I.

APOLOGY.

[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL, LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S
COLLEGE, CANTAB.]

THE APOLOGY.(1) CHAP. I.

    Rulers of the Roman Empire, if, seated for the administration of justice on
 your lofty tribunal, under the gaze of every eye, and occupying there all but
the highest position in the state, you may not openly inquire into and sift bef
ore the world the real truth in regard to the charges made against the Christia
ns; if in this case alone you are afraid or ashamed to exercise your authority
in making public inquiry with the carefulness which becomes justice; if, finall
y, the extreme severities inflicted on our people in recently private judgments
, stand in the way of our being permitted to defend ourselves before you, you c
annot surely forbid the Truth to reach your ears by the secret pathway of a noi
seless book.(2) She has no appeals to make to you in regard of her condition, f
or that does not excite her wonder. She knows that she is but a sojourner on th
e earth, and that among strangers she naturally finds foes; and more than this,
 that her origin, her dwelling-place, her hope, her recompense, her honours, ar
e above. One thing, meanwhile, she anxiously desires of earthly rulers--not to
be condemned unknown. What harm can it do to the laws, supreme in their domain,
 to give her a hearing? Nay, for that part of it, will not their absolute supre
macy be more conspicuous in their condemning her, even after she has made her p
lea? But if, unheard, sentence is pronounced against her, besides the odium of
an unjust deed, you will incur the merited suspicion of doing it with some idea
 that it is unjust, as not wishing to hear what you may not be able to hear and
 condemn. We lay this before you as the first ground on which we urge that your
 hatred to the name of Christian is unjust. And the very reason which seems to
excuse this injustice (I mean ignorance) at once aggravates and convicts it. Fo
r what is there more unfair than to hate a thing of which you know nothing, eve
n though it deserve to be hated? Hatred is only merited when it is known to be
merited. But without that knowledge, whence is its justice to be vindicated? fo
r that is to be proved, not from the mere fact that an aversion exists, but fro
m acquaintance with the subject. When men, then, give way to a dislike simply b
ecause they are entirely ignorant of the nature of the thing disliked, why may
it not be precisely the very sort of thing they should not dislike? So we maint
ain that they are both ignorant while they hate us, and hate us unrighteously w
hile they continue in ignorance, the one thing being the result of the other ei
ther way of it. The proof of their ignorance, at once condemning and excusing t
heir injustice, is this, that those who once hated Christianity because they kn
ew nothing about it, no sooner come to know it than they all lay down at once t
heir enmity. From being its haters they become its disciples. By simply getting
 acquainted with it, they begin now to hate what they had formerly been, and to
 profess what they had formerly hated; and their numbers are as great as are la
id to our charge. The outcry is that the State is filled with Christians--that
they are in the fields, in the citadels, in the islands: they make lamentation,
 as for some calamity, that both sexes, every age and condition, even high rank
, are passing over to the profession of the Christian faith; and yet for all, t
heir minds are not awakened to the thought of some good they have failed to not
ice in it. They must not allow any truer suspicions to cross their minds; they
have no

18

desire to make closer trial. Here alone the curiosity of human nature slumbers.
 They like to be ignorant, though to others the knowledge has been bliss. Anach
arsis reproved the rude venturing to criticise the cultured; how much more this
 judging of those who know, by men who are entirely ignorant, might he have den
ounced X Because they already dislike, they want to know no more. Thus they pre
judge that of which they are ignorant to be such, that, if they came to know it
, it could no longer be the object of their aversion; since, if inquiry finds n
othing worthy of dislike, it is certainly proper to cease from an unjust dislik
e, while if its bad character comes plainly out, instead of the detestation ent
ertained for it being thus diminished, a stronger reason for perseverance in th
at detestation is obtained, even under the authority of justice itself. But, sa
ys one, a thing is not good merely because multitudes go over to it; for how ma
ny have the bent of their nature towards whatever is bad! how many go astray in
to ways of error! It is undoubted. Yet a thing that is thoroughly evil, not eve
n those whom it carries away venture to defend as good. Nature throws a veil ei
ther of fear or shame over all evil. For instance, you find that criminals are
eager to conceal themselves, avoid appearing in public, are in trepidation when
 they are caught, deny their guilt, when they are accused; even when they are p
ut to the rack, they do not easily or always confess; when there is no doubt ab
out their condemnation, they grieve for what they have done. In their self-comm
unings they admit their being impelled by sinful dispositions, but they lay the
 blame either on fate or on the stars. They are unwilling to acknowledge that t
he thing is theirs, because they own that it is wicked. But what is there like
this in the Christian's case? The only shame or regret he feels, is at not havi
ng been a Christian earlier. If he is pointed out, he glories in it; if he is a
ccused, he offers no defence; interrogated, he makes voluntary confession; cond
emned he renders thanks. What sort of evil thing is this, which wants all the o
rdinary peculiarities of evil--fear, shame, subterfuge, penitence, lamenting? W
hat! is that a crime in which the criminal rejoices? to be accused of which is
his ardent wish, to be punished for which is his felicity? You cannot call it m
adness, you who stand convicted of knowing nothing of the matter.

CHAP. II.

    If, again, it is certain that we are the most wicked of men, why do you tre
at us so differently from our fellows, that is, from other criminals,it being o
nly fair that the same crime should get the same treatment? When the charges ma
de against us are made against others, they are permitted to make use both of t
heir own lips and of hired pleaders to show their innocence. They have full opp
ortunity of answer and debate; in fact, it is against the law to condemn anybod
y undefended and unheard. Christians alone are forbidden to say anything in exc
ulpation of themselves, in defence of the truth, to help the judge to a righteo
us decision; all that is cared about is having what the public hatred demands--
the confession of the name, not examination of the charge: while in your ordina
ry judicial investigations, on a man's confession of the crime of murder, or sa
crilege, or incest, or treason, to take the points of which we are accused, you
 are not content to proceed at once to sentence,--you do not take that step til
l you thoroughly examine the circumstances of the confession--what is the real
character of the deed, how often, where, in what way, when he has done it, who
were privy to it, and who actually took part with him in it. Nothing like this
is done in our case, though the falsehoods disseminated about us ought to have
the same sifting, that it might be found how many murdered children each of us
had tasted; how many incests each of us had shrouded in darkness; what cooks, w
hat dogs had been witness of our deeds. Oh, how great the glory of the ruler wh
o should bring to light some Christian who had devoured a hundred infants! But,
 instead of that, we find that even inquiry in regard to our case is forbidden.
 For the younger Pliny, when he was ruler of a province, having condemned some
Christians to death, and driven some from their stedfastness, being still annoy
ed by their great numbers, at last sought the advice of Trajan,(1) the reigning
 emperor, as to what he was to do with the rest, explaining to his master that,
 except an obstinate disinclination to offer sacrifices, he found in the religi
ous services nothing but meetings at early morning for singing hymns to Christ
and(2) God, and sealing home their way of life by a united pledge to be faithfu
l to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes.
 Upon this Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought afte
r; but if they were brought before him, they should be punished.

19

O miserable deliverance,--under the necessities of the case, a self-contradicti
on! It forbids them to be sought after as innocent, and it commands them to be
punished as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel; it, passes by, and it pun
ishes. Why dost thou play a game of evasion upon thyself, O Judgment? If thou c
ondemnest, why dost thou not also inquire. If thou does not inquire, why dost t
hou not also absolve? Military stations are distributed through all the provinc
es for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public foes every man is a soldie
r; search is made even for their confederates and accessories. The Christian al
one must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge;
as if a search had any other end than that in view And so you condemn the man f
or whom nobody wished a search to be made when he is presented to you, and who
even now does not deserve punishment, I suppose, because of his guilt, but beca
use, though forbidden to be sought, he was found. And then, too, you do not in
that case deal with us in the ordinary way of judicial proceedings against offe
nders; for, in the case of others denying, you apply the torture to make them c
onfess--Christians alone you torture, to make them deny; whereas, if we were gu
ilty of any crime, we should be sure to deny it, and you with your tortures wou
ld force us to confession. Nor indeed should you hold that our crimes require n
o i such investigation merely on .the ground that you are convinced by our conf
ession of the name that the deeds were done,--you who are daily wont, though yo
u know well enough what murder is, none the less to extract from the confessed
murderer a full account of how the crime was perpetrated. So that with all the
greater perversity you act, when, holding our crimes proved by our confession o
f the name of Christ, you drive us by torture to fall from our confession, that
, repudiating the name, we may in like manner repudiate also the crimes with wh
ich, from that same confession, you had assumed that we were chargeable. I supp
ose, though you believe us to be the worst of mankind, you do not wish us to pe
rish. For thus, no doubt, you are in the habit of bidding the murderer deny, an
d of ordering the man guilty of sacrilege to the rack if he persevere in his ac
knowledgment! Is that the way of it? But if thus you do not, deal with us as cr
iminals, you declare us thereby innocent, when as innocent you are anxious that
 we do not persevere in a confession which you know will bring on us a condemna
tion of necessity, not of justice, at your hands. "I am a Christian," the man c
ries out. He tells you what he is; you wish to hear from him what he is not. Oc
cupying your place of authority to extort the truth, you do your utmost to get
lies from us. "I am," he says, "that which you ask me if I am. Why do you tortu
re me to sin? I confess, and you put me to the rack. What would you do if I den
ied? Certainly you give no ready credence to others when they deny. When we den
y, you believe at once. Let this perversity of yours lead you to suspect that t
here is some hidden power in the case under whose influence you act against the
 forms, against the nature of public justice, even against the very laws themse
lves. For, unless I am greatly mistaken, the laws enjoin offenders to be search
ed out, and not to be hidden away. They lay it down that persons who own a crim
e are to be condemned, not acquitted. The decrees of the senate, the commands o
f your chiefs, lay this clearly down. The power of which you are servants is a
civil, not a tyrannical domination. Among tyrants, indeed, torments used to be
inflicted even as punishments: with you they are mitigated to a means of questi
oning alone. Keep to your law in these as necessary till confession is obtained
; and if the torture is anticipated by confession, there will be no occasion fo
r it: sentence should be passed; the criminal should be given over to the penal
ty which is his due, not released. Accordingly, no one is eager for the acquitt
al of the guilty; it is not right to desire that, and so no one is ever compell
ed to deny. Well, you think the Christian a man of every crime, an enemy of the
 gods, of the emperor, of the laws, of good morals, of all nature; yet you comp
el him to deny, that you may acquit him, which without him denial you could not
 do. You play fast and loose with the laws. You wish him to deny his guilt, tha
t you may, even against his will, bring him out blameless and free from all gui
lt in reference to the past! Whence is this strange perversity on your part? Ho
w is it you do not reflect that a spontaneous confession is greatly more worthy
 of credit than a compelled denial; or consider whether, when compelled to deny
, a man's denial may not be in good faith, and whether acquitted, he may not, t
hen and there, as soon as the trial is over, laugh at your hostility, a Christi
an as much as ever? Seeing, then, that in everything you deal differently with
us than with other criminals, bent upon the one object of taking from us our na
me (indeed, it is ours no more if we do what Christians never do), it is made p
erfectly clear that there is no crime of any kind in the case, but merely a nam
e which a certain system, ever working

20

against the truth, pursues with its enmity, doing this chiefly with the object
of securing that men may have no desire to know for certain what they know for
certain they are entirely ignorant of. Hence, too, it is that they believe abou
t us things of which they have no proof, and they are disinclined to have them
looked into, lest the charges, they would rather take on trust, are all proved
to have no foundation, that the name so hostile to that rival power--its crimes
 presumed, not proved--may be condemned simply on its own confession. So we are
 put to the torture if we confess, and we are punished if we persevere, and if
we deny we are acquitted, because all the contention is about a name. Finally,
why do you read out of your tablet-lists that such a man is a Christian? Why no
t also that he is a murderer? And if a Christian is a murderer, why not guilty,
 too, of incest, or any other vile thing you believe of us? In our case alone y
ou are either ashamed or unwilling to mention the very names of our crimes-If t
o be called a "Christian" does not imply any crime, the name is surely very hat
eful, when that of itself is made a crime.

CHAP. III.

    What are we to think of it, that most people so blindly knock their heads a
gainst the hatred of the Christian name; that when they bear favourable testimo
ny to any one, they mingle with it abuse of the name he bears? "A good man," sa
ys one, "is Gaius Seius, only that he is a Christian." So another, "I am astoni
shed that a wise man like Lucius should have suddenly become a Christian." Nobo
dy thinks it needful to consider whether Gaius is not good and Lucius wise, on
this very account that he is a Christian; or a Christian, for the reason that h
e is wise and good. They praise what they know, they abuse what they are ignora
nt of, and they inspire their knowledge with their ignorance; though in fairnes
s you should rather judge of what is unknown from what is known, than what is k
nown from what is unknown. Others, in the case of persons whom, before they too
k the name of Christian, they had known as loose, and vile, and wicked, put on
them a brand from the very thing which they praise. In the blindness of their h
atred, they fall foul of their own approving judgment! "What a woman she was! h
ow wanton! how gay! What a youth he was! how profligate! how libidinous!--they
have become Christians!" So the hated name is given to a reformation of charact
er. Some even barter away their comforts for that hatred, content to bear injur
y, if they are kept free at home from the object of their bitter enmity. The wi
fe, now chaste, the husband, now no longer jealous, casts out of his house; the
 son, now obedient, the father, who used to be so patient, disinherits; the ser
vant, now faithful, the master, once so mild, commands away from his presence;
it is a high offence for any one to be reformed by the detested name. Goodness
is of less value than hatred of Christians. Well now, if there is this dislike
of the name, what blame can you attach to names? What accusation can you bring
against mere designations, save that something in the word sounds either barbar
ous, or unlucky, or scurrilous, or unchaste? But Christian, so far as the meani
ng of the word is concerned, is derived from anointing. Yes, and even when it i
s wrongly pronounced by you "Chrestianus" (for you do not even know accurately
the name you hate), it comes from sweetness and benignity. You hate, therefore,
 in the guiltless, even a guiltless name. But the special ground of dislike to
the sect is, that it bears the name of its Founder. Is there anything new in a
religious sect getting for its followers a designation from its master? Are not
 the philosophers called from the founders of their systems--Platonists, Epicur
eans, Pythagoreans? Are not the Stoics and Academics so called also from the pl
aces in which they assembled and stationed themselves? and are not physicians n
amed from Erasistratus, grammarians from Aristarchus, cooks even from Apicius?
And yet the bearing of the name, transmitted from the original institutor with
whatever he has instituted, offends no one. No doubt, if it is proved that the
sect is a bad one, and so its founder bad as well, that will prove that the nam
e is bad and deserves our aversion, in respect of the character both of the sec
t and its author. Before, therefore, taking up a dislike to the name, it behove
d you to consider the sect in the author, or the author in the sect. But now, w
ithout any sifting and knowledge of either, the mere name is made matter of acc
usation, the mere name is assailed, and a sound alone brings condemnation on a
sect and its author both, while of both you are ignorant, because they have suc
h and such a designation, not because they are convicted of anything wrong.

CHAP. IV.

    And so, having made these remarks as it were by way of preface, that I migh
t show in its true colours the injustice of the public hatred against us, I sha
ll now take my stand on the plea of our blamelessness; and I shall not only ref
ute the things which are objected

21

to us, but I shall also retort them on the objectors, that in this way all may
know that Christians are free from the very crimes they are so well aware preva
il among themselves, that they may at the same time be put to the blush for the
ir accusations against us,--accusations I shall not say of the worst of men aga
inst the best, but now, as they will have it, against those who are only their
fellows in sin. We shall reply to the accusation of all the various crimes we a
re said to be guilty of in secret, such as we find them committing in the light
 of day, and as being guilty of which we are held to be wicked, senseless, wort
hy of punishment, deserving of ridicule. But since, when our truth meets you su
ccessfully at all points, the authority of the laws as a last resort is set up
against it, so that it is either said that their determinations are absolutely
conclusive, or the necessity of obedience is, however unwillingly, preferred to
 the truth, I shall first, in this matter of the laws grapple with you as with
their chosen protectors. Now first, when you sternly lay it down in your senten
ces, "It is not lawful for you to exist," and with unhesitating rigour you enjo
in this to be carried out, you exhibit the violence and unjust domination of me
re tyranny, if you deny the thing to be lawful, simply on the ground that you w
ish it to be unlawful, not because it ought to be. But if you would have it unl
awful because it ought not to be lawful, without doubt that should have no perm
ission of law which does harm; and on this ground, in fact, it is already deter
mined that whatever is beneficial is legitimate. Well, if I have found what you
r law prohibits to be good, as one who has arrived at such a previous opinion,
has it not lost its power to debar me from it, though that very thing, if it we
re evil, it would justly forbid to me? If your law has gone wrong, it is of hum
an origin, I think; it has not fallen from heaven. Is it wonderful that man sho
uld err in making a law, or come to his senses in rejecting it? Did not the Lac
edaemonians amend the laws of Lycurgus himself, thereby inflicting such pain on
 their author that he shut himself up, and doomed himself to death by starvatio
n? Are you not yourselves every day, in your efforts to illumine the darkness o
f antiquity, cutting and hewing with the new axes of imperial rescripts and edi
cts, that whole ancient and rugged forest of your laws? Has not Severus, that m
ost resolute of rulers, but yesterday repealed the ridiculous Papian laws(1) wh
ich compelled people to have children before the Julian laws allow matrimony to
 be contracted, and that though they have the authority of age upon their side?
 There were laws, too, in old times, that parties against whom a decision had b
een given might be cut in pieces by their creditors; however, by common consent
 that cruelty was afterwards erased from the statutes, and the capital penalty
turned into a brand of shame. By adopting the plan of confiscating a debtor's g
oods, it was sought rather to pour the blood in blushes over his face than to p
our it out. How many laws lie hidden out of sight which still require to be ref
ormed! For it is neither the number of their years nor the dignity of their mak
er that commends them, but simply that they are just; and therefore, when their
 injustice is recognized, they are deservedly condemned, even though they conde
mn. Why speak we of them as unjust? nay, if they punish mere names, we may well
 call them irrational. But if they punish acts, why in our case do they punish
acts solely on the ground of a name, while in others they must have them proved
 not from the name, but from the wrong done? I am a practiser of incest (so the
y say); why do they not inquire into it? I am an infant-killer; why do they not
 apply the torture to get from me the truth? I am guilty of crimes against the
gods, against the Caesars; why am I, who am able to clear myself, not allowed t
o be heard on my own behalf? No law forbids the sifting of the crimes which it
prohibits, for a judge never inflicts a righteous vengeance if he is not well a
ssured that a crime has been committed; nor does a citizen render a true subjec
tion to the law, if he does not know the nature of the thing on which the punis
hment is inflicted. It is not enough that a law is just, nor that the judge sho
uld be convinced of its justice; those from whom obedience is expected should h
ave that conviction too. Nay, a law lies under strong suspicions which does not
 care to have itself tried and approved: it is a positively wicked law, if, unp
roved, it tyrannizes over men.

CHAP. V.

    To say a word about the origin of laws of the kind to which we now refer, t
here was an old decree that no god should be consecrated by the emperor till fi
rst approved by the senate. Marcus AEmilius had experience of this in reference
 to his god Alburnus. And this, too, makes for our case, that among you divinit
y is allotted at the judgment of human beings. Unless gods give satisfaction to
 men, there will be no deification for them: the god will have to propitiate th
e man. Ti-

22

berius(1) accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its entry into the
 world, having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had
 clearly shown the truth of Christ's divinity, brought the matter before the se
nate, with his own decision in favour of Christ. The senate, because it had not
 given the approval itself, rejected his proposal. Caesar held to his opinion,
threatening wrath against all accusers of the Christians. Consult your historie
s; you will there find that Nero was the first who assailed with the imperial s
word the Christian sect, making profess then especially at Rome. But we glory i
n having our condemnation hallowed by the hostility of such a wretch. For any o
ne who knows him, can understand that not except as being of singular excellenc
e did anything bring on it Nero's condemnation. Domitian, too, a man of Nero's
type in cruelty, tried his hand at persecution; but as he had something of the
human in him, he soon put an end to what he had begun, even restoring again tho
se whom he had banished. Such as these have always been our persecutors,--men u
njust, impious, base, of whom even you yourselves have no good to say, the suff
erers under whose sentences you have been wont to restore. But among so many pr
inces from that time to the present day, with anything of divine and human wisd
om in them, point out a single persecutor of the Christian name. So far from th
at, we, on the contrary, bring before you one who was their protector, as you w
ill see by examining the letters of Marcus Aurelius, that most grave of emperor
s, in which he bears his testimony that that Germanic drought was removed by th
e rains obtained through the prayers of the Christians who chanced to be fighti
ng under him. And as he did not by public law remove from Christians their lega
l disabilities, yet in another way he put them openly aside, even adding a sent
ence of condemnation, and that of greater severity, against their accusers. Wha
t sort of laws are these which the impious alone execute against us--and the un
just, the vile, the bloody, the senseless, the insane? which Trajan to some ext
ent made naught by forbidding Christians to be sought after; which neither a Ha
drian, though fond of searching into all things strange and new, nor a Vespasia
n, though the subjugator of the Jews, nor a Pius, nor a Verus, ever enforced? I
t should surely be judged more natural for bad men to be eradicated by good pri
nces as being their natural enemies, than by those of a spirit kindred with the
ir own.

CHAP. VI.

    I would now have these most religious protectors and vindicators of the law
s and institutions of their fathers, tell me, in regard to their own fidelity a
nd the honour, and submission they themselves show to ancestral institutions, i
f they have departed from nothing--if they have in nothing gone out of the old
paths--if they have not put aside whatsoever is most useful and necessary as ru
les of a virtuous life. What has become of the laws repressing expensive and os
tentatious ways of living? which forbade more than a hundred asses to be expend
ed on a supper, and more than one fowl to be set on the table at a time, and th
at not a fatted one; which expelled a patrician from the senate on the serious
ground, as it was counted, of aspiring to be too great, because he had acquired
 ten pounds of silver; which put down the theatres as quickly as they arose to
debauch the manners of the people; which did not permit the insignia of officia
l dignities or of noble birth to be rashly or with impunity usurped? For I see
the Centenarian suppers must now bear the name, not from the hundred asses, but
 from the hundred sestertia(1) expended on them; and that mines of silver are m
ade into dishes (it were little if this applied only to senators, and not to fr
eedmen or even mere whip-spoilers(2)). I see, too, that neither is a single the
atre enough, nor are theatres unsheltered: no doubt it was that immodest pleasu
re might not be torpid in the wintertime, the Lacedaemonians invented their woo
llen cloaks for the plays. I see now no difference between the dress of matrons
 and prostitutes. In regard to women, indeed, those laws of your fathers, which
 used to be such an encouragement to modesty and sobriety, have also fallen int
o desuetude, when a woman had yet known no gold upon her save on the finger, wh
ich, with the bridal ring, her husband had sacredly pledged to himself; when th
e abstinence of women from wine was carried so far, that a matron, for opening
the compartments of a wine cellar, was starved to death by her friends,--while
in the times of Romulus, for merely tasting wine, Mecenius killed his wife, and
 suffered nothing for the deed. With reference to this also, it was the custom
of women to kiss their relatives, that they might be detected by their breath.
Where is that happiness of married life, ever so desirable, which distinguished
 our earlier manners, and as the result of which for about 600 years there was
not among us a single

23

divorce? Now, women have every member of the body heavy laden with gold; wine-b
ibbing is so common among them, that the kiss is never offered with their will;
 and as for divorce, they long for it as though it were the natural consequence
 of marriage. The laws, too, your fathers in their wisdom had enacted concernin
g the very gods themselves, you their most loyal children have rescinded, The c
onsuls, by the authority of the senate, banished Father Bacchus and his mysteri
es not merely from the city, but from the whole of Italy. The consuls Piso and
Gabinius, no Christians surely, forbade Serapis, and Isis, and Arpocrates, with
 their dogheaded friend,(1) admission into the Capitol--in the act casting them
 out from the assembly of the gods--overthrow their altars, and expelled them f
rom the country, being anxious to prevent the vices of their base and lasciviou
s religion from spreading. These, you have restored, and conferred highest hono
urs on them. What has come to your religion--of the veneration due by you to yo
ur ancestors? In your dress, in your food, in your style of life, in your opini
ons, and last of all in your very speech, you have renounced your progenitors.
You are always praising antiquity, and yet every day you have novelties in your
 way of living. From your having failed to maintain what you should, you make i
t clear, that, while you abandon the good ways of your fathers, you retain and
guard the things you ought not. Yet the very tradition of your fathers, which y
ou still seem so faithfully to defend, and in which you find your principal mat
ter of accusation against the Christians--I mean zeal in the worship of the god
s, the point in which antiquity has mainly erred--although you have rebuilt the
 altars of Serapis, now a Roman deity, and to Bacchus, now become a god of Ital
y, you offer up your orgies,--I shall in its proper place show that you despise
, neglect, and overthrow, casting entirely aside the authority of the men of ol
d. I go on meantime to reply to that infamous charge of secret crimes, clearing
 my way to things of open day.

CHAP. VII.

    Monsters of wickedness, we are accused of observing a holy rite in which we
 kill a little child and then eat it; in which, after the feast, we practise in
cest, the dogs--our pimps, forsooth, overturning the lights and getting us the
shamelessness of darkness for our impious lusts. This is what is constantly lai
d to our charge, and yet you take no pains to elicit the truth of what we have
been so long accused. Either bring, then, the matter to the light of day if you
 believe it, or give it no credit as having never inquired into it. On the grou
nd of your double dealing, we are entitled to lay it down to you that there is
no reality in the thing which you dare not expiscate. You impose on the executi
oner, in the case of Christians, a duty the very opposite of expiscation: he is
 not to make them confess what they do, but to make them deny what they are. We
 date the origin of our religion, as we have mentioned before, from the reign o
f Tiberius. Truth and the hatred of truth come into our world together. As soon
 as truth appears, it is regarded as an enemy. It has as many foes as there are
 strangers to it: the Jews, as was to be looked for, from a spirit of rivalry;
the soldiers, out of a desire to extort money; our very domestics, by their nat
ure. We are daily beset by foes, we are daily betrayed; we are oftentimes surpr
ised in our meetings and congregations. Whoever happened withal upon an infant
wailing, according to the common story? Whoever kept for the judge, just as he
had found them, the gory mouths of Cyclops and Sirens? Whoever found any traces
 of uncleanness in their wives? Where is the man who, when he had discovered su
ch atrocities, concealed them; or, in the act of dragging the culprits' before
the judge, was bribed into silence? If we always keep our secrets, when were ou
r proceedings made known to the world? Nay, by whom could they be made known? N
ot, surely, by the guilty parties themselves; even from the very idea of the th
ing, the fealty of silence being ever due to mysteries. The Samothracian and El
eusinian make no disclosures--how much more will silence be kept in regard to s
uch as are sure, in their unveiling, to call forth punishment from man at once,
 while wrath divine is kept in store for the future? If, then, Christians are n
ot themselves the publishers of their crime, it follows of course it must be st
rangers. And whence have they their knowledge, when it is also a universal cust
om in religious initiations to keep the profane aloof, and to beware of witness
es, unless it be that those who are so wicked have less fear than their neighbo
rs? Every one knows what sort of thing rumour is. It is one of your own sayings
, that "among all evils, none flies so fast as rumour." Why is rumour such an e
vil thing? Is it because it is fleet? Is it because it carries information? Or
is it because it is in the highest degree mendacious?--a thing, not even when i
t brings some truth to us, without a taint of falsehood, either detracting, or
adding, or changing from the simple fact? Nay

24

more, it is the very law of its being to continue only while it lies, and to li
ve but so long as there is no proof; for when the proof is given, it ceases to
exist; and, as having done its work of merely spreading a report, it delivers u
p a fact, and is henceforth held to be a fact, and called a fact. And then no o
ne says, for instance, "They say that it took place at Rome," or, "There is a r
umour that he has obtained a province," but, "He has got a province," and, "It
took place at Rome." Rumour, the very designation of uncertainty, has no place
when a thing is certain. Does any but a fool put his trust in it? For a wise ma
n never believes the dubious. Everybody knows, however zealously it is spread a
broad, on whatever strength of asseveration it rests, that some time or other f
rom some one fountain it has its origin. Thence it must creep into propagating
tongues and ears; and a small seminal blemish so darkens all the rest of the st
ory, that no one can determine whether the lips, from which it first came forth
, planted the seed of falsehood, as often happens, from a spirit of opposition,
 or from a suspicious judgment, or from a confirmed, nay, in the case of some,
an inborn, delight in lying. It is well that time brings all to light, as your
proverbs and sayings testify, by a provision of Nature, which has so appointed
things that nothing long is hidden, even though rumour has not disseminated it.
 It is just then as it should be, that fame for so long a period has been alone
 aware of the crimes of Christians. This is the witness you bring against us--o
ne that has never been able to prove the accusation it some time or other sent
abroad, and at last by mere continuance made into a settled opinion in the worl
d; so that I confidently appeal to Nature herself, ever true, against those who
 groundlessly hold that such things are to be credited.

CHAP. VIII.

    See now, we set before you the reward of these enormities. They give promis
e of eternal life. Hold it meanwhile as your own belief. I ask you, then, wheth
er, so believing, you think it worth attaining with a conscience such as you wi
ll have. Come, plunge your knife into the babe, enemy of none, accused of none,
 child of all; or if that is another's work, simply take your place beside a hu
man being dying before he has really lived, await the departure of the lately g
iven soul, receive the fresh young blood, saturate your bread with it, freely p
artake. The while as you recline at table, take note of the places which your m
other and your sister occupy; mark them well, so that when the dog-made darknes
s has fallen on you, you may make no mistake, for you will be guilty of a crime
--unless you perpetrate a deed of incest. Initiated and sealed into things like
 these, you have life everlasting. Tell me, I pray you, is eternity worth it? I
f it is not, then these things are not to be credited. Even although you had th
e belief, I deny the will; and even if you had the will, I deny the possibility
. Why then can others do it, if you cannot? why cannot you, if others can? I su
ppose we are of a different nature--are we Cynopae or Sciapodes?(1) You are a m
an yourself as well as the Christian: if you cannot do it, you ought not to bel
ieve it of others, for a Christian is a man as well as you. But the ignorant, f
orsooth, are deceived and imposed on. They were quite unaware of anything of th
e kind being imputed to Christians, or they would certainly have looked into it
 for themselves, and searched the matter out. Instead of that, it is the custom
 for persons wishing initiation into sacred rites, I think, to go first of all
to the master of them, that he may explain what preparations are to be made. Th
en, in this case, no doubt he would say, "You must have a child still of tender
 age, that knows not what it is to die, and can smile under thy knife; bread, t
oo, to collect the gushing blood; in addition to these, candlesticks, and lamps
, and dogs--with tid-bits to draw them on to the extinguishing of the lights: a
bove all things, you will require to bring your mother and your sister with you
." But what if mother and sister are unwilling? or if there be neither the one
nor the other? What if there are Christians with no Christian relatives? He wil
l not be counted, I suppose, a true follower of Christ, who has not a brother o
r a son. And what now, if these things are all in store for them without their
knowledge? At least afterwards they come to know them; and they bear with them,
 and pardon them. They fear, it may be said, lest they have to pay for it if th
ey let the secret out: nay, but they will rather in that case have every claim
to protection; they will even prefer, one might think, dying by their own hand,
 to living under the burden of such a dreadful knowledge. Admit that they have
this fear; yet why do they still persevere? For it is plain enough that you wil
l have no desire to continue what you would never have been, if you had had pre
vious knowledge of it.

CHAP. IX.

    That I may refute more thoroughly these charges, I will show that in part o
penly, in

25

part secretly, practices prevail among you which have led you perhaps to credit
 similar things about us. Children were openly sacrificed in Africa to Saturn a
s lately as the proconsulship of Tiberius, who exposed to public gaze the pries
ts suspended on the sacred trees overshadowing their temple--so many crosses on
 which the punishment which justice craved overtook their crimes, as the soldie
rs of our country still can testify who did that very work for that proconsul.
And even now that sacred. crime still continues to be done in secret. It is not
 only Christians, you see, who despise you; for all that you do there is neithe
r any crime thoroughly and abidingly eradicated, nor does any of your gods refo
rm his ways. When Saturn did not spare his own children, he was not likely to s
pare the children of others; whom indeed the very parents themselves were in th
e habit of offering, gladly responding to the call which was made on them, and
keeping the little ones pleased on the occasion, that they might not die in tea
rs. At the same time, there is a vast difference between homicide and parricide
. A more advanced age was sacrificed to Mercury in Gaul. I hand over the Tauric
 fables to their own theatres. Why, even in that most religious city of the pio
us descendants of AEneas, there is a certain Jupiter whom in their games they l
ave with human blood. It is the blood of a beast-fighter, you say. Is it less,
because of that, the blood of a man?(1) Or is it viler blood because it is from
 the veins of a wicked man? At any rate it is shed in murder. O Jove, thyself a
 Christian, and in truth only son of thy father in his cruelty! But in regard t
o child murder, as it does not matter whether it is committed for a sacred obje
ct, or merely at one's own self-impulse--although there is a great difference,
as we have said, between parricide and homicide--I shall turn to the people gen
erally. How many, think you, of those crowding around and gaping for Christian
blood,--how many even of your rulers, notable for their justice to you and for
their severe measures against us, may I charge in their own consciences with th
e sin of putting their offspring to death? As to any difference t in the kind o
f murder, it is certainly the more cruel way to kill by drowning, or by exposur
e to cold and hunger and dogs. A maturer age has always preferred death by the
sword. In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy eve
n the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other
 parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier m
an-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or de
stroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one;
you have the fruit already in its seed. As to meals of blood and such tragic di
shes, read--I am not sure where it is told (it is in Herodotus, I think)--how b
lood taken from the arms, and tasted by both parties, has been the treaty bond
among some nations. I am not sure what it was that was tasted in the time of Ca
tiline. They say, too, that among some Scythian tribes the dead are eaten by th
eir friends. But I am going far from home. At this day, among ourselves, blood
consecrated to Bellona, blood drawn from a punctured thigh and then partaken of
, seals initiation into the rites of that goddess. Those, too, who at the gladi
ator shows, for the cure of epilepsy, quaff with greedy thirst the blood of cri
minals slain in the arena, as it flows fresh from the wound, and then rush off-
-to whom do they belong? those, also, who make meals on the flesh of wild beast
s at the place of combat--who have keen appetites for bear and stag? That bear
in the struggle was bedewed with the blood of the man whom it lacerated: that s
tag rolled itself in the gladiator's gore. The entrails of the very bears, load
ed with as yet undigested human viscera, are in great request. And you have men
 rifting up man-fed flesh? If you partake of food like this, how do your repast
s differ from those you accuse us Christians of? And do those, who, with savage
 lust, seize on human bodies, do less because they devour the living? Have they
 less the pollution of human blood on them because they only lick up what is to
 turn into blood? They make meals, it is plain, not so much of infants, as of g
rown-up men. Blush for your vile ways before the Christians, who have not even
the blood of animals at their meals of simple and natural food; who abstain fro
m things strangled and that die a natural death, for no other reason than that
they may not contract pollution, so much as from blood secreted in the viscera.
 To clench the matter with a single example, you tempt Christians with sausages
 of blood, just because you are perfectly aware that the thing by which you thu
s try to get them to transgress they hold unlawful.(2) And how unreasonable it
is to believe that those, of whom you are convinced that they regard with horro
r the idea of tasting the blood of oxen, are eager after blood of men; unless,
mayhap, you have

26

tried it, and found it sweeter to the taste! Nay, in fact, there is here a test
 you should apply to discover Christians, as well as the fire-pan and the cense
r. They should be proved by their appetite for human blood, as well as by their
 refusal to offer sacrifice; just as otherwise they should be affirmed to be fr
ee of Christianity by their refusal to taste of blood, as by their sacrificing;
 and there would be no want of blood of men, amply supplied as that would be in
 the trial and condemnation of prisoners. Then who are more given to the crime
of incest than those who have enjoyed the instruction of Jupiter himself? Ctesi
as tells us that the Persians have illicit intercourse with their mothers. The
Macedonians, too, are suspected on this point; for on first hearing the tragedy
 of OEdipus they made mirth of the incest-doer's grief, exclaiming, <greek>hlau
ne</greek> <greek>eis</greek> <greek>thn</greek> <greek>mhtera</greek>. Even no
w reflect what opportunity there is for mistakes leading to incestuous commingl
ings--your promiscuous looseness supplying the materials. You first of all expo
se your children, that they may be taken up by any compassionate passer-by, to
whom they are quite unknown; or you give them away, to be adopted by those who
will do better to them the part of parents. Well, some time or other, all memor
y of the alienated progeny must be lost; and when once a mistake has been made,
 the transmission of incest thence will still go on--the race and the crime cre
eping on together. Then, further, wherever you are--at home, abroad, over the s
eas--your lust is an attendant, whose general indulgence, or even its indulgenc
e in the most limited scale, may easily and unwittingly anywhere beget children
, so that in this way a progeny scattered about in the commerce of life may hav
e intercourse with those who are their own kin, and have no notion that there i
s any incest in the case. A persevering and stedfast chastity has protected us
from anything like this: keeping as we do from adulteries and all post-matrimon
ial unfaithfulness, we are not exposed to incestuous mishaps. Some of us, makin
g matters still more secure, beat away from them entirely the power of sensual
sin, by a virgin continence, still boys in this respect when they are old. If y
ou would but take notice that such sins as I have mentioned prevail among you,
that would lead you to see that they have no existence among Christians. The sa
me eyes would tell you of both facts. But the two blindnesses are apt to go tog
ether; so that those who do not see what is, think they see what is not. I shal
l show it to be so in everything. But now let me speak of matters which are mor
e dear.

CHAP. X.

    "You do not worship the gods," you say; " and you do not offer sacrifices f
or the emperors." Well, we do not offer sacrifice for others, for the same reas
on that we do not for ourselves,--namely, that your gods are not at all the obj
ects of our worship. So we are accused of sacrilege and treason. This is the ch
ief ground of charge against us--nay, it is the sum-total of our offending; and
 it is worthy then of being inquired into, if neither prejudice nor injustice b
e the judge, the one of which has no idea of discovering the truth, and the oth
er simply and at once rejects it. We do not worship your gods, because we know
that there are no such beings. This, therefore, is what you should do: you shou
ld call on us to demonstrate their non-existence, and thereby prove that they h
ave no claim to adoration; for only if your gods were truly so, would there be
any obligation to render divine homage to them. And punishment even were due to
 Christians, if it were made plain that those to whom they refused all worship
were indeed divine. But you say, They are gods. We protest and appeal from your
selves to your knowledge; let that judge us; let that condemn us, if it can den
y that all these gods of yours were but men. If even it venture to deny that, i
t will be confuted by its own books of antiquities, from which it has got its i
nformation about them, bearing witness to this day, as they plainly do, both of
 the cities in which they were born, and the countries in which they have left
traces of their exploits, as well as where also they are proved to have been bu
ried. Shall I now, therefore, go over them one by one, so numerous and so vario
us, new and old, barbarian, Grecian,Roman, foreign, captive and adopted, privat
e and common, male and female, rural and urban, naval and military? It were use
less even to hunt out all their names: so I may content myself with a compend;
and this not for your information, but that you may have what you know brought
to your recollection, for undoubtedly you act as if you had forgotten all about
 them. No one of your gods is earlier than Saturn: from him you trace all your
deities, even those of higher rank and better known. What, then, can be proved
of the first, will apply to those that follow. So far, then, as books give us i
nformation, neither the Greek Diodorus or Thallus, neither Cassius Severus or C
ornelius Nepos, nor any writer upon sacred antiquities, have ventured to say th
at Saturn was any but a man: so far as the question depends on facts, I find no
ne more trustworthy than those

27

--that in Italy itself we have the country in which, after many expeditions, an
d after having partaken of Attic hospitalities, Saturn settled, obtaining cordi
al welcome from Janus, or, as the Salii will have it, Janis. The mountain on wh
ich he dwelt was called Saturnius; the city he founded is called Saturnia to th
is day; last of all, the whole of Italy, after having borne the name of Oenotri
a, was called Saturnia from him. He first gave you the art of writing, and a st
amped coinage, and thence it is he presides over the public treasury. But if Sa
turn were a man, he had undoubtedly a human origin; and having a human origin,
he was not the offspring of heaven and earth. As his parents were unknown, it w
as not unnatural that he should be spoken of as the son of those elements from
which we might all seem to spring. For who does not speak of heaven and earth a
s father and mother, in a sort of way of veneration and honour? or from the cus
tom which prevails among us of saying that persons of whom we have no knowledge
, or who make a sudden appearance, have fallen from the skies? In this way it c
ame about that Saturn, everywhere a sudden and unlooked-for guest, got everywhe
re the name of the Heaven-born. or even the common folk call persons whose stoc
k is unknown, sons of earth. I say nothing of how men in these rude times were
wont to act, when they were impressed by the look of any stranger happening to
appear among them, as though it were divine, since even at this day men of cult
ure make gods of those whom, a day or two before, they acknowledged to be dead
men by their public mourning for them. Let these notices of Saturn, brief as th
ey are, suffice. It will thus also be proved that Jupiter is as certainly a man
, as from a man he sprung; and that one after another the whole swarm is mortal
 like the primal stock.

CHAP. XI.

    And since, as you dare not deny that these deities of yours once were men,
you have taken it on you to assert that they were made gods after their decease
, let us consider what necessity there was for this. In the first place, you mu
st concede the existence of one higher God--a certain wholesale dealer in divin
ity, who has made gods of men. For they could neither have assumed a divinity w
hich was not theirs, nor could any but one himself possessing it have conferred
 it on them. If there was no one to make gods, it is vain to, dream of gods bei
ng made when thus you have no god-maker. Most certainly, if they could have dei
fied themselves, with a higher state at their command, they never would have be
en men. If, then, there be one who is able to make gods, I turn back to an exam
ination of any reason there may be for making gods at all; and I find no other
reason than this, that the great God has need of their ministrations and aids i
n performing the offices of Deity. But first it is an unworthy idea that He sho
uld need the help of a man, and in fact a dead man, when, if He was to be in wa
nt of this assistance from the dead, He might more fittingly have created some
one a god at the beginning. Nor do I see any place for his action. For this ent
ire world-mass--whether self-existent and uncreated, as Pythagoras maintains, o
r brought into being by a creator's hands, as Plato hold--was manifestly, once
for all in its original construction, disposed, and furnished, and ordered, and
 supplied with a government of perfect wisdom. That cannot be imperfect which h
as made all perfect. There was nothing waiting on for Saturn and his race to do
. Men will make fools of themselves if they refuse to believe that from the ver
y first ram poured down from the sky, and stars gleamed, and light shone, and t
hunders roared, and Jove himself dreaded the lightnings you put in his hands; t
hat in like manner before Bacchus, and Ceres, and Minerva, nay before the first
 man, whoever that was, every kind of fruit burst forth plentifully from the bo
som of the earth, for nothing provided for the support and sustenance of man co
uld be introduced after his entrance on the stage of being. Accordingly, these
necessaries of life are said to have been discovered, not created. But the thin
g you discover existed before; and that which had a pre-existence must be regar
ded as belonging not to him who discovered it, hut to him who made it, for of c
ourse it had a being before it could be found. But if, on account of his being
the discoverer of the vine, Bacchus is raised to godship, Lucullus, who first i
ntroduced the cherry from Pontus into Italy, has not been fairly dealt with; fo
r as the discoverer of a new fruit, he has not, as though he were its creator,
been awarded divine honours. Wherefore, if the universe existed from the beginn
ing, thoroughly furnished with its system working under certain laws for the pe
rformance of its functions, there is, in this respect, an entire absence of all
 reason for electing humanity to divinity; for the positions and powers which y
ou have assigned to your deities have been from the beginning precisely what th
ey would have been, although you had never deified them. But you turn to anothe
r reason, telling us that the conferring

28

of deity was a way of rewarding worth. And hence you grant, I conclude, that th
e god-making God is of transcendent righteousness,--one who will neither rashly
, improperly; nor needlessly bestow a reward so great. I would have you then co
nsider whether the merits of your deities are of a kind to have raised them to
the heavens, and not rather to have sunk them down into lowest depths of Tartar
us,--the place which you regard, with many, as the prison-house of infernal pun
ishments. For into this dread place are wont to be cast all who offend against
filial piety, and such as are guilty of incest with sisters, and seducers of wi
ves, and ravishers of virgins, and boy-polluters,and men of furious tempers, an
d murderers, and thieves, and deceivers; all, in short, who tread in the footst
eps of your gods, not one of whom you can prove free from crime or vice, save b
y denying that they had ever a human existence. But as you cannot deny that, yo
u have those foul blots also as an added reason for not believing that they wer
e made gods afterwards. For if you rule for the very purpose of punishing such
deeds; if every virtuous man among you rejects all correspondence, converse, an
d intimacy with the wicked and base, while, on the other hand, the high God has
 taken up their mates to a share of His majesty, on what ground is it that you
thus condemn those whose fellow-actors you adore? Your goodness is an affront i
n the heavens. Deify your vilest criminals, if you would please your gods. You
honour them by giving divine honours to their fellows. But to say no more about
 a way of acting so unworthy, there have been men virtuous, and pure, and good.
 Yet how many of these nobler men you have left in the regions of doom! as Socr
ates, so renowned for his wisdom, Aristides for his justice, Themistocles for h
is warlike genius, Alexander for his sublimity of soul, Polycrates for his good
 fortune, Croesus for his wealth, Demosthenes for his eloquence. Which of these
 gods of yours is more remarkable for gravity and wisdom than Cato, more just a
nd warlike than Scipio? which of them more magnanimous than Pompey, more prospe
rous than Sylla, of greater wealth than Crassus, more eloquent than Tullius? Ho
w much better it would have been for the God Supreme to have waited that He mig
ht have taken such men as these to be His heavenly associates, prescient as He
must have surely been of their worthier character! He was in a hurry, I suppose
, and straightway shut heaven's gates; and now He must surely feel ashamed at t
hese worthies murmuring over their lot in the regions below.

CHAP. XII.

    But I pass from these remarks, for I know and I am going to show what your
gods are not, by showing what they are. In reference, then, to these, I see onl
y names of dead men of ancient times; I hear fabulous stories; I recognize sacr
ed rites rounded on mere myths. As to the actual images, I regard hem as simply
 pieces of matter akin to the vessels and utensils in common use among is, or e
ven undergoing in their consecration a hapless change from these useful article
s at the hands of reckless art, which in the transforming process treats them w
ith utter contempt, nay, in the very act commits sacrilege; so that it might be
 no slight solace to us in all our punishments, suffering as we do because of t
hese same gods, that in their making they suffer as we do themselves. You put C
hristians on crosses and stakes:(1) what image is not formed from the clay in t
he first instance, set on cross and stake? The body of your god is first consec
rated on the gibbet. You tear the sides of Christians with your claws; but in t
he case of your own gods, axes, and planes, and rasps are put to work more vigo
rously on every member of the body. We lay our heads upon the block; before the
 lead, and the glue, and the nails are put in requisition, your deities are hea
dless. We are cast to the wild beasts, while you attach them to Bacchus, and Cy
bele, and Caelestis. We are burned in the flames; so, too, are they in their or
iginal lump. We are condemned to the mines; from these your gods originate. We
are banished to islands; in islands it is a common thing for your gods to have
their birth or die. If it is in this way a deity is made, it will follow that a
s many as are punished are deified, and tortures will have to be declared divin
ities. But plain it is these objects of your worship have no sense of the injur
ies and disgraces of their consecrating, as they are equally unconscious of the
 honours paid to them. O impious words! O blasphemous reproaches! Gnash your te
eth upon us--foam with maddened rage against us--ye are the persons, no doubt,
who censured a certain Seneca speaking of your superstition at much greater len
gth and far more sharply! In a word, if we refuse our homage to statues and fri
gid images, the very counterpart of their dead originals, with which hawks, and
 mice, and spiders are so well acquainted, does it not merit praise instead of
penalty, that we have rejected what we have come to see is error? We cannot sur
ely be made out

29

to injure those who we are certain are nonentities. What does not exist, is in
its nonexistence secure from suffering.

CHAP. XIII.

    "But they are gods to us," you say. And how is it, then, that in utter inco
nsistency with this, you are convicted of impious, sacrilegious, and irreligiou
s conduct to them, neglecting those you imagine to exist, destroying those who
are the objects of your fear, making mock of those whose honour you avenge? See
 now if I go beyond the truth. First, indeed, seeing you worship, some one god,
 and some another, of course you give offence to those you do not worship. You
cannot continue to give preference to one without slighting another, for select
ion implies rejection. You despise, therefore, those whom you thus reject; for
in your rejection of them, it is plain you have no dread of giving them offence
. For, as we have already shown, every god depended on the decision of the sena
te for his godhead. No god was he whom man in his own counsels did not wish to
be so, and thereby condemned. The family deities you call Lares, you exercise a
 domestic authority over, pledging them, selling them, changing them--making so
metimes a cooking-pot of a Saturn, a firepan of a Minerva, as one or other happ
ens to be worn done, or broken in its long sacred use, or as the family head fe
els the pressure of some more sacred home necessity. In like manner, by public
law you disgrace your state gods, putting them in the auction-catalogue, and ma
king them a source of revenue. Men seek to get the Capitol, as they seek to get
 the herb market, under the voice of the crier, under the auction spear, under
the registration of the quaestor. Deity is struck off and farmed out to the hig
hest bidder. But indeed lands burdened with tribute are of less value; men unde
r the assessment of a poll-tax are less noble; for these things are the marks o
f servitude. In the case of the gods, on the other hand, the sacredness is grea
t in proportion to the tribute which they yield; nay, the more sacred is a god,
 the larger is the tax he pays. Majesty is made a source of gain. Religion goes
 about the taverns begging. You demand a price for the privilege of standing on
 temple ground, for access to the sacred services; there is no gratuitous knowl
edge of your divinities permitted--you must buy their favours with a price. Wha
t honours in any way do you render to them that you do not render to the dead?
You have temples in the one case just as in the other; you have altars in the o
ne case as in the other. Their statues have the same dress, the same insignia.
As the dead man had his age, his art, his occupation, so it is with the deity.
In what respect does the funeral feast differ from the feast of Jupiter? or the
 bowl of the gods from the ladle of the manes? or the undertaker from the sooth
sayer, as in fact this latter personage also attends upon the dead? With perfec
t propriety you give divine honours to your departed emperors, as you worship t
hem in life. The gods will count themselves indebted to you; nay, it will be ma
tter of high rejoicing among them that their masters are made their equals. But
 when you adore Larentina, a public prostitute --I could have wished that it mi
ght at least have been Lais or Phryne--among your Junos, and Cereses, and Diana
s; when you instal in your Pantheon Simon Magus,(1) giving him a statue and the
 title of Holy God; when you make an infamous court page a god of the sacred sy
nod, although your ancient deities are in reality no better, they will still th
ink themselves affronted by you, that the privilege antiquity conferred on them
 alone, has been allowed to others.

CHAP. XIV.

    I wish now to review your sacred rites; and I pass no censure on your sacri
ficing, when you offer the worn-out, the scabbed, the corrupting; when you cut
off from the fat and the sound the useless parts, such as the head and the hoof
s, which in your house you would have assigned to the slaves or the dogs; when
of the tithe of Hercules you do not lay a third upon his altar (I am disposed r
ather to praise your wisdom in rescuing something from being lost); but turning
 to your books, from which you get your training in wisdom and the nobler dutie
s of life, what utterly ridiculous things I find!--that for Trojans and Greeks
the gods fought among themselves like pairs of gladiators; that Venus was wound
ed by a man, because she would rescue her son Aeneas when he was in peril of hi
s life from the same Diomede; that Mars was almost wasted away by a thirteen mo
nths' imprisonment; that Jupiter was saved by a monster's aid from suffering th
e same violence at the hands of the other gods; that he now laments the fate of
 Sarpedon, now foully makes love to his own sister, recounting (to her) former
mistresses, now for a long time past not so dear as she. After this, what poet
is not found copying the example of his chief, to be a disgracer of the gods? O
ne gives

30

Apollo to king Admetus to tend his sheep; another hires out the building labour
s of Neptune to Laomedon. A well-known lyric poet, too--Pindar, I mean--sings o
f Aesculapius deservedly stricken with lightning for his greed in practising wr
ongfully his art. A wicked deed it was of Jupiter--if he hurled the bolt--unnat
ural to his grandson, and exhibiting envious feeling to the Physician. Things l
ike these should not be made public if they are true; and if false, they should
 not be fabricated among people professing a great respect for religion. Nor in
deed do either tragic or comic writers shrink from setting forth the gods as th
e origin of all family calamities and sins. I do not dwell on the philosophers,
 contenting myself with a reference to Socrates, who, in contempt of the gods,
was in the habit of swearing by an oak, and a goat, and a dog. In fact, for thi
s very thing Socrates was condemned to death, that he overthrew the worship of
the gods. Plainly, at one time as well as another, that is, always truth is dis
liked. However, when rueing their judgment, the Athenians inflicted punishment
on his accusers, and set up a golden image of him in a temple, the condemnation
 was in the very act rescinded, and his witness was restored to its former valu
e. Diogenes, too, makes utter mock of Hercules and the Roman cynic Varro brings
 forward three hundred Joves, or Jupiters they should be called, all headless.

