Tertullian: Liber Scorpiace

[1] Magnum de modico malum scorpio terra suppurat. Tot uenena quot et genera, tot pernicies quot et species, tot dolores quot et colores. Nicander scribit et pingit.

[1] From something small the earth suppurates a great evil: the scorpion. As many venoms as there are genera, as many pernicious ruins as there are species, as many dolors as there are colors. Nicander writes and paints.

Et tamen unus omnium uiolentiae gestus de cauda, non ore; quae cauda erit, quodcumque de postumo corporis propagatur et uerberat. * * * perinde scorpii: series illa nodorum uenenata intrinsecus uenula subtilis arcuato impetu insurgens hamatile spiculum in summo tormenti ratione stringit.

And yet the one gesture of all its violence is from the tail, not the mouth; and “tail” will be whatever of the hindmost of the body is propagated and lashes. * * * likewise for scorpions: that series of knots, venomous within, a subtle little venule, rising with an arched impetus, by the ratio of a torsion-device constricts the hamate spicule at the tip.

[2] Vnde et bellicam machinam retractu tela uegetantem de scorpio nominant. Id spiculum et fistula est patula tenuitate et uirus, qua figit, in uulnus effundit. Familiare periculi tempus aestas; Austro et Africo saeuitia uelificat.

[2] Whence also they name after the scorpion the war-machine that invigorates its missiles by retraction. Its point is both a spicule and a fistula (pipe) with gaping slenderness, and it pours the virus (venom), with which it pierces, into the wound. The time familiar to the danger is summer; with the Auster and the Africus its savagery sets full sail.

In remediis naturalia plurimum; aliquid et magia circumligat; medicina cum ferro et poculo occurrit.

In remedies, the natural ones most of all; and something too magic binds round; medicine counters it with iron and with a potion.

[3] Nam et praebibunt quidam festinando tutelam; sed concubitus exhaurit, et denuo sitiunt. Nobis fides praesidium, si non et ipsa percutitur diffidentia signandi statim et adiurandi et iniciendi bestiae calcem.

[3] For some, in their haste, will even pre-drink a safeguard; but coitus exhausts it, and they thirst anew. For us faith is a presiding safeguard, unless it too is struck by distrust—of at once making the sign and adjuring, and of setting the heel upon the beast.

[4] Hoc denique modo etiam ethnicis saepe subuenimus, donati a deo ea potestate, quam apostolus dedicauit, cum morsum uiperae spreuit. Quid ergo promittit stilus iste, si fides de suo tuta est? Vt et alias de suo tuta sit, cum suos scorpios patitur.

[4] In this very way, too, we have often brought help even to the ethnics, endowed by God with that power which the apostle dedicated when he spurned the bite of the viper. What then does this stylus promise, if faith is safe on its own account? That it may also be safe on other occasions on its own account, when it suffers its own scorpions.

Acerba mediocritas et istis et genus uarium et uno modo armantur et certo tempore subornantur nec alio quam ardoris.

The medium size is harsh even in these, and the kind is various, and they are armed in one manner and suborned at a fixed time, and by nothing other than heat.

[5] Hoc apud Christianos persecutio est. Cum igitur fides aestuat et ecclesia exuritur de figura rubi, tunc Gnostici erumpunt, tunc Valentiniani proserpunt, tunc omnes martyriorum refragatores ebulliunt calentes et ipsi offendere, figere, occidere. Nam quod sciant multos simplices ac rudes tum infirmos, plerosque uero in uentum et si placuerit Christianos, numquam magis adeundos sapiunt, quam cum aditus animae formido laxauit, praesertim cum aliqua iam atrocitas fidem martyrum coronauit.

[5] This among Christians is persecution. Accordingly, when faith seethes and the Church is being burned after the figure of the bramble-bush, then the Gnostics burst out, then the Valentinians creep forth, then all the refractors of martyrdoms boil over, themselves hot to attack, to transfix, to kill. For, knowing that many are simple and untrained, then weak, while the majority indeed are at the mercy of the wind and—if it so pleases—Christians, they judge them never more to be approached than when fear has loosened the entrances of the soul, especially when some atrocity has already crowned the faith of the martyrs.

[6] Itaque primo trahentes adhuc caudam de affectibus applicant aut quasi in uacuum flagellant: haeccine pati homines innocentes? Vt putes fratrem aut de melioribus ethnicum.

[6] And so at first, still trailing a tail from affections, they make their appeal, or, as if flogging into a vacuum: are innocent men to suffer these things? So that you would think it a brother or a Gentile of the better sort.

[7] Siccine tractari sectam nemini molestam? Dehinc adigunt: perire homines sine causa. Perire enim, et sine causa, prima fixura.

[7] Is a sect that molests no one to be handled thus? Then they drive it: that men perish without cause. For “to perish, and without cause” is the first nail driven.

Exinde iam caedunt: sed nesciunt simplices animae, quid quomodo scriptum sit, ubi et quando et coram quibus confitendum, nisi quod nec simplicitas ista, sed uanitas, immo dementia pro deo mori, ut qui me saluum faciat.

Then thereafter they cut down: but simple souls do not know what, or how, it is written, where and when and before whom confession is to be made, except that this is not simplicity, but vanity—nay, dementia—to die for a god, as though he were the one to make me safe.

[8] Sic is occidet, qui saluum facere debebit? Semel Christus pro nobis obiit, semel occisus est, ne occideremur. Si uicem repetit, num et ille salutem de mea nece expectat?

[8] Thus will he kill, who ought to save? Once Christ died for us, once he was slain, lest we be slain. If he exacts a return, does he too expect salvation from my death?

An deus hominum sanguinem flagitat, maxime si taurorum et hircorum recusat? Certe peccatoris paenitentiam manuult quam mortem. Et quomodo non peccatorum desiderat mortem?

Does God demand the blood of men, especially if he refuses that of bulls and goats? Surely he prefers the penitence of the sinner rather than death. And how is it that he does not desire the death of sinners?

[9] Haec et si qua alia adinuenta haereticorum uenenorum quem non uel in scrupulum figant, si non in exitium, uel in bilem, si non in mortem? At tu, si fides uigilat, ibidem scorpio pro solea anathema inlidito et relinquito in suo pure morientem.

[9] These things, and if there are any other inventions of the heretics’ venoms, whom do they not fix either into a scruple, if not into destruction, or into bile, if not into death? But you, if faith keeps vigil, there dash the scorpion, as an anathema, before your sandal, and leave it dying in its own pus.

[10] Ceterum, si plagam satiauerit, intimatur uirus et properat in uiscera; statim omnes pristini sensus retorpescunt, sanguis animi gelascit, caro spiritus exolescit, nausea nominis inacrescit. Iam et ipsa mens sibi, quo uomat, quaerit, atque ita infirmitas, semel quae percussa est, sauciatam fidem uel in haeresin uel in saeculum expirat. Et nunc in praesentia rerum est medius ardor, ipsa canicula persecutionis, ab ipso scilicet cynocephalo.

[10] However, if the wound has been satiated, the virus is conveyed inward and hastens into the viscera; at once all the former senses grow re-torpid, the blood of the mind congeals, the flesh of the spirit fades away, the nausea at the Name grows acrid. Now even the mind itself looks about for where to vomit, and thus the infirmity, once it has been smitten, expires the wounded faith either into heresy or into the world. And now in the present state of things there is the mid-ardor, the very Dog-star of persecution, from the dog-headed one himself, namely.

[11] Alios ignis, alios gladius, alios bestiae Christianos probauerunt, alii fustibus interim et ungulis insuper degustato martyrio in carcere esuriunt. Nos ipsi ut lepores, destinata uenatio, de longinquo obsedimur, et haeretici ex more grassantur.

[11] Some Christians have been proved by fire, others by the sword, others by beasts; others meanwhile by cudgels and by claws, and, with martyrdom even tasted besides, they hunger in prison. We ourselves, like hares, destined quarry, are besieged from afar, and the heretics, according to their custom, make their depredations.

[12] Itaque tempus admonuit aduersus nostrates bestiolas nostratem [mederi] theriacam stilo temperare. Qui legeris, biberis. Nec amarum potio.

[12] And so the time has admonished me to temper with the stylus a native theriac against our native little beasties [to heal]. If you read, you will drink. Nor is the potion bitter.

Si eloquia domini dulcia super mella et fauos, inde pigmenta sunt. Si lacte et melle promissio dei manat, hoc sapiunt quae illuc faciunt. Vae autem qui dulce in amarum et lumen in tenebras conuertunt!

If the utterances of the Lord are sweet beyond honey and honeycombs, then from there come the pigments—spices. If the promise of God flows with milk and honey, then the things that make for that place have this savor. But woe to those who turn the sweet into bitter and light into darkness!

[13] Perinde enim et qui martyriis refragantur salutem perditionem interpretantes tam dulce in amarum quam luceni in tenebras reformant atque ita miserrimam hanc uitam illi beatissimae praeuertendo tam amarum pro dulce quam tenebras pro luce supponunt.

[13] For in like manner also those who gainsay the martyrdoms, interpreting salvation as perdition, transform the sweet into bitter as much as the light into darkness; and thus, by preferring this most miserable life to that most blessed, they set bitterness in place of sweet and darkness in place of light.

II.

[1] Sed nondum de bono martyri, nisi de debito primum, nec ante de utilitate eius, quam de necessitate discendum. Auctoritas diuina praecedit, an tale quid uoluerit atque mandauerit deus, ut qui negant bonum non suadeantur accommodum, nisi cum subacti fuerint. Ad officium haereticos compelli non inlici dignum est.

[1] But not yet about the good of martyrdom, except about the debt first, nor ought one to learn of its utility before its necessity. Divine authority takes precedence, as to whether God has willed and mandated such a thing, so that those who deny the good may not be persuaded of its expediency until they have been subdued. To duty heretics are to be compelled, not lured; this is fitting.

Duritia uincenda est, non suadenda.

Durity must be vanquished, not persuaded.

[2] Et utique satis optimum praeiudicabitur quod probabitur a deo constitutum atque praeceptum. Sustineant euangelia paulisper, dum radicem eorum exprimo legem, dum inde elicio dei uoluntatem unde et ipsum recognosco: ego sum, inquit, deus deus tuus, qui te eduxi de terra Aegypti. Non erunt tibi dii alii praeter me. Non facies tibi simulacrum eorum quae in caelo et quae in terra deorsum et quae in mari infra terram.

[2] And assuredly that will be prejudged as quite the best which shall be proved to have been established and commanded by God. Let the Gospels hold back for a little while, while I express their root—the Law, while from there I draw out the will of God, whence I also recognize him himself: I am, he says, God, your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an image of the things which are in heaven and which are on the earth below and which are in the sea beneath the earth.

Non adorabis ea, neque famulaberis eis. Ego enim dominus deus tuus. Item in eadem Exodo: ipsi uidistis, quod de caelo locutus ad uos sim.

You shall not adore them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord your God. Likewise in the same Exodus: you yourselves have seen that from heaven I have spoken to you.

Non facietis uobis deos argenteos, et deos aureos non facietis uobis.

You shall not make for yourselves gods of silver, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.

[3] Secundum haec et in Deuteronomio: audi Israel, dominus deus tuus unus est, et diliges dominum deum tuum ex toto corde tuo et totis uiribus tuis et ex tota anima tua. Et rursus: nec obliuiscaris domini dei tui, qui te eduxit de terra Aegypti ex domo seruitutis. Dominum deum tuum timebis et illi famulaberis soli et illi adglutinaberis et in nomine eius deierabis.

[3] According to these, also in Deuteronomy: Hear, Israel, the Lord your God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength and with all your soul. And again: nor forget the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude. The Lord your God you shall fear, and him alone you shall serve, and to him you shall adhere, and by his name you shall swear.

[4] Non ibitis post deos alienos ex deis nationum, quae circum uos, quia aemulatur deus deus tuus in te, et ne iratus indignetur et exterminet te a facie terrae.

[4] You shall not go after foreign gods from among the gods of the nations which are around you, for your God is a jealous God in you, lest, being angered, he become indignant and exterminate you from the face of the earth.

[5] Sed et proponens benedictiones et maledictiones: benedictiones, inquit, si audieritis praecepta domini dei uestri, quaecumque ego praecipio uobis hodie, et non erraueritis de uia quam mandaui uobis, ut abeuntes semiatis deis aliis, quos non scitis.

[5] But also setting forth benedictions and maledictions: “benedictions,” he says, “if you listen to the precepts of the Lord your God, whatever I command you today, and do not stray from the way which I commanded you, to go off and serve other gods, whom you do not know.”

[6] De quibus omnifariam extirpandis: perditione perdetis, inquit, omnia loca, in quibus seruierunt nationes deis suis, quas uos possidebitis hereditate, super montes et colles et sub arbores densas, quasque effodietis aras eorum, euertetis et comminuetis staticula eorum et excidetis lucos eorum et sculptilia ipsorum deorum concremabitis igni et disperdetis nomen eorum de loco illo.

[6] About extirpating these in every way: with perdition you shall destroy, he says, all the places in which the nations served their own gods, whom you will possess by inheritance, upon the mountains and hills and under dense trees, and you shall dig out their altars, you will overturn and comminute their statuettes, and you will cut down their groves and you will burn with fire the sculptures of those gods themselves, and you will destroy their name from that place.

[7] Adhuc ingerit, cum introissent terram promissionis et exterminassent nationes eius: caue tibi, ne sequaris eas posteaquam exterminatae fuerint a facie tua, ne requisieris deos illarum dicens, quemadmodum faciunt nationes deis suis, ut et ego ita faciam.

[7] He further urges, when they had entered the land of promise and had exterminated its nations: beware for yourself, lest you follow them after they have been exterminated from before your face; lest you inquire after their gods, saying, in what manner the nations do to their gods, so I too will do thus.

