PL 3 · cols. 748–753

S. Cornelius papa et martyr, Epistolae, et quae ad eum scriptae sunt

Letter VII

EPISTOLA VII.

Epistle VII.

S. CYPRIANI, CARTHAGINENSIS EPISCOPI, AD CORNELIUM PAPAM.

Of St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, to Pope Cornelius.

(Erasm. II, 8, Pamel. Rigalt. Baluz. XLIX, Paris. XLVIII, Coustant., I. col. 139, Galland. Bibl. vett. PP. III, pag. 339.)

(Erasmus II, 8, Pamelius, Rigaltius, Baluze XLIX, Paris XLVIII, Coustant, I, col. 139, Galland, Library of the Old Fathers III, p. 339.)

ARGUMENTUM. — Diligentiam ejus laudat, qua de perniciosis Novatiani machinis, ac novorum illius legatorum moribus opportune ipsum admonuit. Novati scelera pluribus persequitur, ac suam operam in revocandis iis, quos ille seduxerat, commendat.

Argument. — He praises his diligence, by which he opportunely warned him about the pernicious machinations of Novatian and about the conduct of his new envoys. He pursues the crimes of Novatus at some length, and commends his own effort in recalling those whom that man had led astray.

CYPRIANUS CORNELIO FRATRI SALUTEM.

Cyprian to Cornelius his brother, greeting.

I. Et cum diligentia et cum dilectione fecisti, frater charissime, festinato ad nos mittendo Nicephorum acolythum, qui nobis et de

I. You have acted both with diligence and with love, dearest brother, in sending to us in haste Nicephorus the acolyte, who might both concerning

Editors' notes and page, col. 748

Footnotes

(91) [printed "(9 )"] ‹anchor: Cœtu› · call in col 748 (by position)

Cœtu. Codex Corbeiensis conventu. In uno codice Vaticano legitur: « In isto populi cœtu nobiscum pariter Deo omnipotenti et Christo Domino nostro gratias agere.» BALUZIUS.-- Hoc est, de prædicto cleri populique cœtu. Ita et Cyprianus supra Epist, 1 et 2, invidiosa legatorum Novatiani adversus Cornelium convicia notans, hæc Epist. 1, in statione, et Epist. 2, n. 2, « in religioso fratrum conventu, » in quo et sacerdotes considebant et altare positum erat, oblata esse scribit. Unde perspicuum est stationem perinde esse atque religiosum conventum in ecclesiis, in quibus fideles ad sacra mysteria celebranda conveniebant.

"Assembly." The Corbie codex has "conventu". In one Vatican codex one reads: "In this assembly of the people, together with us, to give thanks to God almighty and to Christ our Lord." BALUZIUS. — That is, about the aforesaid assembly of clergy and people. So Cyprian too above, in Letters 1 and 2, noting the spiteful abuse of Novatian's envoys against Cornelius, writes that it was presented, in Letter 1, "in statione", and in Letter 2, n. 2, "in a religious assembly of the brethren", in which the priests sat together and the altar had been set. From which it is plain that "statio" means the same as a religious assembly in the churches, where the faithful gathered to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

(printed under page 425)

(92) ‹anchor: Cum auctores› · call in col 748 (by position)

Cum auctores. Id est, quorum potissimum auctoritate in schisma abducti fuerant, et in eo detinebantur.

"When the authors." That is, those by whose authority above all they had been led away into schism and were held in it.

(printed under page 425)

(93) ‹anchor: Et cum diligentia› · call in col 748 (by position)

Et cum diligentia. Statim ab epistolæ hujus exordio Cyprianus duas superiores Cornelii epistolas simul ab eodem Nicephoro acolytho accepisse se docet. Et hac quidem primæ, subsequente autem secundæ respondet.

"And with diligence." Right from the opening of this letter Cyprian shows that he received Cornelius's two preceding letters together from the same Nicephorus the acolyte. And he answers the first with this letter, and the second with the one following.

(printed under page 425)

Page

running head: CORNELII PAPÆ 748 (cut off at the left edge of the image)
marginal letters: A ‹EPISTOLA VII.›; B ‹stinantem seu potius destinantem› (in the Variorum notae); C ‹4 et 42 (al. 44 et 45)› (in the Variorum notae); D ‹mysteria celebranda conveniebant› (in the Variorum notae)
old-edition numerals: 726 after ‹fecisti›
other: editors' matter set: the concordance line ‹(Erasm. II, 8, Pamel.›, and the Argumentum ‹Diligentiam ejus laudat›; the last digit of "pag. 339" is blurred and is UNSURE; the column's text ends mid-sentence at "de"; the Variae lectiones (‹Haec autem precatio in Corb. omittitur›) and the Variorum notae (‹stinantem seu potius destinantem›, through note 93) at the page foot are not set; the word fragments at the left edge belong to col. 747

