i^."-y'.\'.( '■'
""m^
WELLESLEY COLLEGE LIBRARY
Bequest of
lJ
\
THE APOLOGY OF TERTULLIAN
AND
THE MEDITATIONS OF THE EMPEROR
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.
THE
APOLOGY OF TERTULLIAN
translated and Annotated hy
WM. REEVE, A.M. ^^*^ ^
SOMETIME VICAR OF CRANFORD, MIDDLESEX
AND THE
MEDITATIONS OF THE EMPEROR
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS
translated by
JEREMY COLLIER, A.M.
LONDON
GRIFFITH FARRAN & CO.
NEWBERY HOUSE, 39 CHARING CROSS ROAD
5T
Tke Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved^
CONTENTS.
i6'
PAGK
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, ...... vii
PREFACE TO M. AURELIUS'S MEDITATIONS, . . . . xiii
CHAP.
I. THAT THE GENTILES' HATRED TO THE CHRISTIANS IS NOTORIOUSLY
UNJUST, ........ X
n. CONCERNING THE MALICE AND PERVERSENESS OF THE JUDGES, IN
THE WAY OF CONDEMNING OR ABSOLVING THE CHRISTIANS, . 6
in. CONCERNING THE ODIOUS TITLE OF CHRISTIAN, . . .II
IV. THAT HUMAN LAWS MAY ERR, AND THEREFORE MAY BE MENDED, 13
V. THAT THE WISEST OF THE EMPERORS HAVE BEEN PROTECTORS OF
THE CHRISTIANS, .......
VI. THAT THE ROMANS ARE MIGHTY PRAISERS OF THE ANTIQUITY OF
THEIR RELIGION, AND YET ADMIT OF NOVELTIES INTO IT EVERY
DAY, ......... 20
VII. THAT COMMON FAME IS BUT AN ILL EVIDENCE, . . .24
VIII. THAT THE CRIMES CHARGED UPON THE CHRISTIANS ARE NEITHER
POSSIBLE NOR PROBABLE, ...... 27
IX. THAT THE PAGANS ARE GUILTY BOTH IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC
OF THE SAME CRIMES THEY CHARGE UPON CHRISTIANS, . 30
X. THAT THE GODS OF THE GENTILES ARE NO GODS, . . -35
XL THAT THE FANCY OF MAKING GODS OF DEAD MEN IS A VERY
FOOLISH FANCY, ....... 38
XII. CONCERNING THE VANITY OF IMAGE-WORSHIP, . . . 40
XIII. CONCERNING THE IRREVERENCE OF THE HEATHEN TO THEIR GODS, 42
XIV. THAT THE HEATHENS DO BUT MOCK THEIR GODS IN OFFERING THE
REFUSE AND THE VILEST PARTS OF THE SACRIFICE, . . 45
XV. CONCERNING THE SHAMEFUL REPRESENTATION OF THE GODS UPON
THE STAGE AND AMPHITHEATRE, ..... 47
XVL CONCERNING THE ASS'S HEAD, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE VANITIES
CHARGED UPON THE CHRISTIANS, . . . . .49
XVII. CONCERNING THE GOD OF CHRISTIANS, . . . -53
XVIIL CONCERNING THE SEPTUAGINT, OR THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS
TRANSLATED INTO GREEK BY THE ENDEAVOURS OF PTOLEMY
PHILADELPHUS, . . ' . • • • • SS
XIX. CONCERNING THE ANTIQUITY OF THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS, 57
XX. THAT THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES IN HOLY SCRIP-
TURES PROVE THEM TO BE OF AUTHORITY DIVINE, . . 59
XXL CONCERNING THE BIRTH AND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST, . 61
XXII. CONCERNING DEMONS, THEIR POWER, AND THEIR WAYS OF OPERA-
TION, ......... 69
VI Contents,
CHAP. PAGE
XXIII. CONCERNING THE SUBJECTION OF EVIL SPIRITS TO THE COMMAND
OF CHRISTIANS, ....... 74
XXIV. THAT THE ROMANS ARE THE CRIMINALS IN POINT OF RELIGION,
AND NOT THE CHRISTIANS, ..... 80
XXV. THAT THE ROMAN GRANDEUR IS NOT OWING TO THE ROMAN
RELIGION, ........ 82
XXVI. THAT KINGDOMS ARE ONLY AT HIS DISPOSE WHO IS THE TRUE
GOD, ......... 00
XXVII. THAT THE GENTILES ARE SET AGAINST CHRISTIANS BY THE IN-
STIGATION OF EVIL SPIRITS, ..... 87
XXVIII. THAT THE ROMANS HAVE THEIR EMPERORS IN GREATER VENERA-
TION THAN THEIR GODS, ...... 89
XXIX. THAT THE EMPERORS MAINTAIN THE GODS RATHER THAN THE
GODS THE EMPERORS, ...... 90
XXX. CONCERNING THE GOD OF CHRISTIANS, BY WHOM KINGS REIGN,
AND THE PRAYERS OF CHRISTIANS FOR THE LIFE OF THE
EMPERORS, . . . . . . . .91
XXXI. THAT CHRISTIANS ARE COMMANDED TO LOVE THEIR ENEMIES, . 94
XXXIL CONCERNING ANOTHER REASON OF THE CHRISTIANS IN PRAYING
FOR THE EMPERORS, ...... 95
XXXIII. A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF CHRISTIAN LOYALTY, AND THEIR REFUS-
ING TO CALL THE EMPEROR BY THE TITLE OF GOD, . . 96
' XXXIV. CONCERNING AUGUSTUS CiESAR, . . . . . 98-
XXXV. CONCERNING THE DIFFERENT OBSERVATION OF PUBLIC FESTIVALS
BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND THE HEATHENS, . . 99^
XXXVL CONCERNING THE CHRISTIAN DUTY OF LOVING ENEMIES, . . I02
XXXVII. A CONTINUATION OF THE UNLIMITED LOVE OF CHRISTIANS, . 103
XXXVIIL THAT CHRISTIANS CAN NEVER BE JUSTLY SUSPECTED OF DESIGNS
AGAINST THE STATE, ...... I06 .-
XXXIX. CONCERNING THE DISCIPLINE OF CHRISTIANS AND THEIR EMPLOY-
MENT AND WAYS OF LIVING, ..... 107
XL. THAT THE CAUSES OF PUBLIC EVILS ARE MOST MALICIOUSLY
THROWN UPON THE CHRISTIANS, . . . . . II4
XLI. CONCERNING THE CAUSE AND REASON OF PUBLIC CALAMITIES, . I16
XLII. THAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE A VERY USEFUL SORT OF PEOPLE, . I18
XLIII. A FURTHER VINDICATION OF THE USEFULNESS OF CHRISTIANS
TO THE PUBLIC, ....... I20
XLIV. THAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE CONDEMNED MERELY UPON THE
ACCOUNT OF THEIR NAME, ..... 121
XLV. CONCERNING ONE GREAT REASON FOR THE INNOCENCE OF
CHRISTIANS ABOVE THAT OF ALL OTHER PEOPLE, . . 122
XLVI. THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE A BETTER RIGHT TO A TOLERATION
THAN PHILOSOPHERS, ...... I24
XLVII. THAT THE HEATHEN POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS STOLE MANY OF
THEIR NOTIONS FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, . . . 129
XLVIII. CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, . . . 135
XLIX. THAT THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OUGHT NOT TO BE PERSECUTED,
BECAUSE THE WORLD CANNOT BE WELL WITHOUT IT, . I39
L. THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH, ...... 14O
THE CONVERSATION OF THE EMPEROR MARCUS ANTONIUS : A
DISCOURSE WITH HIMSELF, .... - 145
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
Within the present volume we have given two of the most
interesting and important works of the days of early Christianity.
The one is the great Apology of the most eloquent of the early
Fathers of the Church — " the father of Latin Christianity," as Dean
Milman calls him; the other is the ethical treatise of the pure-
souled Stoic Emperor, the first great general persecutor of the
Christian Church. A few prefatory words are needed upon each,
but the reader is referred to the previous volume of this series —
Bishop Kaye's account of Tertullian — for fuller details about him.
The life of Tertullian is only known to us through his writings.
He was born at Carthage about a.d. i6o, and died about 240; but
the precise dates are uncertain. He was trained as a lawyer, but
was converted to Christianity in 192, and became a priest. He
was married, but childless. It was probably about ten years after
his conversion that he became a Montanist, moved, as Bishop
Kaye believes, by the laxity of the clergy that he saw around
him, and the longing to find a stricter life. The same learned
writer shows that his Montanist writings are among the most
valuable, simply because, in his unsparing attacks on what he held
to be faulty in the practices and discipline of the Church, he
unconsciously preserves for our information what these were.
The work before us is the greatest of Tertullian's writings. The
deeply religious heathen Emperor, M. Aurelius, died in 180, and
was succeeded by his unworthy son, Commodus. He was followed
by Septimius Severus, the first of the " Barrack Emperors," in other
words, of those military adventurers who held the Roman Empire
down to the days of Dioclesian, following one another rapidly, and,
with hardly a single exception, dying violent deaths. The golden
age of the Empire was gone, it was the iron age now\ But the
Christian Church, after a period of silent growth, after worship in
TU
viii Biographical Notices,
caves and catacombs, was now a recognised power in the Empire.
It had a new philosophy to offer men, and a nascent Hterature;
it boldly put forth its claims to obedience, and made converts among
the rich and learned. M. Aurelius had done his utmost to crush
it; Commodus had not done so, some of his courtiers were Christians,
and persuaded him to leave their co-religionists alone. And Sept.
Severus pursued in the main the same policy.
But the African Church was an exception to the general immunity.
Much depended everywhere on the disposition of the several pro-
consuls towards the faith. There had been laws in existence
against it ever since the days of Nero, and it depended altogether
on the various governors whether these laws should stand in abey-
ance or be put in vigorous exercise. There were by this time many
thousands of believers in Africa ; and now heathen fanaticism,
which had been long smouldering, broke out. The priestesses of
the " Dea Coelestis " had raised seditious mobs-, and allied heathens
and Jews had destroyed Christian churches, and rifled and
desecrated their burial-places. Caricatures of Christ were paraded
through the streets, and the usual ridiculous charges of incest and
cannibalism were brought against his disciples. It was all this
which produced Tertullian's Apology.
He first addresses himself (chaps, i.-vi.) to this general argument,
that the rulers at Carthage are persecuting a body of men, who are
undeserving of condemnation. Trajan's counsel to Pliny, that
Christians were not to be sought out, but if brought before him
were to be punished, as the apologist rightly maintains, was
illogical and confused. But the present action of the governing
power was yet worse ; it was persecuting a religion which confessedly
was a strong agent in the reformation of popular morals. He then
goes on to state what are the charges brought against Christians,
and to assert their falsity (vii.-ix.), then takes them in detail. First,
"sacrilege" and "treason." He meets the first by declaring that
the gods of the heathen are no gods (x.-xv.), and then by demon-
strating that Christians have a devout worship of their own, and
profound reverence for Him whom they recognise as their God,
and in doing this he refutes certain calumnies which have been
brought against this worship (xvi.-xxiii.). These chapters are full
of information concerning early Church customs. He goes on to
say that it is the heathens and not the Christians who are really the
impious, and that it is not true that Christians are enemies of the
Commonwealth, seeing that the greatness of Rome owes nothing to
Biographical Notices. ix
its heathen faith. And he retorts upon them the charge of impiety,
by declaring that they hold Caesar in greater dread than they do
their gods, whilst the Christians pray to their God for Caesar's
welfare, though they will not pay that Caesar lying honour. Then
our apologist, dealing with details, argues passionately and grandly
on behalf of a body of men who do not take vengeance for the
wrongs that they are suffering. It has been many a time within
their power to have raised the whirlwind against the government,
but they have refrained ; but they are strong in the knowledge of
their coming victory. And he demands that therefore they should
at once be admitted amongst the licensed "sects." Gathering
strength as he is carried along on the stream of his majestic
eloquence, and with the consciousness that he is gaining the better
of his opponents at every turn, he breaks out into a magnificent
peroration, partly of the deepest feeling, partly of withering scorn,
and ends in a climax of impassioned and confident appeal.
The author of the present translation, as I learn from a letter
sent to me by the present Rector, was Rector of Cranford from
1694 to 1726. '. .'-*e\; 172-4, ,. i|urr i$?
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who was Emperor of Rome from
A.D. 1 61-180, was the noblest and purest of all who wore the purple.
He came of a noble race, his two grandfathers had both been
consuls. He was a favourite with the Emperor Hadrian from in-
fancy j and whereas his father's surname was Verus, Hadrian
familiarly called the child "Verissimus" from his disposition; and
further, when he adopted Antoninus Pius as his heir, he made it
a condition that he in turn should adopt the father of the young
Aurelius. The boy's father dying early, his education was carried
on by his grandfather, who assiduously sought out the bes teachers
that were to be found ; and thus it was that M. Aurelius w is trained
as a Stoic. As he grew up he justified the expectations that were
formed of him, attending strictly to all duties committed to him,
and never yielding to the temptation to subordinate them to the
studies that he loved. Antoninus Pius, on becoming Emperor,
A.D. 138, bestowed his daughter upon him, and on his death was
succeeded by him, at the urgent request of the Senate, for Aurelius
was unwilling.
X Biographical Notices.
It is strange to see how this gentle and thoughtful man became
the most systematic persecutor which the Church had ever yet
had. He had acquiesced in the toleration excerised by his two pre-
decessors, but now he went to work on system to destroy the Christian
faith. Under him were martyred Polycarp, Blandina, Pothinus, and
the other martyrs of Lyons, and Justin Martyr. The Stoic philo-
sophy under which he was nurtured, and of the better aspect
of which he is the noblest example, had many points of union
with Christianity (see Jerome, Comm. on Isaiah^ cxi.), but there
were also strong divergences. Primarily, there was the conviction
of the Stoic that man has in himself the power of becoming virtuous,
to which the Christian opposed the declaration, Without Christ we
can do nothing. And the practical outcome of the two philosophies
proved the Christian in the right. The Stoic strove to free him-
self from the general debasement, and was blessed, as every man is
blessed from above who strives honestly. But he saw himself
surpassed in morality and fortitude by the Christian, who succeeded
where he failed. It is remarkable to notice, in the histories both
of Greece and Rome, that no greatness was reached, no signal
services to the State were rendered, by any disciple of the Stoic
creed. Athens produced many great men, Sparta none. And as
the Stoic saw himself distanced in that which he had made a sincere,
though futile endeavour to win, he became embittered, and hated
the Christians as his rivals. The very tranquillity with which
Aurelius trained himself to regard the sorrow and pain of life, was
irritated by the Christian eagerness to convert the world to the
faith and the promises of the world to come. What he believed only
possible to the philosopher, they declared to be offered to all ;
theirs was a gospel to the poor and unlettered, and it was an offence
to him. Then the unworthiness of some of its professors then, as
now, caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed, and the very
virtue of Aurelius embittered him the more against those who,
holding aloft a high standard, were living unholy lives. Moreover,
the time was one of great physical calamities. Inundations, earth-
quakes, famine, pestilence afflicted the empire to a degree never
before known. Added to these troubles, there were wars all along
the frontier ; the Britons were in insurrection, the Parthians in-
vaded the Eastern border, as did the Germans the regions of the
Rhine and Danube. The Epicurean atheism, which had passed
muster as the fashionable religion, was kindled by these calamities
into furious fanaticism ; it was the Christian superstition which had
roused the wrath of the gods. It is noticeable that the year i66,
which was known as the "annus calamitosus," was the vear of the
Biographical Notices, xi
persecution under which Justin suffered. And when the Christians
under persecution went fearlessly to death rather than sacrifice to the
gods, when they spoke of these gods with contumely, when some in
their untempered zeal exulted in the' signs of the times as indicating
the judgments of God upon heathenism, all this inflamed their
persecutors to yet wilder frenzy.
But, setting aside the judicial blindness of Aurelius in this matter,
we can recognise fully his patriotism, his singleness of purpose.
" Humanly speaking," says our own Jeremy Collier, " nothing less
than such a person as he could have preserved the State in this
tempestuous and distressed time."
It was in the year 174 that the Emperor and his army were saved
as by a miracle from perishing of thirst. He was engaged in
warfare against the Quadi, north of the Danube. Under the burn-
ing sun, with no water discoverable, the army was ready to die.
Suddenly a great storm arose. The rain came down in torrents,
and not only were the agonies of the Romans removed, but the
lightning flashes terrified their enemies, who turned and fled. To
this day it is matter of controversy whether the assertions of Chris-
tian writers are borne out by fact, that the deliverance was owing
to the Christian prayers. " God," so the Captain of the Guards is
said to have told the Emperor in the midst of the extremity,
" never denied anything to the Christians, and he had a great
number of them in one of his legions." Therefore the Emperor
had them summoned before him, and desired them to pray to
their God for him. And they did so, and were heard. Tertullian
in his Apology speaks of a letter of the Emperor which he has
seen which bears out this statement, and there is no reason to
question his veracity, though the letter is not forthcoming among
the Emperor's writings. There is one which is sometimes printed
after Justin Martyr's Apology, but it is now certainly pronounced
to be not genuine. We must leave the question unsolved.
The Emperor was not suff'ered to enjoy the peace and meditation
which he desired ; for his fate was to make war to the very end.
He died at Vienna in the midst of a campaign against the Germans.
As we have adopted Collier's translation, it seems only fair that
we should give his estimate of the Author in his Preface.
The reader may remember that Collier was a conspicuous divine
xii Biographical Notices,
of the time of the later Stuarts. His first Church preferment was
the Hving of Ampton, Suffolk, which he resigned to hold the
Preachership at Gray's Inn. At the Revolution of 1688 he was
deprived as a non-juror, and in i'696 was outlawed for giving Church
absolution to two of the plotters against King William. He did
not, however, trouble himself about it, but resided in London, and
supported himself by his literary labours. Of these the greatest is
his Church History. 'The work before us belongs to the same
period of his life. He died in 1726. W. B.
PREFACE TO M. AURELIUS'S MEDITATIONS.
BY THE TRANSLATOR.
A WORD or two of preface concerning the Emperor's principles
and person may not be amiss.
I. As to the Stoics, notwithstanding their advantage of other
sects, they were not without their mistakes. For instance, they
believed a plurality of gods, that the soul was a part of the deity,
and that their wise man might dispose of himself, and make his life
as short as he pleased. These, with some other less material errors,
I have marked in the margin.
It is true, it is objected against the Stoics, that they allowed no
degrees in ill practice, but made all faults equal; that they held
compassion an infirmity, and would not suffer it in the character of
an improved philosopher; that the happiness of a wise man depended
purely upon himself, and that there was no necessity of addressing
a superior being.
To answer this charge, Monsieur D'Acier observes that Zeno's
opinion (the founder of the sect) was fair and defensible in these
points : that he was misunderstood by some of his scholars, and
unreasonably strained up to the letter. But there is no need to
insist any further upon justifying, for I do not remember our
author is at all concerned in this matter.
To proceed, therefore, to the Emperor with reference to his book.
His thoughts, then, are noble and uncommon, and his logic very
true and exact. He generally flies his game home, seldom leaves
his argument till he brings it to a demonstration, and has pursued
it to its first principles. Seneca has a difi'erent manner, and moves
more by start and sally. He flashes a hint in your face and
disappears, and leaves you to carry on the reasoning and master
xm
xiv Preface to M. Aureliuss Meditations.
the subject as well as you can. This looks like an apparition of
philosophy, and is sometimes more surprising than instructive.
(Though this remark has no reference to the excellent English
abstract, which is differently managed from the original.) But as
for the Emperor, he charges through and through, and no difficulty
can stand before him. His reason is no less irresistible than his
arms, and he loves to conquer in his closet as well as in the field.
There is a peculiar air of greatness and gravity in his discourses.
He seems to think up to his station, and writes with that
magnificence of notion, as if he believed himself obliged to exceed
other authors, as much in the vigour of his mind as in the lustre
of his fortune. i
He appears to have thought to the bottom of his argument, and
to have had a comprehensive view of the world, of the interest and
relations of society. Hence it is that his morality is so particularly
serviceable and convincing, that his sentences are so weighty, and
his reasoning so very just. By thus digging to the foundation, he
is in a condition to assign everything its true grounds, and set every
duty upon its proper basis. Further, the great probity of this prince,
his fortitude, and the nobleness of his mind, gave freedom and spirit
to his thoughts, and made him exert for the service of principle and
truth. Besides, he seems to have been born with a prerogative of
nature, blessed with a superior genius, and made up of richer
materials for sense and virtue, than other people. These advantages,
together with an improved education, raised him to that pitch of
majesty and distinction, and made his pen almost equal to his
sceptre.
How does he despise the pursuits of fame and the glittering
objects of ambition ! And that in no empty rhodomontades and
tumour of expression. No, he pulls off the paint, discovers the
inward coarseness, and brings such evidence of the insignificancy of
these things, that he perfectly commands the reader's assent, and
forces him into his own opinion. Now an emperor's argument
against a fondness for pleasure or power comes better recommended
than from a private philosopher ; for in this case a man speaks from
experiment, and disputes against the privilege of his condition.