[8] Sed et, si ipse prophetes, inquit, exsurrexerit in te aut somnium somnians et dederit tibi signum uel ostentum et uenerit et dixerit, eamus et seruiamus diis aliis, quos non scitis, ne audiatis sermonem prophetae aut somniatoris illius, quia temptat uos dominus deus uester, an ex toto corde uestro et ex tota anima uestra timeatis deum. Post dominum deum uestrum abibitis et hunc timebitis et praecepta eius custodietis et uocem eius audietis et illi seruietis et illi adiciemini. Prophetes autem uel somniator ille morietur; locutus enim est ad seducendum te a domino deo tuo.

[8] But also, if a prophet himself, he says, should arise in you, or one dreaming a dream, and he should give you a sign or a portent, and it should come to pass, and he should say, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you do not know, you shall not hear the word of that prophet or that dreamer; for the Lord your God is testing you, whether you fear God out of your whole heart and out of your whole soul. After the Lord your God you shall go, and him you shall fear, and his precepts you shall keep, and his voice you shall hear, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall be joined. But that prophet or that dreamer shall die; for he has spoken to seduce you from the Lord your God.

[9] Sed et alio titulo: si autem rogauerit te frater tuus ex patre uel matre aut filius tuus aut filia tua aut mulier quae in gremio tuo est aut amicus qui animae tuae par est clam dicens, eamus et seruiamus diis aliis, quos non scis, nec patres tui, ex deis nationum, quae circum te proxime aut longe, ne uelis ire cum illo, et ne audieris eum.

[9] But also under another title: if, however, your brother on the father’s side or the mother’s side, or your son or your daughter, or the woman who is in your bosom, or the friend who is a peer to your soul, should solicit you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you do not know, nor your fathers, from among the gods of the nations that are around you, near or far, do not be willing to go with him, and do not hearken to him.

[10] Non parcet oculus tuus super eum nec desiderabis nec saluabis eum; adnuntians adnuntiabis de eo. Manus tuae erunt in eum in primis ad occidendum, et manus populi tui in nouissimis, et lapidabitis illum, et morietur, quoniam quaesiuit auertere te a domino deo tuo.

[10] Your eye shall not spare him, nor shall you pity nor shall you save him; denouncing you shall denounce him. Your hands shall be upon him first for killing, and the hands of your people last; and you shall stone him, and he shall die, because he has sought to avert you from the Lord your God.

[11] Subicit etiam de ciuitatibus, si quam ex his constitisset suasu iniquorum hominum transisse ad deos alios, ut interficerentur omnes incolentes eam, et deuotamenta fierent uniuersa eius, et colligerentur omnia spolia eius in omnes exitus eius et igni cremarentur cum omnibus uasibus suis et cum omni populo in conspectu domini dei, et non erit habitabilis, inquit, in aeternum, non reaedificabitur amplius nec adhaerebit quicquam manibus tuis ex deuotamento eius, uti auertatur dominus ab indignatione irae suae.

[11] He also subjoins concerning the cities, if any from these had been found, by the persuasion of iniquitous men, to have passed over to other gods, that all inhabiting it be slain, and that all of it become devotements, and that all its spoils be gathered into all its outlets and be burned with fire with all its vessels and with all the people in the sight of the Lord God, and "it will not be habitable," he says, "forever; it will not be rebuilt any more, nor shall anything adhere to your hands from its devotement, so that the Lord may be turned away from the indignation of his wrath."

[12] Maledictionum quoque ordinem ab idolorum execratione commisit: maledictus homo qui fecerit sculptile aut fusile aspernamentum, opus manuum artificis, et collocauerit illud in abscondito. In Leuitico uero: ne sequimini, inquit, idola et deos fusiles non facietis uobis. Ego dominus deus uester.

[12] He also began the order of maledictions from the execration of idols: accursed is the man who shall make a sculpted or fusile abomination, a work of the hands of an artificer, and shall place it in hiding. But in Leviticus: do not follow, he says, idols, and you shall not make for yourselves fusile gods. I am the lord your god.

Et alibi: filii Israel famuli pueri mei. Hi sunt quos eduxi de terra Aegypti. Ego dominus deus uester.

And elsewhere: the sons of Israel, servants, my servants. These are they whom I led out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Non facietis uobis manu facta nec sculptile staticulum statuetis uobis. Nec lapidem scopum ponetis in terra uestra. Ego dominus deus uester.

You shall not make for yourselves manufactured things, nor shall you set up for yourselves a sculptile standing‑image. Nor shall you place a stone of display in
your land. I am the Lord your God.

[13] Et haec quidem prima per Moysen dicta sunt ad omnes utique pertinentia, quoscumque dominus deus Israelis perinde de Aegypto superstitiosissimi saeculi et de domo humanae seruitutis eduxerit.

[13] And these, indeed, the first things spoken through Moses, pertain certainly to all, whomever the Lord God of Israel has likewise led out from Egypt, of the most superstitious age, and from the house of human servitude.

[14] Sed et deinceps omne os prophetarum eiusdem dei uocibus sonat eandem legem suam eorundem praeceptorum instauratione cumulantis nec aliud primum tam principaliter denuntiantis, quam ab omni factura atque cultura idolorum cauere; ut per Dauid: dii nationum argentum et aurum, oculos habent nec uident, aures habent nec audiunt, nares habent nec odorantur, os nec locuntur, manus nec contrectant, pedes nec ingrediuntur. Similes erunt illis, qui ea faciunt et qui fidunt in illis.

[14] But also thereafter every mouth of the prophets of the same God sounds with voices, piling up his same law by the instauration of the same precepts, and proclaiming nothing else so chiefly in the first place than to beware of every making and cult of idols; as through David: the gods of the nations are silver and gold; they have eyes and do not see, they have ears and do not hear, they have noses and do not smell, a mouth and do not speak, hands and do not handle, feet and do not walk. Like unto them will be those who make them and who trust in them.

III.

[1] Nec putem disceptandum, an digne deus prohibeat nomen et honorem suum mendacio addici, an digne quos ab errore superstitionis auulserit rursus in Aegyptum regredi nolit, an digne a se non patiatur absistere quos sibi adlegit. Ita nec illud expectabitur retractari a nobis, an obseruari uoluerit disciplinam quam uoluit instituere et an merito ulciscatur desertam quam uoluit obseruatam, quando frustra instituisset, si obseruari eam noluisset, et frustra obseruari uoluisset, si uindicare noluisset.

[1] Nor would I think it needs to be disputed, whether God rightly forbids his name and honor to be subjected to a lie, or rightly does not wish those whom he has torn away from the error of superstition to return again into Egypt, or rightly does not suffer those whom he has adlected to himself to stand apart from him. Thus neither will it be expected to be reconsidered by us, whether he wished the discipline which he wished to institute to be observed, and whether deservedly he avenges the abandonment of that which he wished to be observed, since he would have established it in vain, if he had not wished it to be observed, and would have wished it to be observed in vain, if he had been unwilling to vindicate it.

[2] Sequitur enim, ut has definitiones dei aduersus superstitiones tam euictas quam etiam uindicatas probem, quoniam ex his tota martyriorum ratio constabit. Aberat apud deum in monte Moyses, cum populus tam necessariam absentiam eius impatiens deos sibi producere quaerit, quo se potius ipse perdiderit.

[2] For it follows that I demonstrate these definitions of God against superstitions as both evinced and even avenged, since from these the whole rationale of martyrdoms will consist. Moses was away with God on the mountain, when the people, impatient of so necessary an absence of his, seeks to produce gods for themselves, whereby he rather destroyed himself.

[3] Vrgetur Aaron, et iubet inaures feminarum suarum in ignem conferri. Amissuri enim erant in iudicium sibi uera ornamenta aurium, dei uoces. Sapiens ignis effigiem uituli defundit illis suggillans illic cor habentes ubi et thesaurum, apud Aegyptum scilicet, inter cetera animalia bouis etiam cuiusdam consecratricem.

[3] Aaron is pressed, and he orders the earrings of their women to be carried into the fire. For they were about to lose, to their own judgment, the true ornaments of the ears, the voices of God. The wise fire casts for them the effigy of a calf, mocking them as having their heart there where also their treasure is, namely in Egypt, which, among the other animals, is even the consecratrix of a certain bull.

[4] Itaque tria milia hominum a parentibus proximis caesa, quia tam proximum parentem deum offenderant, transgressionis et primordia et merita dedicauerunt. In Arithmis cum diuertisset Israel apud Sethim, abeunt libidinatum ad filias Moab, inuitantur ad idola, ut et spiritu fornicarentur, edunt denique de pollutis eorum, dehinc et adorant deos gentis et Beelphegor initiantur.

[4] Accordingly, three thousand men, cut down by their nearest kin, because they had offended God, the nearest Parent, dedicated both the beginnings and the due deserts of the transgression. In Numbers, when Israel had turned aside at Shittim, they go lusting to the daughters of Moab, they are invited to the idols, so that they might fornicate in spirit as well; finally they eat of their polluted things, and thereafter they also adore the gods of the nation and are initiated to Beelphegor.

[5] Ob hanc quoque idololatrian moechiae sororem uiginti tria milia domesticis obtruncata gladiis diuinae irae litauerunt. Defuncto Iesu Naue derelincunt deum patrum suorum et seruiunt idolis Baalim et Astartis, et iratus dominus tradidit eos in manibus diripientium, et diripiebantur ab illis et uenumdabantur inimicis, nec poterant omnino subsistere a facie inimicorum suorum.

[5] On account of this idolatry too, sister of adultery, twenty-three thousand, cut down by household swords, made propitiation to divine wrath. With Joshua son of Nun deceased, they abandon the God of their fathers and serve the idols Baalim and Astartes; and the Lord, angered, handed them over into the hands of plunderers, and they were plundered by them and sold to enemies, nor were they at all able to stand before the face of their enemies.

[6] Quocumque processerant, manus erat super illos in mala, et conpressati sunt ualde. Post quae instituit super illos deus Critas, quos Censores intellegimus. Sed nec istis obaudire perseuerauerunt.

[6] Wherever they had advanced, the hand was upon them for ill, and they were oppressed very greatly. After which God appointed over them Judges, whom we understand as Censors. But they did not persevere to obey even these.

Vt quis critarum obierat, illi ad delinquendum supra quam patres eorum, abeundo post deos aliorum et seruiendo et adorando eos.

Whenever any one of the censors had died, they turned to delinquency beyond what their fathers had done, by going after the gods of others and by serving and adoring them.

[7] Itaque dominus iratus, quoniam quidem, ait, transgressi sunt gens ista pactum meum, quod disposui patribus eorum, et non audierunt uocem meam, et ego non aduertam ad auferendum uirum a facie eorum ex nationibus, quas reliquit decedens Iesus. Atque ita per omnes paene annales critarum et deinceps regum reseruatis gentium circumcolarum uiribus bello et captiuitate et iugo allophylorum iram dei pensauit Israel, quotienscumque ab illo maxime in idololatrian exorbitauerunt.

[7] Therefore the Lord, angered: “since indeed,” he says, “this nation has transgressed my pact, which I disposed for their fathers, and they have not listened to my voice, I also will not turn my attention to removing any man from before their face out of the nations which Joshua, departing, left.” And thus, through almost all the annals of the Judges and thereafter of the kings, with the forces of the surrounding nations kept in reserve, Israel paid the price of the wrath of God by war and captivity and by the yoke of the allophyls, whenever they most especially deviated from him into idolatry.

IV.

[1] Hanc igitui si a primordio constat et prohibitam de tot tantisque praeceptis et numquam inpune commissam de tot tantisque documentis nec ullum tam superbum crimen deputari apud deum, quam huiusmodi transgressionem, ultro intellegere debemus diuinarum et denuntiationum et executionum intentionem iam tunc martyriis patrocinatam non modo non dubitandis, uerum etiam sustinendis, quibus scilicet locum fecerat prohibendo idololatrian. Aliter enim martyria non euenirent. Et utique auctoritatem suam praestruxerat uolens ea euenire quibus locum fecerat.

[1] This, therefore, if from the beginning it is established both as forbidden by so many and so great precepts and as never committed with impunity by so many and so great proofs, and that no crime is reckoned before God so over-proud as a transgression of this kind, we ought of our own accord to understand that the intention of the divine denunciations and executions had already then sponsored martyrdoms, not only not to be doubted, but even to be endured, for which, to be sure, it had made room by forbidding idolatry. Otherwise, indeed, martyrdoms would not occur. And assuredly He had pre-established His own authority, willing those things to come about for which He had made room.

[2] Nunc enim de dei uoluntate conpungimur, et ingeminat scorpius plagam, hanc negans, hanc accusans uoluntatem, ut aut alium deum insinuet, cuius haec non sit uoluntas, aut nostrum nihilominus destruat, cuius talis sit uoluntas, aut omnino neget uoluntatem dei, si ipsum negare non poterit.

[2] For now indeed we are stricken with compunction concerning the will of God, and the scorpion redoubles the blow, denying this will, accusing this will, so that either he insinuates another god, whose will this is not, or nonetheless destroys ours, whose will is of such a sort, or altogether denies the will of God, if to deny Him he will not be able.

[3] Nos autem de deo alibi dimicantes et de reliquo corpore haereticae cuiusque doctrinae nunc in unam speciem congressionis certas praeducimus lineas, non alterius dei quam Israelis eam defendentes uoluntatem quae martyriis locum fecerit, tam ex praeceptis prohibitae semper quam ex iudiciis punitae idololatriae. Si enim praeceptum obseruando uim patior, hoc erit quodammodo obseruandi praecepti praeceptum, ut id patiar per quod potero obseruare praeceptum, uim scilicet, quaecumque mihi imminet cauenda ab idololatria.

[3] But we, battling elsewhere about God and about the remaining body of each heretical doctrine, now draw up fixed lines for one kind of engagement, defending that will not of any other god than the God of Israel, which has made room for martyrdoms, both from the precepts by which idolatry has always been forbidden and from the judgments by which idolatry has been punished. For if, by observing the precept, I suffer force, this will be, in a certain manner, a precept of observing the precept: that I should endure that by which I shall be able to observe the precept—namely, the force, whatever it is that threatens me—idolatry being to be shunned.