PL 3:749

confessoribus regressis gloriosam laetitiam nuntiaret, et adversus Novatiani et Novati novas et perniciosas ad impugnandam Christi Ecclesiam machinas plenissime instrueret. Nam cum pridie istic venisset haereticae pravitatis nocens factio, ipsa jam perdita, et alios, qui sibi consenserint perditura, postero die Nicephorus cum vestris litteris supervenit. Quibus et didicimus, et docere atque instruere caeteros coepimus, Evaristum de episcopo jam nec laicum remansisse, cathedrae et plebis extorrem, et de Ecclesia Christi exsulem, per alias longe provincias oberrare, et ipsum veritatis ac fidei naufragum factum, circa quosdam sui similes paria naufragia concitare: Nicostratum vero, diaconio sanctae administrationis amisso, ecclesiasticis pecuniis sacrilega fraude subtractis, et viduarum ac pupillorum depositis denegatis, non tam in Africam venire voluisse, quam conscientia rapinarum et criminum nefandorum illinc ab urbe fugisse. Et nunc Ecclesiae desertor ac profugus, quasi mutasse sit hominem mutare regionem, confessorem se ultra jactat et praedicat; cum Christi confessor nec dici nec esse jam possit, qui Ecclesiam Christi negavit. Nam cum Paulus apostolus dicat: Propter hoc relinquet homo patrem et matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae; et erunt duo in carnem unam; sacramentum istud magnum est, ego

the confessors who had returned announce to us a glorious joy, and most fully instruct [us] against the new and pernicious machinations of Novatian and Novatus for attacking the Church of Christ. For when, on the day before, the harmful faction of heretical depravity had come there, itself already lost and about to lose others who would agree with it, on the following day Nicephorus arrived with your letter. From it we both learned, and have begun to teach and instruct the rest, that Evaristus, from being a bishop, has now not even remained a layman, but, banished from his see and his people and an exile from the Church of Christ, wanders far through other provinces, and, having himself become a shipwreck of truth and faith, stirs up like shipwrecks among certain men similar to himself; and that Nicostratus, having lost the diaconate of holy administration, having withdrawn church funds by sacrilegious fraud and having denied the deposits of widows and orphans, did not so much wish to come to Africa as flee from there, from the city, out of consciousness of his robberies and abominable crimes. And now, a deserter and fugitive from the Church, as though to change one's region were to change the man, he goes further and boasts and proclaims himself a confessor; although he who has denied the Church of Christ can neither be called nor be a confessor of Christ. For since the apostle Paul says: For this reason a man will leave father and mother and will cleave to his wife; and the two will be in one flesh; this sacrament is great, I

Editors' notes and page, col. 749

Footnotes

[Variæ lectiones / Variant readings] (printed under page 426) (⁷⁴) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Sic Voss. 2. NC. 1, 2, Lam. Lin. Ebor. Vet. Erasm. Manut., novas perniciosas, Rig.

So Voss. 2, NC. 1, 2, Lam., Lin., Ebor., Vet., Erasmus, Manutius; "novas perniciosas" Rigault.

(printed under page 426) (⁷⁵) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Cogitare Bod. 1.

"Cogitare" Bod. 1.

(printed under page 426) (⁷⁶) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Nicostratum quoque, Lamb.

"Nicostratum quoque" Lamb.

(printed under page 426) (⁷⁷) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Sic Voss. 2. Lamb. Ebor. NC. 1, 2. Diacono Rig.

So Voss. 2, Lamb., Ebor., NC. 1, 2. "Diacono" Rigault.

(printed under page 426) (⁷⁸) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Admissum, Bod. 1, 3.

"Admissum" Bod. 1, 3.

(printed under page 426) (⁷⁹) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Conscientiam, Bod. 3.

"Conscientiam" Bod. 3.

(printed under page 426) (⁸⁰) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Ultro Comp.

"Ultro" Comp.

(printed under page 426) (⁸¹) ‹anchor: sacramentum istud magnum est› · call in col 749 Sacramentum hoc, Bod. 3.

"Sacramentum hoc" Bod. 3.

(printed under page 426) (⁸²) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Dico in Christo et in Ecclesiam. Lam. Bod. 1.

"Dico in Christo et in Ecclesiam" Lam., Bod. 1.

(printed under page 426) (⁸³) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Et Christum pariter, Ebor. NC. 1, Lin.

"Et Christum pariter" Ebor., NC. 1, Lin.

(printed under page 426) (⁸⁴) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Inexplebilis, Lam. Ebor. Bod. 1, 2, 3. NC. 1, 2.

"Inexplebilis" Lam., Ebor., Bod. 1, 2, 3, NC. 1, 2.

(printed under page 426) (⁸⁵) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Superbus, tumore inflatus, Bod. 3.

"Superbus, tumore inflatus" Bod. 3.

(printed under page 426) (⁸⁶) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Pix et ignis, Pem. Lam. Ebor. NC. 1, Bod. 2.

"Pix et ignis" Pem. (Pamelius), Lam., Ebor., NC. 1, Bod. 2.

(printed under page 426) (⁸⁷) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 749 or 750 (not visible) Qui hic, Bod. 2, 3. Ebor. Lin. NC. 1.

"Qui hic" Bod. 2, 3, Ebor., Lin., NC. 1.