Here the usual pretence of envy or ignorance is out of doors, and
nothing but dint of reason could drive him upon so unacceptable
a conclusion.
The generosity of his principles are no less remarkable. He
Preface to M. Aureliuss Meditations. xv
shows the iniquity of a selfish temper ; that ill-nature is a contra-
diction to the laws of Providence and the interest of mankind, a
punishment no less than a fault to those that have it. All the great
offices of humanity, justice, and acquiescence, are enforced with
unusual advantage ; his turns of reason being often as surprising
for their strength as for their novelty. In short, abating for some
of the errors above mentioned, he seems to have drawn up an
admirable scheme of natural religion; and which is still more
commendable, he practised his maxims upon himself, and made
his life a transcript of his doctrine. He was so great a lover of
truth and clear dealing, that he would rather have lost his empire
than strained a principle. Indeed, falsehood and legerdemain sink
the character of a prince, and make him look like a royal juggler.
Public character and common good, as they call it, are no sufficient
defence in such cases. Sixtus the Fifth, who must be allowed a
great man, used to say, that it was short thinking which made
conscience impracticable, and politics fall foul upon morals; that
if statesmen were well qualified and worked their heads, there
would be no occasion for latitude and insincerity. Reason without
doubt, well managed, would fence against inconvenience much
better than craft. In earnest, it would be a very hard case, and a
great reflection upon Providence, if men could not be happy
without breaking their faith and blemishing their honour. How-
ever, to say nothing more, some people are too lazy to be honest.
But this custom apart, there is no necessity to make reasons of
State incompatible with the laws of justice ; our Emperor is a noble
instance to the contrary. For never were the functions of peace
and war better performed, the subjects more easy, and the empire
more flourishing than under this prince ; and yet it was none of his
way to indulge his politics, and warp in the least from his notions.
It was his constant practice as well as his rule — if it is not just,
never do it ; if it is not truth, never speak it.
As to the Emperor's way of writing, if any one objects against his
sometimes coming over again with the same thing, he may please
to consider that this prince did not take philosophy for mere
diversion and amusement. Instruction was his main design.
Upon this view it was not improper to repeat the stroke, to make
the impression go deeper. The prejudices the Emperor disputes
against are inveterate, and not to be removed without difficulty.
And if one dose will not cure the patient, why should not the bill
be made up again ? If this rule holds in medicine, why not in
morality? Are not people's understandings as valuable as their
xvi Preface to M. Atirelmss Meditations.
health ? And is not a disease in the passions much worse than
one in the constitution ? And, after all, when the matter is closely
examined, the ground of the objection will in a great measure
vanish. For when the Emperor does come over with an old thing,
it is his custom to improve upon it. He repeats, but it is for
advantage to the argument, and his latter thoughts are generally
supplemental to the former. He either extends the notion or re-
inforces the proof, or gives a new turn of strength and beauty to the
expression. And thus the reader is always a gainer by the bargain.
In translating the author, I have made use of the quarto edition
published in 1697. In which, besides Gataker's annotations, I had
the assistance of Monsieur D'Acier's remarks, turned into Latin by
Dr. Stanhope. As for his French translation, I never saw it till
some time after my own was finished, and part of it printed off.
However, one thing I shall observe, which is the only use I have
made of Monsieur D'Acier's translation. It is his remark upon
Sect. 6, Book i., where, citing Pollux, he tells us that the Romans,
in imitation of the Greeks, used to fight quails for divination as
well as diversion, and had a fancy their own fortunes might be
prognosticated by the success of the battle. This piece of supersti-
tion, I confess, was more than I was aware of, and yet, by the
context, the Emperor seems to have had it in his view.
One word more of the Emperor's style, and I have done. Now
his way of expressing himself is extraordinarily brief. His words
are sometimes over-burdened with thought, and have almost more
sense than they can carry. Indeed, it was part of his character to
write in this concise manner, for neither the Emperor nor the Stoic
would allow of any length of expression. Besides, he wrote chiefly
for himself, which makes him still more sparing in his language.
He sometimes draws in little, writes his meaning as it were in
shorthand, and does not beat out his notions to their full propor-
tion. To which I may add, that sometimes the height of his
subject carries him almost out of sight; for there is an obscurity
in things as well as in language. For these reasons it is no wonder
if we find his sense now and then a little perplexed. And therefore,
where I was afraid the reason might possibly be at a loss, I have
endeavoured to direct him right by a note in the margin. I have
likewise in some few places ventured to throw in a word or two,
to make the text more intelligible. But when this liberty was taken,
I have been always careful to speak the Emperor's mind, and keep
close to the meaning of the original.
TERTULLIAN'S^ APOLOGY
ON BEHALF OF THE CHRISTIANS.
CHAPTER I.
THAT THE GENTILES' HATRED TO THE CHRISTIANS IS NOTORIOUSLY
UNJUST.
If you, the guardians of the Roman empire,^ presiding in the very
eye of the city, for the administration of pubUc justice; if you must
not examine the Christian cause, and give it a fair hearing in open
court ; if the Christian cause is the only cause which your lordships
either fear or blush to be concerned for in the public ; or lastly, if
' Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. These several appellations suffici-
ently distinguish our TertuUian from Tertullus the consul, Tertylianus the
civilian, and Tertullinus the martyr, with which our apologist is sometimes
confounded. The prsenomen Quintus may perhaps be given upon the account
of his being the fifth child of his parents. He was called Septimius, because
descended from the Gens Septimia, a tribe of quality among the Romans, being
first regal, afterwards plebeian, and last of all consular and patrician ; Florens,
from some particular family of that house, so called ; and Tertullianus from
Tertullus, perhaps his father, as Octavianus from Octavius, Septiminus from
Septimius, etc.
■^ Romani Imperii Antistites in ipso fere vertice Civitatis prcesidejites ad
judicandum. Baronius is of opinion. Bar. 201, that this Apology was written at
Rome, and not at Carthage, wherein he is generally followed, but not by
Pamelius, as the author of the notes upon Du Pni too hastily charges him, nor
by Dalix, Du Pin, Dr. Cave, or Tillemont. Baronius's reason for this opinion
is that TertuUian often speaks as being at Rome, and that he addresses in these
words, To the Roman Senate. But these words neither prove it to be written at
Rome, nor presented to the Senate of Rome, for they are with much better reason
applicable to the proconsul and governors of Africa ; for he says they preside m
vcriice Civitatis^ and our apologist never calls Rome by the name of Civitas but
A
2 Tertiillian s Apology for the Christians,
your odium to this sect has been too much fermented by your late
severities ^ at home upon your Christian servants, and you bring this
domestic ferment into the courts of judicature; — if these, I say, are
the bars in our way to justice, be pleased at least to tolerate thus
far, to let truth wait upon you in private, and to read the Apology
we are not suffered to speak.
We enter not upon defence in the popular way,^ by begging your
Urbs. He speaks likewise of Rome and the Romans as being neither in their
city nor amongst them ; cap. 9, 21, 24, 35, 45. And speaking of the cruel and
sanguinary devotions of the heathen in many places, especially, says he, in
Hid Religiosissimd Urbe ^neadarujn pioruni, etc., by which undoubtedly he
means Rome ; and the manner of the expression plainly determines him not
to be there at the time of his writing ; for had he been at Rome at this
time he would have said in hac Urbe, and not vt ilia Urbe, cap. 9. And
in the same chapter, recounting the bloody rites in the Scythian worship, he
urges, — But I need not go so far as Scythia, for we have now at this day as
barbarous ceremonies at home, that is, at Carthage. Besides, cap. 45, he speaks
of the proconsul as the sovereign magistrate, and every one knows the proconsul
to have been the premier magistrate of Africa, and to have had his residence at
Carthage. Moreover, it is very probable that he addressed to the governors of
Africa, and not to the Senate of Rome, — firstly, because there is not one word of
the senate in this whole Apology ; secondly, because, cap. 45, he lashes those to
whom he wrote, for endeavouring to gain the good graces of the proconsul, by
signalizing their cruelty against the Christians ; and thirdly, because he con-
stantly gives them the title of praesides, cap. 2, 9, 30, 50, a title very much
affected by every officer under the proconsul of the province. And neither
prgesides nor proconsul were titles that did belong to any magistrate of Rome ;
for in danger of war in the provinces, the pr^fecti Csesariis were chosen by the
emperor himself, and sent to reside in the metropolis, but the proconsuls were
chosen by lot after their consulship, into the several provinces. And therefore
Dio expresseth Claudius his restoring Macedonia into the hands of the senate, by
ccTihoxiv r'oTi TM KXYifiM, hc put it to thc cholce of the senate again. Dio, His.
lib. Ivii. So that we are not to understand Antistites Iniperii\.o be the same with
Pontifices, according to Zephyrus, nor by vertice Civitatis the capitol, according
to Rigaltius ; though it is likely he might mean the Byrsa of Carthage, according
to that of Silius Italicus :
QucBsivitqiie diu qua tandem ponerit area
Terrarum foriuna caput
^ Do7nesticis Judiciis. By these words I understand with Rigaltius the
severities exercised at home by the presidents upon their domestics and children
for turning Christians, which private severities contributed very much to prejudice
and exasperate them, even in open court, against the Christians in general.
^ Deprecari. It is a law term, and properly signifies to intercede with the
kir]g for pardon, or to plead with a judge in excuse of the criminal, according to
that oiTvi^y, pro Ligario, Ignoscite Judices, erravit, lapsus est, non pntavit, etc.
But here the Christian advocate pleads only for rigid justice, as the martyr Justin
had done before him. He understood the Christian cause too well, to think it
stood in need of oratory, and the arts of excusing. Vid. A. Cell. lib. vi. cap. 16,
Concerning the signification of the word Deprecor,
Tertullians Apology for the Christians, 3
favour, and moving your compassion, because we know the state
of our religion too well to wonder at our usage. The truth we
profess, we know to be a stranger upon earth, and she expects not
friends in a strange land ; but she came from heaven, and her abode
is there, and there are all our hopes, all our friends, and all our
preferments. One thing indeed this heavenly stranger warmly pleads
for in arrest of judgment, and it is only this, that you would vouchsafe
to understand her well before you condemn her. And what can the
laws suffer in their authority by admitting her to a full hearing ?
Will not their power rise in glory for the justice of a hearing ? But
if you condemn her unheard, besides the odium of flaming injustice,
you will deservedly incur the suspicion of being conscious of some-
thing that makes you so unwilling to hear — what, when heard, you
cannot condemn.
First, therefore, we lay before you ignorance as the chief root
of your unjustifiable bitterness to the Christian name; and this very
ignorance, which you may flatter yourselves with as a title to excuse,
is the very thing that loads your charge, and binds the heavier
guilt upon you. For show me a grosser piece of iniquity than for
men to hate what they understand not, supposing the thing in
itself deserves to be hated ; for then only can a thing deserve from
us to be hated when we are apprised of its deserts. If not acquainted
with the merits of the cause, what can we possibly urge in the
defence of hatred which is not to be justified by the event, or
because the passion may happen to be right, but by the principle
of conscience upon which it is founded ?
When, therefore, men will thus be hating in the dark, why may
not the blind passion fall foul upon virtue as well as vice ? So that
we argue against our adversaries upon two articles, for hating us
ignorantly, and, consequently, for hating us unjustly. And that
you hate us ignorantly (which still, I say, does but aggravate your
crime) I prove from hence, because all who hated us heretofore
did it upon the same ground, being no longer able to continue our
enemies than they continued ignorant of our religion j their hatred
and their ignorance fell together.
Such are the men you now see Christians manifestly overcome
by the piety of our profession, and who now reflect upon their lives
past with abhorrence, and profess it to the world ; and the numbers
of such professors are not less than they are given in ; for the
common cry is, the city is infested, town and country overrun with
4 Tertulliafi s Apology for the Christimis,
Christians. And this universal revolt in all ages, sexes, and quaUties
is lamented as a public loss ; and yet this prodigious progress of
Christianity is not enough to surprise men into a suspicion that
there must needs be some secret good, some charming advantage
at the bottom, thus to drain the world and attract from every
quarter. But nothing will dispose some men to juster thoughts,
or to make a more intimate experiment of our religion. In this
alone human curiosity seems to stagnate, and with as much com-
placency to stand still in ignorance as it usually runs on in the
discoveries of science.
Alas! how would poor Anacharsis^ have been struck at such
proceedings, to see the very judges of religion entirely ignorant of
the religion they condemn, who looked upon it so absurd for the
rewards of a fiddler to be adjudged by any but the masters of the
science. But such are our enemies, that they choose to indulge
their ignorance merely for the growth of their hatred ; foreboding
within themselves that what they hate without knowledge may
chance to be a thing of so lovely a nature, that should they come
to know it, they would be in danger of losing their hatred ; whereas
hatred is not to be kept a moment longer than it has justice on its
side : if so, spare not, not only give a present loose to your re-
sentments, but also persevere in a passion thus seconded and
strengthened by the authority of justice.
But it is objected that the number of Christians is no argument
of the goodness of their cause. For how many change from better
to worse ? How many deserters to the wrong side ? And who
denies this ? But yet, are any of those men, who are pressed away
to sin by the violence of appetites, are they hardy enough to appear
in the defence of wickedness, or appeal to public justice for the
patronage of notorious evil ? For every evil is by nature dyed in grain
with shame and fear. The guilty hunt for refuge in darkness, and
when apprehended, tremble ; when accused, deny ; and are hardly
to be tormented into a confession ; when condemned, they sink
down in sadness, and turn over their number of sins in confusions
of conscience, and charge the guilt upon the stars or destiny ; ^
1 Anacharsis. See his life in Diog. Laertius.
2 Fato vel Astris impntant. Guilt is an ugly, frightful, and uneasy thing ; and
this it was that put men at first upon contriving an expedient how to satisfy their
conscience, in spite of their sin ; and the expedient was this, to lay the blame
upon fate, or the stars, or anything but themselves. Predestination in the rigid
sense is not one jot better than fate in the sense of the Stoics. And though it
Tertullian s Apology /07^ the Christians. 5
unwilling to acknowledge that as their own act which they acknow-
ledge to be criminal.
But do you see anything Hke this in the deportment of
Christians ? Not one Christian blushes or repents, unless it be for
not having been a Christian sooner. If a Christian goes to trial,
he goes like a victor, with the air of a triumph ; if he is impeached,
he glories in it ; if indicted, he makes no defence at bar ; when
interrogated he frankly confesses, and when condemned returns
thanks to his judges.
What a monster of wickedness ^ is this, that has not one shape or
occasioned at one time so much feud and bitterness all about us, and the con-
troversy ordered by authority to die, yet it is now again revived, ^ as the ramparts
and bulwarks of Christianity, and the rarest contrivance in the world, to make
us not only almost but altogether one kirk ; for which, no doubt, the doctor
expects the thanks of the united nations. The generality of the clergy he stig-
matizes apostates, for being assertors of free will ; and if so, what will become
of the Fathers of the first four centuries, I cannot tell. Sure I am, poor Justin
Martyr is an apostate with a witness, Apol. i. sec. 54. But if the doctor would
but follow his own advice, that is, in one word, let us be moderate, and give his
brethren hard reasons instead of hard names, it would make much more for
union, I dare say, than his doctrine of predestination ; which should it take
effect, we should not have one criminal that goes to be hanged, but, as Tertullian
says, would be cursing his stars, and laying all the fault upon destiny, that is,
God.
^ Quid hoc malt est, quod naiuralia viali non habet? Naturalia is the same
here as Nattu'a, for he says, Qtiod hoc malum est in quo natura 7nali cessat ? ad
Nat. p. 461. But that which is more remarkable is, that here we have an
admirable description, and a most sensible proof, both of the truth and the
power of the Christian religion ; for did ever any impostor set up a religion so
iU calculated to the passions and relish of mankind ? Did he ever propose a
doctrine to the world, without one worldly motive to recommend it, without one
external comfort to hope for, or one arm to defend it ? Did Judas discover the
secret when he betrayed his Master ? or had it been a cheat, would the traitor
have hanged himself for his treason? Was there ever such a noble army of
martyrs, who died so calmly and deliberately, and expressed so much innocence,
so much joy and assurance in their sufferings, as they did ? So that either we
must suppose Christ to have been the shallowest of impostors (which the wisdom
of His precepts will not admit) to set up a religion so ungrateful to flesh and
blood, without any visible force or reward to maintain it ; and withal, that good
part of the world, of all sorts and sizes, happened luckily to be stark staring mad
for suffering, and to continue so for above 300 years together ; or else we must
suppose that Christ came down from heaven, and that the sufferers had all the
reason imaginable to believe it, and therefore by help of divine grace, and the
^ John Edwards, D.D., his sermon upon the Union, May i, 1707, entitled One
Nation and one King,
6 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians.
feature of wickedness belonging to it ? Nothing of fear, or shame,
or artifice, or repentance, or the desponding sighs of criminals
attending on it. What a strange-natured evil or reverse of wicked-
ness is this ! that makes the guilty rejoice, and ambitious of
accusation, and happy in punishment. Nor can you charge these
odd appearances as the effects of madness, since you are altogether
unacquainted with the powers of the Christian religion.
-0-
CHAPTER IT.
CONCERNING THE MALICE AND PERVERSENESS OF THE JUDGES, IN
THE WAY OF CONDEMNING OR ABSOLVING THE CHRISTIANS.
But if it is resolved we must be guilty, pray what is your reason for
treating us differently from other criminals ? For it is a rule in law
that where the case is the same, there the procedure of court ought
to be the same also. But when we and heathens are impeached
upon the same articles, the heathen shall be allowed the privilege
of the council, and of pleading in person for setting off his inno-
cence,^ it being against law to proceed to sentence before the
defendant has put in his answer; but a Christian is permitted
nothing, not to speak what is necessary, either to justify his cause,
defend the truth, or prevent the injustice of his judges. On the
contrary, nothing is attended to in his trial, but how to inflame the
mob, and therefore the question is about his name only, and not
power of conviction, tliey despised everything here below for the joy that was
set before them. This argument is likewise prosecuted by Arnobius, adv. Gent.
lib. ii. p. 21, as a mighty instance of the divinity of the Christian faith, that in
so short a time it should be too hard for the wisdom and pleasures of the world,
and work so with men of the greatest parts and learning, and of the greatest
fortunes, as to make them part with their notions and estates, and submit to any
torments rather than part with the Christian faith ; and that the Gentiles did not
think it advisable to venture their skin for their doctrine. That Plato, in his
Academy introduced a dark and ambiguous way of delivering his opinions, for
fear of going the way of Socrates. And Origen tells Celsus that Aristotle quitted
Athens, and left his philosophy to shift for itself, as soon as he understood that
the Athenians intended to call him to an account. So little could philosophy
prevail against self-preservation.
^ Quando nee liceat indefensos et inauditos damnari. He alludes to] the
law de Requir. Reis, made by Severus a little before the publication of this
Apology.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 7
the nature of his crime : whereas if you sit in judgment upon
another criminal, and he pleads guilty to the indictment, suppose
of homicide, sacrilege, incest, or rebellion (to instance the common
heads of your libels ^ against us), upon such confession, I say, it is
not your method forthwith to proceed to sentence, but you have
patience to examine the nature of the fact in all its circumstances,
viz. — the place, the time, the manner, and the accomplices of the
action : but in the trial of a Christian, all these forms of justice are
overruled. But let me tell you, would you acquit yourselves with
any appearance of equity, you ought on both sides to be equally
severe in the examination of fact, and see to the bottom of those
reports, so frequently and so falsely thrust upon us. For instance,
to bring in a true list of how many infants every Christian has
killed and eaten, what incests committed in the dark, what cooks we
had for the dressing these children's flesh, and what pimping dogs
for putting out the candles.^
Oh ! what immortal glory would a proconsul gain among the
people, could he pull out a Christian by the ears that had ate up a
hundred children ! But we despair of any such glorious discover}^,
when we reflect upon the edict against searching after us. For
Pliny the second,^ in his proconsulship of Asia, having put many
Christians to death, and turned others out of their places, and
being still astonished at our numbers, sends to the Emperor Trajan
for orders about proceeding for the time to come ; alleging withal
that for his part, after the strictest inquiry, he could find nothing
more in our religion, but obstinacy against sacrificing to the gods,
and that we assembled before day to sing hymns to God and Christ,
^ Ut de vestris Elogiis loquar. Elogium is a civil law term which frequently
occurs in this author, particularly lib. ad Scap. de cor. Mil. cap. 5, etc., and is
the same among the civilians as Epistolce, Notoria, Relationes, a libel or declara-
tion, setting forth the crimes of the person indicted ; it was provided by the law
de custo et exhi. Reorutn, ne q2dsquam puniatur ex Ephtolis et Adis Pedanei
et minoris Judicis. And therefore Pudens, who had a mind to favour the
Christians, sent back a Christian prisoner because there appeared against him
no witness or proof, but the Elogium, or epistle from an inferior judge. Pudens
missum ad se Christianum, hi Eloglo concussione ejus intellecta diniisit, Scisso
eodem Elogio sine accusatore negans se audihirum hominem secundum mandatuni.
Vid. Gab. Albaspin., not. ad Scap.
