not to cost himself as much as he cost the Lord. And the Lord indeed redeemed him from the angelic world-ruling powers, from the spiritual hosts of wickedness, from the darkness of this age, from eternal judgement, from perpetual death. But you bargain for him with an informer, or a soldier, or some petty-thief of a governor, under the tunic and in the fold of the robe (as they say), as though he were stolen goods, him whom Christ bought before the whole world, nay, and set free! Will you then put a price on this free man, and possess him at a price, unless at the same price he cost the Lord (as we have said), namely His blood? Why then do you redeem Christ from man in a man, in whom Christ is? Not otherwise did Simon also try to act, when he offered money to the apostles for the Spirit
Editors' notes and page, col. 136
Footnotes
(21) ‹anchor: stipulatio nostra in coelis› · call in col 136
Sol cessit diem emptionis nostrae. Apud inferos emancipatio nostra, et stipulatio nostra in coelis. Solem dicit representasse emptionis nostrae diem, quo die Christus Dominus surrexit a mortuis. Itaque cessit dies Solis in diem redemptionis nostrae. Christi morte emancipatio nostra celebrata est. Emptor familiae Christus moriens, Emptor ipse et pretium. Merx et familia homo. Stipulator in coelis Deus. Emptionis nostrae sponsor et pretium Christus ad Patrem regrediens, summae totius arrhabonem intulit coelo. RIG.
The Sun yielded the day of our purchase. Our emancipation is among the dead, and our stipulation in heaven. He says the Sun represented the day of our purchase, the day on which Christ the Lord rose from the dead. So the Sun's day became the day of our redemption. By Christ's death our emancipation was performed. The buyer of the household is Christ dying; He is Himself both buyer and price. The goods and the household are man. The stipulator in heaven is God. Christ, the guarantor and the price of our purchase, returning to the Father, brought into heaven the pledge of the whole sum. Rigault.
(printed under page 72)
(22) ‹anchor: depretiat, et mercedem› · call in col 136
Imo depretiat mercedem. Cupiens redemptam vilibus nummis. Mercedem vocat hominem Christi sanguine redemptum. RIG.
Rather he cheapens the purchase. By wanting it redeemed with paltry coins. He calls "the purchase" the man redeemed by Christ's blood. Rigault.
(printed under page 72)
(23) ‹anchor: in quo Christus est› · call in col 136
Ut quid ergo de homine Christum redimis in (continues under page 73; the rest is set in n137.md)
Why then, with a man, do you redeem Christ in (continues; see n137.md)
(printed under page 72)
Page
- running head: [PATROLOGIAE LATINAE TOM. I — TERTULLIANI OPER]UM PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA. 136 (left part cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹proinde nec redimendam. Pretium interest›; B ‹et faciem non avertit a sputaminibus›; C ‹stitit Domino. Et Dominus quidem›; D ‹beside the Commentarius note (21), in the foot apparatus›
- old-edition numerals: 115 after ‹Sublevatae sunt›
- other: calls printed in THIS column whose notes are set in n135.md: variant 51 after ‹hujus timiditatis›; variant 52 after ‹imo depretiat›; Commentarius (20) after ‹cucurristi nummis› (printed "(20." with the closing bracket dropped). n135 gives (20) as "col 135 or 136"; it is col 136. Settle step: move or re-label (Q1a, 2026-10-18).
- other: misprints kept as printed: ‹imtroiret› (for introiret); the full stop before lower-case ‹ab angelis› (‹illum redemit. ab›).
- other: the word spi-ritu, split at the column break, now stands whole as ‹spiritu› at the end of this column (English "for the Spirit"); col 137 (c137_a.md) now opens with ‹Christi› / "of Christ" (tail dropped by Q2, 2026-10-18).
- other: italic markup removed from the source and English of c136_a.md (unit rule: no italic markup).
Christi. Audiet ergo et iste, qui se redimens, Christi spiritum redemit: Pecunia tua tecum sit in interitum, quoniam gratiam Dei pretio consequendam putasti (Act. VIII, 20). Quis talem abnegatorem spernat? Quid enim dicit ille concussor? Da mihi pecuniam. Certe ne eum tradat; siquidem non aliud venditat, quam quod praestaturus est praemio tuo. Cum das, utique ne tradaris voluisti. Non traditus autem, traduci habebas. Ergo dum nolendo tradi non vis traduci, nolendo negasti, quod te esse traduci noluisti. Imo, inquis, dum nolo traduci quod sum, sum confessus id esse quod nolo traduci, id est, Christianum. Potes itaque te martyrem vindicare? constanter ostendisse Christum? Redimens, non ostendisti. Apud unum si forte confessus es, ergo et apud plures nolendo confiteri, negasti. Ipsa salus judicabit hominem excidisse, dum evadit. Excidit ergo qui maluit evasisse. Negatio est etiam martyrii recusatio. Christianus pecunia salvus est; et in hoc nummos habet ne patiatur, dum adversus Deum erit dives. At enim Christus sanguine fuit dives pro illo: Felices itaque pauperes, quia illorum est, inquit (Matth. V), regnum coelorum, qui animam solam in confiscato habent. Si non possumus Deo servire et mammonae, possumus a Deo redimi et a mammona? Quis enim magis serviet mammonae, quam quem mammonas redemit? Postremo, quo exemplo uteris in redemptionem traditionis? Apostoli persecutionibus agitati, quando se pecunia tractantes liberaverunt? quae illis utique non deerat, ex praediorum pre⟨t⟩iis ad pedes eorum depositis; certe m⟨u⟩ltis locupletibus credentibus viris ac feminis, qui his etiam refrigeria subministrabant. Quando Onesiphorus, aut Aquila, aut Stephanus, hoc modo eis in persecutione succurrerunt? Paulus quidem, cum Felix praeses pecunias accepturum se pro eo a discipulis sperasset, de quo et ipse in secreto tractavit cum ipso, neque ipse pro se, neque discipuli pro eo numerarunt. Illi utique discipuli, qui flentes quod Hierosolymam tendere perseveraret,