[Variorum notæ / Notes of various editors] (printed under page 426)

(94) ‹anchor: Novatiani et Novati› · call in col 749 (by position)

Novatiani et Novati. Novatum hunc cum Novatiano dum confundunt Græci, eum hæresiarcham et Catharorum principem falso faciunt. Uterque tamen multis est nominibus distinctus. Nam Novatianus Romanus, Novatus Carthaginensis presbyter fuit. Novatianus Romanum sibi arrogavit pontificatum: Novatus a nullo unquam in episcopum est cooptatus. Novatianus quamdam puritatis speciem affectans, indeque Catharorum sectæ nomen et originem tribuens, lapsis etiam pœnitentibus veniæ spem sustulit: Novatus vero factionis Felicissimi presbyteris adhærebat, qui lapsis, etiam prætermissis pœnitentiæ canonicæ regulis, statim pacem et communionem dari volebant, ac nihilominus cum Novatiano copulari non destitit. Nempe gravium criminum sibi conscius, non id agebat ut disciplina ecclesiastica servaretur, sed ut turbas in Ecclesia concitando debitam sceleribus ultionem declinaret. Quocirca Novatianæ seu Catharorum hæresis princeps et auctor nequaquam dicendus est Novatus, licet Novatiani schismatis præcipuus adjutor merito censeatur.

"Of Novatian and Novatus." The Greeks, by confusing this Novatus with Novatian, wrongly make him the heresiarch and chief of the Cathari. Yet the two are distinct on many counts. Novatian was a Roman presbyter, Novatus a presbyter of Carthage. Novatian claimed the Roman pontificate for himself; Novatus was never co-opted as bishop by anyone. Novatian, affecting a certain show of purity, and so giving the sect of the Cathari its name and origin, took away the hope of pardon even from the lapsed who did penance; whereas Novatus adhered to the presbyters of Felicissimus's faction, who wanted peace and communion given to the lapsed at once, even passing over the rules of canonical penance; and yet he did not cease to ally himself with Novatian. Conscious, of course, of grave crimes, he was not aiming to have church discipline kept, but to escape the punishment due to his crimes by stirring up disorder in the Church. Therefore Novatus is in no way to be called the chief and author of the Novatian or Cathar heresy, though he is rightly reckoned the principal helper of Novatian's schism.

(printed under page 426)

(95) ‹anchor: Istic› · call in col 749 (by position)

Istic. Pro illuc, ut infra illic pro illuc. Sic enim scriptum est in veteribus libris et in editione Spirensi, tum etiam in Veneta veteri, et in Manutiana. Sic apud sanctum Gregorium, lib. VII, indict. 2, epist. 148, et lib. IX, epist. 10, ac fortassis alibi scriptum est in codice Floriacensi illic pro illuc.

"There." For "thither", as below "illic" for "illuc". For so it is written in the old books and in the Speyer edition, and also in the old Venetian and in Manutius's. So too in Saint Gregory, book VII, indiction 2, letter 148, and book IX, letter 10, and perhaps elsewhere, "illic" is written for "illuc" in the Fleury codex.

(printed under page 426)

(96) ‹anchor: Factio› · call in col 749 (by position)

Factio. Scilicet secunda Novatiani legatio, quam obierunt Nicostratus, Novatus, Evaristus, Primus et Dionysius: ut in epistola sequenti declaratur, cum primam suscepissent Maximus, Longinus et Machæus.

"The faction." Namely Novatian's second embassy, carried out by Nicostratus, Novatus, Evaristus, Primus and Dionysius, as is stated in the following letter, the first having been undertaken by Maximus, Longinus and Machaeus.

(printed under page 426)

(99) ‹anchor: et adhærebit uxori suæ› · call in col 749

Et adhærebit uxori suæ. Hoc segmentum nos addidimus, non solum quia habetur in Epistola Pauli ad Ephesios, ex qua sumptus est hic locus, sed in primis quia ita scriptum vidi in quatuor antiquis codicibus et in libro Flori. Desunt tamen in tribus antiquis codicibus.

"And shall cleave to his wife." We have added this phrase, not only because it is in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, from which this passage is taken, but above all because I saw it so written in four ancient codices and in the book of Florus. Yet the words are missing in three ancient codices.

(printed under page 426)

Page

running head: 749 EPISTOLÆ (head cut off at right edge of image)
marginal letters: A confessoribus regressis gloriosam; B fraude subtractis, et viduarum; C and D stand in the Variorum notae at the page foot (not set)
old-edition numerals: 727 after suae

PL 3:750

autem dico, in Christum et in Ecclesiam (Ephes. V, 31): cum hoc, inquam, beatus Apostolus dicat et Christi pariter atque Ecclesiae unitatem individuis nexibus cohaerentem sancta sua voce testetur, quomodo potest esse cum Christo, qui cum sponsa Christi atque in ejus Ecclesia non est? aut quomodo assumit sibi regendae aut gubernandae Ecclesiae curam, qui spoliavit et fraudavit Ecclesiam Christi?

but speak with reference to Christ and to the Church (Eph. 5:31): since, I say, the blessed Apostle says this, and with his holy voice testifies that the unity of Christ and of the Church alike holds together by indivisible bonds, how can he be with Christ who is not with the bride of Christ and in His Church? or how does he take upon himself the charge of ruling or governing the Church, who has despoiled and defrauded the Church of Christ?