2 For a fuller explication of this passage, and the foundation of this horrid
slander, see my notes upon Justin Martyr's Apology, Apol. i. sec. 35. The dogs
which are said to be tied to the candlesticks, and to have crusts thrown them
just beyond the reach of their string, in order to make them leap and strain
and pull down the candles, are by Tertullian, cap. 7, called Ltc/ninzim Eversores
et Lenones, which to follow his own biting way I translate pimping dogs,
^ Vid. Plin. Episf. lib. x. ep. 97.
8 Tertullians Apology f 07" the Christians,
and to confirm one another in that way of worship ; prohibiting
homicide, adultery, fraud, perfidiousness, and all other sorts of
wickedness. Upon which information Trajan writes back, that
such kind of men as these were not to be searched after, but yet
to be punished if brought before him. Oh perplexity between
reasons of state and justice ! he declares us to be innocent, by
forbidding us to be searched after, and at the same time commands
us to be punished as criminals. What a mass of kindness and
cruelty, connivance and punishment, is here confounded in one
act ! unhappy edict, thus to circumvent and hamper yourself in
your own ambiguous answer ! If you condemn us, why do you give
orders against searching after us ? And if you think it not well to
search after us, why do you not acquit us? Soldiers are set to
patrol in every province for the apprehending of robbers, and every
private person justifies taking up arms against traitors and enemies
to the commonwealth ; and moreover is obliged to make inquiry
after all the conspirators ; but a Christian only is a criminal of
that strange kind, that no inquiry must be made to find him, and
yet when found may be brought to the tribunal ; as if this inquiry
was designed for any other purpose but to bring offenders to
justice. You condemn him therefore when brought, whom the
laws forbid to be searched after ; not that in your hearts you can
think him guilty, but only to get into the good graces of the people,
whose zeal has transported them to search him out against the
intention of the edict.
This also is very extraordinary in your proceedings against us,
that you rack others to confess, but torment Christians to deny :
whereas, was Christianity a wicked thing, we, no doubt, should
imitate the wicked in the arts of concealment, and force you to
apply your engines of confession. Nor can you conclude it need-
less to torture a Christian into a confession of particulars, because
you resolve that the very name must include all that is evil. For
when a murderer has confessed, and you are satisfied as to the fact,
yet you constrain him to lay before you the order and circumstances
of the whole action. And what makes the thing look worse yet
is, that notwithstanding you presume upon our wickedness, merely
from our owning the name, yet at the same time you use violence
to make us retract that confession, that by retracting the bare name
only, we might be acquitted of the crimes fathered upon it. But
perhaps I am to imagine your excessive tenderness to be such,
that you are willing to acquit the very persons you conclude the
greatest villains in the world ; and perhaps it may be your custom
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 9
to say to a murderer, "deny the murder," and to command the
sacrilegious to be put to the rack for persevering in his confession
of sacrilege.
But now, if your process against us and other criminals is
notoriously different, it is a shrewd sign you believe us innocent \
and that this very belief of our innocence is the spring which sets
you at work for our deliverance, by forcing us to deny our name,
which though in justice you know you cannot, yet for reasons of
state you must condemn. A man cries out upon the rack, I am
a Christian ; you hear him proclaim to the world what really he
is, and you would fain have him say what really he is not. That
ever judges, who are commissioned to torture for the confession of
truth, should abuse it upon Christians only, for the extortion of a
lie ! You demand what I am, and I say I am a Christian ; why do
you torture me to unsay it ? I confess, and you rack on ; if I
confess not, what will you do? If other malefactors deny, it is
with difficulty you believe them ; but if Christians deny, you acquit
them at a word. Certainly you must think yourselves in the wrong
for such proceedings, and be conscious of a secret bias upon your
judgments, that makes you run thus counter to the forms of court,
the reasons of justice, and the very intent of the laws themselves.
For if I mistake not the laws are very express, that criminals
should be discovered, and not concealed ; and that upon confession
they should be condemned, and not acquitted. The acts of the
senate and the edicts of the emperors prescribe this. These are
the maxims of that government you are ministers of, and your
power is defined by these laws, and not arbitrary and tyrannical.
Tyrants indeed have no respect to the proportions of justice in
the distributions of punishment, but apply tortures at pleasure.
But you are restrained by law; and to apply them only for the
confession of truth, preserve this law in full vigour, and for the end
it was made. For if the accused confess, it is absurd to put them
to the question ; the law of tortures is answered, and you have
nothing to do in this case but to consider the nature of the fact,
and punish it accordingly. For every malefactor is a debtor to the
law, and to be wiped out of the public accounts ^ upon paying his
^ Debito pcence nocejzs expungendus est. This is a very familiar phrase with
our author, and the ground of it is this. The executioner had a roll of the
names of the condemned, and the punishment they were to suffer ; and a
criminal being a debtor, when he had paid his punishment was expunged, or
crossed out of the roll : and so dare Poenas is to pay the pain an offender owes
to the public.
lo Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
punishment, and not discharged merely upon the confession of his
fault. No judge attempts openly to acquit a criminal barely upon
his pleading guilty, nor can he justify a thought of so doing;
and therefore no one can be justly served with torments to deny,
when the law was designed only to make him confess.
You look upon a Christian as the sum total of iniquity, a despiser
of the gods, emperors, laws, morality, and, in one word, an enemy
of human nature ; and yet this is the man you rack, that you may
absolve, because without racking him into a denial of his name
you cannot absolve him. This, or nothing, is prevaricating with
the laws ; you would have him plead not guilty, for you to pro-
nounce him innocent, and discharge him from all past crimes,
whether he will or no. But how can men be so perverse as to
imagine that he who confesses a thing freely is not more to be
credited than he who denies it by compulsion ? Or cannot a man
speak truth, without the help of a rack ? And being absolved upon
a forced denial of his rehgion, he must needs conclude such external
applications of cruelty, very foolish things for the conversion of the
mind, when in spite of all these impressions upon his body he
finds himself still a Christian in his conscience.
Since therefore you treat us differently in everything from other
criminals, and what you chiefly push at is the destruction of our
name (and we ourselves destroy this, by doing what the heathens
indulge themselves in) — since this, I say, is the main thing you con-
tend for, you cannot but see that our name is the greatest crime
in our indictment; in the persecution of which name, men vie
hatred, and are ambitious to excel each other in malice ; and this
emulation is the chief reason why they are so stedfast in ignorance ;
therefore they devour all reports of us without chewing, and are so
averse to any legal inquiry, for fear these reports should prove to
be false, which they would have pass for true, that the hated name
of Christian might be condemned upon presumption, without the
danger of a proof; and that the confession of this name might
serve for a sufficient conviction of the crimes charged against it.
Hence it is that we are tortured against law for confessing, and
tormented on for persisting in that confession ; and against law
absolved for denying, because all the dispute is about our name
only.
But after all, when you proceed to judgment, and read over the
table or catalogue of crimes you pass sentence against, why do you
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 1 1
mention the Christian only? Why do not you mention the murder,
the incest, and the rest of that train commonly imputed to us?
We alone are the persons you are ashamed to condemn, without
signifying the actions you condemn us for ; if a Christian is accused
of no crime, the name surely must be of a strange nature to be
criminal in itself only 1
CHAPTER III.
CONCERNING THE ODIOUS TITLE OF CHRISTIAN.
What an unaccountable thing is it for so many men to blindfold
themselves on purpose to fall foul upon Christianity ! And to such
a degree that they cannot talk about the noted probity of any
Christian without allaying his character with a dash of his religion !
Cajus Sejus (says one) is a very good man, but — he is a Christian.
I will tell you what (says another), I wonder that Lucius the philo-
sopher is all of a sudden turned Christian. And none has sense
enough in his passion to put the question right, and argue in this
manner. Is not Caius so good, and Lucius so wise, merely from
the influence of their religion ? Or was it not the probity of one,
and the wisdom of the other, that prepared the way, and brought
them over to be Christians ?
Thus indeed they praise what they know, but vilify what they
know not; they blot the fairest examples of virtue shining in their
very eyes, because of a religion they are entirely in the dark about ;
whereas certainly, by all the rules of reason, we ought to judge of
the nature of causes we see not, by the effects we see, and not
pre-condemn apparent goodness for principles we understand not.
Others, discoursing of some persons, whom they knew to be
vagrants, and infamously lewd before they came over to our
religion, drop their praises upon them in such a manner, that they
stigmatize them with their very compliments ; so darkened are they
with prejudice that they blunder into the commendation of the
thing they would condemn. For (say they) how wanton, and how
witty was such a woman ! how amorous and frolicsome was such
a young gentleman ! but now they are Christians : thus undesignedly
they fix the amendment of their Hves upon the alteration of their
religion.
12 TertulliafU s Apology for the Christians,
Some others are arrived to that pitch of aversion to the very name
of Christian, that they seem to have entered into covenant with
hatred, and bargained to gratify this passion at the expense of all
the satisfactions of human life, acquiescing in the grossest of
injuries rather than the hated thing of Christian should come
within their doors. The husband, now cured of all his former
jealousy by his wife's conversion to Christianity, turns her and her
new modesty out of doors together, choosing to dwell with an
adulteress sooner than a Christian; the father, so tender of the
undutiful son in his Gentile state, disinherits him now when he
becomes obedient by becoming a Christian ; the master, heretofore
so good to his unfaithful slave, discards him now upon his fideHty
and his rehgion. So that the husband had rather have his wife
false, the father his son a rebel, the master his servant a rogue, than
Christians and good : so much is the hatred of our name above all
the advantages of virtue flowing from it.
Now, therefore, if all this odium arises purely upon the account
of our name, pray tell me how a poor name comes to be thus to
blame, or a simple word to be a criminal ? Unless it be that the
word is barbarous, or sounds ominously, reproachfully, or obscenely.
But Christians is a Greek word, and means nothing more than a
disciple of Christ, which by interpretation is the Anointed ; and
when you misname it Chrestian ^ (for so far are you from under-
standing our religion, that as yet you know not our true name), even
then it implies nothing worse than a benignity and sweetness of
temper ; thus outrageous are you at the sound of a name as inoffen-
sive and harmless as those who bear it. But do men use to let
loose their passions at this rate against any sect merely from the
name of its founder ? Is it a new thing for scholars to be named
from their masters? Is it not from hence that philosophers are
called Platonists, Epicureans, Pythagoreans, etc.? Do not the Stoics
and academics derive their names from the porch or academy,^
the places where they meet and discourse together ? And do not
1 Sed et cum perperam Chrestiamis pronunciatur a vohis. See the notes
upon Justin's First Apol. sec. 3, concerning the word Chrestus ; I only add here
that Marcellus Donatus conjectures this Chrestus to have been some seditious
Jew called by that name, for which he produces several inscriptions wherein that
name occurs, but not one wherein it is given to a Jew, which ought first to have
been produced to justify his conjecture ; but the Christian apologists prove it
a mistake beyond dispute. Vid. Donat. Dilucid. in Sueton. in Claud, cap.
25-
^ Stoics from 2ro«, a porch or gallery.
TerhUlians Apology for the Christians. 13
physicians glory in the title of their Erasistratus,^ and grammarians
in that of Aristarchus ? ^ And are not even cooks themselves not a
little proud of the name of Apicius ? ^ Nor in any of these instances
are you offended with the name transmitted from the founder of
the sect ; but if you could prove any sect to be vicious in principle,
and consequently the author of it to be so too, there is reason enough
to hate the name upon the account of both. In a word, before we
give entertainment to hatred against any sect whatever, upon
account of its name, we ought in the first place to have competently
examined the nature of the institution, and traced out its qualities
from the author, or the author from them ; but both these ways of
inquiry are quite neglected, and our enemies storm and fire at a
word only. Our heavenly Master and His heavenly religion are
both unknown, and both condemned, without any other considera-
tion but that of the bare name of Christian.
-0-
CHAPTER IV.
THAT HUMAN LAVi^S MAY ERR, AND THEREFORE MAY
BE MENDED.
Thus far I have been something severe, as it were, by way of
preface, to make men sensible if I could of the injustice of the
^ Erasistratus. This physician is mentioned by our TertulHan, lib. de an.
cap. 15 ; Pliny fixes his life, An. urb. cond. 450, lib. xiv. cap. 7, and mentions
his school, lib. xx. cap. 9, and again, lib. xxix. cap. 2, makes him the disciple
of Chrysippus, and Aristotle's daughter's son, who for the cure of King Antiochus
had of his son Ptolemy a fee of an hundred talents.
2 Aristarchus. A noted grammarian of Alexandria, Aristotle's contemporary,
tutor to the son of Ptolemy Philometer, celebrated by Tully, ad Appium
Pidchru7jt^ lib. iii. epist. ii, for distinguishing the genuine verses of Ilomer,
and so likewise by Ovid : —
Corrigere at res est tanto magis ardzia, quanto
Magnus Aristarcho major Homerus erat. Ov. Pont.
And so again by Horace, ad Pisones,
Arguet ambigue dictuni^ jnutanda notabit,
Fiet Aristarchns.
^ Apicius. An epicure of famous memory, styled by Pliny Nepotum oimiium
altissimus Gurges ; and so again by Juvenal : —
Quid enim majoi-e cachinno
Excipitur vtclgi, quam pauper Apicius ?
14 Terhcllimi s Apology for the Christians.
public odium against us ; and now I shall stay awhile upon the
subject of our innocence. And here I shall not only refute the
objections against us, but retort those very objections against the
objectors themselves, to let the world see that Christians are not
the men they take them to be, nor sullied with those crimes they
are conscious of in themselves ; and to see also whether I can
make our accusers blush, not by charging them in general, as the
worst of men accusing the best, but supposing us both upon the
level of iniquity. I shall touch upon all the particulars we are
taxed with for committing in private, and for which we are publicly
branded as immoral, superstitious, damnable, and ridiculous ;
these very crimes, I say, which you grant we have not the forehead
to do without the protection of darkness, we find our enemies
hardy enough to commit in the face of the sun.
But because we meet you with unanswerable truth at all your
turnings, your last resort is to the authority of the laws, as more
inviolable than truth itself; and it being so frequently in your
mouths, either that nothing ought to be revoked after once con-
demned by law; or that your sworn obedience is a necessity upon
your actions, weightier than that of justice. I shall first enter
upon the obligation due to human laws with you who are the sworn
protectors of them.
First then, when you rigidly insist upon this, that Christianity
is against law, and prescribe against dispensing one jot with the
letter upon any considerations of equity, this, I say, is acting
iniquity by law ; and you sit rather like tyrants than judges of a
court, willing a thing to be unlawful, because you will, and not
because it is so. But if your will is regulated by the measures of
good and evil, and you forbid a thing because it ought to be
forbidden, then certainly, by this rule of right reason, you cannot
license evil, nor forbid the obligations of doing good. If I find
a prohibition issued out against the laws of nature, do not I
conclude such a prohibition to be invalid ? Whereas, if the matter
of it be lawful, I never dispute my obedience,^ nor think it strange
^ Quod si malum esset,jure prokiberet. Here we have the measures of obedience
due to human laws briefly stated by Tertullian : " For," says he, " where nothing
is commanded, either against the law of nature, or the positive law of God, I
never dispute my obedience." Had the primitive Christians refused obedience
to the civil magistrate, in matters indifferent, Christianity, humanly speaking,
had never been a national religion, and if our dissenting brethren would be
decided by this rule, and, according to Tertullian, comply with the magistrate's
commands, in everything not unlawful in itself, or with respect to the plain
Terhdltans Apology for the Christians. 15
if your laws are sometimes in the wrong, since they are but the
composures of men, and not the commands of God. Is it so
strange to see mortals out of the way in making laws, and wiser
upon experience, and repealing what they once approved? Did
not the laws even of Lycurgus suffer amendments ? . Was not their
severity sweetened by the Spartans, and better accommodated to
civil use ? And did not this alteration go so near the great law-
giver's heart that he quitted his country in a pet, and pined himself
to death, being his own judge and his own executioner ? Does not
your experience light you every day to the mistakes and rubbish of
antiquity ? And have you not cut down a huge and horrid wood of
old laws, and planted the new edicts and rescripts of the emperors
in their stead? Did not Severus, of all the emperors least given to
change, lately alter the Papian law,^ vainly solicitous about the
propagation of children before the time allowed for matrimony by
the Julian law without any respect to the venerableness of antiquity ?
And insolvent debtors, by the laws, were to be chopped in pieces
by their creditors ; ^ but these sanguinary statutes were by succeed-
ing ages repealed, and the capital punishment commuted into a
mark of infamy, together with the sale of their goods, it being
Word of God, they would then, and not till then, fulfil the apostle's injunction of
doing all that is possible, and as much as lieth in them to live peaceably with all
men. But if the magistrate cannot lawfully command in things where neither
the natural nor the positive law of God interpose to the contrary, he can
command in nothing, because such things only can be subject to his disposal.
^ Vanissimas Papias leges qucs mite liberos suscipi cogiint, quam Jul. Matr.
contr. Concerning these laws, see Rigaltius and Pamelius upon this place.
But that which I remark is, that Scaliger would infer from the following words
that this Apology was not composed till a little after the death of Severus, because
it is said, heri Severus, etc., exclusit ; but I confess I cannot see why lately
repealing may not agree to a living prince as well as a dead one. But I shall
show this opinion to be evidently a mistake of Scaliger in the sequel of this
Apology.
2 Judicatos retro in partes secari a Creditoribus Leges erant. Here he evi-
dently alludes to the law of the twelve tables, cap. viii. de nexis ; for thus it
runs, Tertiis nundinis capite pcenas hiito, aut trans Tiberhn peregre ito, est si
plures erunt rei, tertiis mindinis. Partis, secanto. si. plus minus, ve. seciierunt. se.
fraude. esto. The meaning of which, as it is explained by A. Gellius, Nod. Att.
lib. XX., is this : Debt was a captital crime by law, and the creditor might either
have the life of the insolvent, or send him beyond Tibur to be sold for a slave ;
but if the insolvent was indebted to more than one, the creditors might cut him
into pieces in proportion to every one's debt. And this barbarity he justifies
only by the end and design of the lawgivers, which was not so much to punish
as to prevent men from running into debt by the severity of the punishment, for
he tells us he never read of one debtor dissected, Quoniam scsvitia ista P(xncB
contemni nan quita est ; but for bonds and imprisonment rogues value them not,
and run in debt continually.
1 6 Tertulliav!s Apology for the Christians,
looked upon better to put the offender to open shame than to let
out his blood for debt. And how many laws think you are still
behind which want revising, that are not valuable for their number
of years, or the dignity of their founder, but upon the account of
justice only? And therefore if they are found not to be according
to this standard are deservedly condemned, although we are con-
demned by them. And if they punish for a mere name, they are
not only to be exploded for their iniquity, but to be hissed off the
world for their folly. But if the laws are to take cognizance of
actions only, why are we punished for the name of our sect, when
no others are so punished ? I am guilty of incest, or have killed a
child, suppose, why don't you make inquiry after my crimes, and
extort them from me by confession upon the rack? I have injured
the gods or emperors, why am I not to be heard on these points ?
Surely no law can forbid the discussion of what it is to condemn,
because no judge can justly proceed to sentence before he is well
apprised of the illegality of the fact ; nor can a citizen justify his
obedience to a law, while he apprehends not the quality of the
action it is to punish ; for it is by no means sufficient that a law be
good in itself, but that goodness also must be made appear to him
who is to put it in execution ; and that law is much to be suspected
that does not care to be looked into, but is notoriously tyrannical, if
after it is looked into would reign a law still in defiance of reason.
CHAPTER V.
THAT THE WISEST OF THE EMPERORS HAVE BEEN PROTECTORS
OF THE CHRISTIANS.
But to see the rashness and injustice of the laws against us, let us
cast an eye back upon their original, and we shall find an old
decree,^ whereby the emperor himself was disabled from consecrat-
^ Vetus erat Decretum ne qui Deus ah Iviperatore consecraretur nisi a Senatu
probahis. Rigaltius mentions something like this extant in the fragments of
Ulpian, and PameUus gives the decree itself from Crinitus de /ion. discipl. lib.
X. cap. 3. Separatim 7iemo sit habens Deos novos sive Advenas, nisi publice
adscitos privatim colunto. By virtue of this ancient decree it was that the
people, notwithstanding any edicts of the emperors to the contrary, persecuted
the Christians. Vid. Euseb. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 2, Where upon the account given
by Pontius Pilate, Tiberius applied to the senate to make him a god.
TertulliafUs Apology for the Christians, 1 7
ing a new god, without the approbation of the senate. M. iEmiUus
learnt this with a witness, in the case of his god Alburnus.^ And
this makes not a httle for the honour of Christianity, to see the
heathens in consult about making gods; and if the god is not
such a deity as they like, he is like to be no God for them.
Strange ! That the god is first to pray the man to be propitious,
before the man will allow of his godship. By virtue of this old
decree it was that Tiberius,^ in whose reign Christianity came into
the world, having received intelligence from Judea about the
miracles of Christ, proposed it to the senate, and used his pre-
rogative for getting Him enrolled among the number of their gods.
The senate, indeed, refused the proposal, as having not maturely
weighed His qualifications for a deity; but Caesar stood to his
resolution, and issued out severe penalties against all who should
accuse the worshippers of Christ.