of Christ. Therefore this man too, who by buying himself off has bought the Spirit of Christ, will hear: May your money be with you unto destruction, because you thought that the grace of God was to be obtained by a price (Acts 8:20). Who would spurn such a denier? For what does that extortioner say? Give me money. Certainly, so that he may not betray him; since he sells nothing other than what he is going to furnish in return for your payment. When you give, you have plainly wished not to be betrayed. But not betrayed, you were liable to be exposed. Therefore, while by being unwilling to be betrayed you do not wish to be exposed, by being unwilling you have denied what you were unwilling to be exposed as being. Nay, you say, while I am unwilling to be exposed as what I am, I have confessed that I am that which I am unwilling to be exposed as, that is, a Christian. Can you therefore claim yourself a martyr? to have steadfastly shown forth Christ? By buying yourself off, you did not show Him forth. If perhaps you confessed before one, then before many, by being unwilling to confess, you denied. His very safety will judge that the man has fallen, while he escapes. He has fallen, therefore, who preferred to have escaped. The refusal of martyrdom is also a denial. A Christian is saved by money; and for this purpose he has coins, that he may not suffer, so long as he will be rich against God. But Christ was rich in blood for him: Happy therefore are the poor, for theirs is, He says (Matt. 5), the kingdom of heaven, who have only their soul in the treasury. If we cannot serve God and mammon, can we be ransomed by God and by mammon? For who will serve mammon more than he whom mammon has ransomed? Finally, what example do you use for the buying-off of betrayal? The apostles, harried by persecutions, when did they, dealing in money, free themselves? which money they certainly did not lack, from the prices of estates laid at their feet; certainly with many wealthy believers, men and women, who also supplied them with refreshments. When did Onesiphorus, or Aquila, or Stephanus, come to their aid in this way in persecution? Paul indeed, when Felix the governor had hoped that he would receive money for him from the disciples, about which he also dealt with him in secret, neither paid for himself, nor did the disciples pay for him. Those disciples, certainly, who, weeping because he persisted in heading for Jerusalem,
Editors' notes and page, col. 137
Footnotes
<!-- The signature line "PATROL. II." and the gathering numeral "5" at the foot are printer's marks, not notes. --> Variae lectiones. 53 ‹anchor: abnegatorem› · call in col 137 Tamen abnegatorem Rhen. Pam. Seml. ab negatore rem Lat. spernatur Seml.
"Tamen abnegatorem" Rhenanus, Pamelius, Semler; "ab negatore rem" Latinius; "spernatur" Semler.
54 ‹anchor: traditus autem› · call in col 137 Ne addit. Latin.
Latinius adds "ne".
55 ‹anchor: Apostoli› · call in col 137 Tractantes add. Rhen.
Rhenanus adds "tractantes".
56 ‹anchor: pecunia tractantes› · call in col 137 Seml. Tractantes hic abest. Rhen. Seml.
Semler. "Tractantes" is absent here in Rhenanus, Semler.
57 ‹anchor: flentes quod› · call in col 137 Neque add. Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür add "neque".
58 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 137 or 138 (not visible) Ab apice Pam. Paris. Fran.
"Ab apice" Pamelius, the Paris edition, the Franeker edition.
59 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 138 (inferred) Disposito statu Pam. Fran. Paris.
"Disposito statu" Pamelius, the Franeker edition, the Paris edition.
60 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 138 (inferred) Aliqua redemptione Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Aliqua redemptione" Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
61 ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 138 (inferred) Numerati Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Numerati" Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
62 ‹anchor: proponere potest› · call in col 138 Potes Jun.
"Potes" Junius.
Commentarius. (printed under page 73) (23, continued) ‹anchor: in quo Christus est› · call in col 136 (note begun under page 72, n136.md) homine in quo Christus est? Hoc sibi vult Septimius : Quid ab homine ethnico, delatore scilicet vel milite, vel furunculo praeside Christianae sectae licentiam tibi redimis, tibi, inquam, Christiano, qui si Christianus es, Christum in te habes? Quid pecunia redimis Spiritum Christi, hoc est, ut tibi vivere liceat Christiano? Itaque mox dicet Septimius : Non decet Christum pecunia constare. RIG.
a man in whom Christ is? This is what Septimius means: Why do you buy from a heathen man, namely an informer or a soldier or a petty-thief of a governor, licence for the Christian sect for yourself, for yourself, I say, a Christian, who, if you are a Christian, have Christ in you? Why do you redeem the Spirit of Christ with money, that is, so that you may be allowed to live as a Christian? So presently Septimius will say: It is not fitting that Christ should cost money. Rigault.
(printed under page 73)
(24) ‹anchor: in confiscato habent› · call in col 137
Animam solam in confiscato habent. Verbo confiscatum usus est Suetonius, ubi pecuniam dicens confiscatam intelligit asservatam in fiscis. LE PR.
They have only their soul in the treasury. Suetonius used the word confiscatum, where by saying money was "confiscated" he means it was kept in the coffers. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 73)
(25) ‹anchor: liberaverunt› · call in col 137
Apostoli tractantes, persecutionibus agitati quando se pecunia liberaverunt? Haec ita restituebat Pithoeus : « Apostoli persecutionibus agitati, quando se pecunia tractantes liberaverunt? » RIG.
The apostles, dealing with, harried by persecutions, when did they set themselves free with money? Pithou restored this thus: "The apostles, harried by persecutions, when did they, dealing in money, set themselves free?" Rigault.
