Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 3
Tertullian — Latin Christianity
SECTION 81
Chapter VII. [545] --The Christians Defamed. A Sarcastic Description of Fame; Its Deception and Atrocious Slanders of the Christians Lengthily Described.
Chapter VII. [545] --The Christians Defamed. A Sarcastic Description of Fame; Its Deception and Atrocious Slanders of the Christians Lengthily Described. Whence comes it to pass, you will say to us, that such a character could have been attributed to you, as to have justified the lawmakers perhaps by its imputation? Let me ask …
2,214 wordsSECTION 82Chapter VIII. [585] --The Calumny Against the Christians Illustrated in the Discovery of Psammetichus. Refutation of the Story.
[560] Fructus. [561] Si etiam sibi credat. [562] Quidem. [563] Talia factitare. [564] We read "quo," and not "quod," because. [565] Conversatio. [566] This refers to a calumny which the heathen frequently spread about the Christians. [567] Detrectem or simply "treat of," "refer to," like the simple verb "tractare." [568]…
972 wordsSECTION 83Chapter IX. [595] --The Christians are Not the Cause of Public Calamities: There Were Such Troubles Before Christianity.
Chapter IX. [595] --The Christians are Not the Cause of Public Calamities: There Were Such Troubles Before Christianity. But why should I be astonished at your vain imputations? Under the same natural form, malice and folly have always been associated in one body and growth, and have ever opposed us under the one instigator of …
1,922 wordsSECTION 84Chapter IX. [595] --The Christians are Not the Cause of Public Calamities: There Were Such Troubles Before Christianity.
It was not enough that you had insolently made a profit of your gods, if we would test the amount of your contempt; and you are not content to have withheld honour from them, you must also depreciate the little you do render to them by some indignity or other. What, indeed, do you do by way of honouring your gods, which you do n…
1,862 wordsSECTION 85Chapter XI. [651] --The Absurd Cavil of the Ass's Head Disposed of.
Chapter XI. [651] --The Absurd Cavil of the Ass's Head Disposed of. In this matter we are (said to be) guilty not merely of forsaking the religion of the community, but of introducing a monstrous superstition; for some among you have dreamed that our god is an ass's head,--an absurdity which Cornelius Tacitus first suggested. I…
1,440 wordsSECTION 86Chapter XIII. [672] --The Charge of Worshipping the Sun Met by a Retort.
Chapter XIII. [672] --The Charge of Worshipping the Sun Met by a Retort. Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less tha…
703 wordsSECTION 87Chapter XV. [686] --The Charge of Infanticide Retorted on the Heathen.
Chapter XV. [686] --The Charge of Infanticide Retorted on the Heathen. Since we are on a par in respect of the gods, it follows that there is no difference between us on the point of sacrifice, or even of worship, [687] if I may be allowed to make good our comparison from another sort of evidence. We begin our religious service…
1,728 wordsSECTION 88Chapter XVII. [715] --The Christian Refusal to Swear by the Genius of Cæsar. Flippancy and Irreverence Retorted on the Heathen.
Chapter XVII. [715] --The Christian Refusal to Swear by the Genius of Cæsar. Flippancy and Irreverence Retorted on the Heathen. As to your charges of obstinacy and presumption, whatever you allege against us, even in these respects, there are not wanting points in which you will bear a comparison with us. Our first step in this…
1,345 wordsSECTION 89Chapter XIX. [750] --If Christians and the Heathen Thus Resemble Each Other, There is Great Difference in the Grounds and Nature of Their Apparently Similar Conduct.
Chapter XIX. [750] --If Christians and the Heathen Thus Resemble Each Other, There is Great Difference in the Grounds and Nature of Their Apparently Similar Conduct. Here end, I suppose, your tremendous charges of obstinacy against the Christians. Now, since we are amenable to them in common with yourselves, it only remains tha…
1,137 wordsSECTION 90Book II. [773]
Book II. [773] Chapter I.--The Heathen Gods from Heathen Authorities. Varro Has Written a Work on the Subject. His Threefold Classification. The Changeable Character of that Which Ought to Be Fixed and Certain. Our defence requires that we should at this point discuss with you the character of your gods, O ye heathen, fit obje…
913 wordsSECTION 91Chapter II.--Philosophers Had Not Succeeded in Discovering God. The Uncertainty and Confusion of Their Speculations.