Consult your annals,^ and there you will find Nero* the first
emperor who dyed his sword in Christian blood, when our religion
was but just arising at Rome ; but we glory in being first dedicated
to destruction by such a monster : for whoever knows that enemy
of all goodness will have the greater value for our religion, as
knowing that Nero could hate nothing exceedingly, but what was
exceedingly good. A long time after, Domitian, a limb of this
bloody Nero, makes some like attempts against the Christians ; but
being not all Nero, or cruelty in perfection, the remains of struggling
humanity stopped the enterprize, and made him recall the Christians
he banished. The Christian persecutors have been always men of
this complexion, divested of justice, piety, and common shame;
1 De Deo suo Alburno. This Alburnus is mentioned, lib. adv. Marcion, cap.
18, and seems to have been consecrated in the consulship of M. ^milius, an.
urb. cond. 638. He was called Alburnus from a mountain in Lucania of the
same name.
Est Lticus silari circum, ilicibusq.; virentem
Plurimus Alburnum volitans, etc. Virg. Geo. 3.
^ Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Christiamwi in fceculutn introivit. This
is to be understood of the resurrection of Christ, when the Christian faith first
began to be published to the Gentile world.
^ Consulite cofumentarios vestros. He alludes to the annals of Tacitus, lib. xv.,
or rather to Suetonius in the Life of Nero.
■• Ccesariano gladio priviu7n ferocisse. It is agreed upon by all writers, that
the first general persecution began under Nero, as likewise that the second did
under Domitian ; for that in Judea and Samaria, mentioned in the Acts,
cap. viii. , was but a particular persecution in some parts only, and not set on
foot by the Gentiles but the Jews.
1 8 Terhtlliafis Apology for the Christians.
upon whose government you yourselves have set a brand, and
rescinded their acts,i by restoring those whom they condemned.
But of all the emperors down to this present reign, who under-
stood anything of religion or humanity, name me one who perse-
cuted the Christians. On the contrary, we show you the excellent
M. Aurelius for our protector and patron ; for if you look into his
letters,^ you will find him there testifying that his army in Germany
being just upon perishing with thirst, some Christian soldiers which
happened to be in his troops, did by the power of prayer fetch
down a prodigious shower to the relief of the whole army ; for
which the grateful prince, though he could not publicly set aside
the penal laws, yet he did as well, he publicly rendered them in-
effectual another way, by discouraging our accusers with the last of
punishments, viz. burning alive.
Reflect a little now, I pray you, upon the nature of these laws,
which only the most consummate villains in impiety, injustice,-
filthiness, folly, and madness ever put in execution against us ;
which laws Trajan ^ in part evacuated by his edict against searching
for Christians ; and neither Hadrian ^ the inquisitive, whose genius
^ Quos et ipsi daninare consuestis. The edicts of Nero and Domitian both
were rescinded by the senate, and Nerva their successor. But the old law was
still in force, which forbade the worshipping of any new god, without the
approbation of the senate.
2 Si Litem Marci Aurelii requirantur. This rescript of Marcus Aurelius you
will find annexed to Justin's First Apology; and though it is disputable whether
that rescript be genuine, yet it is evident beyond dispute, both from Justin and
Tertullian, that there was such a rescript in favour of the Christians.
^ Quas Traja7ius ex parte frustratus est. It is not without good reason that
Tertullian says in part evacuated, for the third persecution commenced under
Trajan. It is true, indeed, he published no general edict against the Christians,
but the manner of his answer to Pliny {^id. Plin. lib. x. ep. 103, p. 633,
wherein, as Tertullian smartly remarks, the rescript did combat, and contradict
itself, in forbidding Christians to be searched after, and yet punished when
found) was abundantly sufficient to reinflame ipagistrate and people, who were
ready to take fire upon the least encouragement against the Christians. Besides,
he issued out solemn edicts to his officers to suppress all private cabals and
associations ; and this occasioned fresh searches after Chrisiians, and prevented
their ordinary assemblies. Vid. Plin. ep. 35, 99, 123 ; ep. 104, p. 632. In
this reign, strict inquisition was made after all the descendants from David, and
Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, was therefore taken up and murdered. Euseb. lib
iii. cap. 32, p. 104. And though this was a very grievous persecution, yet was
it not universal. Euseb. lib. iii. cap. 33, p. 105, cap, 32, p. 103.
* Quas mdlus Adriamis. Sulpicius Severus, and he alone, places the fourth
persecution under Adrian. Vid. Sulp. lib. ii. cap. 45, p. I50._ But whatever
this persecution was, it is plain from Tertullian and Melito, bishop of Sardis,
TerHcllian s Apology for the Christians. 19
no doubt led him into the curiosities of our religion, nor Vespasian,^
who must know something of it too by conquering the Jews, nor
Pius,2 nor Verus ^ ever took the advantage of the laws against us ;
and therefore were we Christians, in truth, the worst of men, you
cannot think we should have been thus spared, and protected
vid. Euseb. lib. iv. cap. 26, p. 148, that it was not occasioned by any imperial
edict. Adrian was initiated in all the Grsecian rites, and especially in the
Eleusinian Mysteries, which St. Jerome remarks as the principal cause of this
persecution, Adr. vit. p. II. He was extremely addicted to judicial astrology,
and to all sorts of divination, even to magic, Die, lib. 69, p. 793, insomuch that
he is severely censured by the heathens themselves for his extravagant supersti-
tion, Amm. lib. xxv. p. 294. And if magic raised a persecution under Valeri-
anus, who in the beginning of his reign was so great a friend to Christians, and
whose family so abounded with men of piety, that his house seemed to be the
church of God, Euseb. lib. vii. cap. 10, we need not wonder that this black art
should have the same influence upon Adrian. But this persecution was happily
put an end to, by the Apologies of Quadratus and Aristides, Euseb. lib. iii.
cap. 37, p. 209. The eloquence and reason of these two apologists was
seconded by a letter from Serenius Granianus, proconsul of Asia, Euseb. lib. iv.
cap. 8, p. 122, and many other governors followed this example, Euseb. lib. iv.
cap. 13, p. 127. Adrian, unable to resist these just and pressing solicitations,
wrote to Minucius Fundanus, Granianus's successor, not to punish a Christian
but upon good proof of some crime against the public ; and to punish the false
accuser just as the Christian should have been had he been found guilty. This
rescript was very famous among the ancients; it is celebrated as very advantage-
ous to the Christian cause, not only by Eusebius in his Chronic, but by S. Severus
lib. ii. cap. 45, p. 150, by Orosius, lib. vii. cap. 12, and annexed by Justin to his
Apology, and translated into Greek by Eusebius, lib. iv. cap. 9, p. 123.
1 Nullus Vespasianus. Vid. Joseph, de Bell. Jnd. lib. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.
^ Nullus Pius. This was Antoninus, to whom Justin Martyr addresses his First
Apology, and whose rescript to the commons of Asia he annexes to it, and is
translated into Greek by Euseb. lib. cap. 13. And though there was no edict of
Pius out against the Christians, yet by the authority of the old decree, they
suffered very much in many places, which occasioned Justin's First Apology.
^ Nullus Verus. It is a matter of some difficulty to determine who this
emperor was, for the cognomen Verus was given to M. Aurelius as well as to
Lucius. Vid. Jul. Capitol, in vit. M. Atcrelii. But it is most probable that M.
Aurelius was the emperor, especially if Lucius Verus was dead before the per-
secution, as some imagine, Nicephor. lib. iii. cap. 14. And it is observable, that
Athenagoras dedicates his Apology to M. Aurelius and Lu. Commodus, and not
to Lucius Verus. However this be, certain it is that this was a most bloody
persecution, in which Polycarp and Justin, and the martyrs of Vienna and Lj'^ons
were put to death ; the reading of the prophets, and the sibyls, and whatever
else might serve the Christian cause was forbidden, says Justin, upon pain of
death, Apol. i. sec. 59. This is counted the fourth persecution by all but
S. Severus, who calls it the fifth. But then it is observed by Eusebius, lib. v.
cap. I, that it was set on foot, not by any edict of Aurelius, but by popular
tumult. If we read Severus instead of Verus, as Pamelius is most inclined to,
then is it evident that when this Apology was written, Severus had issued out
no edict against the Christians.
20 Tertiillian s Apology for the Christians.
against law, by the best of princes, and struck at root and branch
only by our brethren in iniquity.
-0-
CHAPTER VI.
THAT THE ROMANS ARE MIGHTY PRAISERS OF THE ANTIQUITY OF
THEIR RELIGION, AND YET ADMIT OF NOVELTIES INTO IT
EVERY DAY.
But now I would argue the case a little with these scrupulous
gentlemen who are such mighty sticklers for the observation of old
laws; I would know whether they themselves have rehgiously
adhered to their forefathers in everything, whether they quitted no
law, nor have gone one step out of the ancient way. Nay, whether
they have not made ineffectual some of the most necessary and
proper rules of government; if not, what is become of those
excellent laws for the bridling luxury and ambition ? Those laws
which allowed not above a noble ^ for an entertainment, and but
one hen, and that not a crammed one, for a supper. Those laws
which excluded a senator the house, as a man of ambitious designs,
for having but ten pound weight of silver plate in his family ; which
levelled the rising theatres ^ to the ground immediately, as semin-
aries only of lewdness and immorality; and which under severe
penalties forbade the commons to usurp the badges and distinctions
of the nobility. But now I see the enormous entertainments, with
^ Centum (Bra non amplius. This was the Lex Licinia vel Fannia called
Centussis, according to that of Lucilius, Faiini Centussiqiie misellos, Vid. A.
Gell. lib. ii. cap. 24. To what Zephirus in his paraphrase, and Pamelius in his
notes, have said concerning the sumptuary laws, and against canvassing for places,
I add, that C. Orchius the third year before Cato was censor, preferred a law to
moderate the number of guests only. Twenty-two years after, C. Fannius being
consul, enacted another for moderating the expenses of ordinary feasts, allowing
not more denis assibus. Licinius Crassus revived the Fannian law. The Lex
Cornelia, and the Lex Antia, were to the same purposes of frugality. Whoso-
ever desires to see more de Legibus Smnpiiiariis et de Ambitu, may read Stuc.
conviv. lib. i. cap. 3 ; A. Gell. Hb. ii. cap. 24 ; Macrob. Saturn, lib. iii. cap.
17 ; Alex, ab Alexan. Genial. Di. lib. iii. cap. 2, p. 685, torn, i., and likewise cap.
17» P- 755-
2 Theatra stuprandis inoribus orientia st'atim destruebant. P. Cornius Nasica
after the second Punic war demolished the theatre as the school of wickedness
and effeminacy. Vid. Alexand. ab Alex. torn. i. lib. iv, cap. 25, p. 1193.
Tcrtullian's Apology for the Christians, 21
new names from their extravagance ; a centenarian supper, so called
from the hundred sestertias expended on it, that is about seven
hundred and eighty-one pounds five shillings for a meal ; and I see
mines of silver melted into dishes, not for the table of senators
only, for that would be tolerable, but for such fellows as are but
just made free, and hardly out of the lash of slavery. I see also
theatres in abundance,^ and all indulgingly covered over. The
hardy Lacedemonians, I suppose, were the first authors of this soft
invention, for fear Venus should take cold in the winter without a
covering; and that odious heavy cloak of frieze, which in time
of war was to screen the Spartans from the injuries of weather,
was chiefly designed no doubt to defend the Romans at the
enjoyment of their sports. Moreover, I see now no difference in
habit between a- lady of quality and a common strumpet ; ^ all
those wise institutions about women are fallen to the ground,
wherein your ancestors made such provisions for modesty and
temperance ; when a woman was to wear no more gold about her
than the wedding-ring upon her finger ; ^ when women were so
strictly prohibited to the use of wine, that a matron was starved to
^ Video Theatra nee singula satis esse. In the time of Augustus there were
but three theatres, and one amphitheatre ; but as they grew in vices, they
increased in theatres ; and then we read of the theatre of Marcellus, and one of
Scaurus so capacious that Pliny affirms it large enough to hold 80,000 men.
Plin. lib. xxxvi. cap, 15. Concerning the number of theatres, vid. Just. Lipsii
Amphitkeatrtim, et Tertull. de Spectac. et Vitruv. lib. v. cap. 3.
^ Inter Matronas atque Prostibulas nulhwi de habitu discrimen. The Stola,
Flammeum, Vitta, and Reticulum were the distinctions of matrons of repute,
from prostitutes who had the Toga, and were not allowed the Flammeum and
.Vitta. More of this you may see in Alex, ab Alexand. tom. ii. lib. v. p. 216.
^ Cum aurnm nulla nor at frceter unico digit 0 quern sponsus oppignorasset
pronubo annulo. The ring in matrimony has been a very general and ancient
ceremony : Digito pignus fortasse dedisti, Juven. sat. 6. This nuptial ring was
put upon the finger next the least, on the left hand, out of an imagination that
there was a particular vein there which went directly to the bottom of the
heart. Aul. Gell. lib. x. cap. 10, Macrob. lib. vii. cap. 13. And this, I sup-
pose, may be the Unicus Digitus in Tertullian. The primitive Christians made
no scruple of complying with this ancient ceremony of the ring in matrimony,
for, says Tertullian, de Idol, de 7iullius Idoli Jionore descendit, it did not arise from
any honour given to an idol. And Clemens Alexandrinus sets forth, not only the
rite, but the reason of it, Clem. Alex. Peed, lib, iii. cap. 2. St. Ambrose brings in
St. Agnes, mentioning the wedding-ring, Amb. lib. iv. ep. 34. In the year
611, Isidore Hispalensis, Etymol. lib. xx. and de devin. Off. lib. ii., proves it to be
in use, and all the offices of the Western Churches since that time prove the
same. As to the Greek Churches, we find by the Eucologicon, that they used
two rings, one of gold, which was given to the man, another of silver, which
was given to the woman. Vid. ord. Sponsalior, And therefore it was not
without good authority that our wise reformers did retain this innocent, ancient
ceremony, approved of even by Bucer himself. Buceri Censur. p. 48.
2 2 Tertttllians Apology for the Christians,
death by her friends for breaking the seals of a cellar where the
wine was kept ;^ and Mecenius in the reign of Romulus was acquitted
for kilHng his wife for the same attempt ; and for the same reason
parents were by law obliged to kiss their children, in order to dis-
cover them by their breath. Where is now the happiness of a
conjugal state, maintained of old by rugged virtue, in so long and
perfect harmony, that from the foundation of the city for almost
six hundred years together,^ we read not of a divorce in any family?
But now, instead of wedding-rings only, women are so begolded
over, that every limb labours under the burthen ; and so addicted
to wine, that you shall not receive a salute without a smack of the
bottle ; and divorces are now become the object of your desires,
and looked upon as the constant fruit of matrimony. But this is
not all, for what your fathers have bravely decreed; even about the
worship of the gods, you with all your obedience have rescinded.
The consuls with the authority of the senate banished father Bacchus^
^ Cum mulieres usque adeo vino abstinerentur, ut niatronam ob resignatos cellce
vinarice loculos sui inedia necarint. This story, and almost the very words, are
taken out of Pliny's Natural History, lib. iv. cap. 13, where he says likewise that
Egnatius Metellus (here called Mecenius) killed his wife with a club for drinking
wine. The drinking of wine was interdicted women under the severest penalty.
Vid. Dionys. Halicarjt. lib. ii., Polyb. lib. vi., Cicer. lib. de nai. Deor. It was as
capital a crime for a woman to be taken in wine as in adultery. It was by the
law of Romulus made one of the conditions for a divorce. Cneus Domitius
deprived a woman of her dowry for drinking more liberally than her health
required. The law mentioned here by Tertullian, which obliged relations to
salute women to find whether they did not smell of wine, was overruled by an
edict of Tiberius Caesar. Vid. Sueton. vit. Tiber. See more to this purpose in
Alexand. ab Alex. tom. i. lib. iii. cap. 2, pp. 672 and 673.
^ Per annos ferjiie sexcentos ab urbe co/iditd, nulla repitdiujii domus scripsit.
P. Carvillius Ruga, or Spurius Carbilius, as he is called by Valer. Maximus, lib.
ii. cap. I, was the first who divorced his wife upon pretence of barrenness,
though divorces afterwards upon the most trifling occasions came to be a common
practice. L. Antonius was noted by the censors, and turned out of the senate
for putting away his wife upon no reason but his humour. Vid. Val. Max.
lib. ii. cap. 4. Tiberius Caesar degraded a censor upon the like occasion, Sueton.
in z'it. Tib. Q. Antistius and C. Sulpitius divorced their wives merely upon a
pet. Val. Max. lib. vi. cap. 3. And Maecenas is severely taxed by Seneca upon
the like occasion. Sen. lib. de Divin. P^'ovid. So that it is not without reason
that Tertullian affirms divorces in his time to be the constant fruit of matrimony.
By tlje laws of Romulus a man could not divorce his wife, but either for adultery,
for attempting to poison him, for false keys, or for drinking of wine. The form
of divorces between parties only contracted was in these words — Conditione tud
non utar. This was properly Repudium ; that between a married couple was
called Divoi-tium, and ran in this form — Res tuas tibi habeto.
^ Liberuvi Patrem cum mysteriis suis. The Bacchanalia or Nyctileia grew to
that excessive lewdness, that they were forbid in all parts of ItaJy under a severe
penalty. Vid. Alex, ab Alex, tom, i. lib. vi. cap. 7, p. 650.
Tertulliaris Apology for the Christians. 23
and his mysteries, not out of Rome only, but all Italy, and Serapis,^
and Isis, and Harpocrates, with his dog's head of a god Cynocephalus,
were excluded the capitol, the palace of your deities, during the
consulship of Piso and Gabinius, who were not Christians, and all
their altars levelled to the ground, in order to suppress this rabble
of deities, and the abominable filthinesses attending on them ; but
these gods you have recalled from banishment, and restored them
to their original worship. Where now is your old religion, and the
great veneration you pretend to have for your ancestors? You
have degenerated from them in your habit, in your modes of living,
in your furniture,^ and in the riches and revenues you allow to the
different ranks of men, and in the very delicacy of your language.
You are eternal praisers of antiquity, and yet every day in a new
fashion ; which is a plain proof that it is your peculiar talent to be
in the wrong, to forsake your ancestors where you should follow,
and to follow where you should forsake them. And although you
may take yourselves for zealous defenders of the traditions of your
fathers, especially in those things for the neglect of which you
principally accuse the Christians, namely, the worship of the gods,
in which point your ancestors have been the most unhappily
mistaken ; although you have rebuilt the altars of Serapis, and
made him now a Roman god; although Bacchus now has his
frantic sacrifices offered him in Italy ; — notwithstanding all this, I
say, I will show in its proper place that you have not in truth this
warm affection for the gods of your forefathers, but that you have
despised, slighted, and destroyed them, in spite of all your loud
pretences to the obligations of antiquity. In the meantime, I shall
return an answer to those infamous objections against our actions
in secret, in order to make way for the vindication of those things
we do in the face of the world.
^ Serapidem et Isidem, et Harpocrafem cum suo Cynocephalo, etc. Serapis
and Isis were celebrated idols of Egypt. Harpocrates is said to be born of Isis
and Osiris, and coming unluckily before his time, was born mute, and for that
reason made the god of silence, according to that of Ovid — Qumque preiiiit
vocem, digitoq,; silentia siiadet. Cynocephalus was an Egyptian god with a
dog's head, under which shape Mercury is said to have been worshipped,
according to that of Virgil, yEnead. 8, Omnigenumq.; De^lvi nionstra, et
Latrator Anubis. See more of this and their expulsion out of Italy in Alex, ab
Alex. tom. i. lib. ii. cap. 19, p. 431.
^ Censu. I conclude this word should be written with a c, and I have
translated it accordingly ; but if it is to be written with an s, as it is both in
Rigaltius and Pamelius, I would translate it opinion; but Rigaltius in his
Animadversions has corrected his text, and writes Censu. Vid, Rigal. Anim-
adver. juxta fin.
24 Terhillian s Apology for the Christians»
CHAPTER VII.
THAT COMMON FAME IS BUT AN ILL EVIDENCE.
It is the common talk that we are the wickedest of men, that we
murder and eat a child in our religious assemblies/ and when we rise
from supper conclude all in the confusions of incest. It is reported
likewise that for this work we have an odd sort of dogs, as
officious as bawds in putting out the candles, procurers of darkness
for the freer satisfactions of our impious and shameless lust. This
is the common talk, and the report is of long standing, and yet not
a man attempts to prove the truth of the fact. Either, therefore, if
you believe report, examine the grounds, or if you will not examine,
give no credit to the report. And this dissembled carelessness of
yours against being better informed plainly speaks that you your-
selves believe nothing of it ; you seem to care not to examine, only
in truth because you dare not ; for were you of opinion that these
reports were true, you would never give such orders as you do
about the torturing of Christians ; which you prescribe, not to make
them confess the actions of their life, but only to deny the religion
they profess. But the Christian religion, as I have already intimated,
began to spread in the reign of Tiberius ; and the truth pulled
down a world of hatred in its very cradle ; for it had as many
enemies as men without the pale of revelation, and even those
within, the very Jews, the most implacable of any, out of a blind
passion for the law. The soldiers from dragooning our persons,
come to hate our religion, and from a baseness of spirit, our very
domestics are as much bent upon our destruction as they. Thus
are we continually invested on every side, and continually betrayed —
nay, very often we are surprised and taken in our public meetings
and assemblies ; and yet did ever any one come upon us when the
infant was crying under the sacrificer's hand ? ^ Who ever catched
^ Dicimu)' sceleratissimi de Sacramento Infanticidii. That this charge of
devouring a child in the sacrament was by the heathens commonly laid upon
the Christians is evident, because Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian, Minutius, and the
rest of the apologists insist so much upon it. The nature of the institution and
the practice of Simon Magus, Menander, Basilides, Carpocrates, and other
heretics, who passed under the name of Christians, most probably gave rise to
this horrid story, as I have shown at large in my notes upon Justin's Apology.