(printed under page 73)
Page
- running head: DE FUGA IN PERSEC (cut off at image edge)
- marginal letters: A ritu Christi. Audiet ergo; B confessus es, ergo et apud plures; C tionibus agitati, quando se pecunia; D homine in quo Christus est? (in the Commentarius)
- old-edition numerals: 116 after inquit
- other: the column opens on the page with the tail ‹ritu› of spi-ritu; the word stands whole at the end of col 136, so the tail is not set here (Q2, 2026-10-18).
- other: damaged type, letters supplied in ‹⟨ ⟩›: ‹pre⟨t⟩iis›, ‹m⟨u⟩ltis› (the line ‹praediorum pretiis ad pedes› is broken on the page).
et persecutiones praedicatas illic non praecaveret, postremo inquiunt: Fiat voluntas Dei (Act. XXI, 14). Quae ista voluntas? Utique ut pateretur pro nomine Domini, non ut redimeretur. Oportet enim, quomodo Christus animam suam posuit pro nobis (I Joan. III. 16), ita fieri pro eo et a nobis; nec tantum pro ipso, imo etiam pro fratribus proppter ipsum. Quod Joannes docens, non et fratribus numerandum, sed moriendum potius pronuntiavit. Nihil interest, si quem Christianum redimere non debeas, aut emere. Et adeo voluntas Dei sic est. Aspice regnorum et imperiorum utique a Deo dispositum statum: In cujus manu cor regis (Prov. XXI, 1): tanta quotidie aerario augendo prospiciuntur remedia censuum, vectigalium, collationum, stipendiorum: nec unquam usque adhuc ex Christianis tale aliquid prospectum est, sub aliquam redemptionem capitis et sectae redigendis, cum tantae multitudinis nemini ignotae fructus ingens meti posset. Sanguine empti, sanguine numerati, nullum nummum pro capite debemus; quia caput nostrum Christus est. Non decet Christum pecunia constare. Quomodo et martyria fieri possent in gloriam Domini, si tributo licentiam sectae compensaremus? Itaque qui eam praemio paciscitur dispositioni divinae adversatur. Cum igitur nihil nobis Caesar indixerit in hunc modum stipendiariae sectae, sed nec indici unquam tale quid possit, Antichristo jam instante, et in sanguinem, non in pecunias hiante Christianorum, quomodo mihi proponere potest Scripturam esse: Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari? Miles me, vel delator, vel inimicus concutit, nihil Caesari exigens, imo contra faciens, cum Christianum, legibus humanis reum, mercede dimittit. Alius est denarius, quem Caesari debeo, qui ad eum pertinet, de quo tunc agebatur, tributarius, a tributariis scilicet, non a liberis debitus. Aut quomodo reddam quae sunt Dei Deo? Utique proinde imaginem et monetam ipsius, inscriptam nomine ejus, id est, hominem Christianum. Quid autem Deo debeo, sicut denarium
and did not guard against the persecutions foretold there, they at last say: The will of God be done (Acts 21:14). What is this will? Surely that he should suffer for the name of the Lord, not that he should be ransomed. For it behoves, as Christ laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16), that the same be done for Him by us also; and not only for Him, but also for the brethren on His account. Teaching this, John declared not that one must pay for the brethren, but rather that one must die. It makes no difference whether it is ransoming a Christian or buying one that you ought not to do. And so the will of God is thus. Look at the state of kingdoms and empires, ordered indeed by God, in Whose hand is the heart of the king (Prov. 21:1): so many expedients are devised daily for increasing the treasury, of censuses, of tolls, of contributions, of payments: and never until now has any such thing been devised from Christians, to be brought under some ransom of the head and of the sect, although a huge revenue could be reaped from so great a multitude, unknown to no one. Bought with blood, paid for with blood, we owe no coin for our head; for our head is Christ. It is not fitting that Christ should cost money. How too could martyrdoms take place to the glory of the Lord, if we were to pay for the licence of the sect by tribute? Therefore he who bargains for it with a fee opposes the divine disposition. Since, then, Caesar has imposed nothing on us after this manner of a tributary sect, nor indeed could any such thing ever be imposed, with Antichrist now at hand and gaping for the blood, not the money, of Christians, how can it be put to me that it is Scripture: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's? A soldier, or an informer, or an enemy extorts from me, demanding nothing for Caesar, indeed acting against him, when for a fee he lets go a Christian who is guilty under human laws. Another is the denarius which I owe to Caesar, which belongs to him, about which the question then was, the tributary one, owed, that is, by tributaries, not by free men. Or how shall I render to God the things that are God's? Surely, accordingly, His image and coin, inscribed with His name, that is, a Christian man. But what do I owe to God, as the denarius
Editors' notes and page, col. 138
Footnotes
(26) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 138 (inferred)
Fiat voluntas Dei. Justinus, Apologia II, pro Christ. : Ὃ φίλον τῷ Θεῷ τοῦτο γενέσθω. RIG.
God's will be done. Justin, Apology II for the Christians: "Whatever is dear to God, let that come to pass." Rigault.
(printed under page 73)
(27) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot crop› · call in col 138 (inferred)
Nec unquam usque adhuc ex Christianis tale aliquid prospectum, etc. Sed paulo post factum fuisse colligitur ex iis, quae apud Cyprianum leguntur de libellaticis. RIG.
Nor has any such thing ever yet been seen among Christians, etc. But that it was done a little later is gathered from what is read in Cyprian about the libellatici. Rigault.
(printed under page 73)
(28) ‹anchor: Antichristo jam instante› · call in col 138
Antichristo jam instante. Haud aliter Judas opus suum in hebdomadas Danielis usque ad decimum Severi annum producens, adventum Antichristi eo tempore praedixisse videtur. Refert B. Hieronymus in Catal. script. et Niceph., lib. V, c. 35, In quo (inquit ibid. B. Hieron.), erroris arguitur; sed hoc ideo scripsit, quia magnitudo persecutionis praesentem mundi minabatur occasum. PAM.
