Migne Reading Room

PL 4 · cols. 429–438

Cyprianus, Epistolae LXX-LXXXIII, cum epistola Cornelii papae

Letters LXXXII–LXXXIII

consummetur in vobis, assiduis orationibus Dominum deprecamur, ut, initiis ad summa pergentibus, quos confiteri fecit, faciat et coronari. Opto vos, fratres charissimi ac beatissimi, in Domino semper bene valere et ad coronam coelestis gloriae pervenire. Victor diaconus et qui mecum sunt vos salutant.

be consummated in you, we beseech the Lord with constant prayers that, as the beginnings advance to the highest things, those whom He has made to confess He may also make to be crowned. I wish you, most dear and most blessed brothers, always to fare well in the Lord and to attain to the crown of heavenly glory. Victor the deacon and those who are with me greet you.

EPISTOLA LXXXII.

Letter 82.

(Pamel., Rigalt., Baluz., LXXXII. Paris., LXXXI. Oxon., Lips., LXXX.)

(Pamelius, Rigault, Baluze, 82. Paris, 81. Oxford, Leipzig, 80.)

AD SUCCESSUM, DE NUNTIIS ROMA REVERSIS PERSECUTIONEM NUNTIANTIBUS.

To Successus, concerning the messengers returned from Rome announcing the persecution.

ARGUMENTUM. — Nuntiat Successo episcopo Cyprianus, persecutione acriori jam decreta per Valerianum imperatorem (haud dubie cum Gallieno), passum Romae Xistum pontificem VIII idus Augusti, idque ut collegis caeteris significet petit, quo suum quisque gregem ad martyrium animet. Cum autem paulo post mense septembri passus sit Cyprianus, non dubium quin sub finem vitae scripta sit haec epistola.

Argument. — Cyprian announces to Successus the bishop that, a fiercer persecution having now been decreed by the emperor Valerian (doubtless together with Gallienus), Xistus the pontiff suffered at Rome on the eighth day before the Ides of August, and he asks him to make this known to the other colleagues, so that each may encourage his own flock to martyrdom. Since, moreover, Cyprian suffered a little later, in the month of September, there is no doubt that this letter was written towards the end of his life.

I. Cyprianus Successo fratri salutem. Ut non vobis in continenti scriberem, frater charissime, illa res fecit, quod universi clerici sub ictu agonis constituti, recedere istinc omnino non poterant, parati omnes pro animi sui devotione ad divinam et coelestem gloriam. Sciatis autem eos venisse quos ad Urbem propter hoc miseram, ut quomodocumque de nobis rescriptum fuisset, exploratam sibi veritatem ad nos perferrent.

I. Cyprian to his brother Successus, greeting. That I did not write to you at once, most dear brother, was brought about by this circumstance: that all the clergy, set under the stroke of the contest, could by no means withdraw from here, all being ready, in accordance with the devotion of their soul, for divine and heavenly glory. Know, moreover, that those have come whom I had sent to the City for this purpose, that, in whatever way a rescript had been issued concerning us, they might bring to us the truth as ascertained by themselves.

Editors' notes and page, col. 429

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES.

VARIANT READINGS.

(printed under page 208)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 429

Et delevit Lips. editor, suadente Neandro Kg. 1, p. 141, n. 3, cui adsensit Muenterus primord. Eccl. Afric. p. 171, n. 1.

The Leipzig editor deleted "Et" (and), on the advice of Neander, Kirchengeschichte 1, p. 141, n. 3, with whom Münter agreed, Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae, p. 171, n. 1.

(printed under page 208)

Page

running head: 429 EPISTOLA LXXXI… (cut off at the right edge)
marginal letters: A consummetur in vobis; B Romae Xistum pontificem VIII idus Augusti; C a Et delevit Lips. editor (in the Lectiones variantes, not set); D mox citavimus (in Baluze's notes, not set)
old-edition numerals: (none)

Multa enim varia et incerta opinionibus ventilantur. Quae autem sunt in vero ita se habent. Rescripsisse Valerianum ad senatum ut episcopi et presbyteri et diacones in continenti animadvertantur, senatores vero et egregii viri et equites Romani, dignitate amissa, etiam bonis spolientur; et, si ademptis facultatibus christiani esse perseveraverint, capite quoque mulctentur; matronae vero, ademptis bonis, in exsilium relegentur; Caesariani autem quicumque vel prius confessi fuerant vel nunc confessi fuerint, confiscentur et vincti in Caesarianas possessiones descripti mittantur. Subjecit etiam Valerianus imperator orationi suae exemplum litterarum quas ad praesides provinciarum de nobis fecit: quas litteras quotidie speramus venire, stantes secundum fidei firmitatem ad passionis tolerantiam, et expectantes de ope et indulgentia Domini vitae aeternae coronam. Xistum autem in cimiterio animadversum sciatis octavo iduum augustarum die, et cum eo diacones quatuor. Sed et huic persecutioni quotidie insistunt praefecti in Urbe; ut, si qui sibi oblati fuerint, animadvertantur, et bona eorum fisco vindicentur.

For many varied and uncertain things are bandied about in people's opinions. But the things that are true stand thus: that Valerian has sent a rescript to the senate that bishops and presbyters and deacons should be put to death forthwith; that senators, however, and men of rank and Roman knights, having lost their dignity, should also be stripped of their goods, and, if after their means have been taken away they persist in being Christians, should also be punished with death; that matrons, however, having had their goods taken away, should be banished into exile; and that members of Caesar's household, whoever had either confessed before or should confess now, should have their property confiscated and be sent in chains, enrolled for Caesar's estates. The emperor Valerian also appended to his address a copy of the letter which he has issued to the governors of the provinces concerning us: which letter we daily hope will arrive, standing according to the firmness of faith ready for the endurance of suffering, and awaiting from the help and indulgence of the Lord the crown of eternal life. Know, moreover, that Xistus was put to death in the cemetery on the eighth day before the Ides of August, and with him four deacons. And the prefects in the City, too, press on with this persecution daily, so that, if any are brought before them, they are put to death and their goods are claimed for the treasury.

II. Haec peto per vos et caeteris collegis nostris innotescant, ut ubique hortatu eorum possit fraternitas corroborari et ad agonem spiritalem praeparari, ut singuli ex nostris non magis mortem cogitent quam immortalitatem, et, plena fide ac tota virtute Domino dicati, gaudeant magis quam timeant in hac confessione;

II. I ask that through you these things may be made known to our other colleagues as well, so that everywhere by their exhortation the brotherhood may be strengthened and prepared for the spiritual contest, so that each one of our people may think not so much of death as of immortality, and, dedicated to the Lord with full faith and all their strength, may rejoice rather than fear in this confession;

Editors' notes and page, col. 430

Footnotes

(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 430

Et scripti Ver.

"Et scripti" (and written), Verona.

(printed under page 208)

(c) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 430

Quarto Ver. Cum eodem quartum Oxon.

"Quarto" (on the fourth), Verona; "Cum eodem quartum" (with him Quartus), Oxford edition.

STEPH. BALUZII NOTÆ.

NOTES OF ÉTIENNE BALUZE.

[Baluze, continued] ‹anchor: Antecedit (lemma on previous page)› · col 429

(continued) præparent. Itaque castrensi vocabulo usus est sanctus Cyprianus. Vide Vegetium.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Victor Diaconus› · col 429 Victor Diaconus. Hæc addita sunt ex vetusto codice Remigiano.

"Victor the deacon." These words were added from the ancient Saint-Remi manuscript.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Epist. LXXXII› · col 429 522 Epist. lxxxii. —Hujus Epistolæ, cujus prima editio debetur Manutio, habui decem vetera exemplaria. Pamelius habuit duo. Angli nullum habuerunt.