CHAP. XV.

    Others of your writers, in their wantonness, even minister to your pleasure
s by vilifying the gods. Examine those charming farces of your Lentuli and Host
ilii, whether in the jokes and tricks it is the buffoons or the deities which a
fford you merriment; such farces I mean as Anubis the Adulterer, and Luna of th
e masculine gender, and Diana under the lash, and the reading the will of Jupit
er deceased, and the three famishing Herculeses held up to ridicule. Your drama
tic literature, too, depicts all the vileness of your gods. The Sun mourns his
offspring(1) cast down from heaven, and you are full of glee; Cybele sighs afte
r the scornful swain,(2) and you do not blush; you brook the stage recital of J
upiter's misdeeds, and the shepherd(3) judging Juno, Venus, and Minerva. Then,
again, when the likeness of a god is put on the head of an ignominious and infa
mous wretch, when one impure and trained up for the art in all effeminacy, repr
esents a Minerva or a Hercules, is not the majesty of your gods insulted, and t
heir deity dishonored? Yet you not merely look on, but applaud. You are, I supp
ose, more devout in the arena, where after the same fashion your deities dance
on human blood, on the pollutions caused by inflicted punishments, as they act
their themes and stories, doing their turn for the wretched criminals, except t
hat these, too, often put on divinity and actually play the very gods. We have
seen in our day a representation of the mutilation of Attis, that famous god of
 Pessinus, and a man burnt alive as Hercules. We have made merry amid the ludic
rous cruelties of the noonday exhibition, at Mercury examining the bodies of th
e dead with his hot iron; we have witnessed Jove's brother,(4) mallet in hand,
dragging out the corpses of the gladiators. But who can go into everything of t
his sort? If by such things as these the honour of deity is assailed, if they g
o to blot out every trace of its majesty, we must explain them by the contempt
in which the gods are held, alike by those who actually do them, and by those f
or whose enjoyment they are done. This it will be said, however, is all in spor
t. But if I add--it is what all know and will admit as readily to be the fact--
that in the temples adulteries are arranged, that at the altars pimping is prac
tised, that often in the houses of the temple-keepers and priests, under the sa
crificial fillets, and the sacred hats,(5) and the purple robes, amid the fumes
 of incense, deeds of licentiousness are done, I am not sure but your gods have
 more reason to complain of you than of Christians. It is certainly among the v
otaries of your religion that the perpetrators of sacrilege are always found, f
or Christians do not enter your temples even in the day-time. Perhaps they too
would be spoilers of them, if they worshipped in them. What then do they worshi
p, since their objects of worship are different from yours? Already indeed it i
s implied, as the corollary from their rejection of the lie, that they render h
omage to the truth; nor continue longer in an error which they have given up in
 the very fact of recognizing it to be an error. Take this in first of all, and
 when we have offered a preliminary refutation of some false opinions, go on to
 derive from it our entire religious system.

CHAP. XVI.

    For, like some others, you are under the delusion that our god is an ass's
head.(6) Cor-

31

nelius Tacitus first put this notion into people's minds. In the fifth book of
his histories, beginning the (narrative of the) Jewish war with an account of t
he origin of the nation; and theorizing at his pleasure about the origin, as we
ll as the name and the religion of the Jews, he states that having been deliver
ed, or rather, in his opinion, expelled from Egypt, in crossing the vast plains
 of Arabia, where water is so scanty, they were in extremity from thirst; but t
aking the guidance of the wild asses, which it was thought might be seeking wat
er after feeding, they discovered a fountain, and thereupon in their gratitude
they consecrated a head of this species of animal. And as Christianity is nearl
y allied to Judaism, from this, I suppose, it was taken for granted that we too
 are devoted to the worship of the same image. But the said Cornelius Tacitus (
the very opposite of tacit in telling lies) informs us in the work already ment
ioned, that when Cneius Pompeius captured Jerusalem, he entered the temple to s
ee the arcana of the Jewish religion, but found no image there. Yet surely if w
orship was rendered to any visible object, the very place for its exhibition wo
uld be the shrine; and that all the more that the worship, however unreasonable
, had no need there to fear outside beholders. For entrance to the holy place w
as permitted to the priests alone, while all vision was forbidden to others by
an outspread curtain. You will not, however, deny that all beasts of burden, an
d not parts of them, but the animals entire, are with their goddess Epona objec
ts of worship with you. It is this, perhaps, which displeases you in us, that w
hile your worship here is universal, we do homage only to the ass. Then, if any
 of you think we render superstitious adoration to the cross, in that adoration
 he is sharer with us. If you offer homage to a piece of wood at all, it matter
s little what it is like when the substance is the same: it is of no consequenc
e the form, if you have the very body of the god. And yet how far does the Athe
nian Pallas differ from the stock of the cross, or the Pharian Ceres as she is
put up uncarved to sale, a mere rough stake and piece of shapeless wood? Every
stake fixed in an upright position is a portion of the cross; we render our ado
ration, if you will have it so, to a god entire and complete. We have shown bef
ore that your deities are derived from shapes modelled from the cross. But you
also worship victories, for in your trophies the cross is the heart of the trop
hy.(1) The camp religion of the Romans is all through a worship of the standard
s, a setting the standards above all gods. Well, as those images decking out th
e standards are ornaments of crosses. All those hangings of your standards and
banners are robes of crosses. I praise your zeal: you would not consecrate cros
ses unclothed and unadorned. Others, again, certainly with more information and
 greater verisimilitude, believe that the sun is our god. We shall be counted P
ersians perhaps, though we do not worship the orb of day painted on a piece of
linen cloth, having himself everywhere in his own disk. The idea no doubt has o
riginated from our being known to turn to the east in prayer.(1) But you, many
of you, also under pretence sometimes of worshipping the heavenly bodies, move
your lips in the direction of the sunrise. In the same way, if we devote Sun-da
y to rejoicing, from a far different reason than Sun-worship, we have some rese
mblance to those of you who devote the day of Saturn to ease and luxury, though
 they too go far away from Jewish ways, of which indeed they are ignorant. But
lately a new edition of our god has been given to the world in that great city:
 it originated with a certain vile man who was wont to hire himself out to chea
t the wild beasts, and who exhibited a picture with this inscription: The God o
f the Christians, born of an ass.(2) He had the ears of an ass, was hoofed in o
ne foot, carried a book,(3) and wore a toga. Both the name and the figure gave
us amusement. But our opponents ought straightway to have done homage to this b
iformed divinity, for they have acknowledged gods dog-headed and lion-headed, w
ith horn of buck and ram, with goat-like loins, with serpent legs, with wings s
prouting from back or foot. These things we have discussed ex abundanti, that w
e might not seem willingly to pass by any rumor against us unrefuted. Having th
oroughly cleared ourselves, we turn now to an exhibi-ition of what our religion
 really is.

CHAP. XVII.

    The object of our worship is the One God,(4) He who by His commanding word,
 His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire
 mass of our world, with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the gl
ory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed on it the name of K<gr
eek>osmos</greek>. The eye cannot see Him, though He is (spiritually) visible.
He is incompre-

32

hensible, though in grace He is manifested. He is beyond our utmost thought, th
ough our human faculties conceive of Him. He is therefore equally real and grea
t. But that which, in the ordinary sense, can be seen and handled and conceived
, is inferior to the eyes by which it is taken in, and the hands by which it is
 tainted, and the faculties by which it is discovered; but that which is infini
te is known only to itself. This it is which gives some notion of God, while ye
t beyond all our conceptions--our very incapacity of fully grasping Him affords
 us the idea of what He really is. He is presented to our minds in His transcen
dent greatness, as at once known and unknown. And this is the crowning guilt of
 men, that they will not recognize One, of whom they cannot possibly be ignoran
t. Would you have the proof from the works of His hands, so numerous and so gre
at, which both contain you and sustain you, which minister at once to your enjo
yment, and strike you with awe; or would you rather have it from the testimony
of the soul itself? Though under the oppressive bondage of the body, though led
 astray by depraving customs, though enervated by lusts and passions, though in
 slavery to false gods; yet, whenever the soul comes to itself, as out of a sur
feit, or a sleep, or a sickness, and attains something of its natural soundness
, it speaks of God; using no other word, because this is the peculiar name of t
he true God. "God is great and good"--"Which may God give," are the words on ev
ery lip. It bears witness, too, that God is judge, exclaiming, "God sees," and,
 "I commend myself to God," and, "God will repay me." O noble testimony of the
soul by nature(1) Christian! Then, too, in using such words as these, it looks
not to the Capitol, but to the heavens. It knows that there is the throne of th
e living God, as from Him and from thence itself came down.

CHAP. XVIII.

    But, that we might attain an ampler and more authoritative knowledge at onc
e of Himself, and of His counsels and will, God has added a written revelation
for the behoof of every one whose heart is set on seeking Him, that seeking he
may find, and finding believe, and believing obey. For from the first He sent m
essengers into the world,--men whose stainless righteousness made them worthy t
o know the Most High, and to reveal Him,--men abundantly endowed with the Holy
Spirit, that they might proclaim that there is one God only who made all things
, who formed man from the dust of the ground (for He is the true Prometheus who
 gave order to the world by arranging the seasons and their course),--these hav
e further set before us the proofs He has given of His majesty in H judgments b
y floods and fires, the rules appointed by Him for securing His favour, as well
 as the retribution in store for the ignoring, forsaking and keeping them, as b
eing about at the end of all to adjudge His worshippers to everlasting life, an
d the wicked to the doom of fire at once without ending and without break, rais
ing up again all the dead from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with
the object of awarding either recompense. Once these things were with us, too,
the theme of ridicule. We are of your stock and nature: men are made, not born,
 Christians. The preachers of whom we have spoken are called prophets, from the
 office which belongs to them of predicting the future. Their words, as well as
 the miracles which they performed, that men might have faith in their divine a
uthority, we have still in the literary treasures they have left, and which are
 open to all. Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, the most learned of his race, a m
an of vast acquaintance with all literature, emulating, I imagine, the book ent
husiasm of Pisistratus, among other remains of the past which either their anti
quity or something of peculiar interest made famous, at the suggestion of Demet
rius Phalereus, who was renowned above all grammarians of his time, and to whom
 he had committed the management of these things, applied to the Jews for their
 writings--I mean the writings peculiar to them and in their tongue, which they
 alone possessed, for from themselves, as a people dear to God for their father
s' sake, their prophets had ever sprung, and to them they had ever spoken. Now
in ancient times the people we call Jews bare the name of Hebrews, and so both
their writings and their speech were Hebrew. But that the understanding of thei
r books might not be wanting, this also the Jews supplied to Ptolemy; for they
gave him seventy-two interpreters-men whom the philosopher Menedemus, the well-
known asserter of a Providence, regarded with respect as sharing in his views.
The same account is given by Aristaeus. So the king left these works unlocked t
o all, in the Greek language.(2) To this day, at the temple of Serapis, the lib
raries of Ptolemy are to be seen, with the identical Hebrew originals in them.
The Jews, too, read them publicly. Under a tribute-liberty, they are

33

in the habit of going to hear them every Sabbath. Whoever gives ear will find G
od in them; whoever takes pains to understand, will be compelled to believe.

CHAP. XIX.

    Their high antiquity, first of all, claims authority for these writings. Wi
th you, too, it is a kind of religion to demand belief on this very ground. Wel
l, all the substances, all the materials, the origins, classes, contents of you
r most ancient writings, even most nations and cities illustrious in the record
s of the past and noted for their antiquity in books of annals,--the very forms
 of your letters, those revealers and custodiers of events, nay (I think I spea
k still within the mark), your very gods themselves, your very temples and orac
les, and sacred rites, are less ancient than the work of a single prophet, in w
hom you have the thesaurus of the entire Jewish religion, and therefore too of
ours. If you happen to have heard of a certain Moses, I speak first of him: he
is as far back as the Argive Inachus; by nearly four hundred years--only seven
less--he precedes Danaus, your most ancient name; while he antedates by a mille
nnium the death of Priam. I might affirm, too, that he is five hundred years ea
rlier than Homer, and have supporters of that view. The other prophets also, th
ough of later date, are, even the most recent of them, as far back as the first
 of your philosophers, and legislators, and historians. It is not so much the d
ifficulty of the subject, as its vastness, that stands in the way of a statemen
t of the grounds on which these statements rest; the matter is not so arduous a
s it would be tedious. It would require the anxious study of many books, and th
e fingers busy reckoning. The histories of the most ancient nations, such as th
e Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, would need to be ransacked; the me
n of these various nations who have information to give, would have to be calle
d in as witnesses. Manetho the Egyptian, and Berosus the Chaldean, and Hieromus
 the Phoenician king of Tyre; their successors too, Ptolemy the Mendesian, and
Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and Apion, and Thallus, and their critic th
e Jew Josephus, the native vindicator of the ancient history of his people, who
 either authenticates or refutes the others. Also the Greek censors' lists must
 be compared, and the dates of events ascertained, that the chronological conne
ctions may be opened up, and thus the reckonings of the various annals be made
to give forth light. We must go abroad into the histories and literature of all
 nations. And, in fact, we have already brought the proof in part before you, i
n giving those hints as to how it is to be effected. But it seems better to del
ay the full discussion of this, lest in our haste we do not sufficiently carry
it out, or lest in its thorough handling we make too lengthened a digression.

CHAP. XX.

    To make up for our delay in this, we bring under your notice something of e
ven greater importance; we point to the majesty of our Scriptures, if not to th
eir antiquity. If you doubt that they are as ancient as we say, we offer proof
that they are divine. And you may convince yourselves of this at once, and with
out going very far. Your instructors, the world, and the age, and the event, ar
e all be fore you. All that is taking place around you I was fore-announced; al
l that you now see with your eye was previously heard by the ear. The swallowin
g up of cities by the earth; the theft of islands by the sea; wars, bringing ex
ternal and internal convulsions; the collision of kingdoms with kingdoms; famin
es and pestilences, and local massacres, and widespread desolating mortalities;
 the exaltation of the lowly, and the humbling of the proud; the decay of right
eousness, the growth of sin, the slackening interest in all good ways; the very
 seasons and elements going out of their ordinary course, monsters and portents
 taking the place of nature's forms--it was all foreseen and predicted before i
t came to pass. While we suffer the calamities, we read of them in the Scriptur
es; as we examine, they are proved. Well, the truth of a prophecy, I thinks is
the demonstration of its being from above. Hence there is among us an assured f
aith in regard to coming events as things already proved to us, for they were p
redicted along with what we have day by day fulfilled. They are uttered by the
same voices, they are written in the same books--the same Spirit inspires them.
 All time is one to prophecy foretelling the future. Among men, it may be, a di
stinction of times is made while the fulfilment is going on: from being future
we think of it as presents and then from being present we count it as belonging
 to the past. How are we to blame, I pray you, that we believe in things to com
e as though they already were, with the grounds we have for our faith in these
two steps?

CHAP. XXI.

    But having asserted that our religion is supported by the writings of the J
ews, the oldest which exist, though it is generally known, and we fully admit t
hat it dates from a comparatively recent period--no further

34

back indeed than the reign of Tiberius--a question may perhaps be raised on thi
s ground about its standing, as if it were hiding something of its presumption
under shadow of an illustrious religion, one which has at any rate undoubted al
lowance of the law, or because, apart from the question of age, we neither acco
rd with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food, nor in their sacred
days, nor even in their well-known bodily sign, nor in the possession of a comm
on name, which surely behoved to be the case if we did homage to the same God a
s they. Then, too, the common people have now some knowledge of Christ, and thi
nk of Him as but a man, one indeed such as the Jews condemned, so that some may
 naturally enough have taken up the idea that we are worshippers of a mere huma
n being. But we are neither ashamed of Christ --for we rejoice to be counted Hi
s disciples, and in His name to suffer--nor do we differ from the Jews concerni
ng God. We must make, therefore, a remark or two as to Christ's divinity. In fo
rmer times the Jews enjoyed much of God's favour, when the fathers of their rac
e were noted for their righteousness and faith. So it was that as a people they
 flourished greatly, and their kingdom attained to a lofty eminence; and so hig
hly blessed were they, that for their instruction God spake to them in special
revelations, pointing out to them beforehand how they should merit His favor an
d avoid His displeasure. But how deeply they have sinned, puffed up to their fa
ll with a false trust in their noble ancestors, turning from God's way into a w
ay of sheer impiety, though they themselves should refuse to admit it, their pr
esent national ruin would afford sufficient proof. Scattered abroad, a race of
wanderers, exiles from their own land and clime, they roam over the whole world
 without either a human or a heavenly king, not possessing even the stranger's
right to set so much as a simple footstep in their native country. The sacred w
riters withal, in giving previous warning of these things, all with equal clear
ness ever declared that, in the last days of the world, God would, out of every
 nation, and people, and country, choose for Himself more faithful worshippers,
 upon whom He would bestow His grace, and that indeed in ampler measure, in kee
ping with the enlarged capacities of a nobler dispensation. Accordingly, He app
eared among us, whose coming to renovate and illuminate man's nature was pre-an
nounced by God--I mean Christ, that Son of God. And so the supreme Head and Mas
ter of this grace and discipline, the Enlightener and Trainer of the human race
, God's own Son, was announced among us, born--but not so born as to make Him a
shamed of the name of Son or of His paternal origin. It was not His lot to have
 as His father, by incest with a sister, or by violation of a daughter or anoth
er's wife, a god in the shape of serpent, or ox, or bird, or lover, for his vil
e ends transmuting himself into the gold of Danaus. They are your divinities up
on whom these base deeds of Jupiter were done. But the Son of God has no mother
 in any sense which involves impurity; she, whom men suppose to be His mother i
n the ordinary way, had never entered into the marriage bond.(1) But, first, I
shall discuss His essential nature, and so the nature of His birth will be unde
rstood. We have already asserted that God made the world, and all which it cont
ains, by His Word, and Reason, and Power. It is abundantly plain that your phil
osophers, too, regard the Logos--that is, the Word and Reason--as the Creator o
f the universe. For Zeno lays it down that he is the creator, having made all t
hings according to a determinate plan; that his name is Fate, and God, and the
soul of Jupiter, and the necessity of all things. Cleanthes ascribes all this t
o spirit, which he maintains pervades the universe. And we, in like manner, hol
d that the Word, and Reason, and Power, by which we have said God made all, hav
e spirit as their proper and essential substratum, in which the Word has inbein
g to give forth utterances, and reason abides to dispose and arrange, and power
 is over all to execute. We have been taught that He proceeds forth from God, a
nd in that procession He is generated; so that He is the Son of God, and is cal
led God from unity of substance with God. For God, too, is a Spirit. Even when
the ray is shot from the sun, it is still part of the parent mass; the sun will
 still be in the ray, because it is a ray of the sun--there is no division of s
ubstance, but merely an extension. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of
God, as light of light is kindled.(2) The material matrix remains entire and un
impaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its quali
ties; so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son
of God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and Go
d of God, He is made a second in manner of existence--in position, not in natur
e; and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth. This ray o
f God, then, as it was always foretold in ancient times, descending into a cert
ain virgin, and made flesh in her womb,

35

is in His birth God and man united. The flesh formed by the Spirit is nourished
, grows up to manhood, speaks, teaches, works, and is the Christ. Receive meanw
hile this fable, if you choose to call it so--it is like some of your own--whil
e we go on to show how Christ's claims are proved, and who the parties are with
 you by whom such fables have been set agoing to overthrow the truth, which the
y resemble. The Jews, too, were well aware that Christ was coming, as those to
whom the prophets spake. Nay, even now His advent is expected by them; nor is t
here any other contention between them and us, than that they believe the adven
t has not yet occurred. For two comings of Christ having been revealed to us: a
 first, which has been fulfilled in the lowliness of a human lot; a second, whi
ch impends over the world, now near its close, in all the majesty of Deity unve
iled; and, by misunderstanding the first, they have concluded that the second--
which, as matter of more manifest prediction, they set their hopes on--is the o
nly one. It was the merited punishment of their sin not to understand the Lord'
s first advent: for if they had, they would have believed; and if they had beli
eved, they would have obtained salvation. They themselves read how it is writte
n of them that they are deprived of wisdom and understanding--of the use of eye
s and ears.(1) As, then, under the force of their pre-judgment, they had convin
ced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was no more than man, it follow
ed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician
from the powers which He displayed,--expelling devils from men by a word, resto
ring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, reinvigorating the paralytic,
summoning the dead to life again, making the very elements of nature obey Him,
stilling the storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the Logos of Go
d, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and ba
sed on Spirit,--that He who was now doing all things by His word, and He who ha
d done that of old, were one and the same. But the Jews were so exasperated by
His teaching, by which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chi
efly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they brought Him before
Pontius Pilate, at that time Roman governor of Syria; and, by the violence of t
heir outcries against Him, extorted a sentence giving Him up to them to be cruc
ified. He Himself had predicted this; which, however, would have signified litt
le had not the prophets of old done it as well. And yet, nailed upon the cross,
 He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all
 others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, an
ticipating the executioner's work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was
withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who w
ere not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an
 eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your ar
chives.(2) Then, when His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a se
pulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large milita
ry guard, lest, as He had predicted His resurrection from the dead on the third
 day, His disciples might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incr
edulous. But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, an
d the stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled off
in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but
 the clothes of the buried One. But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews, whom
 it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep back a people tribut
ary and submissive to them from the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ
had been stolen by His followers. For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into
the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that fai
th also, destined to a great reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. But H
e spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Jude
a, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others. Thereafter,
having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world, He was enc
ompassed with a cloud and taken up to heaven,--a fact more certain far than the
 assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus.(3) All these things Pilate did
to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of
Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and the Caesars
too would have believed on Christ, if either the Caesars had not been necessary
 for the world, or if Christians could have been Caesars. His disciples also, s
preading over the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after suffer
ing greatly themselves from the persecutions of the Jews, and with no unwilling
 heart, as having faith undoubting in the truth, at last by Nero's cruel sword
sowed the seed of Christian blood at

36

Rome.(1) Yes, and we shall prove that even your own gods are effective witnesse
s for Christ. It is a great matter if, to give you faith in Christians, I can b
ring forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom you refuse the
m credit. Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We have set forth
 this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christia
nity. Let no one henceforth charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one thin
k that it is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a false acco
unt of his religion. For in the very fact that he says he worships another god
than he really does, he is guilty of denying the object of his worship, and tra
nsferring his worship and homage to another; and, in the transference, he cease
s to worship the god he has repudiated. We say, and before all men we say, and
torn and bleeding under your tortures, we cry out, "We worship God through Chri
st." Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God would be known an
d be adored. If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taugh
t them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Musae
us at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Boeotia, imposed religious rites
; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Num
a Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. Surely
 Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was in fact His own essential
 possession, not with the object of bringing boers and savages by the dread of
multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won into some civilization, as was the
 case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and u
nder illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge o
f the truth. Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ be true. If it be
 of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him tru
ly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it
as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the na
mes and images of dead, the labours to convince men of its divinity by certain
signs, and miracles, and oracles.

CHAP. XXII.

    And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is th
eir name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons; Socrates hi
mself waiting on a demon's will. Why not? since it is said an evil spirit attac
hed itself specially to him even from his childhood--turning his mind no doubt
from what was good. The poets are all acquainted with demons too; even the igno
rant common people make frequent use of them in cursing. In fact, they call upo
n Satan, the demon-chief, in their execrations, as though from some instinctive
 soul-knowledge of him. Plato also admits the existence of angels. The dealers
in magic, no less, come forward as witnesses to the existence of both kinds of
spirits. We are instructed, moreover, by our sacred books how from certain ange
ls, who fell of their own flee-will, there sprang a more wicked demon-brood, co
ndemned of God along with the authors of their race, and that chief we have ref
erred to. It will for the present be enough, however, that some account is give
n of their work. Their great business is the ruin of mankind. So, from the very
 first, spiritual wickedness sought our destruction. They inflict, accordingly,
 upon our bodies diseases and other grievous calamities, while by violent assau
lts they hurry the soul into sudden and extraordinary excesses. Their marvellou
s subtleness and tenuity give them access to both parts of our nature. As spiri
tual, they can do no harm; for, invisible and intangible, we are not cognizant
of their action save by its effects, as when some inexplicable, unseen poison i
n the breeze blights the apples and the grain while in the flower, or kills the
m in the bud, or destroys them when they have reached maturity; as though by th
e tainted atmosphere in some unknown way spreading abroad its pestilential exha
lations. So, too, by an influence equally obscure, demons and angels breathe in
to the soul, and rouse up its corruptions with furious passions and vile excess
es; or with cruel lusts accompanied by various errors, of which the worst is th
at by which these deities are commended to the favour of deceived and deluded h
uman beings, that they may get their proper food of flesh-fumes and blood when
that is offered up to idol-images. What is daintier food to the spirit of evil,
 than turning men's minds away from the true God by the illusions of a false di
vination? And here I explain how these illusions are managed. Every spirit is p
ossessed of wings. This is a common property of both angels and demons. So they
 are everywhere in a single moment; the whole world is as one place to them; al
l that is done over the whole extent of it, it is as easy for them to know as t
o report. Their swiftness of motion is taken for divinity, because their nature
 is unknown. Thus they would have themselves thought

37

sometimes the authors of the things which they announce; and sometimes, no doub
t, the bad things are their doing, never the good. The purposes of God, too, th
ey took up of old from the lips of the prophets, even as they spoke them; and t
hey gather them still from their works, when they hear them read aloud. Thus ge
tting, too, from this source some intimations of the future, they set themselve
s up as rivals of the true God, while they steal His divinations. But the skill
 with which their responses are shaped to meet events, your Croesi and Pyrrhi k
now too well. On the other hand, it was in that way we have explained, the Pyth
ian was able to declare that they were cooking a tortoise(1) with the flesh of
a lamb; in a moment he had been to Lydia. From dwelling in the air, and their n
earness to the stars, and their commerce with the clouds, they have means of kn
owing the preparatory processes going on in these upper regions, and thus can g
ive promise of the rains which they already feel. Very kind too, no doubt, they
 are in regard to the healing of diseases. For, first of all, they make you ill
; then, to get a miracle out of it, they command the application of remedies ei
ther altogether new, or contrary to those in use, and straightway withdrawing h
urtful influence, they are supposed to have wrought a cure. What need, then, to
 speak of their other artifices, or yet further of the deceptive power which th
ey have as spirits: of these Castor apparitions,(2) of water carried by a sieve
, and a ship drawn along by a girdle, and a beard reddened by a touch, all done
 with the one object of showing that men should believe in the deity of stones,
 and not seek after the only true God?

CHAP. XXIII.

    Moreover, if sorcerers call forth ghosts, and even make what seem the souls
 of the dead to appear; if they put boys to death, in order to get a response f
rom the oracle; if, with their juggling illusions, they make a pretence of doin
g various miracles; if they put dreams into people's minds by the power of the
angels and demons whose aid they have invited, by whose influence, too, goats a
nd tables are made to divine,--how much more likely is this power of evil to be
 zealous in doing with all its might, of its own inclination, and for its own o
bjects, what it does to serve the ends of others! Or if both angels and demons
do just what your gods do, where in that case is the pre-eminence of deity, whi
ch we must surely think to be above all in might? Will it not then be more reas
onable to hold that these spirits make themselves gods, giving as they do the v
ery proofs which raise your gods to godhead, than that the gods are the equals
of angels and demons? You make a distinction of places, I suppose, regarding as
 gods in their temple those whose divinity you do not recognize elsewhere; coun
ting the madness which leads one man to leap from the sacred houses, to be some
thing different from that which leads another to leap from an adjoining house;
looking on one who cuts his arms and secret pans as under a different furor fro
m another who cuts his throat. The result of the frenzy is the same, and the ma
nner of instigation is one. But thus far we have been dealing only in words: we
 now proceed to a proof of facts, in which we shall show that under different n
ames you have real identity. Let a person be brought before your tribunals, who
 is plainly under demoniacal possession. The wicked spirit, bidden to speak by
a follower of Christ,(3) will as readily make the truthful confession that he i
s a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is a god. Or, if you wi
ll, let there be produced one of the god-possessed, as they are supposed, who,
inhaling at the altar, conceive divinity from the fumes, who are delivered of i
t by retching, who vent it forth in agonies of gasping. Let that same Virgin Ca
elestis herself the rain-promiser, let Aesculapius discoverer of medicines, rea
dy to prolong the life of Socordius, and Tenatius, and Asclepiodotus, now in th
e last extremity, if they would not confess, in their fear of lying to a Christ
ian, that they were demons, then and there shed the blood of that most impudent
 follower of Christ. What clearer than a work like that? what more trustworthy
than such a proof? The simplicity of truth is thus set forth; its own worth sus
tains it; no ground remains for the least suspicion. Do you say that it is done
 by magic, or some trick of that sort? You will not say anything of the sort, i
f you have been allowed the use of your ears and eyes. For what argument can yo
u bring against a thing that is exhibited to the eye in its naked reality? If,
on the one hand, they are really gods, why do they pretend to be demons? Is it
from fear of us? In that case your divinity is put in subjection to Christians;
 and you surely can never ascribe deity to that which is under authority of man
, nay (if it adds aught to the disgrace)of its very enemies. If, on the other h
and, they are demons or angels, why, inconsistently with this, do

38

they presume to set themselves forth as acting the pan of gods? For as beings w
ho put themselves out as gods would never willingly call themselves demons, if
they were gods indeed, that they might not thereby in fact abdicate their digni
ty; so those whom you know to be no more than demons, would not dare to act as
gods, if those whose names they take and use were really divine. For they would
 not dare to treat with disrespect the higher majesty of beings, whose displeas
ure they would feel was to be dreaded. So this divinity of yours is no divinity
; for if it were, it would not be pretended to by demons, and it would not be d
enied by gods. But since on beth sides there is a concurrent acknowledgment tha
t they are not gods, gather from this that there is but a single race--I mean t
he race of demons, the real race in both cases. Let your search, then, now be a
fter gods; for those whom you had imagined to be so you find to be spirits of e
vil. The truth is, as we have thus not only shown from our own gods that neithe
r themselves nor any others have claims to deity, you may see at once who is re
ally God, and whether that is He and He alone whom we Christians own; as also w
hether you are to believe in Him, and worship Him, after the manner of our Chri
stan faith and discipline. But at once they will say, Who is this Christ with h
is fables? is he an ordinary man? is he a sorcerer? was his body stolen by his
disciples from its tomb? is he now in the realms below? or is he not rather up
in the heavens, thence about to come again, making the whole world shake, filli
ng the earth with dread alarms, making all but Christians wail--as the Power of
 God, and the Spirit of God, as the Word, the Reason, the Wisdom, and the Son o
f God? Mock as you like, but get the demons if you can to join you in your mock
ing; let them deny that Christ is coming to judge every human soul which has ex
isted from the world's beginning, clothing it again with the body it laid aside
 at death; let them declare it, say, before your tribunal, that this work has b
een allotted to Minos and Rhadamanthus, as Plato and the poets agree; let them
put away from them at least the mark of ignominy and condemnation. They disclai
m being unclean spirits, which yet we must hold as indubitably proved by their
relish for the blood and fumes and foetid carcasses of sacrificial animals, and
 even by the vile language of their ministers. Let them deny that, for their wi
ckedness condemned already, they are kept for that very judgment-day, with all
their worshippers and their works. Why, all the authority and power we have ove
r them is from our naming the name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the
 woes with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as Judge, and which
they expect one day to overtake them. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ,
 they become subject to the servants of God and Christ. So at our touch and bre
athing, overwhelmed bY the thought and realization of those judgment fires, the
y leave at our command the bodies they have entered, unwilling, and distressed,
 and before your very eyes put to an open shame. You believe them when they lie
; give credit to them, then, when they speak the truth about themselves. No one
 plays the liar to bring disgrace upon his own head, but for the sake of honour
 rather. You give a readier confidence to people making confessions against the
mselves, than denials in their own behalf. It has not been an unusual thing, ac
cordingly, for those testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity
; for in giving full belief to them, we are led to believe in Christ. Yes, your
 very gods kindle up faith in our Scriptures, they build up the confidence of o
ur hope. You do homage, as I know, to them also with the blood of Christians. O
n no account, then, would they lose those who are so useful and dutiful to them
, anxious even to hold you fast, lest some day or other as Christians you might
 put them to the rout,--if under the power of a follower of Christ, who desires
 to prove to you the Truth, it were at all possible for them to lie.

CHAP. XXIV.

    This whole confession of these beings, in which they declare that they are
not gods, and in which they tell you that there is no God but one, the God whom
 we adore, is quite sufficient to clear us from the crime of treason, chiefly a
gainst the Roman religion. For if it is certain the gods have no existence, the
re is no religion in the case. If there is no religion, because there are no go
ds, we are assuredly not guilty of any offence against religion. Instead of tha
t, the charge recoils on your own head: worshipping a lie, you are really guilt
y of the crime you charge on us, not merely by refusing the true religion of th
e true God, but by going the further length of persecuting it. But now, grantin
g that these objects of your worship are really gods, is it not generally held
that there is one higher and more potent, as it were the world's chief ruler, e
ndowed with absolute power and majesty? For the common way is to apportion deit
y, giving an imperial and supreme domination to one, while its offices are put
into the hands of many, as Plato describes great Jupiter in the

39

heavens, surrounded by an array at once of deities and demons. It behooves us,
therefore, to show equal respect to the procurators, prefects, and governors of
 the divine empire. And yet how great a crime does he commit, who, with the obj
ect of gaining higher favour with the Caesar, transfers his endeavours and his
hopes to another, and does not confess that the appellation of God as of Empero
r belongs only to the Supreme Head, when it is held a capital offence among us
to call, or hear called, by the highest title any other than Caesar himself! Le
t one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the hea
vens, another to the altar of Fides; let one--if you choose to take this view o
f it--count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one conse
crate his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do
not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religiou
s liberty,(1) and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer wors
hip according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not ev
en a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him; and so the v
ery Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstitio
n, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any One w
ho kills a god of their sort. Every province even, and every city, has its god.
 Syria has Astarte, Arabia has Dusares, the Norici have Belenus, Africa has its
 Caelestis, Mauritania has its own princes. I have spoken, I think, of Roman pr
ovinces, and yet I have not said their gods are Roman; for they are not worship
ped at Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over Italy itself by
 municipal consecration, such as Delventinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia,
Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocriculum, Hostia of Satri
um, Father Curls of Falisci, in honour of whom, too, Juno got her surname. In,
fact, we alone are prevented having a religion of our own. We give offence to t
he Romans, we are excluded from the rights and privileges of Romans, because we
 do not worship the gods of Rome. It is well that there is a God of all, whose
we all are, whether we will or no. But with you liberty is given to worship any
 god but the true God, as though He were not rather the God all should worship,
 to whom all belong.

CHAP. XXV.

    I think I have offered sufficient proof upon the question of false and true
 divinity, having shown that the proof rests not merely on debate and argument,
 but on the witness of the very beings whom you believe are gods, so that the p
oint needs no further handling. However, having been led thus naturally to spea
k of the Romans, I shall not avoid the controversy which is invited by the grou
ndless assertion of those who maintain that, as a reward of their singular homa
ge to religion, the Romans have been raised to such heights of power as to have
 become masters of the world; and that so certainly divine are the beings they
worship, that those prosper beyond all others, who beyond all others honour the
m.(2) This, forsooth, is the wages the gods have paid the Romans for their devo
tion. The progress of the empire is to be ascribed to Sterculus, the Mutunus, a
nd Larentina! For I can hardly think that foreign gods would have been disposed
 to show more favour to an alien race than to their own, and given their own fa
therland, in which they had their birth, grew up to manhood, became illustrious
, and at last were buried, over to invaders from another shore! As for Cybele,
if she set her affections on the city of Rome as sprung of the Trojan stock sav
ed from the arms of Greece, she herself forsooth being of the same race,--if sh
e foresaw her transference(3) to the avenging people by whom Greece the conquer
or of Phrygia was to be subdued, let her look to it (in regard of her native co
untry's conquest by Greece). Why, too, even in these days the Mater Magna has g
iven a notable proof of her greatness which she has conferred as a boon upon th
e city; when, after the loss to the State of Marcus Aurelius at Sirmium, on the
 sixteenth before the Kalends of April, that most sacred high priest of hers wa
s offering, a week after, impure libations of blood drawn from his own arms, an
d issuing his commands that the ordinary prayers should be made for the safety
of the emperor already dead. O tardy messengers! O sleepy despatches! through w
hose fault Cybele had not an earlier knowledge of the imperial decease, that th
e Christians might have no occasion to ridicule a goddess so unworthy. Jupiter,
 again, would surely never have permitted his own Crete to fall at once before
the Roman Fasces, forgetful of that Idean cave and the Corybantian cymbals, and
 the sweet odour of her who nursed him there. Would he not have exalted his own
 tomb above the entire Capitol, that the land which covered the ashes of Jove m
ight rather be the mistress

40

of the world? Would Juno have desired the destruction of the Punic city, belove
d even to the neglect of Samos, and that by a nation of AEneadae? As to that I
know, "Here were her arms, here was her chariot, this kingdom, if the Fates per
mit, the goddess tends and cherishes to be mistress of the nations."(1) Jove's
hapless wife and sister had no power to prevail against the Fates! "Jupiter him
self is sustained by fate." And yet the Romans have never done such homage to t
he Fates, which gave them Carthage against the purpose and the will of Juno, as
 to the abandoned harlot Larentina. It is undoubted that not a few of your gods
 have reigned on earth as kings. If, then, they now possess the power of bestow
ing empire, when they were kings themselves, from whence had they received thei
r kingly honours? Whom did Jupiter and Saturn worship? A Sterculus, I suppose.
But did the Romans, along with the native-born inhabitants, afterwards adore al
so some who were never kings? In that case, however, they were under the reign
of others, who did not yet bow down to them, as not yet raised to godhead. It b
elongs to others, then, to make gift of kingdoms, since there were kings before
 these gods had their names on the roll of divinities. But how utterly foolish
it is to attribute the greatness of the Roman name to religious merits, since i
t was after Rome became an empire, or call it still a kingdom, that the religio
n she professes made its chief progress! Is it the case now? Has its religion b
een the source of the prosperity of Rome? Though Numa set agoing an eagerness a
fter superstitious observances, yet religion among the Romans was not yet a mat
ter of images or temples. It was frugal in its ways, its rites were simple, and
 there were no capitols struggling to the heavens; but the altars were offhand
ones of turf, and the sacred vessels were yet of Samian earthen-ware, and from
these the odours rose, and no likeness of God was to be seen. For at that time
the skill of the Greeks and Tuscans in image-making had not yet overrun the cit
y with the products of their art. The Romans, therefore, were not distinguished
 for their devotion to the gods before they attained to greatness; and so their
 greatness was not the result of their religion. Indeed, how could religion mak
e a people great who have owed their greatness to their irreligion? For, if I a
m not mistaken, kingdoms and empires are acquired by wars, and are extended by
victories. More than that, you cannot have wars and victories without the takin
g, and often the destruction, of cities. That is a thing in which the gods have
 their share of calamity. Houses and temples suffer alike; there is indiscrimin
ate slaughter of priests and citizens; the hand of rapine is laid equally upon
sacred and on common treasure. Thus the sacrileges of the Romans are as numerou
s as their trophies. They boast as many triumphs over the gods as over the nati
ons; as many spoils of battle they have still, as there remain images of captiv
e deities. And the poor gods submit to be adored by their enemies, and they ord
ain illimitable empire to those whose injuries rather than their simulated homa
ge should have had retribution at their hands. But divinities unconscious are w
ith impunity dishonoured, just as in vain they are adored. You certainly never
can believe that devotion to religion has evidently advanced to greatness a peo
ple who, as we have put it, have either grown by injuring religion, or have inj
ured religion by their growth. Those, too, whose kingdoms have become part of t
he one great whole of the Roman empire, were not without religion when their ki
ngdoms were taken from them.

CHAP. XXVI.

    Examine then, and see if He be not the dispenser of kingdoms, who is Lord a
t once of the world which is ruled, and of man himself who rules; if He have no
t ordained the changes of dynasties, with their appointed seasons, who was befo
re all time, and made the world a body of times; if the rise and the fall of st
ates are not the work of Him, under whose sovereignty the human race once exist
ed without states at all. How do you allow yourselves to fall into such error?
Why, the Rome of rural simplicity is older than some of her gods; she reigned b
efore her proud, vast Capitol was built. The Babylonians exercised dominion, to
o, before the days of the Pontiffs; and the Medes before the Quindecemvirs; and
 the Egyptians before the Salii; and the Assyrians before the Luperci; and the
Amazons before the Vestal Virgins. And to add another point: if the religions o
f Rome give empire, ancient Judea would never have been a kingdom, despising as
 it did one and all these idol deities; Judea, whose God you Romans once honour
ed with victims, and its temple with gifts, and its people with treaties; and w
hich would never have been beneath your sceptre but for that last and crowning
offence against God, in rejecting and crucifying Christ

CHAP. XXVII.

    Enough has been said in these remarks to confute the charge of treason agai
nst your re-

41

ligion; for we cannot be held to do harm to that which has no existence. When w
e are called therefore to sacrifice, we resolutely refuse, relying on the knowl
edge we possess, by which we are well assured of the real objects to whom these
 services are offered, under profaning of images and the deification of human n
ames. Some, indeed, think it a piece of insanity that, when it is in our power
to offer sacrifice at once, and go away unharmed, holding as ever our convictio
ns we prefer an obstinate persistence in our confession to our safety. You advi
se us, forsooth, to take unjust advantage of you; but we know whence such sugge
stions come, who is at the bottom of it all, and how every effort is made, now
by cunning suasion, and now by merciless persecution, to overthrow our constanc
y. No other than that spirit, half devil and half angel, who, hating us because
 of his own separation from God, and stirred with envy for the favour God has s
hown us, turns your minds against us by an occult influence, moulding and insti
gating them to all that perversity in judgment, and that unrighteous cruelty, w
hich we have mentioned at the beginning of our work, when entering on this disc
ussion. For, though the whole power of demons and kindred spirits is subject to
 us, yet still, as ill-disposed slaves sometimes conjoin contumacy with fear, a
nd delight to injure those of whom they at the same time stand in awe, so is it
 here. For fear also inspires hatred. Besides, in their desperate condition, as
 already under condemnation, it gives them some comfort, while punishment delay
s, to have the usufruct of their malignant dispositions. And yet, when hands ar
e laid on them, they are subdued at once, and submit to their lot; and those wh
om at a distance they oppose, in close quarters they supplicate for mercy. So w
hen, like insurrectionary workhouses, or prisons, or mines, or any such penal s
laveries, they break forth against us their masters, they know all the while th
at they are not a match for us, and just on that account, indeed, rush the more
 recklessly to destruction. We resist them, unwillingly, as though they were eq
uals, and contend against them by persevering in that which they assail; and ou
r triumph over them is never more complete than when we are condemned for resol
ute adherence to our faith.

CHAP. XXVIII.

    But as it was easily seen to be unjust to compel freemen against their will
 to offer sacrifice (for even in other acts of religious service a willing mind
 is required), it should be counted quite absurd for one man to compel another
to do honour to the gods, when he ought ever voluntarily, and in the sense of h
is own need, to seek their favour, lest in the liberty which is his right he sh
ould be ready to say, "I want none of Jupiter's favours; pray who art thou? Let
 Janus meet me with angry looks, with whichever of his faces he likes; what hav
e you to do with me?" You have been led, no doubt, by these same evil spirits t
o compel us to offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperor; and you are u
nder a necessity of using force, just as we are under an obligation to face the
 dangers of it. This brings us, then, to the second ground of accusation, that
we are guilty of treason against a majesty more august; for you do homage with
a greater dread and an intenser reverence to Caesar, than Olympian Jove himself
. And if you knew it, upon sufficient grounds. For is not any living man better
 than a dead one, whoever he be? But this is not done by you on any other groun
d than regard to a power whose presence you vividly realize; so that also in th
is you are convicted of impiety to your gods, inasmuch as you show a greater re
verence to a human sovereignty than you do to them. Then, too, among you, peopl
e far more readily swear a false oath in the name of all the gods, than in the
name of the single genius of Caesar.

CHAP. XXIX.

    Let it be made clear, then, first of all, if those to whom sacrifice is off
ered are really able to protect either emperor or anybody else, and so adjudge
us guilty of treason, if angels and demons, spirits of most wicked nature, do a
ny good, if the lost save, if the condemned give liberty, if the dead (I refer
to what you know well enough) defend the living. For surely the first thing the
y would look to would be the protection of their statues, and images, and templ
es, which rather owe their safety, I think, to the watch kept by Caesar's guard
s. Nay, I think the very materials of which these are made come from Caesar's m
ines, and there is not a temple but depends on Caesar's will. Yes, and many god
s have felt the displeasure of the Caesar. It makes for my argument if they are
 also partakers of his favour, when he bestows on them some gift or privilege.
How shall they who are thus in Caesar's power, who belong entirely to him, have
 Caesar's protection in their hands, so that you can imagine them able to give
to Caesar what they more readily get from him? This, then, is the ground on whi
ch we are charged with treason against the imperial majesty, to wit, that we do
 not put

42

the emperors under their own possessions; that we do not offer a mere mock serv
ice on their behalf, as not believing their safety rests in leaden hands. But y
ou are impious in a high degree who look for it where it is not, who seek it fr
om those who have it not to give, passing by Him who has it entirely in His pow
er. Besides this, you persecute those who know where to seek for it, and who, k
nowing where to seek for it, are able as well to secure it.

CHAP. XXX.

    For we offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true,
 the living God, whose favour, beyond all others, they must themselves desire.
They know from whom they have obtained their power; they know, as they are men,
 from whom they have received life itself; they are convinced that He is God al
one, on whose power alone they are entirely dependent, to whom they are second,
 after whom they occupy the highest places, before and above all the gods. Why
not, since they are above all living men, and the living, as living, are superi
or to the dead? They reflect upon the extent of their power, and so they come t
o understand the highest; they acknowledge that they have all their might from
Him against whom their might is nought. Let the emperor make war on heaven; let
 him lead heaven captive in his triumph; let him put guards on heaven; let him
impose taxes on heaven! He cannot. Just because he is less than heaven, he is g
reat. For he himself is His to whom heaven and every creature appertains. He ge
ts his sceptre where he first got his humanity; his power where he got the brea
th of life. Thither we lift our eyes, with hands outstretched, because free fro
m sin; with head uncovered, for we have nothing whereof to be ashamed; finally,
 without a monitor, because it is from the heart we supplicate. Without ceasing
, for all our emperors we offer prayer. We pray for life prolonged; for securit
y to the empire; for protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a fait
hful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Caesar,
an emperor would wish. These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom
 I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I h
ave claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage
 to Him alone, persecuted for His doctrine, offering to Him, at His own require
ment, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer(1) despatched from the chaste b
ody, an unstained soul, a sanctified spirit, not the few grains of incense a fa
rthing buys(2)--tears of an Arabian tree,--not a few drops of wine,--not the bl
ood of some worthless ox to which death is a relief, and, in addition to other
offensive things, a polluted conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims
 are examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not rather of the s
acrificers than the sacrifices. With our hands thus stretched out and up to God
, rend us with your iron claws, hang us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take
our heads from us with the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us,--the very at
titude of a Christian praying is one of preparation for all punishment.(3) Let
this, good rulers, be your work: wring from us the soul, beseeching God on the
emperor's behalf. Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His name, put the bran
d of crime.

CHAP. XXXI.

But we merely, you say, flatter the emperor, and feign these prayers of ours to
 escape persecution. Thank you for your mistake, for you give us the opportunit
y of proving our allegations. Do you, then, who think that we care nothing for
the welfare of Caesar, look into God's revelations, examine our sacred books, w
hich we do not keep in hiding, and which many accidents put into the hands of t
hose who are not of us. Learn from them that a large benevolence is enjoined up
on us, even so far as to supplicate God for our enemies, and to beseech blessin
gs on our persecutors.(4) Who, then, are greater enemies and persecutors of Chr
istians, than the very parties with treason against whom we are charged? Nay, e
ven in terms, and most clearly, the Scripture says, "Pray for kings, and rulers
, and powers, that all may be peace with you."(5) For when there is disturbance
 in the empire, if the commotion is felt by its other members, surely we too, t
hough we are not thought to be given to disorder, are to be found in some place
 or other which the calamity affects.

CHAP. XXXII.

    There is also another and a greater necessity for our offering prayer in be
half of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Ro
man interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock im-

43

pending over the whole earth--in fact, the very end of all things threatening d
readful woes---is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire.
(1) We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in prayi
ng that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's duration.
 More than this, though we decline to swear by the genii of the Caesars, we swe
ar by their safety, which is worth far more than all your genii, Are you ignora
nt that these genii are called "Daemones," and thence the diminutive name "Daem
onia" is applied to them? We respect in the emperors the ordinance of God, who
has set them over the nations. We know that there is that in them which God has
 willed; and to what God has willed we desire all safety, and we count an oath
by it a great oath. But as for demons, that is, your genii, we have been in the
 habit of exorcising them, not of swearing by them, and thereby conferring on t
hem divine honour.

CHAP. XXXIII.

    But why dwell longer on the reverence and sacred respect of Christians to t
he emperor, whom we cannot but look up to as called by our Lord to his office?
So that on valid grounds I might say Caesar is more ours than yours, for our Go
d has appointed him. Therefore, as having this propriety in him, I do more than
 you for his welfare, not merely because I ask it of Him who can give it, or be
cause I ask it as one who deserves to get it, but also because, in keeping the
majesty of Caesar within due limits, and putting it under the Most High, and ma
king it less than divine, I commend him the more to the favour of Deity, to who
m I make him alone inferior. But I place him in subjection to one I regard as m
ore glorious than himself. Never will I call the emperor God, and that either b
ecause it is not in me to be guilty of falsehood; or that I dare not turn him i
nto ridicule; or that not even himself will desire to have that high name appli
ed to him. If he is but a man, it is his interest as man to give God His higher
 place. Let him think it enough to bear the name of emperor. That, too, is a gr
eat name of God's giving. To call him God, is to rob him of his title. If he is
 not a man, emperor he cannot be. Even when, amid the honours t of a triumph, h
e sits on that lofty chariot, he a is reminded that he is only human. A voice t
 at his back keeps whispering in his ear, n "Look behind thee; remember thou ar
t but u a man." And it only adds to his exultation, that he shines with a glory
 so surpassing as to require an admonitory reference to his condition.(2) It ad
ds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think him
self divine.

CHAP. XXXIV.

    Augustus, the founder of the empire, would not even have the title Lord; fo
r that, too, is a name of Deity. For my part, I am willing to give the emperor
this designation, but in the common acceptation of the word, and when I am not
forced to call him Lord as in God's place. But my relation to him is one of fre
edom; for I have but one true Lord, the God omnipotent and eternal, who is Lord
 of the emperor as well. How can he, who is truly father of his country, be its
 lord? The name of piety is more grateful than the name of power; so the heads
of families are called fathers rather than lords. Far less should the emperor h
ave the name of God. We can only profess our belief that he is that by the most
 unworthy, nay, a fatal flattery; it is just as if, having an emperor, you call
 another by the name, in which case will you not give great and unappeasable of
fence to him who actually reigns?--an offence he, too, needs to fear on whom yo
u have bestowed the title. Give all reverence to God, if you wish Him to be pro
pitious to the emperor. Give up all worship of, and belief in, any other being
as divine. Cease also to give the sacred name to him who has need of God himsel
f. If such adulation is not ashamed of its lie, in addressing a man as divine,
let it have some dread at least of the evil omen which it bears. It is the invo
cation of a curse, to give Caesar the name of god before his apotheosis.

CHAP. XXXV.