With Antichrist now at hand. In the same way Judas, carrying his work on Daniel's weeks down to the tenth year of Severus, seems to have foretold the coming of Antichrist for that time. Blessed Jerome reports it in the Catalogue of Writers, and Nicephorus, book 5, chapter 35. "In this," says blessed Jerome in the same place, "he is convicted of error; but he wrote it because the greatness of the persecution threatened the present end of the world." Pamelius.
(printed under page 73)
(29) ‹anchor: hominem Christianum› · call in col 138
Imaginem et monetam ipsius, id est, hominem Christianum. Ignatius epist. ad Magnesianos; (continues)
His image and coinage, that is, the Christian man. Ignatius, letter to the Magnesians; (continues)
(printed under page 73)
Page
- running head: [DE F]UGA IN PERSECUTIONE. 138 (left part cut off at image edge)
- marginal letters: A et persecutiones praedicatas illic; B stipendiorum: nec unquam usque; C in pecunias hiante Christianorum; D (26) Fiat voluntas Dei. Justinus (in the Commentarius)
- old-edition numerals: 117 after gloriam
- other: "proppter" printed as propp- / pter across a line break; "martyria" printed with a stray accent (mártyria), set without it; bottom of page has Variae lectiones and Commentarius (editors' notes 26-29), not set; signature "5" not set; left column (137) partly visible, not set
Caesari, nisi sanguinem, quem pro me Filius fudit ipsius? Quod si Deo quidem hominem, et sanguinem meum debeo; nunc vero in eo sum tempore, ut quod Deo debeo expostuler; utique fraudem Deo facio, id agens, ne quod debeo solvam. Bene observavi praeceptum, Caesari reddens quae sunt Caesaris, Deo vero quae sunt Dei abnegans?
to Caesar, except the blood which His Son shed for me? But if to God I owe a man, and my blood, and I am now at that time when what I owe to God is demanded of me, surely I defraud God, by acting so as not to pay what I owe. Have I kept the precept well, rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but denying to God the things that are God's?
CAPUT XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Sed et omni petenti me dabo (Matth. V, 42). In causa eleemosynae, non in concussurae. Petenti, inquit. Porro, qui concutit, non petit. Qui comminatur, si non acceperit, non postulat, sed extorquet. Non eleemosynam exspectat, qui non miserandus, sed timendus venit. Dabo igitur misericordiae, non timiditatis meae nomine, ubi qui accepit, Deum honorat et benedictionem mihi reddit; non ubi amplius se benefactum praestitisse credit, et praedam suam aspiciens dicit: De reatu est. Pascam et inimicum. Sed inimicitiae alios habent titulos. Non tamen dixit traditorem, aut persecutorem, aut concussorem. Nam huic quanto magis carbones acervabo super caput, si non me redemero? Proinde, inquit, qui tibi tunicam sustulerit, vel etiam pallium concede, ad eum pertinet, qui rem, non qui fidem meam eripere quaesierit. Concedam et pallium non minanti traditionem. Si minatus fuerit, etiam tunicam reposcam. Omnium jam
But also to everyone who asks me I will give (Matt. 5:42). In the matter of almsgiving, not in that of extortion. To him who asks, He says. Now he who extorts does not ask. He who threatens, if he does not receive, is not requesting but wresting. He does not look for alms who comes not to be pitied but to be feared. I will give, then, in the name of my mercy, not of my timidity, where he who has received honours God and returns me a blessing; not where he believes that he has rather conferred a benefit himself, and, looking at his booty, says: "It is from the guilt." I will feed even an enemy. But enmities have other titles. Yet He did not say a betrayer, or a persecutor, or an extortioner. For how much more shall I heap coals upon this man's head if I do not buy myself off? Likewise, He says, to him who has taken away your tunic, concede even your cloak: this refers to him who has sought to snatch away my property, not my faith. I will concede even my cloak to one who does not threaten betrayal. If he threatens, I will demand back even my tunic. Now all
Editors' notes and page, col. 139
Footnotes
Variae lectiones. 63 ‹anchor: nunc› · call in col 139 Cum Oberth. Seml. Rhen.
"Cum" Oberthür, Semler, Rhenanus.
64 ‹anchor: concutit› · call in col 139 Incutit Oberth. Seml. Pam. Rhen.
"Incutit" Oberthür, Semler, Pamelius, Rhenanus.
65 ‹anchor: misericordiae› · call in col 139 Misericordiam Rhen.
"Misericordiam" Rhenanus.
66 ‹anchor: Pascam et inimicum› · call in col 139 Ita Rig. de reatu irascar et inimicum Pamel.
So Rigault; "de reatu irascar et inimicum" Pamelius.
67 ‹anchor: not in col 139› · call in col 140 (not printed in col 139) V. pronuntiationum inseruit Rigalt.; abest Pam. Rhen. cogitando suppleri jubet : sententiarum.
Rigault inserted the word "pronuntiationum"; it is absent in Pamelius and Rhenanus; [one] bids that "sententiarum" be supplied in thought.
68 ‹anchor: not in col 139› · call in col 140 (not printed in col 139) Suae Pam.
"Suae" Pamelius.
Commentarius. (printed under page 74)
(30) ‹anchor: dicit (after "praedam suam aspiciens dicit")› · call in col 139
Praedam suam aspiciens dicit : De reatu est. Concussor scilicet aspiciens nummos, quibus acceptis Christianum jam comprehensum dimisit : Hoc de reatu est, inquit. Haec merces, inquit, dimissi a me scelerati. Hoc pretium meae praevaricationis perfidiaeque.
Looking at his plunder he says: This comes of the charge. That is, the extortioner, looking at the coins for which he let go the Christian he had already arrested, says: This comes of the charge. This, he says, is the fee for the criminal I let go; this is the price of my collusion and treachery.