[p.] 522. Letter 82. — Of this letter, whose first edition is owed to Manutius, I had ten old copies. Pamelius had two. The English editors had none.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Successo› · col 429 I.— Successo, Episcopo ab Abbir Germaniciana, qui interfuit concilio Carthaginensi sub Cypriano. Martyrio vitam finiisse docent Acta passionis sanctorum Montani, Lucii et aliorum edita a sociis Bollandianis et Theoderico Ruinarto.

I. — "To Successus," bishop of Abbir Germaniciana, who took part in the Council of Carthage under Cyprian. That he ended his life by martyrdom is shown by the Acts of the passion of Saints Montanus, Lucius and others, published by the Bollandist fellows and by Thierry Ruinart.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Illa res fecit› · col 429 Illa res fecit. Sic legendum apud Ruricium, lib. ii, Epist. 14. Apud Cæsarium Arelatensem in Exhortatione ad charitatem: Illa vel maxime res facit.

"That thing has caused." So it should be read in Ruricius, Book 2, Letter 14. In Caesarius of Arles, in the Exhortation to Charity: "That thing above all causes."

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Sub ictu agonis› · col 429 Sub ictu agonis. Acta sanctorum martyrum quæ mox citavimus: Negavit esse in passionis ictu dolorem. Vide quæ dicta sunt supra ad Epistolam xxvi, in ipso interitu pag. 412.

"Under the stroke of the contest." The Acts of the holy martyrs we have just cited: "He said there was no pain in the stroke of the passion." See what was said above on Letter 26, "in the very death," p. 412.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Clerici› · col 429 Clerici. Per quos mitti consueverant Epistolæ ecclesiasticæ, ut alii animadverterunt et satis notum est vel ex unico Cypriano. Hieronymus in Epitaphio Paulæ: Misit tibi per clericum suum epistolam.

"Clerics." Through whom church letters were customarily sent, as others have observed and as is well enough known from Cyprian alone. Jerome, in the Epitaph of Paula: "He sent you a letter by his cleric."

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Parati omnes› · col 429 Parati omnes. Editio Morelliana et quinque libri veteres, parati omnes pro animatione divina et cœlesti corona.

"All ready." Morel's edition and five old manuscripts: "all ready for divine inspiriting and the heavenly crown."

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Valerianum› · col 429 Valerianum. Vide notas nostras ad caput v Lactantii de Mortibus Persecutorum.

"Valerian." See our notes on chapter 5 of Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Xistum› · col 429 Xistum. Pontius diaconus in Vita sancti Cypriani: Jam de Xisto bono et pacifico sacerdote ac propterea beatissimo Martyre ab Urbe nuntius venerat. Vide Annales Cyprianicos et dissertationem xi Cyprianicam Dodwelli. Hieronymus in Epistola ad Ctesiphontem adversus Pelagianos; Evagrius Ponticus confudit Xistum Pythagoreum cum Sixto martyre et episcopo Romanæ Ecclesiæ.

"Xistus." Pontius the deacon, in the Life of Saint Cyprian: "Already a messenger had come from the City about Xistus, a good and peaceable priest, and therefore a most blessed Martyr." See the Annales Cyprianici and Dodwell's eleventh Cyprianic dissertation. Jerome, in the Letter to Ctesiphon against the Pelagians: "Evagrius Ponticus confused Xistus the Pythagorean with Sixtus, martyr and bishop of the Roman Church."

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Mulctentur› · col 430 Mulctentur. Tres libri veteres habent puniantur, duo plectantur.

"Be fined." Three old manuscripts have "puniantur" (be punished), two "plectantur" (be chastised).

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Octavo iduum› · col 430 Octavo iduum. Quinque libri veteres præferunt quinto. Sed in martyrologiis scriptum est octavo, in Gestis pontificalibus sexto.

"On the eighth day before the Ides." Five old manuscripts give "quinto" (the fifth). But in the martyrologies "octavo" (the eighth) is written, in the Gesta pontificalia "sexto" (the sixth).

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Diacones quatuor› · col 430 Diacones quatuor. Scio istic legi in quibusdam veteribus libris et in posterioribus editionibus et cum eodem Quartum. At ego præfero lectionem Manutii et Morellii, et puto veterum librorum lectionem qui habent Quartum ortam esse ex prava lectione hujus loci Cyprianici. Error autem ortus est, ut opinor, ex eo quod in quodam libro veteri scriptum erat in compendio et cum eo d. iv. quemadmodum ego quoque vidi scriptum iv. in uno veteri libro. Ex quo sequentes librarii fecerunt et cum eodem Quartum. Nam sunt aliqui libri veteres qui habent tantum et cum eodem quatuor, omissa voce diacones. Certum est porro nullam Quarti mentionem alibi reperiri quam apud martyrologos, qui citant Epistolam Cypriani. Certum quoque est Felicissimum et Agapitum diaconos decollatos fuisse cum Xisto. Quare puto falsam esse animadversionem Pamelii censentis nullo modo defendi posse lectionem Manutii et Morellii. Sane istic commemorantur quatuor diaconi cum Xisto passi. Et tamen duo tantum cum eo decollati dicuntur in Actis ejus. In Gestis vero pontificalibus, quæ citantur etiam in antiquis martyrologiis, scriptum est sex cum illo passos esse. Sed ista repugnantia nullius est momenti. Felicissimus et Agapitus mortem obierunt cum Xisto, reliqui aliquo ex diebus sequentibus.

"Four deacons." I know that in some old manuscripts and in later editions one reads here "and with him Quartus." But I prefer the reading of Manutius and Morel, and I think the reading of the old manuscripts that have "Quartus" arose from a bad reading of this passage of Cyprian. The error arose, I believe, from the fact that in some old manuscript it was written in abbreviation "et cum eo d. iv." — just as I too have seen "iv." written in one old manuscript. From this later copyists made "and with him Quartus." For there are some old manuscripts that have only "and with him four," the word "deacons" being omitted. It is certain, moreover, that no mention of Quartus is found anywhere except in the martyrologists, who cite Cyprian's letter. It is certain too that the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus were beheaded with Xistus. Therefore I think Pamelius's remark false, when he judges that the reading of Manutius and Morel can in no way be defended. Certainly four deacons are recorded here as having suffered with Xistus. And yet only two are said in his Acts to have been beheaded with him. In the Gesta pontificalia, which are cited also in ancient martyrologies, it is written that six suffered with him. But this conflict is of no weight. Felicissimus and Agapitus met death with Xistus, the rest on some of the following days.

(printed under page 208)

Page

running head: [EP]ISTOLA LXXXII. (left edge cut off in image)
marginal letters: A ‹Multa enim varia et incerta›; B ‹dum fidei firmitatem ad passionis›; C (none in this column); D ‹vidi scriptum IV. in uno veteri libro› (in Baluze's notes, not set)
old-edition numerals: 166 after ‹eorum›

in qua sciunt Dei et Christi milites non perimi, sed coronari. Opto te, frater charissime, semper in Domino bene valere.

in which the soldiers of God and of Christ know that they are not slain but crowned. I wish you, dearest brother, ever to fare well in the Lord.

EPISTOLA LXXXIII.

Letter 83.

(Pam., Rigalt., Baluz., LXXXIII. Paris., LXXXI. Oxon., Lips., LXXXI.)

(Pamelius, Rigault, Baluze, 83. Paris, 81. Oxford, Leipzig, 81.)

AD CLERUM ET PLEBEM, DE SUO SECESSU, PAULO ANTE PASSIONEM.

To the clergy and people, on his withdrawal, shortly before his passion.

ARGUMENTUM. — Cum jam, sub finem vitae, ad hortos suos reverso Cypriano nuntiaretur missos esse qui se Uticam ad supplicium pertraherent, secessit. Ne vero metu mortis id fecisse crederetur, hac epistola causam reddit, ut nempe non alibi quam Carthagine, in conspectu suorum, martyrium subiret.