Chapter II.--Philosophers Had Not Succeeded in Discovering God. The Uncertainty and Confusion of Their Speculations. But the authority of the physical philosophers is maintained among you [798] as the special property [799] of wisdom. You mean of course, that pure and simple wisdom of the philosophers which attests its own weak…
885 wordsSECTION 92Chapter III.--The Physical Philosophers Maintained the Divinity of the Elements; The Absurdity of the Tenet Exposed.
Chapter III.--The Physical Philosophers Maintained the Divinity of the Elements; The Absurdity of the Tenet Exposed. From these developments of opinion, we see that your [814] physical class of philosophers are driven to the necessity of contending that the elements are gods, since it alleges that other gods are sprung from the…
1,092 wordsSECTION 93Chapter IV.--Wrong Derivation of the Word Theos. The Name Indicative of the True Deity. God Without Shape and Immaterial. Anecdote of Thales.
Chapter IV.--Wrong Derivation of the Word Theos. The Name Indicative of the True Deity. God Without Shape and Immaterial. Anecdote of Thales. Some affirm that the gods (i.e. theoi) were so called because the verbs theein and seisthai signify to run and to be moved. [835] This term, then, is not indicative of any majesty, for it…
940 wordsSECTION 94Chapter V.--The Physical Theory Continued. Further Reasons Advanced Against the Divinity of the Elements.
Chapter V.--The Physical Theory Continued. Further Reasons Advanced Against the Divinity of the Elements. Why, then, do we not resort to that far more reasonable [850] opinion, which has clear proof of being derived from men's common sense and unsophisticated deduction? [851] Even Varro bears it in mind, when he says that the e…
1,085 wordsSECTION 95Chapter VI.--The Changes of the Heavenly Bodies, Proof that They are Not Divine. Transition from the Physical to the Mythic Class of Gods.
Chapter VI.--The Changes of the Heavenly Bodies, Proof that They are Not Divine. Transition from the Physical to the Mythic Class of Gods. Come now, do you allow that the Divine Being not only has nothing servile in His course, but exists in unimpaired integrity, and ought not to be diminished, or suspended, or destroyed? Well,…
2,262 wordsSECTION 96Chapter IX.--The Power of Rome. Romanized Aspect of All the Heathen Mythology. Varro's Threefold Distribution Criticised. Roman Heroes (Æneas Included,) Unfavourably Reviewed.
[906] See above, c. i. [p. 129.] [907] Municipes. "Their local worshippers or subjects." [908] Perceperint. [909] Literally, "Have men heard of any Nortia belonging to the Vulsinensians?" [910] Deos decuriones, in allusion to the small provincial senates which in the later times spread over the Roman colonies and municipia. …
1,454 wordsSECTION 97Chapter X.--A Disgraceful Feature of the Roman Mythology. It Honours Such Infamous Characters as Larentina.
Chapter X.--A Disgraceful Feature of the Roman Mythology. It Honours Such Infamous Characters as Larentina. I hasten to even more abominable cases. Your writers have not been ashamed to publish that of Larentina. She was a hired prostitute, whether as the nurse of Romulus, and therefore called Lupa, because she was a prostitute…
1,387 wordsSECTION 98Chapter XII. [976] --The Original Deities Were Human--With Some Very Questionable Characteristics. Saturn or Time Was Human. Inconsistencies of Opinion About Him.
Chapter XII. [976] --The Original Deities Were Human--With Some Very Questionable Characteristics. Saturn or Time Was Human. Inconsistencies of Opinion About Him. Now, how much further need I go in recounting your gods--because I want to descant on the character of such as you have adopted? It is quite uncertain whether I shall…
1,967 wordsSECTION 99Chapter XIII. [1011] --The Gods Human at First. Who Had the Authority to Make Them Divine? Jupiter Not Only Human, But Immoral.
Chapter XIII. [1011] --The Gods Human at First. Who Had the Authority to Make Them Divine? Jupiter Not Only Human, But Immoral. Manifest cases, indeed, like these have a force peculiarly their own. Men like Varro and his fellow-dreamers admit into the ranks of the divinity those whom they cannot assert to have been in their pri…
1,297 wordsSECTION 100Chapter XIV.--Gods, Those Which Were Confessedly Elevated to the Divine Condition, What Pre-Eminent Right Had They to Such Honour? Hercules an Inferior Character.