(printed under page 74)
(31) ‹anchor: Pascam et inimicum› · call in col 139
Pascam et inimicum. Verba sunt Christiani tractaturi super redemptione persecutionis, et oblaturi nummos militi, vel delatori, vel inimico concutienti. Haec autem antea erant corruptissima. Restituimus ex lib. Ursini. RIG.
I will feed even my enemy. These are the words of a Christian about to bargain for redemption from persecution and to offer coins to the soldier, or the informer, or the enemy who is squeezing him. This passage was formerly very corrupt; we have restored it from Orsini's book. Rigault.
(printed under page 74)
Page
- running head: 139 TERTULLIANI OPERUM PARS II. — [SERIES I, POLEMICA.] (right part cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: (none) (the letters A and B in the gutter beside this column's text belong to col. 140; C and D stand in the foot apparatus)
- old-edition numerals: 118 before ‹CAPUT XIII.›
- calls printed in this column: 63 (nunc), 64 (concutit), 65 (misericordiae), (30) (dicit), 66 and (31) (inimicum)
nunc Dominicarum pronuntiationum sui sunt et causae et regulae termini, non in infinitum, nec ad omnia spectant. Atque adeo qui omni petenti dari jubet, ipse signum petentibus non dat. Alioquin si omnibus passim petentibus dandum putas, tu mihi videris, non dico vinum febricitanti, sed etiam venenum, aut gladium mortem desideranti daturus. Facite autem vobis amicos de mammona (Luc. XVI), quomodo intelligendum sit, parabola praemissa doceat, ad populum judaicum dicta, qui commissam sibi rationem Domini cum male administrasset, debere de mammonae hominibus, quod nos eramus, amicos sibi potius prospicere, quam inimicos; et revelare nos a debitis peccatorum, quibus Deo detinebamur, si nobis de Dominica ratione conferrent; ut cum coepissent ab hujus deficere gratia, ad nostram fidem refugientes, reciperentur in tabernacula aeterna. Quamvis nunc puta aliam interpretationem parabolae et sententiae istius, dum scias verisimile non esse ut concussores nostri in amicitiam redacti per mammonam, recipiant tunc nos in tabernacula aeterna. Sed quid non timiditas persuadebit? quasi et fugere Scriptura permittat, et redimere praecipiat. Parum denique est, si unus aut alius ita eruitur. Massaliter totae ecclesiae tributum sibi irrogaverunt. Nescio dolendum an erubescendum sit, cum in matricibus beneficiariorum et curiosorum, inter tabernarios, et lanios, et
the Lord's pronouncements have their own causes and rules of limit; they do not extend to infinity, nor do they look to all things. And so He who commands that it be given to everyone who asks does not Himself give a sign to those who ask. Otherwise, if you think it must be given indiscriminately to all who ask, you seem to me likely to give, I do not say wine to a man in a fever, but even poison, or a sword to one who desires death. As for "Make friends for yourselves of mammon" (Luke 16), how it is to be understood, let the parable set before it teach: it was spoken to the Jewish people, who, since they had badly administered the Lord's account committed to them, ought to provide for themselves friends rather than enemies from among the men of mammon, which we were; and to release us from the debts of sins by which we were held bound to God, if they bestowed on us from the Lord's account; so that when they began to fall away from His grace, fleeing for refuge to our faith, they might be received into the eternal tabernacles. However, suppose now another interpretation of the parable and of that saying, provided you know that it is not likely that our extortioners, brought into friendship through mammon, will then receive us into the eternal tabernacles. But what will timidity not persuade? As if Scripture both permits flight and commands ransom. In short, it is a small matter if one or another is rescued in this way. Whole churches have imposed tribute upon themselves en masse. I do not know whether it is to be grieved over or blushed at, when in the registers of the beneficiarii and curiosi, among tavern-keepers and butchers, and
Editors' notes and page, col. 140
Footnotes
(32) ‹anchor: irrogaverunt› · call in col 140
Massaliter totae ecclesiae tributum sibi irrogaverunt. Serie capitum juncta massam fecere vectigalium Christianorum. Sic Optatus, lib. II, sub finem : « Et tamen has plebes coegistis flectere et inclinare cervices, et serie capitum juncta massam poenitentium facere. » RIG.
Whole churches have laid tribute on themselves en masse. Joined in a line of heads, they made a mass of Christian taxpayers. So Optatus, book 2, near the end: "And yet you forced these congregations to bend and bow their necks, and, joined in a line of heads, to make a mass of penitents." Rigault.
(printed under page 74)
(33) ‹anchor: beneficiariorum et curiosorum› · call in col 140
Beneficiariorum et curiosorum. Beneficiarii dicebantur milites beneficio principis assumpti ad officia seu ministeria certa. Itaque apparebant principi, mandatis exsequendis. Ex eorum schola seu corpore erant curiosi, cursus publici curae praepositi, qui et stationarii dicebantur, per stationes dispositi. Iis autem inter caetera hoc muneris injungit lex prima, C. de Curiosis, « ut crimina judicibus nuntianda meminerint. » Ergo reorum nomina requirebant ac deferebant, ipsos reos sistebant tribunalibus et judicio. Vetus historia passionis Fructuosi episcopi : « Direxerunt beneficiarii in domum ejus; » et paulo post . « Cui milites dixerunt : Veni, praeses te accersit, » etc. Scriptor anonymus Vitae Chrysostomi, apud Suidam : Ἑλκόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν Κουριόσων τῆς πόλεως; et apud Euseb. Histor. ecclesiast, lib. IX, c. 9 : Βενεφικιαρίων ὕβρεις καὶ σεισμοί; hujusmodi autem officia tandem in praevaricationes et rapinas et concussiones degeneravere, conniventibus plerumque hominum pessimorum improbitati beneficiariis et curiosis. Nam et ipsi pensionibus annuis aut menstruis corrupti, tabernariorum, ganeonum, furum, lenonum scelera dissimulabant; ita ut domi servarent matriculas turpium hujusmodi pactionum. Cum igitur et in Christianos mandata principum sive proconsulum aut praesidum tanquam in facinorosos atrocia exsequerentur, tandem et istis Christiani quoque pecunias pactis pensionibus numerare coeperunt. Hoc Septimius nomini Christiano turpe ac pudendum esse ait, in matriculis beneficiariorum et curiosorum, inter ganeones et fures, et tabernarios, et lenones, Christianos quoque vectigales censeri. RIG.
