Appendix quarta: Oxoniensis editionis selectae in Cyprianum notae; J. M. Routh, notae; J. Trombelli, praefatio in Exhortationem ad poenitentiam

The passions of the martyrs. Priorius says: Tertullian calls them "birthdays" (natalia), understanding, of course, the day on which they were born to heaven.

Of the very one who had persecuted him. Understand Decius. Above he says: Having engaged with the very leader and author of the assault.

Whose following and manner of life. Rigault says: From a predecessor or preceptor come a follower and a following (secta); from a teacher, a disciple and a discipline; from a master, a minister and a ministry.

A kind of resurrection having taken place in their case. Rigault says: Those seem to come back to life who rise again, waking from sleep, or recovering from an illness, especially a severe one.

Monthly distributions. Rigault says: That is, from the common fund of the whole Church of Carthage contributed for disbursement. Besides this common one there was another from Cyprian's own fund, Epist. 30.

Lesser in nothing. Younger by birth, as one who had not yet reached the twenty-fifth year of his age, and therefore, by the customs of the Church, not yet ripe for sacred orders. So above, Ep. 38: Lesser in the character of his age. And in this Epistle: Nor could [he be] lesser.

Epistle 40.

For know that we have been admonished and instructed by divine condescension. Rigault says: It is Cyprian's habit to refer to God's admonition what he seemed to be doing on his own in ordaining while the clergy were absent. So below he will say: Meanwhile let what is shown be done. So in the preceding Epistle he says that Celerinus undertook the office of reader at the admonition of divine condescension; and in Epistle 32, that divine suffrages preceded the ordination of Aurelius. Gather from this that the ordinations of clerics were held even long ago to be not profane but sacred, not only of subdeacons, deacons and presbyters, but also of readers, to such a degree that some signs from God generally occurred before their ordination.

That Numidicus be enrolled as a presbyter. Baronius says that Numidicus was in no way ordained a presbyter by St Cyprian, but that, since he was already a presbyter of some other church, after so illustrious a martyrdom had been endured he was judged worthy of the honour of exercising the presbyterate in the church of Carthage, the chief church of all Africa. For these words suggest it: That Numidicus be enrolled as a presbyter in the number of the presbyters of Carthage; but of a new ordination of him there is not a word, as we have seen him do concerning the several readers recently ordained: for it was reckoned a great honour to sit with the bishop among the presbyters in the cathedral church. Those to be thus enrolled were said to be incardinated; and also, as co-opted, Cardinals. But the most illustrious annalist always aims at adapting the customs of the ancient Church to the practice of the present age. But it is not so easy to believe that the presbyters of the Roman Church were thus co-opted from elsewhere, so that from this they were all called cardinals.

Revived by his companions. Drawn out of the heap of the dead, and relieved of that such burden

He remained against his will. Rigault says: A further leave in the flesh having been granted him by the Lord.

He will be promoted to a higher place. Rigault says: To the place of the high priest, that is, of the bishop. Meanwhile he will sit in the second order, which is the presbyterate. For in the third degree of the priesthood too is the diaconate, namely also the diaconium, as [there is] the presbyterium.

Epistle 41.

To divide a portion of the people with the bishop. Rigault says: That saying is well known, Do not divide with a brother, which has been stretched to base and obscene meanings.

I should have sent you as my deputies in my place. Rigault says: And among them indeed Rogatianus himself, whom he named above. Epist. 7.

That the needs of our brethren might be struck off by expenditure. Rigault says: The register of needs contained the names of persons in want. So the one whose need was relieved by the beneficence of the brethren had his name also struck off; thus beneficence struck off the need, and with the need the name of the needy person.

To practise their crafts. Rigault says: He treated this question about

arts, Tertullian did, in the book On Idolatry. Understand, however, arts in no way unworthy of a Christian; not those of the stage, or those that favour idolatry. And this indeed is the true method of relieving the poor: that those who are wholly worn out by old age and sickness should be supported entirely at the public expense; but that those who, although they could procure for themselves some means of life from their labours, yet could not earn what would suffice for feeding a family, should be helped by a supplement as much as would be enough.

I would promote to the offices of ecclesiastical administration. For from those who were on the register of the poor, doorkeepers and clerics of the lesser ranks were chosen. This was a matter that looked to the savings of the Church's household management.

Who had come forward first to be discharged. Rigaltius says: So Tertullian had said, They are present to be witnesses. In one copy it is read: who were summoned first to be discharged.