Chapter XIV.--Gods, Those Which Were Confessedly Elevated to the Divine Condition, What Pre-Eminent Right Had They to Such Honour? Hercules an Inferior Character. But since they will have it that those who have been admitted from the human state to the honours of deification should be kept separate from others, and that the dis…
1,015 wordsSECTION 101Chapter XV.--The Constellations and the Genii Very Indifferent Gods. The Roman Monopoly of Gods Unsatisfactory. Other Nations Require Deities Quite as Much.
Chapter XV.--The Constellations and the Genii Very Indifferent Gods. The Roman Monopoly of Gods Unsatisfactory. Other Nations Require Deities Quite as Much. It would be tedious to take a survey of all those, too, whom you have buried amongst the constellations, and audaciously minister to as gods. [1057] I suppose your Castors,…
959 wordsSECTION 102Chapter XVII. [1081] --Conclusion, the Romans Owe Not Their Imperial Power to Their Gods. The Great God Alone Dispenses Kingdoms, He is the God of the Christians.
Chapter XVII. [1081] --Conclusion, the Romans Owe Not Their Imperial Power to Their Gods. The Great God Alone Dispenses Kingdoms, He is the God of the Christians. In conclusion, without denying all those whom antiquity willed and posterity has believed to be gods, to be the guardians of your religion, there yet remains for our …
2,293 wordsSECTION 103Chapter I.--Occasion of Writing. Relative Position of Jews and Gentiles Illustrated.
[1101] Dæmons. Gr. daimon, which some hold to = daemon, "knowing," "skilful," in which case it would come to be used of any superhuman intelligence; others, again, derive from daio, "to divide, distribute," in which case it would mean a distributor of destinies; which latter derivation and meaning Liddell and Scott incline to. …
1,531 wordsSECTION 104Chapter II.--The Law Anterior to Moses.
Chapter II.--The Law Anterior to Moses. Stand we, therefore, foot to foot, and determine we the sum and substance of the actual question within definite lists. For why should God, the founder of the universe, the Governor of the whole world, [1139] the Fashioner of humanity, the Sower [1140] of universal nations be believed to…
1,377 wordsSECTION 105Chapter III.--Of Circumcision and the Supercession of the Old Law.
Chapter III.--Of Circumcision and the Supercession of the Old Law. But Abraham, (you say,) was circumcised. Yes, but he pleased God before his circumcision; [1162] nor yet did he observe the Sabbath. For he had "accepted" [1163] circumcision; but such as was to be for "a sign" of that time, not for a prerogative title to salvat…
1,584 wordsSECTION 106Chapter IV.--Of the Observance of the Sabbath.
Chapter IV.--Of the Observance of the Sabbath. It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. For the Jews say, that from the begin…
863 wordsSECTION 107Chapter V.--Of Sacrifices.
Chapter V.--Of Sacrifices. So, again, we show that sacrifices of earthly oblations and of spiritual sacrifices [1197] were predicted; and, moreover, that from the beginning the earthly were foreshown, in the person of Cain, to be those of the "elder son," that is, of Israel; and the opposite sacrifices demonstrated to be those …
876 wordsSECTION 108Chapter VI.--Of the Abolition and the Abolisher of the Old Law.
Chapter VI.--Of the Abolition and the Abolisher of the Old Law. Therefore, since it is manifest that a sabbath temporal was shown, and a sabbath eternal foretold; a circumcision carnal foretold, and a circumcision spiritual pre-indicated; a law temporal and a law eternal formally declared; sacrifices carnal and sacrifices spiri…
1,522 wordsSECTION 109Chapter VIII.--Of the Times of Christ's Birth and Passion, and of Jerusalem's Destruction.
Chapter VIII.--Of the Times of Christ's Birth and Passion, and of Jerusalem's Destruction. Accordingly the times must be inquired into of the predicted and future nativity of the Christ, and of His passion, and of the extermination of the city of Jerusalem, that is, its devastation. For Daniel says, that "both the holy city and…
2,200 wordsSECTION 110Chapter IX.--Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ.