Of the beneficiarii and the curiosi. Soldiers taken by the emperor's favour (beneficium) for particular offices or duties were called beneficiarii. They thus attended on the emperor, carrying out his orders. From their school or corps came the curiosi, set over the care of the public post, who were also called stationarii, being posted at the stations. Among other things the first law of the Code title On the Curiosi lays on them this duty, "that they remember to report crimes to the judges." So they sought out and reported the names of the accused, and brought the accused themselves before the tribunals and to trial. The old history of the passion of Bishop Fructuosus: "The beneficiarii made for his house"; and a little after: "To whom the soldiers said: Come, the governor summons you," etc. The anonymous writer of the Life of Chrysostom, in the Suda: "Dragged by the curiosi of the city"; and in Eusebius, Church History, book 9, chapter 9: "the outrages and extortions of the beneficiarii." In the end offices of this kind degenerated into collusion, plunder and extortion, the beneficiarii and curiosi mostly winking at the wickedness of the worst of men. For they themselves, bribed with yearly or monthly payments, overlooked the crimes of tavern-keepers, gluttons, thieves and pimps, so that they kept registers at home of such shameful bargains. And so, when the orders of emperors or proconsuls or governors were being carried out with savagery against Christians as against criminals, Christians too at last began to pay money to these men under agreed payments. Septimius says that it is a shameful and disgraceful thing for the Christian name that Christians too should be entered as tributaries in the registers of the beneficiarii and curiosi, among gluttons and thieves, tavern-keepers and pimps. Rigault.
(printed under page 74)
(34) ‹anchor: inter tabernarios, et lanios› · call in col 140
Inter tabernarios et lanios. Laniorum tabernae in scriptorum monimentis reperiuntur. Et lanios in matricula tabernariorum censitos nemo ambigit. Itaque mendosum esse videatur, quod hic separatim notantur. Certe in exemplaribus antiquis scriptum fuisse janeos et juneos, testatur Rhenanus; quasi ganeos dixerit Septimius pro ganeonibus. Sic enim lib. II ad Uxorem, tabernae adjunxit ganeam : « Audiat sane, inquit, audiat aliquid de scena, de taberna, de ganea, » quod in vulgatis editionibus depravatum antea legebatur de geenna. Et Ammiani Marcellini lib. XXVIII, ubi legitur, « Per Janos et lora clamitant, » legendum, « per ganeas et (continues)
Among tavern-keepers and butchers. Butchers' shops are found in the records of writers, and no one doubts that butchers were entered in the register of tavern-keepers. So it would seem a corruption that they are noted separately here. Certainly Rhenanus testifies that in old copies janeos and juneos was written, as if Septimius had said ganeos for ganeones (gluttons). For so in book 2 To his Wife he joined the eating-house to the tavern: "Let her hear, indeed," he says, "let her hear something of the stage, of the tavern, of the eating-house," which in the common editions was formerly read corrupted as "of Gehenna." And in Ammianus Marcellinus, book 28, where it reads "they shout through the Jani and the thongs," one should read "through the eating-houses and (continues)
(printed under page 74)
Page
- running head: UM PARS II. — SERIES I, POLEMICA. 140
- marginal letters: A nunc Dominicarum pronuntiationum; B ut cum coepissent ab hujus; C Vitae Chrysostomi, apud Suidam (commentary); D Septimius nomini Christiano (commentary)
- old-edition numerals: 119 after curiosorum
fures balnearum, et aleones, et lenones, Christiani quoque vectigales continentur. Hanc episcopatui formam apostoli providentius condiderunt ut regno suo securi frui possent sub obtentu procurandi. Scilicet enim talem pacem Christus, ad Patrem regrediens, mandavit a militibus per saturnalitia redimendam.
bath-house thieves, and dice-players, and pimps, Christians too are included as tributaries. This was the form of the episcopate that the apostles, with greater foresight, established, that they might be able to enjoy their reign securely under the pretext of administering it. For of course such a peace Christ, returning to the Father, commanded to be bought from the soldiers by Saturnalia gifts.
CAPUT XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
Sed quomodo colligemus, inquis, quomodo Dominica solemnia celebrabimus? Utique quomodo et apostoli; fide, non pecunia tuti; quae fides si montem transferre potest, multo magis militem. Esto sapientia, non praemio cautus. Neque enim statim et a populo eris tutus, si officia militaria redemeris. Una ergo tibi et fide et sapientia ad tutelam opus est: quibus non adhibitis, et redemptionem tuam potes perdere; adhibitis, haud redemptionem desiderare. Postremo si colligere interdiu non potes, habes noctem, luce Christi luminosa
But how shall we assemble, you say, how shall we celebrate the Lord's solemnities? Surely as the apostles also did: safe by faith, not by money; and if this faith can move a mountain, much more can it move a soldier. Be guarded by wisdom, not by a bribe. For you will not at once be safe from the populace too, if you have bought off the military officials. So for your protection you need both faith and wisdom together: if these are not applied, you can lose even your buying-off; if they are applied, you need not want the buying-off. Finally, if you cannot assemble by day, you have the night, luminous with the light of Christ
Editors' notes and page, col. 141
Footnotes
<!-- The foot crops begin inside the Commentarius. The column crop (c141_2) shows the head of the Variae lectiones: variant 69, full-width, of which only the left half is visible. Calls (35)–(39) and 69 are printed in this column's text; (40) and (41) in col 142. --> Variae lectiones. 69 ‹anchor: sub obtentu procurandi› · call in col 141 A Neander conj. v. pacem hic excidisse ac restituendam […] (right half of the full-width line not visible in the crops; the next line, ‹…tem luce Christi luminosam cod. Urs. et Wouw.›, belongs to the following variant)
A. Neander conjectures that the word "pacem" has dropped out here and should be restored […] (UNSURE: rest not visible)
Commentarius. (printed under page 75) (34, continued) ‹anchor: in the text of col 140› · note begun under page 74 fora. » Verumtamen, cum illius aevi Christianos tantum ab sanguine et cruore abhorruisse sciamus, ut etiam botulis et caeteris hujusmodi eduliis studiosissime abstinerent, facile mihi persuaderi patiar, Tertullianum hoc loco lanios ab generali tabernariorum appellatione exemisse, quo magis negotii, de quo agitur, foeditatem extolleret. RIG.