[4] Et utique qui inponit praeceptum, extorquet obsequium. Non potuit ergo noluisse ea euenire per quae constabit obsequium. Praescribitur mihi, ne quem alium deum dicam, ne uel dicendo, non minus lingua quam manu, deum fingam neque alium adorem aut quo modo uenerer praeter unicum illum, qui ita mandat, quem et iubeor timere, ne ab eo deserar, et de omni substantia diligere, ut pro eo moriar.

[4] And assuredly he who imposes a precept extorts obedience. He therefore could not have been unwilling for those things to come about through which obedience will consist. It is prescribed to me that I should not call any other god, lest even by speaking I, no less with the tongue than with the hand, should fashion a god, nor that I adore another or in any way venerate [one] besides that unique One who thus mandates; whom I am likewise ordered to fear, lest I be deserted by him, and to love with all my substance, so that I may die for him.

[5] Huic sacramento militans ab hostibus prouocor. Par sum illis, nisi illis manus dedero. Hoc defendendo depugno in acie, uulneror, concidor, occidor.

[5] Serving as a soldier under this sacrament, I am challenged by enemies. I am a match for them, unless I have surrendered to them. By defending this I fight it out in the battle line, I am wounded, I am cut to pieces, I am slain.

Quis hunc militi suo exitum uoluit, nisi qui tali sacramento eum consignauit?

Who willed this end for his soldier, except the one who consigned him with such a sacrament?

[1] Habes igitur dei mei uoluntatem. Occursum est huic plagae. Iam alium ictum consideremus de uoluntatis qualitate.

[1] You have, therefore, the will of my god. This blow has been met. Now let us consider another stroke concerning the quality of the will.

Longum est, ut deum meum bonum ostendam, quod iam a nobis didicerunt Marcionitae. Deum interim sufficit dici, ut necesse sit bonum credi.

It is a lengthy matter, that I should show my god to be good, which the Marcionites have already learned from us. For the time being it suffices that he be called God, so that it is necessary that he be believed good.

[2] Malum enim deum qui praesumpserit, constare in utroque non poterit: aut deum negare debebit quem malum existimarit, aut bonum dicere quem deum pronuntiauerit. Bona igitur erit et uoluntas eius qui nisi bonus non erit deus.

[2] For whoever shall have presumed an evil god will not be able to be consistent in both: he must either deny as god him whom he has judged evil, or call good him whom he has pronounced god. Therefore, good will also be the will of him who, unless he is good, will not be god.

[3] Probabit hoc etiam ipsius rei bonitas quam deus uoluit, martyrii dico, quia bonum non nisi bonus uoluit. Bonum contendo martyrium apud eundem deum, a quo et prohibetur et punitur idololatria. Obnititur enim et aduersatur idololatriae martyrium.

[3] This too will be proved by the goodness of the very thing which God willed—I mean martyrdom—since a good thing none but one who is good willed. I contend that martyrdom is a good with that same God, by whom idolatry is both prohibited and punished. For martyrdom resists and opposes idolatry.

Malo autem obniti et aduersari nisi bonum non potest.

But to resist and to oppose evil cannot be done except by the good.

[4] Non quasi negem esse aemulationem tam malorum inter se quam et bonorum, sed alia condicio est huius tituli. Martyrium enim non de communi aliqua militia certat cum idololatria, sed de sua gratia; liberat enim ab idololatria. Quod a malo liberat, quis non bonum pronuntiabit?

[4] Not as though I deny that there is emulation both of the wicked among themselves and also of the good; but the condition of this title is different. For martyrdom does not contend with idolatry out of some common military service, but by its own grace; for it frees from idolatry. What frees from evil, who will not pronounce good?

Quid aliud est aduersatio idololatriae atque martyrii quam mortis et uitae?

What else is the opposition of idolatry and martyrdom than that of death and life?

[5] In tantum uita martyrio deputabitur, quantum morti idololatria. Vitam qui malum dixerit, habet mortem, quam bonum dicat. Est et haec peruersitas hominum salutaria excutere, exitiosa suscipere, periculosa conquirere, medicamina deuitare, aut mori denique citius quam curari desiderare.

[5] Life will be reckoned to martyrdom in the same measure as death to idolatry. Whoever has pronounced life an evil has death—which let him call a good. There is also this perversity of men: to shake off salutary things, to undertake destructive things, to seek out perilous things, to avoid medicaments, or, finally, to desire to die sooner than to be cured.

[6] Nam et medicinae praesidium plures qui refugiunt: plures enim stulti, plures timidi et male uerecundi. Et est plane quasi saeuitia medicinae de scalpello deque cauterio, de sinapis incendio; non tamen secari et inuri et extendi morderique idcirco malum, quia dolores utiles affert, nec quia tantummodo contristat, recusabitur, sed quia necessario contristat, adhibebitur.

[6] For there are even many who flee the safeguard of medicine: for there are more who are foolish, more who are timid and wrongly shamefaced. And plainly there is, as it were, a savagery of medicine, from the scalpel and the cautery, from the burning of mustard; yet to be cut and seared and stretched and bitten is not therefore an evil, because it brings useful pains, nor, because it merely saddens, will it be refused, but because it necessarily saddens, it will be applied.

[7] Horrorem operis fructus excusat. Vlulans denique ille et gemens et mugiens inter manus medici postmodum easdem mercede cumulabit et artifices optimas praedicabit et saeuas iam negabit. Sic et martyria desaeuiunt, sed in salutem.

[7] The horror of the operation is excused by the fruit. Finally, the man who, howling and groaning and bellowing under the physician’s hands, will afterwards heap those same hands with a fee, and will proclaim them most excellent craftsmen, and will now deny that they were savage. Thus too do martyrdoms rage—but unto salvation.

Licebit et deo in uitam aeternam per ignes et gladios et acerba quaeque curare.

It will also be permissible for God to cure unto eternal life through fires and swords and every bitter thing.

[8] Sed medicum quidem miraberis etiam in illo, quod ferme pares adhibet qualitates medellarum aduersus qualitates querellarum, cum quasi de peruerso auxiliatur per ea subueniens per quae laboratur. Nam et calores caloribus amplius onerando compescit et ardores siti potius macerando restinguit et fellis excessus amaris quibusque potiunculis colligit et sanguinis fluxus defusa insuper uenula reuocat.

[8] But you will marvel at the physician even in this, that he applies qualities of remedies almost equal to the qualities of complaints, since, as it were, he helps perversely, coming to aid through the very things through which one suffers. For he also restrains heats by burdening them further with heats, and he quenches burnings rather by macerating with thirst, and he gathers the excesses of bile with bitters and little potions of every sort, and he calls back flows of blood by letting a small vein be bled higher up.

[9] Deum uero et quidem zeloten culpandum existimabis, si uoluit certare cum causa et iniuriae aemulando prodesse, mortem morte dissoluere, occisionem occisione dispargere, tormentis tormenta discutere, supplicia suppliciis euaporare, uitam auferendo conferre, carnem laedendo iuuare, animam eripiendo seruare.

[9] But you will consider God—and indeed a Zealot—to be blameworthy, if he willed to contend with the cause and, by emulating the injury, to be of benefit: to dissolve death by death, to scatter slaughter by slaughter, to dispel torments by torments, to evaporate punishments by punishments, to confer life by taking it away, to help the flesh by wounding it, to save the soul by snatching it away.

[10] Peruersitas, quam putas, ratio est; quod saeuitiam existimas, gratia est. Ita deo de momentaneis aeterna medicante magnifica bono tuo deum tuum; incidisti in manus eius, sed feliciter incidisti. Incidit et ille in aegritudines tuas.

[10] The perversity which you suppose is reason; what you think to be savagery is grace. Thus, with God medicating eternal things from things momentary, magnify your God for your good; you have fallen into his hands, but you have fallen happily. He too has fallen upon your sicknesses.

Homo semper prior negotium medico facit, denique sibimet ipse periculum mortis attraxit.

Man always first makes business for the physician; finally he has drawn the peril of death upon himself.

[11] Acceperat a domino suo ut a medico satis utilem disciplinam secundum legem uiuendi, ut omnia quidem ederet, ab una solummodo arbuscula temperaret, quam ipse medicus inportunam interim nouerat.

[11] He had received from his lord, as from a physician, a quite useful discipline according to the law of living: that he should indeed eat everything, but abstain from only one little tree, which the physician himself meanwhile had known to be inopportune.

[12] Audiit ille quem maluit et abstinentiam rupit. Edit inlicitum et transgressione saturatus in mortem cruditauit, dignissimus bona fide in totum perire quia uoluit. Sed dominus sustentata feruura delicti, donec tempore medicina temperaretur, paulatim remedia composuit, omnes fidei disciplinas et ipsas aemulas uitio, uerbum mortis uerbo uitae rescindentes, auditum transgressionis auditu deuotionis limantes.

[12] He listened to him whom he preferred and broke abstinence. He ate the illicit thing, and, satiated with transgression, he surfeited unto death, most deserving, in good faith, to perish utterly because he willed it. But the Lord, with the fever-heat of the offense being sustained, until in time the medicine might be tempered, gradually composed remedies, all the disciplines of faith, and these themselves rivals to vice, rescinding the word of death by the word of life, filing down the hearing of transgression by the hearing of devotion.

Ita, et cum mori praecipit medicus ille, ueternum mortis excludit.

Thus, and when that physician prescribes to die, he excludes the lethargy of death.

[13] Quid grauatur nunc pati homo ex remedio quod non est tunc grauatus pati ex uitio? Displicet occidi in salutem cui non displicuit occidi in perditionem? Nausiabit ad antidotum qui hiauit ad uenenum?

[13] Why is man now burdened to suffer from a remedy, who then was not burdened to suffer from a vice? Does it displease to be slain unto salvation, to whom it did not displease to be slain unto perdition? Will he be nauseated at the antidote who gaped for the venom?

VI.

[1] Sed si certaminis nomine deus nobis matyria proposuisset, per quae cum aduersario experiremur, ut, a quo libenter homo elisus est, eum iam constanter elidat, hic quoque liberalitas magis quam acerbitas dei praeest. Euulsum enim hominem de diaboli gula per fidem iam et per uirtutem inculcatorem eius uoluit efficere, ne solummodo euasisset, uerum etiam euicisset inimicum.

[1] But if, under the name of contest, God had set before us martyrdoms, through which we might make trial with the adversary, so that the one by whom man was willingly dashed down, him he may now steadfastly dash down, here too the liberality rather than the acerbity of God presides. For the man torn out from the gullet of the devil, He has willed to make, through faith and through virtue, his trampler, that he might not only have escaped, but also have conquered the enemy.

[2] Amauit, qui uocauerat in salutem, inuitare et ad gloriam, ut, qui gaudeamus liberati, exultemus etiam coronati. Agonas istos, contentiosa sollemnia et superstitiosa certamina Graecorum et religionum et uoluptatum, quanta gratia saeculum celebret iam et Africae licuit. Adhuc Carthaginem singulae ciuitates gratulando inquietant donatam Pythico agone post stadii senectutem.

[2] He who had called to salvation also loved to invite to glory, so that we who rejoice as liberated may exult also as crowned. Those agones—the contentious solemnities and superstitious contests of the Greeks and of religions and of pleasures— with how great grace the age now celebrates them, and it has been permitted even to Africa. Still the several cities, by their congratulating, keep unsettling Carthage, endowed with a Pythian agon after the stadium’s senectitude.

[3] Ita ab aeuo dignissimum creditum est studiorum experimentum committere, artes corporum et uocum de praestantia expendere, praemio indice, spectaculo iudice, sententia uoluptate. Qua nuda sunt praelia, non nulla sunt uulnera; pugni quassant, calces arietant, caestus dilaniant, flagella dilacerant.

[3] Thus from of old it has been thought most worthy to commit the trial of pursuits, to weigh the arts of bodies and of voices for preeminence, with the prize as index, the spectacle as judge, the verdict as pleasure. Where the combats are bare (unarmed), there are some wounds; fists batter, heels ram, cesti rend, scourges lacerate.

[4] Nemo tamen agonis praesidem suggillans erit, quod hornines uiolentiae obiectat. Iniuriarum actiones extra stadium. Sed, quantum liuores illi et cruores et uibices negotiantur, intende: coronas scilicet et gloriam et dotem, priuilegia publica, stipendia ciuica, imagines, statuas et, qualem potest praestare saeculum, de fama aeternitatem, de memoria resurrectionem.

[4] Nevertheless, no one will be slandering the president of the contest, because he exposes men to violence. Actions for injuries are outside the stadium. But attend to how much those livid bruises and bloodshed and weals transact: crowns, namely, and glory and a dowry, public privileges, civic stipends, images, statues, and—such as the age can afford—eternity from fame, resurrection from memory.

[5] Pyctes ipse non queritur dolere se, nam uult; corona premit uulnera, palma sanguinem obscurat; plus uictoria tumet quam iniuria. Hunc tu laesum existimabis, quem uides laetum? Sed nec uictus ipse de agonotheta casum suum exprobrabit.

[5] The boxer himself does not complain that he is in pain, for he wills it; the crown presses upon the wounds, the palm obscures the blood; he swells more with victory than with injury. Will you reckon him injured, whom you see joyful? But not even the defeated man himself will upbraid the agonothete with his mishap.

[6] Deum dedecebit artes et disciplinas suas educere in medium, in hoc saeculi spatium, in spectaculum hominibus et angelis et uniuersis potestatibus? Carnem atque animam probare de constantia atque tolerantia? Dare huic palmam, huic honorem, illi ciuitatem, illi stipendia?

[6] Will it be unseemly for God to bring forth his arts and disciplines into the midst, into this span of the age, into a spectacle for men and angels and all powers? To test the flesh and the soul for constancy and tolerance? To give to this one the palm, to this one honor, to that one citizenship, to that one stipends?

etiam quosdam reprobare et castigatos cum ignominia submouere? Nimirum praescribis deo, quibus temporibus aut modis aut locis de familia sua iudicet, quasi non et praeiudicare iudici congruat.

even to reprobate certain persons and, once castigated, remove them with ignominy? Plainly you prescribe to God at what times or by what modes or in what places he should judge concerning his own household, as though it were not also congruent for the judge to prejudge.