Argument. — When now, towards the end of his life, word was brought to Cyprian, who had returned to his gardens, that men had been sent to drag him to Utica for execution, he withdrew. But lest he be thought to have done this from fear of death, in this letter he gives the reason: namely, that he might undergo martyrdom nowhere else than at Carthage, in the sight of his own people.

I. Cyprianus presbyteris et diaconibus et plebi universae salutem. Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset, fratres charissimi, commentarios esse missos qui me Uticam perducerent, et consilio charissimorum persuasum esset ut de hortis nostris interim secederemus, justa interveniente causa, consensi, eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate in qua Ecclesiae Dominicae praeest, illic Dominum confiteri et plebem universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari. Quodcumque enim sub illo confessionis momento confessor episcopus loquitur, aspirante Deo, ore omnium loquitur. Caeterum mutilabitur honor ecclesiae nostrae tam gloriosae, si ego episcopus alterius ecclesiae praepositus, accepta apud Uticam super confessione sententia, exinde martyr ad Dominum proficiscar, quandoquidem ego et pro me et pro vobis apud vos confiteri et ibi pati, et exinde ad Dominum proficisci, orationibus continuis deprecer et votis omnibus exoptem

I. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons and to all the people, greeting. When it had been reported to us, dearest brothers, that officers had been sent to take me to Utica, and I had been persuaded by the counsel of those most dear to me to withdraw for a while from our gardens, I consented, since a just cause intervened, because it is fitting that a bishop should confess the Lord in that very city in which he presides over the Lord's Church, and that the whole people should be glorified by the confession of their prelate in their presence. For whatever the confessor bishop says in that moment of confession, he speaks, God inspiring him, with the mouth of all. Moreover, the honour of our church, so glorious, will be mutilated if I, a bishop set over another church, having received sentence upon my confession at Utica, should thence set out as a martyr to the Lord, since I, that I may confess both for myself and for you among you and suffer there, and thence set out to the Lord, beg with continual prayers and long for it with all my vows

Editors' notes and page, col. 431

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES.

VARIANT READINGS.

(printed under page 209)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 431

Temere profiteri Vat. 1.

"Temere profiteri" (to profess rashly), Vatican 1.

(printed under page 209)

Page

running head: 431 DIVI CYPRIANI
marginal letters: A ‹sione; in qua sciunt›; B ‹universae salutem. Cum perlatum›; C ‹confiteri et ibi pati›; D ‹enim recte explicantur› (in Baluze's notes)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: first word "sione;" is the end of a word broken from the previous column; last word "exo-" broken across the column break (exorem); editors' matter set: edition-numbering line "(Pam., Rigalt., Baluz.", and Argumentum "Cum jam, sub finem vitae"; full-width lines "LECTIONES VARIAE" and "STEPH. BALUZII NOTAE" at the page foot not set; Variae lectiones and Baluze's notes left for the later pass
other: the word exoptem was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 432

et debeam. Expectamus ergo hic, in secessu abdito constituti, adventum proconsulis Carthaginem redeuntis, audituri ab eo quid im⟨p⟩eratores super Christianorum laicorum et episcoporum nomine mandaverint, et dicturi quod ad horam Dominus dici voluerit.

and am bound to do so. We are waiting therefore here, settled in a hidden retreat, for the arrival of the proconsul as he returns to Carthage, to hear from him what the emperors have commanded concerning the name of Christians, both laity and bishops, and to say what the Lord shall have willed to be said at that hour.

II. Vos autem, fratres charissimi, pro disciplina quam de mandatis Dominicis a me semper accepistis, et secundum quod me tractante saepissime didicistis, quietem et tranquillitatem tenete, nec quisquam vestrum aliquem tumultum fratribus moveat, aut ultro se gentilibus offerat. Apprehensus enim et traditus loqui debet; siquidem in nobis Dominus positus illa hora loquatur, qui nos confiteri magis voluit quam profiteri. Quid autem de caetero nos observare conveniat antequam in me super confessione nominis Dei proconsul sententiam ferat, instruente Domino in commune disponemus. Incolumes vos, fratres charissimi, Dominus noster in Ecclesia sua permanere faciat et conservare dignetur. Ita fiat per suam misericordiam.

II. But you, dearest brothers, in keeping with the discipline which you have always received from me out of the Lord's commands, and according to what you have very often learned while I was treating of it, keep quiet and tranquillity, and let none of you stir up any tumult for the brothers, or offer himself of his own accord to the Gentiles. For one who has been apprehended and handed over ought to speak, since the Lord placed in us speaks at that hour, Who willed that we should confess rather than profess. But what it is fitting for us to observe for the rest, before the proconsul passes sentence upon me concerning the confession of the name of God, we shall arrange in common with the Lord instructing us. May our Lord cause you, dearest brothers, to remain safe in His Church and deign to preserve you. So may it be through His mercy.

Tres epistolae quae sequuntur inter epistolas Cypriani reperiuntur in quibusdam libris antiquis.

The three letters which follow are found among the letters of Cyprian in certain ancient books.

EPISTOLA CORNELII PAPAE AD CYPRIANUM.

Letter of Pope Cornelius to Cyprian.

Dilectionis tuae non delectabilia et contra fidei regulam scripta suscepi, in quibus nauseas recognovi, et venena sermonum adversus catholicam per totum orbem diffusam Ecclesiam horribilibus a te superseri zizaniis non laudavi. Quae peto velociter tollas ac praedamnes. Quod prius quidem te facere oportebat quam in mundo lethale virus aspersum simplicium et innocentium interficeret mentes. Non ergo dignum

I have received from Your Love writings that are not delightful and are contrary to the rule of faith, in which I recognized things nauseating, and I did not praise the poisons of speech sown over by you with horrible tares against the Catholic Church spread throughout the whole world. These I ask that you swiftly remove and condemn in advance. This indeed you ought to have done before the lethal poison scattered in the world killed the minds of the simple and innocent. It is not therefore fitting

Editors' notes and page, col. 432

Footnotes

(b) ‹anchor: per suam misericordiam› · call in col 432

Hæc ultima verba rejiciunt Oxon. Lips.

These last words are rejected by the Oxford and Leipzig editions.

STEPH. BALUZII NOTÆ.

NOTES OF ÉTIENNE BALUZE.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Commentarios› · col 431 Epist. lxxxiii. — I. Commentarios. Manutius, cui prima Epistolæ istius editio debetur, et Morellius posuerunt frumentarios; quam lectionem præfert etiam codex Remensis sancti Dionysii. Omnes alii et duo laudati a Pamelio habent commentarios. Istam lectionem sibi magis probari dixit Pamelius, et tamen edidit frumentarios. Commentarii sive commentarienses, quorum multa mentio in Codice Theodosiano, ubi vocantur nequissimi, ii erant, ut ait Julius Firmicus in libro de Institutione Matheseos, quibus damnatorum 523 cura committebatur, vel carcerum custodes, quos nos vocamus geolarios, geôliers. Sic enim recte explicantur in Actis primi ingressus Joannis d'Orleans, episcopi Aurelianensis, in urbem suam anno 1522; Episcopatus Aurelianensis carcerum commentarienses sive geolarios. Iisdem, ut ait idem Firmicus, publicarum catenarum cura demandabatur; de quibus vide etiam Ludovicum Cælium Rhodiginum lib. ix, cap. 34. Recte ergo Cyprianus ait missos esse commentarios qui eum Uticam perducerent. Iidem lictores vocantur in Epistola Hieronymi de Muliere septies icta: Turbatur tali nuntio urbs propinqua, et tota lictorum caterva glomeratur, e quibus medius, ad quem damnatorum cura pertinebat, erumpens, etc. De frumentariis vide notas Andreæ Schotti ad Aurelium Victorem; Henricum Valesium ad librum vi, cap. 30, Hist. Eccles. Eusebii, et glossarium Latinum Cangii. Alio sensu Jacobus Billius in scholiis ad Orationem Gregorii Nazianzeni de Plaga Grandinis, frumentarios eos vocat qui idcirco frumentum emunt ut fratres suos opprimant.