II. Nam de Novato nihil inde ad nos fuerat nuntiandum, cum magis per nos vobis debeat Novatus ostendi; rerum novarum semper cupidus, avaritiae inexplebili rapacitate furibundus, arrogantia et stupore superbi tumoris inflatus, semper istic episcopis male cognitus, quasi haereticus semper et perfidus omnium sacerdotum voce damnatus; curiosus semper ut prodat, ad hoc adulatur ut fallat, nunquam fidelis ut diligat, fax et ignis ad constanda seditionis incendia, turbo et tempestas ad fidei facienda naufragia, hostis quietis, tranquillitatis adversarius, pacis inimicus. Denique, Novato illinc a vobis recedente, id est, procella et turbine recedente, ex parte illic quies facta est, et gloriosi ac boni confessores qui, de Ecclesia, illo incitante, discesserant, postea quam ab Urbe ille discessit, ad Ecclesiam reverterunt. Idem est Novatus, qui apud nos primum discordiae et schismatis incendium seminavit, qui quosdam istic ex fratribus

II. For as regards Novatus, nothing needed to have been reported to us from there, since Novatus ought rather to be shown to you by us: always eager for revolution, raging with the insatiable rapacity of avarice, puffed up with the arrogance and stupor of proud conceit, always ill thought of by the bishops there, condemned always as a heretic and faithless by the voice of all the priests; always inquisitive in order to betray, he flatters for this purpose, that he may deceive, never faithful so as to love; a torch and fire for kindling the conflagrations of sedition, a whirlwind and tempest for causing the shipwrecks of faith, an enemy of quiet, an adversary of tranquillity, a foe of peace. In short, when Novatus withdrew from you there, that is, when the storm and whirlwind withdrew, quiet in part came about there, and the glorious and good confessors who at his instigation had departed from the Church returned to the Church after he had departed from the City. It is the same Novatus who first sowed among us the fire of discord and schism, who separated certain persons there from among the brethren

Editors' notes and page, col. 750

Footnotes

(97) ‹anchor: De episcopo› · call in col 750 (by position)

De episcopo. Hoc est de episcopali dignitate ita dejectum, ut nec in eadem ecclesia cum laica communione permaneret, utpote fidei naufragum factum.

"From being a bishop." That is, so thrown down from the episcopal dignity that he did not even remain in the same church with lay communion, as one who had made shipwreck of the faith.

(printed under page 426)

(98) ‹anchor: Illic› · call in col 750 (by position)

Illic. Id est in Africa. Quare falsa est lectio quæ habet illinc, tanquam si vox illa referenda esset ad urbem Romam, unde Evaristus et Nicostratus fugissent in Africam. Quod satis evincitur dum scribitur illos ab urbe fugisse, ut necessaria non sit vox illinc. Itaque vox illic refertur, ut dixi, ad Africam. Quanquam fatendum est quædam vetera exemplaria præferre illinc. Sed major numerus habet aliam lectionem. Vide quæ ad vocem istinc diximus ad epistolam 41, pag. 430.

"There." That is, in Africa. So the reading "illinc" (from there) is false, as if that word were to be referred to the city of Rome, from which Evaristus and Nicostratus had fled to Africa. That is sufficiently established when it is written that they fled from the City, so that the word "illinc" is not needed. So the word "illic" refers, as I said, to Africa. Though it must be admitted that some old copies give "illinc"; but the greater number have the other reading. See what we said on the word "istinc" at Letter 41, p. 430.

(printed under page 426)

(1) ‹anchor: Christi pariter› · call in col 750 (by position)

Christi pariter. Quidam codices præferunt Christum.

"Of Christ alike." Some codices give "Christum".

(printed under page 426)

(2) ‹anchor: Hostis quietis› · call in col 750 (by position)

Hostis quietis. Ista non habentur in quatuor libris veteribus et in antiquis editionibus. Exstant tamen in decem codicibus antiquis.

"Enemy of quiet." These words are not found in four old books and in the old editions. They stand, however, in ten ancient codices.

(printed under page 426)

Page

running head: EPISTOLÆ
marginal letters: A ‹autem dico, in Christum›; B ‹riosus semper ut prodat›; C ‹quam obierunt Nicostratus (in the Variorum notae)›; D ‹addidimus, non solum (in the Variorum notae)›
old-edition numerals: 728 after ‹id›
other: column ends mid-word "fratri-" (continues in col. 751); the English ends mid-sentence before the verb, which falls in col. 751; reference printed "Ephes. V, 31" with the numeral apparently in small capitals, set as V; the quoted words correspond to Eph. 5:32, but the reference is kept as printed; the Variae lectiones and Variorum notae at the page foot are not set; the left column fragments belong to col. 749
other: the word fratribus was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 751

PL 3:751

ab episcopo segregavit, qui in ipsa persecutione ad evertendas fratrum mentes alia quaedam persecutio nostris fuit. Ipse est, qui Felicissimum satellitem suum diaconum, nec permittente me, nec sciente, sua factione et ambitione constituit; et cum sua tempestate Romam quoque ad evertendam Ecclesiam navigans, similia illic et paria molitus est, a clero portionem plebis avellens, fraternitatis bene sibi cohaerentis et se invicem diligentis concordiam scindens. Plane quoniam pro magnitudine sua debeat Carthaginem Roma praecedere, illic majora et graviora commisit. Qui istic adversus Ecclesiam diaconum fecerat, illic episcopum fecit.

from the bishop, he who in the very persecution was for our people another kind of persecution, to overturn the minds of the brethren. He it is who, without my permission and without my knowledge, by his own faction and ambition appointed Felicissimus, his henchman, as deacon; and who, sailing with his own storm to Rome as well to overthrow the Church, attempted like and equal things there, tearing away a portion of the people from the clergy and splitting the concord of a brotherhood well united among itself and loving one another. Plainly, since by reason of her greatness Rome ought to take precedence over Carthage, he committed greater and graver crimes there. He who here had made a deacon against the Church, there made a bishop.