[7] Quid nunc, si non certaminis nomine in martyria fidem exposuisset, sed et proprii profeCtus, nonne oportebat illam habere aliquem spei cumulum, cui studium suum cogeret uotumque suspenderet, quo eniteretur ascendere, cum terrena quoque officia in gradus aestuent? Aut quomodo multae mansiones apud patrem, si non pro uarietate meritorum? Quomodo et stella ab stella distabit in gloria, nisi pro diuersitate radiorum?

[7] What then, if he had set forth faith into martyrdoms not under the name of contest only, but also for one’s own progress—ought it not to have some heap of hope, toward which it might drive its zeal and on which it might suspend its vow, by which it would strive to ascend, since earthly offices too are fevered for grades? Or how are there many mansions with the Father, if not according to the variety of merits? And how will star differ from star in glory, except according to the diversity of rays?

[8] Porro et si fidei propterea congruebat sublimitati et claritatis aliqua prolatio, tale quid esse oportuerat illud emolumenti, quod magno constaret: labore, cruciatu, tormento, morte. Sed respice conpensationem, cum Caro et anima dependitur ---- quibus in homine carius nihil est, alterum manus dei, alterum flatus, ---- ipsa dependi in profectum quorum est profectus, ipsa erogari quae lucri fiant, eadem pretia quae et merces.

[8] Moreover, even if on that account some prolation of sublimity and clarity befitted faith, that emolument ought to have been of such a kind as would cost greatly: labor, cruciation, torment, death. But look to the compensation, when flesh and soul are paid down ---- than which in a human being nothing is dearer, the one the hand of God, the other the breath, ---- that these themselves be paid down for the advancement of those whose advancement it is that these themselves be disbursed which become gain, the same prices as also the wage.

[9] Prospexerat et alias deus inbecillitates condicionis humanae, aduersarii insidias, rerum tallacias, saeculi retia, etiam post lauacrum periclitaturam fidem, perituros plerosque rursum post salutem, qui uestitum obsoletassent nuptialem, qui faculis oleum non praeparassent, qui requirendi per montes et saltus et umeris essent reportandi. Posuit igitur secunda solacia et extrema praesidia, dimicationem martyrii et lauacrum sanguinis exinde secuturum.

[9] God had also looked ahead to other imbecilities of the human condition, the adversary’s ambushes, the fallacies of things, the nets of the age, that even after the washing faith would be put in peril, that very many would perish again after salvation: those who had made the nuptial vestment obsolete, who had not prepared oil for their torches, who would need to be sought over mountains and woodland-passes and to be borne back on shoulders. He therefore put in place secondary consolations and ultimate safeguards: the combat of martyrdom and the laver of blood to follow thereafter.

[10] De cuius felicitate Dauid: beati quorum dimissae sunt iniquitates et quorum tecta sunt peccata. Beatus cui non inputauerit deus delictum. Proprie enim martyribus nihil iam reputari potest, quibus in lauacro ipsa uita deponitur.

[10] Concerning whose felicity David: blessed are they whose iniquities are remitted and whose sins are covered. Blessed is he to whom God has not imputed delict. For properly to martyrs nothing now can be accounted, for whom in the laver life itself is laid down.

[11] Sic dilectio operit multitudinem peccatorum, quae deum scilicet diligens ex totis uiribus suis, quibus in martyrio decertat, ex tota anima sua, quam pro deo ponit, hominem martyrem excudit. Haec tu remedia, consilia, iudicia, spectacula etiam dei atrocitatem uocabis? Sanguinem hominis deus concupiscit?

[11] Thus love covers a multitude of sins, which, of course loving God with all her powers, with which she contends in martyrdom, with all her soul, which she lays down for God, forges the human being as a martyr. These things—remedies, counsels, judgments, even spectacles of God—will you call God’s atrocity? Does God covet the blood of a man?

et tamen ausim dicere, si et homo regnum dei, si et homo certam salutem, si et homo secundam regenerationem. Nulla conpensatio inuidiosa est in qua aut gratiae aut iniuriae communis est ratio.

and yet I would dare to say: if man too has the kingdom of God, if man too has sure salvation, if man too has a second regeneration. No compensation is odious in which there is a common reckoning of either grace or injury.

VII.

[1] Incutiat adhuc scorpius homicidam deum uentilans, horrebo plane spurcum blasphemiae flatum de haeretico ore foetentem, sed et talem deum de fiducia rationis amplectar, qua ratione etiam ipse se plus quam homicidam pronuntiauit ex sophiae suae persona, uoce Solomonis. Sophia, inquit, iugulauit filios suos. Sophia sapientia est.

[1] Let the scorpion still strike, brandishing a homicidal god; I shall indeed shudder at the filthy breath of blasphemy reeking from a heretical mouth, but I will also embrace such a god on the confidence of reason, by which reasoning he himself even pronounced himself more than a murderer, from the person of his Sophia, in the voice of Solomon. “Sophia,” he says, “has slit the throats of her sons.” Sophia is Wisdom.

Sapienter utique iugulauit, dum in uitam, et rationaliter, dum in gloriam.

Wisely indeed she has jugulated, inasmuch as it is into life; and rationally, inasmuch as into glory.

[2] O parricidii ingenium! O sceleris artificium! O argumentum crudelitatis, quae idcirco occidit, ne moriatur quem occiderit! Et ideo quid sequitur?

[2] O genius of parricide! O artifice of crime! O argument of cruelty, which therefore kills, lest the one whom it has killed should die! And therefore what follows?

Sophia in exitibus cantatur hymnis; cantatur enim et exitus martyrum. Sophia in plateis de constantia agit; bene enim filios suos iugulat.

Wisdom is sung in hymns at the departures; for even the departure of the martyrs is sung. Wisdom in the streets treats of constancy; for she well jugulates her sons.

[3] Super summos autem muros confisa dicit, cum quidem secundum Eseiam hic exclamat: ego dei sum; et hic uociferatur: in nomine Iacob; et alius inscribit: in nomine Israelis. O bonam matrem! opto et ipse in filios eius redigi, ut ab ea occidar; opto occidi, ut filius fiam.

[3] But, confident upon the highest walls, she says, when indeed, according to Isaiah, this one cries out: I am God’s; and this one vociferates: in the name of Jacob; and another inscribes: in the name of Israel. O good mother! I too desire to be enrolled among her sons, that I may be slain by her; I desire to be slain, that I may become a son.

Solum autem iugulat filios suos, an et torquet? Audio enim et alibi dicentem deum: uram illos sicut uritur aurum, et probabo illos sicuti probatur argentum.

Only, however, does she slay her sons, or also torment them? For I hear God also elsewhere saying: I will burn them as gold is burned, and I will prove them as silver is proved.

[4] Vtique per tormenta ignium et suppliciorum, per martyria fidei examinatoria. Scit et apostolus qualem deum adscripserit, cum scribit: si deus filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis tradidit illum, quomodo non et cum illo omnia condonauit nobis? Vides, quomodo etiam proprium suum filium primogenitum et unigenitum sophia diuina iugulauerit, utique uicturum, immo et ceteros in uitam redacturum.

[4] Surely through torments of fires and of punishments, through the examinatory martyrdoms of faith. And the apostle also knows what sort of God he has ascribed, when he writes: “If God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us, how has he not also with him graciously granted us all things?” You see how even his own Son, the firstborn and only-begotten, Divine Wisdom has slain—assuredly to live, nay, even to bring the others back into life.

[5] Possum dicere cum sophia dei: Christus est qui se tradidit pro delictis nostris. Iam et semetipsam sophia trucidauit. Verbo non sono solo sapiunt, sed et sensu, nec auribus tantummodo audienda sunt, sed et mentibus.

[5] I can say with the sophia of God: Christ is he who delivered himself over for our delicts. Already sophia has even slaughtered herself. Words are not to be savored by sound alone, but also by sense, nor are they to be heard only with the ears, but also with the minds.

Crudelem deum, qui non intellegit, credit. Quamquam et non intellegenti posita sententia est, quae temeritatem cohibeat aliter intellegendi.

He who does not understand believes God to be cruel. Although even for the one not understanding a sentence has been posited, which restrains the temerity of understanding otherwise.

[6] Quis enim, inquit, cognouit sensum domini? aut quis illi consiliarius fuit, qui eum instruat, aut uiam intellegentiae quis demonstrauit illi? Sed enim Scytharum Dianam aut Gallorum Mercurium aut Afrorum Saturnum hominum uictima placari apud saeculum licuit, et Latio ad hodiernum Ioui media in urbe humanus sanguis ingustatur, nec quisquam retractat aut non rationem praesumit aliquam aut inaestimabilem dei sui uoluntatem.

[6] For who, he says, has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor, to instruct him, or who has shown to him the way of understanding? But indeed the Diana of the Scythians or the Mercury of the Gauls or the Saturn of the Africans it has been allowed in this world to be appeased by the victims of men, and in Latium even to the present day to Jupiter in the middle of the city human blood is tasted, nor does anyone reconsider it, but presumes either some reason or the inestimable will of his own god.

[7] Si noster quoque deus propriae hostiae nomine martyria sibi depostulasset, quis illi exprobrasset funestam religionem et lugubres ritus et aram rogum et pollinctorem sacerdotem, et non beatum amplius reputasset quem deus comedisset?

[7] If our god too had demanded for himself martyrdoms under the name of his own victim, who would have reproached him with a funereal religion and lugubrious rites, and an altar a pyre, and a priest an undertaker, and would he not have accounted as more blessed the one whom god had eaten?

VIII.

[1] Vnum igitur gradum insistimus et in hoc solum prouocamus, an praecepta sint a deo martyria, ut credas ratione praecepta, si praecepta cognoueris, quia nihil deus non ratione praeceperit. Siquidem honorata est apud illum mors religiosorum ipsius, ut canit Dauid, non, opinor, ista communis et omnium debitum ---- atquin ista etiam ignominiosa est ex elogio transgressionis et merito damnationis ---- sed illa quae in ipso aditur ex testimonio religionis et proelio confessionis pro iustitia et sacramento.

[1] Therefore we stand upon one step and appeal to this alone, whether martyrdoms are commanded by God, so that you may believe them commanded by reason, if you shall have recognized them as commanded, since God has commanded nothing not by reason. For honored with him is the death of his religious ones, as David sings, not, I suppose, that common one and the debt of all ---- nay rather, that one is even ignominious by the elogium of transgression and the desert of damnation ---- but that which is entered upon in him from the testimony of religion and the battle of confession for justice and the sacrament.

[2] Sicut Eseias, uidete inquit, quomodo perit iustus, et nemo excipit corde, et uiri iusti auferuntur, et nemo animaduertit; a facie enim iniustitiae perit iustus et erit honor sepulturae eius. Habes hic quoque et praedicationem et remunerationem martyriorum. A primordio enim iustitia uim patitur.

[2] Just as Isaiah says, “see how the just man perishes, and no one takes it to heart, and just men are carried off, and no one notices; for from the face of injustice the just man perishes, and there will be honor of his burial.” Here too you have both the proclamation and the remuneration of martyrdoms. For from the beginning justice suffers violence.

[3] Statim ut coli deus coepit, inuidiam religio sortita est. Qui deo placuerat, occiditur, et quidem a fratre. Quo procliuius impietas alienum sanguinem insectaretur, a suo auspicata insectata est denique non modo iustorum, uerum etiam et prophetarum.

[3] At once, as soon as God began to be worshiped, religion drew envy. He who had pleased God is slain—indeed by his brother. That impiety might the more readily harry alien blood, having taken its auspices from its own, it has in the end hunted down not only the just but even the prophets.

Dauid exagitatur, Helias fugatur, Hieremias lapidatur, Eseias secatur, Zacharias inter altare et aedem trucidatur perennes cruoris sui maculas silicibus assignans. Ipse clausula legis et prophetarum nec prophetes, sed angelus dictus contumeliosa caede truncatur in puellae salticae lucar.

David is harried, Elias is put to flight, Jeremiah is stoned, Esaias is sawn asunder, Zechariah is slaughtered between the altar and the temple, marking the perennial stains of his blood upon the flints. He himself, the close of the Law and the Prophets, called not prophet but angel, is cut off by an ignominious slaughter, as the fee of a dancing girl.

[4] Et utique qui spiritu dei agebantur, ab ipso in martyria dirigebantur etiam patiendo quae et praedicassent. Proinde et trina fraternitas, cum dedicatio imaginis regiae turbam urgeret officii, non ignorauerunt, quid fides, quae sola in illis captiua non fuerat, exigeret, moriendum scilicet aduersus idololatrian.

[4] And assuredly those who were led by the Spirit of God were by him directed into martyrdoms, even by suffering the things which they had also preached. Accordingly, the threefold brotherhood, when the dedication of the royal image was pressing the crowd to the duty, did not ignore what faith, which alone in them had not been captive, required—namely, that one must die in opposition to idolatry.

[5] Meminerant enim et Hieremiae scribentis ad eos, quibus illa captiuitas imminebat: et nunc uidebitis deos Babyloniorum aureos et argenteos et ligneos portari super umeros ostentantes nationibus timorem. Cauete igitur, ne et uos consimiles sitis allophylis et timore capiamini, dum aspicitis turbas adorantes retro eos et ante, sed dicite in animo uestro: te domine adorare debemus.

[5] For they remembered also Jeremiah writing to those upon whom that captivity was impending: and now you will see the gods of the Babylonians, golden and silver and wooden, carried upon shoulders, parading before the nations a cause of fear. Beware, therefore, lest you also be like the foreigners and be seized by fear, while you look upon crowds worshiping behind them and before; but say in your mind: you, Lord, we ought to adore.

[6] Itaque dixerunt a deo concepta fiducia, quanto uigore animi condicionales illas minas regis excutiunt: non habemus necessitatem respondendi huic tuo imperio. Est enim deus noster, quem colimus, potens eruere nos de fornace ignis et ex manibus tuis, et tunc manifestum fiet tibi, quod neque idolo tuo famulabimur nec imaginem tuam auream, quam statuisti, adorabimus.