    This is the reason, then, why Christians are counted public enemies: that t
hey pay no vain, nor false, nor foolish honours to the emperor; that, as men be
lieving in the true religion, they prefer to celebrate their festal days with a
 good conscience, instead of with the common wantonness. It is, forsooth, a not
able homage to bring fires and couches out before the public, to have feasting
from street to street, to turn the city into one great tavern, to make mud with
 wine, to run in troops to acts of violence, to deeds of shamelessness to lust
allurements! What! is public joy manifested by public disgrace? Do things unsee
mly at other times beseem the festal days of princes? Do they who observe the r
ules of virtue out of reverence for Caesar, for

44

his sake turn aside from them? Shall piety be a license to immoral deeds, and s
hall religion be regarded as affording the occasion for all riotous extravaganc
e? Poor we, worthy of all condemnation! For why do we keep the votive days and
high rejoicings in honour of the Caesars with chastity, sobriety, and virtue? W
hy, on the day of gladness, do we neither cover our door-posts with laurels, no
r intrude upon the day with lamps? It is a proper thing, at the call of a publi
c festivity, to dress your house up like some new brothel.(1) However, in the m
atter of this homage to a lesser majesty, in reference to which we are accused
of a lower sacrilege, because we do not celebrate along with you the holidays o
f the Caesars in a manner forbidden alike by modesty, decency, and purity,--in
truth they have been established rather as affording opportunities for licentio
usness than from any worthy motive;--in this matter I am anxious to point out h
ow faithful and true you are, lest perchance here also those who will not have
us counted Romans, but enemies of Rome's chief rulers, be found themselves wors
e than we wicked Christians! I appeal to the inhabitants of Rome themselves, to
 the native population of the seven hills: does that Roman vernacular of theirs
 ever spare a Caesar? The Tiber and the wild beasts' schools bear witness. Say
now if nature had covered our hearts with a transparent substance through which
 the light could pass, whose hearts, all graven over, would not betray the scen
e of another and another Caesar presiding at the distribution of a largess? And
 this at the very time they are shouting, "May Jupiter take years from us, and
with them lengthen like to you,"--words as foreign to the lips of a Christian a
s it is out of keeping with his character to desire a change of emperor. But th
is is the rabble, you say; yet, as the rabble, they still are Romans, and none
more frequently than they demand the death of Christians.(2) Of course, then, t
he other classes, as befits their higher rank, are religiously faithful. No bre
ath of treason is there ever in the senate, in the equestrian order, in the cam
p, in the palace. Whence, then, came a Cassius, a Niger, an Albinus? Whence the
y who beset the Caesar(3) between the two laurel groves? Whence they who practi
sed wrestling, that they might acquire skill to strangle him? Whence they who i
n full armour broke into the palace,(4) more audacious than all your Tigerii an
d Parthenii.(5) If I mistake not, they were Romans; that is, they were not Chri
stians. Yet all of them, on the very eve of their traitorous outbreak, offered
sacrifices for the safety of the emperor, and swore by his genius, one thing in
 profession, and another in the heart; and no doubt they were in the habit of c
alling Christians enemies of the state. Yes, and persons who are now daily brou
ght to light as confederates or approvers of these crimes and treasons, the sti
ll remnant gleanings after a vintage of traitors, with what verdant and branchi
ng laurels they clad their door-posts, with what lofty and brilliant lamps they
 smoked their porches, with what most exquisite and gaudy couches they divided
the Forum among themselves; not that they might celebrate public rejoicings, bu
t that they might get a foretaste of their own votive seasons in partaking of t
he festivities of another, and inaugurate the model and image of their hope, ch
anging in their minds the emperor's name. The same homage is paid, dutifully to
o, by those who consult astrologers, and soothsayers, and augurs, and magicians
, about the life of the Caesars,--arts which, as made known by the angels who s
inned, and forbidden by God, Christians do not even make use of in their own af
fairs. But who has any occasion to inquire about the life of the emperor, if he
 have not some wish or thought against it, or some hopes and expectations after
 it? For consultations of this sort have not the same motive in the case of fri
ends as in the case of sovereigns. The anxiety of a kinsman is something very d
ifferent from that of a subject.

CHAP. XXXVI.

    If it is the fact that men bearing the name of Romans are found to be enemi
es of Rome, why are we, on the ground that we are regarded as enemies, denied t
he name of Romans? We may be at once Romans and foes of Rome, when men passing
for Romans are discovered to be enemies of their country. So the affection, and
 fealty, and reverence, due to the emperors do not consist in such tokens of ho
mage as these, which even hostility may be zealous in performing, chiefly as a
cloak to its purposes; but in those ways which Deity as cerainly enjoins on us,
 as they are held to be necessary in the case of all men as well as emperors. D
eeds of true heart-goodness are not due by us to emperors alone. We never do go
od with respect of persons; for in our own interest we conduct ourselves as tho
se who take no payment either of praise or premium

45

from man, but from God, who both requires and remunerates an impartial benevole
nce.(1) We are the same to emperors as to our ordinary neighbors. For we are eq
ually forbidden to wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill, to think ill of all men.
The thing we must not do to an emperor, we must not do to any one else: what we
 would not do tO anybody, a fortiori, perhaps we should not do to him whom God
has been pleased so highly to exalt.

CHAP. XXXVII.

    If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have remarked above, wh
om have we to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to retaliate, lest we become a
s bad ourselves: who can suffer injury at our hands? In regard to this, recall
your own experiences. How often you inflict gross cruelties on Christians, part
ly because it is your own inclination, and partly in obedience to the laws! How
 often, too, the hostile mob, paying no regard to you, takes the law into its o
wn hand, and assails us with stones and flames! With the very frenzy of the Bac
chanals, they do not even spare the Christian dead, but tear them, now sadly ch
anged, no longer entire, from the rest of the tomb, from the asylum we might sa
y of death, cutting them in pieces, rending them asunder. Yet, banded together
as we are, ever so ready to sacrifice our lives, what single case of revenge fo
r injury are you able to point to, though, if it were held right among us to re
pay evil by evil, a single night with a torch or two could achieve an ample ven
geance? But away with the idea of a sect divine avenging itself by human fires,
 or shrinking from the sufferings in which it is tried. If we desired, indeed,
to act the part of open enemies, not merely of secret avengers, would there be
any lacking in strength, whether of numbers or resources? The Moors, the Marcom
anni, the Parthians themselves, or any single people, however great, inhabiting
 a distinct territory, and confined within its own boundaries, surpasses, forso
oth, in numbers, one spread over all the world! We are but of yesterday, and we
 have filled every place among you--cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-
places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum,--we have left
nothing to you but the temples of your gods. For what wars should we not be fit
, not eager, even with unequal forces, we who so willingly yield ourselves to t
he sword, if in our religion it were not counted better to be slain than to sla
y? Without arms even, and raising no insurrectionary banner, but simply in enmi
ty to you, we could carry on the contest with you by an ill-willed severance al
one. For if such multitudes of men were to break away from you, and betake them
selves to some remote corner of the world, why, the very loss of so many citize
ns, whatever sort they were, would cover the empire with shame; nay, in the ver
y forsaking, vengeance would be inflicted. Why, you would be horror-struck at t
he solitude in which you would find yourselves, at such an all-prevailing silen
ce, and that stupor as of a dead world. You would have to seek subjects to gove
rn. You would have more enemies than citizens remaining. For now it is the imme
nse number of Christians which makes your enemies so few,--almost all the inhab
itants of your various cities being followers of Christ.(2) Yet you choose to c
all us enemies of the human race, rather than of human error. Nay, who would de
liver you from those secret foes, ever busy both destroying your souls and ruin
ing your health? Who would save you, I mean, from the attacks of those spirits
of evil, which without reward or hire we exorcise? This alone would be revenge
enough for us, that you were henceforth left free to the possession of unclean
spirits. But instead of taking into account what is due to us for the important
 protection we afford you, and though we are not merely no trouble to you, but
in fact necessary to your well-being, you prefer to hold us enemies, as indeed
we are, yet not of man, but rather of his error.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

    Ought not Christians, therefore, to receive not merely a somewhat milder tr
eatment, but to have a place among the law-tolerated societies, seeing they are
 not chargeable with any such crimes as are commonly dreaded from societies of
the illicit class? For, unless I mistake the matter, the prevention of such ass
ociations is based on a prudential regard to public order, that the state may n
ot be divided into parties, which would naturally lead to disturbance in the el
ectoral assemblies, the councils, the curiae, the special conventions, even in
the public shows by the hostile collisions of rival parties; especially when no
w, in pursuit of gain, men have begun to consider their violence an article to
be bought and sold. But as those in whom all ardour in the pursuit of glory and
 honour is dead, we have no pressing inducement to take part in your public mee
tings; nor is there aught more entirely foreign to us than affairs of state. We
 ac-

46

knowledge one all-embracing commonwealth--the world. We renounce all your spect
acles, as strongly as we renounce the matters originating them, which we know w
ere conceived of superstition, when we give up the very things which are the ba
sis of their representations. Among us nothing is ever said, or seen, or heard,
 which has anything in common with the madness of the circus, the immodesty of
the theatre, the atrocities of the arena, the useless exercises of the wrestlin
g-ground. Why do you take offence at us because we differ from you in regard to
 your pleasures? If we will not partake of your enjoyments, the loss is ours, i
f there be loss in the case, not yours. We reject what pleases you. You, on the
 other hand, have no taste for what is our delight. The Epicureans were allowed
 by you to decide for themselves one true source of pleasure--I mean equanimity
 the Christian, on his part, has many such enjoyments--what harm in that?

CHAP. XXXIX.

    I shall at once go on, then, to exhibit the peculiarities of the Christian
society, that, as I have refuted the evil charged against it, I may point out i
ts positive good.(1) We are a body knit together as such by a common religious
profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet t
ogether as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as wit
h united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This violence God
 delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all i
n authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the
 delay of the final consummation.(2) We assemble to read our sacred writings, i
f any peculiarity of the times makes either forewarning or reminiscence needful
.(3) However it be in that respect, with the sacred words we nourish our faith,
 we animate our hope, we make our confidence more stedfast; and no less by incu
lcations of God's precepts we confirm good habits. In the same place also exhor
tations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered. For with a grea
t gravity is the work of judging carried on among us, as befits those who feel
assured that they are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable exampl
e of judgment to come when any one has sinned so grievously as to require his s
everance from us in prayer, in the congregation and in all sacred intercourse.
The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purch
ase, but by established character. There is no buying and selling of any sort i
n the things of God. Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of pu
rchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day,(4) if he
 likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only
 if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are,
as it were, piety's deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on fe
asts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor peopl
e, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of
 old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck;
and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut
 up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church
, they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly the deeds of
a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they
love one(5) another, for themselves are animated by mutual hatred; how they are
 ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to deat
h. And they are wroth with us, too, because we call each other brethren; for no
 other reason, as I think, than because among themselves names of consanguinity
 are assumed in mere pretence of affection. But we are your brethren as well, b
y the law of I our common mother nature, though you are hardly men, because bro
thers so unkind. At the same time, how much more fittingly they are called and
counted brothers who have been led to the knowledge of God as their common Fath
er, who have drunk in one spirit of holiness, who from the same womb of a commo
n ignorance have agonized into the same light of truth! But on this very accoun
t, perhaps, we are regarded as having less claim to be held true brothers, that
 no tragedy makes a noise about our brotherhood, or that the family possessions
, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among u
s. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one
 another. All things are common among us but our wives. We give up our communit
y where it is practised alone by others, who not only take possession of the wi
ves of their friends, but most tolerantly also accommodate their friends with t
heirs, following the example, I believe,

47

of those wise men of ancient times, the Greek Socrates and the Roman Cato, who
shared with their friends the wives whom they had married, it seems for the sak
e of progeny both to themselves and to others; whether in this acting against t
heir partners' wishes, I am not able to say. Why should they have any care over
 their chastity, when their husbands so readily bestowed it away? O noble examp
le of Attic wisdom, of Roman gravity--the philosopher and the censor playing pi
mps! What wonder if that great love of Christians towards one another is desecr
ated by you! For you abuse also our humble feasts, on the ground that they are
extravagant as well as infamously wicked. To us, it seems, applies the saying o
f Diogenes: "The people of Megara feast as though they were going to die on the
 morrow; they build as though they were never to die!" But one sees more readil
y the mote in another's eye than the beam in his own. Why, the very air is sour
ed with the eructations of so many tribes, and curioe, and decurioe. The Salii
cannot have their feast without going into debt; you must get the accountants t
o tell you what the tenths of Hercules and the sacrificial banquets cost; the c
hoicest cook is appointed for the Apaturia, the Dionysia, the Attic mysteries;
the smoke from the banquet of Serapis will call out the firemen. Yet about the
modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado is made. Our feast expla
ins itself by its name The Greeks call it agape, i.e., affection. Whatever it c
osts, our outlay in the name of piety is gain, since with the good things of th
e feast we benefit the needy; not as it is with you, do parasites aspire to the
 glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves for a be
lly-feast to all disgraceful treatment,--but as it is with God himself, a pecul
iar respect is shown to the lowly. If the object of our feast be good, in the l
ight of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious ser
vice, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining,
taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hun
ger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who
 remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as tho
se who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and
the bringing in of lights, each(1) is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can,
 a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing
,--a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer,
so with prayer it is closed. We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers,
nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as m
uch care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue ra
ther than a banquet. Give the congregation of the Christians its due, and hold
it unlawful, if it is like assemblies of the illicit sort: by all means let it
be condemned, if any complaint can be validly laid against it, such as lies aga
inst secret factions. But who has ever suffered harm from our assemblies? We ar
e in our congregations just what we are when separated from each other; we are
as a community what we are individuals; we injure nobody, we trouble nobody. Wh
en the upright, when the virtuous meet together, when the pious, when the pure
assemble in congregation, you ought not to call that a faction, but a curia--[i
.e., the court of God.]
CHAP. XL.

    On the contrary, they deserve the name of faction who conspire to bring odi
um on good men and virtuous, who cry out against innocent blood, offering as th
e justification of their enmity the baseless plea, that they think the Christia
ns the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the peopl
e are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does n
ot send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is
 an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry(2) is, "A
way with the Christians to the lion!" What! shall you give such multitudes to a
 single beast? Pray, tell me how many calamities befell the world and particula
r cities before Tiberius reigned--before the coming, that is, of Christ? We rea
d of the islands of Hiera, and Anaphe, and Delos, and Rhodes, and Cos, with man
y thousands of human beings, having been swallowed up. Plato informs us that a
region larger than Asia or Africa was seized by the Atlantic Ocean. An earthqua
ke, too, drank up the Corinthian sea; and the force of the waves cut off a part
 of Lucania, whence it obtained the name of Sicily. These things surely could n
ot have taken place without the inhabitants suffering by them. But where--I do
not say were Christians, those despisers of your gods--but where were your gods
 themselves in those days, when the flood poured its destroying waters over all
 the world, or, as Plato thought, merely the level portion of it? For that they
 are of later date

48

than that calamity, the very cities in which they were born and died, nay, whic
h they founed, bear ample testimony; for the cities could have no existence at
this day unless as belonging to postdiluvian times. Palestine had not yet recei
ved from Egypt its Jewish swarm (of emigrants), nor had the race from which Chr
istians sprung yet settled down there, when its neighbors Sodom and Gomorrah we
re consumed by fire from heaven. The country yet smells of that conflagration;
and if there are apples there upon the trees, it is only a promise to the eye t
hey give--you but touch them, and they turn to ashes. Nor had Tuscia and Campan
ia to complain of Christians in the days when fire from heaven overwhelmed Vuls
inii, and Pompeii was destroyed by fire from its own mountain. No one yet worsh
ipped the true God at Rome, when Hannibal at Cannae counted the Roman slain by
the pecks of Roman rings. Your gods were all objects of adoration, universally
acknowledged, when the Senones closely besieged the very Capitol. And it is in
keeping with all this, that if adversity has at any time befallen cities, the t
emples and the walls have equally shared in the disaster, so that it is clear t
o demonstration the thing was not the doing of the gods, seeing it also overtoo
k themselves. The truth is, the human race has always deserved ill at God's han
d. First of all, as undutiful to Him, because when it knew Him in part, it not
only did not seek after Him, but even invented other gods of its own to worship
; and further, because, as the result of their willing ignorance of the Teacher
 of righteousness, the Judge and Avenger of sin, all vices and crimes grew and
flourished. But had men sought, they would have come to know the glorious objec
t of their seeking; and knowledge would have produced obedience, and obedience
would have found a gracious instead of an angry God. They ought then to see tha
t the very same God is angry with them now as in ancient times, before Christia
ns were so much as spoken of. It was His blessings they enjoyed--created before
 they made any of their deities: and why can they not take it in, that their ev
ils come from the Being whose goodness they have failed to recognize? They suff
er at the hands of Him to whom they have been ungrateful. And, for all that is
said, if we compare the calamities of former times, they fall on us more lightl
y now, since God gave Christians to the world; for from that time virtue put so
me restraint on the world's wickedness, and men began to pray for the averting
of God's wrath. In a word, when the summer clouds give no rain, and the season
is matter of anxiety, you indeed--full of feasting day by day, and ever eager f
or the banquet, baths and taverns and brothels always busy--offer up to Jupiter
 your rain-sacrifices; you enjoin on the people barefoot processions; you seek
heaven at the Capitol; you look up to the temple-ceilings for the longed-for cl
ouds--God and heaven not in all your thoughts. We, dried up with fastings, and
our passions bound tightly up, holding back as long as possible from all the or
dinary enjoyments of life, rolling in sackcloth and ashes, assail heaven with o
ur importunities--touch God's heart--and when we have extorted divine compassio
n, why, Jupiter gets all the honour!

CHAP. XLI.

    You, therefore, are the sources of trouble in human affairs; on you lies th
e blame of public adversities, since you are ever attracting them--you by whom
God is despised and images are worshipped. It should surely seem the more natur
al thing to believe that it is the neglected One who is angry, and not they to
whom all homage is paid; or most unjustly they act, if, on account of the Chris
tians, they send trouble on their own devotees, whom they are bound to keep cle
ar of the punishments of Christians. But this, you say, hits your God as well,
since He permits His worshippers to suffer on account of those who dishonour Hi
m. But admit first of all His providential arrangings, and you will not make th
is retort. For He who once for all appointed an eternal judgment at the world's
 close, does not precipitate the separation, which is essential to judgment, be
fore the end. Meanwhile He deals with all sorts of men alike, so that all toget
her share His favours and reproofs. His will is, that outcasts and elect should
 have adversities and prosperities in common, that we should have all the same
experience of His goodness and severity. Having learned these things from His o
wn lips, we love His goodness, we fear His wrath, while both by you are treated
 with contempt; and hence the sufferings of life, so far as it is our lot to be
 overtaken by them, are in our case gracious admonitions, while in yours they a
re divine punishments. We indeed are not the least put about: for, first, only
one thing in this life greatly concerns us, and that is, to get quickly out of
it; and next, if any adversity befalls us, it is laid to the door of your trans
gressions. Nay, though we are likewise involved in troubles because of our clos
e connection with you, we are rather glad of it, because we recognize in it div
ine foretellings, which, in fact, go to confirm the confidence and faith of our
 hope. But if all the

49

evils you endure are inflicted on you by the gods you worship out of spite to u
s, why do you continue to pay homage to beings so ungrateful, and unjust; who,
instead of being angry with you, should rather have been aiding and abetting yo
u by persecuting Christians--keeping you clear of their sufferings?

CHAP. XLII.

    But we are called to account as harm-doers on another(1) ground, and are ac
cused of being useless in the affairs of life. How in all the world can that be
 the case with people who are living among you, eating the same food wearing th
e same attire, having the same habits, under the same necessities of existence?
 We are not Indian Brahmins or Gymnosophists, who dwell in woods and exile them
selves from ordinary human life. We do not forget the debt of gratitude we owe
to God, our Lord and Creator; we reject no creature of His hands, though certai
nly we exercise restraint upon ourselves, lest of any gift of His we make an im
moderate or sinful use. So we sojourn with you in the world, abjuring neither f
orum, nor shambles, nor bath, nor booth, nor workshop, nor inn, nor weekly mark
et, nor any other places of commerce. We sail with you, and fight with you,(2)
and till the ground with you; and in like manner we unite with you in your traf
fickings--even in the various arts we make public property of our works for you
r benefit. How it is we seem useless in your ordinary business, living with you
 and by you as we do, I am not able to understand. But if I do not frequent you
r religious ceremonies, I am still on the sacred day a man. I do not at the Sat
urnalia bathe myself at dawn, that I may not lose both day and night; yet I bat
he at a decent and healthful hour, which preserves me both in heat and blood. I
 can be rigid and pallid like you after ablution when I am dead. I do not recli
ne in public at the feast of Bacchus, after the manner of the beast-fighters at
 their final banquet. Yet of your resources I partake, wherever I may chance to
 eat. I do not buy a crown for my head. What matters it to you how I use them,
if nevertheless the flowers are purchased? I think it more agreeable to have th
em free and loose, waving all about. Even if they are woven into a crown, we sm
ell the crown with our nostrils: let those look to it who scent the perfume wit
h their hair. We do not go to your spectacles; yet the articles that are sold t
here, if I need them, I will obtain more readily at their proper places. We cer
tainly buy no frankincense. If the Arabias complain of this, let the Sabaeans b
e well assured that their more precious and costly merchandise is expended as l
argely in the burying of Christians(3) as in the fumigating of the gods. At any
 rate, you say, the temple revenues are every day falling off:(4) how few now t
hrow in a contribution! In truth, we are not able to give alms both to your hum
an and your heavenly mendicants; nor do we think that we are required to give a
ny but to those who ask for it. Let Jupiter then hold out his hand and get, for
 our compassion spends more in the streets than yours does in the temples. But
your other taxes will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Christians; for in the
 faithfulness which keeps us from fraud upon a brother, we make conscience of p
aying all their dues: so that, by ascertaining how much is lost by fraud and fa
lsehood in the census declarations--the calculation may easily be made--it woul
d be seen that the ground of complaint in one department of revenue is compensa
ted by the advantage which others derive.

CHAP. XLIII.

I will confess, however, without hesitation, that there are some who in a sense
 may complain of Christians that they are a sterile race: as, for instance, pim
ps, and panders, and bath-suppliers; assassins, and poisoners, and sorcerers; s
oothsayers, too, diviners, and astrologers. But it is a noble fruit of Christia
ns, that they have no fruits for such as these. And yet, whatever loss your int
erests suffer from the religion we profess, the protection you have from us mak
es amply up for it. What value do you set on persons, I do not here urge who de
liver you from demons, I do not urge who for your sakes present prayers before
the throne of the true God, for perhaps you have no belief in that--but from wh
om you can have nothing to fear?

CHAP. XLIV.

    Yes, and no one considers what the loss is to the common weal,--a loss as g
reat as it is real, no one estimates the injury entailed upon the state, when,
men of virtue as we are, we are put to death in such numbers; when so many of t
he truly good suffer the last penalty. And here we call your own acts to witnes
s, you who are daily presiding at the trials of prisoners, and passing sentence
 upon crimes. Well, in your long lists of those ac-

50

cased of many and various atrocities, has any assassin, any cutpurse, any man g
uilty of sacrilege, or seduction, or stealing bathers' clothes, his name entere
d as being a Christian too? Or when Christians are brought before you on the me
re ground of their name, is there ever found among them an ill-doer of the sort
? It is always with your folk the prison is steaming, the mines are sighing, th
e wild beasts are fed: it is from you the exhibitors of gladiatorial shows alwa
ys get their herds of criminals to feed up for the occasion. You find no Christ
ian there, except simply as being such; or if one is there as something else, a
 Christian he is no longer.(1)

CHAP. XLV.

    We, then, alone are without crime. Is there ought wonderful in that, if it
be a very necessity with us? For a necessity indeed it is. Taught of God himsel
f what goodness is, we have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed to us by
 a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as enjoined on us by a Judge
we dare not despise. But your ideas of virtue you have got from mere human opin
ion; on human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of practi
cal morality is deficient, both in the fulness and authority requisite to produ
ce a life of real virtue. Man's wisdom to point out what is good, is no greater
 than his authority to exact the keeping of it; the one is as easily deceived a
s the other is despised. And so, which is the ampler rule, to say, "Thou shalt
not kill," or to teach, "Be not even angry?" Which is more perfect, to forbid a
dultery, or to restrain from even a single lustful look? Which indicates the hi
gher intelligence, interdicting evil-doing, or evil-speaking? Which is more tho
rough, not allowing an injury, or not even suffering an injury done to you to b
e repaid? Though withal you know that these very laws also of yours, which seem
 to lead to virtue, have been borrowed from the law of God as the ancient model
. Of the age of Moses we have already spoken. But what is the real authority of
 human laws, when it is in man's power both to evade them, by generally managin
g to hide himself out of sight in his crimes, and to despise them sometimes, if
 inclination or necessity leads him to offend? Think of these things, too, in t
he light of the brevity of any punishment you can inflict--never to last longer
 than till death. On this ground Epicurus makes light of all suffering and pain
, maintaining that if it is small, it is contemptible; and if it is great, it i
s not long-continued. No doubt about it, we, who receive our awards under the j
udgment of an all-seeing God, and who look forward to eternal punishment from H
im for sin,--we alone make real effort to attain a blameless life, under the in
fluence of our ampler knowledge, the impossibility of concealment, and the grea
tness of the threatened torment, not merely long-enduring but everlasting, fear
ing Him, whom he too should fear who the fearing judges,--even God, I mean, and
 not the proconsul.

CHAP. XLVI.

    We have sufficiently met, as I think, the accusation of the various crimes
on the ground of which these fierce demands are made for Christian blood. We ha
ve made a full exhibition of our case; and we have shown you how we are able to
 prove that our statement is correct, from the trustworthiness, I mean, and ant
iquity of our sacred writings, and from the confession likewise of the powers o
f spiritual wickedness themselves. Who will venture to undertake our refutation
; not with skill of words, but, as we have managed our demonstration, on the ba
sis of reality? But while the truth we hold is made clear to all, unbelief mean
while, at the very time it is convinced of the worth of Christianity, which has
 now become well known for its benefits as well as from the intercourse of life
, takes up the notion that it is not really a thing divine, but rather a kind o
f philosophy. These are the very things, it says, the philosophers counsel and
profess--innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, chastity. Why, then, are we no
t permitted an equal liberty and impunity for our doctrines as they have, with
whom, in respect of what we teach, we are compared? or why are not they, as so
like us, not pressed to the same offices, for declining which our lives are imp
erilled? For who compels a philosopher to sacrifice or take an oath, or put out
 useless lamps at midday? Nay, they openly overthrow your gods, and in their wr
itings they attack your superstitions; and you applaud them for it. Many of the
m even, with your countenance, bark out against your rulers, and are rewarded w
ith statues and salaries, instead of being given to the wild beasts. And very r
ight it should be so. For they are called philosophers, not Christians. This na
me of philosopher has no power to put demons to the rout. Why are they not able
 to do that too? since philosophers count demons inferior to gods. Socrates use
d to say, "If the demon grant permission." Yet

51

he, too, though in denying the existence of your divinities he had a glimpse of
 the truth, at his dying ordered a cock to be sacrificed to Aesculapius, I beli
eve in honour of his father,(1) for Apollo pronounced Socrates the wisest of me
n. Thoughtless Apollo! testifying to the wisdom of the man who denied the exist
ence of his race. In proportion to the enmity the truth awakens, you give offen
ce by faithfully standing by it; but the man who corrupts and makes a mere pret
ence of it precisely on this ground gains favour with its persecutors. The trut
h which philosophers, these mockers and corrupters of it, with hostile ends mer
ely affect to hold, and in doing so deprave, caring for nought but glory, Chris
tians both intensely and intimately long for and maintain in its integrity, as
those who have a real concern about their salvation. So that we are like each o
ther neither in our knowledge nor our ways, as you imagine. For what certain in
formation did Thales, the first of natural philosophers, give in reply to the i
nquiry of Croesus regarding Deity, the delay for further thought so often provi
ng in vain? There is not a Christian workman but finds out God, and manifests H
im, and hence assigns to Him all those attributes which go to constitute a divi
ne being, though Plato affirms that it is far from easy to discover the Maker o
f the universe; and when He is found, it is difficult to make Him known to all.
 But if we challenge you to comparison in the virtue of chastity, I turn to a p
art of the sentence passed by the Athenians against Socrates, who was pronounce
d a corrupter of youth. The Christian confines himself to the female sex. I hav
e read also how the harlot Phryne kindled in Diogenes the fires of lust, and ho
w a certain Speusippus, of Plato's school, perished in the adulterous act. The
Christian husband has nothing to do with any but his own wife. Democritus, in p
utting out his eyes, because he could not look on women without lusting after t
hem, and was pained if his passion was not satisfied, owns plainly, by the puni
shment he inflicts, his incontinence. But a Christian with grace-healed eyes is
 sightless in this matter; he is mentally blind against the assaults of passion
. If I maintain our superior modesty of behaviour, there at once occurs to me D
iogenes with filth-covered feet trampling on the proud couches of Plato, under
the influence of another pride: the Christian does not even play the proud man
to the pauper. If sobriety of spirit be the virtue in debate, why, there are Py
thagoras at Thurii, and Zeno at Priene, ambitious of the supreme power: the Chr
istian does not aspire to the aedileship. If equanimity be the contention, you
have Lycurgus choosing death by self-starvation, because the Lacons had made so
me emendation of his laws: the Christian, even when he is condemned, gives than
ks.(2) If the comparison be made in regard to trustworthiness, Anaxagoras denie
d the deposit of his enemies: the Christian is noted for his fidelity even amon
g those who are not of his religion. If the matter of sincerity is to be brough
t to trial, Aristotle basely thrust his friend Hermias from his place: the Chri
stian does no harm even to his foe. With equal baseness does Aristotle play the
 sycophant to Alexander, instead of exercising to keep him in the right way, an
d Plato allows himself to be bought by Dionysius for his belly's sake. Aristipp
us in the purple, with all his great show of gravity, gives way to extravagance
; and Hippias is put to death laying plots against the state: no Christian ever
 attempted such a thing in behalf of his brethren, even when persecution was sc
attering them abroad with every atrocity. But it will be said that some of us,
too, depart from the rules of our discipline. In that case, however, we count t
hem no longer Christians; but the philosophers who do such things retain still
the name and the honour of wisdom. So, then, where is there any likeness betwee
n the Christian and the philosopher? between the disciple of Greece and of heav
en? between the man whose object is fame, and whose object is life? between the
 talker and he doer? between the man who builds up and the man who pulls down?
between the friend and the foe of error? between one who corrupts the truth, an
d one who restores and teaches it? between its chief and its custodier?

CHAP. XLVII.

    Unless I am utterly mistaken, there is nothing so old as the truth; and the
 already proved antiquity of the divine writings is so far of use to me, that i
t leads men more easily to take it in that they are the treasure-source whence
all later wisdom has been taken. And were it not necessary to keep my work to a
 moderate size, I might launch forth also into the proof of this. What poet or
sophist has not drunk at the fountain of the prophets? Thence, accordingly, the
 philosophers watered their arid minds, so that it is the things they

52

have from us which bring us into comparison with them. For this reason, I imagi
ne, philosophy was banished by certain states--I mean by the Thebans, by the Sp
artans also, and the Argives--its disciples sought to imitate our doctrines; an
d ambitious, as I have said, of glory and eloquence alone, if they fell upon an
ything in the collection of sacred Scriptures which displeased them, in their o
wn peculiar style of research, they perverted it to serve their purpose: for th
ey had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from changing them, nor
 had they any sufficient understanding of them, either, as being still at the t
ime under veil--even obscure to the Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession
they seemed to be. For so, too, if the truth was distinguished by its simplicit
y, the more on that account the fastidiousness of man, too proud to believe, se
t to altering it; so that even what they found certain they made uncertain by t
heir admixtures. Finding a simple revelation of God, they proceeded to dispute
about Him, not as He had revealed to them, but turned aside to debate about His
 properties, His nature, His abode. Some assert Him to be incorporeal; others m
aintain He has a body,--the Platonists teaching the one doctrine, and the Stoic
s the other. Some think that He is composed of atoms, others of numbers: such a
re the different views of Epicurus and Pythagoras. One thinks He is made of fir
e; so it appeared to Heraclitus. The Platonists, again, hold that He administer
s the affairs of the world; the Epicureans, on the contrary, that He is idle an
d inactive, and, so to speak, a nobody in human things. Then the Stoics represe
nt Him as placed outside the world, and whirling round this huge mass from with
out like a potter; while the Platonists place Him within the world, as a pilot
is in the ship he steers. So, in like manner, they differ in their views about
the world itself, whether it is created or uncreated, whether it is destined to
 pass away or to remain for ever. So again it is debated concerning the nature
of the soul, which some contend is divine and eternal, while others hold that i
t is dissoluble. According to each one's fancy, He has introduced either someth
ing new, or refashioned the old. Nor need we wonder if the speculations of phil
osophers have perverted the older Scriptures. Some of their brood, with their o
pinions, have even adulterated our new-given Christian revelation, and corrupte
d it into a system of philosophic doctrines, and from the one path have struck
off many and inexplicable by-roads.(1) And I have alluded to this, lest any one
 becoming acquainted with the variety of parties among us, this might seem to h
im to put us on a level with the philosophers, and he might condemn the truth f
rom the different ways in which it is defended. But we at once put in a plea in
 bar against these tainters of our purity, asserting that this is the rule of t
ruth which comes down from Christ by transmission through His companions, to wh
om we shall prove that those devisers of different doctrines are all posterior.
 Everything opposed to the truth has been got up from the truth itself, the spi
rits of error carrying on this system of opposition. By them all corruptions of
 wholesome discipline have been secretly instigated; by them, too, certain fabl
es have been introduced, that, by their resemblance to the truth, they might im
pair its credibility, or vindicate their own higher claims to faith; so that pe
ople might think Christians unworthy of credit because the poets or philosopher
s are so, or might regard the poets and philosophers as worthier of confidence
from their not being followers of Christ. Accordingly, we get ourselves laughed
 at for proclaiming that God will one day judge the world. For, like us, the po
ets and philosophers set up a judgment-seat in the realms below. And if we thre
aten Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret fire under the earth for purposes
of punishment, we have in the same way derision heaped on us. For so, too, they
 have their Pyriphlegethon, a river of flame in the regions of the dead. And if
 we speak of Paradise,(2) the place of heavenly bliss appointed to receive the
spirits of the saints, severed from the knowledge of this world by that fiery z
one as by a sort of enclosure, the Elysian plains have taken possession of thei
r faith. Whence is it, I pray you have all this, so like us, in the poets and p
hilosophers? The reason simply is, that they have been taken from our religion.
 But if they are taken from our sacred things, as being of earlier date, then o
urs are the truer, and have higher claims upon belief, since even their imitati
ons find faith among you. If they maintain their sacred mysteries to have sprun
g from their own minds, in that case ours will be reflections of what are later
 than themselves, which by the nature of things is impossible, for never does t
he shadow precede the body which casts it, or the image the reality.(3)

CHAP. XLVIII.

    Come now, if some philosopher affirms, as

53

Laberius holds, following an opinion of Pythagoras, that a man may have his ori
gin from a mule, a serpent from a woman, and with skill of speech twists every
argument to prove his view, will he not gain acceptance for and work in some th
e conviction that, on account of this, they should even abstain from eating ani
mal food? May any one have the persuasion that he should so abstain, lest by ch
ance in his beef he eats of some ancestor of his? But if a Christian promises t
he return of a man from a man, and the very actual Gaius from Gaius,(1) the cry
 of the people will be to have him stoned; they will not even so much as grant
him a hearing. If there is any ground for the moving to and fro of human souls
into different bodies, why may they not return into the very substance they hav
e left, seeing this is to be restored, to be that which had been? They are no l
onger the very things they had been; for they could not be what they were not,
without first ceasing to be what they had been. If we were inclined to give all
 rein upon this point, discussing into what various beasts one and another migh
t probably be changed, we would need at our leisure to take up many points. But
 this we would do chiefly in our own defence, as setting forth what is greatly
worthier of belief, that a man will come back from a man--any given person from
 any given person, still retaining his humanity; so that the soul, with its qua
lities unchanged, may be restored to the same condition, thought not to the sam
e outward framework. Assuredly, as the reason why restoration takes place at al
l is the appointed judgment, every man must needs come forth the very same who
had once existed, that he may receive at God's hands a judgment, whether of goo
d desert or the opposite. And therefore the body too will appear; for the soul
is not capable of suffering without the solid substance (that is, the flesh; an
d for this reason, also) that it is not right that souls should have all the wr
ath of God to bear: they did not sin without the body, within which all was don
e by them. But how, you say, can a substance which has been dissolved be made t
o reappear again? Consider thyself, O man, and thou wilt believe in it! Reflect
 on what you were before you came into existence. Nothing. For if you had been
anything, you would have remembered it. You, then, who were nothing before you
existed, reduced to nothing also when you cease to be, why may you not come int
o being again out of nothing, at the will of the same Creator whose will create
d you out of nothing at the first? Will it be anything new in your case? You wh
o were not, were made; when you cease to be again, you shall be made. Explain,
if you can, your original creation, and then demand to know how you shall be re
-created. Indeed, it will be still easier surley to make you what you were once
, when the very same creative power made you without difficulty what you never
were before. There will be doubts, perhaps, as to the power of God, of Him who
hung in its place this huge body of our world, made out of what had never exist
ed, as from a death of emptiness and inanity, animated by the Spirit who quicke
ns all living things, its very self the unmistakable type of the resurrection,
that it might be to you a witness--nay, the exact image of the resurrection. Li
ght, every day extinguished, shines out again; and, with like alternation, dark
ness succeeds light's outgoing. The defunct stars re-live; the seasons, as soon
 as they are finished, renew their course; the fruits are brought to maturity,
and then are reproduced. The seeds do not spring up with abundant produce, save
 as they rot and dissolve away;--all things are preserved by perishing, all thi
ngs are refashioned out of death. Thou, man of nature so exalted, if thou under
standest thyself, taught even by the Pythian(2) words, lord of all these things
 that die and rise,--shalt thou die to perish evermore? Wherever your dissoluti
on shall have taken place, whatever material agent has destroyed you, or swallo
wed you up, or swept you away, or reduced you to nothingness, it shall again re
store you. Even nothingness is His who is Lord of all. You ask, Shall we then b
e always dying, and rising up from death? If so the Lord of all things had appo
inted, you would have to submit, though unwillingly, to the law of your creatio
n. But, in fact, He has no other purpose than that of which He has informed us.
 The Reason which made the universe out of diverse elements, so that all things
 might be composed of opposite substances in unity--of void and solid, of anima
te and inanimate, of comprehensible and incomprehensible, of light and darkness
, of life itself and death--has also disposed time into order, by fixing and di
stinguishing its mode, according to which this first portion of it, which we in
habit from the beginning of the world, flows down by a temporal course to a clo
se; but the portion which succeeds, and to which we look forward continues fore
ver. When, therefore, the boundary

54

and limit, that millennial interspace, has been passed, when even the outward f
ashion of the world itself--which has been spread like a veil over the eternal
economy, equally a thing of time--passes away, then the whole human race shall
be raised again, to have its dues meted out according as it has merited in the
period of good or evil, and thereafter to have these paid out through the immea
surable ages of eternity. Therefore after this there is neither death nor repea
ted resurrections, but we shall be the same that we are now, and still unchange
d--the servants of God, ever with God, clothed upon with the proper substance o
f eternity; but the profane, and all who are not true worshippers of God, in li
ke manner shall be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire--that fire w
hich, from its very nature indeed, directly ministers to their incorruptibility
. The philosophers are familiar as well as we with the distinction between a co
mmon and a secret fire. Thus that which is in common use is far different from
that which we see in divine judgments, whether striking as thunderbolts from he
aven, or bursting up out of the earth through mountain-tops; for it does not co
nsume what it scorches, but while it burns it repairs. So the mountains continu
e ever burning; and a person struck by lighting is even now kept safe from any
destroying flame. A notable proof this of the fire eternal! a notable example o
f the endless judgment which still supplies punishment with fuel! The mountains
 burn, and last. How will it be with the wicked and the enemies of God?(1)

CHAP. XLIX.

    These are what are called presumptuous speculations in our case alone; in t
he philosophers and poets they are regarded as sublime speculations and illustr
ious discoveries. They are men of wisdom, we are fools. They are worthy of all
honour, we are folk to have the finger pointed at; nay, besides that, we are ev
en to have punishments inflicted on us. But let things which are the defence of
 virtue, if you will, have no foundation, and give them duly the name of fancie
s, yet still they are necessary; let them be absurd if you will, yet they are o
f use: they make all who believe them better men and women, under the fear of n
ever-ending punishment and the hope of never-ending bliss. It is not, then, wis
e to brand as false, nor to regard as absurd, things the truth of which it is e
xpedient to presume. On no ground is it right positively to condemn as bad what
 beyond all doubt is profitable. Thus, in fact, you are guilty of the very pres
umption of which you accuse us, in condemning what is useful. It is equally out
 of the question to regard them as nonsensical; at any rate, if they are false
and foolish, they hurt nobody. For they are just (in that case) like many other
 things on which you inflict no penalties--foolish and fabulous things, I mean,
 which, as quite innocuous, are never charged as crimes or punished. But in a t
hing of the kind, if this be so indeed, we should be adjudged to ridicule, not
to swords, and flames, and crosses, and wild beasts, in which iniquitous cruelt
y not only the blinded populace exults and insults over us, but in which some o
f you too glory, not scrupling to gain the popular favour by your injustice. As
 though all you can do to us did not depend upon our pleasure. It is assuredly
a matter of my own inclination, being a Christian. Your condemnation, then, wil
l only reach me in that case, if I wish to be condemned; but when all you can d
o to me, you can do only at my will, all you can do is dependent on my will, an
d is not in your power. The joy of the people in our trouble is therefore utter
ly reasonless. For it is our joy they appropriate to themselves, since we would
 far rather be condemned than apostatize from God; on the contrary, our haters
should be sorry rather than rejoice, as we have obtained the very thing of our
own choice.

CHAP. L.

    In that case, you say, why do you complain of our persecutions? You ought r
ather to be grateful to us for giving you the sufferings you want. Well, it is
quite true that it is our desire to suffer, but it is in the way that the soldi
er longs for war. No one indeed suffers willingly, since suffering necessarily
implies fear and danger. Yet the man who objected to the conflict, both fights
with all his strength, and when victorious, he rejoices in the battle, because
he reaps from it glory and spoil. It is our battle to be summoned to your tribu
nals that there, under fear of execution, we may battle for the truth. But the
day is won when the object of the struggle is gained. This victory of ours give
s us the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil of life eternal. But we are overc
ome. Yes, when we have obtained our wishes. Therefore we conquer in dying;(2) w
e go forth victorious at the very time we are subdued. Call us, if you like, Sa
rmenticii and Semaxii, because, bound to a half-axle stake,

55

we are burned in a circle-heap of fagots. This is the attitude in which we conq
uer, it is our victory-robe, it is for us a sort of triumphal, car. Naturally e
nough, therefore, we do not please the vanquished; on account of this, indeed,
we are counted a desperate, reckless race. But the very desperation and reckles
sness you object to in us, among yourselves lift high the standard of virtue in
 the cause of glory and of fame. Mucius of his own will left his right hand on
the altar: what sublimity of mind! Empedocles gave his whole body at Catana to
the fires of AEtna: what mental resolution! A certain foundress of Carthage gav
e herself away in second marriage to the funeral pile: what a noble witness of
her chastity! Regulus, not wishing that his one life should count for the lives
 of many enemies, endured these crosses over all his frame: how brave a man--ev
en in captivity a conqueror! Anaxarchus, when he was being beaten to death by a
 barley-pounder, cried out, "Beat on, beat on at the case of Anaxarchus; no str
oke falls on Anaxarchus himself." O magnanimity of the philosopher, who even in
 such an end had jokes upon his lips! I omit all reference to those who with th
eir own sword, or with any other milder form of death, have bargained for glory
. Nay, see how even torture contests are crowned by you. The Athenian courtezan
, having wearied out the executioner, at last bit off her tongue and spat it in
 the face of the raging tyrant, that she might at the same time spit away her p
ower of speech, nor be longer able to confess her fellow-conspirators, if even
overcome, that might be her inclination. Zeno the Eleatic, when he was asked by
 Dionysius what good philosophy did, on answering that it gave contempt of deat
h, was all unquailing, given over to the tyrant's scourge, and sealed his opini
on even to the death. We all know how the Spartan lash, applied with the utmost
 cruelty under the very eyes of friends encouraging, confers on those who bear
it honor proportionate to the blood which the young men shed. O glory legitimat
e, because it is human, for whose sake it is counted neither reckless foolhardi
ness, nor desperate obstinacy, to despise death itself and all sorts of savage
treatment; for whose sake you may for your native place, for the empire, for fr
iendship, endure all you are forbidden to do for God! And you cast statues in h
onour of persons such as these, and you put inscriptions upon images, and cut o
ut epitaphs on tombs, that their names may never perish. In so far you can by y
our monuments, you yourselves afford a son of resurrection to the dead. Yet he
who expects the true resurrection from God, is insane, if for God he suffers! B
ut go zealously on, good presidents, you will stand higher with the people if y
ou sacrifice the Christians at their wish, kill us, torture us, condemn us, gri
nd us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. Therefore God
suffers that we thus suffer; for but very lately, in condemning a Christian wom
an to the law rather than to the leo you made confession that a taint on our pu
rity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any
 death.(1) Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a
temptation to us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we gr
ow; the blood of Christians is seed.(2) Many of your writers exhort to the cour
ageous bearing of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculans, as Seneca in his
Chances, as Diogenes, Pyrrhus, Callinicus; and yet their words do not find so m
any disciples as Christians do, teachers not by words, but by their deeds. That
 very obstinacy you rail against is the preceptress. For who that contemplates
it, is not excited to inquire what is at the bottom of it? who, after inquiry,
does not embrace our doctrines? and when he has embraced them, desires not to s
uffer that he may become partaker of the fulness of God's grace, that he may ob
tain from God complete forgiveness, by giving in exchange his blood? For that s
ecures the remission of all offences. On this account it is that we return than
ks on the very spot for your sentences. As the divine and human are ever oppose
d to each other, when we are condemned by you, we are acquitted by the Highest.

56

ELUCIDATIONS.

(Arrangement, p. 4, supra.)

    THE arrangement I have adopted in editing these Edinburgh Translations of T
ertullian is a practical one. It will be found logical and helpful to the stude
nt, who is referred to the Prefatory pages of this volume for an Elucidation of
 the difficulties, with which any arrangement of these treatises is encumbered.
 For, first, an attempt to place them in chronological order is out of the ques
tion;(1) and, second, all efforts to separate precisely the Orthodox from the M
ontanistic or Montanist works of our author have hitherto defied the acumen of
critics. It would be mere empiricism for me to attempt an original classificati
on in the face of questions which even experts have been unable to determine.
    If we bear in mind, however, a few guiding facts, we shall see that difficu
lties are less than might appear, assuming our object to be a practical one.(1.
) Only four of these essays were written against Orthodoxy;(2.) five more are r
eckoned as wholly uncertain, which amounts to saying that they are not positive
ly heretical. (3.) Again, five are colourless, as to Montanism, and hence shoul
d be reputed Orthodox. (4.) Of others, written after the influences of Montanis
m had, more or less, tainted his doctrine, the whole are yet valuable and some
are noble defences of the Catholic Faith. (5.) Finally eight or ten of his trea
tises were written while he was a Catholic, and are precious contributions to t
he testimony of the Primitive Church.
    From these facts, we may readily conclude that the mass of Tertullian's wri
tings is Orthodox. Some of them are to be read with caution; others, again, mus
t be rejected for their heresy; but yet all are most instructive historically,
and as defining even by errors "the faith once delivered to the Saints." I prop
ose to note those which require caution as we pass them in review. Those writte
n against the Church are classed by themselves, at the end of the list, and all
 the rest may be read with confidence. A most interesting inquiry arises in con
nection with the quotations from Scripture to be found in our author. Did a Lat
in version exist in his day, or does he translate from the Greek of the New Tes
tament and the LXX? A paradoxical writer (Semler) contends that Tertullian "nev
er used a Greek MS." (see Kaye, p. 106.) But Tertullian's rugged Latin betrays
everywhere his familiarity with Greek idioms and forms of thought. He wrote, al
so, in Greek, and there is no reason to doubt that he knew the Greek Scriptures
 primarily, if he knew any Greek whatever. Possibly we owe to Tertullian the pr
imordia of the Old African Latin Versions, some of which seem to have contained
 the disputed text I. John v. 7; of which more when we come to the Praxeas. For
 the present in the absence of definite evidence we must infer that Tertullian
usually translated from the LXX, and from the originals of the New Testament. B
ut Mosheim thinks the progress of the Gospel in the West was now facilitated by
 the existence of Latin Versions. Observe, also, Kaye's important note, p. 293,
 and his reference to Lardner, Cred. xxvii. 19.

II.

(Address to Magistrates, cap. i., p. 17.)
    The Apology comes first in order, on logical grounds. It is classed with ou
r author's orthodox works by Neander, and pronounced colourless by Kaye. It is
the noblest of his

57

productions in its purpose and spirit, and it falls in with the Primitive Syste
m of Apologetics. I have placed next in order to it several treatises, mostly u
nblemished, which are of the same character; which defend the cause of Christia
ns against Paganism, against Gentile Philosophy, and against Judaism; closing t
his portion by the two books Ad Nationes, which may be regarded as a recapitula
tion of the author's arguments, especially those to be found in the Apology. In
 these successive works, as compared with those of Justin Martyr, we obtain a f
air view of the progressive relations of the Church with the Korean Empire and
with divers antagonistic systems in the East and West.

III.

(History of Christians, cap. ii., p. 18.)

    The following Chronological outline borrowed from the Benedictines and from
 Bishop Kaye, will prove serviceable here.(1)

Tertullian born (circa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    A.D. 150.
    "        converted (surmise) . . . . . . . . . .        185.
    "        married (say) . . . . . .. . . . . . . .       186.
    "        ordained presbyter (circa) . . . . . . .       192.
    "        lapsed (circa) . . . . . . . .. . . . .        200.
    "        deceased (extreme surmise) . . . . . . .       240.

  The Imperial history of his period may be thus arranged:
    Birth of Caracalla . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 188.
      "      Geta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     189.
    Reign of Severus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     193.
    Defeat of Niger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     195.
    Caracalla made a Caesar. . . . . . . .  . . .     196.
    Capture of Byzantium . . . . . . . . . . . .      196.
    Defeat of Albinus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     197.
    Geta made a Caesar . . . . . . . . . . . . .      198.
    Caracalla called Augustus . . . . . . . . . .     198.
    Caracalla associated in the Empire . . . . .      198.
    War against the Parthians. . . . . . . . . .      198.
    Severus returns from the war. . . . . . . . .     203.
    Celebration of the Secular Games . . . . . .      204.
    Plautianus put to death (circa) . . . . . .       205.
    Geta called Augustus . . . . . . . . . . . .      208.
    War in Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      208.
    Wall of Severus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       210.
    Death of Severus. . . . . . . . . . . . . .       211.

IV.

(Tiberlus, capp. v. and xxiv., pp. 22 and 35.)

    A fair examination of what has been said on this subject, pro and con, may
be found in Kaye's Tertullian,(2) pp. 102-105. In his abundant candour this aut
hor leans to the doubters, but in stating the case he seems to me to fortify th
e position of Lardner and Mosheim. What the brutal Tiberius may have thought or
 done with respect to Pilate's report concerning the holy victim of his judicia
l injustice is of little importance to the believer. Nevertheless, as matter of
 history it deserves attention. Great stress is to be placed on the fact that T
ertullian was probably a jurisconsult, familiar with the Roman archives, and in
fluenced by

58

them in his own acceptance of Divine Truth. It is not supposable that such a ma
n would have hazarded his bold appeal to the records, in remonstrating with the
 Senate and in the very faces of the Emperor and his colleagues, had he not kno
wn that the evidence was irrefragable.

V.

The darkness at the Crucifixion, cap. xxi., p. 35.)

    Kaye disappoints us (p. 150) in his slight notice of this most interesting
subject Without attempting to discuss the story of Phlegon and other points whi
ch afford Gibbon an opportunity for misplaced sneering, such as even a Pilate w
ould have rebuked, while it may be well to recall the exposition of Milman,(1)
at the close of Gibbon's fifteenth chapter, I must express my own preference fo
r another view. This will be found candidly summed up and stated, in the Speake
r's Commentary, in the concise note on St. Matt., xxvii. 45.

VI.

(Numbers of the Faithful, cap. xxxvii., p. 45.)

    Kaye, as usual, gives this vexed question a candid survey.(2) Making all al
lowances, however, I accept the conjecture of some reputable authorities, that
there were 2,000,000 of Christians, in the bounds of the Roman Empire at the cl
ose of the Second Century. So mightily grew the testimony of Jesus and prevaile
d. When we reflect that only a century intervened between the times of Tertulli
an and the conversion of the Roman Emperor, it is not easy to regard our author
's language as merely that of fervid genius and of rhetorical hyperbole. He cou
ld not have ventured upon exaggeration without courting scorn as well as defeat
. What he affirms is probable in the nature of the case. Were it otherwise, the
n the conditions, which, in a single century rendered it possible for Constanti
ne to effect the greatest revolution in mind and manners that has ever been kno
wn among men, would be a miracle compared with which that of his alleged Vision
 of the Cross sinks into insignificance. To this subject it will be necessary t
o recur hereafter.