Editors' notes and page, col. 751

Footnotes

[The rendered foot is cut at the top: the first line in each column is only partly visible, and anything above it (heading, any variant readings, the opening of note 3 on this page) lies above the crop. Note 6 runs from the foot of the left column to the top of the right, where at least one line is cut. The right edge of the last lines of note 8 is smudged. Check the full page.] (printed under page 427)

(3) (continued) ‹anchor: not visible› · call above the rendered foot

[…] et plebis universæ tranquillitatem turbare conetur, tacere ultra non oportet.... quando aliqui de presbyteris, nec Evangelii nec loci sui memores... cum contumelia præpositi totum sibi vindicent. Nempe illi Cypriani ordinationi intercedentes et invidiæ beatos exponebant martyres, et gloriosos servos Dei cum sacerdote, hoc est cum ipsomet. committebant, ac plebem turbare non desistebant, Presbyteros illos Cyprianus Epist. VI seu XIV indicare videtur his verbis; Ad id quod scripserunt mihi compresbyteri nostri Donatus et Fortunatus, Novatus et Gordius, solus rescribere nihil potui. Hos enim a presbyteris ac diaconis suis, ad quos ista eloquitur, velut jam separatos distinguit. COUSTANT.

[…] "and tries to disturb the peace of the whole people, it is no longer right to keep silent.... when some of the presbyters, mindful neither of the Gospel nor of their own place,... claim everything for themselves, to the insult of their bishop." Those men, that is, opposing Cyprian's ordination, exposed the blessed martyrs to ill will and set "the glorious servants of God at odds with their bishop", that is, with Cyprian himself, and did not cease to disturb the people. Cyprian seems to point to those presbyters in Letter VI or XIV with these words: "To what our fellow presbyters Donatus and Fortunatus, Novatus and Gordius wrote to me, I could make no reply on my own." For he distinguishes these, as already separated, from his presbyters and deacons to whom he addresses these words. COUSTANT.

(printed under page 427)

(4) ‹anchor: Romam› · call in col 751 (by position)

Romam. Plerique codices habent Romæ. Quam lectionem ego puto esse bonam. Nihil tamen mutare volui. Sufficit mihi ita monuisse.

"To Rome." Most codices have "Romæ" (at Rome). I think this reading good; yet I did not wish to change anything. It is enough for me to have pointed it out.

(printed under page 427)

(5) ‹anchor: Carthaginem Roma› · call in col 751 (by position)

Carthaginem Roma. Carthago æmula Romæ apud Plinium, Velleium Paterculum, et Florum, dives opum, ut ait Virgilius. Herodianus, lib. VII, ait illam opibus, populi frequentia, vel magnitudine tantum Romæ concedere. Transmarinis vicinis regionibus apud A. Gellium, lib. X, cap. 27, et apud Augustinum in capite tertio prioris epistolæ ad Eleusium, Glorium et Felicem. Vide Salvianum, lib. VII, cap. 16.

"Carthage … Rome." Carthage, the rival of Rome, in Pliny, Velleius Paterculus and Florus; "rich in resources", as Virgil says. Herodian, book VII, says that in wealth, number of people, or size it yielded only to Rome. "To the overseas neighbouring regions", in Aulus Gellius, book X, ch. 27, and in Augustine, ch. 3 of the first letter to Eleusius, Glorius and Felix. See Salvian, book VII, ch. 16.

(printed under page 427)

(6) ‹anchor: Episcopum fecit› · call in col 751 (by position)

Episcopum fecit. Non quod ordinandi potestate præditus esset, sed quod per pravas molitiones effecit, ut Novatianus ordinaretur. Is quippe, ut ex epistola IX, n. 2, discimus, a tribus episcopis imperitis est ordinatus. Falluntur igitur graviter, qui Novatum episcopum extitisse hinc sibi persuadent. Nec suspicio nobis deest, ad horumce Cypriani verborum imitationem expressa esse ista Bucheriani catalogi: Sub episcopatu ejus (Cornelii) Novatus extra Ecclesiam ordinavit Novatianum in urbe Roma: et Nicostratum in Africa, adeoque Nicostratum Felicissimi loco hunc in catalogum irrepsisse. Quod si ita est, nullum est fundamentum eorum, qui Nicostratum in Africa. episcopum ordinatum esse arbitrantur. COUSTANT. — Diaconum fecerat. Hinc collegit Baronius Novatum fuisse episcopum in Africa. Quam opinionem amplexus est Petavius ad Epiphanium. Et tamen illa vera non est. Fuisse enim presbyterum tantum liquet ex Chronico Eusebii, ex libro Hieronymi de Viris illustribus, ex [… at least one line cut at the top of the right column …] non est ita intelligendum ut ordinatus diaconus censeatur a Novato, sed quia factione perditissimi hominis constitutus fuit in gradu diaconii, ut jam diximus ad epistolam XLI, pag. 430. — Hyppolytum martyrem invenio adjunxisse se Novato, sed postea ab eodem transiisse ad Ecclesiam. Sic enim de eo scribit Prudentius: Invenio Hyppolytum, qui quondam schisma Novati / Presbyter attigerat, nostra sequendo negans, / Usque ad martyrii provectum insigne tulisse / Lucida sanguinei præmia supplicii. De Hippolyto vide Baronium ad diem 30 januarii et in Annalibus ecclesiasticis.