[6] Thus they said, with confidence conceived from God, with what vigor of spirit they shake off those conditional menaces of the king: we have no necessity of answering to this your command. For our God, whom we worship, is potent to deliver us from the furnace of fire and from your hands, and then it will become manifest to you that neither shall we be in service to your idol nor adore your golden image, which you have set up.

[7] O martyrium et sine passione perfectum! Satis passi, satis exusti sunt, quos propterea deus texit, ne potestatem eius mentiti uiderentur. Nam et Danielum, nullius praeter dei supplicem et idcirco a Chaldaeis delatum ac depostulatum, statim utique conclusa et usitata feritas leonum deuorasset, si Darii digna praesumptio de deo falli debuisset.

[7] O martyrdom, even perfected without suffering! Enough have they suffered, enough have they been burned, those whom for that reason God covered, lest they should seem to have lied about his power. For Daniel too, a suppliant of none save God and therefore denounced and demanded by the Chaldeans, the enclosed and accustomed ferocity of the lions would certainly at once have devoured, if the worthy presumption of Darius concerning God ought to have been deceived.

[8] Ceterum pati oportebat omnem dei praedicatorem atque cultorem, qui ad idololatrian prouocatus negasset obsequium, secundum illius quoque rationis statum, qua et praesentibus tunc et posteris deinceps commendari ueritatem oportebat, pro qua fidem diceret passio ipsorum defensorum eius, quia nemo uoluisset frustra occidi, nisi compos ueritatis. Talia a primordio et praecepta et exempla debitricem martyrii fidem ostendunt.

[8] Moreover, it was fitting that every preacher and worshiper of God, who, when provoked to idolatry, had refused obedience, should suffer—according to the condition of that same rationale, by which it was fitting that the truth be commended both to those then present and thereafter to posterity—on behalf of which the passion of its very defenders would declare faith as its witness, since no one would have wished to be killed in vain unless being in possession of the truth. Such precepts and examples from the beginning show faith to be a debtor to martyrdom.

IX.

[1] Superest, ne antiquitas suum forte habuerit sacramentum, nouitatem Christianam recensere, quasi et de deo aliam ac proinde de disciplina quoque aemulam, cuius sophia filios suos iugulare non norit. Plane, alia in Christo et diuinitas et uoluntas et schola, qui martyria aut milla in totum aut aliter intellegenda mandarit, qui neminem ad huiusmodi discrimen hortetur, qui pro eo passis nihil repromittat, quia pati eos nolit, et ideo praeceptorum principia deducens, beati, inquit, qui persecutionem patiuntur ob iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum?

[1] What remains is, lest antiquity perhaps had its own sacrament, to review the Christian novelty, as though it too had another doctrine about God and accordingly also a rival discipline, whose sophia would not know how to butcher its own sons. Clearly, different in Christ are both the divinity and the will and the school—he who has enjoined either no martyrdoms at all or martyrdoms to be understood otherwise, who urges no one to a crisis of this kind, who promises nothing to those suffering on his account, because he does not wish them to suffer, and therefore, drawing out the principles of precepts: “Blessed,” he says, “are they who suffer persecution for righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven”?

[2] Hoc quidem absolute ad omnes; dehinc proprie ad apostolis ipsos: beati eritis, cum uos dedecorauerint et persecuti fuerint et dixerint aduersus uos omnia mala propter me: gaudete et exultate, quoniam merces uestra plurima in caelo: sic enim faciebant et prophetis patres illorum: ut etiam prophetaret, quod et ipsi occidi haberent ad exemplum prophetarum.

[2] This indeed absolutely to all; then specially to the apostles themselves: you will be blessed, when they shall have dishonored you and shall have persecuted you and shall have spoken all evils against you on account of me: rejoice and exult, since your reward is very great in heaven: for so their fathers used to do also to the prophets: so that he might even prophesy that they too would have to be killed after the example of the prophets.

[3] Quamquam etsi omnem hanc persecutionem condicionalem in solos tunc apostolos destinasset, utique per illos cum toto sacramento, cum propagine nominis, cum traduce spiritus sancti in nos quoque spectasset etiam persecutionis obeundae disciplina ut in hereditarios discipulos et apostolici seminis frutices.

[3] Although even if he had assigned all this conditional persecution at that time to the apostles alone, surely through them, together with the whole sacrament, together with the propagation of the name, together with the transmission of the Holy Spirit, the discipline also of undergoing persecution would have looked toward us as well, as upon hereditary disciples and the offshoots of apostolic seed.

[4] Nam et si rursus ad apostolos dirigit: ecce ego mittam uos tamquam oues in medio luporum, et: cauete ab hominibus; tradent enim uos in concessus et in synagogis suis flagellabunt uos et ad praesides et ad reges perducemini mei causa in testimonium illis et nationibus et cetera, tum autem subicit: tradet autem frater fratrem et pater filium in mortem et insurgent filii in parentes et mortificabunt eos, manifeste iniquitatem istam in ceteros pronuntiauit, quam in apostolis non inuenimus.

[4] For even if he again addresses the apostles: behold, I will send you like sheep in the midst of wolves, and: beware of men; for they will hand you over into councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you, and you will be brought to governors and to kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations, and so forth, then however he subjoins: moreover, a brother will deliver a brother and a father a son to death, and children will rise up against parents and will put them to death, he manifestly pronounced this iniquity with respect to the others, which we do not find among the apostles.

[5] Nemo enim eorum aut fratrum aut patrem passus est traditorem, quod plerique iam nostri dehinc ad apostolos reuocat: et eritis odio omnibus propter nomen meum. Quanto magis nos, quos a parentibus quoque tradi oportet? Ita ipsa hac permixtione nunc ad apostolos, nunc ad omnes disponendo eundem in uniuersos nominis exitum effundit, in quibus consederit nomen cum odii sui lege.

[5] For none of them endured either a brother or a father as a betrayer; a fact which most of our people now hence refer back to the apostles: “and you will be hated by all because of my Name.” How much more we, who must be handed over even by parents? Thus, by this very intermixture, by disposing now to the apostles, now to all, he pours out the same outcome of the Name upon all in whom the Name has taken seat with the law of its own hatred.

Qui autem sustinuerit usque in finem, iste saluus fiet. Quid sustinendo, nisi persecutionem, nisi traditionem, nisi occisionem? Nec enim aliud est sustinere in finem quam pati finem.

But whoever shall have endured unto the end, this one will be saved. What is there to endure, if not persecution, if not betrayal (handing over), if not killing? For to endure unto the end is nothing other than to suffer the end.

[6] Et ideo: non est discipulus super magistrum, statim sequitur, nec seruus super dominum suum, quia cum magister et dominus ipse perpessus sit persecutionem et traditionem et occisionem, multo magis serui et discipuli eadem expendere debebunt, ne quasi superiores exempti de iniquitate uideantur, quando hoc ipsum sufficere eis ad gloriam debeat, aequari passionibus domini et magistri; ad quarum tolerantiam aedificans monet non eos timendos, qui solum corpus occidant, animam autem interficere non ualeant, sed illi potius metum consecrandum, qui et corpus et animam occidere et perdere possit in gehennam.

[6] And therefore: the disciple is not above the master, it immediately follows, nor the servant above his lord, because since the master and lord himself has endured persecution and betrayal and killing, much more will servants and disciples have to undergo the same, lest they seem, as if superiors, to have been exempted from iniquity, when this very thing ought to suffice them for glory, to be made equal to the sufferings of the lord and master; for the endurance of which, building them up, he warns that those are not to be feared who kill only the body but are not able to slay the soul, but rather that fear is to be consecrated to him who can kill both body and soul and destroy in Gehenna.

[7] Quinam hi solius corporis interemptores, nisi praesides et reges supra dicti, homines opinor? Quis etiam animae dominator, nisi deus solus? Quis iste ignium comminator, nisi is, sine cuius uoluntate nec passerum alter in terram cadit, idest nec altera ex duabus substantiis hominis, caro aut anima?

[7] Who are these slayers of the body only, if not the aforesaid praesides and kings, men, I opine? Who also is the dominator of the soul, if not God alone? Who is this threatener of fires, if not he without whose will not even one of the sparrows falls to the earth—that is, not either of the two substances of man, flesh or soul?

Quia et capillorum apud eum regestus est numerus.

For even the number of hairs is registered with him.

[8] Nolite ergo metuere, cum insuper dicit, multis passeribus antistatis, non frustra, id est non sine emolumento casuros in terram repromittit, si magis ab hominibus quam a deo occidi deligamus. Omnis igitur, qui in me confessus fuerit coram hominibus, et ego confitebor in illo coram patre meo, qui in caelis est. Et omnis, qui me negauerit coram hominibus, et ego negabo illum coram patre meo, qui in caelis est.

[8] Do not therefore fear, since he moreover says, you surpass many sparrows; he promises anew that to fall to the earth will be not in vain, that is, not without emolument, if we choose rather to be killed by men than by God. Therefore everyone who shall have confessed me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens. And everyone who shall have denied me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in the heavens.

Manifesta, ut opinor, definitio et ratio est tam confessionis quam negationis, etsi dispositio diuersa est.

Clear, as I suppose, is the definition and rationale both of confession and of negation, although the disposition is diverse.

[9] Qui se Christianum confitetur, Christi se esse testatur, qui Christi est, in Christo sit necesse est. Si in Christo est, in Christo utique confitetur, cum se Christianum confitetur. Hoc enim non potest esse, nisi sit in Christo.

[9] He who confesses himself a Christian testifies that he is Christ’s; he who is Christ’s must needs be in Christ. If he is in Christ, he surely confesses in Christ, when he calls himself a Christian confesses. For this cannot be, unless he be in Christ.

Porro in Christo confitendo Christum quoque confitetur, qui sit in ipso, dum et ipse in illo est, utpote Christianus. Nam et si diem dixeris, lucis rem ostendisti, quae diem praestat, licet non dixeris lucem. Ita etsi non directo pronuntiauit qui me confessus fuerit, non est diuersus actus quotidianae confessionis a sensu dominicae pronuntiationis.

Moreover, by confessing in Christ he also confesses Christ, as being in himself, while he himself is in Him too, inasmuch as he is a Christian. For even if you have said “day,” you have shown the reality of light, which affords day, although you have not said “light.” Thus, even though he did not directly pronounce “whoever shall have confessed me,” the act of quotidian confession is not different from the sense of the Lord’s pronouncement.

[10] Quod enim est qui se confitetur, id est Christianum, etiam id, per quod est, confitetur, id est Christum. Proinde qui se negauit Christianum, in Christo negauit, negando se esse in Christo, dum negat se Christianum; et Christum autem in se negando, dum se in Christo negat, Christum quoque negabit. Ita et qui in Christo negauerit, Christum negabit et qui in Christo confessus fuerit, Christum confitebitur.

[10] For indeed he who confesses himself—that is, a Christian—also confesses that through which he is so, that is, Christ. Accordingly, whoever has denied himself a Christian has denied in Christ, by denying that he is in Christ, while he denies himself a Christian; and by denying Christ in himself, while he denies himself to be in Christ, he will also deny Christ. Thus both he who has denied in Christ will deny Christ, and he who has confessed in Christ will confess Christ.

Suffecisset igitur, etsi de confitendo tantummodo dominus pronuntiasset.

It would have sufficed, therefore, even if the Lord had pronounced only concerning confessing.

[11] Ex forma enim confessionis contrario quoque eius praeiudicaretur, id est negationi, perinde negationem negatione rependi a domino, quemadmodum confessione confessionem. Et ideo cum in forma confessionis etiam negationis condicio intellegatur, apparet non ad alium modum negationis pertinere, quod de ea aliter dominus pronuntiauit, quam de confessione dicendo, qui me negauerit, non, qui in me.

[11] For from the form of confession its contrary too would be pre-judged, that is, negation, in like manner that negation is repaid by negation by the Lord, just as confession by confession. And therefore, since in the form of confession the condition of negation is also understood, it appears not to pertain to another mode of negation that the Lord has pronounced differently about it than about confession, by saying, who denies me, not, who in me.

[12] Prospexerat enim et hanc uim plerumque in expugnatione nominis subsecuturam, ut qui se Christianum negasset, ipsum quoque Christum compelleretur blasphemando negare. Sicut non olim + pro auspice cum tota fide quorundam colluctatum hoc modo horruimus. Itaque frustra erit dicere: etsi me negauero Christianum, non negabor a Christo, non enim ipsum negaui.

[12] For he had foreseen also this force would for the most part follow upon the expugnation of the Name, that one who had denied himself a Christian would be compelled also to deny Christ himself by blaspheming. Just as not long ago, “for an auspice,” we shuddered that in this way there had been a wrestling with the whole Faith of certain persons, we were horrified. Therefore it will be vain to say: even if I shall have denied that I am a Christian, I shall not be denied by Christ, for I did not deny him himself.

[13] Ex illa enim negatione tantundem tenebitur, quia se Christianum negando Christum in se negans etiam ipsum negauit. Plus est autem quod et confusioni confusionem comminatur: qui me confusus fuerit coram hominibus, et ego confundar eum coram patre meo, qui est in caelis. Sciebat enim a confusione uel maxime formari negationem, mentis statum in fronte consistere, priorem esse pudoris quam corporis plagam.

[13] For from that negation he will be held just as much, because, by denying himself to be a Christian, denying Christ in himself, he has also denied him. Moreover, there is more, in that he also threatens confusion with confusion: whoever shall have been ashamed of me before men, and I too will be ashamed of him before my Father who is in the heavens. For he knew that negation is formed most of all by confusion, that the state of the mind stands upon the brow, that the wound of shame is prior to that of the body.

10.

[1] Qui uero non hic, id est non intra hunc ambitum terrae nec per hunc commeatum uitae nec apud homines huius communis naturae confessionem putant constitutam, quanta praesumptio est aduersus omnem ordinem rerum in terris istis et in uita ista et sub humanis potestatibus experiundarum? Nimirum cum animae de corporibus excesserint et per singula tabulata caelorum de receptu dispici coeperint et interrogari arcana illa haereticorum sacramenta, tunc confitendum apud ueras potestates et ueros homines, Teletos scilicet et Acinetos et Abascantos Valentini.