2 Quis unquam taliter vagienti Infanti supervenit. The Christian sacrifice of
bread and wine was never omitted in the first ages of the Church in their public
Tertulltan*s Apology /or the Christians, 25
us, like a Cyclops or Siren, with mouths besmeared in human blood,
and carried us in that cruel pickle before a judge? And as for
incest, who ever discovered any relic of immodesty in his wife after
she became a Christian ? And who can think that a heathen would
connive at wickednesses of this monstrous size in any Christian, had
he eyes to spy them out ? Or that he can be bribed in our favour,
who seems never so well pleased as when he is hauling us to
punishment ? If you say that these abominations are always done
in secret, pray when and by whom came you to this knowledge ?
Not by the guilty themselves, for you know that the persons
admitted into the mysteries of all religions are by the very
form of admission ^ under the severest obligations to secrecy ; the
Samothracian and Eleusinian ^ mysteries you know are covered in
profound silence, how much more reasonable is it therefore to
think that such as these will be kept in the dark, which not only
treasure up divine wrath against the day of judgment, but if once
discovered will whet human justice to the highest pitch of
vengeance ? If, therefore, Christians betray not themselves, it
follows that they must be betrayed by those of another religion ;
but how shall strangers be able to inform against us, when even the
most pious mysteries^ are defended from the approaches of the
worship ; they looked upon their service as not so perfectly Christian and
acceptable without it, that the Holy Spirit did in an especial manner descend
upon the consecrated elements, that God was better pleased with their prayers
for this commemoration of His Son, and that this was the principle of union
between a Christian and the ever Blessed Trinity ; and, therefore," whenever the
heathens broke into their assemblies, they would be sure to find this sacrifice of
a child, was there any such thing.
^ Ex Forma omnibus Mysteriis silentii Fides debeatur. What silence was
thought due to sacred rites we may understand by Horace's Favete Unguis ;
by Ovid's Ore favent Popidi nunc cum venit aurea Ponipa ; by Virgil's Fida
Silentia Sacris ; by Festus's Linqtiam, pascito, i.e. coerceto ; by the Egyptians
setting up the image of Harpocrates in the entrance of their temples, and by the
Romans placing the statue of Angerona on the altar of Volupia. Vid. Brisson,
de Formidis, lib. i. p. 8.
2 Eleusinia reticentur. Horace protests that he would not stay in the house,
or sail in the ship, with a person that should divulge the mysteries of Ceres —
Vetabo, qtii Cereris sacrum
Vulgdrit arcancB, sub iisdem
Sit trabibus frugilemque mecuni
Solvat phaselum.
Alcibiades and his companions for exposing the rites of Ceres were not only
excommunicated all religious and civil intercourse at Athens, but solemnly
cursed by the priests, and priestesses — a practice not unlike to the Jewish
Anathema. Vid. Plutar. Alcibiad.
"* Cum etiam pice Initiationes arceant Prophanos. I know nothing more
26 Tert7illians Apology for the Christians.
stranger and the profane ? Unless you conclude the Christian rites
to be the wickedest of any, and withal conclude that the wicked are
less cautious about the divulging of such rites than those of a
better religion. And thus you must be forced to acknowledge you
know nothing of our profession, but by common fame ; and the
nature of fame is too well known by every one to be credited in
haste. Your own Virgil tells you, Fama malum, quo non aliud
velocius ulhwi : Fame is an ill, the swiftest ill that flies.
Why does he call fame an ill ? Because of her swiftness ? Or
because she is an informer? Or because she is a common liar?
For the last reason without question. For she never lets even
truth come out of her mouth without being sophisticated, without
detracting, adding, or brewing it with one falsehood or another.
Moreover, the nature of fame is such that she cannot keep herself
upon the wing without the assistance of lies ; for she lives by not
proving ; when she proves, she destroys her being. She hovers no
practised all the heathen world over, than the excommunicating profane persons
from all holy mysteries. Hence that of Virgil —
Procul, 6 procul este Frophani
Conclajnat Vates.
And that of Horace also —
Odi Prophanmn
Vulgus et arceo.
The Flamens had a' commentaculuni, a kind of rod in their hands to keep off
impure persons. Vid. Brisson, de Foj'midis, lib. i. ; Selden, de Syned. lib. i. cap.
lo. Among the Greeks that old form from Orpheus continued, — sxa? Ixtt? sa-rt
(iifi'/ikoi. At Athens the herald cried out n; r^ih — Who is here ? To which the
people answered, -ttoXXo) na) aya6o) — Many and good men. Vid. Suid. in t/j tDs.
And we read in Livy, Decad. 4, lib. i., of two young men of Arcanania, who for
not being initiated and crowded into the Eleusinian mysteries, were slain ; for it
was a capital crime to be present without due purification ; and such purifying
rites were men of all ranks and qualities obliged to perform before they could
approach the altars and statues. Not Nero himself could prevail with his
conscience to let him be present at these rites of Ceres, after the Herald had
made the usual proclamation for the wicked to depart. Vid. Sueton. Ner. cap. 34.
But Antoninus the philosopher, to show his innocence, went to the temple of
Ceres, and into the very Sacrarium by himself. Vid. Capitolin. in vit. Ajitotiin.
Philos. And was there but a little more of the natural reverence of heathens to
holy things among Christian people, and did Christian priests exert the power
that God has given them with as much vigour as the idol priests did, men even
as wicked as Nero would not dare to approach our altars merely upon the invita-
tion of a place. But as matters stand, it might go hard with the priest to make
a notorious offender lose his preferment, by refusing him the sacrament, and the
common law might go near to nail the canon.
Tertulltan s Apology for the Christians, 27
longer like fame, but being as it were out of her office, certainty
succeeds in the place of report. And then it is no longer said, for
example, that such a thing is famed to have been acted at Rome,
or such a person to have got the government of such a province,
but that such things are actually so and so. Fame is a doubtful
sound, and lodges only among uncertainties ; and would ever any
man of common reflection build much upon this uncertain puff?
For let a story be never so general and diffusive, and never so
confidently asserted, it is always to be remembered that it had a
beginning, and from that time has crept into a world of ears, and
out of a world of mouths ; and so the story very little at its first
planting, and naughty perhaps in the very seed, comes at length to
be so overgrown and darkened by variety of rumours, that men
care not to be at the pains of tracing it up to the original mouth,
and to see whether it came not first into the world a very lie ; which
often happens, either from the disposition and genius of hatred, or
the licence men usurp of improving suspicions, or which is no new
thing, the very pleasure of lying, which some people seem marvel-
lously turned for, even by nature.
Well is it, therefore, I am sure, for Christians, what is so
proverbially in the mouth of heathens, that time brings everything
to light, according to that order of nature which will permit nothing
to lie long hid \ no, not even that which never came within the lips
of fame. I shall leave it to you, therefore, to judge whether you
have reason to proceed with this severity against Christians merely
upon the testimony of fame ; for this is the only witness you
produce against us, and which looks so much the worse, because
of all the stories she has been sowing about the world, and been
so long a-watering and nourishing up into credit, she has not to
this day been able to prove one.
-0-
CHAPTER VIII.
THAT THE CRIMES CHARGED UPON THE CHRISTIANS ARE NEITHER
POSSIBLE NOR PROBABLE.
I SHALL now appeal to the testimony of nature, and argue whether
it is credible that she is capable of such inhumanities as common
fame charges upon Christians ; and for argument sake, I will
28 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians.
suppose a Christian promising you eternal life, and tying caution
for the performance, upon consideration of your obedience. I will
suppose likewise that you believe this promise, and the question
now is, whether upon such a belief you could find in your hearts to
be barbarous enough in spite of nature to accept of eternal life at
this inhuman price. Imagine, therefore, a Christian addressing you
in this manner : Come hither, friend, and plunge your dagger into
the heart of this innocent, w^ho can deserve no punishment, who
can be no man's foe, and who may be every man's son, considering
our indiscriminate embraces. Or if another is to officiate in this
bloody service, suppose yourself applied to after this sort : Come
hither, and stand by only while I make the sacrifice ; behold me
despatching an infant off the stage in the very first act of life ; see
me sending the new soul flying out of the body before it was ^vell
in ; do you gather up the rude indigent blopd, and sop your bread
liberally in that wine, and indulge freely upon the flesh ; and while
you are at supper be sure to cast a wishful eye upon your mother
and sister ; mark exactly where they sit, that you are guilty of no
mistake when the dogs have put out the candles. For it is as much
as our immortality is worth if you should miss of incest ; if you are
thus initiated, and continue firm in the practice of these rules, you
shall live for ever. Answer me now to the question proposed, Can
you purchase heaven upon these terms ? If not, if you feel nature
recoil, and your soul shrink at the proposal of such things, you can
never think them credible in us. Did you but believe them, I am
confident you would not do them ; but did you believe them, and
had an inclination to do them, I am of opinion that your very
humanity would not suffer you to perpetrate such facts ; and if you
find too many misgivings in yourselves for the performance of such
commands, why do you not conclude the same reluctance in others ?
Or if you cannot be unnatural enough for these things, why should
you judge others can ?
But Christians, I suppose, are not men. What ! do you take us
for monsters like the Cynopae or Sciapodes,^ with different rows of
teeth for devouring, and different instruments for incest, from all
other men ? Certainly, if you believe such actions possible for
others, you may believe them possible for yourselves, you being men,
^ The Cynopae, or Cynopes or Cynocephali, are reported to be a sort of wild
men in the mountains of India, with heads like a dog, Plin. vii. 2 ; and the
Sciapodes of Ethiopia to be a people of such a monstrous make, that in hot
broiling days lie upon their backs, and cover their whole bodies from the sun
with the shadow of the bottoms of iheir feet, Plin. vii. I.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 29
as we Christians are ; but if you feel this impossible in nature, you
ought to give no credit to the report, because Christians and
heathens have the same humanity.
But you pretend that the ignorant only are decoyed and tricked
into our religion, such as have not met with any of these stories
against us, but are catched before they have time to consider and
examine with that accuracy which every man is obliged to upon
changing his religion. But allowing it possible for a man to be
ignorant of common fame, yet if any one is desirous to be initiated,
it is the constant custom, as I take it, for such a person to go to the
chief priest, to be instructed in what is necessary for such an
initiation. And then, if these stories are true, he will instruct him
in this manner : Friend, in order to communicate with us you must
provide a child tender and good, too young for any sense or notice
of death ; such a child as will smile into my face under the fatal
knife. You are likewise to provide bread to suck up the blood,
and candlesticks and candles, and some dogs with some morsels to
throw to those dogs just out of their reach, that by striving to come
at them they may pull down the candles and candlesticks to which
they are tied. Above all things, you must be sure not to come
without your mother and sister. But what if they will not comply,
or suppose the convert has no sister or mother, nor any relation of
our religion ? Why, he cannot be admitted ; for to have a sister or
a mother are necessary qualifications, no doubt, to make a Christian.
But if you will suppose all this furniture got ready beforehand, without
the knowledge of him who is to communicate, yet certainly after he
has communicated he must needs know all ; and yet he still con-
tinues firm in our communion without a word of the imposture.
But he dares not discover perhaps, for fear of punishment, when
such a discovery would be meritorious. Whereas a man of probity,
after he had found himself thus abused, and tricked into so horrid a
religion, would rather choose to die than live longer with such a
conscience. After all, I will grant that such a man dares not discover
for fear of punishment ; but pray then give me a reason why the
same person should persevere in defiance of torments ; for I think
it natural to conclude that you would not continually stick close to
a religion under such disadvantages, which you would never have
embraced had you but known it before you embraced it,
30 TertMllians Apology for the Christians.
CHAPTER IX.
THAT THE PAGANS ARE GUILTY BOTH IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC
OF THE SAME CRIMES THEY CHARGE UPON CHRISTIANS.
But for a fuller confutation I come now to prove that the heathens
are guilty both in the dark, and in the face of the sun, of acting the
same abominations they charge upon Christians, and their own
guiltiness, perhaps, is the very thing which disposes them to believe
the like of others. Infants have been sacrificed to Saturn pubhcly
in Africa,^ even to the proconsulship of Tiberius, who devoted the
very trees about Saturn's temple to be gibbets for his priests, as
accomplices in the murder, for contributing the protection of their
shadow to such wicked practices. For the truth of this I appeal
to the militia of my own country, who served the proconsul in the
execution of this order. But these abominations are continued to
this day in private. Thus you see that the Christians are not the
only men who act in defiance of your laws ; nor can all your
severity pull up this wickedness by the roots, nor will your immortal
alter his abominable worship upon any consideration ; for since
Saturn could find in his heart to eat up his own children, you may
be sure he would continue his stomach for those of other people
who are obliged to bring their own babes, and sacrifice them with
their own hands, giving them the tenderest of words, when they
are just upon cutting their throats, not out of any bowels of com-
passion, but for fear they should unhoUow the mystery, and spoil
the sacrifice with tears. And now, in my opinion, this parricide of
^ Infantes penes Africam Saturno palam mi7nolabantur, etc. The heathens had
a notion {however they came by it is not to my present purpose to conjecture) that
repentance alone was not sufficient to atone the Divine wrath without a bloody
sacrifice, and therefore the blood of man and beast was brought in to supply the
deficiency. Accordingly among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians it had been
an ancient custom to choose by lot some children of the best quality for a sacrifice,
and for those upon whom the lot fell there was no redemption. And they were
likewise dressed according to their quality in the richest apparel to make the
sacrifice more splendid. And having omitted these human sacrifices for some
time, and during that omission being overcome by Agathocles, they offered two
hundred sons of the nobility upon their altars to atone the deity for the neglect
of human sacrifices. Vid. Plat. dial, entitled Minos Dionys. Halicar. lib. i.,
Diodor. Sic. lib. xx., Lactan. lib. i. cap. 21, Euseb. Frtzpar. Evang. lib. iv.,
and Silius Ital. at the end of the fourth book speaks thus of Carthage : —
Mos fuit in populis, quos conditit advena Dido,
{hifanduni didu) Parvos imponere natos.
Tertulliaiis Apology for the Christians. 31
yours, or slaughtering your own children, outdoes the simple
homicide charged upon us by many degrees of barbarity. But
infants are not the only offerings, for the Gauls cut a man to
pieces upon the altars of Mercury,^ in the flower of his strength. I
omit the human sacrifices at Diana's Temple ^ in Taurica Chersone-
sus, which are the arguments of your tragedies, and which you seem
to countenance by being so often at the theatres. But behold ! in
that most religious city of the pious descendants of pious ^neas,
there is a certain Jupiter,^ whom at your religious games you pro-
pitiate with human blood in abundance. But these, say you, are
bestiarian men, criminals already condemned to die by beasts.
Alas-a-day ! these are not men, I warrant ye, because they are
condemned men ; and are not your gods wonderfully beholden to
you for offering to them such vile fellows ? However that be, this
is certain, it is human blood. O brave Christian Jove ! your
father's only son and heir in cruelty, worshipped with human blood,
as the God of the Christians is falsely reported to be. But because,
if you kill a child, it is not a farthing difference whether you kill it
for a sacrifice, or for your own will (for killing a child will be always
a crime, though not always equal, parricide being worse than mere
homicide), since this, I say, is so, I shall now apply myself upon
this subject unto the people of all ranks and conditions. How
many about me might I justly reproach upon this head, not only
of the mob continually blooded with Christians, and continually
^ Major cEtas apud Gallos Mer curio prosecatur. Cicero in Orat. pro M. Fonteio^
speaking of the Gauls, has these words : — Qiiis enim igjwrat eos usqtie ad hanc
diem retinere illam imnianem ac barbarani consttetudinem hominuin immo-
landortim? And in his third book, de Divinat., he mentions five Mercurys
and makes Mercury Theutates the fifth who slew Argos, and for that flew into
Egypt, and there instructed the Egyptians in laws and letters, from which
Theutates the first month of their year, that is September, was called Theuth.
This was the Mercury the Gauls sacrifice to, and which Lucan in his first book
refers to.
Ex quibus innnitis placahir sajiguine diro
Theutates, horrensqiie feris Altaribus Hesiis.
See more in Lactantius, lib. i. sec. 21, 50, Liv. 3, dec. lib. vi., Caesar, lib. vi.,
de bell. Gall.
2 Remitto Tauricas Fabulas. Herodotus in his fourth book says it was a
custom among the Tauri to sacrifice every year the hundredth captive to Diana ;
and Lucan having spoken of Theutates and Hesus, adds : — •
Et Taraiiis Scythicce non mitior ara Diance.
See P. Orosius in his preface to his fifth book, and Lactan. lib. i. sec. 21, p. 50,
concerning the bloody rite of sacrificing strangers to Diana Taurica.
^Jupiter quidani. Vid. Lactan. lib. i. sec. 21, p. 50. This was Jupiter
Latiaris.
32 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
gaping for more, but also of you, presidents of cities and provinces,
who have been the severest against us upon this very score? How
many, I say, of both sorts might I deservedly charge with infant-
murder ? And not only so, but among the different kinds of death,
for choosing some of the cruellest for their own children, such as
drowning, or starving with cold or hunger, or exposing to the mercy
of dogs, dying by the sword being too sweet a death for children,
and such as a man would choose to fall by sooner than by any
other ways of violence.
But Christians now are so far from homicide, that with them it
is utterly unlawful to make away a child in the womb, when nature
is in deliberation about the man ; for to kill a child before it is
born is to commit murder by way of advance ; and there is no
difference whether you destroy a child in its formation, or after it
is formed and delivered. For we Christians look upon him as a
man, who is one in embryo ; for he is in being, like the fruit in
blossom, and in a little time would have been a perfect man, had
nature met with no disturbance.
As for the inhuman customs of banqueting upon blood, and such
tragical dishes, you may read (for it is related by Herodotus,^ I
think) how that certain nations having opened a vein in their arm,
solemnly drank of each other's blood for the confirmation of treaties ;
and something like this Catiline ^ put in practice in his conspiracy.
^ Est apud Herodotum opinor, etc. Herodotus in his first book reports that
it was the solemn way among the Medes and Lydians in making of leagues to
strike each other on the shoulders with a naked sword, and then for the parties
mutually to lick up the blood ; and in his fourth book he tells us that the
Scythian rite of entering into league was to fill a large cup of blood and wine
mixed together (the blood of both the parties confederating), and having dipped
their swords and arrows into it, to pledge each other in it, and so by turns drink
it off. And Possidonius, and from him Athenseus. lib. ii. cap. 2, relates that
the Germans at their banquets opened a vein in their face, and the parties mutu-
ally drinking up each other's blood, mixed with wine, was the ratification of the
treaty. So much human blood was there spilt, especially in sacrificing to devils,
till Christ came and redeemed us from the powers of darkness, and put an end to
all bloody sacrifices, by that of Himself once made upon the cross.
^ Nescio quid et sub Catilina degustatum est. The words of Sallust concerning
Catiline are these — Fuere ed lempestate, qui dicer ent Caiilinam oratione habitd,
cum adjusjurandum Populares sceleric stii addicerent, Hu7nani Corporis sangiiinem
vino permistuju inpateris circumtulisse ; inde cui7i post execrationei7i omnes degustds-
sent, sicuti in soleinnibus sacris fieri consiicuit, dicitur aperuisse consiIiui?i, etc.
I have set down this of Sallust at large, because as it stands in the notes of
Pamelius it is printed or quoted false in two places, and the last part quite
omitted, which shows it to be a customary rite in some countries.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 33
It is likewise reported that in some Scythian families the surviving
friends eat up the dead ones.^ But I need not go so far as Scythia,
for we have now at this day as barbarous ceremonies at home ;
Bellona's priests ^ lancing their thighs, and taking up their own sacred
blood in the palms of their hands, and giving it their communicants
to drink. Those epileptic persons also who flock to the amphi-
theatres for the cure of their disease, intercept the reeking blood as
it comes gushing from the gladiators' throats, and swill it off with
greediness. What shall we say of those who gorge themselves with
the beasts they kill upon the stage, who demand a piece of the boar,
or the stag that is covered over with their own blood in the combat ?
Nay, the very paunches ^ of boars stuffed with the crude indigested
entrails of men are dishes much in vogue ; and so man belches up
man by surfeiting upon beasts fed with men. You who eat thus,
bless me, how differently do you eat from Christians ? But what
can we think of men so perfectly brutish as to lick up the very first
principles of life and blood, and so diet upon child and parent both
at the same time ? For shame therefore blush when you meet a
Christian, who will not endure a drop of the blood of any animal
among his victuals, and therefore for fear any should be lodged
among the entrails, we abstain from things strangled, and such as
die of themselves.