[…]» Yet since we know that the Christians of that age shrank so far from blood and gore that they most scrupulously abstained even from sausages and other foods of the kind, I shall readily let myself be persuaded that Tertullian here set butchers apart from the general name of shopkeepers, the more to heighten the foulness of the trade in question. Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
(35) ‹anchor: fures balnearum› · call in col 141
Fures balnearum, Apol. 44, dicuntur lavantium praedones. Infamis habebatur miles in furto balneario deprehensus, l. fin. D. de Fur. noct. vel baln. Contra illas injurias adhibebantur servi qui capsarii sive ἱματιοφύλακες dicuntur, quique aliis etiam usibus serviebant. Paull., l. II, de Off. praef. vig. Unde Lucianus Hippia, Τί ἄν σοι ἐπὶ τούτῳ λέγοιμι, ἱμαλαίστρας, καὶ τὰς κοινὰς τῶν ἱματιοφυλαττόντων κατασκευάς; « Quid referam praeterea palaestras, et communes capsariorum apparatus? » Legunt hic nonnulli balneariorum, quod idem est, quamvis in Gloss. fur balnearius, βαλανειακλέπτης. LE PR.
Bath-thieves are called in the Apology, 44, robbers of bathers. A soldier caught in a theft at the baths was held infamous: last law of the Digest title On night thieves or bath thieves. Against such wrongs slaves were employed who are called capsarii or ἱματιοφύλακες (cloak-keepers), and who also served other uses: Paulus, book 2, On the office of the prefect of the watch. Hence Lucian in the Hippias: "What should I tell you besides, of the wrestling-rooms and the common arrangements of the cloak-keepers?" ("What should I mention besides, the palaestras, and the common equipment of the capsarii?") Some read balneariorum here, which is the same thing, though in the Glosses "fur balnearius" is βαλανειακλέπτης. Le Prieur.
(printed under page 75)
(36) ‹anchor: sub obtentu procurandi› · call in col 141
Ut regno suo securi frui possent sub obtenta procurandi. Jam episcopatus in regnum surgebat, si credimus Septimio, adversus Ecclesiam Romanam sive catholicam scribenti. Sane Ammianum Marcellinum minime audirem, talibus orta principiis libro XXVII narrantem, nisi Sulpicii Severi supremis Historiae sacrae verbis etiam atrociora traderentur. RIG.
That they might enjoy their kingdom in safety under the pretext of providing for it. The episcopate was already rising into a kingdom, if we believe Septimius, writing against the Roman or Catholic Church. I would certainly not listen to Ammianus Marcellinus, telling in book 27 of things sprung from such beginnings, were not even harsher things recorded in the closing words of Sulpicius Severus's Sacred History. Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
(37) ‹anchor: per saturnalitia redimendam› · call in col 141
Talem pacem Christus mandavit a militibus per saturnalitia redimendam. Aut scribendum saturnalia, aut dicendum saturnalitia munera significari, quae saturnalitiae celebritatis occasione militibus sive officialibus proconsulis aut praesidis Christiani mittebant, ut eos haberent aequiores et clementiores... Saturnalia munerum et strenarum dies fuere. Unde illud Martialis, IV : Saturnalia fructuosiora / Annis non habuit decem Sabellius.
Christ commanded such a peace to be bought from the soldiers by Saturnalia gifts. Either one should write "saturnalia", or say that "saturnalitia" means the gifts which Christians sent, on the occasion of the Saturnalia festival, to the soldiers or officials of the proconsul or governor, to find them fairer and more lenient... The Saturnalia were days of presents and New-Year gifts. Hence that line of Martial, book 4: "Sabellius has not had a more profitable Saturnalia / in ten years."
(printed under page 75)
(38) ‹anchor: quomodo colligemus› · call in col 141
Sed quomodo colligemus? πῶς συνάξομεν; Irenaeus, lib. II, cap. 3 : « Confundimus omnes eos qui quoquo modo vel per sui placentiam malam, vel vanam gloriam, vel per caecitatem et malam sententiam, praeterquam oportet colligunt. » Optatus, lib. II : « Non enim grex aut populus appellandi fuerant pauci, qui inter quadraginta et quod excurrit basilicas, locum ubi colligerent non habebant. » RIG.
But how shall we assemble? "How shall we gather?" Irenaeus, book 2, chapter 3: "We confound all those who in any way, whether through evil self-pleasing, or vain glory, or through blindness and evil opinion, hold assemblies otherwise than they ought." Optatus, book 2: "For those few were not to be called a flock or a people, who among forty-odd basilicas had no place where they might assemble." Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
(39) ‹anchor: officia militaria redemeris› · call in col 141
Neque enim statim et a populo tutus eris, si officia militaria redemeris. Etsi nummis oblatis concussores illos, beneficiarios et curiosos placaveris, pacemque ab iis redemeris, non statim et a populi furentis rabie tutus eris. RIG.