VII.

(Christian usages, cap. xxxix., p. 46.)

    A candid review of the matters discussed in this chapter will be found in K
aye (pp. 146, 209.) The important fact is there clearly stated that "the primit
ive Christians scrupulously complied with the decree pronounced by the Apostles
 at Jerusalem in abstaining from things strangled and from blood" (Acts xv. 20)
. On this subject consult the references given in the Speaker's Commentary, ad
locum. The Greeks, to their honour, still maintain this prohibition, but St. Au
gustine's great authority relaxed the Western scruples on this matter, for he r
egarded it is a decree of temporary obligation, while the Hebrew and Gentile Ch
ristians were in peril of misunderstanding and estrangement.(3)
    On the important question as to the cessation of miracles Kaye takes a some
what original position. But see his interesting discussion and that of the late
 Professor Hey, in Kaye's Tertullian, pp. 80-102, 151-161. I do not think write
rs on these subjects have sufficiently distinguished between miracles properly
so called, and providences vouchsafed in answer to prayer. There was no miracle
 in the case of the Thundering Legion, assuming the story to be true; and I dar
e to affirm that marked answers to prayer, by providential interpositions,


59

but wholly distinct from miraculous agencies, have never ceased among those who
 "ask in the Son's Name." Such interpositions are often preternatural only; tha
t is, they economize certain powers which, though natural in themselves, lie ou
tside of the System of Nature with which we happen to be familiar. This distinc
tion has been overlooked.

                                            VIII.

                                (Multitudes, cap. xl., p. 47.)

    Note the words--"multitudes to a single beast." Can it be possible that Ter
tullian would use such language to the magistrates, if he knew that such senten
ces were of rare occurrence? The disposition of our times to minimize the perse
cutions of our Christian forefathers calls upon us to note such references, all
 the more important because occurring obiter and mentioned as notorious. Note a
lso, the closing chapter of this Apology, and reference to the outcries of the
populace, in Cap. xxxv.(1) See admirable remarks on the benefits derived by the
 Church from the sufferings of Christian martyrs, with direct reference tO Tert
ullian, Wordsworth, Church Hist. to Council of Nicoea, cap. xxiv., p. 374.

IX.

(Christian manners, cap. xlii., p. 49.)

    A study of the manners of Christians, in the Ante-Nicene Age, as sketched b
y the unsparing hand of Tertullian, will convince any unprejudiced mind of the
mighty power of the Holy Ghost, in framing such characters out of heathen origi
nals. When, under Montanistic influences our severely ascetic author complains
of the Church's corruptions, and turns inside-out the whole estate of the faith
ful, we see all that can be pressed on the other side; but, this very important
 chapter must be borne in mind, together with the closing sentence of chap. xli
v., as evidence that whatever might be said by a rigid disciplinarian, the Chur
ch, as compared with our day, was still a living embodiment of Philip, iv. 8.

X.

(Paradise, cap. xlvii., p. 52.)

    See Kaye, p. 248. Our author seems not always consistent with himself in hi
s references to the Places of departed spirits. Kaye thinks he identifies Parad
ise with the Heaven of the Most High, in one place (the De Exhort. Cast., xiii.
) where he probably confuses the Apostle's ideas, in Galat. v., 12, and Ephes.
v., 5. Commonly, however, though he is not consistent with himself, this would
be his scheme:--
        1. The Inferi, or Hades, where the soul of Dives was in one continent
 and that of Lazarus in another, with a gulf between. Our author   places "Abra
ham's bosom"in Hades.
     2. Paradise. In Hades, but in a superior and more glorious region.
   This more blessed abode was opened to the souls of the martyrs and        ot
her greater saints, at our Lord's descent into the place of the        dead. Af
ter the General Resurrection and Judgment, there remain:
     1. Gehenna, for the lost, prepared for the devil and his angels.
     2. The Heaven Heavens, the eternal abode of the righteous, in the
   vision of the Lord and His Eternal Joy.
  Tertullian's variations on this subject will force us to recur to it hereafte
r; but, here it may be noted that the confusions of Latin Christianity received
 their character in this particular, from the genius of our author. Augustine c
aught from him a certain indecision
60

about the terms and places connected with the state of the departed which has c
ontinued, to this day, to perplex theologians in the West. Taking advantage of
such confusions, the stupendous Roman system of "Purgatory" was fabricated in t
he middle ages; but the Greeks never accepted it, and it differs fundamentally
from what the earlier Latin Fathers, including Tertullian, have given us as spe
culations.

XI.

(The Leo and the Leno, cap. I., p. 55.)

    Here we find the alliterative and epigrammatic genius of Tertullian anticip
ating a similar poetic charm in Augustine. The Christian maid or matron preferr
ed the Leo to the leno; to be devoured rather than to be debauched. Our author
wrests a tribute to the chastity of Christian women from the cruelty of their j
udges, who recognizing this fact, were accustomed as a refinement of their inju
stice to give sentence against them, refusing the mercy of a horrible death, by
 committing them to the ravisher: "damnando Christianam ad lenonem potius quam
ad leonem."

XII.

(The Seed of the Church, cap. I., p. 55.)

    Kaye has devoted a number of his pages(1) to the elucidation of this subjec
t, not only showing the constancy of the martyrs, but illustrating the fact tha
t Christians, like St. Paul, were forced to "die daily," even when they were no
t subjected to the fiery trial. He who confessed himself a Christian made himse
lf a social outcast. All manner of outrages and wrongs could be committed again
st him with impunity. Rich men, who had joined themselves to Christ,(2) were fo
rced to accept "the spoiling of their goods." Brothers denounced brothers, and
husbands their wives; "a man's foes were they of his own household." But the Ch
urch triumphed through suffering, and "out of weakness was made strong."

II.

ON IDOLATRY.

[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.]

CHAP. I.--WIDE SCOPE OF THE WORD IDOLATRY.

    The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the w
orld, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry.(1) For, although each
 single fault retains its own proper feature, although it is destined to judgme
nt under its own proper name also, yet it is marked off under the general accou
nt of idolatry. Set aside names, examine works, the idolater is likewise a murd
erer. Do you inquire whom he has slain? If it contributes ought to the aggravat
ion of the indictment, no stranger nor personal enemy, but his own self. By wha
t snares? Those of his error. By what weapon? The offence done to God. By how m
any blows? As many as are his idolatries. He who affirms that the idolater peri
shes not,(2) will affirm that the idolater has not committed murder. Further, y
ou may recognize in the same crime(3) adultery and fornication; for he who serv
es false gods is doubtless an adulterer(4) of truth, because all falsehood is a
dultery. So, too, he is sunk in fornication. For who that is a fellow-worker wi
th unclean spirits, does not stalk in general pollution and fornication? And th
us it is that the Holy Scriptures(5) use the designation of fornication in thei
r upbraiding of idolatry. The essence of fraud, I take it, is, that any should
seize what is another's, or refuse to another his due; and, of course, fraud do
ne toward matt is a name of greatest crime. Well, but idolatry does fraud to Go
d, by refusing to Him, and conferring on others, His honours; so that to fraud
it also conjoins contumely. But if fraud, just as much as fornication and adult
ery, entails death, then, in these cases, equally with the former, idolatry sta
nds unacquitted of the impeachment of murder. After such crimes, so pernicious,
 so devouring of salvation, all other crimes also, after some manner, and separ
ately disposed in order, find their own essence represented in idolatry. In it
also are the cancupiscences of the world. For what solemnity of idolatry is wit
hout the circumstance of dress and ornament? In it are lasciviousnesses and dru
nkennesses; since it is, for the most part, for the sake of food, and stomach,
and appetite, that these solemnities are frequented. In it is unrighteousness.
For what more unrighteous than it, which knows not the Father of righteousness?
 In it also is vanity, since its whole system is vain. In it is mendacity, for
its whole substance is false. Thus it comes to pass, that in idolatry all crime
s are detected, and in all crimes idolatry. Even otherwise, since all faults sa
vour of opposition to God, and there is nothing which savours of opposition to
God which is not assigned to demons and unclean spirits, whose property idols a
re; doubtless, whoever commits a fault is chargeable with idolatry, for he does
 that which pertains to the proprietors of idols.

CHAP. II.--IDOLATRY IN ITS MORE LIMITED SENSE. ITS COPIOUSNESS.

  But let the universal names of crimes withdraw to the specialities of their o
wn works; let idolatry remain in that which it is itself. Sufficient to itself
is a name so inimical to God, a substance of crime so copious, which
62

reaches forth so many branches, diffuses so many veins, that from this name, fo
r the greatest part, is drawn the material of all the modes in which the expans
iveness of idolatry has to be foreguarded against by us, since in manifold wise
 it subverts the servants of God; and this not only when unperceived, but also
when cloaked over. Most men simply regard idolatry as to be interpreted in thes
e senses alone, viz.: if one burn incense, or immolate a victim, or give a sacr
ificial banquet, or be bound to some sacred functions or priesthoods; just as i
f one were to regard adultery as to be accounted in kisses, and in embraces, an
d in actual fleshly contact; or murder as to be reckoned only in the shedding f
orth of blood, and in the actual taking away of life. But how far wider an exte
nt the Lord assigns to those crimes we are sure: when He defines adultery to co
nsist even in concupiscence,(1) "if one shall have cast an eye lustfully on," a
nd stirred his soul with immodest commotion; when He judges murder(2) to consis
t even in a word of curse or of reproach, and in every impulse of anger, and in
 the neglect of charity toward a brother just as John teaches,(3) that he who h
ates his brother is a murderer. Else, both the devil's ingenuity in malice, and
 God the Lord's in the Discipline by which He fortifies us against the devil's
depths,(4) would have but limited scope, if we were judged only in such faults
as even the heathen nations have decreed punishable. How will our "righteousnes
s abound above that of the Scribes and Pharisees," as the Lord has prescribed,(
5) unless we shall have seen through the abundance of that adversary quality, t
hat is, of unrighteousness? But if the head of unrighteousness is idolatry, the
 first point is, that we be fore-fortified against the abundance of idolatry, w
hile we recognise it not only in its palpable manifestations.

CHAP. III.--IDOLATRY: ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE NAME.

    Idol in ancient times there was none. Before the artificers of this monstro
sity had bubbled into being,(6) temples stood solitary and shrines empty, just
as to the present day in some places traces of the ancient practice remain perm
anently. Yet idolatry used to be practised, not under that name, but in that fu
nction; for even at this day it can be practised outside a temple, and without
an idol. But when the devil introduced into the world artificers of statues and
 of images, and of every kind of likenesses, that former rude business of human
 disaster attained from idols both a name and a development. Thenceforward ever
y art which in any way produces an idol instantly became a fount of idolatry. F
or it makes no difference whether a moulder cast, or a carver grave, or an embr
oiderer weave the idol; because neither is it a question of material, whether a
n idol be formed of gypsum, or of colors, or of stone, or of bronze,(7) or of s
ilver, or of thread. For since even without an idol idolatry is committed, when
 the idol is there it makes no difference of what kind it be, of what material,
 or what shape; lest any should think that only to be held an idol which is con
secrated in human shape. To establish this point, the interpretation of the wor
d is requisite. Eidos, in Greek, signifies form; eidolon, derived diminutively
from that, by an equivalent process in our language, makes formling.(8) Every f
orm or forming, therefore, claims to be called an idol. Hence idolatry is "all
attendance and service about every idol." Hence also, every artificer of an ido
l is guilty of one and the same crime,(9) unless, the People(10) which consecra
ted for itself the likeness of a calf, and not of a man, fell short of incurrin
g the guilt of idolatry. (11)

          CHAP. IV.--IDOLS NOT TO BE MADE, MUCH LESS WORSHIPPED. IDOLS AND IDOL
MAKERS IN THE SAME CATEGORY.

    God prohibits an idol as much to be made as to be worshipped. In so far as
the making what may be worshipped is the prior act, so far is the prohibition t
o make (if the worship is unlawful) the prior prohibition. For this cause--the
eradicating, namely, of the material of idolatry--the divine law proclaims, "Th
ou shall make no idol;"(12) and by conjoining, "Nor a similitude of the things
which are in the heaven, and which are in the earth, and which are in the sea,"
 has interdicted the servants of God from acts of that kind all the universe ov
er. Enoch had preceded, predicting that "the demons, and the spirits of the ang
elic apostates,(13) would turn into idola-

63

try all the elements, all the garniture of the universe, all things contained i
n the heaven, in the sea, in the earth, that they might be consecrated as God,
in opposition to God." All things, therefore, does human error worship, except
the Founder of all Himself. The images of those things are idols; the consecrat
ion of the images is idolatry. Whatever guilt idolatry incurs, must necessarily
 be imputed to every artificer of every idol. In short, the same Enoch fore-con
demns in general menace both idol-worshippers and idol-makers together. And aga
in: "I swear to you, sinners, that against the day of perdition of blood(1) rep
entance is being prepared. Ye who serve stones, and ye who make images of gold,
 and silver, and wood, and stones and clay, and serve phantoms, and demons, and
 spirits in fanes, (2) and all errors not according to knowledge, shall find no
 help from them." But Isaiah(3) says, "Ye are witnesses whether there is a God
except Me." "And they who mould and carve out at that time were not: all vain!
who do that which liketh them, which shall not profit them!" And that whole ens
uing discourse sets a ban as well on the artificers as the worshippers: the clo
se of which is, "Learn that their heart is ashes and earth, and that none can f
ree his own soul." In which sentence David equally includes the makers too. "Su
ch," says he, "let them become who make them."(4) And why should I, a man of li
mited memory, suggest anything further? Why recall anything more from the Scrip
tures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient; or else a
ny further deliberation were needful, whether the Lord cursed and condemned by
priority the artIfi-cers of those things, of which He curses and condemns the w
orshippers!

CHAP. V.(5)--SUNDRY OBJECTIONS OR EXCUSES DEALT WITH.

    We will certainly take more pains in answering the excuses of artificers of
 this kind, who ought never to be admitted into the house of God, if any have a
 knowledge of that Discipline.(6) To begin with, that speech, wont to be cast i
n our teeth, "I have nothing else whereby to live," may be more severely retort
ed, "You have, then, whereby to live? If by your own laws, what have you to do
with God?"(7) Then, as to the argument they have the hardihood to bring even fr
om the Scriptures, "that the apostle has said, 'As each has been found, so let
him persevere.'"(8) We may all, therefore, persevere in sins, as the result of
that interpretation! for there is not any one of us who has not been found as
a sinner, since no other cause was the source of Christ's descent than that of
setting sinners free. Again, they say the same apostle has left a precept, acco
rding to his own example, "That each one work with his own hands for a living."
(9) If this precept is maintained in respect to all hands, I believe even the b
ath-thieves(10) live by their hands, and robbers themselves gain the means to l
ive by their hands; forgers, again, execute their evil handwritings, not of cou
rse with their feet, but hands; actors, however, achieve a livelihood not with
hands alone, but with their entire limbs. Let the Church, therefore, stand open
 to all who are supported by their hands and by their own work; if there is no
exception of arts which the Discipline of God receives not. But some one says,
in opposition to our proposition of "similitude being interdicted," "Why, then,
 did Moses in the desert make a likeness of a serpent out of bronze?" The figur
es, which used to be laid as a groundwork for some secret future dispensation,
not with a view to the repeal of the law, but as a type of their own final caus
e, stand in a class by themselves. Otherwise, if we should interpret these thin
gs as the adversaries of the law do, do we, too, as the Marcionites do, ascribe
 inconsistency to the Almighty, whom they(11) in this manner destroy as being m
utable, while in one place He forbids, in another commands? But if any feigns i
gnorance of the fact that that effigy of the serpent of bronze, after the manne
r of one uphung, denoted the shape of the Lord's cross," which

64

was to free us from serpents--that is, from the devil's angels--while, through
itself, it hanged up the devil slain; or whatever other exposition of that figu
re has been revealed to worthlet men(1) no matter, provided we remember the apo
stle affirms that all things happened at that time to the People(2) figurativel
y.(3) It is enough that the same God, as by law He forbade the making of simili
tude, did, by the extraordinary precept in the case of the serpent, interdict s
imilitude.(4) If you reverence the same God, you have His law, "Thou shall make
 no similitude."(5) If you look back, too, to the precept enjoining the subsequ
ently made similitude, do you, too, imitate Moses: make not any likeness in opp
osition to the law, unless to you, too, God have bidden it.(6)

          CHAP. VI.--IDOLATRY CONDEMNED BY BAPTISM. TO MAKE AN IDOL IS, IN FACT
, TO WORSHIP IT.

    If no law of God had prohibited idols to be made by us; if no voice of the
Holy Spirit uttered general menace no less against the makers than the worshipp
ers of idols; from our sacrament itself we would draw our interpretation that a
rts of that kind are opposed to the faith. For how have we renounced the devil
and his angels, if we make them? What divorce have we declared from them, I say
 not with whom, but dependent on whom, we live? What discord have we entered in
to with those to whom we are under obligation for the sake of our maintenance?
Can you have denied with the tongue what with the hand you confess? unmake by w
ord what by deed you make? preach one God, you who make so many? preach the tru
e God, you who make false ones? "I make," says one, "but I worship not;" as if
there were some cause for which he dare not worship, besides that for which he
ought not also to make,--the offence done to God, namely, in either case. Nay,
you who make, that they may be able to be worshipped, do worship; and you worsh
ip, not with the spirit of some worthless perfume, but with your own; nor at th
e expense of a beast's soul, but of your own. To them you immolate your ingenui
ty; to them you make your sweat a libation; to them you kindle the torch of you
r forethought. More are you to them than a priest, since it is by your means th
ey have a priest; your diligence is their divinity.(7) Do you affirm that you w
orship not what you make? Ah! but they affirm not so, to whom you slay this fat
ter, more precious and greater victim, your salvation.

          CHAP. VII.---GRIEF OF THE FAITHFUL AT THE ADMISSION OF IDOL-MAKERS IN
TO THE CHURCH; NAY, EVEN INTO THE MINISTRY.

    A whole day the zeal of faith will direct its pleadings to this quarter: be
wailing that a Christian should come from idols into the Church; should come fr
om an adversary workshop into the house of God; should raise to God the Father
hands which are the mothers of idols; should pray to God with the hands which,
out of doors, are prayed to in opposition to God; should apply to the Lord's bo
dy those hands which confer bodies on demons. Nor is this sufficient. Grant tha
t it be a small matter, if from other hands they receive what they contaminate;
 but even those very hands deliver to others what they have contaminated. Idol-
artificers are chosen even into the ecclesiastical order. Oh wickedness! Once d
id the Jews lay brands on Christ; these mangle His body daily. Oh hands to be c
ut off! Now let the saying, "If thy hand make thee do evil, amputate it,"(8) se
e to it whether it were uttered by way of similitude merely. What hands more to
 be amputated than those in which scandal is done to the Lord's body?

          CHAP. VIII.--OTHER ARTS MADE SUBSERVIENT TO IDOLATRY. LAWFUL MEANS OF
 GAINING A LIVELIHOOD ABUNDANT.

    There are also other species of very many arts which, although they extend
not to the making of idols, yet, with the same criminality, furnish the adjunct
s without which idols have no power. For it matters not whether you erect or eq
uip: if you have embellished his temple, altar, or niche; if you have pressed o
ut gold-leaf, or have wrought his insignia, or even his house: work of that kin
d, which confers not shape, but authority, is more important. If the necessity
of main-

65

tenance(1) is urged so much, the arts have other species withal to afford means
 of livelihood, without outstepping the path of discipline, that is, without th
e confiction of an idol. The plasterer knows both how to mend roofs, and lay on
 stuccoes, and polish a cistern, and trace ogives, and draw in relief on party-
walls many other ornaments beside likenesses. The painter, too, the marble maso
n, the bronze-worker, and every graver whatever, knows expansions(2) of his own
 art, of course much easier of execution. For how much more easily does he who
delineates a statue overlay a sideboard!(3) How much sooner does he who carves
a Mars out of a lime-tree, fasten together a chest! No art but is either mother
 or kinswoman of some neighbour(4) art: nothing is independent of its neighbour
. The veins of the arts are many as are the concupiscences of men. "But there i
s difference in wages and the rewards of handicraft;" therefore there is differ
ence, too, in the labour required. Smaller wages are compensated by more freque
nt earning. How many are the party-walls which require statues? How many the te
mples and shrines which are built for idols? But houses, and official residence
s, and baths, and tenements, how many are they? Shoe- and slipper-gilding is da
ily work not so the gilding of Mercury and Serapis. Let that suffice for the ga
in(5) of handicrafts. Luxury and ostentation have more votaries than all supers
tition. Ostentation will require dishes and cups more easily than superstition.
 Luxury deals in wreaths, also, more than ceremony. When, therefore, we urge me
n generally to such kinds of handicrafts as do not come in contact with an idol
 indeed and with the things which are appropriate to an idol; since, moreover,
the things which are common to idols are often common to men too; of this also
we ought to beware that nothing be, with our knowledge, demanded by any person
from our idols' service. For if we shall have made that concession, and shall n
ot have had recourse to the remedies so often used, I think we are not free of
the contagion of idolatry, we whose (not unwitting) hands(6) are found busied i
n the tendence, or in the honour and service, of demons.

CHAP. IX.--PROFESSIONS OF SOME KINDS ALLIED TO IDOLATRY. OF ASTROLOGY IN PARTIC
ULAR.

    We observe among the arts(7) also some professions liable to the charge of
idolatry. Of astrologers there should be no speaking even;(8) but since one in
these days has challenged us, defending on his own behalf perseverance in that
profession, I will use a few words. I allege not that he honours idols, whose n
ames he has inscribed on the heaven,(9) to whom he has attributed all God's pow
er; because men, presuming that we are disposed of by the immutable arbitrament
 of the stars, think on that account that God is not to be sought after. One pr
oposition I lay down: that those angels, the deserters from God, the lovers of
women,(10) were likewise the discoverers of this curious art, on that account a
lso condemned by God. Oh divine sentence, reaching even unto the earth in its v
igour, whereto the unwitting render testimony! The astrologers are expelled jus
t like their angels. The city and Italy are interdicted to the astrologers, jus
t as heaven to their angels.(11) There is the same penalty of exclusion for dis
ciples and masters. "But Magi and astrologers came from the east."(12) We know
the mutual alliance of magic and astrology. The interpreters of the stars, then
, were the first to announce Christ's birth the first to present Him "gifts." B
y this bond, [must] I imagine, they put Christ under obligation to themselves?
What then? Shall therefore the religion of those Magi act as patron now also to
 astrologers? Astrology now-a-days, forsooth, treats of Christ--is the science
of the stars of Christ; not of Saturn, or Mars, and whomsoever else out of the
same class of the dead(13) it pays observance to and preaches? But, however, th
at science has been allowed until the Gospel, in order that after Christ's birt
h no one should thenceforward interpret any one's nativity by the heaven. For t
hey therefore offered to the then infant Lord that frankincense and myrrh and g
old, to be, as it were, the close of worldly(14) sacrifice and glory, which Chr
ist was

66

about to do away. What, then? The dream--sent, doubtless, of the will of God--s
uggested to the same Magi, namely, that they should go home, but by another way
, not that by which they came. It means this: that they should not walk in thei
r ancient path.(1) Not that Herod should not pursue them, who in fact did not p
ursue them; unwitting even that they had departed by another way, since be was
withal unwitting by what way they came. Just so we ought to understand by it th
e right Way and Discipline. And so the precept was rather, that thenceforward t
hey should walk otherwise. So, too, that other species of magic which operates
by miracles, emulous even in opposition to Moses,(2) tried God's patience until
 the Gospel. For thenceforward Simon Magus, just turned believer, (since he was
 still thinking somewhat of his juggling sect; to wit, that among the miracles
of his profession he might buy even the gift of the Holy Spirit through imposit
ion of hands) was cursed by the apostles, and ejected from the faith.(3) Both h
e and that other magician, who was with Sergius Paulus, (since he began opposin
g himself to the same apostles) was mulcted with loss of eyes.(4) The same fate
, I believe, would astrologers, too, have met, if any had fallen in the way of
the apostles. But yet, when magic is punished, of which astrology is a species,
 of course the species is condemned in the genus. After the Gospel, you will no
where find either sophists, Chaldeans, enchanters, diviners, or magicians, exce
pt as clearly punished. "Where is the wise, where the grammarian, where the dis
puter of this age? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this age?"(5) You kn
ow nothing, astrologer, if you know not that you should be a Christian. If you
did know it, you ought to have known this also, that you should have nothing mo
re to do with that profession of yours which, of itself, fore-chants the climac
terics of others, and might instruct you of its own danger. There is no part no
r lot for you in that system of yours.(6) He cannot hope for the kingdom of the
 heavens, whose finger or wand abuses(7) the heaven.

CHAP. X.--OF SCHOOLMASTERS AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES.

    Moreover, we must inquire likewise touching schoolmasters; nor only of them
, but also all other professors of literature. Nay, on the contrary, we must no
t doubt that they are in affinity with manifold idolatry: first, in that it is
necessary for them to preach the gods of the nations, to express their names, g
enealogies, honourable distinctions, all and singular; and further, to observe
the solemnities and festivals of the same, as of them by whose means they compu
te their revenues. What schoolmaster, without a table of the seven idols,(8) wi
ll yet frequent the Quinquatria? The very first payment of every pupil he conse
crates both to the honour and to the name of Minerva; so that, even though he b
e not said "to eat of that which is sacrificed to idols"(9) nominally (not bein
g dedicated to any particular idol), he is shunned as an idolater. What less of
 defilement does he recur on that ground,(10) than a business brings which, bot
h nominally and virtually, is consecrated publicly to an idol? The Minervalia a
re as much Minerva's, as the Saturnalia Saturn's; Saturn's, which must necessar
ily be celebrated even by little slaves at the time of the Saturnalia. New-year
's gifts likewise must be caught at, and the Septimontium kept; and all the pre
sents of Midwinter and the feast of Dear Kinsmanship must be exacted; the schoo
ls must be wreathed with flowers; the flamens' wives and the aediles sacrifice;
 the school is honoured on the appointed holy-days. The same thing takes place
on an idol's birthday; every pomp of the devil is frequented. Who will think th
at these things are befitting to a Christian master,(11) unless it be he who sh
all think them suitable likewise to one who is not a master? We know it may be
said, "If teaching literature is not lawful to God's servants, neither will lea
rning be likewise;" and, "How could one be trained unto ordinary human intellig
ence, or unto any sense or action whatever, since literature is the means of tr
aining for all life? How do we repudiate secular studies, without which divine
studies cannot be pursued?" Let us see, then, the necessity of literary eruditi
on; let us reflect that partly it cannot be admitted, partly cannot be avoided.
 Learning literature is allowable for believers, rather than teaching; for the
principle of learning and of teaching is different. If a believer teach literat
ure, while he is teaching doubtless he commends, while he delivers he affirms,
while he recalls he bears testimony to, the praises of idols interspersed

67

therein. He seals the gods themselves with this name;(1) whereas the Law, as we
 have said, prohibits "the names of gods to be pronounced,"(2) and this names t
o be conferred on vanity.(4) Hence the devil gets men's early faith built up fr
om the beginnings of their erudition. Inquire whether he who catechizes about i
dols commit idolatry. But when a believer learns these things, if he is already
 capable of understanding what idolatry is, he neither receives nor allows them
; much more if he is not yet capable. Or, when he begins to understand, it beho
ves him first to understand what he has previously learned, that is, touching G
od and the faith. Therefore he will reject those things, and will not receive t
hem; and will be as safe as one who from one who knows it not, knowingly accept
s poison, but does not drink it. To him necessity is attributed as an excuse, b
ecause he has no other way to learn. Moreover, the not teaching literature is a
s much easier than the not learning, as it is easier, too, for the pupil not to
 attend, than for the master not to frequent, the rest of the defilements incid
ent to the schools from public and scholastic solemnities.

CHAP. XI.--CONNECTION BETWEEN COVETOUSNESS AND IDOLATRY. CERTAIN TRADES, HOWEVE
R GAINFUL, TO BE AVOIDED.

    If we think over the rest of faults, tracing them from their generations, l
et us begin with covetousness, "a root of all evils,"(5) wherewith, indeed, som
e having been ensnared, "have suffered shipwreck about faith."(6) Albeit coveto
usness is by the same apostle called idolatry.(7) In the next place proceeding
to mendacity, the minister of covetousness (of false swearing I am silent, sinc
e even swearing is not lawful(8))--is trade adapted for a servant of God? But,
covetousness apart, what is the motive for acquiring? When the motive for acqui
ring ceases, there will be no necessity for trading. Grant now that there be so
me righteousness in business, secure from the duty of watchfulness against cove
tousness and mendacity; I take it that that trade which pertains to the very so
ul and spirit of idols, which pampers every demon, falls under the charge of id
olatry. Rather, is not that the principal idolatry? If the selfsame merchandise
s--frankincense, I mean, and all other foreign productions--used as sacrifice t
o idols, are of use likewise to men for medicinal ointments, to us Christians a
lso, over and above, for solaces of sepulture, let them see to it. At all event
s, while the pomps, while the priesthoods, while the sacrifices of idols, are f
urnished by dangers, by losses, by inconveniences, by cogitations, by runnings
to and fro, or trades, what else are you demonstrated to be but an idols' agent
? Let none contend that, in this way, exception may be taken to all trades. All
 graver faults extend the sphere for diligence in watchfulness proportionably t
o the magnitude of the danger; in order that we may withdraw not only from the
faults, but from the means through which they have being. For although the faul
t be done by others, it makes no diference if it be by my means. In no case oug
ht I to be necessary to another, while he is doing what to me is unlawful. Henc
e I ought to understand that care must be taken by me, lest what I am forbidden
 to do be done by my means. In short, in another cause of no lighter guilt I ob
serve that fore-judgment. In that I am interdicted from fornication, I furnish
nothing of help or connivance to others for that purpose; in that I have separa
ted my own flesh itself from stews, I acknowledge that I cannot exercise the tr
ade of pandering, or keep that kind of places for my neighbour's behoof. So, to
o, the interdiction of murder shows me that a trainer of gladiators also is exc
luded from the Church; nor will any one fail to be the means of doing what he s
ubministers to another to do. Behold, here is a more kindred fore-judgment: if
a purveyor of the public victims come over to the faith, will you permit him to
 remain permanently in that trade? or if one who is already a believer shall ha
ve undertaken that business, will you think that he is to be retained in the Ch
urch? No, I take it; unless any one will dissemble in the case of a frankincens
e-seller too. In sooth, the agency of blood pertains to some, that of odours to
 others. If, before idols were in the world, idolatry, hitherto shapeless, used
 to be transacted by these wares; if, even now, the work of idolatry is perpetr
ated, for the most part, without the idol, by burnings of odours; the frankince
nse-seller is a something even more serviceable even toward demons, for idolatr
y is more easily carried on without the idol, than without the ware of the fran
kincense-seller.(9) Let us interrogate thoroughly

68

the conscience of the faith itself. With what mouth will a Christian frankincen
se-seller, if he shall pass through temples, with what mouth will he spit down
upon and blow out the smoking altars, for which himself has made provision? Wit
h what consistency will he exorcise his own foster-children,(1) to whom he affo
rds his own house as store-room? Indeed, if he shall have ejected a demon,(2) l
et him not congratulate himself on his faith, for he has not ejected an enemy;
he ought to have had his prayer easily granted by one whom he is daily feeding.
(3) No art, then, no profession, no trade, which administers either to equippin
g or forming idols, can be free from the title of idolatry; unless we interpret
 idolatry to be altogether something else than the service of idol-tendence.

CHAP. XII.--FURTHER ANSWERS TO THE PLEA,
HOW AM I TO LIVE?

    In vain do we flatter ourselves as to the necessities of human maintenance,
 if--after faith sealed(4)--we say, "I have no means to live?"(5) For here I wi
ll now answer more fully that abrupt proposition. It is advanced too late. For
after the similitude of that most prudent builder,(6) who first computes the co
sts of the work, together with his own means, lest, when he has begun, he after
wards blush to find himself spent, deliberation should have been made before. B
ut even now you have the Lord's sayings, as examples taking away from you all e
xcuse. For what is it you say? "I shall be in need." But the Lord calls the nee
dy" happy."(7) "I shall have no food." But "think not," says He, "about food;"(
8) and as an example of clothing we have the lilies.(9) "My work was my subsist
ence." Nay, but "all things are to be sold, and divided to the needy."(10) "But
 provision must be made for children and posterity." "None, putting his hand on
 the plough, and looking back, is fit "for work.(11) "But I was under contract.
" "None can serve two lords."(12) If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is
necessary you "take your cross, and follow the Lord:"(13) your cross; that is,
your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of
a cross. Parents, wives, children, will have to be left behind, for God's sake.
(14) Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, fo
r the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that
both "dear pledges,"(15) and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behi
nd for the Lord's sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quit
e behind both father and ship;(16) while Matthew is roused up from the toll-boo
th;(17) while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith.(18) Non
e of them whom the Lord chose to Him said, "I have no means to live." Faith fea
rs not famine. It knows, likewise, that hunger is no less to be contemned by it
 for God's sake, than every kind of death. It has learnt not to respect life; h
ow much more food? [You ask] "How many have fulfilled these conditions?" But wh
at with men is difficult, with God is easy.(19) Let us, however, comfort oursel
ves about the gentleness and clemency of God in such wise, as not to indulge ou
r "necessities" up to the point of affinities with idolatry, but to avoid even
from afar every breath of it, as of a pestilence. [And this] not merely in the
cases forementioned, but in the universal series of human superstition; whether
 appropriated to its gods, or to the defunct, or to kings, as pertaining to the
 selfsame unclean spirits, sometimes through sacrifices and priesthoods, someti
mes through spectacles and the like, sometimes through holy-days.

CHAP. XIII.--OF THE OBSERVANCE OF DAYS CONNECTED WITH IDOLATRY.

    But why speak of sacrifices and priesthoods? Of spectacles, moreover, and p
leasures of that kind, we have already filled a volume of their own.(20) In thi
s place must be handled the subject of holidays and other extraordinary solemni
ties, which we accord sometimes to our wantonness, sometimes to our timidity, i
n opposition to the common faith and Discipline. The first point, indeed, on wh
ich I shall join issue is this: whether a servant of God ought to share with th
e very

69

nations themselves in matters of his kind either in dress, or in food, or in an
y other kind of their gladness. "To rejoice with the rejoicing, and grieve with
 the grieving,"(1) is said.about brethren by the apostle when exhorting to unan
imity. But, for these purposes, "There is nought of communion between light and
 darkness,"(2) between life and death
or else we rescind what is written, "The world shall rejoice, but ye shall grie
ve."(3) If we rejoice with the world, there is reason to fear that with the wor
ld we shall grieve too. But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and when th
e world afterward grieves, we shall rejoice. Thus, too, Eleazar(4) in Hades,(5)
 (attaining refreshment in Abraham's bosom) and the rich man, (on the other han
d, set in the torment of fire) compensate, by an answerable retribution, their
alternate vicissitudes of evil and good. There are certain gift-days, which wit
h some adjust the claim of honour, with others the debt of wages. "Now, then,"
you say, "I shall receive back what is mine, or pay back what is another's." If
 men have consecrated for themselves this custom from superstition, why do you,
 estranged as you are from all their vanity, participate in solemnities consecr
ated to idols; as if for you also there were some prescript about a day, short
of the observance of a particular day, to prevent your paying or receiving what
 you owe a man, or what is owed you by a man? Give me the form after which you
wish to be dealt with. For why should you skulk withal, when you contaminate yo
ur own conscience by your neighbour's ignorance? If you are not unknown to be a
 Christian, you are tempted, and you act as if you were not a Christian against
 your neighbour's conscience; if, however, you shall be disguised withal,(6) yo
u are the slave of the temptation. At all events, whether in the latter or the
former way, you are guilty of being" ashamed of God."(7) But "whosoever shall b
e ashamed of Me in the presence of men, of him will I too be ashamed," says He,
 "in the presence of my Father who is in the heavens."(8)

CHAP. XIV.--OF BLASPHEMY.ONE OF ST. PAUL'S SAYINGS.

    But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the be
lief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathe
n do, for fear "the Name be blasphemed." Now the blasphemy which must quite be
shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen int
o blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or
 any other matter of worthy complaint, in which "the Name" is deservedly impugn
ed, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it ha
s been said, "By your means My Name is blasphemed,"(9) we all perish at once; s
ince the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails "the Name" with wicked s
uffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the
 contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, not the overs
tepping, of discipline; while we are being approved, not while we are being rep
robated. Oh blasphemy, bordering on martyrdom, which now attests me to be a Chr
istian,(10) while for that very account it detests me! The cursing of well-main
tained Discipline is a blessing of the Name. "If," says he, "I wished to please
 men, I should not be Christ's servant."(11) But the same apostle elsewhere bid
s us take care to please all: "As I," he says, "please all by all means."(12) N
o doubt he used to please them by celebrating the Saturnalia and New-year's day
! [Was it so] or was it by moderation and patience? by gravity, by kindness, by
 integrity? In like manner, when he is saying, "I have become all things to all
, that I may gain all,"(13) does he mean "to idolaters an idolater? "to heathen
s a heathen?" "to the worldly worldly?" But albeit he does not prohibit us from
 having our conversation with idolaters and adulterers, and the other criminals
, saying, "Otherwise ye would go out from the world,"(14) of course he does not
 so slacken those reins of conversation that, since it is necessary for us both
 to live and to mingle with sinners, we may be able to sin with them too. Where
 there is the intercourse of life, which the apostle concedes, there is sinning
, which no one permits. To live with heathens is lawful, to die with

70

them(1) is not. Let us live with all;(2) let us be glad with them, out of commu
nity of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in soul, not in discipline; f
ellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communi
on in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate the
m among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the
 Jews with their holy-days. "Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies," say
s He, "My soul hateth."(3) By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange,(4) and the new
moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, the Saturnalia and New-year's and
Midwinter's festivals and Matronalia are frequented--presents come and go--New-
year's gifts--games join their noise--banquets join their din! Oh better fideli
ty of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christian
s for itself! Not the Lord's day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, w
ould they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be
Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any indulge
nce is to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say your own days,(5
) but more too; for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually:
you have a festive day every eighth day.(6) Call out the individual solemnities
 of the nations, and set them out into a row, they will not be able to make up
a Pentecost.(7)

CHAP. XV.--CONCERNING FESTIVALS IN HONOUR OF EMPERORS, VICTORIES, AND THE LIKE.
 EXAMPLES OF THE THREE CHILDREN AND DANIEL.

    But "let your works shine," saith He;(8) but now all our shops and gates sh
ine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-w
reaths than of Christians. What does the case seem to be with regard to that sp
ecies (of ceremony) also? If it is an idol's honour, without doubt an idol's ho
nour is idolatry. If it is for a man's sake, let us again consider that all ido
latry is for man's sake;(9) let us again consider that all idolatry is a worshi
p done to men, since it is generally agreed even among their worshippers that a
foretime the gods themselves of the nations were men; and so it makes no differ
ence whether that superstitious homage be rendered to men of a former age or of
 this. Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up fo
r worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons. "T
he things which are Caesar's are to be rendered to Caesar."(10) It is enough th
at He set in apposition thereto, "and to God the things which are God's." What
things, then, are Caesar's? Those, to wit, about which the consultation was the
n held, whether the poll-tax should be furnished to Caesar or no. Therefore, to
o, the Lord demanded that the money should be shown Him, and inquired about the
 image, whose it was; and when He had heard it was Caesar's, said, "Render to C
aesar what are Caesar's, and what are God's to God;" that is, the image of Caes
ar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is on man,(11)
 to God; so as to render to Caesar indeed money, to God yourself. Otherwise, wh
at will be God's, if all things are Caesar's? "Then," do you say, "the lamps be
fore my doors, and the laurels on my posts are an honour to God?" They are ther
e of course, not because they are an honour to God, but to him who is honour in
 God's stead by ceremonial observances of that kind, so far as is manifest, sav
ing the religious performance, which is in secret appertaining to demons. For w
e ought to be sure if there are any whose notice it escapes through ignorance o
f this world's literature, that there are among the Romans even gods of entranc
es; Cardea (Hinge-goddess), called after hinges, and Forculus (Door-god) after
doors, and Limentinus (Threshold-god) after the threshold, and Janus himself (G
ate-god) after the gate: and of course we know that, though names be empty and
reigned, yet, when they are drawn down into superstition, demons and every uncl
ean spirit seize them for themselves, through the bond of consecration. Otherwi
se demons have no name individually, but they there find a name where they find
 also a token. Among the Greeks likewise we read of Apollo Thyraeus, i.e. of th
e door, and the Antelii, or Anthelii, demons, as presiders over entrances. Thes
e things, therefore, the Holy Spirit foreseeing from the beginning, fore-chante
d, through the most ancient prophet Enoch, that even entrances would come

71

into superstitious use. For we see too that other entrances(1) are adored in th
e baths. But if there are beings which are adored in entrances, it is to them t
hat both the lamps and the laurels will pertain. To an idol you will have done
whatever you shall have done to an entrance. In this place I call a witness on
the authority also of God; because it is not safe to suppress whatever may have
 been shown to one, of course for the sake of all. I know that a brother was se
verely chastised, the same night, through a vision, because on the sudden annou
ncement of public rejoicings his servants had wreathed his gates. And yet himse
lf had not wreathed, or commanded them to be wreathed; for he had gone forth fr
om home before, and on his return had reprehended the deed. So strictly are we
appraised with God in matters of this kind, even with regard to the discipline
of our family.(2) Therefore, as to what relates to the honours due to kings or
emperors, we have a prescript sufficient, that it behoves us to be in all obedi
ence, according to the apostle's precept,(3) "subject to magistrates, and princ
es, and powers;"(4) but within the limits of discipline, so long as we keep our
selves separate from idolatry. For it is for this reason, too, that that exampl
e of the three brethren has forerun us, who, in other respects obedient toward
king Nebuchodonosor rejected with all constancy the honour to his image,(5) pro
ving that whatever is extolled beyond the measure of human honour, unto the res
emblance of divine sublimity, is idolatry. So too, Daniel, in all other points
submissive to Darius, remained in his duty so long as it was free from danger t
o his religion;(6) for, to avoid undergoing that danger, he feared the royal li
ons no more than they the royal fires. Let, therefore, them who have no light,
light their lamps daily; let them over whom the fires of hell are imminent, aff
ix to their posts, laurels doomed presently to burn: to them the testimonies of
 darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the
 world,(7) and a tree ever green.(8) If you have renounced temples, make not yo
ur own gate a temple. I have said too little. If you have renounced stews, clot
he not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel.

CHAP. XVI.--CONCERNING PRIVATE FESTIVALS.

    Touching the ceremonies, however, of private and social solemnities--as tho
se of the white toga, of espousals, of nuptials, of name-givings--I should thin
k no danger need be guarded against from the breath of the idolatry which is mi
xed up with them. For the causes are to be considered to which the ceremony is
due. Those above-named I take to be clean in themselves, because neither manly
garb, nor the marital ring or union, descends from honours done to any idol. In
 short, I find no dress cursed by God, except a woman's dress on a man:(9) for
"cursed," saith He, "is every man who clothes himself in woman's attire." The t
oga, however, is a dress of manly name as well as of manly use.(10) God no more
 prohibits nuptials to be celebrated than a name to be given. "But there are sa
crifices appropriated to these occasions." Let me be invited, and let not the t
itle of the ceremony be "assistance at a sacrifice," and the discharge of my go
od offices is at the service of my friends. Would that it were "at their servic
e" indeed, and that we could escape seeing what is unlawful for us to do. But s
ince the evil one has so surrounded the world with idolatry, it will be lawful
for us to be present at some ceremonies which see us doing service to a man, no
t to an idol. Clearly, if invited unto priestly function and sacrifice, I will
not go, for that is service peculiar to an idol; but neither will I furnish adv
ice, or expense, or any other good office m a matter of that kind. If it is on
account of the sacrifice that I be invited, and stand by, I shall be partaker o
f idolatry; if any other cause conjoins me to the sacrificer, I shall be merely
 a spectator of the sacrifice.(11)

CHAP. XVII.--THE CASES OF SERVANTS AND OTHER OFFICIALS. WHAT OFFICES A CHRISTIA
N MAN MAY HOLD.

    But what shall believing servants or children(12) do? officials likewise, w
hen attending on their lords, or patrons, or superiors, when sacrificing? Well,
 if any one shall have handed the wine to a sacrificer, nay, if by any

72

single word necessary or belonging to a sacrifice he shall have aided him, he w
ill be held to be a minister of idolatry. Mindful of this rule, we can render s
ervice even "to magistrates and powers," after the example of the patriarchs an
d the other forefathers,(1) who obeyed idolatrous kings up to the confine of id
olatry. Hence arose, very lately, a dispute whether a servant of God should tak
e the administration of any dignity or power, if he be able, whether by some sp
ecial grace, or by adroitness, to keep himself intact from every species of ido
latry; after the example that both Joseph and Daniel, clean from idolatry, admi
nistered both dignity and power in the livery and purple of the prefecture of e
ntire Egypt or Babylonia. And so let us grant that it is possible for any one t
o succeed in moving, in whatsoever office, under the mere name of the office, n
either sacrificing nor lending his authority to sacrifices; not farming out vic
tims; not assigning to others the care of temples; not looking after their trib
utes; not giving spectacles at his own or the public charge, or presiding over
the giving them; making proclamation or edict for no solemnity; not even taking
 oaths: moreover (what comes under the head of power), neither sitting in judgm
ent on any one's life or character, for you might bear with his judging about m
oney; neither condemning nor fore-condemning;(2) binding no one, imprisoning or
 torturing no one--if it is credible that all this is possible.

CHAP. XVIII.--DRESS AS CONNECTED WITH
IDOLATRY.

    But we must now treat of the garb only and apparatus of office. There is a
dress proper to every one, as well for daily use as for office and dignity. Tha
t famous purple, therefore, and the gold as an ornament of the neck, were, amon
g the Egyptians and Babylonians, ensigns of dignity, in the same way as bordere
d, or striped, or palm-embroidered togas, and the golden wreaths of provincial
priests, are now; but not on the same terms. For they used only to be conferred
, under the name of honour, on such as deserved the familiar friendship of king
s (whence, too, such used to be styled the "purpled-men"(3) of kings, just as a
mong us,(4) some, from their white toga, are called "candidates"(5)); but not o
n the understanding that that garb should be tied to priesthoods also, or to an
y idol-ceremonies. For if that were the case, of course men of such holiness an
d constancy(6) would instantly have refused the defiled dresses; and it would i
nstantly have appeared that Daniel had been no zealous slave to idols, nor wors
hipped Bel, nor the dragon, which long after did appear. That purple, therefore
, was simple, and used not at that time to be a mark of dignity(7) among the ba
rbarians, but of nobility.(8) For as both Joseph, who had been a slave, and Dan
iel, who through(9) captivity had changed his state, attained the freedom of th
e states of Babylon and Egypt through the dress of barbaric nobility;(10) so am
ong us believers also, if need so be, the bordered toga will be proper to be co
nceded to boys, and the stole to girls,(11) as ensigns of birth, not of power;
of race, not of office; of rank, not of superstition. But the purple, or the ot
her ensigns of dignities and powers, dedicated from the beginning to idolatry e
ngrafted on the dignity and the powers, carry the spot of their own profanation
; since, moreover, bordered and striped togas, and broad-barred ones, are put e
ven on idols themselves; and fasces also, and rods, are borne before them; and
deservedly, for demons are the magistrates of this world: they bear the fasces
and the purples, the ensigns of one college. What end, then, will you advance i
f you use the garb indeed, but administer not the functions of it? In things un
clean, none can appear clean. If you put on a tunic defiled in itself, it perha
ps may not be defiled through you; but you, through it, will be unable to be cl
ean. Now by this time, you who argue about "Joseph" and "Daniel," know that thi
ngs old and new, rude and polished, begun and developed, slavish and free, are
not always comparable. For they, even by their circumstances, were slaves; but
you, the slave of none,(12) in so far as you are the slave of Christ alone,(13)
 who has freed you likewise from the captivity of the world, will incur the dut
y of acting after your Lord's pattern. That Lord walked in humility and obscuri
ty, with no definite home: for "the Son of man," said He, "hath not where to la
y His head;"(14) unadorned in dress, for else He had not said,

73

"Behold, they who are clad in soft raiment are in kings' houses:"(1) in short,
inglorious in countenance and aspect, just as Isaiah withal had fore-announced.
(2) If, also, He exercised no right of power even over His own followers, to wh
om He discharged menial ministry;(3) if, in short, though conscious of His own
kingdom,(4) He shrank back from being made a king,(5) He in the fullest manner
gave His own an example for turning coldly from all the pride and garb, as well
 of dignity as of power. For if they were to be used, who would rather have use
d them than the Son of God? What kind and what number of fasces would escort Hi
m? what kind of purple would bloom from His shoulders? what kind of gold would
beam from His head, had He not judged the glory of the world to be alien both t
o Himself and to His? Therefore what He was unwilling to accept, He has rejecte
d; what He rejected, He has condemned; what He condemned, He has counted as par
t of the devil's pomp. For He would not have condemned things, except such as w
ere not His; but things which are not God's, can be no other's but the devil's.
 If you have forsworn "the devil's pomp,"(6) know that whatever there you touch
 is idolatry. Let even this fact help to remind you that all the powers and dig
nities of this world are not only alien to, but enemies of, God; that through t
hem punishments have been determined against God's servants; through them, too,
 penalties prepared for the impious are ignored. But "both your birth and your
substance are troublesome to you in resisting idolatry."(7) For avoiding it, re
medies cannot be lacking; since, even if they be lacking, there remains that on
e by which you will be made a happier magistrate, not in the earth, but in the
heavens.(8)

CHAP. XIX.--CONCERNING MILITARY SERVICE

    In that last section, decision may seem to have been given likewise concern
ing military service, which is between dignity and power.(9) But now inquiry is
 made about this point, whether a believer may turn himself unto military servi
ce, and whether the military may be admitted unto the faith, even the rank and
file, or each inferior grade, to whom there is no necessity for taking part in
sacrifices or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and
 the human sacrament,(10) the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil,
 the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two mast
ers--God and Caesar. And yet Moses carried a rod,(11) and Aaron wore a buckle,(
12) and John (Baptist) is girt with leather(13) and Joshua the son of Nun leads
 a line of march; and the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the su
bject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace,
without a sword, which the Lord has taken away?(14) For albeit soldiers had com
e unto John, and had received the formula of their rule;(15) albeit, likewise,
a centurion had believed;(16) still the Lord afterward, in disarming Peter, unb
e d every soldier. No dress is lawful among us, if assigned to any unlawful act
ion.

CHAP. XX.--CONCERNING IDOLATRY IN WORDS.

    But, however, since the conduct according to the divine rule is imperilled,
 not merely by deeds, but likewise by words, (for, just as it is written, "Beho
ld the man and his deeds;"(17) so, "Out of thy own mouth shalt thou be justifie
d"(18)), we ought to remember that, even in words, also the inroad of idolatry
must be foreguarded against, either from the defect of custom or of timidity. T
he law prohibits the gods of the nations from being named,(19) not of course th
at we are not to pronounce their names, the speaking of which common intercours
e extorts from us: for this must very frequently be said, "You find him in the
temple of Aesculapius;" and, "I live in Isis Street;" and, "He has been made pr
iest of Jupiter;" and much else after this manner, since even on men names of t
his kind are bestowed. I do not honour Saturnus if I call a man so, by his own
name. I honour him no more than I do Marcus, if I call a man Marcus. But it say
s, "Make not mention of the name of other gods, neither be it heard from thy mo
uth."(20) The precept it gives is

74

this, that we do not call them gods. For in the first part of the law, too, "Th
ou shalt not," saith He, "use the name of the Lord thy God in a vain thing,"(1)
 that is, in an idol.(2) Whoever, therefore, honours an idol with the name of G
od, has fallen into idolatry. But if i speak of them as gods, something must be
 added to make it appear that I do not call them gods. For even the Scripture n
ames "gods," but adds "their," viz. "of the nations:" just as David does when h
e had named "gods," where he says, "But the gods of the nations are demons."(3)
 But this has been laid by me rather as a foundation for ensuing observations.
However, it is a defect of custom to say, "By Hercules, "So help me the god of
faith;"(4) while to the custom is added the ignorance of some, who are ignorant
 that it is an oath by Hercules. Further, what will an oath be, in the name of
gods whom you have forsworn, but a collusion of faith with idolatry? For who do
es not honour them in whose name he swears?