Lastly, among other experiments lor the discovery of Christians
this is one, to present them with blood puddings, as very well
knowing our opinion about the unlawfulness of eating blood. This,
I say, is the stumbling-block and offence you lay in the way of
Christians ; and what a strange thing is it, that you who are confi-
dent that the Christians are so religiously averse to the blood of
beasts, should imagine them so sharp set upon the blood of men ?
^ Apud quosdam gentiles Scytharum. Vid. Alex, ab Alex. torn. i. lib. iii.
cap. 2. And the notes of Tiraquell upon him.
2 Hodie isthic Belloncs sacratus sanguis de feniore proscisso. In alkision to
which Lucan, lib. i. —
Diraque per popuhim Cumance Carmina vatis
Vulgantiir, turn qiios sectis Bellona lacertis
ScEva vionet, etc.
See more upon this in Beroaldus, and Lactan. lib. i. sec. 21.
^ Ursorum alvei appetiintiir crudit antes adhuc de viscerihts htimanis. To
such a degree of luxury, or rather bestiality, were the Romans grown, that a bear's
paunch stuffed with the reeking viscera or guts of gladiators was reckoned a rare
dish, and by the sumptuary laws against luxury I find that Ven'ijza and Abdomina
(which I take to be the same with these alvei) were forbidden at feasts. Vid.
Plin. lib. viii. cap. 51.
B
34 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
This could never be, unless you had tasted the blood of both, and
found that of men to be the sweeter temptation ; which therefore
you should make like the censer of incense, to be another touch-
stone of a Christian ; and so he might be detected as well by
accepting the blood as refusing the sacrifice, and in like manner be
put to death for tasting as he is now for sacrificing. And you the
judges of life and death, need never fear the want of human blood
to make the experiment. As for incest, where can you look to find
such human monsters so likely as among the worshippers of an
incestuous Jove ? We have the authority of Ctesias ^ for the
Persians mixing with their mothers. And the Macedonians are
suspected, because when they first heard the tragical lamentations
of QEdipus for this sin with his mother Jocasta, they cried out in
ridicule — eXawe €ts t^v [xyjTepa, — Courage, noble warrior, and go
on bravely against your mother.
Recollect now with yourselves, and you will see what a licence
there is for incest, from some errors which must necessarily seduce
into it, by the help and fuel of lust and luxury. For, first, you
expose your sons to be taken up by the next passenger who happens
to come by with more bowels than yourselves, or you emancipate
them from all relation to you, in order to be adopted into nobler
families ; and by both these kinds of alienation it cannot well be,
but that the knowledge of your children in some time must wear
out and vanish ; and for want of this knowledge, when the un-
natural mixture has once taken root, it spreads continually, and the
original stain diffuses itself from generation to generation. And
then also you have an inseparable companion of your lust in every
place ; it sticks to you at home, and travels with you by land, and
takes shipping with you at sea; and by this ubiquitarian lust,
brothers and sisters may easily come together like the scattered seed
in a wide field, and as travellers often do by the help of commerce,
and mix in strange confusions, without the parties knowing anything
of the relation. But as for Christians, their inviolable chastity is a
hedge about them against such unhappy accidents; and by how
^ Persas cum Matribus misceri Ctesias refert. Some fragments of Ctesias
were published by Henry Stephens ; but for the incest of the Persians it is
notorious. See Strabo, lib. v. ad fin,, Curtius, lib. vii., and Catullus in Gellium
sings thus : —
Nascatur Magus ex Gelli Matrisque iiefando
Concubitu, et discat Persicuni aruspicium.
Nam Magus ex Matre et Nato gignatur oportet^
Si vera est Pe7'sarum impia Religio.
Tertullzan's Apology for the Christians. 35
much the purer they keep themselves from fornication and adultery,
by so much the more, no doubt, are they preserved secure from the
chance of incest. Nay, some among us, for fear of such disorders,
have put themselves beyond the possibility of this sin, by a perpetual
virginity, by preserving the innocence of a child to the extremity of
age. If now, therefore, you would turn your eyes inward, and see
the guilt in yourselves, you would see innocence in us, for contraries
are best seen together ; but you labour under a twofold blindness,
which is, not to see things that are, and to seem to see things which
really are not ; the truth of this I will show in its proper place by
an induction of particulars, but at present I shall pass to matters of
more notorious evidence.
CHAPTER X.
THAT THE GODS OF THE GENTILES ARE NO GODS.
You say we are atheists, and will not be at the expense of a
sacrifice for the life of the emperors ; and if the first be true, the
consequence is just, for if we will not offer to the gods for our-
selves, it is not likely we should do it for others. It is upon this
account, therefore, that we are convened as guilty of sacrilege and
treason; this I take to be the main article, and may be looked
upon as the sum of the charge against us, and therefore deserves a
particular discussion; and we doubt not to acquit ourselves in this
point, if prejudice and injustice be not our judges; prejudice, I say,
which presumes things that are false to be true, and injustice, which
rejects evident truth when heard.
We profess, then, to have laid aside the worship of your gods,
from the time we knew them to be no gods ; that therefore which
you are to expect from us is, that we disprove them to be gods,
and consequently not to be worshipped ; for if they are gods,
devotion no doubt is their due, and the Christians ought to be
punished for deserting the gods, out of an opinion that they are
not gods, if it can be made appear that they are. But gods they
are, say you ; for the truth of this we appeal from your words to
your conscience, let that be our judge, and let that condemn us, if
36 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
you can deny all those you now worship for gods once to have
been men. If you can be hearty in this denial, you shall be con-
vinced of the mistake from your own antiquities testifying against
them to this day, from the cities where they were born, and the
countries where they left impressions of frailty ; and alas ! where
the very tombs of the immortals are shown.
But I will not presume to run over the whole inventory of deities,
their numbers are formidable ; there are your new and old gods,^
Greeks and Barbarians, Romans, strangers, captives, adoptives,
proper, common, male and female, country, city, sea and camp
gods. A man must have wondrous little to do with his time to
give out their titles by retail, and so I shall lump them together,
and speak of them only in gross ; and this not to improve your
knowledge, but only to quicken your memories, for you seem much
inclined to forget many of your gods.
First, then, Saturn with you is the eldest deity in worship ; from
him we are to begin our reckoning of all your gods, of the most
noted especially, and most in vogue, and he being the original god,
we may judge of all his posterity from him. As much therefore as
we can learn from history, we find that neither Diodorus the
Greek, or Thallus, or Cassius Severus, or Cornelius Nepos, or any
other commentator of antiquities speak of Saturn any otherwise
than as of a man. And if you would argue from things, I cannot
think of a place that can supply you with arguments so well as
Italy ; for there you may trace Saturn in the most expressive prints
of man. After many expeditions from Greece, you will find him
landed in your own country, and there by the consent of Janus or
Janes (as the Salii call him) taking up his seat, the hill he inhabited
called after his own name Saturninus, and the city he founded,
Saturnia, to this day ; and at length all Italy succeeded to this title,
after that of QEnotria. The invention of writing,^ and coining the
1 Novos Veteres, Barbaras, etc. After the most diligent collection, Varro has
musiered up an army of gods to the tune of above thirty thousand. The
explanation of the titles, and some instances of each of the sort of gods mentioned,
you may see in Pamelius upon this place ; but for a fuller and more distinct
account I refer to Alex, ab Alex. lib. ii. p. 379, and lib. vi. cap. 4, pp. 433
and 436.
^ Ab ipso priinum Tabulce, et Imagine signatus nmnmtis et inde ^rario
pj-cesidet. This ^rarium or treasure-house, of which Saturn was president, was
not only the public exchequer, but in it likewise were kept the Acts of the Senate,
the books of records, and the Libri Elephantini, so called from their bigness, in
which all the names of the citizens were registered, and from these books,
Tertulliaiis Apology for the Christians, 37
money with the king's image, you ascribe to Saturn ; and for that
reason you make him patron of the pubhc treasury, which is placed
in his temple. But now if Saturn was a man, and consequently
the son of a man, he could not properly be the son of heaven and
earth. And it was very natural for a person of an unknown race
to be fathered upon these two, whose children in some sense we
may be all said to be ; for, considering how much our lives are all
owing to the concurrent influences of heaven and earth, who does
not by way of respect honour them with the title of common
parents? Or it might come to pass from a custom of saying a
person dropped from the skies, when he stepped in, unknown and
unexpected by those about him. And so Saturn, from his surprising
appearance in Italy, might be said to come from heaven. Besides,
a person of an uncertain family had usually the denomination of a
son of earth ; ^ not to mention the rudeness of those times when
the people were struck with the sight of a stranger as at the presence
of a god ; since the refined spirits of this polished age have made
improvements of the folly, and raised them up into gods whom the
other day they solemnly attended to the funeral. This is enough
in reason to say about Saturn, though it is but little. I shall now
do as much for Jove, and show him to be a mere man, as well as
entituled Tohiilce piihlica, the treasury was called Tabularium. See Servius
upon that of Virgil, lib. ii. Georg.
Aut Populi Tabularia vidit.
Imagine Signatus. Macrobius, Saturn, lib. i. cap. 7, reports that Janus having
entertained Saturn, who came to him by ship, and having made him co-partner
of his kingdom for the good instructions he received from him, the first money
he stamped (which was brass) he impressed on one side the image of himself,
and on the other the fore-deck of a ship, in memory of Saturn, according to that
of Ovid. i. fast.
Mult a quidem didici ; sed cur navalis in cere
Altera signata est, altera Forma biceps?
At bona Posteritas puppem formavit in cere
Hospitis adventtwi testificata Dei.
Pliny in lib. xxxiii. cap. 3, says that Servius Tullius was the first who stamped
brass money with the image of beasts, and so from pecude the word pecunia.
Afterwards the images of the Csesars, with inscriptions and titles, were impressed
upon the coin ; so Nero in the habit of a harper. Sueton. in vit. Ner. and Alex-
ander Severus in the habit of Alexander the Great, etc.
■'• Terrce filios vulgus vocat, quorimi genus est incerttim. Thus is Tytius called
both by Homer and Virgil, "Hyov Wo'4'Of^ivov rtruov yaiiiiov vlov. Odyss. lib. vii.,
and so again, lib. xi., Ka/ rtTvov sT^av yaim Ip/xv^ios vVov.
Nee non et Tytium Terrce omnipotentis Alumnum.
Id estf Filium, according to Servius. Virgil, ^tieidf lib. vi.
^8 Terhtllian s Apology for the Christians,
a
the son of a man, and consequently the whole swarm of divinities
mortal, and like father like son.
-0-
CHAPTER XL
THAT THE FANCY OF MAKING GODS OF DEAD MEN IS A VERY
FOOLISH FANCY.
And because you have not the hardiness to deny but that your
gods were once men, and yet stand up for posthumous divinities, or
dead men turned into gods, I shall now consider the reasons for
such an imagination. In the first place, then, you will be forced to
grant some superior God who auctions ^ out His divinity, and upon
good consideration makes gods of men ; for men cannot naturalize
themselves into gods; nor can any one else bestow the divine
nature upon them, but him who is the proprietor of it. But now,
if the supreme power itself cannot make gods, you then presume in
vain upon made gods without a maker. Certainly if men could
deify themselves, they would never have taken up with a human
being, when a divine one was in their power. Upon supposition,
therefore, that there is one who is able to make gods, I will examine
the reasons for making them ; and upon consideration I can find
none, unless it be that the supreme God has too much business
upon His hands to manage as it should be, without some sub-gods
to assist Him. But, first, it is the most unbecoming idea of
Almighty power, to think it wants the help of a man, much less of
a dead one. And it is as unbecoming infinite wisdom, which could
not but foresee its wants, not to have made an assistant deity from
the beginning, rather than to tarry to the end of a man's life before
he can supply his necessities.
But I can see no room for any help-meet for God ; for whether
you consider this great machine of the world as eternal with
Pythagoras, or made in time with Plato, you will find it from its
structure framed with all materials and movements necessary for
the order and government of this vast body ; and He who gave this
^ Mancipem quendam Divinitatis. These mancipes were the chief among the
publicans, or the principal farmers of the public revenues. Vid. Cic. de Arusp.
respons.f et Alex, ab Alex. lib. ii. p. 520. *
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, 39
pertection to everything could not want it Himself, or stand in
need of an assistant. He did not wait for a Saturn, or any of the
Saturnian race, to work under Him in the ordering of His world.
For men must be vain to the last degree to think that it did not
always rain, and the stars dart their rays, and the sun and moon
shine perpetually in their orbs, and the thunder bellow, and poor
Jove himself, in whose hands now you put the bolts, tremble at the
clap ; and likewise that the fruits of the earth were not in being
before Bacchus, and Ceres, and Minerva, and even the first man
was formed out of it ; because the world must be made and pro-
vided with all the necessaries of life before man can come to live
in it. Lastly, your gods are reputed to be the inventors, and not
the creators of these supports of life ; but that which is found out
must have a being before it can be found, and that which is thus
in being cannot properly be said to be his who found it, but his
who made it ; because it was in existence before it was found out.
But if Bacchus was consecrated for the discovery of vines, IvUCuUus,
methinks, had hard usage to miss of a consecration for the planta-
tion of cherry-trees in Italy ; for he is celebrated as the author of
this new fruit, because he first brought it over with him from Pontus.
Wherefore, if the universe was well appointed with all its furniture
from the beginning, and everything was posted in its proper station,
and adjusted with proper powers for the execution of its ofiice,
without any foreign assistance, this reason of yours for making of
gods falls to the ground ; because the places and functions you
assign to them are supplied by nature, and all things would have
always been just as they are, whether you had created any gods or
no. But you turn over to another reason, and say that this confer-
ring of godships was intended for the rewarding of virtue. From
hence, I suppose, you will grant the god-making God Himself to be
virtuous in perfection, and consequently not to dispense these
divine honours at sixes and sevens, without having any respect to
the merits of the persons. I desire you therefore to sum up the
merits of those you worship for gods, and judge whether they are
likely to lift men up into heaven, or not rather press them down to
the very bottom of hell, which when the fit is upon you, you call
the prison of the damned. This is the dungeon where you thrust
the undutiful and incestuous, the adulterers, and ravishers of virgins,
and abusers of themselves with mankind, the savage and the
murderer, thieves and cheats, and whoever resembles some one
god or other of yours ; for you cannot name one without a fault,
unless you disown him to have been a man. But they have left too
40 Tertullian's Apology for the Christians.
many prints of human frailty to deny them to be men, and such as
not only prove them men, but such also as prove it incredible they
should be made gods in another world.
If you sit upon the bench to punish such miscreants, and men of
honour spit at such nasty acquaintance, and the supreme God takes
up such fellows to associate with His Majesty, why then do you
condemn them whose colleagues in wickedness you adore ? This
justice of yours is mere lampoon and satire upon heaven. If you
would get into the good graces of your deities, I would advise you
to consecrate the greatest rakes you can find, for certainly a conse-
cration of such rakes is doing honour to those they are like.
But not to dwell longer upon things so unbecoming the divine
nature, I will suppose your gods to have been good honest men,
yet how many better and more noted have you left in hell ? For
there have you not left the wise Socrates, the just Aristides, the
excellent General Themistocles, and Alexander the Great, Poly-
crates the fortunate, Croesus the rich, and Demosthenes the
eloquent ? Which of your gods had more gravity and wisdom than
Cato, more justice and conduct, with courage, than Scipio, more
magnanimity than Pompey, more success than Sylla, more wealth
than Crassus, and more eloquence than TuUy? How much more
becoming had it been for him who had a foresight of these worthier
personages to have stayed till their death before his creation of
gods? But he was in haste, I suppose, for company, and having
taken up those you worship, he made fast the door, and so heaven
lies blushing now to see braver souls repining in hell.
CHAPTER XII.
CONCERNING THE VANITY OF IMAGE-WORSHIP.
But I shall push these things no turther, and take another course to
set you right in the notions of your gods ; for by demonstrating
what they are not, I shall show what they are. And as much as
I can learn of your gods, they have nothing of the venerable but
merely their names, imposed by some old people dead and gone.
I meet with no account of their lives but what is blended with
Tertulliati s Apology for the Christians. 41
fables, and I find the whole fabric of your religion built upon a
pack of human inventions. As for your images, I shall only observe
that they are material, and often of the same matter with your
common utensils ; and it is ten to one but the holy image has some
sister-vessel about the house, the pots and kettles being frequently
of the same metal and piece with the gods. Nay, oftentimes the
vessels themselves have the good luck to change their fate, and be
turned into gods, by the help of consecration, which alters the
property, and by the help of art, which alters the form, though not
without great sacrilege and contumely to any of the gods in their
very making. So that it is, indeed, a mighty consolation to us who
are punished for these gods, to find them suffer the like with us,
before they come to be worshipful ; for Christians are fastened to
crosses and stumps of trees ; and have you ever an image that has
not been so applied in its formation ? It is upon a frame of wood
in the form of a gibbet where the body first takes its degree of
divinity. Our Christian sides are torn with nails ; but how is every
member of your poor gods mauled with hatchets, saws, and files ?
We lose our heads, and your gods have none, before the lead, and
the glue, and the nails set them on. We are drawn about by wild
beasts, and so Bacchus is drawn by tigers, Cybele by lions, and
Ceres by serpents. We are cast into the fire, and your gods are
cast and founded there also. We are condemned to the mines, and
are not your gods dug out from thence? We are banished into
islands, and there is not an island but is famous for the birth or burial
of some god or other. If these are the ways of deifying, then while
you are plaguing Christians you are only hammering them into
gods, and your punishing ought properly to be called a consecra-
tion. But in truth your gods have not the sense to feel the hard-
ships they undergo in making, nor the honours you pay them when
made. And here I expect you should cry out, O blaspemy ! O
sacrilege ! but you may gnash and foam as you please ; yet remem-
ber that you yourselves are the admirers of that Seneca, who in his
book of superstition has been much severer against you upon this
head than I. If, therefore,^ we will not adore your statues and
■* Igitiif si Statuas et Imagines frigidas inortuorum siiortim similliinas non
adoramus. This passage the Magdeburgenses, says Pamelius, have wrested
against the use of images in the Church, and takes it ill of Zephyrus for conclud-
ing that the Christians in Tertullian's time had only the sign of the cross above
the altar, and is so unfortunate in his zeal as to take occasion even from hence to
justify, not only the use of images, but the worship of them too, in a very long
note upon this place. But I shall not pretend to answer a person of such
hardiness, only leave it to any impartial reader, whether he can think it possible
that Tertullian would have been so merrily severe for this whole chapter together
42 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
images as cold as death, and in this so very hke the bodies they
represent, do not we deserve panegyric rather than punishment for
leaving an acknowledged error? and which the very kites and
mice and spiders know to be dead as well as we.^ Is it possible we
can hurt those we are certain are not? For that which is not, is
not capable of suffering, because it is not.
-0-
CHAPTER XIIL
CONCERNING THE IRREVERENCE OF THE HEATHEN TO THEIR GODS.
But gods they are in your opinion, say you ; and it so, how comes
it to pass that you use them so scurvily, with such profaneness,
sacrilege, and irreverence? How dare you despise what you
presume to be divine, and pull down the altars of them you fear,
and ridicule the deities you defend? Examine the charge, and
show where I falsify ; for if you worship, some one god, and some
another, how can it be but you must offend the god you overlook ?
For you cannot give the preference to one, without postponing
another; for in the election and reprobation of gods, as well as
men, honour and dishonour are inseparable relations. It is now,
therefore, evident that you must put a slight upon the deities you
reprobate, and that you cannot be afraid of offending those whom
you have the boldness to reprobate. For as I sharply observed before,
the fate of every god depends upon the vote of the senate, he must
pass the house before he comes to be a god, and the house ungods
him at pleasure. As for your domestic deities called Lares,^ you
upon the heathens for the worship of images, had the Christians of his time done
the like, by virtue of the Romish distinction between Dulia and Latria, without
saying one word of such a distinction.
^ Qiias Milvi et Mures et Aranece mtelligunt. Horace himself takes the
liberty of jesting in the like manner.
Mentior at si quid, merdis caput inquiner albis
Corvorum.
2 Domesticos Deos quos Lares dicitis. These Lares were painted in the form of
a dog, as having charge of the house committed to their custody, according to
that of Ovid. Fast. 5.
Pervigilantque Lares, pervigilantque Canes.
The custom in sacrificing to these domestic deities was to eat up all that was
offered. Hence that phrase, Lari Sacrificat, when a fellow eats up all before
him, he sacrifices to his household god.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 43
treat them I am sure but very homely ; for these household gods are
pawned and sold and trucked like other household goods. Saturn
is forced sometimes to serve in the kitchen, and Minerva in the
laundry ; for when these images are worn out, or much battered by
long worshipping, they make a great many good implements ; or if
the master is in want, he strips his Lares ; for necessity is the most
sacred and soonest served of any god about the house.