[1] But those who think that confession is not here— that is, not within this circuit of the earth, nor through this traffic of life, nor among men of this common nature—how great a presumption it is against the whole order of things that are to be experienced on these lands and in this life and under human authorities! Surely, when souls have departed from bodies and begin to be scrutinized, as to admission, through the several stories of the heavens, and those arcane sacraments of the heretics are questioned, then confession must be made before the true powers and the true men—namely the Teletos and the Acinetos and the Abascantos of Valentinus.

[2] Nostrates enim, inquiunt, nec ipse Demiurgus constanter homines probabat, quos stillicidium situlae et puluerem areae et sputamen et locustas deputauit, etiam inrationalibus iumentis adaequauit. Plane, ita scriptum. Non tamen idcirco aliud hominis genus intellegendum praeter nos, quos, quia constat esse, comparatione potuit induere salua et proprietate generis et singularitate.

[2] For our own, they say, not even the Demiurge himself consistently approved men, whom he reckoned a drip of a bucket and the dust of the threshing-floor and spittle and locusts; he even equated them with irrational beasts of burden. Clearly, so it is written. Nevertheless, on that account another genus of man is not to be understood besides us, whom, since it is established that we exist, he could invest with a comparison, clothing us with it with both the property of the genus and the singularity kept safe.

[3] Neque enim si uita uitiata est, ut despectui iudicata despectis compararetur, statim natura sublata est, ut alia in nomine eius deputaretur. Atquin seruatur natura, etsi suffunditur uita, nec alios nouit Christus homines quam de quibus dicit: Quem me aiunt esse homines? Et: Quomodo uultis ut faciant uobis homines, ita et uos facite illis.

[3] Nor indeed, if life is vitiated, so that, adjudged for contempt, it were compared to things despised, is nature straightway taken away, so that another be assigned in its name. Nay rather, nature is preserved, even if life is suffused, nor does Christ know other men than those about whom he says: “Who do men say that I am?” And: “As you wish men to do to you, so also do you to them.”

[4] Vide an seruauerit genus, a quibus et testimonium sui expectet et in quos iustitiae uicem mandat. Illos autem caelestes homines si expostulem mihi ostendi, facilius Aratus Persea et Cephea et Erigonam et Ariadnam inter sidera deliniabit. Quis autem prohibuit dominum illic etiam confessionem hominum faciendam manifeste determinare, ubi suam futuram aperte pronuntiauit, ut ita esset positum: qui in me confessus fuerit coram hominibus in caelis, et ego in illo confitebor coram patre meo, qui in caelis est?

[4] See whether he has preserved the kind, from whom he even expects the testimony about himself and to whom he entrusts in turn the office of justice. But if I demand that those celestial men be shown to me, Aratus will more easily delineate Perseus and Cepheus and Erigone and Ariadne among the stars. Moreover, who forbade the Lord to determine manifestly that the confession of men was to be made there also, where he openly pronounced that his own would be in the future, so that it had been set down thus: whoever shall have confessed me before men in the heavens, I also will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens?

[5] Eripere me debuit ex isto terrenae confessionis errore, quam suscipi noluisset, si caelestem praecipisset, quia nullos alios homines noueram praeter incolas terrae, ne ipso quidem adhuc tunc in caelis homine conspecto. Quae porro fides rerum, ut post excessum ad superna subleuatus illic probarer, quo non nisi iam probatus inponerer, illic de receptu examinarer, quo nisi admittendus peruenire non possem?

[5] He ought to have snatched me away from this error of an earthly confession, which he would not have wished to be undertaken, if he had prescribed a heavenly one, since I knew no other men except the inhabitants of the earth, not even with a man himself then as yet seen in the heavens. What, moreover, is the assurance of things, that after my excess (departure), uplifted to the supernal, I should there be approved, where I would not be placed unless already approved; that there I should be examined concerning reception, to which I could not arrive unless one to be admitted?

[6] Christiano caelum ante patet quam uia; quia nulla uia in caelum, nisi cui patet caelum; quod qui attigerit, intrabit. Quas mihi potestates ianitrices adfirmas | iuxta Romanam superstitionem, + Barnum quendam et Forculum et Limentinum? Quas a cancellis ordinas potestates?

[6] For the Christian, heaven stands open before the way; for there is no way into heaven, except for one to whom heaven stands open; whoever reaches that will enter. What doorkeeping powers do you affirm for me | according to Roman superstition, + a certain Barnus and Forculus and Limentinus? What powers do you ordain from the lattice-bars?

[7] Si umquam legisti apud Dauid: Auferte portas, principes, uestri, et subleuentur portae aeternae, et intrabit rex gloriae, si item audisti apud Amos: qui ascensum suum aedificat in caelos, et profusionem suam fundat in terras, scito et ascensum illum exinde conplanatum uestigiis domini et introitum exinde reseratum uiribus Christi, nec ullam moram aut quaestionem in limine Christianis occursuram, qui non dinosci habeant illic, sed agnosci, nec interrogari, sed admitti.

[7] If you have ever read with David: Take away the gates, you princes, and let the eternal gates be lifted up, and the king of glory will enter; if likewise you have heard with Amos: who builds his ascent into the heavens, and founds his outpouring upon the lands—know both that that ascent from then on has been made level by the footsteps of the Lord, and that the entrance from then on has been unlocked by the forces of Christ; and that no delay or questioning will meet Christians at the threshold, who are not to be distinguished there, but recognized, not to be interrogated, but admitted.

[8] Nam etsi adhuc clausum putas caelum, memento claues eius hic dominum Petro et per eum ecclesiae reliquisse, quas hic unusquisque interrogatus atque confessus feret secum. Sed asseuerat diabolus illic confitendum, ut suadeat hic negandum. Pulchra uidelicet documenta praemittam, bonas mecum claues feram, timorem eorum, qui solum corpus occidunt, animae autem nihil faciunt: commendatus ero huius praecepti desertione, honeste in caelestibus stabo, qui in terrenis stare non potui, sustinebo maiores potestates, qui minoribus cessi, merebor utique admitti iam exclusus.

[8] For even if you think heaven is still closed, remember that the Lord here left its keys to Peter and through him to the Church, which keys here each person, questioned and having confessed, will carry with himself. But the devil asserts that confession must be made there, so as to persuade that denial be made here. Fine documents indeed I shall send on ahead, good keys I shall carry with me—the fear of those who kill only the body, but do nothing to the soul: I shall be commended by the desertion of this precept; I shall stand honorably in heavenly things, I who could not stand in earthly things; I shall withstand greater powers, I who yielded to lesser; I shall assuredly deserve to be admitted, I who am already excluded.

[9] Suppetit adhuc dicere: si in caelestibus confitendum, et hic negandum est. Nam ubi alterum, ibi utrumque. Aemula enim quaeque concurrunt.

[9] There still remains to say: if in the celestial realms confession must be made, then here denial must be made. For where the one is, there is the other; for rival things run together.

Etiam persecutionem in caelis agitari oportebit, quae confessionis negationisue materia est. Quid itaque cessas, audacissime haeretice, totum ordinem Christianae concussionis in superna transferre et inprimis ipsum nominis odium illic collocare, ubi ad patris dexteram praesidet Christus?

Even persecution will have to be carried on in the heavens, which is the material of confession or denial. Why then do you delay, most audacious heretic, to transfer the whole order of Christian convulsion into the supernal, and first of all to place there the very hatred of the Name, where Christ presides at the Father’s right hand?

[10] Illic constitues et synagogas Iudaeorum, fontes persecutionum, apud quas apostoli flagella perpessi sunt, et populos nationum cum suo quidem circo, ubi facile conclamant: usque quo genus tertium?

[10] There you will establish also the synagogues of the Jews, fountains of persecutions, at which the apostles endured flagellations, and the peoples of the nations with their own circus indeed, where they easily cry out: how long, third race?

[11] Sed et fratres nostros et patres et filios et socrus et nurus et domesticos nostros ibidem exhibere debetis, per quos traditio disposita est; item reges et praesides et armatas potestates, apud quas causa pugnanda est. Erit certe etiam carcer in caelo carens sole aut ingratis luminosus et uincula fortasse de zonis et eculeus axis ipse qui torquet.

[11] But you must also exhibit there our brothers and fathers and sons and mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law and our domestics, through whom the handing-over has been arranged; likewise kings and governors and armed authorities, before whom the case must be fought. There will surely be also in heaven a prison, lacking the sun or, to one’s displeasure, luminous, and chains perhaps made from girdles, and the rack, the axle itself that tortures.

[12] Tum si lapidandus Christianus, grandines aderunt, si urendus, fulmina prae manu sunt, si trucidandus, Orionis armati manus operabitur, si bestiis finiendus, ursas septentrio emittet, zodiacus tauros et leones. Haec qui sustinuerit in finem, iste erit saluus.

[12] Then, if a Christian is to be stoned, hailstorms will be at hand; if to be burned, lightnings are ready to hand; if to be slaughtered, the hand of armed Orion will be at work; if to be finished by beasts, the North will send out bears, the Zodiac bulls and lions. He who shall have endured these to the end, this man will be saved.

[13] Ergone et finis in caelis et passio et occisio et prima confessio? Et ubi caro omnibus istis necessaria? Vbi corpus, quod solum ab hominibus habet occidi?

[13] So then, is there also an end in the heavens, and passion, and slaughter, and the first confession? And where is the flesh, necessary for all these things? Vbi is the body, which alone can be killed by men?

Haec nobis etiam ludicrum in modum certa ratio mandauit nec ullus obicem praescriptionis istius extrudet, ut non omnem ordinem persecutionis, omnem eius causam formam paraturam illuc transferre cogatur, ubi confessioni forum dederit.

These things a sure rationale has even, in a playful mode, mandated to us; nor will anyone extrude the obstacle of that prescription, so as not to be compelled to transfer the entire order of the persecution, its every cause, the form to be prepared, thither, where he shall have given a forum to confession.

[14] Siquidem confessio a persecutione deducitur et persecutio in confessione finitur nec possunt non una sequi quae et aditum et exitum, id est initium finemque disponunt. Porro et odium nominis hic erit et persecutio hic erumpit et traditio hic producit et interrogatio hic compellit et carnificina hic desaeuit; at totum hunc ordinem in terris confessio uel negatio expungit.

[14] Since indeed confession is derived from persecution and persecution is finished in confession, nor can those things fail to follow together which arrange both the entrance and the exit, that is, the beginning and the end. Furthermore, here will be the hatred of the name, and here persecution bursts forth, and here the handing-over brings out, and here interrogation compels, and here the torture rages savagely; but confession or denial expunges this whole order on earth.

[15] Igitur si cetera hic, nec confessio alibi; si confessio alibi, nec cetera hic. Enimuero non alibi cetera, itaque nec confessio in caelo. Aut si aliam uolunt esse rationem interrogationis et confessionis caelestis, utique et ordinem suum illi struere debebunt alium longe et ab ista dispositione diuersum, quae scripturis notatur.

[15] Therefore, if the rest are here, then confession is not elsewhere; if confession is elsewhere, then the rest are not here. Indeed, the rest are not elsewhere, and so neither is confession in heaven. Or if they wish there to be a different rationale of interrogation and of heavenly confession, surely they will also have to construct for that its own order, one far away and quite different from this disposition which is noted in the Scriptures.

[16] Et possumus dicere: uiderint, dum hic ordo terrenae interrogationis et confessionis ex materia decurrens persecutionis et discordiae publicae omnino saluus sit, sua e fide ut ita credendum sit, sicut et scribitur, ita intellegendum sit, sicuti auditur. Hic omnem ordinem sustinemus ipso domino non aliam regionem mundi destinante. Quid enim post confessionis et negationis terminum subiungit?

[16] And we can say: let them see to it, so long as this order of earthly interrogation and confession, running from the material of persecution and public discord, be altogether safe; that, from their own faith, it is to be believed thus as it is written, so it is to be understood as it is heard. Here we sustain the whole order, the Lord himself designating no other region of the world. For what does he subjoin after the terminus of confession and denial?

[17] Ne putaueritis uenisse me, uti pacem mittam in terram, sed machaeram, certe in terram. Veni enim diuidere hominem aduersus patrem suum et filiam aduersus matrem suam et socrum aduersus nurum suam, et inimici hominis domestici sui. Sic enim efficitur, ut tradat frater fratrem in mortem et pater filium et insurgant filii in parentes et mori eos faciant.

[17] Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth, but a sword, certainly upon the earth. For I came to divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be his own domestics. Thus indeed it comes about, that a brother delivers up a brother to death and a father a son, and children rise up against parents and put them to death.

Et qui sustinuerit in finem, iste sit saluus. Adeo totus hic ordo dominicae machaerae non in caelum missae, sed in terram, illic constituit etiam confessionem, quae in finem sustinendo passura est mortem.

And whoever shall have endured to the end, that one shall be saved. So then, this whole order of the Lord’s sword, not sent into heaven but into the earth, there he also appoints the confession, which by enduring to the end is to suffer death.

XI.

11.

[1] Eadem igitur forma cetera quoque ad martyrii statum pertinere defendimus. Qui pluris, inquit, fecerit etiam animam suam quam me, non est me dignus, id est qui maluerit uiuere me negando quam mori confitendo, et, qui animam suam inuenerit, perdet illam, qui uero perdiderit mei causa, inueniet illam.

[1] Therefore by the same form we defend that the rest also pertain to the status of martyrdom. "Whoever shall have valued even his own soul more than me is not worthy of me," he says; that is, one who would prefer to live by denying me rather than to die by confessing; and, "he who shall have found his soul will lose it, but he who shall have lost it for my sake will find it."

[2] Perinde enim inuenit eam qui negat lucri faciendo uitam, ut perdet in gehennam qui se putat negando lucri facere eam. Perdet autem eam ad praeSens qui confessus occiditur, sed et inuenturus eam in uitam aeternam.

[2] For in like manner he “finds” it who denies, making life a gain, as he will lose it into Gehenna who thinks that by denying he makes a gain of it. He will lose it for the present who, having confessed, is slain; but he will also find it into eternal life.