CHAP. XXI.--OF SILENT ACQUIESCENCE IN
HEATHEN FORMULARIES.

    But it is a mark of timidity, when some other man binds you in the name of
his gods, by the making of an oath, or by some other form of attestation, and y
ou, for fear of discovery,(5) remain quiet. For you equally, by remaining quiet
, affirm their majesty, by reason of which majesty you will seem to be bound. W
hat matters it, whether you affirm the gods of the nations by calling them gods
, or by hearing them so called? Whether you swear by idols, or, when adjured by
 another, acquiesce? Why should we not recognize the subtleties of Satan, who m
akes it his aim that, what he cannot effect by our mouth, he may effect by the
mouth of his servants, introducing idolatry into us through our ears? At all ev
ents, whoever the adjurer is, he binds you to himself either in friendly or unf
riendly conjunction. If in unfriendly, you are now challenged unto battle, and
know that you must fight. If in friendly, with how far greater security will yo
u transfer your engagement unto the Lord, that you may dissolve the obligation
of him through whose means the Evil One was seeking to annex you to the honour
of idols, that is, to idolatry! All sufferance of that kind is idolatry. You ho
nour those to whom, when imposed as authorities, you have rendered respect. I k
now that one (whom the Lord pardon!), when it had been said to him in public du
ring a law-suit, "Jupiter be wroth with you," answered, "On the contrary, with
you." What else would a heathen have done who believed Jupiter to be a god? For
 even had he not retorted the malediction by Jupiter (or other such like), yet,
 by merely returning a curse, he would have confirmed the divinity of Jove, sho
wing himself irritated by a malediction in Jove's name. For what is there to be
 indignant at, (if cursed) in the name of one whom you know to be nothing? For
if you rave, you immediately affirm his existence, and the profession of your f
ear will be an act of idolatry. How much more, while you are returning the male
diction in the name of Jupiter himself, are you doing honour to Jupiter in the
same way as he who provoked you! But a believer ought to laugh in such cases, n
ot to rave; nay, according to the precept,(6) not to return a curse in the name
 of God even, but dearly to bless in the name of God, that you may both demolis
h idols and preach God, and fulfil discipline.

CHAP. XXII.--OF ACCEPTING BLESSING IN THE
NAME OF IDOLS.

    Equally, one who has been initiated into Christ will not endure to be bless
ed in the name of the gods of the nations, so as not always to reject the uncle
an benediction, and to cleanse it out for himself by converting it Godward. To
be blessed in the name of the gods of the nations is to be cursed in the name o
f God. If I have given an alms, or shown any other kindness, and the recipient
pray that his gods, or the Genius of the colony, may be propitious to me, my ob
lation or act will immediately be an honour to idols, in whose name he returns
me the favour of blessing. But why should he not know that I have done it for G
od's sake; that God may rather be glorified, and demons may not be honoured in
that which I have done for the sake of God? If God sees that I have done it for
 His sake, He equally sees that I have been unwilling to shaw that I did it for
 His sake, and have m a manner made His precept(7) a sacrifice to idols. Many s
ay, "No one ought to divulge himself;" but I think neither ought he to dory him
self. For whoever dissembles in any cause whatever, by being held as a heathen,

75

does deny; and, of course, all denial is idolatry, just as all idolatry is deni
al, whether in deeds or in words.(1)

CHAP. XXIII.--WRITTEN CONTRACTS IN THE NAME OF IDOLS. TACIT CONSENT.

    But there is a certain species of that class, doubly sharpened in deed and
word, and mischievous on either side, although it flatter you, as if it were fr
ee of danger in each; while it does not seem to be a deed, because it is not la
id hold of as a word. In borrowing money from heathens under pledged(2) securit
ies, Christians give a guarantee under oath, and deny themselves to have done s
o. Of course, the time of the prosecution, and the place of the judgment seat,
and the person of the presiding judge, decide that they knew themselves to have
 so dane.(3) Christ prescribes that there is to be no swearing. "I wrote," says
 the debtor, "but I said nothing. It is the tongue, not the written letter, whi
ch kills." Here I call Nature and Conscience as my witnesses: Nature, because e
ven if the tongue in dictating remains motionless and quiet, the hand can write
 nothing which the soul has not dictated; albeit even to the tongue itself the
soul may have dictated either something conceived by itself, or else something
delivered by another. Now, lest it be said, "Another dictated," I here appeal t
o Conscience whether, what another dictated, the soul entertains,(4) and transm
its unto the hand, whether with the concomitance or the inaction of the tongue.
 Enough, that the Lord has said faults are committed in the mind and the consci
ence. If concupiscence or malice have ascended into a man's heart, He saith it
is held as a deed.(5) You therefore have given a guarantee; which clearly has "
ascended into your heart," which you can neither contend you were ignorant of n
or unwilling; for when you gave the guarantee, you knew that you did it; when y
ou knew, of course you were willing: you did it as well in act as in thought; n
or can you by the lighter charge exclude the heavier,(6) so as to say that it i
s clearly rendered false, by giving a guarantee I for what you do not actually
perform. "Yet I have not denied, because I have not sworn." But you have sworn,
 since, even if you had done no such thing, you would still be said to swear, i
f you have even consented to so doing. Silence of voice is an unavailing plea i
n a case of writing; and muteness of sound in a case of letters. For Zacharias,
 when punished with a temporary privation of voice, holds colloquy with his min
d, and, passing by his bootless tongue, with the help of his hands dictates fro
m his heart, and without his mouth pronounces the name of his son.(7) Thus, in
his pen there speaks a hand clearer than every sound, in his waxen tablet there
 is heard a letter more vocal that every mouth.(8) Inquire whether a man have s
poken who is understood to have spoken.(9) Pray we the Lord that no necessity f
or that kind of contract may ever encompass us; and if it should so fall out, m
ay He give our brethren the means of helping us, or give us constancy to break
off all suck necessity, lest those denying letters, the substitutes for our mou
th, be brought forward against us in the day of judgment, sealed with the seals
, not now of witnesses, but of angels!

CHAP. XXIV.--GENERAL CONCLUSION.

    Amid these reefs and inlets, amid these shallows and straits of idolatry, F
aith, her sails filled by the Spirit of God, navigates; safe if cautious, secur
e if intently watchful. But to such as are washed overboard is a deep whence is
 no out-swimming; to such as are run aground is inextricable shipwreck; to such
 as are engulphed is a whirlpool, where there is no breathing--even in idolatry
. All waves thereof whatsoever suffocate; every eddy thereof sucks down unto Ha
des. Let no one say, "Who will so safely foreguard himself? We shall have to go
 out of the world!"(10) As if it were not as well worth while to go out, as to
stand in the world as an idolater! Nothing can be easier than caution against i
dolatry, if the fear of it be our leading fear; any "necessity" whatever

76

is too trifling compared to such a peril. The reason why the Holy Spirit did, w
hen the apostles at that time were consulting, relax the bond and yoke for us,(
1) was that we might be free to devote ourselves to the shunning of idolatry. T
his shall be our Law, the more fully to be administered the more ready it is to
 hand; (a Law) peculiar to Christians, by means whereof we are recognised and e
xamined by heathens. This Law must be set before such as approach unto the Fait
h, and inculcated on such as are entering it; that, in approaching, they may de
liberate; observing it, may persevere; not observing it, may renounce their nam
e.(2) We will see to it, if, after the type of the Ark, there shall be in the C
hurch raven, kite, dog, and serpent. At all events, an idolater is not found in
 the type of the Ark: no animal has been fashioned to represent an idolater. Le
t not that be in the Church which was not in the Ark.(3)

ELUCIDATIONS

I

(The Second Commandment, p. 64.)
    TERTULLIAN'S teaching agrees with that of Clement of Alexandria(4) and with
 all the Primitive Fathers. But compare the Trent Catechism, (chapter it., ques
t. 17.)--"Nor let any one suppose that this commandment prohibits the arts of p
ainting, modelling or sculpture, for, in the Scriptures we are informed that Go
d himself commanded images of cherubim, and also of the brazen serpent, to be m
ade, etc." So far, the comparison is important, because while our author limits
 any inference from this instance as an exception, this Catechism turns it into
 a rule: and so far, we are only looking at the matter with reference to Art. B
ut, the Catechism, (questt. xxiii. xxiv.), goes on to teach that images of the
Saints, etc. ought to be made and honoured "as a holy practice." It affirms, al
so, that it is a practice which has been attended with the greatest advantage t
o the faithful: which admits of a doubt, especially when the honour thus mentio
ned is everywhere turned into worship, precisely like that offered to the Braze
n Serpent, when the People "burned incense to it," and often much more. But eve
n this is not my point; for that Catechism, with what verity need not be argued
, affirms, also, that this doctrine "derives confirmation from the monuments of
 the Apostolic age, the general Councils of the Church, and the writings of so
many most holy and learned Fathers, who are of one accord upon the subject." Do
ubtless they are "of one accord," but all the other way.

II.

(Military service, cap. xix., p. 73.)
    This chapter must prepare us for a much more sweeping condemnation of the m
ilitary profession in the De Spectaculis and the De Corona; but Neander's judgm
ent seems to me very just. The Corona, itself, is rather Montanistic than Monta
nist, in the opinion of some critics, among whom Gibbon is not to count for muc
h, for the reasons given by Kaye (p. 52), and others hardly less obvious. Surel
y, if this ascetic opinion and some similar instances were enough to mark a man
 as a heretic, what are we to say of the thousand crotchets maintained by good
Christians, in our day?

77

III.

(Passive idolatry, cap. xxii., pp. 74, 75.)

    Neander's opinion as to the freedom of De Idololatria from Montanistic tain
t, is mildly questioned by Bp. Kaye, chiefly on the ground of the agreement of
this chapter with the extravagances of the Scorpiace. He thinks "the utmost pit
ch" of such extravagance is reached in the positions here taken. But Neander's
judgment seems to me preferable. Lapsers usually give tokens of the bent of the
ir minds, and unconsciously betray their inclinations before they themselves se
e whither they are tending. Thus they become victims of their own plausible sel
f-deceptions.

IV.

(Tacit consents and reservations, cap. xxiii., p. 75.)

    It cannot be doubted that apart from the specific case which Tertullian is
here maintaining, his appeal to conscience is maintained by reason, by the Mora
ls of the Fathers and by Holy Scripture. Now compare with this the Morality whi
ch has been made dogmatic, among Latins, by the elevation of Liguori to the dig
nities of a "Saint" and a "Doctor of the Church." Even Cardinal Newman cannot a
ccept it without reservations, so thoroughly does it commit the soul to fraud a
nd hyprocrisy. See Liguori, Opp. Tom. II., pp. 34-44, and Meyrick, Moral Theolo
gy of the Church of Rome, London, 1855. Republished, with an Introduction, by t
he Editor of this Series, Baltimore, 1857. Also Newman, Apologia, p. et seqq.

III

THE SHOWS, OR DE SPECTACULIS.(1)

[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.]

CHAP. I.

    Ye Servants of God, about to draw near to God. that you may make solemn con
secration of yourselves to Him,(2) seek well to understand the condition of fai
th, the reasons of the Truth, the laws of Christian Discipline, which forbid am
ong other sins of the world, the pleasures of the public shows. Ye who have tes
tified and confessed(3) that you have done so already, review the subject, that
 there may be no sinning whether through real or wilful ignorance. For such is
the power of earthly pleasures, that, to retain the opportunity of still partak
ing of them, it contrives to prolong swilling ignorance, and bribes knowledge i
nto playing a dishonest part. To both things, perhaps, some among you are allur
ed by the views of the heathens who in this matter are wont to press us with ar
guments, such as these:(1) That the exquisite enjoyments of ear and eye we have
 in things external are not in the least opposed to religion in the mind and co
nscience; and(2) That surely no offence is offered to God, in any human enjoyme
nt, by any of our pleasures, which it is not sinful to partake of in its own ti
me and place, with all due honour and reverence secured to Him. But this is pre
cisely what we are ready to prove: That these things are not consistent with tr
ue religion and true obedience to the true God. There are some who imagine that
 Christians, a sort of people ever ready to die, are trained into the abstinenc
e they practise, with no other object than that of making it less difficult to
despise life, the fastenings to it being severed as it were. They regard it as
an art of quenching all desire for that which, so far as they are concerned, th
ey have emptied of all that is desirable; and so it is thought to be rather a t
hing of human planning and foresight, than clearly laid down by divine command.
 It were a grievous thing, forsooth, for Christians, while continuing in the en
joyment of pleasures so great, to die for God! It is not as they say; though, i
f it were, even Christian obstinacy might well give all submission to a plan so
 suitable, to a rule so excellent.

CHAP. II.

    Then, again, every one is ready with the argument(4) that all things, as we
 teach, were created by God, and given to man for his use, and that they must b
e good, as coming all from so good a source; but that among them are found the
various constituent elements of the public shows, such as the horse, the lion,
bodily strength, and musical voice. It cannot, then, be thought that what exist
s by God's own creative will is either foreign or hostile to Him; and if it is
not opposed to Him, it cannot be regarded as injurious to  His worshippers, as
certainly it is not foreign to them. Beyond all doubt, too, the very buildings
connected with the places of public amusement, composed as they are of rocks, s
tones, marbles, pillars, are things of God, who has given these various things
for the earth's embellishment; nay, the very scenes are enacted under God's own
 heaven. How skilful a pleader seems human wisdom to her-

80

self, especially if she has the fear of losing any of her delights--any of the
sweet enjoyments of worldly existence! In fact, you will find not a few whom th
e imperilling of their pleasures rather than their life holds back from us. For
 even the weakling has no strong dread of death as a debt he knows is due by hi
m; while the wise man does not look with contempt on pleasure, regarding it as
a precious gift--in fact, the one blessedness of life, whether to philosopher o
r fool. Now nobody denies what nobody is ignorant of--for Nature herself is tea
cher of it--that God is the Maker of the universe, and that it is good, and tha
t it is man's by free gift of its Maker. But having no intimate acquaintance wi
th the Highest, knowing Him only by natural revelation, and not as His "friends
"-afar off, and not as those who have been brought nigh to Him--men cannot but
be in ignorance alike of what He enjoins and what He forbids in regard to the a
dministration of His world. They must be ignorant, too, of the hostile power wh
ich works against Him, and perverts to wrong uses the things His hand has forme
d; for you cannot know either the will or the adversary of a God you do not kno
w. We must not, then, consider merely by whom all things were made, but by whom
 they have been perverted. We shall find out for what use they were made at fir
st, when we find for what they were not. There is a vast difference between the
 corrupted state and that of primal purity, just because there is a vast differ
ence between the Creator and the corrupter. Why, all sorts of evils, which as i
ndubitably evils even the heathens prohibit, and against which they guard thems
elves, come from the works of God. Take, for instance, murder, whether committe
d by iron, by poison, or by magical enchantments. Iron and herbs and demons are
 all equally creatures of God. Has the Creator, withal, provided these things f
or man's destruction? Nay, He puts His interdict on every sort of man-killing b
y that one summary precept, "Thou shalt not kill." Moreover, who but God, the M
aker of the world, put in its gold, brass, silver, ivory, wood, and all the oth
er materials used in the manufacture of idols? Yet has He done this that men ma
y set up a worship in opposition to Himself? On the contrary  idolatry in His e
yes is the crowning sin. What is there offensive to God which is not God's? But
 in offending Him, it ceases to be His; and in ceasing to be His, it is in His
eyes an offending thing. Man himself, guilty as he is of every iniquity, is not
 only a work of God--he is His image, and yet both in soul and body he has seve
red himself from his Maker. For we did not get eyes to minister to lust, and th
e tongue for speaking evil with, and ears to be the receptacle of evil speech,
and the throat to serve the vice of gluttony, and the belly to be gluttony's al
ly, and the genitals for unchaste excesses, and hands for deeds of violence, an
d the feet for an erring life; or was the soul placed in the body that it might
 become a thought-manufactory of snares, and fraud, and injustice? I think not;
 for if God, as the righteous ex-actor of innocence, hates everything like mali
gnity--if He hates utterly such plotting of evil, it is clear beyond a doubt, t
hat, of all things that have come from His hand, He has made none to lead to wo
rks which He condemns, even though these same works may be carried on by things
 of His making; for, in fact, it is the one ground of condemnation, that the cr
eature misuses the creation. We, therefore, who in our knowledge of the Lord ha
ve obtained some knowledge also of His foe--who, in our discovery of the Creato
r, have at the same time laid hands upon the great corrupter, ought neither to
wonder nor to doubt that, as the prowess of the corrupting and God-opposing ang
el overthrew in the beginning the virtue of man, the work and image of God, the
 possessor of the world, so he has entirely changed man's nature--created, like
 his own, for perfect sinlessness--into his own state of wicked enmity against
his Maker, that in the very thing whose gift to man, but not to him, had grieve
d him, he might make man guilty in God's eyes, and set up his own supremacy.(1)

CHAP. III.

    Fortified by this knowledge against heathen views, let us rather turn to th
e unworthy reasonings of our own people; for the faith of some, either too simp
le or too scrupulous, demands direct authority from Scripture for giving up the
 shows, and holds out that the matter is a doubtful one, because such abstinenc
e is not clearly and in words imposed upon God's servants. Well, we never find
it expressed with the same precision, "Thou shalt not enter circus or theatre,
thou shalt not look on combat or show;" as it is plainly laid down, "Thou shalt
 not kill; thou shalt not worship an idol; thou shalt not commit adultery or fr
aud."(2) But we find that that first word of David bears an this very sort of t
hing: "Blessed," he says, "is the man who has not gone into the assembly of the
 impious,

81

nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scorners."(1) Though he
 seems to have predicted beforehand of that just man, that he took no part in t
he meetings and deliberations of the Jews, taking counsel about the slaying of
our Lord, yet divine Scripture has ever far-reaching applications: after the im
mediate sense has been exhausted, in all directions it fortifies the practice o
f the religious life, so that here also you have an utterance which is not far
from a plain interdicting of the shows. If he called those few Jews an assembly
 of the wicked, how much more will he so designate so vast a gathering of heath
ens! Are the heathens less impious, less sinners, less enemies of Christ, than
the Jews were then? And see, too, how other things agree. For at the shows they
 also stand in the way. For they call the spaces between the seats going round
the amphitheatre, and the passages which separate the people running down, ways
. The place in the curve where the matrons sit is called a chair. Therefore, on
 the contrary, it holds, unblessed is he who has entered any council of wicked
men, and has stood in any way of sinners, and has sat in any chair of scorners.
 We may understand a thing as spoken generally, even when it requires a certain
 special interpretation to be given to it. For some things spoken with a specia
l reference contain in them general truth. When God admonishes the Israelites o
f their duty, or sharply reproves them, He has surely a reference to all men; w
hen He threatens destruction to Egypt and Ethiopia, He surely pre-condemns ever
y sinning nation, whatever. If, reasoning from species to genus, every nation t
hat sins against them is an Egypt and Ethiopia; so also, reasoning from genus t
o species, with reference to the origin of shows, every show is an assembly of
the wicked.

CHAP. IV.

    Lest any one think that we are dealing in mere argumentative subtleties, I
shall turn to that highest authority of our "seal" itself. When entering the wa
ter, we make profession of the Christian faith in the words of its rule; we bea
r public testimony that we have renounced the devil, his pomp, and his angels.
Well, is it not in connection with idolatry, above all, that you have the devil
 with his pomp and his angels? from which, to speak. briefly--for I do not wish
 to dilate--you have every unclean and wicked spirit. If, therefore, it shall b
e made plain that the entire apparatus of the shows is based upon idolatry, bey
ond all doubt that will carry with it the conclusion that our renunciatory test
imony in the layer of baptism has reference to the shows, which, through their
idolatry, have been given over to the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. We s
hall set forth, then, their several origins, in what nursing-places they have g
rown to manhood; next the titles of some of them, by what names they are called
; then their apparatus, with what superstitions they are observed; (then their
places, to what patrons they are dedicated;) then the arts which minister to th
em, to what authors they are traced. If any of these shall be found to have had
 no connection with an idol-god, it will be held as free at once from the taint
 of idolatry, and as not coming within the range of our baptismal abjuration.(2
)

CHAP. V.

    In the matter of their origins, as these are somewhat obscure and but littl
e known to many among us, our investigations must go back to a remote antiquity
, and our authorities be none other than books of heathen literature. Various a
uthors are extant who have published works on the subject. The origin of the ga
mes as given by them is this. Timaeus tells us that immigrants from Asia, under
 the leadership of Tyrrhenus, who, in a contest about his native kingdom, had s
uccumbed to his brother, settled down in Etruria. Well, among other superstitio
us observances under the name of religion, they set up in their new home public
 shows. The Romans, at their own request, obtain from them skilled performers--
the proper seasons--the name too, for it is said they are called Ludi, from Lyd
i. And though Varro derives the name of Ludi from Ludus, that is, from play, as
 they called the Luperci also Ludii, because they ran about making sport; still
 that sporting of young men belongs, in his view, to festal days and temples, a
nd objects of religious veneration. However, it is of little consequence the or
igin of the name, when it is certain that the thing springs from idolatry. The
Liberalia, under the general designation of Ludi, clearly declared the glory of
 Father Bacchus; for to Bacchus these festivities were first consecrated by gra
teful peasants, in return for the boon he conferred on them, as they say, makin
g known the pleasures of wine.

82

Then the Consualia were called Ludi, and at first were in honour of Neptune, fo
r Neptune has the name of Consus also. Thereafter Romulus dedicated the Equiria
 to Mars, though they claim the Consualia too for Romulus, on the ground that h
e consecrated them to Consus, the god, as they will have it, of counsel; of the
 counsel, forsooth, in which he planned the rape of the Sabine virgins for wive
s to his soldiers. An excellent counsel truly; and still I suppose reckoned jus
t and righteous by the Romans themselves, I may not say by God. This goes also
to taint the origin: you cannot surely hold that to be good which has sprung fr
om sin, from shamelessness, from violence, from hatred, from a fratricidal foun
der, from a son of Mars. Even now, at the first turning-post in the circus, the
re is a subterranean altar to this same Consus, with an inscription to this eff
ect: "Consus, great in counsel, Mars, in battle mighty tutelar deities." The pr
iests of the state sacrifice at it on the nones of July; the priest of Romulus
and the Vestals on the twelfth before the Kalends of September. In addition to
this, Romulus instituted games in honor of Jupiter Feretrius on the Tarpeian Hi
ll, according to the statement Piso has handed down to us, called both Tarpeian
 and Capitoline. After him Numa Pompilius instituted games to Mars and Robigo (
for they have also invented a goddess of rust); then Tullus Hostilius; then Anc
us Martius; and various others in succession did the like. As to the idols in w
hose honour these games were established, ample information is to be fount in t
he pages of Suetonius Tranquillus. But we need say no more to prove the accusat
ion of idolatrous origin.

CHAP. VI.

    To the testimony of antiquity is added that of later games instituted in th
eir turn, and betraying their origin from the titles which they bear even at th
e present day, in which it is imprinted as on their very face, for what idol an
d for what religious object games, whether of the one kind or the other, were d
esigned. You have festivals bearing the name of the great Mother(1) and Apollo
of Ceres too, and Neptune, and Jupiter Latiaris, and Flora, all celebrated for
a common end; the others have their religious origin in the birthdays and solem
nities of kings, in public successes in municipal holidays. There are also test
amentary exhibitions, in which funeral honours are rendered to the memories of
private persons; and this according to an institution of ancient times. For fro
m the first the "Ludi" were regarded as of two sons, sacred and funereal, that
is in honour of the heathen deities and of the dead. But in the matter of idola
try, it makes no difference with us under what name or title it is practised, w
hile it has to do with the wicked spirits whom we abjure. If it is lawful to of
fer homage to the dead, it will be just as lawful to offer it to their gods: yo
u have the same origin in both cases; there is the same idolatry; there is on o
ur part the same solemn renunciation of all idolatry.

CHAP. VII.

    The two kinds of public games, then, have one origin; and they have common
names, as owning the same parentage. So, too, as they are equally tainted with
the sin of idolatry, their foundress, they must needs be like each other in the
ir pomp. But the more ambitious preliminary display of the circus games to whic
h the name procession specially belongs, is in itself the proof to whom the who
le thing appertains, in the many images the long line of statues, the chariots
of all sorts, the thrones, the crowns, the dresses. What high religious rites b
esides, what sacrifices precede, come between, and follow. How many guilds, how
 many priesthoods, how many offices are set astir, is known to the inhabitants
of the great city in which the demon convention has its headquarters. If these
things are done in humbler style in the provinces, in accordance with their inf
erior means, still all circus games must be counted as belonging to that from w
hich they are derived; the fountain from which they spring defiles them. The ti
ny streamlet from its very spring-head, the little twig from its very budding,
contains in it the essential nature of its origin. It may be grand or mean, no
matter, any circus procession whatever is offensive to God. Though there be few
 images to grace it, there is idolatry in one; though there be no more than a s
ingle sacred car, it is a chariot of Jupiter: anything of idolatry whatever, wh
ether meanly arrayed or modestly rich and gorgeous, taints it in its origin.

                              CHAP. VIII.

    To follow out my plan in regard to places: the circus is chiefly consecrate
d to the Sun, whose temple stands in the middle of it, and whose image shines f
orth from its temple summit; for they have not thought it proper to pay sacred
honours underneath a roof to an object they have itself in open space.

83

Those who assert that the first spectacle was exhibited by Circe, and in honour
 of the Sun her father, as they will have it, maintain also the name of circus
was derived from her. Plainly, then, the enchantress did this in the name of th
e parties whose priestess she was--I mean the demons and spirits of evil. What
an aggregation of idolatries you see, accordingly, in the decoration of the pla
ce! Every ornament of the circus is a temple by itself. The eggs are regarded a
s sacred to the Castors, by men who are not ashamed to profess faith in their p
roduction from the egg of a swan, which was no other than Jupiter himself. The
Dolphins vomit forth in honour of Neptune. Images of Sessia, so called as the g
oddess of sowing; of Messia, so called as the goddess of reaping; of Tutulina,
so called as the fruit-protecting deity--load the pillars. In front of these yo
u have three altars to these three gods--Great, Mighty, Victorious. They reckon
 these of Samo-Thrace. The huge Obelisk, as Hermeteles affirms, is set up in pu
blic to the Sun; its inscription, like its origin, belongs to Egyptian supersti
tion. Cheerless were the demon-gathering without their Mater Magna; and so she
presides there over the Euripus. Consus, as we have mentioned, lies hidden unde
r ground at the Murcian Goals. These two sprang from an idol. For they will hav
e it that Murcia is the goddess of love; and to her, at that spot, they have co
nsecrated a temple. See, Christian, how many impure names have taken possession
 of the circus! You have nothing to do with a sacred place which is tenanted by
 such multitudes of diabolic spirits. And speaking of places, this is the suita
ble occasion for some remarks in anticipation of a point that some will raise.
What, then, you say; shall I be in danger of pollution if I go to the circus wh
en the games are not being celebrated? There is no law forbidding the mere plac
es to us. For not only the places for show-gatherings, but even the temples, ma
y be entered without any peril of his religion by the servant of God, if he has
 only some honest reason for it, unconnected with their proper business and off
icial duties. Why, even the streets and the market-place, and the baths, and th
e taverns, and our very dwelling-places, are not altogether free from idols. Sa
tan and his angels have filled the whole world. It is not by merely being in th
e world, however, that we lapse from God, but by touching and tainting ourselve
s with the world's sins. I shall break with my Maker, that is, by going to the
Capitol or the temple of Serapis to sacrifice or adore, as I shall also do by g
oing as a spectator to the circus and the theatre. The places in themselves do
not contaminate, but what is done in them; from this even the places themselves
, we maintain, become defiled. The polluted things pollute us. It is on this ac
count that we set before you to whom places of the kind are dedicated, that we
may prove the things which are done in them to belong to the idol-patrons to wh
om the very places are sacred.(1)

CHAP. IX.

    Now as to the kind of performances peculiar to the circus exhibitions. In f
ormer days equestrianism was practised in a simple way on horseback, and certai
nly its ordinary use had nothing sinful in it; but when it was dragged into the
 games, it passed from the service of God into the employment of demons. Accord
ingly this kind of circus performances is regarded as sacred to Castor and Poll
ux, to whom, Stesichorus tells us, horses were given by Mercury. And Neptune, t
oo, is an equestrian deity, by the Greeks called Hippius. In regard to the team
, they have consecrated the chariot and four to the sun; the chariot and pair t
o the moon. But, as the poet has it, "Erichthonius first dared to yoke four hor
ses to the chariot, and to ride upon its wheels with victorious swiftness." Eri
chthonius, the son of Vulcan and Minerva, fruit of unworthy passion upon earth,
 is a demon-monster, nay, the devil himself, and no mere snake. But if Trochilu
s the Argive is maker of the first chariot, he dedicated that work of his to Ju
no. If Romulus first exhibited the four-horse chariot at Rome, he too, I think,
 has a place given him among idols, at least if he and Quirinus are the same. B
ut as chariots had such inventors, the charioteers were naturally dressed, too,
 in the colours of idolatry; for at first these were only two, namely white and
 red,--the former sacred to the winter with its glistening snows, the latter sa
cred to the summer with its ruddy sun: but afterwards, in the progress of luxur
y as well as of superstition, red was dedicated by some to Mars, and white by o
thers to the Zephyrs, while green was given to Mother Earth, or spring, and azu
re to the sky and sea, or autumn. But as idolatry of every kind is condemned by
 God, that form of it surely shares the condemnation which is offered to the el
ements of nature.

CHAP. X.

    Let us pass on now to theatrical exhibitions, which we have already shown h
ave a common.

84

origin with the circus, and bear like idolatrous designations--even as from the
 first they have borne the name of "Ludi," and equally minister to idols. They
resemble each other also in their pomp, having the same procession to the scene
 of their display from temples and altars, and that mournful profusion of incen
se and blood, with music of pipes and trumpets, all under the direction of the
soothsayer and the undertaker, those two foul masters of funeral rites and sacr
ifices. So as we went on from the origin of the "Ludi" to the circus games, we
shall now direct our course thence to those of the theatre, beginning with the
place of exhibition. At first the theatre was properly a temple of Venus; and,
to speak briefly, it was owing to this that stage performances were allowed to
escape censure, and got a footing in the world. For ofttimes the censors, in th
e interests of morality, put down above all the rising theatres, foreseeing, as
 they did, that there was great danger of their leading to a general profligacy
; so that already, from this accordance of their own people with us, there is a
 witness to the heathen, and in the anticipatory judgment of human knowledge ev
en a confirmation of our views. Accordingly Pompey the Great, less only than hi
s theatre, when he had erected that citadel of all impurities, fearing some tim
e or other censorian condemnation of his memory, superposed on it a temple of V
enus; and summoning by public proclamation the people to its consecration, he c
alled it not a theatre, but a temple, "under which," said he, "we have placed t
iers of seats for viewing the shows." So he threw a veil over a structure on wh
ich condemnation had been often passed, and which is ever to be held in reproba
tion, by pretending that it was a sacred place; and by means of superstition he
 blinded the eyes of a virtuous discipline. But Venus and Bacchus are close all
ies. These two evil spirits are in sworn confederacy with each other, as the pa
trons of drunkenness and lust. So the theatre of Venus is as well the house of
Bacchus: for they properly gave the name of Liberalia also to other theatrical
amusements--which besides being consecrated to Bacchus (as were the Dionysia of
 the Greeks), were instituted by him; and, without doubt, the performances of t
he theatre have the common patronage of these two deities. That immodesty of ge
sture and attire which so specially and peculiarly characterizes the stage are
consecrated to them--the one deity wanton by her sex, the other by his drapery;
 while its services of voice, and song, and lute, and pipe, belong to Apollos,
and Muses, and Minervas, and Mercuries. You will hate, O Christian, the things
whose authors must be the objects of your utter detestation. So we would now ma
ke a remark about the arts of the theatre, about the things also whose authors
in the names we execrate. We know that the names of the dead are nothing, as ar
e their images; but we know well enough, too, who, when images are set up, unde
r these names carry on their wicked work, and exult in the homage rendered to t
hem, and pretend to be divine--none other than spirits accursed, than devils. W
e see, therefore, that the arts also are consecrated to the service of the bein
gs who dwell in the names of their founders; and that things cannot be held fre
e from the taint of idolatry whose inventors have got a place among the gods fo
r their discoveries. Nay, as regards the arts, we ought to have gone further ba
ck, and barred all further argument by the position that the demons, predetermi
ning in their own interests from the first, among other evils of idolatry, the
pollutions of the public shows, with the object of drawing man away from his Lo
rd and binding him to their own service, carried out their purpose by bestowing
 on him the artistic gifts which the shows require. For none but themselves wou
ld have made provision and preparation for the objects they had in view; nor wo
uld they have given the arts to the world by any but those in whose names, and
images, and histories they set up for their own ends the artifice of consecrati
on.

CHAP. XI.

    In fulfilment of our plan, let us now go on to consider the combats. Their
origin is akin to that of the games (ludi). Hence they are kept as either sacre
d or funereal, as they have been instituted in honour of the idol-gods of the n
ations or of the dead. Thus, too, they are called Olympian in honour of Jupiter
, known at Rome as the Capitoline; Nemean, in honour of Hercules; Isthmian, in
honour of Neptune; the rest mortuarii, as belonging to the dead. What wonder, t
hen, if idolatry pollutes the combat-parade with profane crowns, with sacerdota
l chiefs, with attendants belonging to the various colleges, last of all with t
he blood of its sacrifices? To add a completing word about the "place"--in the
common place for the college of the arts sacred to the Muses, and Apollo, and M
inerva, and also for that of the arts dedicated to Mars, they with contest and
sound of trumpet emulate the circus in the arena, which is a real temple--I mea
n of the god whose festivals it celebrates. The gymnastic arts also originated
with their Castors, and Herculeses, and Mercuries.

85

CHAP. XII.

    It remains for us to examine the "spectacle" most noted of all, and in high
est favour. It is called a dutiful service (munus), from its being an office, f
or it bears the name of "officium" as well as "munus." The ancients thought tha
t in this solemnity they rendered offices to the dead; at a later period, with
a cruelty more refined, they somewhat modified its character. For formerly, in
the belief that the souls of the departed were appeased by human blood, they we
re in the habit of buying captives or slaves of wicked disposition, and immolat
ing them in their funeral obsequies. Afterwards they thought good to throw the
veil of pleasure over their iniquity.(1) Those, therefore, whom they had provid
ed for the combat, and then trained in arms as best they could, only that they
might learn to die, they, on the funeral day, killed at the places of sepulture
. They alleviated death by murders. Such is the origin of the "Munus." But by d
egrees their refinement came up to their cruelty; for these human wild beasts c
ould not find pleasure exquisite enough, save in the spectacle of men torn to p
ieces by wild beasts. Offerings to propitiate the dead then were regarded as be
longing to the class of funeral sacrifices; and these are idolatry: for idolatr
y, in fact, is a sort of homage to the departed; the one as well as the other i
s a service to dead men. Moreover, demons have abode in the images of the dead.
 To refer also to the matter of names, though this sort of exhibition has passe
d from honours of the dead to honours of the living, I mean, to quaestorships a
nd magistracies--to priestly offices of different kinds; yet, since idolatry st
ill cleaves to the dignity's name, whatever is done in its name partakes of its
 impurity. The same remark will apply to the procession of the "Munus," as we l
ook at that in the pomp which is connected with these honours themselves; for t
he purple robes, the fasces, the fillets the crowns, the proclamations too, and
 edicts, the sacred feasts of the day before, are not without the pomp of the d
evil, without invitation of demons. What need, then, of dwelling on the place o
f horrors, which is too much even for the tongue of the perjurer? For the amphi
theatre(2) is consecrated to names more numerous and more dire(3) than is the C
apitol itself, temple of all demons as it is. There are as many unclean spirits
 there as it holds men. To conclude with a single remark about the arts which h
ave a place in it, we know that its two sorts of amusement have for their patro
ns Mars and Diana.

CHAP. XIII.

    We have, I think, faithfully carried out our plan of showing in how many di
fferent ways the sin of idolatry clings to the shows, in respect of their origi
ns, their titles, their equipments, their places of celebration, their arts; an
d we may hold it as a thing beyond all doubt, that for us who have twice(4) ren
ounced all idols, they are utterly unsuitable. "Not that an idol is anything,"(
5) as the apostle says, but that the homage they render is to demons, who are t
he real occupants of these consecrated images, whether of dead men or (as they
think) of gods. On this account, therefore, because they have a common source--
for their dead and their deities are one--we abstain from both idolatries. Nor
do we dislike the temples less than the monuments: we have nothing to do with e
ither altar, we adore neither image; we do not offer sacrifices to the gods, an
d we make no funeral oblations to the departed; nay, we do not partake of what
is offered either in the one case or the other, for we cannot partake of God's
feast and the feast of devils.(6) If, then, we keep throat and belly free from
such defilements, how much more do we withhold our nobler parts, our ears and e
yes, from the idolatrous and funereal enjoyments, which are not passed through
the body, but are digested in the very spirit and soul, whose purity, much more
 than that of our bodily organs, God has a right to claim from us.

CHAP. XIV.

    Having sufficiently established the charge of idolatry, which alone ought t
o be reason enough for our giving up the shows, let us now ex abundanti look at
 the subject in another way, for the sake of those especially who keep themselv
es comfortable in the thought that the abstinence we urge is not in so many wor
ds enjoined, as if in the condemnation of the lusts of the world there was not
involved a sufficient declaration against all these amusements. For as there is
 a lust of money, or rank, or eating, or impure enjoyment, or glory, so there i
s also a lust of pleasure. But the show is just a sort of pleasure. I think, th
en, that under the general designation of lusts, pleasures are included; in lik
e manner, under the general idea of pleasures,

86

you have as a specific class the "shows." But we have spoken already of how it
is with the places of exhibition, that they are not polluting in themselves, bu
t owing to the things that are done in them from which they imbibe impurity, an
d then spirt it again on others.

CHAP. XV.

    Having done enough, then, as we have said, in regard to that principal argu
ment, that there is in them all the taint of idolatry--having sufficiently deal
t with that, let us now contrast the other characteristics of the show with the
 things of God. God has enjoined us to deal calmly, gently, quietly, and peacef
ully with the Holy Spirit, because these things are alone in keeping with the g
oodness of His nature, with His tenderness and sensitiveness, and not to vex Hi
m with rage, ill-nature, anger, or grief. Well, how shall this be made to accor
d with the shows? For the show always leads to spiritual agitation, since where
 there is pleasure, there is keenness of feeling giving pleasure its zest; and
where there is keenness of feeling, there is rivalry giving in turn its zest to
 that. Then, too, where you have rivalry, you have rage, bitterness, wrath and
grief, with all bad things which flow from them--the whole entirely out of keep
ing with the religion of Christ. For even suppose one should enjoy the shows in
 a moderate way, as befits his rank, age or nature, still he is not undisturbed
 in mind, without some unuttered movings of the inner man. No one partakes of p
leasures such as these without their strong excitements; no one comes under the
ir excitements without their natural lapses. These lapses, again, create passio
nate desire. If there is no desire, there is no pleasure, and he is chargeable
with trifling who goes where nothing is gotten; in my view, even that is foreig
n to us. Moreover, a man pronounces his own condemnation in the very act of tak
ing his place among those with whom, by his disinclination to be like them, he
confesses he has no sympathy. It is not enough that we do no such things oursel
ves, unless we break all connection also with those who do. "If thou sawest a t
hief," says the Scripture, "thou consentedst with him."(1) Would that we did no
t even inhabit the same world with these wicked men! But though that wish canno
t be realized, yet even now we are separate from them in what is of the world;
for the world is God's, but the worldly is the devil's.

CHAP. XVI.

    Since, then, all passionate excitement is forbidden us, we are debarred fro
m every kind of spectacle, and especially from the circus, where such excitemen
t presides as in its proper element. See the people coming to it already under
strong emotion, already tumultuous, already passion-blind, already agitated abo
ut their bets. The praetor is too slow for them: their eyes are ever rolling as
 though along with the lots in his urn; then they hang all eager on the signal;
 there is the united shout of a common madness. Observe how "out of themselves"
 they are by their foolish speeches. "He has thrown it!" they exclaim; and they
 announce each one to his neighbour what all have seen. I have clearest evidenc
e of their blindness; they do not see what is really thrown. They think it a "s
ignal cloth," but it is the likeness of the devil cast headlong from on high. A
nd the result accordingly is, that they fly into rages, and passions, and disco
rds, and all that they who are consecrated to peace ought never to indulge in.
Then there are curses and reproaches, with no cause of hatred; there are cries
of applause, with nothing to merit them. What are the partakers in all this--no
t their own masters--to obtain of it for themselves? unless, it may be, that wh
ich makes them not their own: they are saddened by another's sorrow, they are g
laddened by another's joy. Whatever they desire on the one hand, or detest on t
he other, is entirely foreign to themselves. So love with them is a useless thi
ng, and hatred is unjust. Or is a causeless love perhaps more legitimate than a
 causeless hatred? God certainly forbids us to hate even with a reason for our
hating; for He commands us to love our enemies. God forbids us to curse, though
 there be some ground for doing so, in commanding that those who curse us we ar
e to bless. But what is more merciless than the circus, where people do not spa
re even their rulers and fellow-citizens? If any of its madnesses are becoming
elsewhere in the saints of God, they will be seemly in the circus too; but if t
hey are nowhere right, so neither are they there.

CHAP. XVII.

    Are we not, in like manner, enjoined to put away from us all immodesty? On
this ground, again, we are excluded from the theatre, which is immodesty's own
peculiar abode, where nothing is in repute but what elsewhere is disreputable.
So the best path to the highest favour of its god is the vileness

87

which the Atellan(1) gesticulates, which the buffoon in woman's clothes exhibit
s, destroying all natural modesty, so that they blush more readily at home than
 at the play, which finally is done from his childhood on the person of the pan
tomime, that he may become an actor. The very harlots, too, victims of the publ
ic lust, are brought upon the stage, their misery increased as being there in t
he presence of their own sex, from whom alone they are wont to hide themselves:
 they are paraded publicly before every age and every rank--their abode, their
gains, their praises, are set forth, and that even in the hearing of those who
should not hear such things. I say nothing about other matters, which it were g
ood to hide away in their own darkness and their own gloomy caves, lest they sh
ould stain the light of day. Let the Senate, let all ranks, blush for very sham
e! Why, even these miserable women, who by their own gestures destroy their mod
esty, dreading the light of day, and the people's gaze, know something of shame
 at least once a year. But if we ought to abominate all that is immodest, on wh
at ground is it right to hear what we must not speak? For all licentiousness of
 speech, nay, every idle word, is condemned by God. Why, in the same way, is it
 right to look on what it is disgraceful to do? How is it that the things which
 defile a man in going out of his mouth, are not regarded as doing so when they
 go in at his eyes and ears--when eyes and ears are the immediate attendants on
 the spirit--and that can never be pure whose servants-in-waiting are impure? Y
ou have the theatre forbidden, then, in the forbidding of immodesty. If, again,
 we despise the teaching of secular literature as being foolishness in God's ey
es, our duty is plain enough in regard to those spectacles, which from this sou
rce derive the tragic or comic play. If tragedies and comedies are the bloody a
nd wanton, the impious and licentious inventors of crimes and lusts, it is not
good even that there should be any calling to remembrance the atrocious or the
vile. What you reject in deed, you are not to bid welcome to in word.

CHAP. XVIII.

    But if you argue that the racecourse is mentioned in Scripture, I grant it
at once. But you will not refuse to admit that the things which are done there
are not for you to look upon: the blows, and kicks, and cuffs, and all the reck
lessness of hand, and everything like that disfiguration of the human countenan
ce, which is nothing less than the disfiguration of God's own image. You will n
ever give your approval to those foolish racing and throwing feats, and yet mor
e foolish leapings; you will never find pleasure in injurious or useless exhibi
tions of strength; certainly you will not regard with approval those efforts af
ter an artificial body which aim at surpassing the Creator's work; and you will
 have the very opposite of complacency in the athletes Greece, in the inactivit
y of peace, feeds up. And the wrestler's art is a devil's thing. The devil wres
tled with, and crushed to death, the first human beings. Its very attitude has
power in it of the serpent kind, firm to hold--tortures to clasp--slippery to g
lide away. You have no need of crowns; why do you strive to get pleasures from
crowns?

CHAP. XIX.

    We shall now see how the Scriptures condemn the amphitheatre. If we can mai
ntain that it is right to indulge in the cruel, and the impious, and the fierce
, let us go there. If we are what we are said to be, let us regale ourselves th
ere with human blood. It is good, no doubt, to have the guilty punished. Who bu
t the criminal himself will deny that? And yet the innocent can find no pleasur
e in another's sufferings: he rather mourns that a brother has sinned so heinou
sly as to need a punishment so dreadful. But who is my guarantee that it is alw
ays the guilty who are adjudged to the wild beasts, or to some other doom, and
that the guiltless never suffer from the revenge of the judge, or the weakness
of the defence, or the pressure of the rack? How much better, then, is it for m
e to remain ignorant of the punishment inflicted on the wicked, lest I am oblig
ed to know also of the good coming to untimely ends--if I may speak of goodness
 in the case at all! At any rate, gladiators not chargeable with crime are offe
red in sale for the games, that they may become the victims of the public pleas
ure. Even in the case of those who are judicially condemned to the amphitheatre
, what a monstrous thing it is, that, in undergoing their punishment, they, fro
m some less serious delinquency, advance to the criminality of manslayers! But
I mean these remarks for heathen. As to Christians, I shall not insult them by
adding another word as to the aversion with which they should regard this sort
of exhibition; though no one is more able than myself to set forth fully the wh
ole subject, unless it be one who is still in the habit

88

of going to the shows. I would rather withal be incomplete than set memory a-wo
rking.(1)

CHAP. XX.

    How vain, then--nay, how desperate--is the reasoning of persons, who, just
because they decline to lose a pleasure, hold out that we cannot point to the s
pecific words or the very place where this abstinence is mentioned, and where t
he servants of God are directly forbidden to have anything to do with such asse
mblies! I heard lately a novel defence of himself by a certain play-lover. "The
 sun," said he, "nay, God Himself, looks down from heaven on the show, and no p
ollution is contracted." Yes, and the sun, too, pours down his rays into the co
mmon sewer without being defiled. As for God, would that all crimes were hid fr
om His eye, that we might all escape judgment! But He looks on robberies too; H
e looks on falsehoods, adulteries, frauds, idolatries, and these same shows; an
d precisely on that account we will not look on them, lest the All-seeing see u
s. You are putting on the same level, O man, the criminal and the judge; the cr
iminal who is a criminal because he is seen, and the Judge who is a Judge becau
se He sees. Are we set, then, on playing the madman outside the circus boundari
es? Outside the gates of the theatre are we bent on lewdness, outside the cours
e on arrogance, and outside the amphitheatre on cruelty, because outside the po
rticoes, the tiers and the curtains, too, God has eyes? Never and nowhere is th
at free from blame which God ever condemns; never and nowhere is it right to do
 what you may not do at all times and in all places. It is the freedom of the t
ruth from change of opinion and varying judgments which constitutes its perfect
ion, and gives it its claims to full mastery, unchanging reverence, and faithfu
l obedience. That which is really good or really evil cannot be ought else. But
 in all things the truth of God is immutable.

CHAP. XXI.

    The heathen, who have not a full revelation of the truth, for they are not
taught of God, hold a thing evil and good as it suits self-will and passion, ma
king that which is good in one place evil in another, and that which is evil in
 one place in another good. So it strangely happens, that the same man who can
scarcely in public lift up his tunic, even when necessity of nature presses him
, takes it off in the circus, as if bent on exposing himself before everybody;
the father who carefully protects and guards his virgin daughter's ears from ev
ery polluting word, takes her to the theatre himself, exposing her to all its v
ile words and attitudes; he, again, who in the streets lays hands on or covers
with reproaches the brawling pugilist, in the arena gives all encouragement to
combats of a much more serious kind; and he who looks with horror on the corpse
 of one who has died under the common law of nature, in the amphitheatre gazes
down with most patient eyes on bodies all mangled and torn and smeared with the
ir own blood; nay, the very man who comes to the show, because he thinks murder
ers ought to suffer for their crime, drives the unwilling gladiator to the murd
erous deed with rods and scourges; and one who demands the lion for every mansl
ayer of deeper dye, will have the staff for the savage swordsman, and rewards h
im with the cap of liberty. Yes and he must have the poor victim back again, th
at he may get a sight of his face--with zest inspecting near at hand the man wh
om he wished torn in pieces at safe distance from him: so much the more cruel h
e if that was not his wish.

CHAP. XXII.

    What wonder is there in it? Such inconsistencies as these are just such as
we might expect from men, who confuse and change the nature of good and evil in
 their inconstancy of feeling and fickleness in judgment. Why, the authors and
managers of the spectacles, in that very respect with reference to which they h
ighly laud the charioteers, and actors, and wrestlers, and those most loving gl
adiators, to whom men prostitute their souls, women too their bodies, slight an
d trample on them, though for their sakes they are guilty of the deeds they rep
robate; nay, they doom them to ignominy and the loss of their rights as citizen
s, excluding them from the Curia, and the rostra, from senatorial and equestria
n rank, and from all other honours as well as certain distinctions. What perver
sity! They have pleasure in those whom yet they punish; they put all slights on
 those to whom, at the same time, they award their approbation; they magnify th
e art and brand the artist. What an outrageous thing it is, to blacken a man on
 account of the very things which make him meritorious in their eyes! Nay, what
 a confession that the things are evil, when their authors, even in highest fav
our, are not without a mark of disgrace upon them!

89

CHAP. XXIII.

    Seeing, then, man's own reflections, even in spite of the sweetness of plea
sure, lead him to think that people such as these should be condemned to a hapl
ess lot of infamy, losing all the advantages connected with the possession of t
he dignities of life, how much more does the divine righteousness inflict punis
hment on those who give themselves to these arts! Will God have any pleasure in
 the charioteer who disquiets so many souls, rouses up so many furious passions
, and creates so many various moods, either crowned like a priest or wearing th
e colours of a pimp,decked out by the devil that he may be whirled away in his
chariot, as though with the object of taking off Elijah? Will He be pleased wit
h him who applies the razor to himself, and completely changes his features; wh
o, with no respect for his face, is not content with making it as like as possi
ble to Saturn and Isis and Bacchus, but gives it quietly over to contumelious b
lows, as if in mockery of our Lord? The devil, forsooth, makes it part, too, of
 his teaching, that the cheek is to be meekly offered to the smiter. In the sam
e way, with their high shoes, he has made the tragic actors taller, because "no
ne can add a cubit to his stature."(1) His desire is to make Christ a liar. And
 in regard to the wearing of masks, I ask is that according to the mind of God,
 who forbids the making of every likeness, and especially then the likeness of
man who is His own image? The Author of truth hates all the false; He regards a
s adultery all that is unreal. Condemning, therefore, as He does hypocrisy in e
very form, He never will approve any putting on of voice, or sex, or age; He ne
ver will approve pretended loves, and wraths, and groans, and tears. Then, too,
 as in His law it is declared that the man is cursed who attires himself in fem
ale garments,(2) what must be His judgment of the pantomime, who is even brough
t up to play the woman ! And will the boxer go unpunished? I suppose he receive
d these caestus-scars, and the thick skin of his fists, and these growths upon
his ears, at his creation! God, too, gave him eyes for no other end than that t
hey might be knocked out in fighting! I say nothing of him who, to save himself
, thrusts another in the lion's way, that he may not be too little of a murdere
r when he puts to death that very same man on the arena.

CHAP. XXIV.

In how many other ways shall we yet further

show that nothing which is peculiar to the shows has God's approval, or without
 that approval is becoming in God's servants? If we have succeeded in making it
 plain that they were instituted entirely for the devil's sake, and have been g
ot up entirely with the devil's things (for all that is not God's, or is not pl
easing in His eyes, belongs to His wicked rival), this simply means that in the
m you have that pomp of the devil which in the "seal" of our faith we abjure. W
e should have no connection with the things which, we abjure, whether in deed o
r word, whether by looking on them or looking forward to them; but do we not ab
jure and rescind that baptismal pledge, when we cease to bear its testimony? Do
es it then remain for us to apply to the heathen themselves. Let them tell us,
then, whether it is right in Christians to frequent the show. Why, the rejectio
n of these amusements is the chief sign to them that a man has adopted the Chri
stian faith. If any one, then, puts away the faith's distinctive badge, he is p
lainly guilty of denying it. What hope can you possibly retain in regard to a m
an who does that? When you go over to the enemy's camp, you throw down your arm
s, desert the standards and the oath of allegiance to your chief: you cast in y
our lot for life or death with your new friends.