"Made a bishop." Not that he had the power to ordain, but that by wicked scheming he brought it about that Novatian was ordained. For he, as we learn from Letter IX, n. 2, was ordained by three ignorant bishops. Those who conclude from this that Novatus became a bishop are therefore badly mistaken. Nor are we without suspicion that the words of Boucher's catalogue were modelled on these words of Cyprian: "Under his (Cornelius's) episcopate Novatus, outside the Church, ordained Novatian in the city of Rome, and Nicostratus in Africa"; and so that Nicostratus crept into this catalogue in place of Felicissimus. If so, there is no basis for those who think that Nicostratus was ordained bishop in Africa. COUSTANT. — "He had made a deacon." From this Baronius concluded that Novatus was a bishop in Africa, an opinion Petau adopted on Epiphanius. And yet it is not true. For that he was only a presbyter is clear from Eusebius's Chronicle, from Jerome's book On illustrious men, from [… lines cut …] it is not to be understood as if the deacon were reckoned ordained by Novatus, but because he was set in the rank of the diaconate by the faction of that most abandoned man, as we said at Letter XLI, p. 430. — I find that Hippolytus the martyr joined Novatus but later passed from him to the Church. For Prudentius writes of him thus: "I find that Hippolytus, a presbyter who had once touched the schism of Novatus, denying our faith by following [it], was carried forward to the glorious mark of martyrdom and won the shining prizes of a bloody death." On Hippolytus see Baronius on 30 January and in the Ecclesiastical Annals.

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Page

running head: S. CORNELII PA (cut off at the image edge)
marginal letters: A ‹bus ab episcopo segregavit›; B ‹(3) Persecutione. Hic notatur› (in the Variorum notae); C ‹eloquitur, velut jam separatos› (in the Variorum notae); D ‹Nec suspicio nobis deest› (in the Variorum notae)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: the word fecit. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 752

PL 3:752

Nec hoc quisquam miretur in talibus. Feruntur semper mali suo furore dementes, et posteaquam scelera fecerint, conscientia ipsa sceleratae mentis agitantur. Nec remanere in Ecclesia Dei possunt, qui deificam et ecclesiasticam disciplinam nec actus sui conversatione nec morum pace tenuerunt. Spoliati ab illo pupill⟨i⟩, fraudatae viduae, pecuniae quoque ecclesiae denegatae, has de illo exigunt poenas, quas in ejus furo⟨re⟩ conspicimus. Pater etiam ejus in vico fame m⟨or⟩tuus, et ab eo in morte postmodum nec sepult⟨us⟩. Uterus uxoris calce percussus, et aborti⟨o⟩ne properante in parricidium partus expressus. Et

Let no one wonder at this in such men. The wicked are always carried along by their own fury, out of their minds, and after they have committed crimes they are driven on by the very conscience of a guilty mind. Nor can those remain in the Church of God who have held to the godly and ecclesiastical discipline neither in the conduct of their life nor in the peace of their character. The orphans despoiled by him, the widows defrauded, the moneys of the church too withheld, exact from him these penalties which we behold in his fury. His father also died of hunger in the village, and afterwards in death was not even buried by him. His wife's womb was struck with a heel, and, by a miscarriage hastening on to parricide, the offspring was forced out. And

Editors' notes and page, col. 752

Footnotes

(7) ‹anchor: Conscientia ipsa› · call in col 752 (by position)

Conscientia ipsa. Seneca, Epist. XCVII: Proprium nocentium est trepidare. Tacitus I. V Annalium scribit Neronem cunctos per artus trementem, seu numine exterrente, seu facinorum recordatione, nunquam timore vacuum fuisse. Auctor Epistolæ ad Demetriadem inter opera Hieronymi: Hinc est illud quod frequenter carnifice occulto in auctorem sceleris conscientiæ tormenta desæviunt et latentem reum secreta mentis pœna persequitur. Rufinus in Psalmum XXV: Qui culpam habet judicium timet. Petronius: Dii deæque, quam male est extra legem agentibus. Quidquid meruere semper exspectant. Hildebertus Epist. XVI: Consuetudinis enim est reus formidare supplicia quæ verentur. Cicero in Oratione pro Milone: Magna vis est conscientiæ in utramque partem, ut neque timeant qui nihil commiserunt, et pœnam semper ante oculos versari putent qui peccarint. Muretus in librum primum Platonis de Republica: Sed illud quoque nobis accurate notandum est, quod hoc loco a Platone verissime dicitur, homines multorum sibi injuste factorum conscios nunquam quiescere, sed horrore pœnarum quas se promeritos sciunt identidem concuti, ita ut etiam sæpe ex somno excitentur. Vide scholia Jacobi Billii in Orationem Gregorii Nazianzeni de Plaga grandinis.