[3] Ipsi denique praesides cum cohortantur negationi, serua animam tuam! Dicunt, et, noli animam tuam perdere! Quomodo loqueretur Christus, nisi quomodo tractaretur Christianus?

[3] The governors themselves, indeed, when they exhort to denial, say, "Save your soul!" they say, and, "Do not lose your soul!" How would Christ speak, if not as the Christian would be treated?

Sed cum prohibet meditari responsionem ad tribunal, famulos suos instruit, Spiritum sanctum responsurum repromittit, et cum in carcere fratrem uult uisitari, confessoris imperat curam, et cum deum uindictam facturum electorum suorum affirmat, passiones consolatur illorum, etiam in parabola seminis post cespitem arefacti persecutionum figurat ardorem.

But when he forbids premeditating a response at the tribunal, he instructs his servants, he promises that the Holy Spirit will respond; and when he wishes a brother to be visited in prison, he commands care for the confessor; and when he affirms that God will execute vengeance for his elect, he consoles their sufferings; even in the parable of the seed, after the turf has dried, he figures the ardor of persecutions.

[4] Haec si non ita accipiuntur, quemadmodum pronuntiantur, sine dubio praeter quam sonant sapiunt, et aliud in uocibus erit, aliud in sensibus, ut allegoriae, ut parabolae, ut aenigmata. Quemcumque igitur conceperint uentum argumentationis scorpii isti, quocunque se acumine inpegerint, una iam linea est, ad ipsas res prouocabuntur, an secundum scripturas transigantur.

[4] If these things are not received in the way they are pronounced, without doubt they savor otherwise than they sound, and one thing will be in the voices, another in the senses, as with allegories, as with parables, as with enigmas. Whatever wind of argumentation, therefore, these scorpions may have conceived, wherever they may have thrust themselves with their acumen, there is now one line: they will be appealed to the very things themselves, whether they are settled according to the scriptures.

[5] Siquidem tunc aliud significabitur in scripturis, si non id ipsum reperiatur in rebus. Quod enim scriptum est, hoc euenire oportebit. Porro tunc eueniet quod est scriptum, si non aliter eueniet.

[5] For then something else will be signified in the scriptures, if that very thing is not found in the realities. For what has been written, this must come to pass. Furthermore, what is written will then come to pass, if it does not come to pass otherwise.

Ecce autem et odio habemur ab omnibus hominibus nominis causa, quomodo et scriptum est, et tradimur etiam a proximis, quomodo et scriptum est, et perducimur ad potestates et interrogamur et torquemur et confitemur et trucidamur, quomodo et scriptum est. Sic dominus edixit.

Behold, moreover, we are held in hatred by all human beings for the sake of the name, as also it is written; and we are even delivered up by our nearest, as also it is written; and we are led to the powers and are questioned and are tortured and confess and are slaughtered, as also it is written. Thus the Lord decreed.

[6] Si aliter edixit haec, cur non aliter eueniunt quae edixit, id est quemadmodum edixit? Atquin non aliter eueniunt quam edixit; ergo sicut eueniunt, ita edixit et sicut edixit, ita eueniunt. Nam nec licuisset aliter euenire quam edixit nec ipse aliter edixisset quam euenire uoluisset.

[6] If he has decreed these things otherwise, why do the things he decreed not come to pass otherwise, that is, in the way he decreed? But indeed they do not come to pass otherwise than he decreed; therefore as they come to pass, so he decreed, and as he decreed, so they come to pass. For neither would it have been permitted to come to pass otherwise than he decreed, nor would he himself have decreed otherwise than he willed to come to pass.

[7] Ita non aliud significabunt scripturae istae quam in rebus recognoscimus: aut, si nondum aguntur illa quae praedicantur, quomodo haec quae aguntur praedicata non sunt? Non sunt enim haec praedicata quae aguntur, si alia sunt quae praedicantur et non haec quae aguntur. At nunc quia ipsa sunt in rebus quae in uocibus aliter dicta creduntur, quid fieret, si aliter facta inuenirentur?

[7] Thus these scriptures will signify nothing other than what we recognize in realities: or, if those things which are proclaimed are not yet being done, how are these things which are being done not what was proclaimed? For these things which are being done are not the things proclaimed, if the things proclaimed are others and not these which are being done. But now, since the very same things are in the realities which in words are believed to have been said otherwise, what would happen, if the deeds were found to have been done otherwise?

[8] Sed haec erit peruersitas fidei, probata non credere, non probata praesumere. Cui peruersitati illud quoque opponam, ut, si haec, quae sic aguntur quemadmodum scripta sunt, non erunt ipsa quae praedicantur, alia quoque non debeant sic agi quemadmodum scripta sunt, ne et ipsa horum exemplo periclitentur excludi, siquidem aliud in uocibus, aliud in rebus est, et relinquitur nec praedicata uideri, cum euenerint, si aliter praedicantur, quam euenire habent. Et quomodo credentur quae non erunt praedicata quomodo eueniunt?

[8] But this will be a perversity of faith: not to believe what has been proven, to presume what has not been proven. To which perversity I will also oppose this, that, if those things which are thus acted as they are written are not the very things which are proclaimed, other things also ought not thus to be acted as they are written, lest they too, by the example of these, run the risk of being excluded, since one thing is in voices, another in realities, and it is left that they not even seem to have been proclaimed, when they have come to pass, if they are proclaimed otherwise than they have to come to pass. And how will those things be believed which will not be proclaimed as they come to pass?

Ita haeretici quae praedicantur non ut probata sunt credendo ea quae nec praedicata sunt credunt.

Thus heretics, not believing the things that are proclaimed as they have been proved, believe things which have not even been proclaimed.

XII.

12.

[1] Quis nunc medullam scripturarum magis nosset, quam ipsa Christi schola? Quos et sibi discipulos dominus adoptauit omnia utique edocendos et nobis magistros adordinauit omnia utique docturos. Cui potius figuram uocis suae declarasset, quam cui effigiem gloriae suae reuelauit, Petro Iohanni Iacobo et postea Paulo, quem paradisi quoque conpotem fecit ante martyrium?

[1] Who now would know the marrow of the Scriptures more than the very school of Christ? Those whom the Lord both adopted to himself as disciples, to be taught in all things indeed, and ordained for us as masters, to teach all things indeed. To whom would he rather have disclosed the pattern of his voice than to the one to whom he revealed the effigy of his glory—Peter, John, James, and afterward Paul, whom he even made a co-partaker of Paradise before martyrdom?

An et illi aliter, quam sentiunt, scribunt, fallaciae magistri, non ueritatis?

Or do they too write otherwise than they think, masters of fallacy, not of truth?

[2] Petrus quidem ad Ponticos, quanta enim, inquit, gloria, si non delinquentes ut puniamini sustinetis? Haec enim gratia est, in hoc et uocati estis, quoniam et Christus passus est pro nobis, relinquens uobis exemplum semetipsum, uti adsequamini uestigia ipsius.

[2] Peter indeed to the Pontics: how great, he says, is the glory, if, not doing wrong, you endure to be punished? For this is grace; to this too you have been called, since even Christ suffered for us, leaving to you as an example his very self, so that you may follow his footsteps.

[3] Et rursus: dilecti, ne epauescatis ustionem, quae agitur in uobis in temptationem, quasi nouum accidat uobis. Etenim secundum quod communicatis passionibus Christi, gaudete, Uti et in reuelatione gloriae eius gaudeatis exultantes. Si dedecoramini in nomine Christi, beati estis, quod gloria et dei spiritus requiescit in uobis, dum ne quis uestrum patiatur ut homicida aut fur aut maleficus aut alieni speculator, si autem ut Christianus, ne erubescat, glorificet autem dominum in nomine isto.

[3] And again: beloved, do not be terrified at the burning which is being carried on in you for temptation, as though something new were happening to you. For in proportion as you share in the passions of Christ, rejoice, so that also in the revelation of his glory you may rejoice exulting. If you are dishonored in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you, provided that none of you suffer as a homicide or a thief or a malefactor or a meddler in another’s affairs; but if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, rather let him glorify the Lord in this name.

[4] Iohannes uero, ut etiam pro fratribus nostris animas ponamus, hortatur negans timorem esse in dilectione. Perfecta enim dilectio foras abicit timorem, quoniam timor poenam habet, et qui timet non est perfectus in dilectione.

[4] John indeed exhorts that we also lay down our lives for our brothers, denying that there is fear in love. For perfect love casts out fear, since fear has punishment, and the one who fears is not perfect in love.

[5] Quem timorem intellegi praestet, nisi negationis auctorem? Quam dilectionem perfectam adfirmat, nisi fugatricem timoris et animatricem confessionis? Qua poena timorem puniat, nisi quam negator relaturus est cum corpore et anima occidendus in gehenna?

[5] What fear ought to be understood, if not the author of negation? What perfect love does he assert, if not the banisher of fear and the animator of confession? With what penalty does he punish fear, if not that which the denier is going to incur, to be killed with body and soul in Gehenna?

Quodsi pro fratribus, quanto magis pro domino moriendum docet, satis de apocalypsi quoque sua instructus haec suadere?

But if for the brothers, how much more does he teach that one must die for the Lord, being sufficiently instructed by his Apocalypse as well to urge these things?

[6] Mandauerat etenim spiritus ad angelum ecclesiae Smyrnaeorum: Ecce diabolus ex numero tuo coniciet in carcerem, ut temptemini diebus decem. Esto fidelis ad mortem usque, et dabo tibi uitae coronam.

[6] For the Spirit had mandated to the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans: Behold, the Devil will cast some from your number into prison, so that you may be tempted for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

[7] Item ad Pergamenorum de Antipa, fidelissimo martyre, interfecto in habitatione satanae. Item ad Philadelphenorum, quod a temptatione ultima liberaretur, qui domini nomen non negarat.

[7] Likewise to the Pergamenes concerning Antipas, a most faithful martyr, slain in the habitation of Satan. Likewise to the Philadelphians, that he would be delivered from the final temptation, he who had not denied the Lord’s name.

[8] Exinde uictoribus quibusque promittit nunc arborem uitae et mortis ueniam secundae, nunc latens manna cum calculo candido et nomine ignoto, nunc ferreae uirgae potestatem et stellae matutinae claritatem, nunc albam uestiri nec deleri de libro uitae et columnam fieri in dei templo in nomine dei et domini et Hierusalem caelestis inscriptam, nunc residere cum domino in throno eius, quod aliquando Zebedaei filiis negabatur.

[8] Thereupon he promises to each of the victors now the tree of life and a pardon of the second death, now the hidden manna with a white pebble and an unknown name, now the power of an iron rod and the brightness of the morning star, now to be clothed in white and not to be blotted out from the book of life and to become a column in the temple of God, inscribed in the name of God and of the Lord and of the heavenly Jerusalem, now to sit with the Lord on his throne, which was once denied to the sons of Zebedee.

[9] Quinam isti tam beati uictores, nisi proprie martyres? Illorum etenim uictoriae, quorum et pugnae, eorum uero pugnae, quorum et sanguis. Sed et interim sub altari martyrum animae placidum quiescunt et fiducia ultionis patientiam pascunt et indutae stolis candidam claritatis usurpant, donec et alii consortium illorum gloriae impleant.

[9] Who are these so blessed victors, if not properly the martyrs? For indeed the victories are theirs whose are the battles, and the battles are theirs whose is the blood. But meanwhile beneath the altar the souls of the martyrs rest placidly and, by confidence in retribution, feed patience, and, clothed in white stoles, they claim shining whiteness, until others also fulfill the fellowship of their glory.

[10] Nam et rursus innumera multitudo albati et palmis uictoriae insignes reuelantur, scilicet de Antichristo triumphantes, sicut unus ex presbyteris, hi sunt, ait, qui ueniunt ex illa pressura magna et lauerunt uestimentum suum et candidauerunt ipsum in sanguine agni. Vestitus enim animae caro. Sordes quidem baptismate abluuntur, maculae uero martyrio candidantur.

[10] For again an innumerable multitude, white-robed and marked with the palms of victory, are revealed, namely triumphing over the Antichrist, as one of the presbyters says, "These are they who come from that great tribulation, and they washed their garment and made it white in the blood of the Lamb." For the vesture of the soul is the flesh. The filth indeed is washed away by baptism, but the spots are whitened by martyrdom.

Quia et Eseias ex russeo et coccino niueum et laneum repromittit.

Because Isaiah also promises snow-white and wool-white out of scarlet and crimson.

[11] Magna etiam Babylon cum describitur ebria sanctorum cruore, sine dubio ebrietas eius martyriorum poculis ministratur, quorum formido quid relatura sit aeque ostenditur. Inter omnes enim reprobos, immo ante omnes, timidi. Timidis autem, inquit, dehinc Ceteris particula in stagno ignis et sulfuris.

[11] Great Babylon also, when she is described as drunk with the blood of the saints, without doubt her drunkenness is ministered by the cups of martyrdoms; and the dread of whom equally shows what she is about to render. For among all the reprobate—nay, before all—are the timid. But for the timid, he says, and then for the rest, there is a portion in the lake of fire and sulfur.

Sic timor [in epistola] eius, quem dilectio foras abicit, habet poenam.

Thus that fear [in the epistle], which love casts out, has punishment.

XIII.

13.

[1] Paulus uero apostolus de persecutore, qui primus ecclesiae sanguinem fudit, postea gladium stilo mutans et conuertens machaeram in aratrum, lupus rapax Beniamin, dehinc ipse adferens escam secundum Iacob, qualiter martyria iam et sibi optabilia commendat!

[1] Paul the apostle indeed, from a persecutor who first poured out the blood of the Church, afterwards changing the sword into a stylus and converting the machaera into a plough, the ravenous wolf of Benjamin, thereafter himself bringing food according to Jacob—how he now commends martyrdoms even as things desirable for himself!

[2] Cum de Thessalonicensibus gaudens, uti, inquit, gloriemur in uobis in ecclesiis dei pro tolerantia uestra et fide in omnibus persecutionibus et pressuris, quibus sustinetis ostentamen iusti iudicii dei, ut digni habeamini regno eius, pro quo et patimini.