CHAP. XXV.

    Seated where there is nothing of God, will one be thinking of his Maker? Wi
ll there be peace in his soul when there is eager strife there for a charioteer
? Wrought up into a frenzied excitement, will he learn to be modest? Nay, in th
e whole thing he will meet with no greater temptation than that gay attiring of
 the men and women. The very intermingling of emotions, the very agreements and
 disagreements with each other in the bestowment of their favours, where you ha
ve such close communion, blow up the sparks of passion. And then there is scarc
e any other object in going to the show, but to see and to be seen. When a trag
ic actor is declaiming, will one be giving thought to prophetic appeals? Amid t
he measures of the effeminate player, will he call up to himself a psalm? And w
hen the athletes are hard at struggle, will he be ready to proclaim that there
must be no striking again? And with his eye fixed on the bites of bears, and th
e sponge-nets of the net-fighters, can he be moved by compassion? May God avert
 from His people any such passionate eagerness after a cruel enjoyment! For how
 monstrous it is to go from God's church to the devil's--from

90

the sky to the stye,(1) as they say; to raise your hands to God, and then to we
ary them in the applause of an actor; out of the mouth, from which you uttered
Amen over the Holy Thing, to give witness in a gladiator's favour; to cry "fore
ver" to any one else but God and Christ!

CHAP. XXVI.

    Why may not those who go into the temptations of the show become accessible
 also to evil spirits? We have the case of the woman--the Lord Himself is witne
ss--who went to the theatre, and came back possessed. In the outcasting,(2) acc
ordingly, when the unclean creature was upbraided with having dared to attack a
 believer, he firmly replied,(3) "And in truth I did it most righteously, for I
 found her in my domain." Another case, too, is well known, in which a woman ha
d been hearing a tragedian, and on the very night she saw in her sleep a linen
cloth--the actor's name being mentioned at the same time with strong disapprova
l--and five days after that woman was no more. How many other undoubted proofs
we have had in the case of persons who, by keeping company with the devil in th
e shows, have fallen from the Lord! For no one can serve two masters.(4) What f
ellowship has light with darkness, life with death?(5)

CHAP. XXVII.

    We ought to detest these heathen meetings and assemblies, if on no other ac
count than that there God's name is blasphemed--that there the cry "To the lion
s!" is daily raised against us(6)--that from thence persecuting decrees are won
t to emanate, and temptations are sent forth. What will you do if you are caugh
t in that heaving tide of impious judgments? Not that there any harm is likely
to come to you from men: nobody knows that you are a Christian; but think how i
t fares with you in heaven. For at the very time the devil is working havoc in
the church, do you doubt that the angels are looking down from above, and marki
ng every man, who speaks and who listens to the blaspheming word, who lends his
 tongue and who lends his ears to the service of Satan against God? Shall you n
ot then shun those tiers where the enemies of Christ assemble, that seat of all
 that is pestilential, and the very super incumbent atmosphere all impure with
wicked cries? Grant that you have there things that are pleasant, things both a
greeable and innocent in themselves; even some things that are excellent. Nobod
y dilutes poison with gall and hellebore: the accursed thing is put into condim
ents well seasoned and of sweetest taste. So, too, the devil puts into the dead
ly draught which he prepares, things of God most pleasant and most acceptable.
Everything there, then, that is either brave, noble, loud-sounding, melodious,
or exquisite in taste, hold it but as the honey drop of a poisoned cake; nor ma
ke so much of your taste for its pleasures, as of the danger you run from its a
ttractions.

CHAP. XXVIII.

    With such dainties as these let the devil's guests be feasted. The places a
nd the times, the inviter too, are theirs. Our banquets, our nuptial joys, are
yet to come. We cannot sit down in fellowship with them, as neither can they wi
th us. Things in this matter go by their turns. Now they have gladness and we a
re troubled. "The world," says Jesus, "shall rejoice; ye shall be sorrowful."(7
) Let us mourn, then, while the heathen are merry, that in the day of their sor
row we may rejoice; lest, sharing now in their gladness, we share then also in
their grief. Thou art too dainty, Christian, if thou wouldst have pleasure in
this life as well as in the next; nay, a fool thou art, if thou thinkest this l
ife's pleasures to be really pleasures. The philosophers, for instance, give th
e name of pleasure to quietness and repose; in that they have their bliss; in t
hat they find entertainment: they even glory in it. You long for the goal, and
the stage, and the dust, and the place of combat! I would have you answer me th
is question: Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die
? For what is our wish but the apostle's, to leave the world, and be taken up i
nto the fellowship of our Lord?(8) You have your joys where you have your longi
ngs.

CHAP. XXIX.

    Even as things are, if your thought is to spend this period of existence in
 enjoyments, how are you so ungrateful as to reckon insufficient, as not thankf
ully to recognize the many and exquisite pleasures God has bestowed upon you? F
or what more delightful

91

than to have God the Father and our Lord at peace with us, than revelation of t
he truth than confession of our errors, than pardon of the innumerable sins of
our past life? What greater pleasure than distaste of pleasure itself, contempt
 of all that the world can give, true liberty, a pure conscience, a contented l
ife, and freedom from all fear of death? What nobler than to tread under foot t
he gods of the nations--to exorcise evil spirits(1)--to perform cures--to seek
divine revealings--to live to God? These are the pleasures, these the spectacle
s that befit Christian men--holy, everlasting, free. Count of these as your cir
cus games, fix your eyes on the courses of the world, the gliding seasons, reck
on up the periods of time, long for the goal of the final consummation, defend
the societies of the churches, be startled at God's signal, be roused up at the
 angel's trump, glory in the palms of martyrdom. If the literature of the stage
 delight you, we have literature in abundance of our own--plenty of verses, sen
tences, songs, proverbs; and these not fabulous, but true; not tricks of art, b
ut plain realities. Would you have also fightings and wrestlings? Well, of thes
e there is no lacking, and they are not of slight account. Behold unchastity ov
ercome by chastity, perfidy slain by faithfulness, cruelty stricken by compassi
on, impudence thrown into the shade by modesty: these are the contests we have
among us, and in these we win our crowns. Would you have something of blood too
? You have Christ's.

CHAP. XXX.

    But what a spectacle is that fast-approaching advent(2) of our Lord, now ow
ned by all, now highly exalted, now a triumphant One! What that exultation of t
he angelic hosts! What the glory of the rising saints! What the kingdom of the
just thereafter! What the city New Jerusalem!(3) Yes, and there are other sight
s: that last day of judgment, with its everlasting issues; that day unlooked fo
r by the nations, the theme of their derision, when the world hoary with age, a
nd all its many products, shall be consumed in one great flame! How vast a spec
tacle then bursts upon the eye! What there excites my admiration? what my deris
ion? Which sight gives me joy? which rouses me to exultation?--as I see so many
 illustrious monarchs, whose reception into the heavens was publicly announced,
 groaning now in the lowest darkness with great Jove himself, and those, too, w
ho bore witness of their exultation; governors of provinces, too, who persecute
d the Christian name, in fires more fierce than those with which in the days of
 their pride they raged against the followers of Christ. What world' s wise men
 besides, the very philosophers, in fact, who taught their followers that God h
ad no concern in ought that is sublunary, and were wont to assure them that eit
her they had no souls, or that they would never return to the bodies which at d
eath they had left, now covered with shame before the poor deluded ones, as one
 fire consumes them! Poets also, trembling not before the judgment-seat of Rhad
amanthus or Minos, but of the unexpected Christ! I shall have a better opportun
ity then of hearing the tragedians, louder-voiced in their own calamity; of vie
wing the play-actors, much more "dissolute" in the dissolving flame; of looking
 upon the charioteer, all glowing in his chariot of fire; of beholding the wres
tlers, not in their gymnasia, but tossing in the fiery billows; unless even the
n I shall not care to attend to such ministers of sin, in my eager wish rather
to fix a gaze insatiable on those whose fury vented itself against the Lord. "T
his," I shall say, "this is that carpenter's or hireling's son, that Sabbath-br
eaker, that Samaritan and devil-possessed! This is He whom you purchased from J
udas! This is He whom you struck with reed and fist, whom you contemptuously sp
at upon, to whom you gave gall and vinegar to drink! This is He whom His discip
les secretly stole away, that it might be said He had risen again, or the garde
ner abstracted, that his lettuces might come to no harm from the crowds of visi
tants!" What quaestor or priest in his munificence will bestow on you the favou
r of seeing and exulting in such things  as these? And yet even now we in a mea
sure have them by faith in the picturings of imagination. But what are the thin
gs which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and which have not so much as dim
ly dawned upon the human heart? Whatever they are, they are nobler, I believe,
than circus, and both theatres,(4) and every race-course.

IV.

THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.(1)

CHAP. I.

    VERY lately it happened thus: while the bounty of our most excellent empero
rs(2) was dispensed in the camp, the soldiers, laurel-crowned, were approaching
. One of them, more a soldier of God, more stedfast than the rest of his brethr
en, who had imagined that they could serve two masters, his head alone uncovere
d, the useless crown in his hand--already even by that peculiarity known to eve
ry one as a Christian--was nobly conspicuous. Accordingly, all began to mark hi
m out, jeering him at a distance, gnashing on him near at hand. The murmur is w
afted to the tribune, when the person had just left the ranks..The tribune at o
nce puts the question to him, Why are you so different in your attire? He decla
red that he had no liberty to wear the crown with the rest. Being urgently aske
d for his reasons, he answered, I am a Christian. O soldier! boasting thyself i
n God. Then the case was considered and voted on; the matter was remitted to a
higher tribunal; the offender was conducted to the prefects. At once he put awa
y the heavy cloak, his disburdening commenced; he loosed from his foot the mili
tary shoe, beginning to stand upon holy ground; a he gave up the sword, which w
as not necessary either for the protection of our Lord; from his hand likewise
dropped the laurel crown; and now, purple-clad with the hope of his own blood,
shod with the preparation of the gospel, girt with the sharper word of God, com
pletely equipped in the apostles' armour, and crowned more worthily with the wh
ite crown of martyrdom, he awaits in prison the largess of Christ. Thereafter a
dverse judgments began to be passed upon his conduct--whether on the part of Ch
ristians I do not know, for those of the heathen are not different--as if he we
re headstrong and rash, and too eager to die, because, in being taken to task a
bout a mere matter of dress, he brought trouble on the bearers of the Name,(4)-
-he, forsooth, alone brave among so many soldier-brethren, he alone a Christian
. It is plain that as they have rejected the prophecies of the Holy Spirit,(5)
they are also purposing the refusal of martyrdom. So they murmur that a peace s
o good and long is endangered for them. Nor do I doubt that some are already tu
rning their back on the Scriptures, are making ready their luggage, are equippe
d for flight from city to city; for that is all of the gospel they care to reme
mber. I know, too, their pastors are lions in peace, deer in the fight. As to t
he questions asked for extorting confessions from us, we shall teach elsewhere.
 Now, as they forth also the objection--But where are we forbidden to be crowne
d?--I shall take this point up, as more suitable to be treated of here, being t
he essence, in fact, of the present contention. So that, on the one hand, the i
nquirers who are ignorant, but anxious, may be instructed; and on the other, th
ose may be refuted who try to vindicate the sin, especially the laurel-crowned
Christians themselves, to whom it is merely a question of debate, as if it migh
t be regarded as either no trespass at all, or at least a doubtful one, because
 it may be made the subject of investigation. That it is neither sinless nor do
ubtful, I shall now, however, show.

94

CHAP. II.
    I affirm that not one of the Faithful has ever a crown upon his head, excep
t at a time of trial. That is the case with all, from catechumens to confessors
 and martyrs,(1) or (as the case may be) deniers. Consider, then, whence the cu
stom about which we are now chiefly inquiring got its authority. But when the q
uestion is raised why it is observed, it is meanwhile evident that it is observ
ed. Therefore that can neither be regarded as no offence, or an uncertain one,
which is perpetrated against a practice which is capable of defence, on the gro
und even of its repute, and is sufficiently ratified by the support of general
acceptance. It is undoubted, so that we ought to inquire into the reason of the
 thing; but without prejudice to the practice, not for the purpose of overthrow
ing it, but rather of building it up, that you may all the more carefully obser
ve it, when you are also satisfied as to its reason. But what sort of procedure
 is it, for one to be bringing into debate a practice, when he has fallen from
it, and to be seeking the explanation of his having ever had it, when he has le
ft it off? Since, although he may wish to seem on this account desirous to inve
stigate it, that he may show that he has not done wrong in giving it up, it is
evident that he nevertheless transgressed previously in its presumptuous observ
ance. If he has done no wrong to-day in accepting the crown he offended before
in refusing it. This treatise, therefore, will not be for those who not in a pr
oper condition for inquiry, but for those who, with the real desire of getting
instruction, bring forward, not a question for debate, but a request for advice
. For it is from this desire that a true inquiry always proceeds; and I praise
the faith which has believed in the duty of complying with the rule, before it
has learned the reason of it. An easy thing it is at once to demand where it is
 written that we should not be crowned. But is it written that we should be cro
wned? Indeed, in urgently demanding the warrant of Scripture in a different sid
e from their own, men prejudge that the support of Scripture ought no less to a
ppear on their part. For if it shall be said that it is lawful to be crowned on
 this ground, that Scripture does not forbid it, it will as validly be retorted
 that just on this ground is the crown unlawful, because the Scripture does not
 enjoin it. What shall discipline do? Shall it accept both things, as if neithe
r were forbidden? Or shall it refuse both, as if neither were enjoined? But "th
e thing which is not forbidden is freely permitted." I should rather say(2) tha
t what has not been freely allowed is forbidden.

CHAP. III.

    And how long shall we draw the saw to and fro through this line, when we ha
ve an ancient practice, which by anticipation has made for us the state, i.e.,
of the question? If no passage of Scripture has prescribed it, assuredly custom
, which without doubt flowed from tradition, has confirmed it. For how can anyt
hing come into use, if it has not first been handed down? Even in pleading trad
ition, written authority, you say, must be demanded. Let us inquire, therefore,
 whether tradition, unless it be written, should not be admitted. Certainly we
shall say that it ought not to be admitted, if no cases of other practices whic
h, without any written instrument, we maintain on the ground of tradition alone
, and the countenance thereafter of custom, affords us any precedent. To deal w
ith this matter briefly, I shall begin with baptism.(3) When we are going to en
ter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and und
er the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and
 his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat a
mpler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then when we are taken
up (as new-born children),(4) we taste first of all a mixture of milk and honey
, and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. We take al
so, in congregations before daybreak, and from the hand of none but the preside
nts, the sacrament of the Eucharist, which the Lord both commanded to be eaten
at meal-times, and enjoined to be taken by all alike.(5) As often as the annive
rsary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours. We count
 fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We rejoice in
 the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday. We feel pained should any w
ine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground. At every forward st
ep and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our our clothes and
shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch,
on


95

seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the
 sign.(1)

CHAP. IV.

    If, for these and other such rules, you insist upon having positive Scriptu
re injunction, you will find none. Tradition will be held forth to you as the o
riginator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their observer. T
hat reason will support tradition, and custom, and faith, you will either yours
elf perceive, or learn from some one who has. Meanwhile you will believe that t
here is some reason to which submission is due. I add still one case more, as i
t will be proper to show you how it was among the ancients also. Among the Jews
, so usual is it for their women to have the head veiled, that they may thereby
 be recognised. I ask in this instance for the law. I put the apostle aside. If
 Rebecca at once drew down her veil, when in the distance she saw her betrothed
, this modesty of a mere private individual could not have made a law, or it wi
ll have made it only for those who have the reason which she had. Let virgins a
lone be veiled, and this when they are coming to be married, and not till they
have recognised their destined husband. If Susanna also, who was subjected to u
nveiling on her trial,(2) furnishes an argument for the veiling of women, I can
 say here also, the veil was a voluntary thing. She had come accused, ashamed o
f the disgrace she had brought on herself, properly concealing her beauty, even
 because now she feared to please. But I should not suppose that, when it was h
er aim to please, she took walks with a veil on in her husband's avenue. Grant,
 now, that she was always veiled. In this particular case, too, or, in fact, in
 that of any other, I demand the dress-law. If I nowhere find a law, it follows
 that tradition has given the fashion in question to custom, to find subsequent
ly (its authorization in) the apostle's sanction, from the true interpretation
of reason. This instances, therefore, will make it sufficiently plain that you
can vindicate the keeping of even unwritten tradition established by custom; th
e proper witness for tradition when demonstrated by long-continued observance.(
3) But even in civil matters custom is accepted as law, when positive legal ena
ctment is wanting; and it is the same thing whether it depends on writing or on
 reason, since reason is, in fact, the basis of law. But, (you say), if reason
is the ground of law, all will now henceforth have to be counted law, whoever b
rings it forward, which shall have reason as its ground.(4) Or do you think tha
t every believer is entitled to originate and establish a law, if only it be su
ch as is agreeable to God, as is helpful to discipline, as promotes salvation,
when the Lord says, "But why do you not even of your own selves judge what is r
ight?"(5) And not merely in regard to a judicial sentence, but in regard to eve
ry decision in matters we are called on to consider, the apostle also says, "If
 of anything you are ignorant, God shall reveal it unto you;"(6) he himself, to
o, being accustomed to afford counsel though he had not the command of the Lord
, and to dictate of himself(7) as possessing the Spirit of God who guides into
all truth. Therefore his advice has, by the warrant of divine reason, become eq
uivalent to nothing less than a divine command. Earnestly now inquire of this t
eacher,(8) keeping intact your regard for tradition, from whomsoever it origina
lly sprang; nor have regard to the author, but to the authority, and especially
 that of custom itself, which on this very account we should revere, that we ma
y not want an interpreter; so that if reason too is God's gift, you may then le
arn, not whether custom has to be followed by you, but why.

CHAP. V.

    The argument for Christian practices becomes all the stronger, when also na
ture, which is the first rule of all, supports them. Well, she is the first who
 lays it down that a crown does not become the head. But I think ours is the Go
d of nature, who fashioned man; and, that he might desire, (appreciate, become
partaker of) the pleasures afforded by His creatures, endowed him with certain
senses, (acting) through members, which, so to speak, are their peculiar instru
ments. The sense of hearing he has planted in the ears; that of sight, lighted
up in the eyes; that of taste, shut up in the mouth; that of smell, wafted into
 the nose; that of touch, fixed in the tips of the fingers. By means of these o
rgans of the outer man doing duty to the inner man, the enjoyments of the divin
e gifts are conveyed by the senses to the soul.(9) What, then, in flowers affor
ds you enjoyment?

96

For it is the flowers of the field which are the peculiar, at least the chief,
material of crowns. Either smell, you say, or colour, or both together. What wi
ll be the senses of colour and smell? Those of seeing and smelling, I suppose.
What members have had these senses allotted to them? The eyes and the nose, if
I am not mistaken. With sight and smell, then, make use of flowers, for these a
re the senses by which they are meant to be enjoyed; use them by means of the e
yes and nose, which are the members to which these senses belong. You have got
the thing from God, the mode of it from the world; but an extraordinary mode do
es not prevent the use of the thing in the common way. Let flowers, then, both
when fastened into each other and tied together in thread and rush, be what the
y are when free, when loose--things to be looked at and smelt. You count it a c
rown, let us say, when you have a bunch of them bound together in a series, tha
t you may carry many at one time that you may enjoy them all at once. Well, lay
 them in your bosom if they are so singularly pure, and strew them on your couc
h if they are so exquisitely soft, and consign them to your cup if they are so
perfectly harmless. Have the pleasure of them in as many ways as they appeal to
 your senses. But what taste for a flower, what sense for anything belonging to
 a crown but its band, have you in the head, which is able neither to distingui
sh colour, nor to inhale sweet perfumes, nor to appreciate softness? It is as m
uch against nature to long after a flower with the head, as it is to crave food
 with the ear, or sound with the nostril. But everything which is against natur
e deserves to be branded as monstrous among all men; but with us it is to be co
ndemned also as sacrilege against God, the Lord and Creator of nature.

CHAP. VI.

    Demanding then a law of God, you have that common one prevailing all over t
he world, engraven on the natural tables to which the apostle too is wont to ap
peal, as when in respect. of the woman's veil he says, "Does not even Nature te
ach you?"(1)--as when to the Romans, affirming that the heathen do by nature th
ose things which the law requires,(2) he suggests both natural law and a law-re
vealing nature. Yes, and also in the first chapter of the epistle he authentica
tes nature, when he asserts that males and females changed among themselves the
 natural use of the creature into that which is unnatural,(3) by way of penal r
etribution for their error. We first of all indeed know God Himself by the teac
hing of Nature, calling Him God of gods, taking for granted that He is good, an
d invoking Him as Judge. Is it a question with you whether for the enjoyment of
 His creatures, Nature should be our guide, that we may not be carried away in
the direction in which the rival of God has corrupted, along with man himself,
the entire creation which had been made over to our race for certain uses, when
ce the apostle says that it too unwillingly became subject to vanity, completel
y bereft of its original character, first by vain, then by base, unrighteous, a
nd ungodly uses? It is thus, accordingly, in the pleasures of the shows, that t
he creature is dishonoured by those who by nature indeed perceive that all the
materials of which shows are got up belong to God, but lack the knowledge to pe
rceive as well that they have all been changed by the devil. But with this topi
c we have, for the sake of our own play-lovers, sufficiently dealt, and that, t
oo, in a work in Greek.(4)

CHAP. VII.

    Let these dealers in crowns then recognize in the meantime the authority of
 Nature, on the ground of a common sense as human beings, and the certification
s of their peculiar religion, as, according to the last chapter, worshippers of
 the God of nature; and, as it were, thus over and above what is required, let
them consider those other reasons too which forbid us wearing crowns, especiall
y on the head, and indeed crowns of every sort. For we are obliged to turn from
 the rule of Nature, which we share with mankind in general, that we may mainta
in the whole peculiarity of our Christian discipline, in relation also to other
 kinds of crowns which seem to have been provided for different uses, as being
composed of different substances, lest, because they do not consist of flowers,
 the use of which nature has indicated (as it does in the case of this military
 laurel one itself), they may be thought not to come Under the prohibition of o
ur sect, since they have escaped any objections of nature. I see, then, that we
 must go into the matter both with more research, and more fully, from its begi
nnings on through its successive stages Of growth to its more erratic developme
nts. For this we need to turn to heathen literature, for things belonging to th
e heathen must be proved from their own

97

documents. The little of this I have acquired, will, I believe, be enough. If t
here really was a Pandora, whom Hesiod mentions as the first of women, hers was
 the first head the graces crowned, for she received gifts from all the gads wh
ence she got her name Pandora. But Moses, a prophet, not a poet-shepherd, shows
 us the first woman Eve having her loins more naturally girt about with leaves
than her temples with flowers. Pandora, then, is a myth. And so we have to blus
h for the origin of the crown, even on the ground of the falsehood connected wi
th it; and, as will soon appear, on the ground no less of its realities. For it
 is an undoubted fact that certain persons either originated the thing, or shed
 lustre on it. Pherecydes relates that Saturn was the first who wore a crown; D
iodorus, that Jupiter, after conquering the Titans, was honoured with this gift
 by the rest of the gods. To Priapus also the same author assigns fillets; and
to Ariadne a garland of gold and of Indian gems, the gift of Vulcan, afterwards
 of Bacchus, and subsequently turned into a constellation. Callimachus has put
a vine crown upon Juno. So too at Argos, her statue, vine-wreathed, with a lion
's skin placed beneath her feet, exhibits the stepmother exulting over the spoi
ls of her two step-sons. Hercules displays upon his head sometimes poplar, some
times wild-olive, sometimes parsley. You have the tragedy of Cerberus; you have
 Pindar; and besides Callimachus, who mentions that Apollo, too when he had kil
led the Delphic serpent, as a suppliant, put on a laurel garland; for among the
 ancients suppliants were wont to be crowned. Harpocration argues that Bacchus
the same as Osiris among the Egyptians, was designedly crowned with ivy, becaus
e it is the nature of ivy to protect the brain against drowsiness. But that in
another way also Bacchus was the originator of the laurel crown (the crown) in
which he celebrated his triumph over the Indians, even the rabble acknowledge,
when they call the days dedicated to him the "great crown." If you open, again,
 the writings of the Egyptian Leo, you learn that Isis was the first who discov
ered and wore ears of corn upon her head--a thing more suited to the belly. Tho
se who want additional information will find an ample exposition of the subject
 in Claudius Saturninus, a writer of distinguished talent who treats this quest
ion also, for he has a book on crowns, so explaining their beginnings as well a
s causes, and kinds, and rites, that you find all that is charming in the flowe
r, all that is beautiful in the leafy branch, and every sod or vine-shoot has b
een dedicated to some head or other; making it abundantly clear how foreign to
us we should judge the custom of the crowned head, introduced as it was by, and
 thereafter constantly managed for the honour of, those whom the world has beli
eved to be gods. If the devil, a liar from the beginning, is even in this matte
r working for his false system of godhead (idolatry), he had himself also witho
ut doubt provided for his god-lie being carried out. What sort of thing, then,
must that be counted among the people of the true God, which was brought in by
the nations in honour of the devil's candidates, and was set apart from the beg
inning to no other than these; and which even then received its consecration to
 idolatry by idols and in idols yet alive? Not as if an idol were anything, but
 since the things which others offer up to idols belong to demons. But if the t
hings which others offer to them belong to demons how much more what idols offe
red to themselves, when they were in life! The demons themselves, doubtless, ha
d made provision for themselves by means of those whom they had possessed, whil
e in a state of desire and craving, before provision had been actually made.

CHAP. VIII.

    Hold fast in the meantime this persuasion, while I examine a question which
 comes in our way. For I already hear it is said, that many other things as wel
l as crowns have been invented by those whom the world believes to be gods, and
 that they are notwithstanding to be met with both in our present usages and in
 those of early saints, and in the service of God, and in Christ Himself, who d
id His work as man by no other than these ordinary instrumentalities of human l
ife. Well, let it be so; nor shall I inquire any further back into the origin o
f this things. Let Mercury have been the first who taught the knowledge of lett
ers; I will own that they are requisite both for the business and commerce of l
ife, and for performing our devotion to God. Nay, if he also first strung the c
hord to give forth melody, I will not deny, when listening to David, that this
invention has been in use with the saints, and has ministered to God. Let AEscu
lapius have been the first who sought and discovered cures: Esaias(1) mentions
that he ordered Hezekiah medicine when he was sick. Paul, too, knows that a lit
tle wine does the stomach good.(2) Let Minerva have been the first who built a
ship: I shall see Jonah and the apostles sailing. Nay, there is more than this:
 for even Christ, we shall find, has ordinary rai-

98

ment; Paul, too, has his cloak.(1) If at once, of every article of furniture an
d each household vessel, you name some god of the world as the originator, well
, I must recognise Christ, both as He reclines on a couch, and when He presents
 a basin for the feet of His disciples, and when He pours water into it from a
ewer, and when He is girt about with a linen towel(2)--a garment specially sacr
ed to Osiris. It is thus in general I reply upon the point, admitting indeed th
at we use along with others these articles, but challenging that this be judged
 in the light of the distinction between things agreeable and things opposed to
 reason, because the promiscuous employment of them is deceptive, concealing th
e corruption of the creature, by which it has been made subject to vanity. For
we affirm that those things only are proper to be used, whether by ourselves or
 by those who lived before us, and alone befit the service of God and Christ Hi
mself, which to meet the necessities of human life supply what is simply; usefu
l and affords real assistance and honourable comfort, so that they may be well
believed to have come from God's own inspiration, who first of all no doubt pro
vided for and taught and ministered to the enjoyment, I should suppose, of His
own man. As for the things which are out of this class, they are not fit to be
used among us, especially those which on that account indeed are not to be foun
d either with the world, or in the ways of Christ.

CHAP. IX.

    In short, what patriarch, what prophet, what Levite, or priest, or ruler, o
r at a later period what apostle, or preacher of the gospel, or bishop, do you
ever find the wearer of a crown?(3) I think not even the temple of God itself w
as crowned; as neither was the ark of the testament, nor the tabernacle of witn
ess, nor the altar, nor the candlestick crowned though certainly, both on that
first solemnity of the dedication, and in that second rejoicing for the restora
tion, crowning would have been most suitable if it were worthy of God. But if t
hese things were figures of us (for we are temples of God, and altars, and ligh
ts, and sacred vessels), this too they in figure set forth, that the people of
God ought not to be crowned. The reality must always correspond with the image.
 If, perhaps, you object that Christ Himself was crowned, to that you will get
the brief reply: Be you too crowned, as He was; you have full permission. Yet e
ven that crown of insolent ungodliness was not of any decree of the Jewish peop
le. It was a device of the Roman soldiers, taken from the practice of the world
,--a practice which the people of God never allowed either on the occasion of p
ublic rejoicing or to gratify innate luxury: so they returned from the Babyloni
sh captivity with timbrels, and flutes, and psalteries, more suitably than with
 crowns; and after eating and drinking, uncrowned, they rose up to play. Neithe
r would the account of the rejoicing nor the exposure of the luxury have been s
ilent touching the honour or dishonour of the crown. Thus too Isaiah, as he say
s, "With timbrels, and psalteries, and flutes they drink wine,"(4) would have a
dded "with crowns," if this practice had ever had place in the things of God.

CHAP. X.

    So, when you allege that the ornaments of the heathen deities are found no
less with God, with the object of claiming among these for general use the head
-crown, you already lay it down for yourself, that we must not have among us, a
s a thing whose use we are to share with others, what is not to be found in the
 service of God. Well, what is so unworthy of God indeed as that which is worth
y of an idol? But what is so worthy of an idol as that which is also worthy of
a dead man? For it is the privilege of the dead also to be thus crowned, as the
y too straightway become idols, both by their dress and the service of deificat
ion, which (deification) is with us a second idolatry. Wanting, then, the sense
, it will be theirs to use the thing for which the sense is wanting, just as if
 in full possession of the sense they wished to abuse it. When there ceases to
be any reality in the use, there is no distinction between using and abusing. W
ho can abuse a thing, when the precipient nature with which he wishes to carry
out his purpose is not his to use it? The apostle, moreover, forbids us to abus
e, while he would more naturally have taught us not to use, unless on the groun
d that, where there is no sense for things, there is no wrong use of them. But
the whole affair is meaningless, and is, in fact, a dead work so far as concern
s the idols; though, without doubt, a living one as respects the demons(5) to w
hom the religious rite belongs. "The idols of the heathen," says David, "are si
lver and gold." "They have eyes, and see not; a nose, and

99

smell not; hands, and they will not handle."(1) By means of these organs, indee
d, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will b
e like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adorn
ings. "To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure
are impure;"(2) but nothing is more impure than idols. The substances are thems
elves as creatures of God without impurity, and in this their native state are
free to the use of all; but the ministries to which in their use they are devot
ed, makes all the difference; for I, too, kill a cock for myself, just as Socra
tes did for Aesculapius; and if the smell of some place or other offends me, I
burn the Arabian product myself, but not with the same ceremony, nor in the sam
e dress, nor with the same pomp, with which it is done to idols.(3) If the crea
ture is defiled by a mere word, as the apostle teaches, "But if any one say, Th
is is offered in sacrifice to idols, you must not touch it,"(4) much more when
it is polluted by the dress, and rites, and pomp of what is offered to the gods
. Thus the crown also is made out to be an offering to idols;(5) for with this
ceremony, and dress, and pomp, it is presented in sacrifice to idols, its origi
nators, to whom its use is specially given over, and chiefly on this account, t
hat what has no place among the things of God may not be admitted into use with
 us as with others. Wherefore the apostle exclaims, "Flee idolatry:"(6) certain
ly idolatry whole and entire he means. Reflect on what a thicket it is, and how
 many thorns lie hid in it. Nothing must be given to an idol, and so nothing mu
st be taken from one. If it is inconsistent with faith to recline in an idol te
mple, what is it to appear in an idol dress? What communion have Christ and Bel
ial? Therefore flee from it; for he enjoins us to keep at a distance from idola
try--to have no close dealings with it of any kind. Even an earthly serpent suc
ks in men at some distance with its breath. Going still further, John says, "My
 little children, keep yourselves from idols,"(7)--not now from idolatry, as if
 from the service of it, but from idols--that is, from any resemblance to them:
 for it is an unworthy thing that you, the image of the living God, should beco
me the likeness of an idol and a dead man. Thus far we assert, that this attire
 belongs to idols, both from the history of its origin, and from its use by fal
se religion; on this ground, besides, that while it is not mentioned as connect
ed with the worship of God, it is more and more given over to those in whose an
tiquities, as well as festivals and services, it is found. In a word, the very
doors, the very victims and altars, the very servants and priests, are crowned.
 You have, in Claudius, the crowns of all the various colleges of priests. We h
ave added also that distinction between things altogether different from each o
ther--things, namely, agreeable, and things contrary to reason--in answer to th
ose who, because there happens to be the use of some things in common, maintain
 the right of participation in all things. With reference to this part of the s
ubject, therefore, it now remains that the special grounds for wearing crowns s
hould be examined, that while we show these to be foreign, nay, even opposed to
 our Christian discipline, we may demonstrate that none of them have any plea o
f reason to support it, on the basis of which this article of dress might be vi
ndicated as one in whose use we can participate, as even some others may whose
instances are cast up to us.

CHAP. XI.

    To begin with the real ground of the military crown, I think we must first
inquire whether warfare is proper at all for Christians. What sense is there in
 discussing the merely accidental, when that on which it rests is to be condemn
ed? Do we believe it lawful for a human oath(8) to be superadded to one divine,
 for a man to come under promise to another master after Christ, and to abjure
father, mother, and all nearest kinsfolk, whom even the law has commanded us to
 honour and love next to God Himself, to whom the gospel, too, holding them onl
y of less account than Christ, has in like manner rendered honour? Shall it be
held lawful to make an occupation of the sword, when the Lord proclaims that he
 who uses the sword shall perish by the sword? And shall the son of peace take
part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he
 apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is n
ot the avenger even of his own wrongs? Shall he, forsooth, either keep watch-se
rvice for others more than for Christ, or shall he do it on the Lord's day, whe
n he does not even do it for Christ Himself? And shall he keep guard

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before the temples which he has renounced? And shall he take a meal where the a
postle has forbidden him?(1) And shall he diligently protect by night those who
m in the day-time he has put to flight by his exorcisms, leaning and resting on
 the spear the while with which Christ's side was pierced? Shall he carry a fla
g,(2) too, hostile to Christ? And shall he ask a watchword from the emperor who
 has already received one from God? Shall he be disturbed in death by the trump
et of the trumpeter, who expects to be aroused by the angel's trump? And shall
the Christian be burned according to camp rule, when he was not permitted to bu
rn incense to an idol, when to him Christ remitted the punishment of fire? Then
 how many other offences there are involved in the performances of camp offices
, which we must hold to involve a transgression of God's law, you may see by a
slight survey. The very carrying of the name over from the camp of light to the
 camp of darkness is a violation of it. Of course, if faith comes later, and fi
nds any preoccupied with military service, their case is different, as in the i
nstance of those whom John used to receive for baptism, and of those most faith
ful centurions, I mean the centurion whom Christ approves, and the centurion wh
om Peter instructs; yet, at the same time, when a man has become a believer, an
d faith has been sealed, there must be either an immediate abandonment of it, w
hich has been the course with many; or all sorts of quibbling will have to be r
esorted to in order to avoid offending God, and that is not allowed even outsid
e of military service;(3) or, last of all, for God the fate must be endured whi
ch a citizen-faith has been no less ready to accept. Neither does military serv
ice hold out escape from punishment of sins, or exemption from martyrdom. Nowhe
re does the Christian change his character. There is one gospel, and the same J
esus, who will one day deny every one who denies, and acknowledge every one who
 acknowledges God,--who will save, too, the life which has been lost for His sa
ke; but, on the other hand, destroy that which for gain has been saved to His d
ishonour. With Him the faithful citizen is a soldier, just as the faithful sold
ier is a citizen.(4) A state of faith admits no plea of necessity; they are und
er no necessity to sin, whose one necessity is, that they do not sin. For if on
e is pressed to the offering of sacrifice and the sheer denial of Christ by the
 necessity of torture or of punishment, yet discipline does not connive even at
 that necessity; because there is a higher necessity to dread denying and to un
dergo martyrdom, than to escape from suffering, and to render the homage requir
ed. In fact, an excuse of this sort overturns the entire essence of our sacrame
nt, removing even the obstacle to voluntary sins; for it will be possible also
to maintain that inclination is a necessity, as involving in it, forsooth, a so
rt of compulsion. I have, in fact, disposed of this very allegation of necessit
y with reference to the pleas by which crowns connected with official position
are vindicated, in support of which it is in common use, since for this very re
ason offices must be either refused, that we may not fall into acts of sin, or
martyrdoms endured that we may get quit of offices. Touching this primary aspec
t of the question, as to the unlawfulness even of a military life itself, I sha
ll not add more, that the secondary question may be restored to its place. Inde
ed, if, putting my strength to the question, I banish from us the military life
, I should now to no purpose issue a challenge on the matter of the military cr
own. Suppose, then, that the military service is lawful, as far as the plea for
 the crown is concerned.(5)

CHAP. XII.

    But I first say a word also about the crown itself. This laurel one is sacr
ed to Apollo or Bacchus--to the former as the god of archery, to the latter as
the god of triumphs. In like manner Claudius teaches; when he tells us that sol
diers are wont too to be wreathed in myrtle. For the myrtle belongs to Venus, t
he mother of the AEneadae, the mistress also of the god of war, who, through Il
ia and the Romuli is Roman. But I do not believe that Venus is Roman as well as
 Mars, because of the vexation the concubine gave her.(6) When military service
 again is crowned with olive, the idolatry has respect to Minerva, who is equal
ly the goddess of arms--but got a crown of the tree referred to, because of the
 peace she made with Neptune. In these respects, the superstition of the milita
ry garland will be everywhere defiled and all-defiling. And it is further defil
ed, I

101

should think, also in the grounds of it. Lo the yearly public pronouncing of vo
ws, what does that bear on its face to be? It takes place first in the part of
the camp where the general's tent is, and then in the temples. In addition to t
he places, observe the words also: "We vow that you, O Jupiter, will then have
an ox with gold-decorated horns." What does the utterance mean? Without a doubt
 the denial (of Christ). Albeit the Christian says nothing in these places with
 the mouth, he makes his response by having the crown on his head. The laurel i
s likewise commanded (to be used) at the distribution of the largess. So you se
e idolatry is not without its gain, selling, as it does, Christ for pieces of g
old, as Judas did for pieces of silver. Will it be "Ye cannot serve God and mam
mon"(1) to devote your energies to mammon, and to depart from God? Will it be "
Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which
 are God's,"(2) not only not to render the human being to God, but even to take
 the denarius from Caesar? Is the laurel of the triumph made of leaves, or of c
orpses? Is it adorned with ribbons, or with tombs? Is it bedewed with ointments
, or with the tears of wives and mothers? It may be of some Christians too;(3)
for Christ is also among the barbarians.(4) Has not he who has carried (a crown
 for) this cause on his head, fought even against himself? Another son of servi
ce belongs to the royal guards. And indeed crowns are called (Castrenses), as b
elonging to the camp; Munificoe likewise, from the Caesarean functions they per
form. But even then you are still the soldier and the servant of another; and i
f of two masters, of God and Caesar: but assuredly then not of Caesar, when you
 owe yourself to God, as having higher claims, I should think, even in matters
in which both have an interest.

CHAP. XIII.

    For state reasons, the various orders of the citizens also are crowned with
 laurel crowns; but the magistrates besides with golden ones, as at Athens, and
 at Rome. Even to those are preferred the Etruscan. This appellation is given t
o the crowns which, distinguished by their gems and oak leaves of gold, they pu
t on, with mantles having an embroidery of palm branches, to conduct the chario
ts containing the images of the gods to the circus. There are also provincial c
rowns of gold, needing now the larger heads of images instead of those of men.
But your orders, and your magistracies, and your very place of meeting, the chu
rch, are Christ's. You belong to Him, for you have been enrolled in the books o
f life.(6) There the blood of the Lord serves for your purple robe, and your br
oad stripe is His own cross; there the axe is already laid to the trunk of the
tree;(7) there is the branch out of the root of Jesse.(8) Never mind the state
horses with their crown. Your Lord, when, according to the Scripture, He would
enter Jerusalem in triumph, had not even an ass of His own. These (put their tr
ust) in chariots, and these in horses; but we will seek our help in the name of
 the Lord our God.(9) From so much as a dwelling in that Babylon of John's Reve
lation(10) we are called away; much more then from its pomp. The rabble, too, a
re crowned, at one time because of some great rejoicing for the success of the
emperors; at another, on account of some custom belonging to municipal festival
s. For luxury strives to make her own every occasion of public gladness. But as
 for you, you are a foreigner in this world, a citizen of Jerusalem, the city a
bove. Our citizenship, the apostle says, is in heaven.(11) You have your own re
gisters, your own calendar; you have nothing to do with the joys of the world;
nay, you are called to the very opposite, for "the world shall rejoice, but ye
shall mourn."(12) And I think the Lord affirms, that those who mourn are happy,
 not those who are crowned. Marriage, too, decks the bridegroom with its crown;
 and therefore we will not have heathen brides, lest they seduce us even to the
 idolatry with which among them marriage is initiated. You have the law from th
e patriarchs indeed; you have the apostle enjoining people to marry in the Lord
.(13) You have a crowning also on the making of a freeman; but you have been al
ready ransomed by Christ, and that at a great price. How shall the world manumi
t the servant of another? Though it seems to be liberty, yet it will come to be
 found bondage. In the world everything is nominal, and nothing real. For even
then, as ransomed by Christ, you were under no bondage to man; and now, though
man has given you liberty, you are the servant of Christ. If you think freedom
of the world to be real, so that you even seal it with a crown, you have return
ed

102

to the slavery of man, imagining it to be freedom; you have lost the freedom of
 Christ, fancying it is slavery. Will there be any dispute as to the cause of c
rown-wearing, which contests in the games in their turn supply, and which, both
 as sacred to the gods and in honour of the dead, their own reason at once cond
emns? It only remains, that the Olympian Jupiter, and the Nemean Hercules, and
the wretched little Archemorus, and the hapless Antinous, should be crowned in
a Christian, that he himself may become a spectacle disgusting to behold. We ha
ve recounted, as I think, all the various causes of the wearing of the crown, a
nd there is not one which has any place with us: all are foreign to us, unholy,
 unlawful, having been abjured already once for all in the solemn declaration o
f the sacrament. For they were of the pomp of the devil and his angels, offices
 of the world,(1) honours, festivals, popularity huntings, false vows, exhibiti
ons of human servility, empty praises, base glories, and in them all idolatry,
even in respect of the origin of the crowns alone, with which they are all wrea
thed. Claudius will tell us in his preface, indeed, that in the poems of Homer
the heaven also is crowned with constellations, and that no doubt by God, no do
ubt for man; therefore man himself, too, should be crowned by God. But the worl
d crowns brothels, and baths, and bakehouses, and prisons, and schools, and the
 very amphitheatres, and the chambers where the clothes are stripped from dead
gladiators, and the very biers of the dead. How sacred and holy, how venerable
and pure is this article of dress, determine not from the heaven of poetry alon
e, but from the traffickings of the whole world. But indeed a Christian will no
t even dishonour his own gate with laurel crowns, if so be he knows how many go
ds the devil has attached to doors; Janus so-called from gate, Limentinus from
threshold, Forcus and Carna from leaves and hinges; among the Greeks, too, the
Thyraean Apollo, and the evil spirits, the Antelii.

CHAP. XIV.

    Much less may the Christian put the service of idolatry on his own head--na
y, I might have said, upon Christ, since Christ is the Head of the Christian ma
n--(for his head) is as free as even Christ is, under no obligation to wear a c
overnig, not to say a band. But even the head which is bound to have the veil,
I mean woman's, as already taken possession of by this very thing, is not open
also to a band. She has the burden of her own humility to bear. If she ought no
t to appear with her head uncovered on account of the angels,(2) much more with
 a crown on it will she offend those (elders) who perhaps are then wearing crow
ns above.(3) For what is a crown on the head of a woman, but beauty made seduct
ive, but mark of utter wantonness,--a notable casting away of modesty, a settin
g temptation on fire? Therefore a woman, taking counsel from the apostles' fore
sight,(4) will not too elaborately adorn herself, that she may not either be cr
owned with any exquisite arrangement of her hair. What sort of garland, however
, I pray you, did He who is the Head of the man and the glory of the woman, Chr
ist Jesus, the Husband of the church, submit to in behalf of both sexes? Of tho
rns, I think, and thistles,--a figure of the sins which the soil of the flesh b
rought forth for us, but which the power of the cross removed, blunting, in its
 endurance by the head of our Lord, death's every sting. Yes, and besides the f
igure, there is contumely with ready lip, and dishonour, and infamy, and the fe
rocity involved in the cruel things which then disfigured and lacerated the tem
ples of the Lord, that you may now be crowned with laurel, and myrtle, and oliv
e, and any famous branch, and which is of more use, with hundred-leaved roses t
oo, culled from the garden of Midas, and with both kinds of lily, and with viol
ets of all sorts, perhaps also with gems and gold, so as even to rival that cro
wn of Christ which He afterwards obtained. For it was after the gall He tasted
the honeycomb(5) and He was not greeted as King of Glory in heavenly places til
l He had been condemned to the cross as King of the Jews, having first been mad
e by the Father for a time a little less than the angels, and so crowned with g
lory and honour. If for these things, you owe your own head to Him, repay it if
 you can, such as He presented His for yours; or be not crowned with flowers at
 all, if you cannot be with thorns, because you may not be with flowers.

CHAP. XV.

    Keep for God His own property untainted; He will crown it if He choose. Nay
, then, He does even choose. He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, "I
 will give a crown Of life."(6) Be you, too, faithful unto

103

death, and fight you, too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle · feels so j
ustly confident has been laid up for him. The angel(2) also, as he goes forth o
n a white horse, conquering and to conquer, receives a crown of victory; and an
other(3) is adorned with an encircling rainbow (as it were in its fair colours)
--a celestial meadow. In like manner, the elders sit crowned around, crowned to
o with a crown of gold, and the Son of Man Himself flashes out above the clouds
. If such are the appearances in the vision of the seer, of what sort will be t
he realities in the actual manifestation? Look at those crowns. Inhale those od
ours. Why condemn you to a little chaplet, or a twisted headband, the brow whic
h has been destined for a diadem? For Christ Jesus has made us even kings to Go
d and His Father. What have you in common with the flower which is to die? You
have a flower in the Branch of Jesse, upon which the grace of the Divine Spirit
 in all its fulness rested--a flower undefiled, unfading, everlasting, by choos
ing which the good soldier, too, has got promotion in the heavenly ranks. Blush
, ye fellow-soldiers of his, henceforth not to be condemned even by him, but by
 some soldier of Mithras, who, at his initiation in the gloomy cavern, in the c
amp, it may well be said, of darkness, when at the sword's point a crown is pre
sented to him, as though in mimicry of martyrdom, and thereupon put upon his he
ad, is admonished to resist and east it off, and, if you like, transfer it to h
is shoulder, saying that Mithras is his crown. And thenceforth he is never crow
ned; and he has that for a mark to show who he is, if anywhere he be subjected
to trial in respect of his religion; and he is at once believed to be a soldier
 of Mithras if he throws the crown away--if he say that in his god he has his c
rown. Let us take note of the devices of the devil, who is wont to ape some of
God's things with no other design than, by the faithfulness of his servants, to
 put us to shame, and to condemn us.

ELUCIDATIONS.

I.

(Usages, p. 94.)

    HERE a reference to Bunsen's Hippolytus, vol. III., so often referred to in
 the former volume, will be useful. A slight metaphrase will bring out the sens
e, perhaps, of this most interesting portrait of early Christian usages.
    In baptism, we use trine immersion, in honour of the trinal Name, after ren
ouncing the devil and his angels and the pomps and vanities of his kingdom.(1)
But this trinal rite is a ceremonial amplification of what is actually commande
d. It was heretofore tolerated in some places that communicants should take eac
h one his portion, with his own hand, but now we suffer none to receive this sa
crament except at the hand of the minister. By our Lord's own precept and examp
le, it may be received at the hour of ordinary meals, and alike by all the fait
hful whether men or women, yet we usually do this in our gatherings before dayb
reak. Offerings are made in honour of our departed friends, on the anniversarie
s of their deaths, which we esteem their true birthdays, as they are born to a
better life. We kneel at other times, but on the Lord's day, and from the Pasch
al Feast to Pentecost we stand in prayer, nor do we count it lawful to fast on
Sundays. We are concerned if even a particle of the wine or bread, made ours, i
n the Lord's Supper, fails to the ground, by our carelessness. In all the ordin
ary occasions of life we furrow our foreheads with the sign of the Cross, in wh
ich we glory none the less because it is regarded as our shame by the heathen i
n presence of whom it is a profession of our faith.

104

    He owns there is no Scripture for any of these usages, in which there was a
n amplifying of the precepts of Christ. Let us note there was yet no superstiti
ous usage even of this sign of the Cross. It was an act by which, in suffering
"shame for Jesus' name," they fortified themselves against betraying the Master
. It took the place, be it remembered, of innumerable heathen practices, and wa
s a protest against them. It meant--" God forbid that I should glory, save in t
he Cross." I express no personal opinion as to this observance, but give the ex
planation which the early Christians would have given. Tertullian touched with
Montanism, but not yet withdrawn from Catholic Communion, pleads the common cau
se of believers.

II.

(Traditions, cap. iv., p. 95.)
    The traditions here argued for respect things in their nature indifferent.
And as our author asserts the long continuance of such usages to be their chief
 justification, it is evident that he supposed them common from the Sub-apostol
ic age. There is nothing here to justify amplifications and traditions which, s
ubsequently, came in like a flood to change principles of the Faith once delive
red to the Saints. Even in his little plea for Montanistic revelations of some
possible novelties, he pre-supposes that reason must be subject to Scripture an
d Apostolic Law. In a word, his own principle of "Prescription" must be honoure
d even in things indifferent; if novel they are not Catholic.

V.

TO SCAPULA.(1)

[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.]

CHAP. I.

    WE are not in any great perturbation or alarm about the persecutions we suf
fer from the ignorance of men; for we have attached ourselves to this sect, ful
ly accepting the terms of its covenant, so that, as men whose very lives are no
t their own, we engage in these conflicts, our desire being to obtain God's pro
mised rewards, and our dread lest the woes with which He threatens an unchristi
an life should overtake us. Hence we shrink not from the grapple with your utmo
st rage, coming even forth of our own accord to the contest; and condemnation g
ives us more pleas-are than acquittal. We have sent, therefore, this tract to y
ou in no alarm about ourselves, but in much concern for you and for all our ene
mies, to say nothing of our friends. For our religion commands us to love even
our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us, aiming at a perfection all
 its own, and seeking in its disciples something of a higher type than the comm
onplace goodness of the world. For all love those who love them; it is peculiar
 to Christians alone to love those that hate them. Therefore mourning over your
 ignorance, and compassionating human error, and looking on to that future of w
hich every day shows threatening signs, necessity is laid on us to come forth i
n this way also, that we may set before you the truths you will not listen to o
penly.

CHAP. II.

    We are worshippers of one God, of whose existence and character Nature teac
hes all men; at whose lightnings and thunders you tremble, whose benefits minis
ter to your happiness. You think that others, too, are gods, whom we know to be
 devils. However, it is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that
every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man's religion n
either harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to comp
el religion--to which free-will and not force should lead us--the sacrificial v
ictims even being required of a willing mind. You will render no real service t
o your gods by compelling us to sacrifice. For they can have no desire of offer
ings from the unwilling, unless they are animated by a spirit of contention, wh
ich is a thing altogether undivine. Accordingly the true God bestows His blessi
ngs alike on wicked men and on His own elect; upon which account He has appoint
ed an eternal judgment, when both thankful and unthankful will have to stand be
fore His bar. Yet you have never detected us--sacrilegious wretches though you
reckon us to be--in any theft, far less in any sacrilege. But the robbers of yo
ur temples, all of them swear by your gods, and worship them; they are not Chri
stians, and yet it is they who are found guilty of sacrilegious deeds. We have
not time to unfold in how many other ways your gods are mocked and despised by
their own votaries. So, too, treason is falsely laid to our charge, though no o
ne has ever been able to find followers of Albinus, or Niger, or Cassius, among
 Christians; while the very men who had sworn by the genii of the emperors, who
 had offered and vowed sacrifices for their safety, who had often pronounced co
ndemnation on Christ's disciples, are till this day found traitors to the imper
ial throne. A Christian is enemy to none, least of all to the Emperor of Rome,
whom he knows to be appointed by his God, and so cannot but love and honour; an
d whose well-being moreover, he must needs desire, with that of the empire over
 which he reigns so long as the world shall stand--for so long as that shall Ro
me continue.(2) To the emperor, therefore, we render

106

such reverential homage as is lawful for us and good for him; regarding him as
the human being next to God who from God has received all his power, and is les
s than God alone. And this will be according to his own desires. For thus--as l
ess only than the true God--he is greater than all besides. Thus he is greater
than the very gods themselves, even they, too, being subject to him. We therefo
re sacrifice for the emperor's safety, but to our God and his, and after the ma
nner God has enjoined, in simple prayer. For God, Creator of the universe, has
no need of odours or of blood. These things are the food of devils.(1) But we n
ot only reject those wicked spirits: we overcome them; we daily hold them up to
 contempt; we exorcise them from their victims, as multitudes can testify. So a
ll the more we pray for the imperial well-being, as those who seek it at the ha
nds of Him who is able to bestow it. And one would think it must be abundantly
clear to you that the religious system under whose rules we act is one inculcat
ing a divine patience; since, though our numbers are so great--constituting all
 but the majority in every city--we conduct ourselves so quietly and modestly;
I might perhaps say, known rather as individuals than as organized communities,
 and remarkable only for the reformation of our former vices. For far be it fro
m us to take it ill that we have laid on us the very things we wish, or in any
way plot the vengeance at our own hands, which we expect to come from God.

