The earliest edition of the collected works of Tertul-
TEUTULLUS
290
TESSEII.E
Han was that of Beatus IJhciianus (Basle, 1521). It was followed by those of I'ameliiis (Antw. 1579), Hijial- liiis O'aris, 1G"o4; Venice, 1744), Seniler (Halle, 1770- 73, G vols.), Leopold in Gersdorf, Bill. I'utr. Kcd. I.dtin. Selectu (Lips. 1839-41), parts iv-vii, and Migiie (I'aris, 1X44). Tiic latest and best edition is that of Oelder, {I. Sept. l-'lonitt. Ttrtiill. etc. (Lips. 1853, 3 vols.). VdI. iii contains tlic dissertations on Tertullian of Panielins, Allix, Nic. de Noiirry, Moshciin, Jsosselt. Seraler, and Kave. Tiie life of Tertidlian has been written by Neander. .1 iilii/nosliciis, Geist ties Tertul. n. Kinl. in de.isen Sthriflen ( Berl. 1825; 2d ed. 1849); llesselberg, Ter- tiillicins Le/nx' (Dorpat, 1848), pt.i," Life and Writings;" Kave [Anglican bisliop of Lincoln], Jurl. Hist, of the id (iiiii'Sil Ccnturieg lllust.from the Writi/if/s ofTertidUan (Lond. 1845; 3d ed. 1848). See Mijiiler, I'atrokxjie (ed. Keithmayr, Katisbon, 1840), i, 701-790; Biihringer, Kirche Vhristi (Zurich, 1842). I, i, 270-374; Hase, A'tV- chengesch. (7th ed.), § 84, p. 109; Kurtz, llandb. d. Kir- rhenyesc/i. (3el ed.), i, 307; llauck, Tcrtiilliiiits I.cbm und Wiike ( Lrlang. 1877 ) ; ller/.oii, lieid- Enci/Hop. s. v.; Smith, Dirt. «f Or. and Rom. Biog. s. v.
Tertul'lus (^TiprvWoQ, a diminutive from the Ro- man name 'J'atius, analogous to Lucnllus from Lucius, Fubullus from Fubius, etc.), '"a certain orator" (Acts xxiv, 1) who was retained by tlie high-priest and San- hedrim to accuse the apostle Paul at Ciusarea before tlie lioman itrocurator Antonius Felix. A.D. 55. See 1'aii.. He evidently belonged to the class of profes- sional orators, multitudes of whom were to be found not only in IJome, but in other parts of the empire, to which they had betaken themselves in the hope of finding oc- cupation at the tribunals of the provincial magistrates. Botii from his name, and from the great probability that the proceedings were conducted in Latin (see es- pecially jMilman, Bampton Lectures for 1827, p. 185, iiiite), we may infer that Tertullus was of Koman, or at all events of Italian, origin. The Sanhedrim would nat- urally desire to secure his services on account of their own ignorance both of the Latin language and of the ordinary i)rocedure of a Homan law-court; for the Jews, as well as the other peoples suliject to the Komaiis, in their accusations and processes before the Poman mag- istrates, were obliged to follow the forms of the Koman law, (if wliich they knew little. The different i)rov- iiices, and |iarticularly the principal cities, consequent- ly abounded with persons who, at the same time advo- cates and orators, were equally reatiy to plead in civil actions or to iiarangue on public affairs. This they did, cither in Greek or Latin, as the place or occasion re- (piired.
The exordium of his speech is designed to conciliate the good will of the procurator, and is accordingly over- charged with flattery. There is a strange contrast be- tween the opening clause — TroXXT/c iifn'jvtji; Tvyxavov- Tf c Ci'i auii — and the brief summary of the procurator's administration given by Tacitus (llist.y, 9): "Anto- nius Felix p(r omnem s:evitiam ac libidinem, jus regium servili ingenio exercuit" (com[). Tacit. Ami. xii, 54). But the commendations of Tertidlus were not altogether unfounded, as Felix had really succeeded in putting down several seditious movements. See F'ki.ix. It is not very easy to determine whether Luke has preserved tlie oration of Tertidlus entire. On the one hand, we iiave the elaborate and artilicial opening, which can hardly be other than an accurate report of that part of the speech; and, on the other hanil, we have a narra- tive which is so very dry and concise that, if there were nothing more, it is not easy to see why the orator siiould liave been called in at all. Tlie difficulty is increased if. in accordance with the greatly ijreponderating weight of external, authority, we omit the words in Acts xxiv, (i-8, Koi KfiTu Tuv I'l^iirfpov . . . t(>\KT~rcn Itti (tK On the whole, it seems most natural to conclude that the iiistorian, who was almost certainly an ear-witness, merely gives an abstract of the speech, giving, howev- er, in full the most salient points, and those which had
the most forcibly impressed themselves upon him, such as the exordium and the character ascribed to Paul (ver. 5).
The doubtful reading in vers. t)-8, to which reference has already been made, seems likelv to remain an un- solved difliculty. Against the external evidence there would be nothing to urge in favor of the disputed pas- sage, were it not that the statement which remains af- ter its removal is not merely extremely brief (its brevi- ty may be accounted for in the manner already suggest- ed), but abrupt and awkward in point of construction. It may be added that it is easier to refer Trnp' ov (ver. 8) to the tribune Lysias than to Paul. F'or arguments founded on the words koi kcito. . . . Kpirtiv (ver. O) — arguments which are dependent on the genuineness of the disputed words — see Lardner, Credibility of the Gos- pel History, bk. i, ch. ii ; Biscoe, On the Acts, vi, 16.
We ought not to pass over without notice a strange etymology for the name Tertullus proposed by Calmet, in the place of which anotlier has been suggested by his English editor (ed. 18;!0), who takes credit for having rejected '"fanciful and improbable" etymologies, and substituted improvements of his own. Whether the suggestion is an improvement in this case the reader will judge: •'Tertullus, TfprvXXoc, liar, impost or, ivDin TipuToKoyoc, a teller of .stories, a cheat. [(^«/.— Was his true appellation Ter-Tullius, 'thrice Tully,' that is, ex- tremely eloquent, varied by Jewish wii into Tertul- lus?]"— Smith; Kitto.