Letter 83. — I. "Recorders." Manutius, to whom the first edition of this letter is owed, and Morel printed "frumentarios" (grain-agents); the Saint-Denis manuscript at Reims also gives that reading. All the others, and two cited by Pamelius, have "commentarios." Pamelius said this reading pleased him more, and yet he printed "frumentarios." The "commentarii" or "commentarienses," often mentioned in the Theodosian Code, where they are called most wicked, were those, as Julius Firmicus says in his book On the Teaching of Astrology, to whom the charge of the condemned [p. 523] was committed — the keepers of prisons, whom we call "geolarii," gaolers. For so they are rightly explained in the Acts of the first entry of Jean d'Orléans, bishop of Orléans, into his city in 1522: "the prison recorders or gaolers of the bishopric of Orléans." To the same men, as Firmicus also says, the charge of the public chains was given; on whom see also Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus, Book 9, ch. 34. Rightly, then, Cyprian says that recorders had been sent to take him to Utica. The same men are called lictors in Jerome's Letter on the Woman Struck Seven Times: "The neighbouring city is thrown into turmoil by such news, and the whole band of lictors gathers; from their midst bursts out the one to whom the charge of the condemned belonged," etc. On the "frumentarii" see Andreas Schott's notes on Aurelius Victor, Henri de Valois on Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, Book 6, ch. 30, and Du Cange's Latin glossary. In another sense Jacques de Billy, in his scholia on Gregory Nazianzen's Oration on the Plague of Hail, calls "frumentarii" those who buy up grain in order to oppress their brethren.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: De hortis nostris› · col 432 De hortis nostris. Vide quæ de hortis istis dicta sunt ad Epistolam vi, pag. 393.

"From our gardens." See what was said of these gardens on Letter 6, p. 393.

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Proconsul sententiam ferat› · col 432  II. — Proconsul sententiam ferat. Quinqué libri veteres, proconsulis sententia feriat.

II. — "Let the proconsul pronounce sentence." Five old manuscripts: "proconsulis sententia feriat" (let the proconsul's sentence strike).

[Baluze] ‹anchor: In commune› · col 432 In commune. Quamquam ista lectio sit optima, non displicet tamen ea quam codex 2442 bibliothecæ Colbertinæ et Fuxensis exhibent. Exhibent autem in comminus, id est cum simul erimus, cum in unum convenerimus. Cum autem frequenter observaverim codices Veronensem et Fuxensem præferre easdem lectiones, hæc mea observatio fulcitur etiam testimonio istius loci. Veronensis enim habebat comminus. Quo etiam modo scriptum vidi apud Suetonium in Vita Cæsaris. Apollonius apud Rufinum, lib. v. Hist. Eccles., cap. 18, aut si confidunt, in cominus veniant.

"In common." Although this reading is best, the one shown by manuscript 2442 of the Colbert library and the Foix manuscript does not displease me. They show "in comminus" (face to face), that is, when we shall be together, when we have come together into one. And since I have often observed that the Verona and Foix manuscripts give the same readings, this observation of mine is supported also by the witness of this passage. For the Verona manuscript had "comminus." I have seen it written in the same way in Suetonius, Life of Caesar. Apollonius in Rufinus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, ch. 18: "or, if they are confident, let them come face to face."

[Baluze] ‹anchor: Ita fiat› · col 432 Ita fiat. Istud addidimus ex libro Fuxensi.

"So be it." We have added this from the Foix manuscript.

(*) ‹anchor: reperiuntur in quibusdam libris antiquis (end of the line "Tres epistolae quae sequuntur…")› · call in col 432  Quamvis nolim præstare has tres epistolas esse Cypriani, putavi tamen debere me illas edere in hcc loco, quia referuntur in quibusdam veteribus libris Epistolarum sancti Cypriani. Viri docti illas examinabunt. Prima, quæ est Cornelii Papæ, inventa est, ut ad Epistolam lxx. dictum est, in duobus libris veteribus, secunda in codice Fuxensi bibliothecæ Colbertinæ, tertia in eodem codice Fuxensi et in eo qui servatur Remis in abbatia sancti Dionysii.

Although I would not vouch that these three letters are Cyprian's, I thought I ought to publish them in this place, because they are given in some old books of Saint Cyprian's Letters. Learned men will examine them. The first, which is Pope Cornelius's, was found, as was said at Letter 70, in two old manuscripts; the second in the Foix manuscript of the Colbert library; the third in the same Foix manuscript and in the one kept at Reims in the abbey of Saint-Denis.

(printed under page 209)

Page

running head: DIVI CYPRIANI 432 (initial D cut off at the image edge)
marginal letters: A ptem et debeam; B veniat antequam in me; C quam in mundo lethale; D codices Veronensem et Fuxensem (in Baluze's notes at the page foot)
old-edition numerals: 167 before Tres
footnote calls: (a) stands in this column at ‹quam profiteri›; its footnote is set in n431 (which gives its call as col 431, anchor not visible), to be corrected there
other: the column opens with "ptem", the tail of "exoptem", which stands whole at the end of col 431 and is not restored here
other: "im⟨p⟩eratores": the page prints the p like an n ("imneratores"), a broken descender or a misprint, UNSURE; the source marks the letter as supplied
other: editors' matter set: the line ‹Tres epistolae quae sequuntur› (Baluze's, not Cyprian's) and the title ‹EPISTOLA CORNELII PAPAE AD CYPRIANUM›; the letter that follows is Cornelius's, not Cyprian's

est rebaptizare. Ergo eradica et extrica, ut diximus, florulentis sermonibus atque dignis per posteriorem epistolam priora scripta, quae contra catholicam fidem servare censuerunt genimina viperarum. Non enim decet tantae urbis antistitem excellentissimumque doctorem ut, dum putas haeresis baptisma praedamnandum, verum Baptisma sermonibus maculare audias quae doles contra Apostolum scilicet repugnare dicentem: Unus Deus, una fides, unum Baptisma.

to rebaptize. Therefore uproot and disentangle, as we have said, with flowery and worthy words, through a later letter, the earlier writings which the brood of vipers has seen fit to keep against the catholic faith. For it does not befit the bishop and most excellent teacher of so great a city that, while you think the baptism of heresy is to be condemned in advance, you should hear them stain the true Baptism with words which you grieve to see opposing, namely, the Apostle when he says: One God, one faith, one Baptism.

AD PLEBEM CARTHAGINIS.

To the People of Carthage.

Cyprianus plebi Carthagini consistenti aeternam in Domino salutem. Gratias quidem agimus Deo Patri et Domino Jesu Christo, qui vos adunatos atque in conventicula restituit. Propter quam rem memoravimus et scriptum beatissimorum martyrum atque confessorum voluimus ad consilium nostrum servare. Jubet desuper majestas atque Spiritus sanctus, cujus in nobis gratia testis est salutaris. Nam, cum tractaret de traditoribus, jubet tam in Evangelio quam in Apostolo, tam in Psalmis quam in Prophetis et caeteris Scripturis: Scrutamini (Joa. V, 39). Quo scrutato a nobis, inventis ab iis qui Scripturas sanctas tradiderunt non mereri eos congredi consilium nostrum, id est consilium habitare. Nemo est enim qui hoc consilium condreatur non coelestem spectet. Ac propterea memoravimus ut ii qui taliter Scripturas tractaverunt ad statum plebis et judicium ab ipsis porrectum, nec aliqua actio ab ipsis promi, sed nec etiam ad statum sacrificii neque plebis esse proximi; qui utique, jam dudum derelicta plebe, nudata altaria, prompta sacrificia. Merito haec memorantes cum moestitia atque dolore animi profici teste ad Dominum quod debuimus statuere, quam omnes disceptationes et dissensiones et haereses et scandala hauserant, ne ulterius provocent se homines seu minus fidei seu Scripturis leves sint et lectores id statuimus atque statuimus, atque statuto nostro recedi nolumus, ut si qui tradidit praepositus huic plebi mereantur antistitem administrantem altari ac corpore integro. Iis vero jussimus a quibus et sacrificium offerri jubemus, merito praeceptis iis obtemperari debet, nec aliud fiet quam statim evangelica vox sincera cata Johannem loquitur: Nolo, inquit, de manibus vestris sacrificia, quia non venistis ad me cum hostia munda. Qui utique hostiam mundam non offert, hostia de manibus ejus non ascendit. Nam iterum legimus: In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum (Joan. I, 1). Qui per Verbum finctionem finxerint dare res inhabitabiles apud illos seu veras scripturas sanctas seu fictas, qui dat vocem et qui dat desideria proxima, qui utique finget tradere supplebit traditionem. Merito negantes volumus interim veniam habere confitentes patres. Nam qui dicit se Scripturas non habere, utique paratus fuit et