CHAP. III.

    However, as we have already remarked, it cannot but distress us that no sta
te shall bear unpunished the guilt of shedding Christian blood; as you see, ind
eed, in what took place during the presidency of Hilarian, for when there had b
een some agitation about places of sepulture for our dead, and the cry arose, "
No areoe--no burial-grounds for the Christians," it came that their own areoe,(
2) their threshing-floors, were awanting, for they gathered in no harvests. As
to the rains of the bygone year, it is abundantly plain of what they were inten
ded to remind men--of the deluge, no doubt, which in ancient times overtook hum
an unbelief and wickedness; and as to the fires which lately hung all night ove
r the walls of Carthage, they who saw them know what they threatened; and what
the preceding thunders pealed, they who were hardened by them can tell. All the
se things are signs of God's impending wrath, which we must needs publish and p
roclaim in every possible way; and in the meanwhile we must pray it may be only
 local. Sure are they to experience it one day in its universal and final form,
 who interpret otherwise these samples of it. That sun, too, in the metropolis
of Utica,(3) with light all but extinguished, was a portent which could not hav
e occurred from an ordinary eclipse, situated as the lord of day was in his hei
ght and house. You have the astrologers, consult them about it. We can point yo
u also to the deaths of some provincial rulers, who in their last hours had pai
nful memories of their sin in persecuting the followers of Christ.(4) Vigellius
 Saturninus, who first here used the sword against us, lost his eyesight. Claud
ius Lucius Herminianus in Cappadocia, enraged that his wife had become a Christ
ian, had treated the Christians with great cruelty: well, left alone in his pal
ace, suffering under a contagious malady, he boiled out in living worms, and wa
s heard exclaiming, "Let nobody know of it, lest the Christians rejoice, and Ch
ristian wives take encouragement." Afterwards he came to see his error in havin
g tempted so many from their stedfastness by the tortures he inflicted, and die
d almost a Christian himself. In that doom which overtook Byzantium,(3) Caecili
us Capella could not help crying out, "Christians, rejoice!" Yes, and the perse
cutors who seem to themselves to have acted with impunity shall not escape the
day of judgment. For you we sincerely wish it may prove to have been a warning
only, that, immediately after you had condemned Mavilus of Adrumetum to the wil
d beasts, you were overtaken by those troubles, and that even now for the same
reason you are called to a blood-reckoning. But do not forget the future.

CHAP. IV.

    We who are without fear ourselves are not seeking to frighten you, but we w
ould save all men if possible by warning them not to fight with God.(5) You may
 perform the duties of your charge, and yet remember the claims of humanity; if
 on no other ground than that you are liable to punishment yourself, (you ought
 to do so). For is not your commission simply to condemn those who confess thei
r guilt, and to give over to the torture those

107

who deny? You see, then, how you trespass yourselves against your instructions
to wring from the confessing a denial. It is, in fact, an acknowledgment of our
 innocence that you refuse to condemn us at once when we confess. In doing your
 utmost to extirpate us, if that is your object, it is innocence you assail. Bu
t how many rulers, men more resolute and more cruel than you are, have contrive
d to get quit of such causes altogether,--as Cincius Severus, who himself sugge
sted the remedy at Thysdris, pointing out how the Christians should answer that
 they might secure an acquittal; as Vespronius Candidus, who dismissed from his
 bar a Christian, on the ground that to satisfy his fellow-citizens would break
 the peace of the community; as Asper, who, in the case of a man who gave up hi
s faith under slight infliction of the torture, did not compel the offering of
sacrifice, having owned before, among the advocates and assessors of court, tha
t he was annoyed at having had to meddle with such a case. Pudens, too, at once
 dismissed a Christian who was brought before him, perceiving from the indictme
nt that it was a case of vexatious accusation; tearing the document in pieces,
he refused so much as to hear him without the presence of his accuser, as not b
eing consistent with the imperial commands. All this might be officially brough
t Under your notice, and by the very advocates, who are themselves also under o
bligations to us, although in court they give their voice as it suits them. The
 clerk of one of them who was liable to be thrown upon the ground by an evil sp
irit, was set free from his affliction; as was also the relative of another, an
d the little boy of a third. How many men of rank (to say nothing of common peo
ple) have been delivered from devils, and healed of diseases! Even Severus hims
elf, the father of Antonine, was graciously mindful of the Christians; for he s
ought out the Christian Proculus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of Euhodias,
and in gratitude for his having once cured him by anointing, he kept him in his
 palace till the day of his death.(1) Antonine, too, brought up as he was on Ch
ristian milk, was intimately acquainted with this man. Both women and men of hi
ghest rank, whom Severus knew well to be Christians, were not merely permitted
by him to remain uninjured; but he even bore distinguished testimony in their f
avour, and gave them publicly back to us from the hands of a raging populace. M
arcus Aurelius also, in his expedition to Germany, by the prayers his Christian
 soldiers offered to God, got rain in that well-known thirst.(2) When, indeed,
have not droughts been put away by our kneelings and our fastings? At times lik
e these, moreover, the people crying to "the God of gods, the alone Omnipotent,
" under the name of Jupiter, have borne witness to our God. Then we never deny
the deposit placed in our hands; we never pollute the marriage bed; we deal fai
thfully with our wards; we give aid to the needy; we render to none evil for ev
il. As for those who falsely pretend to belong to us, and whom we, too, repudia
te, let them answer for themselves. In a word, who has complaint to make agains
t us on other grounds? To what else does the Christian devote himself, save the
 affairs of his own community, which during all the long period of its existenc
e no one has ever proved guilty of the incest or the cruelty charged against it
? It is for freedom from crime so singular, for a probity so great, for righteo
usness, for purity, for faithfulness, for truth, for the living God, that we ar
e consigned to the flames; for this is a punishment you are not wont to inflict
 either on the sacrilegious, or on undoubted public enemies, or on the treason-
tainted, of whom you have so many. Nay, even now our people are enduring persec
ution from the governors of Legio and Mauritania; but it is only with the sword
, as from the first it was ordained that we should suffer. But the greater our
conflicts, the greater our rewards.

CHAP. V.

    Your cruelty is our glory. Only see you to it, that in having such things a
s these to endure, we do not feel ourselves constrained to rush forth to the co
mbat, if only to prove that we have no dread of them, but on the contrary, even
 invite their infliction. When Arrius Antoninus was driving things hard in Asia
, the whole Christians of the province, in one united band, presented themselve
s before his judgment-seat; on which, ordering a few to be led forth to executi
on, he said to the rest, "O miserable men, if you wish to die, you have precipi
ces or halters." If we should take it into our heads to do the same thing here,
 what will you make of so many thousands, of such a multitude of men and women,
 persons of every sex and every age and every rank, when they present themselve
s before you? How many fires, how many swords will be required? What will be th
e anguish of Carthage itself, which you will have to decimate,(3) as each one r
ecognises there his rela-

108

tives and companions, as he sees there it may be men of your own order, and nob
le ladies, and all the leading persons of the city, and either kinsmen or frien
ds of those of your own circle? Spare thyself, if not us poor Christians! Spare
 Carthage, if not thyself! Spare the province, which the indication of your pur
pose has subjected to the threats and extortions at once of the soldiers and of
 private enemies.
    We have no master but God. He is before you, and cannot be hidden from you,
 but to Him you can do no injury. But those whom you regard as masters are only
 men, and one day they themselves must die. Yet still this community will be un
dying, for be assured that just in the time of its seeming overthrow it is buil
t up into greater power. For all who witness the noble patience of its martyrs,
 as struck with misgivings, are inflamed with desire to examine into the matter
 in question;(1) and as soon as they come to know the truth, they straightway e
nrol themselves its disciples.

ELUCIDATIONS.

I.

(Scapula, cap. i., p. 105.)
    SCAPULA was Proconsul of Carthage, and though its date is conjectural (A.D.
 217), this work gives valuable indices of its time and circumstances. It was c
omposed after the death of Severus, to whom there is an allusion in chapter iv.
, after the destruction of Byzantium (A.D. 196), to which there is a reference
in chapter iii.; and Dr. Allix suggests, after the dark day of Utica (A.D. 210)
 which he supposes to be referred to in the same chapter. Cincius Severus, who
is mentioned in chapter iv., was put to death by Severus, A.D. 198.

II.

(Caractacus, cap. ii., note 2, p. 105.)
    Mr. Lewin (St. Paul, ii. 397), building on the fascinating theory of Archde
acon Williams, thinks St. Paul's Claudia (Qu. Gladys?) may very well have been
the daughter of Caradoc, with whose noble character we are made acquainted by T
acitus. (Annals xii. 36.) And Archdeacon Williams gives us very strong reason t
o believe he was a Christian. He may very well have lived to behold the Coliseu
m completed. What more natural then, in view of the cruelty against Christians
there exercised, for the expressions with which he is credited? In this case hi
s words contain an eloquent ambiguity, which Christians would appreciate, and w
hich may have been in our author's mind when he says--"quousque saeculum stabit
." To those who looked for the Second Advent, daily, this did not mean what the
 heathen might suppose.
    Bede's version of the speech (See Du Cange, II., 407.,) is this: "Quandiu s
tabit Colyseus--stabit et Roma: Quando cadet Colysevs--cadet et Roma: Quando ca
det Roma--cadet et mundus."

VI.

AD NATIONES.(1)

[TRANSLATED BY DR. HOLMES.]

CHAP. I.(2)--THE HATRED FELT BY THE HEATHEN AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS IS UNJUST, B
ECAUSE BASED ON CULPABLE IGNORANCE.

    ONE proof of that ignorance of yours, which condemns(3) whilst it excuses(4
) your injustice, is at once apparent in the fact, that all who once shared in
your ignorance and hatred (of the Christian religion), as soon as they have com
e to know it, leave off their hatred when they cease to be ignorant; nay more,
they actually themselves become what they had hated, and take to hating what th
ey had once been. Day after day, indeed, you groan over the increasing number o
f the Christians. Your constant cry is, that the state is beset (by us); that C
hristians are in your fields, in your camps, in your islands. You grieve over i
t as a calamity, that each sex, every age--in short, every rank--is passing ove
r from you to us; yet you do not even after this set your minds upon reflecting
 whether there be not here some latent good. You do not allow yourselves in sus
picions which may prove too true,(5) nor do you like ventures which may be too
near the mark.(6) This is the only instance in which human curiosity grows torp
id. You love to be ignorant of what other men rejoice to have discovered; you w
ould rather not know it, because you now cherish your hatred as if you were awa
re that, (with the knowledge,) your hatred would certainly come to an end. Stil
l,(7) if there shall be no just ground for hatred, it will surely be found to b
e the best course to cease from the past injustice. Should, however, a cause ha
ve really existed there will be no diminution of the hatred, which will indeed
accumulate so much the more in the consciousness of its justice; unless it be,
forsooth,(8) that you are ashamed to cast off your faults,(9) or sorry to free
yourselves from blame.(10) I know very well with what answer you usually meet t
he argument from our rapid increase.(11) That indeed must not, you say, be hast
ily accounted a good thing which converts a great number of persons, and gains
them over to its side. I am aware how the mind is apt to take to evil courses.
How many there are which forsake virtuous living! How many seek refuge in the o
pposite! Many, no doubt;(12) nay, very many, as the last days approach.(13) But
 such a comparison as this fails in fairness of application; for all are agreed
 in thinking thus of the evil-doer, so that not even the guilty themselves, who
 take the wrong side, and turn away from the pursuit of good to perverse ways,
are bold enough to defend evil as good.(14) Base things excite their fear, impi
ous ones their shame. In short, they are eager for concealment, they shrink fro
m publicity, they tremble when caught; when accused, they deny; even when tortu
red, they do not readily or invariably confess (their crime); at all events,(15
) they grieve when they are condemned. They reproach themselves for their past
life; their change from innocence to an evil disposition they even attribute to
 fate. They cannot say that it is not a wrong thing, therefore they will not ad
mit it to be their own act. As for the Christians, however, in what does their
case resemble this? No one is ashamed; no one is sorry, except for his former (
sins).(16) If he is pointed

110

at (for his religion), he glories in it; if dragged to trial, he does not resis
t; if accused, he makes no defence. When questioned, he confesses; when condemn
ed, he rejoices. What sort of evil is this, in which the nature of evil comes t
o a standstill?(1)

CHAP. II.(2)--THE HEATHEN PERVERTED JUDGMENT IN THE TRIAL OF CHRISTIANS. THEY W
OULD BE MORE CONSISTENT IF THEY DISPENSED WITH ALL FORM OF TRIAL. TERTULLIAN UR
GES THIS WITH MUCH INDIGNATION.

    In this case you actually(3) conduct trials contrary to the usual form of j
udicial process against criminals; for when culprits are brought up for trial,
should they deny the charge, you press them for a confession by tortures. When
Christians, however, confess without compulsion, you aply the torture to induce
 them to deny. What great perverseness is this, when you stand out against conf
ession, and change the use of the torture, compelling the man who frankly ackno
wledges the charge(4) to evade it, and him who is unwilling, to deny it? You, w
ho preside for the purpose of extorting truth, demand falsehood from us alone t
hat we may declare ourselves not to be what we are. I suppose you do not want u
s to be bad men, and therefore you earnestly wish to exclude us from that chara
cter. To be sure,(5) you put others on the rack and the gibbet, to get them to
deny what they have the reputation of being. Now, when they deny (the charge ag
ainst them), you do not believe them but on our denial, you instantly believe u
s. If you feel sure that we are the most injurious of men, why, even in process
es against us, are we dealt with by you differently from other offenders? I do
not mean that you make no account of(6) either an accusation or a denial (for y
our practice is not hastily to condemn men without an indictment and a defence)
; but, to take an instance in the trial of a murderer, the case is not at once
ended, or the inquiry satisfied, on a man's confessing himself the murderer. Ho
wever complete his confession,(7) you do not readily believe him; but over and
above this, you inquire into accessory circumstances--how often had he committe
d murder; with what weapons, in what place, with what plunder, accomplices, and
 abettors after the fact(8) (was the crime perpetrated)--to the end that nothin
g whatever respecting the criminal might escape detection, and that every means
 should be at hand for arriving at a true verdict. In our case, on the contrary
,(9) whom you believe to be guilty of more atrocious and numerous crimes, you f
rame your indictments(10) in briefer and lighter terms. I suppose you do not ca
re to load with accusations men whom you earnestly wish to get rid of, or else
you do not think it necessary to inquire into matters which are known to you al
ready. It is, however, all the more perverse that you compel us to deny charges
 about which you have the clearest evidence. But, indeed,(11) how much more con
sistent were it with your hatred of us to dispense with all forms of judicial p
rocess, and to strive with all your might not to urge us to say "No," and so ha
ve to acquit the objects of your hatred; but to confess all and singular the cr
imes laid to our charge, that your resentments might be the better glutted with
 an accumulation of our punishments, when it becomes known how many of those fe
asts each one of us may have celebrated, and how many incests we may have commi
tted under cover of the night! What am I saying? Since your researches for root
ing out our society must needs be made on a wide scale, you ought to extend you
r inquiry against our friends and companions. Let our infanticides and the dres
sers (of our horrible repasts) be brought out,--ay, and the very dogs which min
ister to our (incestuous) nuptials;(12) then the business (of our trial) would
be without a fault. Even to the crowds which throng the spectacles a zest would
 be given; for with how much greater eagerness would they resort to the theatre
, when one had to fight in the lists who had devoured a hundred babies! For sin
ce such horrid and monstrous crimes are reported of us, they ought, of course,
to be brought to light, lest they should seem to be incredible, and the public
detestation of us should begin to cool. For most persons are slow to believe su
ch things,(13) feeling a horrible disgust at supposing that our nature could ha
ve an appetite

111

for the food of wild beasts, when it has precluded these from all concubinage w
ith the race of man.

CHAP. III.(1)--THE GREAT OFFENCE IN THE CHRISTIANS LIES IN THEIR VERY NAME. THE
 NAME VINDICATED.

    Since, therefore, you who are in other cases most scrupulous and perseverin
g in investigating charges of far less serious import, relinquish your care in
cases like ours, which are so horrible, and of such surpassing sin that impiety
 is too mild a word for them, by declining to hear confession, which should alw
ays be an important process for those who conduct judicial proceedings; and fai
ling to make a full inquiry, which should be gone into by such as sue for a con
demnation, it becomes evident that the crime laid to our charge consists not of
 any sinful conduct, but lies wholly in our name. If, indeed,(2) any real crime
s were clearly adducible against us, their very names would condemn us, if foun
d applicable,(3) so that distinct sentences would be pronounced against us in t
his wise: Let that murderer, or that incestuous criminal, or whatever it be tha
t we are charged with, be led to execution, be crucified, or be thrown to the b
easts. Your sentences, however,(4) import only that one has confessed himself a
 Christian. No name of a crime stands against us, but only the crime of a name.
 Now this in very deed is neither more nor less than(5) the entire odium which
is felt against us. The name is the cause: some mysterious force intensified by
 your ignorance assails it, so that you do not wish to know for certain that wh
ich for certain you are sure you know nothing of; and therefore, further, you d
o not believe things which are not submitted to proof, and, lest they should be
 easily refuted,(6) you refuse to make inquiry, so that the odious name is puni
shed under the presumption of (real) crimes. In order, therefore, that the issu
e may be withdrawn from the offensive name, we are compelled to deny it; then u
pon our denial we are acquitted, with an entire absolution(7) for the past: we
are no longer murderers, no longer incestuous, because we have lost that name.(
8) But since this point is dealt with in a place of its own,(9) do you tell us
plainly why you are pursuing this name even to extirpation? What crime, what of
fence, what fault is there in a name? For you are barred by the rule(10) which
puts it out of your power to allege crimes (of any man), which no legal action
moots, no indictment specifies, no sentence enumerates. In any case which is su
bmitted to the judge,(11) inquired into against the defendant, responded to by
him or denied, and cited from the bench, I acknowledge a legal charge. Concerni
ng, then, the merit of a name, whatever offence names may be charged with, what
ever impeachment words may be amenable to, I for my part(12) think, that not ev
en a complaint is due to a word or a name, unless indeed it has a barbarous sou
nd, or smacks of ill-luck, or is immodest, or is indecorous for the speaker, or
 unpleasant to the hearer. These crimes in (mere) words and names are just like
 barbarous words and phrases, which have their fault, and their solecism, and t
heir absurdity of figure. The name Christian, however, so far as its meaning go
es, bears the sense of anointing. Even when by a faulty pronunciation you call
us "Chrestians" (for you are not certain about even the sound of this noted nam
e), you in fact lisp out the sense of pleasantness and goodness.(13) You are th
erefore vilifying(14) in harmless men even the harmless name we bear, which is
not inconvenient for the tongue, nor harsh to the ear, nor injurious to a singl
e being, nor rude for our country, being a good Greek word, as many others also
 are, and pleasant in sound and sense. Surely, surely,(15) names are not things
 which deserve punishment by the sword, or the cross, or the beasts.

CHAP. IV.(16)--THE TRUTH HATED IN THE CHRISTIANS; SO IN MEASURE WAS IT, OF OLD,
 IN SOCRATES. THE VIRTUES OF THE CHRISTIANS.

    But the sect, you say, is punished in the name of its founder. Now in the f
irst place it is, no doubt a fair and usual custom that a sect should be marked
 out by the name of its founder, since philosophers are called Pythagoreans and
 Platonists after their masters; in the same way physicians are called after Er
asistratus, and grammarians after Aristarchus. If, therefore, a sect has a bad
character because its founder was bad, it is punished(17) as the traditional be
arer(18) of a bad name. But this would be indulging in a rash assumption.

112

The first step was to find out what the founder was, that his sect might be und
erstood, instead of hindering(1) inquiry into the founder's character from the
sect. But in our case,(2) by being necessarily ignorant of the sect, through yo
ur ignorance of its founder, or else by not taking a fair survey of the founder
, because you make no inquiry into his sect, you fasten merely on the name, jus
t as if you vilified in it both sect and founder, whom you know nothing of what
ever. And yet you openly allow your philosophers the right of attaching themsel
ves to any school, and bearing its founder's name as their own; and nobody stir
s up any hatred against them, although both in public and in private they bark
out(3) their bitterest eloquence against your customs, rites, ceremonies, and m
anner of life, with so much contempt for the laws, and so little respect for pe
rsons, that they even flaunt their licentious words(4) against the emperors the
mselves with impunity. And yet it is the truth, which is so troublesome to the
world, that these philosophers affect, but which Christians possess: they there
fore who have it in possession afford the greater displeasure, because he who a
ffects a thing plays with it; he who possesses it maintains it. For example,(5)
 Socrates was condemned on that side (of his wisdom) in which he came nearest i
n his search to the truth, by destroying your gods. Although the name of Christ
ian was not at that time in the world, yet truth was always suffering condemnat
ion. Now you will not deny that he was a wise man, to whom your own Pythian (go
d) had borne witness. Socrates, he said, was the wisest of men. Truth overbore
Apollo, and made him pronounce even against himself since he acknowledged that
he was no god, when he affirmed that that was the wisest man who was denying th
e gods. However,(6) on your principle he was the less wise because he denied th
e gods, although, in truth, he was all the wiser by reason of this denial. It i
s just in the same way that you are in the habit of saying of us: "Lucius Titiu
s is a good man, only he is a Christian;" while another says; "I wonder that so
 worthy(7) a man as Caius Seius has become a Christian.(8) " According to(9) th
e blindness of their folly men praise what they know, (and) blame what they are
 ignorant of; and that which they know, they vitiate by that which they do not
know. It occurs to none (to consider) whether a man is not good and wise becaus
e he is a Christian, or therefore a Christian because he is wise and good, alth
ough it is more usual in human conduct to determine obscurities by what is mani
fest, than to prejudice what is manifest by what is obscure. Some persons wonde
r that those whom they had known to be unsteady, worthless, or wicked before th
ey bore this(10) name, have been suddenly converted to virtuous courses; and ye
t they better know how to wonder (at the change) than to attain to it; others a
re so obstinate in their strife as to do battle with their own best interests,
which they have it in their power to secure by intercourse(11) with that hated
name. I know more than one(12) husband, formerly anxious about their wives' con
duct, and unable to bear even mice to creep into their bed-room without a groan
 of suspicion, who have, upon discovering the cause of their new assiduity, and
 their unwonted attention to the duties of home,(13) offered the entire loan of
 their wives to others,(14) disclaimed all jealousy, (and) preferred to be the
husbands of she-wolves than of Christian women: they could commit themselves to
 a perverse abuse of nature, but they could not permit their wives to be reform
ed for the better! A father disinherited his son, with whom he had ceased to fi
nd fault. A master sent his slave to bridewell,(15) whom he had even found to b
e indispensable to him. As soon as they discovered them to be Christians, they
wished they were criminals again; for our discipline carries its own evidence i
n itself, nor are we betrayed by anything else than our own goodness, just as b
ad men also become conspicuous(16) by their own evil. Else how is it that we al
one are, contrary to the lessons of nature, branded as very evil because of our
 good? For what mark do we exhibit except the prime wisdom,(17) which teaches u
s not to worship the frivolous works of the human hand; the temperance, by whic
h we abstain from other men's goods; the chastity, which we pollute not even wi
th a look; the compassion, which prompts us to help the needy; the truth itself
, which makes us give offence; and liberty, for which we have even learned to d
ie? Whoever wishes to understand who the Christians are, must needs employ thes
e marks for their discovery.

113

CHAP. V.(1)--THE INCONSISTENT LIFE OF ANY FALSE CHRISTIAN NO MORE CONDEMNS TRUE
 DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, THAN A PASSING CLOUD OBSCURES A SUMMER SKY.

    As to your saying of us that we are a most shameful set, and utterly steepe
d in luxury, avarice, and depravity, we will not deny that this is true of some
. It is, however, a sufficient testimonial for our name, that this cannot be sa
id of all, not even of the greater part of us. It must happen even in the healt
hiest and purest body, that a mole should grow, or a wart arise on it, or freck
les disfigure it. Not even the sky itself is clear with so perfect(2) a serenit
y as not to be flecked with some filmy cloud.(3) A slight spot on the face, bec
ause it is obvious in so conspicuous a part, only serves to show purity of the
entire complexion. The goodness of the larger portion is well attested by the s
lender flaw. But although you prove that some of our people are evil, you do no
t hereby prove that they are Christians. Search and see whether there is any se
ct to which (a partial shortcoming) is imputed as a general stain.(4) You are a
ccustomed in conversation yourselves to say, in disparagement of us, "Why is so
-and-so deceitful, when the Christians are so self-denying? why merciless, when
 they are so merciful?" You thus bear your testimony to the fact that this is n
ot the character of Christians, when you ask, in the way of a retort,(5) how me
n who are reputed to be Christians can be of such and such a disposition. There
 is a good deal of difference between an imputation and a name,(6) between an o
pinion and the truth. For names were appointed for the express purpose of setti
ng their proper limits between mere designation and actual condition.(7) How ma
ny indeed are said to be philosophers, who for all that do not fulfil the law o
f philosophy? All bear the name in respect of their profession; but they hold t
he designation without the excellence of the profession, and they disgrace the
real thing under the shallow pretence of its name. Men are not straightway of s
uch and such a character, because they are said to be so; but when they are not
, it is vain to say so of them: they only deceive people who attach reality to
a name, when it is its consistency with fact which decides the condition implie
d in the name.(8) And yet persons of this doubtful stamp do not assemble with u
s, neither do they belong to our communion: by their delinquency they become yo
urs once more(9) since we should be unwilling to mix even with them whom your v
iolence and cruelty compelled to recant. Yet we should, of course, be more read
y to have included amongst us those who have unwillingly forsaken our disciplin
e than wilful apostates. However, you have no right to call them Christians, to
 whom the Christians themselves deny that name, and who have not learned to den
y themselves.

CHAP. VI.(10)--THE INNOCENCE OF THE CHRISTIANS NOT COMPROMISED BY THE INIQUITOU
S LAWS WHICH WERE MADE AGAINST THEM.

    Whenever these statements and answers of ours, which truth suggests of its
own accord, press and restrain your conscience, which is the witness of its own
 ignorance, you betake yourselves in hot haste to that poor altar of refuge,(11
) the authority of the laws, because these, of course, would never punish the o
ffensive(12) sect, if their deserts had not been fully considered by those who
made the laws. Then what is it which has prevented a like consideration on the
part of those who put the laws in force, when, in the case of all other crimes
which are similarly forbidden and punished by the laws, the penalty is not infl
icted(13) until it is sought by regular process?(14) Take,(15) for instance, th
e case of a murderer or an adulterer. An examination is ordered touching the pa
rticulars(16) of the crime, even though it is patent to all what its nature(17)
 is. Whatever wrong has been done by the Christian ought to be brought to light
. No law forbids inquiry to be made; on the contrary, inquiry is made in the in
terest of the laws.(18) For how are you to keep the law by precautions against
that which the law forbids, if you neutralize the carefulness of the precaution
 by your failing to perceive(19) what it is yon have to keep? No law must keep
to itself(20) the knowledge of its own righteousness,(21) but (it owes it) to t
hose from whom it claims obedience. The law, however, becomes an object of susp
icion when it declines to approve itself. Naturally enough,(22) then, are the l
aws against

114

the Christians supposed to be just and deserving of respect and observance, jus
t as long as men remain ignorant of their aim and purport; but when this is per
ceived, their extreme injustice is discovered, and they are deservedly rejected
 with abhorrence,(1) along with (their instruments of torture)--the swords, the
 crosses, and the lions. An unjust law secures no respect. In my opinion, howev
er, there is a suspicion among you that some of these laws are unjust, since no
t a day passes without your modifying their severity and iniquity by fresh deli
berations and decisions.

CHAP. VII.(2)--THE CHRISTIANS DEFAMED. A SARCASTIC DESCRIPTION OF FAME; ITS DEC
EPTION AND ATROCIOUS SLANDERS OF THE CHRISTIANS LENGTHILY DESCRIBED.

    Whence comes it to pass, you will say to us, that such a character could ha
ve been attributed to you, as to have justified the lawmakers perhaps by its im
putation? Let me ask on my side, what voucher they had then, or you now, for th
e truth of the imputation? (You answer,) Fame. Well, now, is not this--
    "Fama malum, quo non aliud velocius ullum?"(3)

Now, why a plague,(4) if it be always true? It never ceases from lying; nor eve
n at the moment when it reports the truth is it so free from the wish to lie, a
s not to interweave the false with the true, by processes of addition, diminuti
on, or confusion of various facts. Indeed,(5) such is its condition, that it ca
n only continue to exist while it lies. For it lives only just so long as it fa
ils to prove anything. As soon as it proves itself true, it falls; and, as if i
ts office of reporting news were at an end, it quits its post: thenceforward th
e thing is held to be a fact, and it passes under that name. No one, then, says
, to take an instance, "The report is that this happened at Rome," or, "The rum
our goes that he has got a province;" but, "He has got a province," and, "This
happened at Rome." Nobody mentions a rumour except at an uncertainty, because n
obody can be sure of a rumour, but only of certain knowledge; and none but a fo
ol believes a rumour, because no wise man puts faith in an uncertainty. In howe
ver wide a circuit(6) a report has been circulated, it must needs have originat
ed some time or other from one mouth; afterwards it creeps on somehow to ears a
nd tongues which pass it on(7) and so obscures the humble error in which it beg
an, that no one considers whether the mouth which first set it a-going dissemin
ated a falsehood,--a circumstance which often happens either from a temper of r
ivalry, or a suspicious turn, or even the pleasure of feigning news. It is, how
ever, well that time reveals all things, as your own sayings and proverbs testi
fy; yea, as nature herself attests, which has so ordered it that nothing lies h
id, not even that which fame has not reported. See, now, what a witness(8) you
have suborned against us: it has not been able up to this time to prove the rep
ort it set in motion, although it has had so long a time to recommend it to our
 acceptance. This name of ours took its rise in the reign of Augustus; under Ti
berius it was taught with all clearness and publicity;(9) under Nero it was rut
hlessly condemned,(10) and you may weigh its worth and character even from the
person of its persecutor. If that prince was a pious man, then the Christians a
re impious; if he was just, if he was pure, then the Christians are unjust and
impure; if he was not a public enemy, we are enemies of our country: what sort
of men we are, our persecutor himself shows, since he of course punished what p
roduced hostility to himself.(11) Now, although every other institution which e
xisted under Nero has been destroyed, yet this of ours has firmly remained--rig
hteous, it would seem, as being unlike the author (of its persecution). Two hun
dred and fifty years, then, have not yet passed since our life began. During th
e interval there have been so many criminals; so many crosses have obtained imm
ortality;(12) so many infants have been slain; so many loaves steeped in blood;
 so many extinctions of candles;(13) so many dissolute marriages. And up to the
 present time it is mere report which fights against the Christians. No doubt i
t has a strong support in the wickedness of the human mind, and utters its fals
ehoods with more success among cruel and savage men. For the more inclined you
are to maliciousness, the more ready are you to believe evil; in short, men mor
e easily believe the evil that is false, than the good which is true. Now, if i
njustice has left any place within you for the exercise of prudence in investig
ating the truth of reports, justice of course demanded

115

that you should examine by whom the report could have been spread among the mul
titude, and thus circulated through the world. For it could not have been by th
e Christians themselves, I suppose, since by the very constitution and law of a
ll mysteries the obligation of silence is imposed. How much more would this be
the case in such (mysteries as are ascribed to us), which, if divulged, could n
ot fail to bring down instant punishment from the prompt resentment of men! Sin
ce, therefore, the Christians are not their own betrayers, it follows that it m
ust be strangers. Now I ask, how could strangers obtain knowledge of us, when e
ven true and lawful mysteries exclude every stranger from witnessing them, unle
ss illicit ones are less exclusive? Well, then, it is more in keeping with the
character of strangers both to be ignorant (of the true state of a case), and t
o invent (a false account). Our domestic servants (perhaps) listened, and peepe
d through crevices and holes, and stealthily got information of our ways. What,
 then, shall we say when our servants betray them to you?(1) It is better, (to
be sure,)(2) for us all not to be betrayed by any; but still, if our practices
be so atrocious, how much more proper is it when a righteous indignation bursts
 asunder even all ties of domestic fidelity? How was it possible for it to endu
re what horrified the mind and affrighted the eye? This is also a wonderful thi
ng, both that he who was so overcome with impatient excitement as to turn infor
mer,(3) did not likewise desire to prove (what he reported), and that he who he
ard the informer's story did not care to see for himself, since no doubt the re
ward(4) is equal both for the informer who proves what he reports, and for the
hearer who convinces himself of the credibility(5) of what he hears. But then y
ou say that (this is precisely what has taken place): first came the rumour, th
en the exhibition of the proof; first the hearsay, then the inspection; and aft
er this, fame received its commission. Now this, I must say,(6) surpasses all a
dmiration, that that was once for all detected and divulged which is being for
ever repeated, unless, forsooth, we have by this time ceased from the reiterati
on of such things(7) (as are alleged of us). But we are called still by the sam
e (offensive) name, and we are supposed to be still engaged in the same practic
es, and we multiply from day to day; the more(8) we are, to the more become we
objects of hatred. Hatred increases as the material for it increases. Now, seei
ng that the multitude of offenders is ever advancing, how is it that the crowd
of informers does not keep equal pace therewith? To the best of my belief, even
 our manner of life(9) has become better known; you know the very days of our a
ssemblies; therefore we are both besieged, and attacked, and kept prisoners act
ually in our secret congregations. Yet who ever came upon a half-consumed corps
e (amongst us)? Who has detected the traces of a bite in our blood-steeped loaf
? Who has discovered, by a sudden light invading our darkness, any marks of imp
urity, I will not say of incest, (in our feasts)? If we save ourselves. by a br
ibe(10) from being dragged out before the public gaze with such a character, ho
w is it that we are still oppressed? We have it indeed in our own power not to
be thus apprehended at all; for who either sells or buys information about a cr
ime, if the crime itself has no existence? But why need I disparagingly refer t
o(11) strange spies and informers, when you allege against us such charges as w
e certainly do not ourselves divulge with very much noise--either as soon as yo
u hear of them, if we previously show them to you, or after you have yourselves
 discovered them, if they are for the time concealed from you? For no doubt,(12
) when any desire initiation in the mysteries, their custom is first to go to t
he master or father of the sacred rites. Then he will say (to the applicant), Y
ou must bring an infant, as a guarantee for our rites, to be sacrificed, as wel
l as some bread to be broken and dipped in his blood; you also want candles, an
d dogs tied together to upset them, and bits of meat to rouse the dogs. Moreove
r, a mother too, or a sister, is necessary for you. What, however, is to be sai
d if you have neither? I suppose in that case you could not be a genuine Christ
ian. Now, do let me ask you, Will such things, when reported by strangers, bear
 to be spread about (as charges against us)? It is impossible for such persons
to understand proceedings in which they take no part.(13) The first step of the
 process is perpetrated with artifice; our feasts and our marriages are invente
d and detailed(14) by ignorant persons,

116

who had never before heard about Christian mysteries. And though they afterward
s cannot help acquiring some knowledge of them, it is even then as having to be
 administered by others whom they bring on the scene.(1) Besides, how absurd is
 it that the profane know mysteries which the priest knows not! They keep them
all to themselves, then,(2) and take them for granted; and so these tragedies,
(worse than those) of Thyestes or OEdipus, do not at all come forth to light, n
or find their way(3) to the public. Even more voracious bites take nothing away
 from the credit(4) of such as are initiated, whether servants or masters. If,
however, none of these allegations can be proved to be true, how incalculable m
ust be esteemed the grandeur (of that religion) which is manifestly not overbal
anced even by the burden of these vast atrocities! O ye heathen; who have and d
eserve our pity,(5) behold, we set before you the promise which our sacred syst
em offers. It guarantees eternal life to such as follow and observe it; on the
other hand, it threatens with the eternal punishment of an unending fire those
who are profane and hostile; while to both classes alike is preached a resurrec
tion from the dead. We are not now concerned(6) about the doctrine of these (ve
rities), which are discussed in their proper place.(7) Meanwhile, however, beli
eve them, even as we do ourselves, for I want to know whether you are ready to
reach them, as we do, through such crimes. Come, whosoever you are, plunge your
 sword into an infant; or if that is another's office, then simply gaze at the
breathing creature(8) dying before it has lived; at any rate, catch its fresh(9
) blood in which to steep your bread; then feed yourself without stint; and whi
lst this is going on, recline. Carefully distinguish the places where your moth
er or your sister may have made their bed; mark them well, in order that, when
the shades of night have fallen upon them, putting of course to the test the ca
re of every one of you, you may not make the awkward mistake of alighting on so
mebody else:(10) you would have to make an atonement, if you failed of the ince
st. When you have effected all this, eternal life will be in store for you. I w
ant you to tell me whether you think eternal life worth such a price. No, indee
d,(11) you do not believe it: even if you did believe it, I maintain that you w
ould be unwilling to give (the fee); or if willing, would be unable. But why sh
ould others be able if you are unable? Why should you be able if others are una
ble? What would you wish impunity (and) eternity to stand you in?(12) Do you su
ppose that these (blessings) can be bought by us at any price? Have Christians
teeth of a different sort from others? Have they more ample jaws?(13) Are they
of different nerve for incestuous lust? I trow not. It is enough for us to diff
er from you in condition(14) by truth alone.

CHAP. VIII.(15)--THE CALUMNY AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS ILLUSTRATED IN THE DISCOVER
Y OF PSAMMETICHUS. REFUTATION OF THE STORY.

    We are indeed said to be the "third race" of men. What, a dog-faced race?(1
6) Or broadly shadow-footed?(17) Or some subterranean(18) Antipodes? If you att
ach any meaning to these names, pray tell us what are the first and the second
race, that so we may know something of this "third." Psammetichus thought that
he had hit upon the ingenious discovery of the primeval man. He is said to have
 removed certain new-born infants from all human intercourse, and to have entru
sted them to a nurse, whom he had previously deprived of her tongue, in order t
hat, being completely exiled from all sound of the human voice, they might form
 their speech without hearing it; and thus, deriving it from themselves alone,
might indicate what that first nation was whose speech was dictated by nature.
Their first utterance was BEKKOS, a word which means "bread" in the language of
 Phrygia: the Phrygians, therefore, are supposed to be the first of the human r
ace.(19) But it will not be out of place if we make one observation, with a vie
w to show how your faith abandons itself more to vanities than to verities.

117

Can it be, then, at all credible that the nurse retained her life, after the lo
ss of so important a member, the very organ of the breath of life,(1)--cut out,
 too, from the very root, with her throat(2) mutilated, which cannot be wounded
 even on the outside without danger, and the putrid gore flowing back to the ch
est, and deprived for so long a time of her food? Come, even suppose that by th
e remedies of a Philomela she retained her life, in the way supposed by wisest
persons, who account for the dumbness not by cutting out the tongue, but from t
he blush of shame; if on such a supposition she lived, she would still be able
to blurt out some dull sound. And a shrill inarticulate noise from opening the
mouth only, without any modulation of the lips, might be forced from the mere t
hroat, though there were no tongue to help. This, it is probable, the infants r
eadily imitated, and the more so because it was the only sound; only they did i
t a little more neatly, as they had tongues;(3) and then they attached to it a
definite signification. Granted, then, that the Phrygians were the earliest rac
e, it does not follow that the Christians are the third. For how many other nat
ions come regularly after the Phrygians? Take care, however, lest those whom yo
u call the third race should obtain the first rank, since there is no nation in
deed which is not Christian. Whatever nation, therefore, was the first, is neve
rtheless Christian now.(4) It is ridiculous folly which makes you say we are th
e latest race, and then specifically call us the third. But it is in respect of
 our religion.(5) not of our nation, that we are supposed to be the third; the
series being the Romans, the Jews, and the Christians after them. Where, then,
are the Greeks? or if they are reckoned amongst the Romans in regard to their s
uperstition (since it was from Greece that Rome borrowed even her gods), where
at least are the Egyptians, since these have, so far as I know, a mysterious re
ligion peculiar to themselves? Now, if they who belong to the third race are so
 monstrous, what must they be supposed to be who preceded them in the first and
 the second place?

CHAP. IX.(6)--THE CHRISTIANS ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF PUBLIC CALAMITIES: THERE WERE
 SUCH TROUBLES BEFORE CHRISTIANITY.

    But why should I be astonished at your vain imputations? Under the same nat
ural form, malice and folly have always been associated in one body and growth,
 and have ever opposed us under the One instigator of error.(7) Indeed, I feel
no astonishment; and therefore, as it is necessary for my subject, I will enume
rate some instances, that you may feel the astonishment by the enumeration of t
he folly into which you fall, when you insist on our being the causes of every
public calamity or injury. If the Tiber has overflowed its banks, if the Nile h
as remained in its bed, if the sky has been still, or the earth been in commoti
on, if death(8) has made its devastations, or famine its afflictions, your cry
immediately is, "This is the fault(9) of the Christians!" As if they who fear t
he true God could have to fear a light thing, or at least anything else (than a
n earthquake or famine, or such visitations).(10) I suppose it is as despisers
of your gods that we call down on us these strokes of theirs. As we have remark
ed already,(11) three hundred years have not yet passed in our existence; but w
hat vast scourges before that time fell on all the world, on its various cities
 and provinces! what terrible wars, both foreign and domestic! what pestilences
, famines, conflagrations, yawnings, and quakings of the earth has history reco
rded!(12) Where were the Christians, then, when the Roman state furnished so ma
ny chronicles of its disasters? Where were the Christians when the islands Hier
a, Anaphe, and Delos, and Rhodes, and Cea were desolated with multitudes of men
? or, again, when the land mentioned by Plato as larger than Asia or Africa was
 sunk in the Atlantic Sea? or when fire from heaven overwhelmed Volsinii, and f
lames from their own mountain consumed Pompeii? when the sea of Corinth was eng
ulphed by an earthquake? when the whole world was destroyed by the deluge? Wher
e then were (I will not say the Christians, who despise your gods, but) your go
ds themselves, who are proved to be of later origin than that great ruin by the
 very places and cities in which they were born, sojourned, and were buried, an
d even those which they founded? For else they would not have remained to the p
resent day, unless they had been more recent than that catastrophe, If you do n
ot care to peruse and reflect upon these testimonies of history, the record of
which affects you differently from us,(13) in order

118

especially that you may not have to tax your gods with extreme injustice, since
 they injure even their worshippers on account of their despisers, do you not t
hen prove yourselves to be also in the wrong, when you hold them to be gods, wh
o make no distinction between the deserts of yourselves and profane persons? If
, however, as it is now and then very vainly said, you incur the chastisement o
f your gods because you are too slack in our extirpation, you then have settled
 the question(1) of their weakness and insignificance; for they would not be an
gry with you for loitering over our punishment, if they could do anything thems
elves,--although you admit the same thing indeed in another way, whenever by in
flicting punishment on us you seem to be avenging them. If one interest is main
tained by another party, that which defends is the greater of the two. What a s
hame, then, must it be for gods to be defended by a human being!

CHAP. X.(2)--THE CHRISTIANS ARE NOT THE ONLY CONTEMNERS OF THE GODS. CONTEMPT O
F THEM OFTEN DISPLAYED BY HEATHEN OFFICIAL PERSONS. HOMER MADE THE GODS CONTEMP
TIBLE.

    Pour out now all your venom; fling against this name of ours all your shaft
s of calumny: I shall stay no longer to refute them; but they shall by and by b
e blunted, when we come to explain our entire discipline.(3) I shall content my
self now indeed with plucking these shafts out of our own body, and hurling the
m back on yourselves. The same wounds which you have inflicted on us by your ch
arges I shall show to be imprinted on yourselves, that you may fall by your own
 swords and javelins.(4) Now, first, when you direct against us the general cha
rge of divorcing ourselves from the institutions of our forefathers, consider a
gain and again whether you are not yourselves open to that accusation in common
 with us. For when I look through your life and customs, lo, what do I discover
 but the old order of things corrupted, nay, destroyed by you? Of the laws I ha
ve already said, that you are daily supplanting them with novel decrees and sta
tutes. As to everything else in your manner of life, how great are the changes
you have made from your ancestors--in your style, your dress, your equipage, yo
ur very food, and even in your speech; for the old-fashioned you banish, as if
it were offensive to you! Everywhere, in your public pursuits and private dutie
s, antiquity is repealed; all the authority of your forefathers your own author
ity has superseded. To be sure,(5) you are for ever praising old customs; but t
his is only to your greater discredit, for you nevertheless persistently reject
 them. How great must your perverseness have been, to have bestowed approbation
 on your ancestors' institutions, which were too inefficient to be lasting, all
 the while that you were rejecting the very objects of your approbation! But ev
en that very heir-loom(6) of your forefathers, which you seem to guard and defe
nd with greatest fidelity, in which you actually(7) find your strongest grounds
 for impeaching us as violators of the law, and from which your hatred of the C
hristian name derives all its life--I mean the worship of the gods--I shall pro
ve to be undergoing ruin and contempt from yourselves no less than(8) (from us)
,--unless it be that there is no reason for our being regarded as despisers of
the gods like yourselves, on the ground that nobody despises what he knows has
absolutely no existence. What certainly exists can be despised. That which is n
othing, suffers nothing. From those, therefore, to whom it is an existing thing
,(9) must necessarily proceed the suffering which affects it. All the heavier,
then, is the accusation which burdens you who believe that there are gods and (
at the same time) despise them, who worship and also reject them, who honour an
d also assail them. One may also gather the same conclusion from this considera
tion, above all: since you worship various gods, some one and some another, you
 of course despise those which you do not worship. A preference for the one is
not possible without slighting the other, and no choice can be made without a r
ejection. He who selects some one out of many, has already slighted the other w
hich he does not select. But it is impossible that so many and so great gods ca
n be worshipped by all. Then you must have exercised your contempt (in this mat
ter) even at the beginning, since indeed you were not then afraid of so orderin
g things, that all the gods could not become objects of worship to all. For tho
se very wise and prudent ancestors of yours, whose institutions you know not ho
w to repeal, especially in respect of your gods, are themselves found to have b
een impious. I am much mistaken, if they did not sometimes decree that no gener
al should dedicate a temple, which he may have vowed in battle, before the sena
te gave its sanction; as in the case of Marcus AEmilius, who had made

119

a vow to the god Alburnus. Now is it not confessedly the greatest impiety, nay,
 the greatest insult, to place the honour of the Deity at the will and pleasure
 of human judgment, so that there cannot be a god except the senate permit him?
 Many times have the censors destroyed(1) (a god) without consulting the people
. Father Bacchus, with all his ritual, was certainly by the consuls, on the sea
te's authority, cast not only out of the city, but out of all Italy; whilst Var
ro informs us that Serapis also, and Isis, and Arpocrates, and Anubis, were exc
luded from the Capitol, and that their altars which the senate had thrown down
were only restored by the popular violence. The Consul Gabinius, however, on th
e first day of the ensuing January, although he gave a tardy consent to some sa
crifices, in deference to the crowd which assembled, because he had failed to d
ecide about Serapis and Isis, yet held the judgment of the senate to be more po
tent than the clamour of the multitude, and forbade the altars to be built. Her
e, then, you have amongst your own forefathers, if not the name, at all events
the procedure,(2) of the Christians, which despises the gods. If, however, you
were even innocent of the charge of treason against them in the honour you pay
them, I still find that you have made a consistent advance in superstition as w
ell as impiety. For how much more irreligious are you found to be! There are yo
ur household gods, the Lares and the Penates, which you possess(3) by a family
consecration:(4) you even tread them profanely under foot, you and your domesti
cs, by hawking and pawning them for your wants or your whims. Such insolent sac
rilege might be excusable, if it were not practised against your humbler deitie
s; as it is, the case is only the more insolent. There is, however, some consol
ation for your private household gods under these affronts, that you treat your
 public deities with still greater indignity and insolence. First of all, you a
dvertise them for auction, submit them to public sale, knock them down to the h
ighest bidder, when you every five years bring them to the hammer among your re
venues. For this purpose you frequent the temple of Serapis or the Capitol, hol
d your sales there,(5) conclude your contracts,(6) as if they were markets, wit
h the well-known(7) voice of the crier, (and) the self-same levy(8) of the quae
stor. Now lands become cheaper when burdened with tribute, and men by the capit
ation tax diminish in value (these are the well-known marks of slavery). But th
e gods, the more tribute they pay, become more holy; or rather,(9) the more hol
y they are, the more tribute do they pay. Their majesty is converted into an ar
ticle of traffic; men drive a business with their religion; the sanctity of the
 gods is beggared with sales and contracts. You make merchandise of the ground
of your temples, of the approach to your altars, of your offerings,(10) of your
 sacrifices.(11) You sell the whole divinity (of your gods). You will not permi
t their gratuitous worship. The auctioneers necessitate more repairs(12) than t
he priests. It was not enough that you had insolently made a profit of your god
s, if we would test the amount of your contempt; and you are not content to hav
e withheld honour from them, you must also depreciate the little you do render
to them by some indignity or other. What, indeed, do you do by way of honouring
 your gods, which you do not equally offer to your dead? You build temples for
the gods, you erect temples also to the dead; you build altars for the gods, yo
u build them also for the dead; you inscribe the same superscription over both;
 you sketch out the same lineaments for their statues--as best suits their geni
us, or profession, or age; you make an old man of Saturn, a beardless youth of
Apollo; you form a virgin from Diana; in Mars you consecrate a soldier, a black
smith in Vulcan. No wonder, therefore, if you slay the same victims and burn th
e same odours for your dead as you do for your gods. What excuse can be found f
or that insolence which classes the dead of whatever sort(13) as equal with the
 gods? Even to your princes there are assigned the services of priests and sacr
ed ceremonies, and chariots,(14) and cars, and the honours of the solisternia a
nd the lectisternia, holidays and games. Rightly enough,(15) since heaven is op
en to them; still it is none the less contumelious to the gods: in the first pl
ace, because it could not possibly be decent that other beings should be number
ed with them, even if it has been given to them to become divine after their bi
rth; in the second place, because the witness who beheld the man caught up into
 heaven(16) would not forswear himself so freely and palpably before the people
, if it were not for the con-

120

tempt felt about the objects sworn to both by himself and those(1) who allow th
e perjury. For these feel of themselves, that what is sworn to is nothing; and
more than that, they go so far as to fee the witness, because he had the courag
e to publicly despise the avengers of perjury. Now, as to that, who among you i
s pure of the charge of perjury? By this time, indeed, there is an end to all d
anger in swearing by the gods, since the oath by Caesar carries with it more in
fluential scruples, which very circumstance indeed tends to the degradation of
your gods; for those who perjure themselves when swearing by Caesar are more re
adily punished than those who violate an oath to a Jupiter. But, of the two kin
dred feelings of contempt and derision, contempt is the more honourable, having
 a certain glory in its arrogance; for it sometimes proceeds from confidence, o
r the security of consciousness, or a natural loftiness of mind. Derision, howe
ver, is a more wanton feeling, and so far it points more directly(2) to a carpi
ng insolence. Now only consider what great deriders of your gods you show yours
elves to be! I say nothing of your indulgence of this feeling during your sacri
ficial acts, how you offer for your victims the poorest and most emaciated crea
tures; or else of the sound and healthy animals only the portions which are use
less for food, such as the heads and hoofs, or the plucked feathers and hair, a
nd whatever at home you would have thrown away. I pass over whatever may seem t
o the taste(3) of the vulgar and profane to have constituted the religion(4) of
 your forefathers; but then the most learned and serious classes (for seriousne
ss and wisdom to some extent(5) profess(6) to be derived from learning) are alw
ays, in fact, the most irreverent towards your gods; and if their learning ever
 halts, it is only to make up for the remissness by a more shameful invention o
f follies and falsehoods about their gods. I will begin with that enthusiastic
fondness which you show for him from whom every depraved writer gets his dreams
, to whom you ascribe as much honour as you derogate from your gods, by magnify
ing him who has made such sport of them. I mean Homer by this description. He i
t is, in my opinion, who has treated the majesty of the Divine Being on the low
 level of human condition, imbuing the gods with the falls(7) and the passions
of men; who has pitted them against each other with varying success, like pairs
 of gladiators: he wounds Venus with an arrow from a human hand; he keeps Mars
a prisoner in chains for thirteen months, with the prospect of perishing;(8) he
 parades(9) Jupiter as suffering a like indignity from a crowd of celestial (re
bels;) or he draws from him tears for Sarpedon; or he represents him wantoning
with Juno in the most disgraceful way, advocating his incestuous passion for he
r by a description and enumeration of his various amours. Since then, which of
the poets has not, on the authority of their great prince, calumniated the gods
, by either betraying truth or feigning falsehood? Have the dramatists also, wh
ether in tragedy or comedy, refrained from making the gods the authors(10) of t
he calamities and retributions (of their plays)? I say nothing of your philosop
hers, whom a certain inspiration of truth itself elevates against the gods, and
 secures from all fear in their proud severity and stern discipline. Take, for
example,(11) Socrates. In contempt of your gods, he swears by an oak, and a dog
, and a goat. Now, although he was condemned to die for this very reason, the A
thenians afterwards repented of that condemnation, and even put to death his ac
cusers. By this conduct of theirs the testimony of Socrates is replaced at its
full value, and I am enabled to meet you with this retort, that in his case you
 have approbation bestowed on that which is now-a-days reprobated in us. But be
sides this instance there is Diogenes, who, I know not to what extent, made spo
rt of Hercules; whilst Varro, that Diogenes of the Roman cut,(12) introduces to
 our view some three hundred Joves, or, as they ought to be called, Jupiters,(1
3) (and all) without heads. Your other wanton wits(14) likewise minister to you
r pleasures by disgracing the gods. Examine carefully the sacrilegious(15) beau
ties of your Lentuli and Hostii; now, is it the players or your gods who become
 the objects of your mirth in their tricks and jokes? Then, again, with what pl
easure do you take up the literature of the stage, which describes all the foul
 conduct of the gods! Their majesty is defiled in your presence in some unchast
e body. The mask of some deity, at your will,(16) covers some infamous paltry h
ead. The Sun mourns for the death of his son by a lightning-flash amid your rud
e rejoicing.