The gods of the public, by public order, are profaned just like
these gods of the house, for they are bought and sold at market
auctions, and entered into your books of account, and pay duties
for their deityships ; for if the capitol and the herb-market are to be
leased out to farm, they are both proclaimed by the same crier, and
the prices of both adjudged under the same standard, and the farm
of the god registered by the treasurer, like any other public rent. But
the lands which are clogged with the greatest duties are the least
valuable, and the heads which pay capitation are most ignoble,
because these are marks of servitude. But among the gods I find
it otherwise, for they who pay most tribute are looked upon as the
most holy ; or rather they have the most devotion paid them who
return the most custom. Your divine majesties are your mer-
chandize, and their worships are carried about to taverns and ale-
houses a-begging.i You demand money for entrance, and money
for a place in your temple ; it is not possible to serve your gods gratis ;
you turn the penny with them all. Besides, what honours do you
confer upon your gods that you confer not upon dead men ? You
give to both, chapels, and altars, and images, habited and adorned
alike. The human image is dressed out to give an idea of the age,
the art, and profession of the person deceased, and the divine one
is apparelled with the same design, and in the same manner to
exhibit the god. How does a funeral banquet ^ differ from a feast
1 Circuit caupojias Religio mendicans. Here Tertullian no doubt alludes to
the practice of the Corybantes, who with the picture of their goddess Cybele in
their hands went dancing about the streets with pipes and cymbals playing
before them, and keeping time to the thumps upon their breasts, and in this
posture they begged all they met ; and from hence were called Cybeles circti-
latores, the beggars or jugglers of Cybele, and in Greek — f^'/irpayvprai^ from i^mnfi
which in this place signifies Cybele, the great mother of the gods, and kyiprm,
an alms-gatherer or beggar.
2 Quo differt ab epulo Jovis silicernium ? Silicernium was a funeral banquet
to which the oldest sort were invited, and it being the custom to celebrate this
feast upon a stone, the supper was termed Silicerniuni quasi Siliccejiium, that is,
cosna super silicem ; and hence this word came to signify an old man ready for
the grave, or a funeral banquet, or rather, as our own proverb has it, To give the
crow a pudding.
44 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
to Jove, or the vessels you make use of to pour out wine to the
gods above, from those you use for the shades below? What
difference between a soothsayer and an embalmer, for they are
both employed about the entrails of the dead? Nevertheless, I
must own you act consistently with yourselves in performing divine
honours to the dead emperors, because you did it to them living ;
and no doubt but the gods will acknowledge the favour, and thank
you for putting them and their masters, the emperors, upon the
level.
But when I see you adore Larentina,^ a public strumpet, with the
same honours as you do Juno, Ceres, and Diana, methinks I could
wish you had taken into your roll the more noted Lais and Phryne ; ^
when you inaugurate Simon Magus ^ with a statue and inscription,
To the most Holy God j when you canonize a certain Ganymede *
(I know not who), nursed up in apartments at court, although,
indeed, your old gods are not of a better family, yet they cannot
but take it very ill that you should offer to make gods at this rate,
now-a-days, as much as your forefathers did of old.
^ La7'entinam publicam Scortum^ etc. This Larentina I take to be the same
with Larentia in Lactantius, the wife of Faustulus, the nurse of Romulus, a noted
prostitute among the shepherds, afterwards worshipped by the Romans with
divine honours, as Faula, the mistress of Hercules, likewise was. Vid. Lactant.
lib. i. sec. 20.
- Laide77i. This same Lais was a celebrated strumpet of Corinth, of whom
A. Gellius tells this story : That Demosthenes went privily to her to know her
price, she asked him a thousand drachmae, or a talent, at which Demosthenes,
being astonished, replied, ovk uvoZfji.ai fivpiav ^(ia,x,[y-uv fAi7a,[^iXua.'j, I will not buy
repentance at so dear a rate. Vid. A. Gell. lib. i. cap. 8. And hence that of
Horace —
Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.
^ Simonem Magum Staiud et Inscriptione Sancti Dei inaugiiratis. Concerning
this statue and inscription to Simon Magus, for which the Fathers have suffered
so unjustly from some critics, I have spoken at large in my notes upon Justin's
Apology.
^ Nescio quern, etc. This nameless person struck at by Tertullian, Justin
Martyr speaks out : it was Antinous, Hadrian's Ganymede and by his order
consecrated for this service.
Terttdlian s Apology for the Christians. 45
CHAPTER XIV.
t
THAT THE HEATHENS DO BUT MOCK THEIR GODS IN OFFERING
THE REFUSE AND THE VILEST PARTS OF THE SACRIFICE.
I SHALL now take a review of the rites of your religion, but will not
insist upon the quality of your sacrifices, which you know to be the
oldest and scabidest beasts you can find ; if they happen to be fat
and good, you chop off the hoofs and some outside bits, and such
pieces only you vouchsafe your gods, which you bestow upon your
dogs and slaves. Instead of offering Hercules the tenth of your
goods,^ you hardly lay one third of it upon his altar; not that I
blame you for this, for believe me, I take it for a great instance of
your wisdom, to save some of that which otherwise would be all
lost.
But I shall turn to your writings ; and, bless me ! what strange
stuff about your gods do I find, even in your institutions of prudence,
and such books as are designed to polish a gentleman, and form
him to all the offices of a civil life ! Here I find your gods engaged
by pairs like gladiators, one against another, helter skelter, some for
Greeks, and some for Trojans. Venus wounded with a human
^ De Decima He^'culis, Pliny in his Natural History, lib. xii. cap. 14,
mentions a law in Arabia which obliged every merchant to offer the tenth ot
his frankincense, the product of that country, to the god Sabis. We find also in
Justin, lib. xviii. cap. 7, that the Carthaginians sent the tenth of their spoils,
taken in the Sicilian war, to Hercules of Tyre. The Ethiopians paid the tenth
to their god Assabinus. Vid, Plin. lib. xii. cap. 19. The Roman general
Sylla dedicated the tenth of all his estate to Hercules, and so likewise did M.
Crassus. Vid. Plutarch in Sylla et Crasso. Instances in abundance of this kind
are to be seen in Selden's Hist, of Tithes, cap. 3, Mountag. diatrib. p. i, cap. 3,
and in Spencer de leg. Hebr. lib. iii. cap. 10. Now from hence will arise a
question, how it is possible that nations so remote, and who never seem to have
had the least commerce or acquaintance with each other, should come to hit
upon the same notion as to dedicate an exact tenth, no more nor no less. This
proportion is certainly in itself a thing indifferent, and consequently not discover-
able by the light of nature, and the practice was too constant, regular, and
universal to be ascribed to humour or fancy ; nor can it with any probability be
thought to have spread over the world from the Jewish nation, a nation debarred
from corresponding with the Gentile world, and morally hated for the singularities
of their religion, and besides the custom of dedicating a tenth, was a custom long
before the Jews were an established people ; it seems therefore most reasonable
to believe that this custom-like sacrifice, priesthood and marriage, was derived
from Adam to Noah ; and from him continued by his posterity to the confusion
at Babel, and by means of that universal dispersion spread over all the world.
46 Tertullians Apology for the Christianas.
shaft in rescuing her son ^neas ^ from Diomedes, just upon the
point of kilHng him. The god of war in chains for thirteen
months, and in a very lamentable pickle ; and Jove by the help of
a monster narrowly escaping the like treatment from the rest of the
celestial gang. One while he is represented crying for his Sarpedon,
another while in the arms of his grunting sister, recounting his
amours, and protesting that of all his mistresses she is the darling.
Besides, which of your poets takes not the liberty to disgrace a god
for a compliment to his prince ? One makes Apollo King Admetus's
shepherd; another makes Neptune bricklayer to Laomedon; and
the man of lyrics, Pindar, I mean, sings of ^sculapius's being
thunderstruck for abusing his skill in physic out of covetousness.
But I must needs say that Jove did ill, if Jove was the thunderer,
in being so unnatural to his nephew, and so envious to so fine an
artist. However, these things, if true, ought not to be divulged;
nor invented, if false, by any who pretend so much zeal for the
gods and their religion. But neither tragedians nor comedians are
one bit more tender of the reputation of your deities ; for you shall
not meet a prologue that is not stuffed with the disasters and
excesses of the family of some god or other. I shall say nothing
of the philosophers — let the instance of Socrates serve for all — who
in derision of your gods swore by an oak, a goat, and a dog. But
Socrates, you say, was put to death for thus denying the gods ; it
must be confessed, indeed, that truth has always been on the suffer-
ing side, but yet since the Athenians repented of the sentence, and
revenged his death with that of his accusers, and erected to him a
statue of gold in their very temple ; this, I say, is argument enough
that upon second thoughts they came over to Socrates, and ap-
proved his testimony against the gods. But Diogenes also rallies
very merrily upon Hercules, and the Roman cynic Varro* as
waggishly introduces three hundred Joves or Jupiters without heads.
1 Quod /ilium suum ^neam pene interfechim, etc. These words are not in
Rigaltius's edition, but being in that of Pamelius, and an illustration of the story,
I have translated them ; and the following fables, which the poets have told to
the eternal disgrace of the heathen gods, are so common, and so frequently occur
in all the Apologists, that I will not presume the reader ignorant.
^ Romamis Cynicus Vari'o. He reckons up forty-three Hercules, as well as
three hundred headless Joves. Vid. Tiraquell upon Alex, ab Alex, lib. ii p. 379.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 47
CHAPTER XV.
CONCERNING THE SHAMEFUL REPRESENTATION OF THE GODS
UPON THE STAGE AND AMPHITHEATRE.
The profane wits are continually at work to raise you pleasure at
the disgrace of the gods ; when you see the farces of Lentulus or
Hostilius acted, tell me whether it be the mimics or the gods you
laugh at. You can sit out Anubis the adulterer/ and see Luna-
masculus played, or Diana whipped, or the last will and testament
of dying Jove, or the three hunger-starved Hercules. But besides
these pieces of buffoonery, all your comedies and tragedies ^ are
chiefly freighted with the uncleanness of your gods. It is a public
pleasure to behold Sol in sadness for the fall of his son Phaeton.
You can see without a blush the mother of the gods, old Cybele,
sighing after a coy shepherd. You can bear to hear all the titles
of Jove's adventures sung upon the theatre ; and see with patience
Paris sit in judgment upon Juno, Venus, and Minerva. What a
lewd and infamous head is that which is masked over to personate
a god ! What a prostitute body, formed for the stage by a long
^ Mcechum Anubim^ Lunam Masculum, etc. We may easily conjecture from
the several arguments of these farces, that they were a lampoon and public
mockery of the gods then in worship ; but none of those mentioned are extant as
I know of. The titles of all, but that of Luna Masculus, do in some measure
explain them ; and if it may be forgiven in a matter of no moment, and where
the commentators are silent, to put in my opinion, it is this, — There was in
Assyria among the Carrae a temple dedicated to Luna, in which whoever offered
his supplications to Luna was sure to be under petticoat government ; but he
who sacrificed to Lunus should continue master of his wife. Vid. Al. Spartian.
in Antonin. Caracalla. This no doubt was a subject comical enough for the
wits of the time to make merry with the goddess Luna, and the god Lunus,
which I take to be the Luna Masculus ; though there may be another meaning
not fit to be mentioned.
* Sed et Histrio7tu77i literce oftmem faditatem eorum designant. An. Urb. Cond.
400, there happened a great sickness, and the Romans superstitiously conceiting
that the wrath of the gods could no otherwise be propitiated than by the institu-
tion of some new games, sent for certain stage-players from Hetruria, which they
called Histriones, from the Hetrurian word hister^ which signifies such a player.
Vid. Polydor. de Invent, lib. iii. cap. 13. These plays in time, especially the
Mimicae, grew to that excessive lewdness, that the pantomimi were put down by
Domitian. V^id. Sueton. in vita ejus, cap. 7. Afterwards expelled by Trajan ;
and the Histriones by Tiberius. Vid. Tacit, lib. iv., and even by Nero, Tacit,
lib. xiii., and Sueton. in vita ejus, cap. 13. And had Tertullian lived in our day,
and seen the heathenish freedoms of the stage in a Christian commonwealth, he
would have passed a severer censure upon the authors, players, and spectators,
who countenance them without a blush, than he did upon those in the age in
which he lived.
48 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
course of effeminacy, is that which plays Minerva or Hercules!
What profanation and violence is this to divine majesty ! While
you applaud the actors, do you not hiss your gods out of the world ?
But may be I am to think you more religious in the amphitheatre,
where the gods are brought in dancing upon human blood, and
upon the dead bodies of criminals ; the gods, I say, which supply
the fable, unless it be when the poor actors are forced to suffer to
the life, and be the very gods themselves. P'or we have seen an
actor truly suffer castration in personating the god Atys of Pessinus ;
and another playing Hercules in real flames -, and among the ludi-
crous barbarities ^ which are exhibited at noonday, for the entertain-
ment of those who are more greedy of them than dinner. I could
not forbear smiling to see Mercury going about with a rod of iron
red hot, probing the bodies to fetch out the souls, and Jove's brother
Pluto, in like manner, with his mallet in his hand to finish those
that were not quite dead, and make them ready for the ferry-boat.
But now if every one of these things, and many m.ore of the same
complexion I could produce, notoriously tend to the disquiet of
your gods in possession, and to lay their divine honours in the dust,
^ Inter Ludicras meridianorum crudelitates. To understand this, we must
remember that in the morning men were brought forth upon the theatre to fight
with wild beasts, and these morning combatants were allowed arms offensive
and defensive. Another sort were brought forth about noon (called therefore
Meridiani) naked, with swords only in one hand cutting, and with the other
hand empty, grasping and tearing each other's flesh. Vid. Sueton. Claud. 34 ;
so that Seneca, Ep. 7, comparing these two sorts of combats, sayeth, Quicquid
antea pugnahun est, misericordia fuit. But that which I think more material to
remark (especially since Pamelius and Rigaltius have not) is, the peculiar light
that this custom of Meridian cruelties lets into the 9th verse of the 4th chapter
of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. The words are these, "I think
God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed unto death ; for
we are a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men." This verse runs
all in terms agonistical, iaxa.rov?, hath set forth us last, or as the Meridian
gladiators, the word «-Tri^u^iv is properly Ostendzt, which signifies the author or
exhibitor of these inhuman. sights ; and Lipsius makes Ostendere Munns in Tully
to be the same with Proponere Munus in Suetonius, both signifying the setter
forth or donor of these combats, Vid. Lips, in sat. lib. ii. cap. 18. God
hath set forth us the apostles last, l-pri^avKriovg, as men appointed unto death,
just as the last gladiators were ; and Siarpov lyir/ihf^^, we are made a spectacle.
All which evidently relate to the Meridianorum crudelitates ; and Tertullian,
lib. de pud. p. 566, cites the aforementioned verse thus, Puto nos Deus
Apostolos 7iovissimos elegit, velut Bestiarios ; "I think God has chosen out
us apostles last, as the bestiarii, or men condemned to be torn in pieces by wild
beasts." These being the last and bloodiest spectacles, which for that day ap-
peared upon the theatre, and for which many were so fond that they would stay
out noon and lose their dinner ; for this likewise Rigaltius would have included
in this expression, though I think without much reason. However, I have
translated it with this intimation.
Terhtllians Apology for the Christians, 49
why then they cannot be looked upon as acted upon a pubHc stage,
but merely iii ridicule of religion, both by the actors and spectators
also, who delight in such plays. But these you will say are ludicrous
and pastimes only; but now if I give you an appendix of some
serious debaucheries, which your consciences will testify to be as
true as what I have just now spoken of with relation to the theatre,
how that adulteries are become a merchandise in the very temple,
and women picked up at the altars, and the lust fulfilled in the
apartments of the sacristans, and under the same pontific vestments,
the very incense still smoking before their eyes. If these, I say,
are abominations in vogue among the heathen, I do not see but the
heathen gods have more reason to put in their complaints against
them than against Christians.
The sacrilegious profaners of temples are only among yourselves ;
for Christians never enter your temples while you are serving your
idols ; if they worshipped your gods, they might serve them perhaps
as you do. But if Christians do not worship the things you worship,
pray what is it, say you, that they do worship ? This then is the
subject now under examination, that we Christians are the wor-
shippers of the true God, who do not worship your false ones, nor
go any longer astray after them, when our eyes have been opened
to see our error. Here then I shall present you with the whole
series of our religion, having first returned an answer to some
groundless objections against it
CHAPTER XVI.
1
CONCERNING THE ASS'S HEAD, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE VANITIES
CHARGED UPON THE CHRISTIANS.
For some of you have dreamed yourselves into a belief that an
ass's head is the Christian's God. This was insinuated first by
Cornelius Tacitus,^ who in his fifth book, entering upon the Jewish
^ Cornelius Tacitus hanc suspicionem inseruit. This story concerning the
ass's head, and the ground of worshipping it, is not only reported confidently
by Tacitus, but also by Plutarch. Vid. Plut. Sympos. lib. iv. Quest. 5, p. 670,
and so likewise by Appio the Ale'sandrian many years before, in his books
against the Jews. And this fable has been as confidently taken up, and as
50 TertulliarHs Apology for the Christians, ,
war under Vespasian, begins with the history of that nation, their
original, name, and reHgion, and giving a loose to his invention,
reports that the Jews being delivered, or as he will have it, banished
from Egypt, and being in great want of water in the deserts of
Arabia, put themselves under the conduct of some wild asses they
met by chance, concluding that they were going to drink after
pasture, and being in the very article of necessity thus luckily
revived, out of gratitude to their benefactors, consecrated a head
resembhng that of the beasts who had befriended them in extremity.
This account I take to have bred the opinion about the ass's head ;
because we, deriving our religion from the Jews, might well be
thought to be initiated in the worship of the same idol.
But yet this same author Cornelius Tacitus, in truth a great
broacher of lies, in the very same history relates that Cn. Pompey
having sacked Jerusalem, to gratify his curiosity in discovering the
mysteries of the Jewish religion, went into the temple, and found
not one statue or image therein ; whereas, had they worshipped
any graven image, he had certainly found it in the most holy place ;
and so much the rather because there the vanity had been in no
danger of a discovery from strangers, that being a place which the
high priests alone were permitted to enter, and which was covered
with a veil that kept it from every other eye. As for the objection
of the ass's head, I cannot but admire you should insist upon it
against Christians, you who cannot deny but that you pay divine
honours to all the beasts of burthen, to asses' heads and bodies
both, together with their goddess Epona.^ But here, perhaps, lies
the crime, that among the worshippers of every animal we should
ridiculously improved by some modern atheists, to discredit the miracle of
Moses in making the waters flow out of the rock, who content themselves to
solve this mighty work only by saying with an air of assurance that Moses did
all he did in this by the help of a wild ass, which he made to follow him, by
the sagacity of which thirsty ass he discovered a secret spring in the rock.
^ Cum sua Epona. This Epona was the goddess of stables, and is likewise
taken notice of, and read by Minutius Felix just as Rigaltius reads it. Though
there is a terrible dispute among the critics, a great cry, and very little wool,
about the spelling and quantity of this goddess's name ; some spelling it
Hippona, and making the middle syllable long ; others spelling it as Rigaltius
does, and making the middle syllable short, and thus Prudentius in his
Apotheosi makes it,
Nemo Cloacincb aut Eponce super astra Deabus.
Whoever thinks it worth while may see this point fully cleared by Dr. Holyday
in his note upon that passage in the 8th Sat. of Juvenal.
Jurat solum Eponam.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 51
be the ass-worshippers only. I come now to another calumny,
which blackens us with the adoration of a cross ; ^ and here I shall
prove the calumniator himself to be a fellow-worshipper or sharer
in the scandal ; for he that worships any piece of timber is guilty
of the thing charged upon us ; for what signifies the difference of
dress and figure, while the matter and substance is the same — they
are wooden gods at best ? Yet where is the difference between a
plain cross and your Athenian Pallas, and Pharian Ceres, which
' Sed et qui Crucis Religiosos nos putat. The primitive Christians (as I have
already observed upon Justin Martyr), from signing themselves in baptism with
the sign of the cross, and the constant use of it almost in the most common
actions of life in honour of their crucified Master, were defamed by the heathens
as worshippers of a cross. Tertullian therefore in this place sets himself to wipe
off this scandal from the Christians, and does it as effectually, I think, as words
can do it. And yet Pamelius is so very sanguine as to affirm that this passage,
however understood, most certainly makes for the worship of the cross. That
is, let Tertullian speak what he will against the worship of the cross, yet he
most certainly speaks for it ; but let us consider the case. Our author is here
not only answering but retorting the objection of worshipping a cross upon the
objectors themselves, and to this purpose makes use of the argument ad homineni ;
and says that they of all men had the least reason to charge the worship of a
cross upon Christians, because there was not an image they erected but what
resembled a cross in part ; and then with his usual smartness concludes that we
who worship an entire cross, if we do worship it, methinks have much the better
on it of you, who worship it only by halves. " If we do worship it," says this
commentator, is only a wise and wary expression, frequent with the primitive
Fathers ; for fear, had he confessed the worship of the cross freely, it might have
confirmed the heathen in their old idolatry. And this is so true, says Pamelius,
that in the 21 cap. Tertullian durst not speak out that the Christians worshipped
Christ, but God only through Christ. But wise reserves and wary expressions,
and such pious frauds, were strange things to primitive Christians. Idolatry was
the reigning sin of these times, and what all the Christian apologists you will
find labour most of all to expose and ridicule out of the world. Justin Martyr
spends great part of his First Apology in doing so, plainly and publicly affirming
that the Christians worshipped one God only in the Trinity of Persons, and
argues at the same rate against worshipping of crosses as Tertullian here does.