Cyprian to the people abiding at Carthage, eternal salvation in the Lord. We indeed give thanks to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has restored you, gathered together, also to your assemblies. For this reason we have made mention, and have wished to keep the writing of the most blessed martyrs and confessors for our council. The majesty from above and the Holy Spirit command it, Whose grace in us is a saving witness. For when He was treating of the traditors, He commands, as much in the Gospel as in the Apostle, as much in the Psalms as in the Prophets and the other Scriptures: Search (John 5:39). When this had been searched out by us, it having been found from those who handed over the holy Scriptures that they do not deserve to come together in our council, that is, to dwell in the council. For there is no one who comes together in this council who does not look to the heavenly one. And therefore we have made mention that those who have dealt with the Scriptures in such a way [are not to be admitted] to the station of the people and to the judgement put forward by them, nor is any action to be brought forth by them, but they are not even to be near the station of the sacrifice nor of the people; who indeed, having long since abandoned the people, the altars stripped, the sacrifices ready. Rightly, recalling these things with sadness and grief of mind, to be accomplished with the Lord as witness what we ought to establish, which all disputes and dissensions and heresies and scandals had swallowed up, lest men provoke themselves any further, or be lesser in faith, or be light-minded towards the Scriptures, even readers, we have established and do establish this, and we will have no departure from our statute, that if any prelate has handed over, this people should deserve a bishop who ministers at the altar with a body unimpaired. To those, however, we have given order by whom we also order the sacrifice to be offered; rightly these precepts ought to be obeyed, nor will anything else happen than what straightway the sincere evangelical voice speaks according to John: I do not want, it says, sacrifices from your hands, because you have not come to Me with a clean victim. He who indeed does not offer a clean victim, the victim does not ascend from his hands. For again we read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word (John 1:1). Those who through the Word have feigned a feigning to give uninhabitable things among them, whether true holy scriptures or feigned ones, who gives a voice and who gives near desires, who indeed will feign to hand over will make up the handing over. Rightly we wish those who deny to have pardon for the time being, the fathers who confess. For he who says that he does not have the Scriptures was indeed ready and

Editors' notes and page, col. 433

Footnotes

LECTIONES VARIANTES.

VARIANT READINGS.

(printed under page 210)

(a) ‹anchor: inventis› · call in col 433

Inventum est conjicit Baluz.

Baluze conjectures "inventum est" (it was found).

(printed under page 210)

(b) ‹anchor: consilium condreatur› · call in col 433

Congrediatur forte. Edd.

Perhaps "congrediatur" (should enter). Editors.

(printed under page 210)

(c) ‹anchor: prompta sacrificia› · call in col 433

Forte dereliquerunt. Edd.

Perhaps "dereliquerunt" (they abandoned). Editors.

(printed under page 210)

(d) ‹anchor: statuimus atque statuimus› · call in col 433

Atque statuimus. Hæc supersunt ac psalma amanuensis redolent. Edd.

"Atque statuimus" (and we have decreed): these words are superfluous and smell of a copyist's invention. Editors.

(printed under page 210)

Page

running head: 433 EPISTOLA AD TURASIUM (rest cut off at image edge)
marginal letters: A ‹est rebaptizare. Ergo eradica›; B ‹mus et scriptum beatissimorum›; C ‹proximi; qui utique, jam dudum›; D ‹munda. Qui utique hostiam›
old-edition numerals: 168 after ‹iis› (praeceptis iis)

torqueri, quorum exempla habemus. Tertio negaverunt, et sacramentum non tradiderunt. Hi autem qui nec interrogati obtulerunt, interim usque ad statum consilii laici communicabunt. Verumtamen in statum consilii quod Scriptura sancta promoverit, secundum sententiam fixam sanctis et amicis Dei suppleri volumus, cum jam testes et proximi aliquid jam dudum statuerant nostri antecessores. Ob quam rem necesse est nos testibus consentire complecti et supplere. Opto vos in Domino semper bene valere. Amen. Deo gratias.

to be tortured, of whom we have examples. Thirdly, they denied, and did not hand over the sacrament. But those who offered without even being questioned shall in the meantime communicate as laymen until the settlement of the council. Nevertheless, we wish the settlement of the council which holy Scripture shall have advanced to be supplemented according to the fixed judgement of the saints and friends of God, since our predecessors, already witnesses and neighbours, had long since decided something. For which reason it is necessary for us to agree with the witnesses, to embrace and to supplement. I wish you always to fare well in the Lord. Amen. Thanks be to God.

AD TURASIUM PRESBYTERUM.

To Turasius the Priest.

Cyprianus benedicto et dilectissimo parenti Turasio in Domino aeternam salutem. Charitatis tuae scripta percepi, quibus animum tuum dolore commotum de filiae dormitione cognovi. Non aliud principaliter admiratus sum quam christiani pectoris in te jactatam fuisse virtutem, ut animum flecteres ad dolorem. Stupeo murum fidei penetratum vulneribus orbitatis, quem sepire debuerat spes resurrectionis et regni coelestis. Numquam spes cum dolore concordat, nec fides aliquando sentit quacumque jacturam. Resurgere credimus mortuos, et plangimus: quid faceremus, si mori tantummodo sine resurrectione praeciperet Deus? Voluntas utique ejus sola sufficeret ad solatium, cui nullum praeponendum scimus affectum. Quod dederat abstulit qui creaverat. Quid certas plangere quod ad tempus acceperas? Commodaverat ut haberes quantocumque tempore voluisset, et cum vellet rursus auferret. Nihil abstulit tuum qui recipere dignatus est proprium. Creditum suum recipere decuerat creditorem, et nihil aliud decet quam creditori suo gratias agere mutuantem. Sic Job legimus quam sequamur devotissimam vocem: Dominus, inquit, dedit, Dominus abstulit. Sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est. Sit nomen Domini benedictum (Job I, 21). Parum ergo non erat haec sola consolatio contra luctum quod nemo lugere debeat cum aliquid reddiderit alienum, quia fas non erat apud alium detineri quod domino suo fuerat necessarium. Additur consolationis alia providentia, quae jaculis occurrat orbitatis. Gaudere debuimus de saeculo recedentibus, si saeculi contra nos inimicitias sentiremus, et plangimus beneficia Domini, qui nobis quod praestat infirmitati nostrae praestat. Periclitari volebat adhuc qui dolet aliquem dormientem, et inter fluctus vitae praesentis videre cupiebat miserum laborare. Ad quid christianum et fidelem animam putas intra carcerem mundi remorari debuisse, cui totus mundus naufragium est? Tantis et talibus tempestatibus vitae tot impugnationes diaboli, tot corporis bella, tot clades saeculi, tot calamitates evasit. Et lacrymas fundis, quasi nescias quid in te ipse quotidie patiaris: Propter quod Dominus sic admonet Apostolos suos dicens