"Conscience itself." Seneca, Letter XCVII: "It is the mark of the guilty to tremble." Tacitus, Annals book V (as printed), writes that Nero, trembling in every limb, whether from the terror of the divine or from the memory of his crimes, was never free of fear. The author of the Letter to Demetrias among Jerome's works: "Hence it is that, with a hidden executioner, the torments of conscience often rage against the author of a crime, and a secret punishment of the mind pursues the guilty man in hiding." Rufinus on Psalm XXV: "He who has guilt fears judgement." Petronius: "Gods and goddesses, how ill it goes with those who act outside the law! They always expect what they have deserved." Hildebert, Letter XVI: "For it is the habit of the guilty to dread the punishments they fear (so printed)." Cicero in the speech for Milo: "Great is the power of conscience in both directions: those who have done nothing wrong do not fear, and those who have sinned think punishment is always before their eyes." Muret on the first book of Plato's Republic: "But we must also note carefully what Plato says most truly in this place: that men conscious of many unjust deeds never rest, but are shaken again and again by dread of the punishments they know they have deserved, so that they are often woken even from sleep." See the scholia of Jacques de Billy on Gregory Nazianzen's Oration on the plague of hail.

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(8) ‹anchor: Uterus uxoris› · call in col 752 (by position)

Uterus uxoris. Prioribus Ecclesiæ sæculis, ut Hieronymus l. I, cont. Jovinian. notat, quia virgines aut non tanti erant quanti erant necessarii, aut opera virginitati congruentia non habebant, vel non existimabantur habere, sæpe in sacerdotium eligebantur mariti: sed ea lege ordinabantur, ut ab opera nuptiarum deinceps abstinerent. Ipse Jovinianus, quantumvis continentiæ adversarius, fate[tur] (continues)

"His wife's womb." In the earlier centuries of the Church, as Jerome notes in Against Jovinian book I, because virgins were not as many as were needed, or did not have, or were not thought to have, the works befitting virginity, married men were often chosen for the priesthood; but they were ordained on the condition that from then on they abstain from the work of marriage. Jovinian himself, however much an opponent of continence, admits (continues) [The words at the right edge are partly smudged: "ut", "virgi[nes]", "aut", "[non]", "eli[gebantur]", "ab", "Jovin[ianus]", "fate[tur]"; the bracketed letters are inferred.]

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Page

running head: CORNELII PAPÆ 752
marginal letters: A ‹cit (6). Nec hoc quisquam›; B ‹libro Gestorum pontificalium› (commentary, not set); C ‹(7) Conscientia ipsa› (commentary, not set); D ‹est, quod hoc loco a Platone› (commentary, not set)
old-edition numerals: 729 after ‹in›
other: first word "cit" is the end of a word broken from col. 751; "Feruntur semper" printed in small capitals; right edge of text damaged: pupill⟨i⟩, furo⟨re⟩, m⟨or⟩tuus, sepult⟨us⟩, aborti⟨o⟩ne supplied, and the hyphen after "dene" is lost; last word "Et" partly blurred but legible; commentary calls (6) (7) (8) and variant calls 89–91 omitted; the Variae lectiones and Variorum notae at the page foot are not set (later pass); no full-width line; no editors' matter in the text block

PL 3:753

damnare nunc audet sacrificantium manus, cum sit ipse nocentior pedibus quibus filius, qui nascebatur, occisus est?

does he now dare to condemn the hands of those who sacrifice, when he himself is more guilty through the feet by which the son who was being born was killed?

III. Hanc conscientiam criminum jam pridem timebat: propter hoc se non de presbyterio excitari tantum, sed et communicatione prohiberi pro certo tenebat: et urgentibus fratribus imminebat cognitionis dies, quo apud nos causa ejus ageretur, nisi persecutio ante venisset. Quam iste voto quodam evadendae et lucrandae damnationis excipiens, haec omnia commisit et miscuit: ut qui ejici de Ecclesia, et excludi habebat, judicium sacerdotum voluntaria discessione praecederet: quasi evasisse sit poenam, praevenisse sententiam.

III. He had long feared this consciousness of his crimes: for this reason he held it for certain that he would not only be removed from the presbyterate but also barred from communion; and, at the urging of the brethren, the day of the hearing was approaching on which his case was to be tried before us, had the persecution not come first. Welcoming this with a kind of wish to escape condemnation and get clear of it, he committed and stirred up all these things, so that he who was to be cast out of the Church and excluded might anticipate the judgement of the priests by a voluntary departure, as if to have forestalled the sentence were to have escaped the penalty.

IV. Circa caeteras autem fratres elaboramus, quos ab eo circumventos dolemus, ut veteratoris perniciosum latus fugiant, ut lethales laqueos sollicitantis evadant, ut de qua ille pelli divinitus meruit, Ecclesiam repetant, quos quidem, Domino adjuvante, per ejus misericordiam regredi posse confidimus: neque enim potest perire, nisi quem constat esse periturum, cum Dominus in Evangelio

IV. As for the other brethren, however, whom we grieve to have been deceived by him, we are labouring that they may flee the pernicious side of the crafty old schemer, that they may escape the deadly snares of the tempter, that they may seek again the Church from which he deserved by divine judgement to be driven; and indeed we trust that, with the Lord's help, through His mercy they can return: for no one can perish except one who is certainly destined to perish, since the Lord in the Gospel

Editors' notes and page, col. 753

Footnotes

[The heading "Variæ lectiones" is cut at the top of the image; earlier variant lines, if any, lie above the crop. Check the full page.] [Variæ lectiones / Variant readings] (printed under page 428) (⁹²) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 753 or 754 (not visible) Sic Lam. NC. 1. Ebor. Bod. 2. Salutari, Imp.