Chapter IX.--Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ. Begin we, therefore, to prove that the Birth of Christ was announced by prophets; as Isaiah (e.g.,) foretells, "Hear ye, house of David; no petty contest have ye with men, since God is proposing a struggle. Therefore God Himself will give you a sign; Behold…
2,485 wordsSECTION 111And that the virgin of whom it behoved Christ to be born (as we have above mentioned) must derive her lineage of the seed of David, the prop
And that the virgin of whom it behoved Christ to be born (as we have above mentioned) must derive her lineage of the seed of David, the prophet in subsequent passages evidently asserts. "And there shall be born," he says, "a rod from the root of Jesse"--which rod is Mary--"and a flower shall ascend from his root: and there shall…
1,315 wordsSECTION 112Chapter X.--Concerning the Passion of Christ, and Its Old Testament Predictions and Adumbrations.
Chapter X.--Concerning the Passion of Christ, and Its Old Testament Predictions and Adumbrations. Concerning the last step, plainly, of His passion you raise a doubt; affirming that the passion of the cross was not predicted with reference to Christ, and urging, besides, that it is not credible that God should have exposed His …
2,202 wordsSECTION 113Chapter XI.--Further Proofs, from Ezekiel. Summary of the Prophetic Argument Thus Far.
[1328] Manifested e.g., in his two dreams. See Gen. xxxvii. [1329] Comp. Rom. ix. 5. [1330] Or, "Judah." [1331] This is an error. It is not "his father," Jacob, but Moses, who thus blesses him. See Deut. xxxiii. 17. The same error occurs in adv. Marc. 1. iii. c. xxiii. [1332] Not strictly "the same;" for here the reference i…
1,836 wordsSECTION 114Chapter XII.--Further Proofs from the Calling of the Gentiles.
Chapter XII.--Further Proofs from the Calling of the Gentiles. Look at the universal nations thenceforth emerging from the vortex of human error to the Lord God the Creator and His Christ; and if you dare to deny that this was prophesied, forthwith occurs to you the promise of the Father in the Psalms, which says, "My Son art T…
2,586 wordsSECTION 115Since, therefore, the Jews were predicted as destined to suffer these calamities on Christ's account, and we find that they have suffered th
Since, therefore, the Jews were predicted as destined to suffer these calamities on Christ's account, and we find that they have suffered them, and see them sent into dispersion and abiding in it, manifest it is that it is on Christ's account that these things have befallen the Jews, the sense of the Scriptures harmonizing with …
826 wordsSECTION 116Chapter XIV.--Conclusion. Clue to the Error of the Jews.
Chapter XIV.--Conclusion. Clue to the Error of the Jews. Learn now (over and above the immediate question) the clue to your error. We affirm, two characters of the Christ demonstrated by the prophets, and as many advents of His forenoted: one, in humility (of course the first), when He has to be led "as a sheep for a victim; an…
1,968 wordsSECTION 117Chapter I.
Chapter I. If, with the object of convicting the rivals and persecutors of Christian truth, from their own authorities, of the crime of at once being untrue to themselves and doing injustice to us, one is bent on gathering testimonies in its favour from the writings of the philosophers, or the poets, or other masters of this wo…
841 wordsSECTION 118Chapter II.
Chapter II. We give offence by proclaiming that there is one God, to whom the name of God alone belongs, from whom all things come, and who is Lord of the whole universe. [1478] Bear thy testimony, if thou knowest this to be the truth; for openly and with a perfect liberty, such as we do not possess, we hear thee both in privat…
734 wordsSECTION 119Chapter III.
Chapter III. But when we say that there are demons--as though, in the simple fact that we alone expel them from the men's bodies, [1479] we did not also prove their existence--some disciple of Chrysippus begins to curl the lip. Yet thy curses sufficiently attest that there are such beings, and that they are objects of thy stron…
1,433 wordsSECTION 120Chapter V.
Chapter V. These testimonies of the soul are simple as true, commonplace as simple, universal as commonplace, natural as universal, divine as natural. I don't think they can appear frivolous or feeble to any one, if he reflect on the majesty of nature, from which the soul derives its authority. [1487] If you acknowledge the aut…
734 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.