Cyprian to his blessed and most beloved father Turasius, eternal salvation in the Lord. I have received the writings of your charity, from which I learned that your mind was moved with grief over the falling asleep of your daughter. I wondered at nothing so much as that the strength of a Christian breast in you had been shaken, so that you bent your mind to grief. I am astonished that the wall of faith has been pierced by the wounds of bereavement, which the hope of the resurrection and of the heavenly kingdom ought to have fenced about. Hope never agrees with grief, nor does faith ever feel any loss. We believe that the dead rise again, and we lament: what would we do if God commanded us merely to die without resurrection? His will alone would surely suffice for consolation, before which we know that no affection is to be preferred. He Who had created took away what He had given. Why do you strive to lament what you had received for a time? He had lent it so that you might have it for as long a time as He wished, and that He might take it away again when He willed. He Who deigned to take back His own took away nothing of yours. It was fitting for the creditor to take back what he had lent, and nothing else befits the borrower than to give thanks to his creditor. Thus we read the most devout utterance of Job, which we are to follow: The Lord, he says, gave, the Lord has taken away. As it pleased the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). This consolation alone, then, was not slight against mourning, that no one ought to mourn when he has given back what belongs to another, since it was not right for that to be kept back with another which had been needful to its lord. To this is added another provision of consolation, which may meet the darts of bereavement. We ought to have rejoiced over those departing from the world, if we perceived the enmities of the world against us, and yet we lament the benefits of the Lord, Who grants to us what He grants to our infirmity. He who grieves for someone fallen asleep wished him still to be in peril, and desired to see the wretched one labouring amid the waves of the present life. Why do you think that a Christian and faithful soul ought to have lingered within the prison of the world, to whom the whole world is a shipwreck? In so many and such great storms of life it has escaped so many assaults of the devil, so many wars of the body, so many disasters of the world, so many calamities. And you shed tears, as if you did not know what you yourself suffer daily in yourself: For which reason the Lord thus admonishes His Apostles, saying:

Editors' notes and page, col. 434

Page

running head: AD TURASIUM PRESBYTERUM. 434 (left part cut off at image edge: "D TURASIUM PRESBYTERUM.")
marginal letters: A torqueri, quorum exempla habemus; B pta percepi, quibus animum; C vellet rursus auferret; D mitati nostrae praestat
old-edition numerals: (none)

: Si me diligeretis, gauderetis, quoniam vado ad patrem (Joan. XIV, 28). Plane mortuum Lazarum flevit, sed non tuis lacrymis. Resurrectionis promissor dolere non poterat, ne fidem perfidiam faceret quam docebat. Doluit Lazarum non dormientem, sed potius resurgentem, et flebat quem cogebatur, propter salvandos alios et confundendos incredulos, ad saeculum revocare. Hanc vitam dans Dominus ingemiscebat, quam tu doles esse sublatam. Contra lacrymas ejus pugnant lacrymae tuae, et amor tuus amori ejus non convenit. Fletus ejus non habet parem. Ille nolebat reddere laboribus quem dilexerat, et tu amare te credis cui laborum volebas adhuc restare tormenta? Caeterum, si putas eum mortuum Lazarum doluisse, ante non permisisset exire qui repellere poterat mortem, aut certe non fleret qui mortuum resuscitandi postmodum habuerat potestatem. Unde apparet eum sola ea causa fuisse commotum, quod ad hostilem vitam charissimum suum revocare denuo propter credituros aliquos vel confundendos incredulos urgebatur. Denique sic subsecutus est Dominus dicens : Ergo, Pater, ut credant quia tu me misisti, ait clara voce : Lazare, prodi foras (Joan. XI, 43). Et factum est. Gaudere ergo debes unde ille coactus est flere, ne videaris dormientis felicitatibus invidere. Ab alieno mundo ad proprium transivit, transivit ad Dominum, et de hostili patria ad paternam patriam migravit ad coelum, dicente Apostolo : Scimus, inquit, quoniam, si terrena domus nostra hujus corporis resolvatur, quod habitationem habemus non manu factam aeternam in coelis (II Cor. V, 1). Caruit ergo domo, quam nec nosse debuerat; caruit malis civibus, quorum odia sustinebat, ne adhuc peregrinaretur in terra contraria, sicut Apostolus memorat dicens : Quamdiu sumus in hoc saeculo, peregrinamur a Domino (Ibid. 6). Non nobis ergo debet luctus incumbere, quisquis a peregrinatione redire meruerit ad propriam regionem, maxime cum non inanis et vacuus redire noscatur qui christianitatis mercatus est lucrum, propter quod venit ad mundi commercium. Negotium explicavit, rediit, et Deo debitum solvit. Comparavit propter quam descenderat emptionem, et ad Dominum regredi properavit, cui offerat mercem, ut comparatae mercis tam securitatem accipiat quam honorem. Et ego, inquies, nulla promissorum coelestium dubitatione conturbor, sed sola separatione morientis aestuans desolatus solatio pii pignoris jactor. Excusatio haec est sine dubio fragilitatis humanae, quae patrocinari non potest diffidentiae. Si enim desolationem homines ferre non valerent, numquam prorsus a se sua pignora dimisissent. Destitutos se a morientibus conqueruntur, et vivos filios aut propter litteras aut propter honores aut propter negotia peregrinis regionibus credunt, et, gaudent tota vita sine affectibus commorari, dummodo capiant quod de suis cupiunt pignoribus adipisci; et ut ad palatia pergant, peregrinantur. Ad studia dignitatis navigant acquirenda, vel causas patrimonii explicandas ⟨p⟩er labores et Pericula ⟨p⟩roficiscentes impellunt, nec

If you loved Me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father (John 14:28). Plainly He wept for Lazarus when dead, but not with your tears. The Promiser of resurrection could not grieve, lest He turn into faithlessness the faith which He was teaching. He grieved for Lazarus not as one sleeping but rather as one rising again, and He wept for him whom He was compelled, for the sake of saving others and confounding the unbelievers, to call back to the world. The Lord groaned in giving this life, which you grieve to have been taken away. Your tears fight against His tears, and your love does not accord with His love. His weeping has no equal. He was unwilling to give back to toils him whom He had loved, and do you believe that you love one for whom you wished the torments of toils still to remain? Moreover, if you think that He grieved for Lazarus as dead, He Who was able to drive back death would not have allowed him to depart beforehand, or certainly He would not weep Who was afterwards to have the power of raising the dead man. Hence it appears that He was moved for this cause alone, that He was being pressed to call back His dearest one once more to a hostile life for the sake of some who would believe or to confound the unbelievers. Finally the Lord followed on thus, saying: Therefore, Father, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me, He said with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth (John 11:43). And it was done. You ought therefore to rejoice at that over which He was compelled to weep, lest you seem to envy the felicities of one who sleeps. From a foreign world he has passed over to his own, he has passed over to the Lord, and from a hostile fatherland to his Father's fatherland he has migrated to heaven, as the Apostle says: We know, he says, that if our earthly house of this body is dissolved, we have a dwelling not made by hand, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1). He has therefore been deprived of a house which he ought not even to have known; he has been deprived of evil citizens, whose hatreds he endured, so that he might no longer sojourn in a contrary land, as the Apostle relates, saying: As long as we are in this world, we are sojourning away from the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6). Mourning therefore ought not to weigh upon us, whoever has deserved to return from sojourning to his own region, especially since he who has bought the gain of Christianity, for the sake of which he came to the commerce of the world, is known not to return empty and void. He has accomplished his business, has returned, and has paid his debt to God. He has made the purchase for which he had come down, and has hastened to go back to the Lord, to offer Him the merchandise, so that for the merchandise acquired he may receive security as much as honour. And I, you will say, am not troubled by any doubt about the heavenly promises, but by the separation alone of the one dying I am tossed about, burning, bereft of the solace of a dutiful pledge. This excuse is without doubt one of human frailty, which cannot plead the cause of distrust. For if men were unable to bear desolation, they would never at all have sent their pledges away from themselves. They complain that they are left destitute by the dying, and they entrust their living sons to foreign regions either for letters or for honours or for business, and they are glad to remain their whole life without their affections, provided they obtain what they desire to gain through their pledges; and that they may go to the palaces, they travel abroad. They sail to acquire the pursuits of rank, or to settle the affairs of an inheritance they drive them forth setting out through toils and dangers, nor