That they would not communicate with him on the mount. Rigaltius says: So above, that they would not communicate with him on the mount. And this is the reading of all the editions and copies, except two Vatican ones, in which in both places is read, in death. As if that Felicissimus had threatened that he would not grant peace even at the end of their mortal life to those who obeyed Cyprian, nor would celebrate oblations and sacrifices for their commemorations. Nevertheless we judge the common reading to be the true one: that Felicissimus rushed off with very many, and through faction against the Church withdrew to the mount, and that for this reason Cyprian strikes back at him, as the author of a perverse conspiracy, with a counter-threat. Let him know, he says, that he will not communicate with us in the Church. He sets the Church of the faithful against the mount of the factious. He has threatened you, and said that you would not communicate with him on the mount: we threaten him, and say that he will not communicate with you in the Church. And yet a scruple remains, because in the following Letters he makes no mention of the mount, although he says many words about Felicissimus and about his faction and secession. Mountains have always held veneration, as places nearest to heaven: perhaps Felicissimus therefore, out of misplaced zeal, taught on a mount and withdrew there to pray, because this was done by the Lord, Matt. 5 and Luke 6. Certainly the Donatists, followers of the Novatianists, here in Africa were called Montenses. But there was also a city in the neighbourhood of Carthage which bore the name of Mons. Indeed by analogy they would more rightly be called Montenses from the city than from mountains. The inhabitants of those are called montani and monticolae. But here it seems most likely that a place in the city itself is meant. So at Rome someone is said to live on the Palatine or Viminal hill; or at Corinth, on the Acrocorinth. The citadel of Carthage, which was called Byrsa, is described by Strabo, book 17, as a fairly steep brow; and perhaps Felicissimus held his gatherings in that part of the city.

All of which we shall take cognizance of. I shall exercise judgement. I shall inquire. Whence the saying: if you judge, take cognizance; if you are king, command.

Send it on to Carthage to the clergy also. The letter seems to have been sent first to Caldonius, who was staying in his own diocese; and likewise to be delivered to Herculanus, also a bishop, before it was handed to the brethren of Carthage.

Letter 42.

We have excluded. By carrying into execution the sentence passed by Cyprian.

Repostus of the exiles. Rigaltius says: Who, that is, while he was in the Church, had been made an exile for the name of Christ. Irene of the Rutili seems to have professed Christ by a blooming confession; for martyrs were called floridi, rutili and russati.

By my annotation. That is, of Caldonius, who alone wrote the letter, although others confirmed it with their subscriptions.

You ought to have known. That is, Cyprian, who perhaps for honour's sake is addressed in the plural: I would think one should write, you [singular] ought.

Likewise we have excluded Sophronius. Rigaltius says: It seems this clause should be read thus: Likewise we have excluded Sophronius, he too of the exiles; Soliassus, and Budinarius,

so that we are to understand that three excluded persons were here: Sophronius, among the exiles; Soliassus, and Budinarius. I hold that one must by all means read Soliassus Burdonarius, that is, muleteer: in 2 Kings 5 it is said "the load of a pair of mules"; perhaps from the Hebrew. The word is granted citizenship in Greek; that is, one reads βόρδων, βυρδῶνα and βορδώνιον in the glossaries. Further, the word occurs in the Digest, book 32, law 49: "In a legacy are included slaves, for example litter-bearers who carried the mother of the household alone; or a litter, or a chair, or mules." Nor is it surprising if, after Paula the seamstress, Soliassus the muleteer also appears.

Letter 43.

Britius most faithful. Britius, Rogatianus and Numidicus, three presbyters in all, remained in the faith, while five went over to the party of Felicissimus, namely Fortunatus, Jovinus, Maximus, Donatus and Gordius; concerning whom the Annals should be consulted, year 251, paragraph 2. And perhaps this was the pretext for revolution: that, since the presbyters acted with equal right in the bishop's absence and, as the senate of the Church, administered its affairs by common vote, and since the greater number was on the side of the schismatics, those who upheld the opposing party had come to be regarded as the schismatics.

That it was not permitted to come to you before the day of Easter. Rigaltius says: "The schismatics had then thrown everything into confusion in the Church of Carthage, arrogating to themselves the authority to grant peace to the lapsed, while the case had not yet been sufficiently examined by the rule of ecclesiastical discipline. And therefore Cyprian judged that he must postpone his return, lest, at the solemnities of the Paschal feast, the crowding of the people and the invidious presence of a returning bishop should give the factious an occasion for fresh disturbances." These very words of Cyprian on the following page sufficiently indicate it: "while we take care, through the threats and plots of the faithless, lest at our arrival a greater tumult arise there." Indeed Cyprian gained this from the delay: that he was not alone exposed to the ill will of the schismatics, but was supported by the votes and authority of the bishops, for whom it was customary to meet after Easter.

These presbyters are nothing other than those five chief men. Rigaltius says: "How exquisitely he gathers together everything that serves his cause, so as to stir up ill will against his adversary! He says that the five presbyters who had allied themselves with Felicissimus, to create false accusation and danger for Cyprian, were shown and signified to him by God through those five chief men who had subscribed to the magistrates' edict against the Christians, and that therefore those five presbyters deserve no less hatred than those five chief men, the abettors of the persecution."

Year 252.

Letter 54.

Cyprian to Maximus. This letter takes its place among those written in the year of Christ 252, and seems to have been sent at the very beginning of the year.