121

Cybele sighs for a shepherd who disdains her, without raising a blush on your c
heek; and you quietly endure songs which celebrate(1) the gallantries of Jove.
You are, of course, possessed of a more religious spirit in the show of your gl
adiators, when your gods dance, with equal zest, over the spilling of human blo
od, (and) over those filthy penalties which are at once their proof and plot fo
r executing your criminals, or else (when) your criminals are punished personat
ing the gods themselves.(2) We have often witnessed in a mutilated criminal you
r god of Pessinum, Attis; a wretch burnt alive has personated Hercules. We have
 laughed at the sport of your mid-day game of the gods, when Father Pluto, Jove
's own brother, drags away, hammer in hand, the remains of the gladiators; when
 Mercury, with his winged cap and heated wand, tests with his cautery whether t
he bodies were really lifeless, or only feigning death. Who now can investigate
 every particular of this sort although so destructive of the honour of the Div
ine Being, and so humiliating to His majesty? They all, indeed, have their orig
in(3) in a contempt (of the gods), on the part both of those who practise(4) th
ese personations, as well as of those(5) who are susceptible of being so repres
ented.(6) I hardly know, therefore, whether your gods have more reason to compl
ain of yourselves or of us. After despising them on the one hand, you flatter t
hem on the other; if you fail in any duty towards them, you appease them with a
 fee;(6) in short, you allow yourselves to act towards them in any way you plea
se. We, however, live in a consistent and entire aversion to them.

CHAP. XI.(7)--THE ABSURD CAVIL OF THE ASS'S
HEAD DISPOSED OF.

    In this matter we are (said to be) guilty not merely of forsaking the relig
ion of the community, but of introducing a monstrous superstition; for some amo
ng you have dreamed that our god is an ass's head,--an absurdity which Corneliu
s Tacitus first suggested. In the fourth book of his histories,(8) where he is
treating of the Jewish war, he begins his description with the origin of that n
ation, and gives his own views respecting both the origin and the name of their
 religion. He relates that the Jews, in their migration in the desert, when suf
fering for want of water, escaped by following for guides some wild asses, whic
h they supposed to be going in quest of water after pasture, and that on this a
ccount the image of one of these animals was worshipped by the Jews. From this,
 I suppose, it was presumed that we, too, from our close connection with the Je
wish religion, have ours consecrated under the same emblematic form. The same C
ornelius Tacitus, however,--who, to say the truth, is most loquacious in falseh
ood--forgetting his later statement, relates how Pompey the Great, after conque
ring the Jews and capturing Jerusalem, entered the temple, but found nothing in
 the shape of an image, though he examined the place carefully. Where, then, sh
ould their God have been found? Nowhere else, of course than in so memorable a
temple which was carefully shut to all but the priests, and into which there co
uld be no fear of a stranger entering. But what apology must I here offer for w
hat I am going to say, when I have no other object at the moment than to make a
 passing remark or two in a general way which shall be equally applicable to yo
urselves?(9) Suppose that our God, then, be an asinine person, will you at all
events deny that you possess the same characteristics with ourselves in that ma
tter? (Not their heads only, but) entire asses, are, to be sure, objects of ado
ration to you, along with their tutelar Epona; and all herds, and cattle, and b
easts you consecrate, and their stables into the bargain! This, perhaps, is you
r grievance against us, that, when surrounded by cattle-worshippers of every ki
nd we are simply devoted to asses!

CHAP. XII.(10)--THE CHARGE OF WORSHIPPING A CROSS. THE HEATHENS THEMSELVES MADE
 MUCH OF CROSSES IN SACRED THINGS; NAY, THEIR VERY IDOLS WERE FORMED ON A CRUCI
AL FRAME.

    As for him who affirms that we are "the

122

priesthood of a cross,"(1) we shall claim him(2) as our co-religionist.(3) A cr
oss is, in its material, a sign of wood; amongst yourselves also the object of
worship is a wooden figure. Only, whilst with you the figure is a human one, wi
th us the wood is its own figure. Never mind(4) for the present what is the sha
pe, provided the material is the same: the form, too, is of no importance,(5) i
f so be it be the actual body of a god. If, however, there arises a question of
 difference on this point what, (let me ask,) is the difference between the Ath
enian Pallas, or the Pharian Ceres, and wood formed into a cross,(6) when each
is represented by a rough stock, without form, and by the merest rudiment of a
statue(7) of unformed wood? Every piece of timber(8) which is fixed in the grou
nd in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of
 its mass. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam,(9
) of course, and its projecting seat. Now you have the less to excuse you, for
you dedicate to religion only a mutilated imperfect piece of wood, while others
 consecrate to the sacred purpose a complete structure. The truth, however, aft
er all is, that your religion is all cross, as I shall show. You are indeed una
ware that your gods in their origin have proceeded from this hated cross.(10) N
ow, every image, whether carved out of wood or stone, or molten in metal, or pr
oduced out of any other richer material, must needs have had plastic hands enga
ged in its formation. Well, then, this modeller,(11) before he did anything els
e,(12) hit upon the form of a wooden cross, because even our own body assumes a
s its natural position the latent and concealed outline of a cross. Since the h
ead rises upwards, and the back takes a straight direction, and the shoulders p
roject laterally, if you simply place a man with his arms and hands outstretche
d, you will make the general outline of a cross. Starting, then, from this rudi
mental form and prop,(13) as it were, he applies a covering of clay, and so gra
dually completes the limbs, and forms the body, and covers the cross within wit
h the shape which he meant to impress upon the clay; then from this design, wit
h the help of compasses and leaden moulds, he has got all ready for his image w
hich is to be brought out into marble, or clay, or whatever the material be of
which he has determined to make his god. (This, then, is the process:) after th
e cross-shaped frame, the clay; after the clay, the god. In a well-understood r
outine, the cross passes into a god through the clayey medium. The cross then y
ou consecrate, and from it the consecrated (deity) begins to derive his origin.
(14) By way of example, let us take the case of a tree which grows up into a sy
stem of branches and foliage, and is a reproduction of its own kind, whether it
 springs from the kernel of an olive, or the stone of a peach, or a grain of pe
pper which has been duly tempered under ground. Now, if you transplant it, or t
ake a cutting off its branches for another plant, to what will you attribute wh
at is produced by the propagation? Will it not be to the grain, or the stone, o
r the kernel? Because, as the third stage is attributable to the second, and th
e second in like manner to the first, so the third will have to be referred to
the first, through the second as the mean. We need not stay any longer in the d
iscussion of this point, since by a natural law every kind of produce throughou
t nature refers back its growth to its original source; and just as the product
 is comprised in its primal cause, so does that cause agree in character with t
he thing produced. Since, then, in the production of your gods, you worship the
 cross which originates them, here will be the original kernel and grain, from
which are propagated the wooden materials of your idolatrous images. Examples a
re not far to seek. Your victories you celebrate with religious ceremony(15) as
 deities; and they are the more august in proportion to the joy they bring you.
 The frames on which you hang up your trophies must be crosses: these are, as i
t were, the very core of your pageants.(16) Thus, in your victories, the religi
on of your camp makes even crosses objects of worship; your standards it adores
, your standards are the sanction of its oaths; your standards it prefers befor
e Jupiter himself, But all that parade(17) of images, and that display of pure
gold, are (as so many) necklaces of the crosses. in like manner also, in the ba
nners and ensigns, which your soldiers guard with no less sacred care, you have
 the streamers (and) vestments of your crosses. You are ashamed, I suppose, to
worship unadorned and simple crosses.

123

CHAP. XIII.(1)--THE CHARGE OF WORSHIPPING THE SUN MET BY A RETORT.

    Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose
that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that
 we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What t
hen? Do you do less than this? Do not many among you, with an affectation of so
metimes worshipping the heavenly bodies likewise, move your lips in the directi
on of the sunrise? It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun int
o the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day,(2) in preference to
the preceding day(3) as the most suitable in the week(4) for either an entire a
bstinence from the bath, or for its postponement until the evening, or for taki
ng rest and for banqueting. By resorting to these customs, you deliberately dev
iate from your own religious rites to those of strangers. For the Jewish feasts
 an the Sabbath and "the Purification,"(5) and Jewish also are the ceremonies o
f the lamps,(6) and the fasts of unleavened bread, and the "littoral prayers,"(
7) all which institutions and practices are of course foreign from your gods. W
herefore, that I may return from this digression, you who reproach us with the
sun and Sunday should consider your proximity to us. We are not far off from yo
ur Saturn and your days of rest.

CHAP. XIV.(8)--THE VILE CALUMNY ABOUT ONOCOETES RETORTED ON THE HEATHEN BY TERT
ULLIAN.

    Report has introduced a new calumny respecting our God. Not so long ago, a
most abandoned wretch in that city of yours,(9) a man who had deserted indeed h
is own religion--a Jew, in fact, who had only lost his skin, flayed of course b
y wild beasts,(10) against which he enters the lists for hire day after day wit
h a sound body, and so in a condition to lose his skin(11)--carried about in pu
blic a caricature of us with this label: Onocoetes.(12) This (figure) had ass's
 ears, and was dressed in a toga with a book, having a hoof on one of his feet.
 And the crowd believed this infamous Jew. For what other set of men is the see
d-plot(13) of all the calumny against us? Throughout the city, therefore, Onoco
etes is all the talk. As, however, it is less then "a nine days' wonder,"(14) a
nd so destitute of all authority from time, and weak enough from the character
of its author, I shall gratify myself by using it simply in the way of a retort
. Let us then see whether you are not here also found in our company. Now it ma
tters not what their form may be, when our concern is about deformed images. Yo
u have amongst you gods with a dog's head, and a lion's head, with the horns of
 a cow, and a ram, and a goat, goat-shaped or serpent-shaped, and winged in foo
t, head, and back. Why therefore brand our one God so conspicuously? Many an On
ocoetes is found amongst yourselves.

CHAP. XV.(15)--THE CHARGE OF INFANTICIDE RETORTED ON THE HEATHEN.

    Since we are on a par in respect of the gods, it follows that there is no d
ifference between us on the point of sacrifice, or even of worship,(16) if I ma
y be allowed to make good our comparison from another sort of evidence. We begi
n our religious service, or initiate our mysteries, with slaying an infant. As
for you, since your own transactions in human blood and infanticide have faded
from your memory, you shall be duly reminded of them in the proper place; we no
w postpone most of the instances, that we may not seem to be everywhere(17) han
dling the selfsame topics. Meanwhile, as I have said, the comparison between us
 does not fail in another point of view. For if we are infanticides in one sens
e, you also can hardly be deemed such in any other sense; because, although you
 are forbidden by the laws to slay new-born infants, it so happens that no laws
 are evaded with more impunity or greater safety, with the deliberate knowledge
 of the public, and the suffrages(18) of this entire age.(19) Yet there is no g
reat difference between us, only you do not kill your infants in the way of a s
acred rite, nor (as a service) to God. But then you make away with them in a mo
re cruel manner,

124

because you expose them to the cold and hunger, and to wild beasts, or else you
 get rid of them by the slower death of drowning. If, however, there does occur
 any dissimilarity between us in this matter,(1) you must not overlook the fact
 that it is your own dear children(2) whose life you quench; and this will supp
lement, nay, abundantly aggravate, on your side of the question, whatever is de
fective in us on other grounds. Well, but we are said to sup off our impious sa
crifice! Whilst we postpone to a more suitable place(3) whatever resemblance ev
en to this practice is discoverable amongst yourselves, we are not far removed
from you in voracity. If in the one case there is unchastity, and in ours cruel
ty, we are still on the same footing (if I may so far admit our guilt(4)) in na
ture, where cruelty is always found in concord with unchastity. But, after all,
 what do you less than we; or rather, what do you not do in excess of us? I won
der whether it be a small matter to you(5) to pant for human entrails, because
you devour full-grown men alive? Is it, forsooth, only a trifle to lick up huma
n blood, when you draw out(6) the blood which was destined to live? Is it a lig
ht thing in your view to feed on an infant, when you consume one wholly before
it is come to the birth?(7)

CHAP. XVI.(8)--OTHER CHARGES REPELLED BY THE SAME METHOD. THE STORY OF THE NOBL
E ROMAN YOUTH AND HIS PARENTS,

    I am now come to the hour for extinguishing the lamps, and for using the do
gs, and practising the deeds of darkness. And on this point I am afraid I must
succumb to you; for what similar accusation shall I have to bring against you?
But you should at once commend the cleverness with which we make our incest loo
k modest, in that we have devised a spurious night,(9) to avoid polluting the r
eal light and darkness, and have even thought it right to dispense with earthly
 lights, and to play tricks also with our conscience. For whatever we do oursel
ves, we suspect in others when we choose (to be suspicious). As for your incest
uous deeds, on the contrary,(10) men enjoy them at full liberty, in the face of
 day, or in the natural night, or before high Heaven; and in proportion to thei
r successful issue is your own ignorance of the result, since you publicly indu
lge in your incestuous intercourse in the full cognizance of broad day-light. (
No ignorance, however, conceals our conduct from our eyes,) for in the very dar
kness we are able to recognise our own misdeeds. The Persians, you know very we
ll,(11) according to Ctesias, live quite promiscuously with their mothers, in f
ull knowledge of the fact, and without any horror; whilst of the Macedonians it
 is well known that they constantly do the same thing, and with perfect approba
tion: for once, when the blinded(12) OEdipus came upon their stage, they greete
d him with laughter and derisive cheers. The actor, taking off his mask in grea
t alarm, said, "Gentlemen, have I displeased you?" "Certainly not," replied the
 Macedonians, "you have played your part well enough; but either the author was
 very silly, if he invented (this mutilation as an atonement for the incest), o
r else OEdipus was a great fool for his pains if he really so punished himself;
" and then they shouted out one to the other, H<greek>lsune</greek> <greek>eis<
/greek> <greek>thn</greek> <greek>mhtera</greek>. But how insignificant, (say y
ou,) is the stain which one or two nations can make on the whole world! As for
us, we of course have infected the very sun, polluted the entire ocean! Quote,
then, one nation which is free from the passions which allure the whole race of
 men to incest! If there is a single nation which knows nothing of concubinage
through the necessity of age and sex--to say nothing of lust and licentiousness
--that nation will be a stranger to incest. If any nature can be found so pecul
iarly removed from the human state as to be liable neither to ignorance, nor er
ror, nor misfortune, that alone may be adduced with any consistency as an answe
r to the Christians. Reflect, therefore, on the licentiousness which floats abo
ut amongst men's passions(13) as if they were the winds, and consider whether t
here be any communities which the full and strong tides of passion fail to waft
 to the commission of this great sin. In the first place, when you expose your
infants to the mercy of others, or leave them for adoption to better parents th
an yourselves, do you forget what an opportunity for incest is furnished, how w
ide a scope is opened for its accidental commission? Undoubtedly, such of you a
s are more serious from a principle of self-restraint and careful reflection, a
bstain from lusts which could produce results of such a kind, in whatever place
 you may happen to be, at home or abroad, so that no indiscriminate diffusion o
f seed, or licentious reception thereof, will produce chil-

125

dren to you unawares, such as their very parents, or else other children, might
 encounter in inadvertent incest, for no restraint from age is regarded in (the
 importunities of) lust. All acts of adultery, all cases of fornication, all th
e licentiousness of public brothels, whether committed at home or perpetrated o
ut of doors,(1) serve to produce confusions of blood and complications of natur
al relationship,(2) and thence to conduce to incest; from which consummation yo
ur players and buffoons draw the materials of their exhibitions. It was from su
ch a source, too, that so flagrant a tragedy recently burst upon the public as
that which the prefect Fuscianus had judicially to decide. A boy of noble birth
, who, by the unintentional neglect of his attendants,(3) had strolled too far
from home, was decoyed by some passers-by, and carried off. The paltry Greek(4)
 who had the care of him, or somebody else,(5) in true Greek fashion, had gone
into the house and captured him. Having been taken away into Asia, he is brough
t, when arrived at full age, back to Rome, and exposed for sale. His own father
 buys him unawares, and treats him as a Greek.(6) Afterwards, as was his wont,
the youth is sent by his master into the fields, chained as a slave.(7) Thither
 the tutor and the nurse had already been banished for punishment. The whole ca
se is represented to them; they relate each other's misfortunes: they, on the o
ne hand, how they had lost their ward when he was a boy; he, on the other hand,
 that he had been lost from his boyhood. But they agreed in the main, that he w
as a native of Rome of a noble family; perhaps he further gave sure proofs of h
is identity. Accordingly, as God willed it for the purpose of fastening a stain
 upon that age, a presentiment about the time excites him, the periods exactly
suit his age, even his eyes help to recall(8) his features, some peculiar marks
 on his body are enumerated His master and mistress, who are now no other than
his own father and mother, anxiously urge a protracted inquiry. The slave-deale
r is examined, the unhappy truth is all discovered. When their wickedness becom
es manifest, the parents find a remedy for their despair by hanging themselves;
 to their son, who survives the miserable calamity, their property is awarded b
y the prefect, not as an inheritance, but as the wages of infamy and incest. Th
at one case was a sufficient example for public exposure(9) of the sins of this
 sort which are secretly perpetrated among you. Nothing happens among men in so
litary isolation. But, as it seems to me, it is only in a solitary case that su
ch a charge can be drawn out against us, even in the mysteries of our religion.
 You ply us evermore with this charge;(10) yet there are like delinquencies to
be traced amongst you, even in your ordinary course of life.(11)

CHAP. XVII.(12)--THE CHRISTIAN REFUSAL TO SWEAR BY THE GENIUS OF CAESAR. FLIPPA
NCY AND IRREVERENCE RETORTED ON THE HEATHEN.

    As to your charges of obstinacy and presumption, whatever you allege agains
t us, even in these respects, there are not wanting points in which you will be
ar a comparison with us. Our first step in this contumacious conduct concerns t
hat which is ranked by you immediately after(13) the worship due to God, that i
s, the worship due to the majesty of the Caesars, in respect of which we are ch
arged with being irreligious towards them, since we neither propititate their i
mages nor swear by their genius. We are called enemies of the people. Well, be
it so; yet at the same time (it must not be forgotten, that) the emperors find
enemies amongst you heathen, and are constantly getting surnames to signalize t
heir triumphs--one becoming Parthicus,(14) and another Medicus and Germanicus.(
15) On this head(16) the Roman people must see to it who they are amongst whom(
17) there still remain nations which are unsubdued and foreign to their rule. B
ut, at all events, you are of us,(18) and yet you conspire against us. (In repl
y, we need only state) a well-known fact,(19) that we acknowledge the fealty of
 Romans to the emperors. No conspiracy has ever broken out from our body: no Ca
esar's blood has ever fixed a stain upon us, in the senate or even in the palac
e; no assumption of the purple has ever in any of the provinces been affected b
y us. The Syrias still exhale the odours of their corpses; still do the Gauls(2
0) fail to wash away (their blood) in the waters of their Rhone. our allegation
s of our insanity(21) I omit, be-

126

cause they do not compromise the Roman name. But I will grapple with(1) the cha
rge of sacrilegious vanity, and remind you of(2) the irreverence of your own lo
wer classes, and the scandalous lampoons(3) of which the statues are so cogniza
nt, and the sneers which are sometimes uttered at the public games,(4) and the
curses with which the circus resounds. If not in arms, you are in tongue at all
 events always rebellious. But I suppose it is quite another affair to refuse t
o swear by the genius of Caesar? For it is fairly open to doubt as to who are p
erjurers on this point, when you do not swear honestly(5) even by your gods. We
ll, we do not call the emperor God; for on this point sannam facimus,(6) as the
 saying is. But the truth is, that you who call Caesar God both mock him, by ca
lling him what he is not, and curse him, because he does not want to be what yo
u call him. For he prefers living to being made a god.(7)

CHAP. XVIII.(8)--CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH AN OBSTINATE CONTEMPT OF DEATH. INSTAN
CES OF THE SAME ARE FOUND AMONGST THE HEATHEN.

    The rest of your charge of obstinacy against us you sum up in this indictme
nt, that we boldly refuse neither your swords, nor your crosses, nor your wild
beasts, nor fire, nor tortures, such is our obduracy and contempt of death. But
 (you are inconsistent in your charges); for in former times amongst your own a
ncestors all these terrors have come in men's intrepidity(9) not only to be des
pised, but even to be held in great praise. How many swords there were, and wha
t brave men were willing to suffer by them, it were irksome to enumerate.(10) (
If we take the torture) of the cross, of which so many instances have occurred,
 exquisite in cruelty, your own Regulus readily initiated the suffering which u
p to his day was without a precedent;(11) a queen of Egypt used wild beasts of
her own (to accomplish her death);(12) the Carthaginian woman, who in the last
extremity of her country was more courageous than her husband Asdrubal,(13) onl
y followed the example, set long before by Dido herself, of going through fire
to her death. Then, again, a woman of Athens defied the tyrant, exhausted his t
ortures, and at last, lest her person and sex might succumb through weakness, s
he bit off her tongue and spat out of her mouth the only possible instrument of
 a confession which was now out of her power.(14) But in your own instance you
account such deeds glorious, in ours obstinate. Annihilate now the glory of you
r ancestors, in order that you may thereby annihilate us also. Be content from
henceforth to repeal the praises of your forefathers, in order that you may not
 have to accord commendation to us for the same (sufferings). Perhaps (you will
 say) the character of a more robust age may have rendered the spirits of antiq
uity more enduring. Now, however, (we enjoy) the blessing of quietness and peac
e; so that the minds and dispositions of men (should be) more tolerant even tow
ards strangers. Well, you rejoin, be it so: you may compare yourselves with the
 ancients; we must needs pursue with hatred all that we find in you offensive t
o ourselves, because it does not obtain currency(15) among us. Answer me, then,
 on each particular case by itself. I am not seeking for examples on a uniform
scale.(16) Since, forsooth, the sword through their contempt of death produced
stories of heroism amongst your ancestors, it is not, of course,(17) from love
of life that you go to the trainers sword in hand and offer yourselves as gladi
ators,(18) (nor) through fear of death do you enrol your names in the army.(19)
 Since an ordinary(20) woman makes her death famous by wild beasts, it cannot b
ut be of your own pure accord that you encounter wild beasts day after day in t
he midst of peaceful times. Although no longer any Regulus among you has raised
 a cross as the instrument of his own crucifixion, yet a contempt of the fire h
as even now displayed itself,(21) since one of yourselves very lately has offer
ed for a wager(22) to go to any place which may be fixed upon and put on the bu
rning shirt.(23) If a woman once defiantly danced beneath the scourge, the same
 feat has been very recently performed again by one of your own (circus-) hunte
rs(24) as he traversed the

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appointed course, not to mention the famous sufferings of the Spartans.(1)

CHAP. XIX.(2)--IF CHRISTIANS AND THE HEATHEN THUS RESEMBLE EACH OTHER, THERE IS
 GREAT DIFFERENCE IN THE GROUNDS AND NATURE OF THEIR APPARENTLY SIMILAR CONDUCT
.

    Here end, I suppose, your tremendous charges of obstinacy against the Chris
tians. Now, since we are amenable to them in common with yourselves, it only re
mains that we compare the grounds which the respective parties have for being p
ersonally derided. All our obstinacy, however, is with you a foregone conclusio
n,(3) based on our strong convictions; for we take for granted(4) a resurrectio
n of the dead. Hope in this resurrection amounts to(5) a contempt of death. Rid
icule, therefore, as much as you like the excessive stupidity of such minds as
die that they may live; but then, in order that you may be able to laugh more m
errily, and deride us with greater boldness, you must take your sponge, or perh
aps your tongue, and wipe away those records of yours every now and then croppi
ng out,(6) which assert in not dissimilar terms that souls will return to bodie
s. But how much more worthy of acceptance is our belief which maintains that th
ey will return to the same bodies! And how much more ridiculous is your inherit
ed conceit,(7) that the human spirit is to reappear in a dog, or a mule, or a p
eacock! Again, we affirm that a judgment has been ordained by God according to
the merits of every man. This you ascribe to Minos and Rhadamanthus, while at t
he same time you reject Aristides, who was a juster judge than either. By the a
ward of the judgment, we say that the wicked will have to spend an eternity in
endless fire, the pious and innocent in a region of bliss. In your view likewis
e an unalterable condition is ascribed to the respective destinations of Pyriph
legethon(8) and Elysium. Now they are not merely your composers of myth and poe
try who write songs of this strain; but your philosophers also speak with all c
onfidence of the return of souls to their former state,(9) and of the twofold a
ward(10) of a final judgment.

CHAP. XX.--TRUTH AND REALITY PERTAIN TO CHRISTIANS ALONE. THE HEATHEN COUNSELLE
D TO EXAMINE AND EMBRACE IT.

    How long therefore, O most unjust heathen, will you refuse to acknowledge u
s, and (what is more) to execrate your own (worthies), since between us no dist
inction has place, because we are one and the same? Since you do not (of course
) hate what you yourselves are, give us rather your right hands in fellowship,
unite your salutations,(11) mingle your embraces, sanguinary with the sanguinar
y, incestuous with the Incestuous, conspirators with conspirators, obstinate an
d vain with those of the selfsame qualities. In company with each other, we hav
e been traitors to the majesty of the gods; and together do we provoke their in
dignation. You too have your "third race;"(12) not indeed third in the way of r
eligious rite,(13) but a third race in sex, and, made up as it is of male and f
emale in one, it is more fitted to men and women (for offices of lust).(12) Wel
l, then, do we offend you by the very fact of our approximation and agreement?
Being on a par is apt to furnish unconsciously the materials for rivalry. Thus
"a potter envies a potter, and a smith a smith."(14) But we must now discontinu
e this imaginary confession.(15) Our conscience has returned to the truth, and
to the consistency of truth. For all those points which you allege(16) (against
 us) will be really found in ourselves alone; and we alone can rebut them, agai
nst whom they are adduced, by getting you to listen(17) to the other side of th
e question, whence that full knowledge is learnt which both inspires counsel an
d directs the judgment. Now it is in fact your own maxim, that no one should de
termine a cause without hearing both sides of it; and it is only in our own cas
e that you neglect (the equitable principle). You indulge to the full(18) that
fault of human nature, that those things which you do not disallow in yourselve
s you condemn in others, or you boldly charge(19) against others those things t
he guilt of which(20) you retain a lasting consciousness of(21) in yourselves.
The course of life in which you will choose to occupy yourselves is different f
rom ours: whilst chaste in the eyes of others, you are

128

unchaste towards your own selves; whilst vigorous against vice out of doors, yo
u succumb to it at home. This is the injustice (which we have to suffer), that,
 knowing truth, we are condemned by those who know it not; free from guilt, we
are judged by those who are implicated in it. Remove the mote, or rather the be
am, out of your own eye, that you may be able to extract the mote from the eyes
 of others. Amend your own lives first, that you may be able to punish the Chri
stians. Only so far as you shall have effected your own reformation, will you r
efuse to inflict punishment on them--nay, so far will you have become Christian
s yourselves; and as you shall have become Christians, so far will you have com
passed your own amendment of life. Learn what that is which you accuse in us, a
nd you will accuse no longer; search out what that is which you do not accuse i
n yourselves, and you will become self-accusers. From these very few and humble
 remarks, so far as we have been able to open out the subject to you, you will
plainly get some insight into (your own) error, and some discovery of our truth
. Condemn that truth if you have the heart,(1) but only after you have examined
 it; and approve the error still, if you are so minded,(2) only first explore i
t. But if your prescribed rule is to love error and hate truth, why, (let me as
k,) do you not probe to a full discovery the objects both of your love and your
 hatred?

AD NATIONES.

BOOK II.(1)

CHAP. I.--THE HEATHEN GODS FROM HEATHEN AUTHORITIES. VARRO HAS WRITTEN A WORK O
N THE SUBJECT. HIS THREEFOLD CLASSIFICATION. THE CHANGEABLE CHARACTER OF THAT W
HICH OUGHT TO BE FIXED AND CERTAIN.

    OUR defence requires that we should at this point discuss with you the char
acter of your gods, O ye heathen, fit objects of our pity,(2) appealing even to
 your own conscience to determine whether they be truly gods, as you would have
 it supposed, or falsely, as you are unwilling to have proved.(3) Now this is t
he material part of human error, owing to the wiles of its author, that it is n
ever free from the ignorance of error,(4) whence your guilt is all the greater.
 Your eyes are open, yet they see not; your ears are unstopped, yet they hear n
ot; though your heart beats, it is yet dull, nor does your mind understand(5) t
hat of which it is cognizant.(6) If indeed the enormous perverseness (of your w
orship) could(7) be broken up(8) by a single demurrer, we should have our objec
tion ready to hand in the declaration(9) that, as we know all those gods of you
rs to have been instituted by men, all belief in the true Deity is by this very
 circumstance brought to nought;(10) because, of course, nothing which some tim
e or other had a beginning can rightly seem to be divine. But the fact is,(11)
there are many things by which tenderness of conscience is hardened into the ca
llousness of wilful error. Truth is beleaguered with the vast force (of the ene
my), and yet how secure she is in her own inherent strength! And naturally enou
gh(12) when from her very adversaries she gains to her side whomsoever she will
, as her friends and protectors, and prostrates the entire host of her assailan
ts. It is therefore against these things that our contest lies--against the ins
titutions of our ancestors, against the authority of tradition,(13) the laws of
 our governors, and the reasonings of the wise; against antiquity, custom, subm
ission;(14) against precedents, prodigies, miracles,--all which things have had
 their part in consolidating that spurious(15) system of your gods. Wishing, th
en, to follow step by step your own commentaries which you have drawn out of yo
ur theology of every sort (because the authority of learned men goes further wi
th you in matters of this kind than the testimony of facts), I have taken and a
bridged the works of Varro;(16) for he in his treatise Concerning Divine Things
, collected out of ancient digests, has shown himself a serviceable guide(17) f
or us. Now, if I inquire of him who were the subtle inventors(18) of the gods,
he points to either the philosophers, the peoples, or the poets. For he has mad
e a threefold distinction in classifying the gods: one being the physical class
, of which the philosophers treat; another the mythic class, which is the const
ant burden of(19) the poets; the third, the gentile class, which the nations ha
ve adopted each one for itself. When, therefore, the philosophers have ingeniou
sly composed their physical (theology) out of their

130

own conjectures, when the poets have drawn their mythical from fables, and the
(several) nations have forged their gentile (polytheism) according to their own
 will, where in the world must truth be placed? In the conjectures? Well, but t
hese are only a doubtful conception. In the fables? But they are at best an abs
urd story. In the popular accounts?(1) This sort of opinion,(2) however, is onl
y promiscuous(3) and municipal. Now all things with the philosophers are uncert
ain, because of their variation with the poets all is worthless, because immora
l; with the nations all is irregular and confused, because dependent on their m
ere choice. The nature of God, however, if it be the true one with which you ar
e concerned, is of so definite a character as not to be derived from uncertain
speculations,(4) nor contaminated with worthless fables, nor determined by prom
iscuous conceits. It ought indeed to be regarded, as it really is, as certain,
entire, universal, because it is in truth the property of all. Now, what god sh
all I believe? One that has been gauged by vague suspicion? One that history(5)
 has divulged? One that a community has invented? It would be a far worthier th
ing if I believed no god, than one which is open to doubt, or full of shame, or
 the object of arbitrary selection.(6)

CHAP. II.--PHILOSOPHERS HAD NOT SUCCEEDED! IN DISCOVERING GOD. THE UNCERTAINTY
AND CONFUSION OF THEIR SPECULATIONS.

    But the authority of the physical philosophers is maintained among you(7) a
s the special property.(8) of wisdom. You mean of course, that pure and simple
wisdom of the philosophers which attests its own weakness mainly by that variet
y of opinion which proceeds from an ignorance of the truth. Now what wise man i
s so devoid of truth, as not to know that God is the Father and Lord of wisdom
itself and truth? Besides, there is that divine oracle uttered by Solomon: "The
 fear of the Lord," says he," is the beginning of wisdom."(9) But(10) fear has
its origin in knowledge; for how will a man fear that of which he knows nothing
? Therefore he who shall have the fear of God, even if he be ignorant of all th
ings else, if he has attained to the knowledge and truth of God,(11) will posse
ss full and perfect wisdom. This, however, is what philosophy has not clearly r
ealized. For although, in their inquisitive disposition to search into all kind
s of learning, the philosophers may seem to have investigated the sacred Script
ures themselves for their antiquity, and to have derived thence some of their o
pinions; yet because they have interpolated these deductions they prove that th
ey have either despised them wholly or have not fully believed them, for in oth
er cases also the simplicity of truth is shaken(12) by the over-scrupulousness
of an irregular belief,(13) and that they therefore changed them, as their desi
re of glory grew, into products of their own mind. The consequence of this is,
that even that which they had discovered degenerated into uncertainty, and ther
e arose from one or two drops of truth a perfect flood of argumentation. For af
ter they had simply(14) found God, they did not expound Him as they found Him,
but rather disputed about His quality, and His nature, and even about His abode
. The Platonists, indeed, (held) Him to care about wordly things, both as the d
isposer and judge thereof. The Epicureans regarded Him as apathetic(15) and ine
rt, and (so to say) a non-entity.(16) The Stoics believed Him to be outside of
the world; the Platonists, within the world. The God whom they had so imperfect
ly admitted, they could neither know nor fear; and therefore they could not be
wise, since they wandered away indeed from the beginning of wisdom," that is, "
the fear of God." Proofs are not wanting that among the philosophers there was
not only an ignorance, but actual doubt, about the divinity. Diogenes, when ask
ed what was taking place in heaven, answered by saying, "I have never been up t
here." Again, whether there were any gods, he replied, "I do not know; only the
re ought to be gods."(17) When Croesus inquired of Thales of Miletus what he th
ought of the gods, the latter having taken some time(18) to consider, answered
by the word "Nothing." Even Socrates denied with an air of certainty(19) those
gods of yours.(20) Yet he with a like certainty requested that a cock should be
 sacrificed to AEsculapius. And therefore when philosophy, in its practice of d
efining about God, is detected in such uncertainty and inconsistency,

131

what "fear" could it possibly have had of Him whom it was not competent(1) clea
rly to determine? We have been taught to believe of the world that it is god.(2
) For such the physical class of theologizers conclude it to be, since they hav
e handed down such views about the gods that Dionysius the Stoic divides them i
nto three kinds. The first, he supposes, includes those gods which are most obv
ious, as the Sun, Moon, and Stars; the next, those which are not apparent, as N
eptune; the remaining one, those which are said to have passed from the human s
tate to the divine, as Hercules and Amphiaraus. In like manner, Arcesilaus make
s a threefold form of the divinity--the Olympian, the Astral, the Titanian--spr
ung from Coelus and Terra; from which through Saturn and Ops came Neptune, Jupi
ter, and Orcus, and their entire progeny. Xenocrates, of the Academy, makes a t
wofold division--the Olympian and the Titanian, which descend from Coelus and T
erra. Most of the Egyptians believe that there are four gods--the Sun and the M
oon, the Heaven and the Earth. Along with all the supernal fire Democritus conj
ectures that the gods arose. Zeno, too, will have it that their nature resemble
s it. Whence Varro also makes fire to be the soul of the world, that in the wor
ld fire governs all things, just as the soul does in ourselves. But all this is
 most absurd. For he says, Whilst it is in us, we have existence; but as soon a
s it has left us, we die. Therefore, when fire quits the world in lightning, th
e world comes to its end.

CHAP. III.--THE PHYSICAL PHILOSOPHERS MAINTAINED THE DIVINITY OF THE ELEMENTS;
THE ABSURDITY OF THE TENET EXPOSED.

    From these developments of opinion, we see that your(3) physical class of p
hilosophers are driven to the necessity of contending that the elements are god
s, since it alleges that other gods are sprung from them; for it is only from g
ods that gods could be born. Now, although we shall have to examine these other
 gods more fully in the proper place, in the mythic section of the poets, yet,
inasmuch as we must meanwhile treat of them in their connection with the presen
t class,(4) we shall probably even from their present class,(5) when once we tu
rn to the gods themselves, succeed in showing that they can by no means appear
to be gods who are said to be sprung from the elements; so that we have at once
 a presumption(6) that the elements are not gods, since they which are born of
the elements are not gods. In like manner, whilst we show that the elements are
 not gods, we shall, according to the law of natural relationship,(7) get a pre
sumptive argument that they cannot rightly be maintained to be gods whose paren
ts (in this case the elements) are not gods. It is a settled point(8) that a go
d is born of a god, and that what lacks divinity(9) is born of what is not divi
ne. Now, so far as(10) the world of which your philosophers treat(11) (for I ap
ply this term to the universe in the most comprehensive sense(12)) contains the
 elements, ministering to them as its component parts (for whatever its own con
dition may be, the same of course will be that of its elements and constituent
portions), it must needs have been formed either by some being, according to th
e enlightened view(13) of Plato, or else by none, according to the harsh opinio
n(14) of Epicurus; and since it was formed, by having a beginning, it must also
 have an end. That, therefore, which at one time before its beginning had no ex
istence, and will by and by after its end cease to have an existence, cannot of
 course, by any possibility, seem to be a god, wanting as it does that essentia
l character of divinity, eternity,which is reckoned to be(15) without beginning
, and without end. If, however, it(16) is in no wise formed, and therefore ough
t to be accounted divine--since, as divine, it is subject neither to a beginnin
g nor an end of itself--how is it that some assign generation to the elements,
which they hold to be gods, when the Stoics deny that anything can be born of a
 god? Likewise, how is it that they wish those beings, whom they suppose to be
born of the elements, to be regarded as gods, when they deny that a god can be
born? Now, what must hold good of the universe(17) will have to be predicated o
f the elements, I mean of heaven, and of earth, and of the stars, and of fire,
which Varro has vainly proposed that you should believe(18) to be gods, and the
 parents of gods, contrary to that generation and nativity which he had declare
d to be impossible in a god. Now this same Varro had shown that the earth and t
he

132

stars were animated.(1) But if this be the case, they must needs be also mortal
, according to the condition(2) of animated nature; for although the soul is ev
idently immortal, this attribute is limited to it alone: it is not extended to
that with which it is associated, that is, the body. Nobody, however, will deny
 that the elements have body, since we both touch them and are touched by them,
 and we see certain bodies fall down from them. If, therefore, they are animate
d, laying aside the principle(3) of a soul, as befits their condition as bodies
, they are mortal--of course not immortal. And yet whence is it that the elemen
ts appear to Varro to be animated? Because, forsooth, the elements have motion.
 And then, in order to anticipate what may be objected on the other side, that
many things else have motion--as wheels, as carriages, as several other machine
s--he volunteers the statement that he believes only such things to be animated
 as move of themselves, without any apparent mover or impeller from without, li
ke the apparent mover of the wheel, or propeller of the carriage, or director o
f the machine. If, then, they are not animated, they have no motion of themselv
es. Now, when he thus alleges a power which is not apparent, he points to what
it was his duty to seek after, even the creator and controller of the motion fo
r it does not at once follow that, because we do not see a thing, we believe th
at it does not exist. Rather, it is necessary the more profoundly to investigat
e what one does not see, in order the better to understand the character of tha
t which is apparent. Besides if (you admit) only the existence of those things
which appear and are supposed to exist simply because they appear, how is it th
at you also admit them to be gods which do not appear? If, moreover, those thin
gs seem to have existence which have none, why may they not have existence also
 which do not seem to have it? Such, for instance, as the Mover(4) of the heave
nly beings. Granted, then, that things are animated because they move of themse
lves, and that they move of themselves when they are not moved by another: stil
l it does not follow that they must straightway be gods, because they are anima
ted, nor even because they move of themselves; else what is to prevent all anim
als whatever being accounted gods, moving as they do of themselves? This, to be
 sure, is allowed to the Egyptians, but their superstitious vanity has another
basis.(5)

CHAP. IV.--WRONG DERIVATION OF THE WORD <greek>Qeos</greek>. THE NAME INDICATIV
E OF THE TRUE DEITY. GOD WITHOUT SHAPE AND IMMATERIAL. ANECDOTE OF THALES.

    Some affirm that the gods (i.e. <greek>qeoi</greek>) were so called because
 the verbs <greek>qeein</greek> and <greek>seisqai</greek> signify to run and t
o be moved.(6) This term, then, is not indicative of any majesty, for it is der
ived from running and motion, not from any dominion(7) of godhead. But inasmuch
 as the Supreme God whom we worship is also designated <greek>Qeos</greek>, wit
hout however the appearance of any course or motion in Him, because He is not v
isible to any one, it is clear that that word must have had some other derivati
on, and that the property of divinity, innate in Himself, must have been discov
ered. Dismissing, then, that ingenious interpretation, it is more likely that t
he gods were not called <greek>qeoi</greek> from running and motion, but that t
he term was borrowed from the designation of the true God; so that you gave the
 name <greek>qeoi</greek> to the gods, whom you had in like manner forged for y
ourselves. Now, that this is the case, a plain proof is afforded in the fact th
at you actually give the common appellation <greek>qeoi</greek> to all those go
ds of yours, in whom there is no attribute of course or motion indicated. When,
 therefore, you call them both <greek>qeoi</greek> and immoveable with equal re
adiness, there is a deviation as well from the meaning of the word as from the
idea(8) of godhead, which is set aside(9) if measured by the notion of course a
nd motion. But if that sacred name be peculiarly significant of deity, and be s
imply true and not of a forced interpretation(10) in the case of the true God,
but transferred in a borrowed sense(11) to those other objects which you choose
 to call gods, then you ought to show to us(12) that there is also a community
of character between them, so that their common designation may rightly depend
on their union of essence. But the true God, on the sole ground that He is not
an object of sense, is incapable of being compared with those false deities whi
ch are cognizable to sight and sense (to sense indeed is sufficient); for this
amounts to a clear statement of the difference between an obscure proof and a m
anifest one. Now, since the elements are obvious to all, (and) since God, on th
e contrary, is visible to none, how will it be in your power from that part

133

which you have not seen to pass to a decision on the objects which you see? Sin
ce, therefore, you have not to combine them in your perception or your reason,
why do you combine them in name with the purpose of combining them also in powe
r? For see how even Zeno separates the matter of the world from God: he says th
at the latter has percolated through the former, like honey through the comb. G
od, therefore, and Matter are two words (and) two things. Proportioned to the d
ifference of the words is the diversity of the things; the condition also of ma
tter follows its designation. Now if matter is not God, because its very appell
ation teaches us so, how can those things which are inherent in matter--that is
, the elements--be regarded as gods, since the component members cannot possibl
y be heterogeneous from the body? But what concern have I with physiological co
nceits? It were better for one's mind to ascend above the state of the world, n
ot to stoop down to uncertain speculations. Plato's form for the world was roun
d. Its square, angular shape, such as others had conceived it to be, he rounded
 off, I suppose, with compasses, from his labouring to have it believed to be s
imply without a beginning.(1) Epicurus, however, who had said, "What is above u
s is nothing to us," wished notwithstanding to have a peep at the sky, and foun
d the sun to be a foot in diameter. Thus far you must confess(2) men were nigga
rdly in even celestial objects. In process of time their ambitious conceptions
advanced, and so the sun too enlarged its disk.(3) Accordingly, the Peripatetic
s marked it out as a larger world.(4) Now, pray tell me, what wisdom is there i
n this hankering after conjectural speculations? What proof is afforded to us,
notwithstanding the strong confidence of its assertions, by the useless affecta
tion of a scrupulous curiosity,(5) which is tricked out with an artful show of
language? It therefore served Thales of Miletus quite right, when, star-gazing
as he walked with all the eyes he had, he had the mortification of falling(6) i
nto a well, and was unmercifully twitted by an Egyptian, who said to him, "Is i
t because you found nothing on earth to look at, that you think you ought to co
nfine your gaze to the sky?" His fall, therefore, is a figurative picture of th
e philosophers; of those, I mean,(7) who persist in applying(8) their studies t
o a vain purpose, since they indulge a stupid curiosity on natural objects, whi
ch they ought rather (intelligently to direct) to their Creator and Governor.

CHAP. V.--THE PHYSICAL THEORY CONTINUED. FURTHER REASONS ADVANCED AGAINST THE D
IVINITY OF THE ELEMENTS.

    Why, then, do we not resort to that far more reasonable(9) opinion, which h
as clear proof of being derived from men's common sense and unsophisticated ded
uction?(10) Even Varro bears it in mind, when he says that the elements are sup
posed to be divine, because nothing whatever is capable, without their concurre
nce,(11) of being produced, nourished, or applied to the sustenance(12) of man'
s life and of the earth, since not even our bodies and souls could have suffice
d in themselves without the modification(13) of the elements. By this it is tha
t the world is made generally habitable,--a result which is harmoniously secure
d(14) by the distribution into zones,(15) except where human residence has been
 rendered impracticable by intensity of cold or heat. On this account, men have
 accounted as gods--the sun, because it imparts from itself the light of day, r
ipens the fruit with its warmth, and measures the year with its stated periods;
 the moon, which is at once the solace of the night and the controller of the m
onths by its governance; the stars also, certain indications as they are of tho
se seasons which are to be observed in the tillage of our fields; lastly, the v
ery heaven also under which, and the earth over which, as well as the intermedi
ate space within which, all things conspire together for the good of man. Nor i
s it from their beneficent influences only that a faith in their divinity has b
een deemed compatible with the elements, but from their opposite qualities also
, such as usually happen from what one might call(16) their wrath and anger--as
 thunder, and hail, and drought, and pestilential winds, floods also, and openi
ngs of the ground, and earthquakes: these are all fairly enough(17) accounted g
ods, whether their nature becomes the object of reverence as being favourable,
or of fear because terrible--the sovereign dispenser,(18) in fact,(19) both of
help and of hurt. But in the practical conduct of

134

social life, this is the way in which men act and feel: they do not show gratit
ude or find fault with the very things from which the succour or the injury pro
ceeds, so much as with them by whose strength and power the operation of the th
ings is effected. For even in your amusements you do not award the crown as a p
rize to the flute or the harp, but to the musician who manages the said flute o
r harp by the power of his delightful skill.(1) In like manner, when one is in
ill-health, you do not bestow your acknowledgments on the flannel wraps,(2) or
the medicines, or the poultices, but on the doctors by whose care and prudence
the remedies become effectual. So again, in untoward events, they who are wound
ed with the sword do not charge the injury on the sword or the spear, but on th
e enemy or the robber; whilst those whom a falling house covers do not blame th
e tiles or the stones, but the oldness of the building; as again shipwrecked sa
ilors impute their calamity not to the rocks and waves, but to the tempest. And
 rightly too; for it is certain that everything which happens must be ascribed
not to the instrument with which, but to the agent by whom, it takes place; ina
smuch as he is the prime cause of the occurrence,(3) who appoints both the even
t itself and that by whose instrumentality it comes to pass (as there are in al
l things these three particular elements--the fact itself, its instrument, and
its cause), because he himself who wills the occurrence of a thing comes into n
otice(4) prior to the thing which he wills, or the instrument by which it occur
s. On all other occasions therefore, your conduct is right enough, because you
consider the author; but in physical phenomena your rule is opposed to that nat
ural principle which prompts you to a wise judgment in all other cases, removin
g out of sight as you do the supreme position of the author, and considering ra
ther the things that happen, than him by whom they happen. Thus it comes to pas
s that you suppose the power and the dominion to belong to the elements, which
are but the slaves and functionaries. Now do we not, in thus tracing out an art
ificer and master within, expose the artful structure of their slavery(5) out o
f the appointed functions of those elements to which you ascribe (the attribute
s) of power?(6) But gods are not slaves; therefore whatever things are servile
in character are not gods. Otherwise(7) they should prove to us that, according
 to the ordinary course of things, liberty is promoted by irregular licence,(1)
 despotism by liberty, and that by despotism divine power is meant. For if all
the (heavenly bodies) overhead forget not(9) to fulfil their courses in certain
 orbits, in regular seasons, at proper distances, and at equal intervals--appoi
nted in the way of a law for the revolutions of time, and for directing the gui
dance thereof--can it fail to result(10) from the very observance of their cond
itions and the fidelity of their operations, that you will be convinced both by
 the recurrence of their orbital courses and the accuracy of their mutations, w
hen you bear in mind how ceaseless is their recurrence, that a governing power
presides over them, to which the entire management of the world(11) is obedient
, reaching even to the utility and injury of the human race? For you cannot pre
tend that these (phenomena) act and care for themselves alone, without contribu
ting anything to the advantage of mankind, when you maintain that the elements
are divine for no other reason than that you experience from them either benefi
t or injury to yourself. For if they benefit themselves only, you are under no
obligation to them.

CHAP. VI.--THE CHANGES OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES, PROOF THAT THEY ARE NOT DIVINE.
TRANSITION FROM THE PHYSICAL TO THE MYTHIC CLASS OF GODS.

    Come now, do you allow that the Divine Being not only has nothing servile i
n His course, but exists in unimpaired integrity, and ought not to be diminishe
d, or suspended, or destroyed? Well, then, all His blessedness(12) would disapp
ear, if He were ever subject to change. Look, however, at the stellar bodies; t
hey both undergo change, and give clear evidence of the fact. The moon tells us
 how great has been its loss, as it recovers its full form;(13) its greater los
ses you are already accustomed to measure in a mirror of water;(15) so that I n
eed not any longer believe in anywise what magians have asserted. The sun, too,
 is frequently put to the trial of an eclipse. Explain as best you may the mode
s of these celestial casualties, it is impossible(15) for God

135

either to become less or to cease to exist. Vain, therefore, are(1) those suppo
rts of human learning, which, by their artful method of weaving conjectures, be
lie both wisdom and truth. Besides,(2) it so happens, indeed, according to your
 natural way of thinking, that he who has spoken the best is supposed to have s
poken most truly, instead of him who has spoken the truth being held to have sp
oken the best. Now the man who shall carefully look into things, will surely al
low it to be a greater probability that those(3) elements which we have been di
scussing are under some rule and direction, than that they have a motion of the
ir own, and that being under government they cannot be gods. If, however, one i
s in error in this matter, it is better to err simply than speculatively, like
your physical philosophers. But, at the same time,(4) if you consider the chara
cter of the mythic school, (and compare it with the physical,) the error which
we have already seen frail men(5) making in the latter is really the more respe
ctable one, since it ascribes a divine nature to those things which i