For you will not at once be safe from the people too, if you have bought off the military officials. Even if, by offering coins, you have appeased those extortioners, the beneficiarii and curiosi, and bought peace from them, you will not at once be safe from the fury of a raging people as well. Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
(40) ‹anchor: luce Christi luminosa› · call in col 142 (after ‹minosa›, top of col 142)
Habes noctem luce Christi luminosam. Sic liber Ursini. Quod sequitur, adversus eam, prave insertum detrahi velim. RIG.
You have the night, made bright by the light of Christ. So Orsini's book. What follows, against it, was wrongly inserted, and I would have it removed. Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
(41) ‹anchor: quam addicas› · call in col 142
Melius est turbas tuas aliquando non videas, quam addicas. Nempe tributariae servituti. RIG.
It is better that you sometimes do not see your crowds than that you sell them off. Namely, into tributary servitude. Rigault.
(printed under page 75)
Page
- running head: 141 DE FUGA IN PERSECUT (cut off at right edge of image)
- marginal letters: A ‹fures balnearum (35), et aleones›; B ‹ad tutelam opus est›; C ‹tiar, Tertullianum hoc loco lanios› (commentary); D ‹premis Historiae sacrae verbis› (commentary)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: calls in this column: (35) after ‹fures balnearum›; (36) and variant 69 after ‹procurandi›; (37) after ‹redimendam›; (38) after ‹colligemus›; (39) after ‹redemeris› (Q2, 2026-10-18).
- other: the word lu-minosa, split at the column break, stands whole as ‹luminosa› at the end of this column; col 142 opens with the tail.
- other: damaged type, letter supplied in ‹⟨ ⟩›: ‹E⟨s⟩to›.
- running head: 141 DE FUGA IN PERSECUTIONE. 142
- marginal letters: A fures balnearum (35), et aleones; B ad tutelam opus est : quibus non adhibitis; C tiar, Tertullianum hoc loco lanios (commentary); D premis Historiae sacrae (commentary)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
adversus eam. Non potes discurrere per singulos: sit tibi et in tribus Ecclesia. Melius est turbas tuas aliquando non videas, quam addicas. Serva Christo virginem sponsam. Nemo quaestum de ea faciat. Haec tibi, frater, dura forsitan et intolerabilia videntur. Sed recita Deum dixisse: Qui capit, capiat (Matth. XIX, 12); id est, qui non capit, discedat. Non potest qui pati timet, ejus esse qui passus est. At qui pati non timet, iste perfectus erit in dilectione, utique Dei. Perfecta enim dilectio foras mittit timorem (1 Joan. IV, 18). Et ideo multi vocati, pauci electi (Matth. XXII, 14) Non quaeritur qui latam viam sequi paratus sit, sed qui angustam (Matth. VII, 13; Luc. XIII, 24). Et ideo Paracletus necessarius deductor omnium veritatum, exhortator omnium tolerantiarum: quem qui receperunt, neque fugere persecutionem, neque redimere noverunt, habentes ipsum qui pro nobis erit, sic ut locutus in interrogatione, ita juvaturus in passione.
against it. You cannot run about to each one individually: let the Church be for you even in three. It is better that you sometimes do not see your crowds than that you sell them into bondage. Keep the virgin bride for Christ. Let no one make a profit out of her. These things, brother, perhaps seem hard and intolerable to you. But recall that God said: He that can take it, let him take it (Matt. 19:12); that is, he that cannot take it, let him depart. He who fears to suffer cannot belong to Him Who suffered. But he who does not fear to suffer, he will be perfect in love, that is, the love of God. For perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). And therefore many are called, few chosen (Matt. 22:14). It is not asked who is ready to follow the broad way, but who the narrow (Matt. 7:13; Luke 13:24). And therefore the Paraclete is necessary, the guide into all truths, the encourager to all endurances: those who have received Him have known neither how to flee persecution nor how to buy it off, having Him Himself Who will be for us, just as He speaks in the interrogation, so He will help in the suffering.
Editors' notes and page, col. 142
Footnotes
<!-- Q1b: calls printed in col 142: (40) and 70 after "minosa" (the tail of luminosa, which stands whole in col 141), and (41) after "addicas". Commentarius (40) and (41) are set in n141. --> Variae lectiones. 70 ‹anchor: luminosa (call printed after its tail "minosa" at the head of col 142)› · call in col 142 Luce Christi luminosi Rhen. — Noctem luce Christi luminosam cod. Urs. et Wouw.
"Luce Christi luminosi" Rhenanus. — "Noctem luce Christi luminosam" ("a night luminous with the light of Christ") the codex of Ursinus and Wouwer.
<!-- Q4 2026-10-18: the full text of variant 70, set by an earlier pass under "Editors' prose", is moved here to replace the cut line and its placeholder. It is printed in the full-width Variae lectiones band below cols 141–142, straight after variant 69, and runs onto a second line ("Noc-|tem", hyphen joined). Q4 saw the first line and only the last letters of the second line ("…w.") in the crops; the rest of the second line is as read by the earlier pass (UNSURE). -->
Editors' prose
(none) <!-- note: Column 142 holds no editors' prose (argumentum, synopsis or monitum): its upper part is Tertullian's text (De fuga, cap. XIV, from "minosa (40) 70 adversus eam" to "ita juvaturus in passione"), and below it come the Variae lectiones and the Commentarius. -->
Page
- running head: 141 DE FUGA IN PERSECUTIONE. 142
- marginal letters: A minosa (40) adversus eam; B tum, exhortator omnium tolerantiarum; C Saturnalia munerum (commentary); D insertum det[r]ahi velim (commentary)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: calls in this column: (40) and variant 70 after ‹minosa›; (41) after ‹addicas›.
- other: no full stop is printed after the reference ‹(Matth. XXII, 14)› before ‹Non quaeritur›; kept as printed.