[2] While rejoicing about the Thessalonians—“so that,” he says, “we may glory in you in the churches of God for your tolerance and faith in all the persecutions and pressures which you sustain, a display of the just judgment of God, that you may be deemed worthy of his kingdom, for which you also suffer.”

[3] Sicut et ad Romanos: non solum autem, uerum etiam exultantes in pressuris, certi, quod pressura tolerantiam perficiat, tolerantia uero probationem, probatio autem spem, spesueronon confundit.

[3] As also to the Romans: not only, moreover, but even exulting in pressures, being certain that pressure perfects tolerance, and tolerance indeed probation, but probation hope, hope however does not confound.

[4] Et rursus: quodsi filii et heredes, heredes quidem dei, coheredes uero Christi; siquidem compatimur, uti et cum illo glorificemur. Reputo enim passiones huius temporis non esse dignas ad gloriam, quae in nos habeat reuelari. Et ideo postmodum, quis, inquit, separabit nos a dilectione Christi?

[4] And again: but if (we are) sons and heirs—heirs indeed of God, but coheirs of Christ—since indeed we co-suffer, so that we may also be glorified with him. For I reckon that the passions/sufferings of this time are not worthy compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us. And therefore, afterwards, “who,” he says, “will separate us from the love of Christ?”

Pressura an angustia an famis an nuditas an periculum an machaera? Secundum quod scriptum est: tua causa mortificamur tota die; deputati sumus ut pecora iugulationis, sed in omnibus istis superuincimus pro eo qui nos dilexit. Persuasum enim habemus, quod neque mors neque uita neque uirtus neque sublimitas neque profundum neque alia condicio poterit nos a dilectione dei separare, quae est in Christo Iesu domino nostro.

Pressure or anguish or famine or nudity or peril or sword? According to what is written: for your sake we are put to death the whole day; we have been deputed as cattle for slaughter, but in all these things we more-than-conquer through him who loved us. For we are persuaded that neither death nor life nor power nor height nor depth nor any other condition will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[5] Sed et Corinthiis passiones suas enumerans patiendum utique praefiniuit: in laboribus abundantius, in carceribus plurimum, in mortibus saepius, a Iudaeis quinquies quadragenas citra unam accepi, ter uirgis caesus, semel lapidatus, et reliqua.

[5] But also, while enumerating his sufferings to the Corinthians, he certainly prescribed that one must suffer: in labors more abundantly, in prisons very much, in deaths more often, from the Jews five times I received forty short of one, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, and the rest.

[6] Quae si magis incommoda quam martyria uidebuntur, tamen rursus, propter quod, inquit, boni duco in infirmitatibus, in iniuriis, in necessitatibus, in persecutionibus, in angustiis pro Christo.

[6] And if these will seem more inconveniences than martyrdoms, nevertheless again, “for which cause,” he says, “I count it good: in infirmities, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ.”

[7] Etiam in superioribus: qui in omnibus tribulemur, sed non coangustemur, et indigeamus, sed non perindigeamus, qui persecutionibus agitemur, sed non derelinquamur, qui deiciamur, sed non pereamus, semper mortificationem Christi in corpore nostro circumferentes. Sed etsi, inquit, exteriorhomonoster uitiatur, caro scilicet ui persecutionum, sed interior renouatur die et die, anima scilicet spe promissionum.

[7] Also in the preceding: that we be tribulated in all things, yet not straitened; and that we be in need, yet not in excessive need; that we be driven by persecutions, yet not be forsaken; that we be cast down, yet not perish; always carrying around in our body the mortification of Christ. But even if, he says, our outer man is vitiated—namely the flesh by the force of persecutions—yet the inner is renewed day by day—namely the soul by the hope of the promises.

[8] Nam quod ad praesens temporale et leue pressurae nostrae per supergressum in supergressum aeternum pondus gloriae perficit, nobis non intuentibus quae uidentur, sed quae non uidentur. Quae enim uidentur temporalia, de incommodis dicens, quae uero non uidentur aeterna, de praemiis spondens.

[8] For that which at present is temporal and light of our pressure, through surpassing upon surpassing, perfects an eternal weight of glory for us, we not beholding the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, speaking of the inconveniences; but the things that are not seen are eternal, pledging the rewards.

[9] Thessalonicensibus uero de uinculis scribens utique beatos affirmauit quibus donatum esset non tantum credere in Christum, sed etiam pro ipso pati. Eundem, inquit, agonem habentes quem in me et uidistis et nunc auditis. Nam etsi libor super sacrificium, gaudeo et congaudeo omnibus uobis, perinde et uos gaudete et congaudete mihi.

[9] But to the Thessalonians, writing from bonds, he indeed affirmed as blessed those to whom it had been granted not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. “Having,” he says, “the same agon which you saw in me and now hear of.” For even if I am poured as a libation upon the sacrifice, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all; likewise you, rejoice and rejoice together with me.

[10] Vides, quam martyrii definiat felicitatem, cui de gaudio mutuo adquirit sollemnitatem. Vt proximus denique uoti sui factus est, qualiter de prospectu eius exultans scribit Timotheo: ego enim libor iam, et tempus diiunctionis instat; agonem bonum decertaui, cursum consummaui, fidem custodiui; superest corona, quam mihi dominus illa die reddet, scilicet passionis.

[10] You see how he defines the felicity of martyrdom, to which, from mutual joy, he adds solemnity. When at last he had become nearest to his vow, how, exulting at the prospect of it, he writes to Timothy: for I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of separation is at hand; I have fought the good agon, I have consummated the course, I have kept the faith; the crown remains, which the Lord will render to me on that day, namely, of passion.

[11] Satis et ipse supra allocutus: fidelis sermo. Si enim commortui sumus Christo, et conuiuemus, si sufferimus, et conregnabimus, si negauerimus, et ille nos negabit: si non credimus, ille fidelis est, negare se non potest. Ne ergo confundaris martyrium domini nostri, neque me uinctum eius; quia praedixerat: non enim dedit nobis deus spiritum timoris, sed uirtutis et dilectionis et sanae mentis.

[11] Enough has he himself also above addressed: a faithful word. For if we have died together with Christ, we shall also live together; if we endure, we shall also co-reign; if we have denied, he also will deny us: if we do not believe, he is faithful, he cannot deny himself. Therefore do not be ashamed of the martyrdom of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner in chains; because he had foretold: for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of virtue and of love and of a sound mind.

[12] Virtute enim patimur ex dilectione in deum, et sana mente, cum ob innocentiam patimur. Sed et sicubi tolerantiam praecipit, quibus magis eam quam passionibus prospicit? Sicubi ab idololatria diuellit, quid ei magis quam martyria praeuellit?

[12] For by virtue we suffer out of dilection toward God, and with a sound mind, when we suffer on account of innocence. But also, whenever he enjoins toleration, whom does he have more in view for it than those in sufferings? Whenever he tears us away from idolatry, what does he prefer against it more than martyrdoms?

XIV.

14.

[1] Plane monet Romanos omnibus potestatibus subici, quia non sit potestas nisi a deo, et quia non sine causa gladium gestet, et quia ministerium sit dei, sed et ultrix, inquit, in iram ei qui malum fecerit. Nam et praemiserat: Principes enim non sunt timori boni operis, sed mali. Vis autem non timere potestatem, fac bonum, et laudem ab ea referes.

[1] Plainly he admonishes the Romans to be subject to all powers, because there is no power unless from God, and because it does not bear the sword without cause, and because it is a ministry of God; but also, he says, an avenger unto wrath upon the one who has done evil. For he had also premised: For princes are not for a fear to good work, but to bad. But do you wish not to fear the authority? do good, and you will receive praise from it.

Dei ergo ministra est tibi in bonum. Si uero malum facias, time.

Therefore it is a minister of God to you for good. But if indeed you do evil, be afraid.

[2] Ita non in occasione frustrandi martyrii iubet te subici potestatibus, sed in prouocatione bene uiuendi, etiam sub illaram respectu, quasi adiutricum iustitiae, quasi ministrarum diuini iudicii hic etiam de nocentibus praeiudicantis. Dehinc et exequitur, quomodo uelit te subici potestatibus, reddite, iubens, cui tributum, tributum, cui uectigal, uectigal, id est quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae dei deo; solius autem dei homo.

[2] Thus he bids you to be subject to the powers not on the occasion of frustrating martyrdom, but in the provocation of living well, even under their regard, as helpers of justice, as ministers of the divine judgment here, even prejudging concerning the guilty. Thereafter he also follows out how he wishes you to be subject to the powers, bidding: render to whom tribute, tribute; to whom tax, tax—that is, the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things of God to God; but the man is of God alone.

[3] Condixerat scilicet Petrus regem quidem honorandum, ut tamen tunc rex honoretur, cum suis rebus insistit, cum a diuinis honoribus longe est; quia et pater et mater diligentur cum deo, non conparabuntur. Ceterum super deum diligere nec animam licebit.

[3] Peter had indeed stipulated that the king is to be honored, yet that the king is to be honored then when he attends to his own affairs, when he is far from divine honors; because both father and mother are loved along with God—they will not be compared. Moreover, to love above God, not even the soul will be licit.

XV.

15.

[1] Num ergo et apostolorum litterae mobiles? Et nos usquequaque simplices animae et solummodo columbae libenter errantes? Credo uiuendi cupiditate.

[1] Are then even the apostles’ letters changeable? And are we everywhere simple souls and only doves, gladly erring? I suppose, from a desire of living.

Ita uero sit, ut recedant a litteris suis sensus. Quae tamen passos apostolos scimus, manifesta doctrina est. Hanc intellego solam Acta decurrens, nihil quaero.

Granted, let it be so, that senses withdraw from their letters. Yet that which we know the apostles to have suffered is manifest doctrine. This alone I understand as I run through the Acts; I seek nothing.

[2] Carceres illic et uincula et flagella et saxa et gladii et impetus Iudaeorum et coetus nationum et tribunorum elogia et regum auditoria et proconsulum tribunalia et Caesaris nomen interpretem non habent. Quod Petrus caeditur, quod Stephanus opprimitur, quod Iacobus immolatur, quod Paulus distrahitur, ipsorum sanguine scripta sunt.

[2] There, prisons and bonds and scourges and stones and swords and the assaults of the Jews and the assemblies of the nations and the edicts of the tribunes and the auditoria of kings and the tribunals of proconsuls and the name of Caesar have no interpreter. That Peter is beaten, that Stephen is crushed, that James is immolated, that Paul is torn asunder, are written in their own blood.

[3] Et si fidem commentarii uoluerit haereticus, instrumenta imperii loquentur, ut lapides Hierusalem. Vitas Caesarum legimus: orientem fidem Romae primus Nero cruentauit. Tunc Petrus ab altero cingitur, cum cruci adstringitur.

[3] And if the heretic will have wanted the faith/credence of the commentary, the instruments of the empire will speak, as the stones of Jerusalem. We read the Lives of the Caesars: Nero first bloodied the orienting/rising faith at Rome. Then Peter is girded by another, when he is fastened to the cross.

Tunc Paulus ciuitatis Romanae consequitur natiuitatem, cum illic martyrii renascitur generositate.

Then Paul attains the nativity of Roman citizenship, when there he is reborn by the nobility of martyrdom.

[4] Haec ubicumque iam legero, pati disco; nec mea interest, quos sequar martyrii magistros, sensusne an exitus apostolorum, nisi quod et sensus in exitibus recognosco. Nihil enim passi fuissent quod non prius patiendum esse scissent. Cum uincula Paulo Agabus gestu quoque prophetasset, discipuli flentes et orantes, ne se Hierosolyma committeret, frustra orauerant.

[4] Wherever by now I shall have read these things, I learn to suffer; nor is it my concern whom I should follow as masters of martyrdom—whether the sense or the ends of the apostles—except that I recognize the sense also in the ends. For they would have suffered nothing which they had not first known must be suffered. When Agabus had prophesied bonds for Paul also by gesture, the disciples, weeping and praying that he not commit himself to Jerusalem, had prayed in vain.

[5] Ille enim quod semper docuerat animatus, quid fletis, inquit, et contristatis cor meum? At ego non modo uincula Hierosolymis pati optauerim, uerum etiam mori pro nomine domini mei Iesu Christi. Atque ita cesserunt dicendo: Fiat uoluntas domini; fidentes scilicet passiones ad dei uoluntatem pertinere.

[5] For he, animated by what he had always taught, said, “Why do you weep, and sadden my heart? But I for my part would not only choose to suffer chains at Jerusalem, but indeed also to die for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ.” And thus they yielded by saying: “Let the will of the Lord be done”; trusting, namely, that sufferings pertain to the will of God.

[6] Non enim dehortationis consilio, sed dilectionis retinere temptauerant, ut apostolum desiderantes, non ut martyrium dissuadentes. Quodsi iam tunc Prodicus aut Valentinus adsisteret suggerens non in terris esse confitendum apud homines, minus uereor ne deus humanum sanguinem sitiat nec Christus uicem passionis quasi et ipse de ea salutem consecuturus exposcat, statim audisset a seruo dei quod audierat diabolus a domino: recede satana, scandalum mihi es. Scriptum, est dominum deum tuum adorabis et illi soli seruies.

[6] For they had tried to hold him back not by a counsel of dehortation, but of love, as desiring the apostle, not dissuading martyrdom. And if even then Prodicus or Valentinus had stood by, suggesting that confession is not to be made on earth before men, I am the less afraid that God should thirst for human blood, nor that Christ should demand in exchange a passion, as though he too were going to obtain salvation from it; he would at once have heard from the servant of God what the devil heard from the Lord: withdraw, Satan, you are a scandal-stumbling-block to me. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.

[7] Sed et nunc audire debebit, quatenus multo post uenena ista suffudit, nulli infirmorum facile nocitura, nisi si qui non hanc nostram ex fide praebiberit uel etiam superbiberit potionem.

[7] But even now he will have to hear—inasmuch as long afterward he poured in these poisons—poisons not likely to harm any of the weak, unless there be someone who has not drunk beforehand, out of faith, this our potion, or has even drunk it on top of it.