So Lam., NC. 1, Ebor., Bod. 2. "Salutari" the printed editions.

[Variorum notæ / Notes of various editors] (printed under page 428)

(8) (continued) ‹anchor: Uterus uxoris› · call on the previous page

compulsus est non posse esse episcopum, qui in episcopatu filios faciat: alioquin si deprehensus fuerit, non quasi vir tenebitur, sed quasi adulter damnabitur. Quocirca Hieronymus adversus Vigilantium affirmare non dubitat: Orientis Ecclesiæ, Ægypti et Sedis apostolicæ aut virgines clericos accipiunt, aut continentes. Ipsi astipulantur Siricius, Epist. I ad Himerium, c. 9; Innocentius, epist. II ad Victricium, c. 10; Ambrosius, l. I Offic., c. 50, n. 257, et ep. LXI ad Vercell., n. 62; Epiphanius, hær. 59, n. 4, antiquissimus scriptor Quæst., ex utroque Testamenio apud Augustinum append., tom. III, pag. 142. Notat et Augustinum ad calcem l. II de adulter. Conjugiis, cleris etiam improvisa vi ad hunc honorem suscipiendum sæpius coactis, continentiæ necessitatem nihilominus imponi solere. Neque tamen cogebantur uxores a se dimittere. Unde inquit Leo epist. II ad Rusticum, c. 3; Ut de carnali fiat spiritale conjugium, oportet eos nec dimittere uxores, et quasi non habeant sic habere; quo et salva sit charitas connubiorum, et cesset opera nuptiarum. Hic ut nonnulli ad pristinam consuetudinem redirent, aliquando contigit: sed hoc delictum non impune ferebatur, ut exemplo est Genebaldus Laudunensis episcopus, quem S. Remigius Remensis archipræsul hujus rei causa diu inclusum tenuit. In eamdem culpam lapsus hic notatur Novatus; nec inde censendus videtur Cyprianus rem velut licitam probare, quod parricidii horrore perculsus, ad hujus criminis immanitatem exponendam totus abripiatur. Si etiam uxorem ideo sic percussit Novatus, ut abortione properante delictum lateret: et hinc continentiæ legem presbyteris tum impositam esse probabitur. COUSTANT. — Uterus uxoris Pacianus in epistola secunda ad Symphronianum: Novatus, inquam, patre prodito, Ecclesia derelicta, partu uxoris effuso. Idem in epistola III sive in tractatu adversus Novatianos: Novatus ex Africa fraudatis in Carthaginensi ecclesia viduis, spoliatis pupillis, pecunia ecclesiæ denegata, projecto extra domum patre, et eodem fame mortuo nec sepulto, uxoris gravidæ utero calce percusso, partuque ejus effuso. Habebat Novatus exemplum egregii viri D. Neronis, cujus uxor Poppæa, ut scribit Tacitus in libro XVI Annalium, mortem obiit, fortuita mariti iracundia, a quo gravi ictu calcis afflicta est.

was compelled [to admit] that a man cannot be a bishop who begets children while in the episcopate: "otherwise, if he is caught, he will be held not as a husband but condemned as an adulterer." Therefore Jerome, against Vigilantius, does not hesitate to affirm: "The Churches of the East, of Egypt and of the apostolic See accept as clerics either virgins or the continent." Siricius agrees with him, Letter I to Himerius, ch. 9; Innocent, Letter II to Victricius, ch. 10; Ambrose, De officiis book I, ch. 50, n. 257, and Letter LXI to the Vercellese, n. 62; Epiphanius, Heresy 59, n. 4; the very ancient writer of the Questions on both Testaments, in the appendix to Augustine, vol. III, p. 142. He also notes that Augustine, at the end of book II On adulterous marriages, [says] that even when clerics were quite often forced by sudden violence to accept this honour, the obligation of continence was nonetheless usually imposed on them. Yet they were not compelled to send their wives away. Hence Leo says, Letter II to Rusticus, ch. 3: "That the marriage may become spiritual instead of carnal, they must neither send away their wives, and yet have them as if they had them not; so that the love of the marriage may be kept safe and the work of marriage may cease." It sometimes happened here that some returned to their former habit; but this offence was not let go unpunished, as the example of Genebaud, bishop of Laon, shows, whom Saint Remigius, archbishop of Reims, kept long confined for this reason. Novatus is marked here as having fallen into the same fault; nor should Cyprian be thought on that account to approve the thing as lawful, because, struck with horror at the parricide, he is wholly carried away in setting out the enormity of this crime. If, moreover, Novatus struck his wife so in order that the offence might be hidden by a hastened miscarriage, it will be proved from this too that the law of continence was then imposed on presbyters. COUSTANT. — "His wife's womb." Pacian in his second letter to Sympronian: "Novatus, I say, who betrayed his father, abandoned the Church, and caused his wife to miscarry." The same in letter III, or the treatise against the Novatianists: "Novatus from Africa, who defrauded the widows in the church of Carthage, robbed the orphans, denied the church's money, cast his father out of the house and left him to die of hunger unburied, kicked the womb of his pregnant wife and caused her to miscarry." Novatus had the example of that fine man, D. Nero, whose wife Poppaea, as Tacitus writes in Annals book XVI, died through her husband's chance fit of anger, struck by him with a heavy kick.

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