Editors' notes and page, col. 435

Footnotes

(none)  (printed under page 211)

Page

running head: 435 DIVI CYPRIANI
marginal letters: A ‹cens : Si me diligeretis›; B ‹mortem, aut certe non fleret›; C ‹aeternam in coelis (II Cor. V, 1)›; D ‹coelestium dubitatione conturbor›
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: column begins with the fragment "cens" of a word broken from the previous column (presumably dicens); last line damaged: initial p of "per" and "proficiscentes" lost, supplied as ⟨p⟩; "Pericula" appears printed with a capital P, set as seen (UNSURE, may be damaged type for pericula); "factum" in "Et factum est" has a damaged f that looks like I, read as factum; "pignus/pignora" rendered literally as "pledge(s)", i.e. children

secum vacare quos diligunt patiuntur. Et ut ad palatium coeli, ad studia Christi, ad honorem vitae perpetuae, ad patrimonium possessionis aeternae cum securitate valeant pervenire, nemo filios suos libenter a se gratulatur abscedere. Propter incerta per incerta filium vel fratrem vel parentem peregrinari unusquisque compellit, et propter certa per certa suorum aliquem proficisci nullus admittit. Ad comparanda peccata gaudent tam parentes a filiis quam filii a parentibus separari provocante diabolo, ad indulgentiam percipiendam nolunt ab invicem Deo vocante discerni, ut appareat non pro nostra ratione nos dolere quemcumque videmur amittere, sed indicium magis ostendere diffidentiae, qui non sustinemus nostrorum profectiones ad Dominum, quorum peregrinationes in saeculo gratulamur. Quia credimus mundi lucris, toleramus divisa nostri corporis membra. Si crederemus Dei promissis, post abscessionem nostrorum nihil aliud quam gratias debuerant resonare nostri pectoris gaudia. Mihi crede, semper in omnibus incredulitas moeret, et sicut non potest nosse fides quod doleat, sic diffidentia sola doloribus tenetur ancilla. Nam si dormientes dicimus, dormientes utique credere debemus, non mortuos, sed requiescentes interim secundum vocem Domini fideliter loquentis: Omnis, inquit, qui credit in me, licet moriatur, vivet (Joan., XI, 25). Si cui medicus homo promitteret quicquam, sine dubio promissioni ejus negare non poterit omnino laetitiam. Nunc quia Dominus Christus fabricator et resuscitator promittit, non times plangere, ut fideliorem Christo pariter et potentiorem medicum videaris in promissionibus judicare. Sed destitutam, dicis, doleo senectutem, quia debueram meos liberos potius antecedere, ne in laboribus remanerem. Quando de spiritualibus bonis quodcumque tractatur, nihil est omnino de carnalibus ante oculos reponendum. Ego tibi melius profiteor evenisse, quoniam non carnalem sed spiritualem circa te considero fidelitatem. Tu te dicis de alicujus pignoris obitu in senectute confectum. Ego contra comprobo sublevatam senectutem tuam. Amputavit Dominus sollicitudinem quae te torquebat de viva filia ne periret. Melius utique nunc mortuam saeculo redisse ad Dominum vivam quam vivam saeculo doleres forsitan apud Dominum mortuam. Gaude tibi quod christianam mereberis sequi, quam secutus in coelo gaudeas rursus amplecti. Non te deseruit, sed praecessit; et ne doleret excedentem patrem suscipere festinavit. Non amisisti tua nutrimenta. Si luctum horrueris et senex tuum obtulisse pignus Domino deputare poteris, potes secundum votum habere post Abraham, si non potes primum, ut quod ille non trepidavit offerre, tu saltem videaris de sublato gaudere. Ab illo Dominus postulavit, a te tulit. Ille jussioni paruit, tu voluntati consensisti. Ille per illicitam legem naturae quem Dominus sibi probavit devotum, te saltem per licitam conditionem religionis annotet religiosum, advocet religiosum. Nam sive voluntate nec necessitate compelleris devotionis Domino aliquid

do they allow those whom they love to be at leisure with them. And so that they may be able to reach with security the palace of heaven, the pursuits of Christ, the honour of perpetual life, the patrimony of an eternal possession, no one gladly congratulates himself that his sons depart from him. For uncertain things through uncertain ways each one compels a son or brother or parent to travel abroad, and for certain things through certain ways no one allows any of his own to set out. To procure sins, parents rejoice to be separated from their children and children from their parents at the devil's prompting; to receive pardon, they refuse to be parted from one another at God's calling, so that it appears that we do not grieve on any reckoning of our own over whomever we seem to lose, but rather display a sign of distrust, we who do not endure the departures of our own to the Lord, whose travels abroad in the world we welcome with congratulation. Because we put our faith in the gains of the world, we tolerate the members of our body being divided. If we believed the promises of God, after the departure of our own the joys of our heart ought to have resounded with nothing other than thanks. Believe me, in all things it is always unbelief that mourns, and just as faith cannot know what to grieve over, so distrust alone is held as a handmaid to sorrows. For if we say that they are sleeping, we ought certainly to believe that they are sleeping, not dead, but resting for a while, according to the voice of the Lord Who speaks faithfully: Everyone, He says, who believes in Me, though he die, shall live (John 11:25). If a human physician promised anyone anything, without doubt he could not altogether deny joy to his promise. Now because the Lord Christ, the Maker and Raiser, promises, you are not afraid to lament, so that you seem to judge a physician more faithful and likewise more powerful than Christ in promises. But, you say, I grieve over my bereft old age, because I ought rather to have gone before my children, so as not to remain amid toils. When anything at all is treated concerning spiritual goods, nothing whatever concerning carnal things is to be set before the eyes. I declare to you that it has turned out better, since I consider not a carnal but a spiritual faithfulness in regard to you. You say that you are worn out in old age by the death of a certain pledge. I on the contrary prove that your old age has been relieved. The Lord has cut off the anxiety which tormented you over your living daughter, lest she should perish. Better surely that she, now dead to the world, has returned living to the Lord, than that you should grieve over her living to the world and perhaps dead before the Lord. Rejoice for yourself that you will merit to follow a Christian woman, whom, having followed her, you may rejoice to embrace again in heaven. She has not deserted you, but gone before; and lest she should grieve, she has hastened to receive her father as he departs. You have not lost your nursling. If you shrink from mourning and, an old man, can reckon that you have offered your pledge to the Lord, you can hold the second vow after Abraham, if you cannot hold the first, so that what he did not tremble to offer, you at least may be seen to rejoice over when taken away. From him the Lord asked it, from you He took it. He obeyed a command, you consented to a will. He was one whom the Lord proved devoted to Himself through a forbidden law of nature; you at least let Him note as religious through the lawful condition of religion, let Him summon as religious. For whether by will nor by necessity you are compelled something of devotion to the Lord