That the Church is one. For this we profess in the creed of the faith when we say I BELIEVE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. And for this reason the Nicene fathers say in express words: I BELIEVE ONE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

After schismatic and heretical error caught you as you came out of prison. Rigaltius says: "These words show clearly enough that Pamelius's observation is empty, namely that Cyprian here and in other places of this kind is to be understood not of schismatics or heretics but of other wicked men. And what Pamelius adduces from the books of Augustine proves only this: that the most holy doctor, according to the various shapes of the cases, thought differently from Cyprian about punishing heretics." Saint Augustine mentions this passage in book 2 Against Cresconius the Grammarian, chapters 34 and 37, and in Letter 255, to Macrobius the Donatist. This passage is also adduced in the Conference of Carthage.

To break the earthen vessels has been granted to the Son alone. Rigaltius says: "Soon after he says: Nor can anyone claim for himself what the Father has assigned to the Son alone."

That he bears the shovel. A pala is a farm implement, broad and somewhat hollow, of which Pliny, book 18,

c. 6: "Rushy ground must be turned with the shovel, and stony ground with two-pronged hoes." This implement was used for cleaning grain, and those who think it is a winnowing-fan seem to be mistaken. The prophet Isaiah, chap. 30, verse 24 (Isa. 30:24), in the Hebrew text distinguishes the shovel from the winnowing-fan, and teaches that grain is cleaned with both: [Hebrew] "winnowed with shovel and with fan". St Augustine, in his Letter to Macrobius, reads the passage thus: "As he thinks he can carry both a shovel and a fan as well, for winnowing and cleaning the threshing-floor."

Letter 56.

In the city of Capsa. It is a city of Byzacena, which is mentioned in the 69th vote of the Council of Carthage. Here the treasures of Jugurtha had been stored away.

The violence of the magistrate. It has been observed elsewhere that the Decian persecution was set in motion first by the magistracy of the cities and by popular tumult, and that afterwards the proconsul conducted a more severe inquisition.

Undergone not by will but by necessity. Rigault says: "He ascribes to necessity the force of the tortures, the long repetition of torments."

Through these three years. This seems to come very close to the proper period of penance.

That they confessed the name. Rigault says: "That is, that they declared openly and clearly, We are Christians. So in the preceding Letter: Slain for the name, namely of Christ, steadfastly crying out that they were Christians."

And that they did not fail the fight earlier. Rigault says: "Earlier, that is, before the tortures had worn out the flesh."

They began to come to me. Fixed synods were held twice each year, after Easter and in the autumn season; these, as occasion arose, were prolonged or held more frequently.

Letter 58.

To the people abiding at Thibaris. It seems to be a city of Zeugitana. Pamelius says: "Since, when writing to the larger cities, he is accustomed to address the letter both to the clergy and to the people, it is surprising that he writes this letter to the people alone, especially since among the bishops of Africa mention is made of Vincent of Thibaris." It was observed above, at the Letter to Cornelius concerning Polycarp of Hadrumetum, that the omission of the bishop's name is an indication that the church was without a bishop at the time of writing. In this place, however, the bishop and the people seem to have been passed over together because a reply is given here to the wishes of the people of Thibaris, previously conveyed to Cyprian rather often, either by letters or by messenger. But it is nothing new for Cyprian to write to the people separately from the clergy; for this was done above, in Letter 17.

If the order of affairs and the condition of the time. Rigault says: "Thus Cyprian, even while serving the Lord, does not think himself forbidden to serve the time prudently as well, that is, as befits a servant of God, to serve the time and the Lord (Rom. 12:11)."

The day of affliction, the setting of the age, the time of Antichrist. Rigault says: "Paul had already said that the time is drawn together and that the last times are approaching. Cyprian himself will shortly say in this Letter, in the latest times. Below he will say, the most wicked day. This is the very thing that Tertullian, in the Apology, chap. 32, calls the mightiest force hanging over the whole world, and the very close of the age, threatening horrible bitternesses. And in On the Resurrection of the Flesh, c. 27: The ends of the age, under the final wrath. Then he says explicitly: After the uprooting of Antichrist the resurrection will be set in motion."

Concerning the age already dying. Rigault says: "Above he said, the setting of the age."

With afflictions choking. Rigault says: "Paul in 2 Cor. (2 Cor. 4:8): afflicted, but not hemmed in. The old glossaries: Angit [it chokes], it afflicts, it hems in, it throttles, it stifles. Here, then, to be choked, or to be straitened, is more than to suffer affliction, as in Paul. 4 Esdras: But the just will bear narrow things, hoping for spacious ones. Ps. 4 (Ps. 4:2): in affliction Thou hast enlarged me. Cyprian himself, in Letter 58, will say: he was pressed down by sins choking [him]."

Do not wonder at the burning that befalls [you]. Rigault says: "1 Peter 4 (1 Pet. 4:12): Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you. Tertullian in the Scorpiace: Beloved, do not be terrified at the burning that is being carried out among you