Editors' notes and page, col. 436

Page

running head: IVI CYPRIANI 436 (cut off at the left edge of the image)
marginal letters: A ‹secum vacare quos diligunt›; B ‹grinationes in saeculo gratulamur›; C ‹non times plangere›; D ‹quod christianam mereberis sequi›
old-edition numerals: (none)

exhibere, in qua parte te christianum poteris approbare. Erubescat incredulitas nostra cum gentilibus, si Domino vult esse subjecta. Communis est nobis cum illis exitus mortis, et dolores illorum superamus doloribus nostris. Quid ageremus si peculiariter aliquid exigeretur a nobis quod ad dedecus nostrum pertineret? Gentiles dolores saepe contemnunt, cum non ad promissa coelestia sed ad poenas tartari rapiantur. Et nos plangimus euntes ad coelum. Consideret christianus talis quid deinceps mereatur qui nec imitari contendit exempla sanctorum, nec contemptum habere gentilium. Illi luctus desperando despiciunt, et nos sperando despicere conamur. Denique vendere liberos saepe non dubitant, ut vivos, quod pejus est, spernant. Et nos nec defunctorum obitus sublevant. Et nos sublatos captivitati et libertate donatos volumus servire. Filios suos intrepide mortalibus tradunt, et nos de nostro simul et suos liberos et nostros liberandos dimittere sacrilega mente cunctamur, quasi tutius apud homines judicemus magis quam penes Dominum commendari aliquem filiorum. Pudendum nescio quid christianus est apud gentiles opprobrii; quibus pejores sine dubio judicantur quos pares habere non dicam meliores fuerat putare criminosum. Christiani nolunt vel gratulatione suos deducere ad bona, gentiles tradere non cunctantur ad mala. Postremo vel cum ipsa felicitate nostrorum morientium cogamur animum flectere, et desideriis eorum desideria nostra incipiant repugnare. Laetantur illi qui exeunt venientes ad requiem. Laetemur et nos cum ipsis, saltem computantes nostrorum exeuntium beatitudinem. Si religiosus vel novitius qui evasit, si non potes vel exulta quia placuisse cognoscis participium tui sanguinis Christo, maxime

to show, in which respect you will be able to prove yourself a Christian. Let our unbelief blush before the gentiles, if it wishes to be subject to the Lord. The outcome of death is common to us with them, and we surpass their griefs with our griefs. What would we do if something were demanded of us in particular that pertained to our disgrace? The gentiles often scorn griefs, though they are snatched away not to heavenly promises but to the punishments of Tartarus. And we lament those going to heaven. Let such a Christian consider what he will deserve hereafter, who neither strives to imitate the examples of the saints nor to have the contempt of the gentiles. They despise mourning by despairing, and we try to despise it by hoping. Indeed, they often do not hesitate to sell their children, so that, what is worse, they spurn them while living. And as for us, not even the deaths of the departed relieve us. And we wish those taken from captivity and presented with freedom to be slaves. They fearlessly hand over their sons to mortals, and we with a sacrilegious mind hesitate to release from what is ours both their children and our own who are to be set free, as if we judged it safer for one of our sons to be entrusted to men rather than to the Lord. The Christian is I know not what shameful reproach among the gentiles; than whom they are without doubt judged worse, whom it would have been criminal to think to have them as equals, I will not say as betters. Christians are unwilling to escort their own to good things even with rejoicing; gentiles do not hesitate to hand theirs over to evils. Finally, let us be compelled to bend our mind at least by the very happiness of our dying ones, and let our desires begin to oppose their desires. Those who depart rejoice, coming to rest. Let us also rejoice with them, at least reckoning the blessedness of our departing ones. If it is a religious or a novice who has escaped, if you cannot, at least exult because you know that one who shares your blood has pleased Christ, especially

Editors' notes and page, col. 437

Footnotes

(none)  (printed under page 212)

Page

running head: 437 EPISTOLA AD TURASIUM PR
marginal letters: A ‹quid exhibere, in qua parte›; B ‹nant. Et nos nec defunctorum›; C ‹tur illi qui exeunt venientes›; D (none)
old-edition numerals: 171 after ‹nos› (printed as a small superior figure; taken as the old-edition numeral)
other: running head is cut off at the image edge after "PR"; the right-hand column (438) is partly visible and is not set; the lower third of the column is blank, with a printer's ornament rule at the right, which stands under column 438 and is not set; stray accent marks on "Dominö vúlt ésse" are taken as print noise; "christianus est" (perhaps christianis) and "incipiant repugnare" (sense would expect a negative) are UNSURE in sense but are set as printed; one continuous paragraph, with no indentation visible

quod vel de occasione debeas tolerare Domini voluntatem, cui non potes contradicere. Et cum sit omnibus communis hic casus, vanus dolor est, qui nec primus videtur esse nec solus. Sed dicis: Nullus me de mea desolatione mentis angor exulcerat, sed pro delictis parvuli morientis humanitatis affectus impulsat. Nec hoc licet commovere animum christianum, ne contra Christi imperia luctetur. Quid est inter quoscumque et qualescumque filios dimisisse, quos jubeamur a Domino pro causa devotionis odisse, Melius nunc salvat animam suam moriens. Relinquit in pace, ne persecutionem dimittere cum suo interitu non valeret, ipse illi auxiliatur in mundo quorum mater habitat in coelo, et qui matri subvenit, et filiis pro certo succurrit. Postremo vide si habeat aliquis dolore concidi, ubi sine aliquo remedio potest aliquis fatigari. Sapienter debet dolere qui dolet, ne perdat sine causa quod dolet. Nunc autem contra luctum sumenda sunt arma, ut spes nostra possit habere victoriam. Principaliter quod Dominus voluit suscipere gratulemur. Denique quia hoc omnibus in mundo commune additur, privatum particulare nostrum quod ad requiem revocamur. Sequitur consummatio omnium gaudiorum, quae in resurrectione invicem nobis Domino reformante reddetur, sicut Apostolus pollicetur: Nolumus igitur ignorare vos, fratres, de dormientibus, ut non contristemini sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent. Si enim credimus quod Jesus mortuus est et resurrexit, sic et eos qui dormierunt in Jesu adducet cum eo (I Thess. IV, 12). Haec tibi, benedicte, pro charitate mutua transmisi. Caeterum scio te bene valere, alios consolari. Tunc te orbitas non inveniet penetrabilem, si alios contra illam non cessabis armare. Opto te, frater charissime, semper bene valere et nostri meminisse.

since on whatever occasion you ought to bear the will of the Lord, which you cannot gainsay. And since this mishap is common to all, vain is the grief which is seen to be neither the first nor alone. But you say: No anguish of mind over my own bereavement festers in me, but the affection of humanity drives me on account of the sins of the little one who is dying. Not even this may move a Christian mind, lest it struggle against the commands of Christ. What is it to have left behind sons, whoever and of whatever kind they may be, whom we are commanded by the Lord to hate for the cause of devotion, Better now does he save his soul by dying. He leaves them in peace, lest he should be unable by his own death to put persecution away from them; He Himself helps in the world those whose mother dwells in heaven, and He who comes to the aid of the mother surely succours the children too. Lastly, see whether anyone ought to be cut down by grief, where one can be worn out without any remedy. He who grieves ought to grieve wisely, lest he lose without cause that over which he grieves. But now arms must be taken up against mourning, so that our hope may have the victory. First of all, let us give thanks for what the Lord has willed to receive. Then, since this is added as common to all in the world, our own private and particular [gain is] that we are called back to rest. There follows the consummation of all joys, which in the resurrection will be restored to us one to another, the Lord refashioning [us], as the Apostle promises: We do not wish, therefore, that you should be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, that you be not saddened as also the others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also those who have slept in Jesus He will bring with Him (1 Thess. 4:12). These things, blessed one, I have sent to you out of mutual charity. For the rest, I know that you are in good health and console others. Then bereavement will not find you penetrable, if you do not cease to arm others against it. I wish you, dearest brother, always to be well and to remember us.

Editors' notes and page, col. 438

Page

running head: TURASIUM PRESBYTERUM. 438 (left part of the running head cut off at the image edge)
marginal letters: A ‹quod vel de occasione›; B ‹dolore concidi›; C ‹tibi, benedicte›
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: comma before "Melius" kept as printed (question apparently left unmarked); "in coelo" — ligature read as œ, slightly unsure against æ; "Relinquit ... non valeret" construction obscure, rendered literally; ornament rule at the foot of the left column, cut off at the image edge, not set; scripture reference printed as IV, 12 (the passage is 4:13-14), kept as printed