Minutius Felix does the very same likewise, and says in the person of Octavius,
Criices etiani nee eolinnis, nee optamus ; "as for crosses, we neither desire nor
worship them," p. 89. And our Tertullian is so bold a writer, so free and open
in his confessions, and so liberal of his satire upon all occasions, that he would
be the last man I should charge with reserve and caution. The useful distinction
between Latria and Dulia never entered into his head ; nor did any of the first
Fathers ever imagine that there was anything in the Christian religion which if
discovered might confirm the heathens in their idolatry. And in the very chapter
referred to by Pamelius, our author makes it his business to vindicate the
Christians from the charge of idolatry, by proving Christ to be the Logos, the
Son of God, and truly and properly God, and that this hypostatic union of
the divine with the human nature was the foundation of that divine worship
which Christians paid to Christ ; to which excellent chapter I recommend the
reader.
5 2 Terhtlliaii s Apology for the Christians.
are but rude, unpolished posts exposed without a stroke or im-
pression of the artist upon them ? There is not an image you erect
but resembles a cross in part; so that we who worship an entire
cross, if we do worship it, methinks have much the better on it of
you who worship but half a cross.
I have already mentioned how all your earthen gods derive
their divinity from a cross, the image-maker putting the clay upon
crosslike engines before he forms it ; but you likewise adore your
goddess Victoria in this form, for crosses are the inward part of
this deity, your trophies being only poles laid across, and covered
over with the spoils of the enemy. For indeed the Roman religion
is entirely martial; they worship their standards, and swear by
their standards, and pay diviner respects to their standards more
than to any other god whatever. All the rich embossments and
embroidery of images upon your colours are but necklaces to a
cross, and the flags and streamers are but the robes of crosses ; and
really I cannot but commend your care and tenderness in not
letting your crosses go naked, and not consecrating them till they
are in the best apparel. Others with a greater show of reason take
us for worshippers of the sun.^ These send us to the religion of
Persia, though we are far from adoring a painted sun, like them
who carry about his image everywhere upon their bucklers. This
suspicion took its rise from hence, because it was observed that
Christians prayed with their faces towards the east. But some of
you likewise out of an affectation of adoring some of the celestial
bodies wag your lips towards the rising sun ; but if we, like them,
■'■ Alii plajie humanius et verisimilius solem credant Deum nostrum. Here
again it is very observable (though PameHus thought it his best way not to
observe it) that those who objected the worship of the sun to Christians, did it
with greater appearance of truth than those who objected the worshipping a
cross. The ground of this slander you have in the text ; but that which I think
worthy our notice is this, that Tertullian in this place expressly says that the
Christians in his time worshipped towards the east ; he says the same likewise
in his book ad Nat. lib. i. cap. 13, and so does Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. 7.
And also Origen, Horn. 5, in Ntimer. cap. 4, p. 210. Their altars were usually
placed to the east, and when they worshipped they always turned to the altar.
And therefore when Socrates mentions the church of Antioch, in which he says
the altar stood towards the west, he withal adds that the situation of the altar
was inverted. Vid. Socrat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 22. As the Jews therefore bowed
themselves down towards the mercy-seat, so did the Christians in like manner
bow their faces towards the holy table, praying with the publican, "God be
merciful to me a sinner ; " as is evident from the liturgies of St. Chrysostom and
St. Basil. So little knowledge of antiquity, or so much wilful disrespect to the
best Christians in the purest ages, do some men show in condemning the most
primitive and reverential ceremony of bowing towards the table of the Lord.
Tertttllian s Apology for the Christians, 53
celebrate Sunday as a festival and day of rejoicing, it is for a reason
vastly distant from that of worshipping the sun ; for we solemnize
the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this
day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, deviating from
the old Jewish customs, which they are now very ignorant of.
But there is a strange edition of our God now exposed about
the city; the picture was published first by a rascally gladiator,
very notable for his dodging tricks in combating with beasts, and
published, I say, with this inscription — Onochoetes^ the God of
the Christians.-^ He had the ears of an ass, with a hoof on one
foot, and holding a book in another, and clothed in a gown. We
could not forbear smiling both at the name and the extravagance
of the figure. But they certainly ought to fall down before this
biformous deity, upon his first appearance, who are used to worship
such monstrous compounds, branching out into the heads of a dog
and a lion, and with horns like a buck and a ram, and with haunches
like a goat, and shanks like a serpent, with wings upon their feet
and backs.
But this is over and above, because the world should see that
I have not omitted anything industriously, and not only answered
all the objections, but turned them upon our adversaries ; and now
having wiped ourselves clean of their aspersions, I shall proceed
to the demonstration of the Christian religion.
CHAPTER XVIL
CONCERNING THE GOD OF CHRISTIANS.
The God we worship is one God, that Almighty Being who
fetched this whole mass of matter, with all the elements, bodies
and spirits which compose the universe, purely out of nothing, by
the word of His power which spoke them into being, and by
that wisdom which ranged them into this admirable order, for a
becoming image and glorious expression of His divine majesty,
Deus Christianorum Onochoetes. Concerning the various lections of this
word, see Rigaltius upon this place, and Voss. de Idol. lib. iii. cap. 5, p. 563.
54 Tertulliav! s Apology for the Christians.
which world the Greeks call by a word implying beauty. This
same God is invisible, though we discern His infinite majesty in
all His works, and whom we cannot touch, though represented to
us by divine revelation, and united to us by His Spirit ; and incom-
prehensible, though we come to some imperfect ideas of Him by the
help of our senses.
These are the characters of the true God, but that God which is
sensibly visible, palpable, and comprehensible is of less value than
the very eyes that see Him, and the hands that handle Him, and
the understanding that grasps Him ; for that which is immense is
measurable by nothing but itself, the things that are, force the
knowledge of Him indeed in some measure upon us, but our
capacities can never hold Him. And thus by the evidence of His
works, and the immensity of His being, God becomes intelligible,
and at the same time passes all understanding. And this it is
that renders men without excuse, because they care not to retain
that God in their knowledge, whom they cannot avoid knowing.
For shall I show you Him in the vast variety of wonders which
encompass our beings, and preserve them, and which serve not
only to fill us with delight, but awe and wonder ? Shall I show
you Him from the inward testimony of your very soul; which,
notwithstanding its pressure in this prison of the body ; notwith-
standing it has been scribbled over by vicious institutions, or inclosed
by bad examples ; notwithstanding it has been emasculated by
lust and concupiscence, and in bondage to the worship of false
gods. Yet nevertheless, I say, when the soul comes to herself, as
from a debauch, or after sleep, or a fit of sickness, and recovers
her health and reflection, she has recourse to the name of the God,
and invokes Him by the single name of the God. This being the
proper title, and emphatically expressive of the true God ; the
great God, the good God, the God which is the giver of all good
things, are forms of speech in every one's mouth upon special
occasions. This God is appealed to as the Judge of the world, by
saying, God sees everything, and I recommend myself to God, and
God will recompense me. Oh ! what are all these sayings but the
writings of God upon the heart, but the testimonies of the soul
thus far by nature Christian ? And when she has these words in
her mouth, she turns not her eyes to the capitol, but up to heaven,
as well knowing that to be the residence of the living God, and
that He is the author of her being, and heaven the place of her
original.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 5 5
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONCERNING THE SEPTUAGINT, OR THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS
TRANSLATED INTO GREEK BY THE ENDEAVOURS OF PTOLEMY
PHILADELPHUS.
But in order to bring men to a more perfect and powerful
knowledge of the divine nature, and also of the methods of His
wisdom, and the laws of His will, God has added to the light of
nature an instrument in writing of these things, for the instruction
of those who are willing to be at the pains of inquiring after Him,^
and desirous to find Him in their inquiries, and to believe Him
when found, and serve Him when believed. For this end, the most
just and innocent persons, such who have lived up most faithfully
to the instructions of nature, and consequently the most becoming
or the best prepared subjects for larger communications of divine
knowledge, such, I say, were sent out from the beginning with
mighty effusions of the Holy Spirit to preach to the world that there
is but one only God, that it is He who created all things and
formed man out of the earth (for He indeed is the true Prometheus),
who methodized the world into this variety of seasons, and in
succeeding ages pubhshed His divine majesty and vengeance by a
deluge of water, and fire, and brimstone from heaven, who has
positively determined the laws He will be served by, if we will serve
Him with acceptance ; which laws you know not and will not learn ;
but to the observers of them has destined rewards, who, when He
comes to judgment at the last day, having raised all the dead ^ that
have been dead from the beginning of the world, and restored to
every man his body, and summoned the whole world before Him
to examine and render to all according to their works. He will
recompense His true worshippers with life eternal, but will sentence
the wicked into perpetual running streams of fire everlasting.
1 Si qui velit de Deo inquirere, etc. Revelation was added for the assistance
of corrupted nature, but then it was so wisely tempered with light and darkness,
that those only who search the Scriptures with an honest heart, in order to
believe and obey what they find, will be the better for them. Whoever reads
them with such a disposition will find himself necessitated to believe them ;
according to that of our Saviour, " If any man will do His will, he shall know of
the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
^ Suscitatis omjtibus ab initio defunctis. Here again we find Tertullian, as
well as Justin Martyr, expressly against Mr. Dodwell's notion of a limited
resurrection founded upon the natural mortality of the soul.
56 Tertullian's Apology for the Christians.
These things were once the subject of our wit and drollery,^ as
they are now of yours ; we have been heathens, as you are, for men
are not born, but made Christians. As to those excellent person-
ages I mentioned, so extraordinarily assisted to preach the world into
the notion of one only God, they were called prophets from their office
of foretelling things to come. The oracles they delivered, and the
miracles they wrought for the confirmation of divine truth, were con-
signed to writing, and the books treasured up, and are preserved to this
day j for the most learned of the Ptolemys, surnamed Philadelphus,
and the most curious man living in all sorts of literature, and
rivalling Pisistratus,^ I suppose, in the glories of a library, among
other choice pieces which he hunted after, famed either for their
antiquity or the rarities they contained, by the advice of his library-
keeper, Demetrius Phalereus, the most approved grammarian and
^ HcBC et nos risimus aliqnando, de vestris fuimits. From these words we find
that Tertullian had been a heathen, and such a one too as had made very merry
with the Christian rehgion. He had as quick and pointed a wit, and as good a
knack at rallying and ridicule as the best of them, and his talent this way, and
his course of life (which by his own confession was none of the chastest), no doubt
provoked all his satire against a doctrine so new, and so cross to his inclinations.
However, upon serious consideration, and weighing matters well together, he was
overpowered by the goodness and evidence of divine truth, in spite of his passions.
And the libertines and unbelievers of our own age (who are by no means before-
hand with our Tertullian either in point of wit or reason), would they but as
impartially examine the proofs of Christianity, they would find themselves as
unable to withstand them as our author confesses himself to be.
^ Pisistraium opinor, etc. The libraries of Ptolemy and Pisistratus the tyrant
are both mentioned by A, Gellius, lib. vi. cap. 17, but Tertullian speaks doubt-
fully whether Ptolemy Philadelphus erected his library in imitation of Pisistratus
or no, and not without reason, because it is probable that the king of Pergamus,
in imitation of whom Ptolemy set up his library, was Eumenes. All the ancient
Fathers have believed after Josephus and Philo, that the version not only of the
Pentateuch but of the whole Bible commonly called the Septuagint, was com-
posed by seventy-two Jews sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who desired to have
the Jewish books in Greek to adorn his magnificent library at Alexandria, under
the care and supervisal of Demetrius Phalereus, an Athenian. What the critics
have since urged against this opinion of the Fathers, and against the authority of
Aristaeus and Aristobulus, upon whom (say they) the Fathers took this story in
trust, would be too tedious to insert here, and therefore I refer the reader to the
learned Du Pin's preliminary Dissertation about the authors of the Bible, vol. i.
sec. 3, p. 35, However, I cannot but say that I do verily believe that there
was a Greek version of the Bible made in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus ; for
to me it does not seem credible that the authors of the books which pass under
the titles of Aristaeus and Aristobulus entirely forged the whole story ; much more
reasonable is it to believe that these authors only dressed up a certain matter of fact
with some additions of their own. F. Simon conjectures that this version was
called the Septuagint, because it was approved by the Sanhedrim ; but this, like
most of his conjectures, is wild, and without any foundation. See likewise B.
Stillingfleet's Orig. Sac. lib. i. cap. 3.
Tertulliafis Apology for the Christians, 5 7
critic of his time, sent to the Jews for their sacred writings in their
own mother tongue, and which were in their hands alone ; for the
prophets were raised up out of this nation, and the prophecies
addressed to them, as a pecuhar people, chosen of God out of
respect to their forefathers. Those who are now called Jews went
heretofore by the name of Hebrews, and from hence is the title of
the Hebrew tongue. The Jews gratified the king in the request,
and not only sent him their Bible, but also for fear their language
should not be understood, sent seventy-two interpreters to translate
it into Greek. This is attested by Menedemus, the famous assertor
of a providence, who joined with the Jews in this notion, and was a
great admirer of their writings. We have likewise the testimony of
Aristaeus for the truth of this, who composed a book in Greek upon
the same subject. And in Ptolemy's library near the temple of
Serapis, among other curiosities are these sacred writings shown to
this day. And besides all this, the Jews frequently and publicly
on every Sabbath read the same ; they are tolerated to do it, and
pay a tax for the toleration. Whoever hears them will find the
worship of one God, and whoever will be at the pains to under-
stand them will find himself necessitated to believe them.
CHAPTER XIX.
CONCERNING THE ANTIQUITY OF THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS.
One great argument for the authority of these sacred writings is
the greatness of their antiquity ; ^ an argument you yourselves are
pleased to make use of for the defence of your own religion. I say,
therefore, that before any of your public monuments and inscrip-
i Prhnam Instrumentis istis authoritatem summa Antiqicitas vindicat. The
strongest and shrewdest adversary Christianity ever met with was the philosopher
Porphyrins. He was a man too well versed in antiquity to depend upon the vain
pretences of the Grsecians, and therefore made it his business to search after the
most ancient records, to find something to match the antiquity of Holy Scripture.
And after all his search, he could find no author to vie with Moses but Sanchoni-
athon ; and yet when he had made the most of him, he was forced to allow him
younger than Moses, though he made him older than the Trojan wars. Nay,
he goes about to prove the truth of Sanchoniathon's history by the agreement of
it with that of Moses, concerning the Jews both as to their names and places,
and so this Goliath fell by his own sword, and defended the cause he designed
to destroy. Vid. Euseb. Pi-^^p. Evang. lib. x. cap. 8, p, 285.
58 TertulliarHs Apology for the Christians,
tions, before any of your forms of government, before the oldest of
your books, and the original of many nations, and foundation of
many famous cities, and the very greyest of historians ; and lastly,
before the invention of letters ^ (the interpreters of things, and the
most faithful repositories of action), and hitherto, methinks, I have
said but little, I say therefore before the very being of your gods,
your temples, oracles, and sacrifices, were the writings of one of our
prophets extant, which are the treasury of the Jewish religion, and
by consequence of the Christian. If you have heard of Moses the
prophet, I will tell you his age; he was contemporary with Inachus, the
first king of the Argives, older by three hundred and ninety-three
years than Danaus, the oldest in your histories. About a thousand
years before the destruction of Troy, or as others reckon, about
five hundred years before Homer ; ^ the rest of the prophets, though
later than Moses, yet the latest of them fall in with some of the first
of your sages, lawgivers, and historians. The proof of these things
is not a matter of much difficulty, but only it would swell this
1 Ipsas denique effigies literarum, etc. Before the very use or knowledge of
letters. It is generally acknowledged by Herodotus, Philostratus, and the most
learned of the Greeks, that the Graecians received their very letters from the
Phoenicians by Cadmus ; and Parius, the author of the Greek Chronicle in the
Marmora Arundeliana, makes Cadmus's coming into Greece to be in the time
of Hellen, the son of Deucalion, which according to Cappellus was Anno Mun.
2995, though Mr. Selden sets it something lower, in the eleventh generation
after Moses, about the time of Samuel ; and that the Greek alphabet came from
the Phoenician or Hebrew, is evident from the very sound of the names of the
letters, as well as their form and order. Thus the Greek aX<pa answers to the
Hebrew aleph, (inra. to beth, yay.f/.a to giniel, ^sXt» to daloth, etc., all which,
both as to form, order, and name, you may see in a diagram exhibited by the
great Bochart. Geogr. lib. i. cap. 20. And for anything of history in Greece,
we meet with nothing before the beginning of the Olympiads, when the world
was above three thousand years' standing.
^ Quingentis amplius et Homeruni. Five hundred years before Plom.
Josephus in his first book against Apion says that the Graecians of all nations,
though they boasted so much of antiquity, had the least reasons to do it ; for
they were but of yesterday in respect of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and
Phoenicians, and that notwithstanding they boasted of the invention of letters
from Cadmus, yet could they not produce any inscription or sign of letters in his
time, and that Homer was the most ancient book extant among them ; nor was
this left in writing, but learnt only by heart like other songs, and therefore we
find so many fragments and incongruities in his works when they came to be
committed to writing from bare memory. But herein Josephus is thought to
have strained the point too far, because of the inscription of Amphitrio at
Thebes, in the temple of Apollo Ismenius in the old Ionic letters, and two
others of the same age to be seen in Herodotus, and for some other reasons.
Vid. Bochart. Geog. lib. i. cap. 20. But however this be, certain it is that we
find no records of history in Greece till the world was fiill three thousand years
of age and more. •
Tertulliau s Apology for the Christians. 59
discourse beyond the bounds of an Ai)ology, it is more tedious than
hard ; for abundance of volumes are to be carefully searched into,
to make the computation by a different gesture of the fingers.^
We must unlock the archives of the most ancient people, of the
Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Phoenicians. We must appeal to
the writers of those countries who obliged posterity with the
knowledge of these things, namely, Manethon the Egyptian,
Berosus the Chaldean, Iromus the Phoenician, King of Tyre, and
their followers, Ptolemy of Mendes, and Menander the Ephesian,
and Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and Apion, and
Thallus, and Josephus, a Jewish writer of Jewish antiquities, who
either approved these authors or discovered their errors.^ We
must also compare the registers of Greece to see what things were
done, and when, in order to adjust the successive periods and
links of time, which is necessary to clear up history, and set actions
in their proper light. And yet, methinks, I have done this already
in some measure, and proved, in part, what I proposed, by giving
you here a sprinkling of those authors, where you may see the
proofs at large. But I conclude it better not to pursue this point
further, for fear that by being in haste, either I should not say
enough to set the matter beyond dispute, or else by pursuing it
particularly I should deviate too far from the main design of this
Apology.
CHAPTER XX.
THAT THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES IN HOLY SCRIP-
TURES PROVE THEM TO BE OF AUTHORITY DIVINE.
If for the reasons aforesaid I have been shorter than you might
expect in my proofs of the antiquity of Holy Scripture, I shall
^ Multis instrumentis cum digUorum suppatariis gesticulis adsidendum est.
Abundance of volumes are to be searched into to make the computation by
a different gesture of the fingers. The multiplication table performed by a
different gesture of the fingers is now almost known to everybody ; but whether
it was in use in Tertullian's time, and referred to here by him, I will not say ;
but surely he has exactly expressed it. And the reason for calling the figures
from I to 9 digits, I believe, was from this computation by the fingers.
^ Manethon ^gyptius, et Berosus Chaldceus^ et Iromus Phcenix, Sectatores
quoque eorujn Mendesius Ptolemceus, et Mcenander Ephesius et Demetrius
Phalerus. Concerning this passage, and the antiquity and credibility of these
historians, I desire the reader to consult Bochartus, de Lingud Phoenic et Pun.
lib. ii. cap. 17, and likewise B. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sac, lib. i. cap. 2, 3, etc.
6o Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
make you amends now with proofs of much greater importance ; I
will show you the Majesty, the God that speaks in these writings ;
I will demonstrate the divineness of their authority, if you are still
in doubt about their antiquity. Nor need I be long upon this
article, or send you a great way for instruction ; the world before
you, this present age, and the events therein, shall be your in-
structors. For there is nothing of moment now done but what
has been foretold ; and what we ourselves see, our forefathers have
heard from the prophets. They have heard that cities should be
swallowed up of earthquakes, and islands invaded by seas, and
nations torn in pieces by foreign and intestine wars, and kingdom
split against kingdom, and famine and pestilence take their
marches through the world, and every country swarm with proper
evils j that the beasts of the mountains should lay waste the plains,
that the w^eak and mighty should rise and fall by turns, that justice
should grow scarce and iniquity abound, that arts and sciences
should lie uncultivated, and the seasons of the year be unkindly,
and the elements take an exorbitant course, and the order of nature
be disturbed with monsters and prodigies ; — all these things were
written beforehand for our admonition. For while we suffer, we
read our sufferings j while we reflect upon the prophecies, we find
them a-fulfilling \ and this I take to be a proper and most sensible
proof of the divine authority of these writings, to feel their predic-
tions verifying upon ourselves. Hence it is that we come to be so
infallibly certain of many things not yet come to pass, from the
experience we have of those that are ; because those were
presignified by the same Spirit with these which we see fulfilling
every day. The very words and characters of both were indited
by the impulse of the very same spirit; and this prophetic spirit
sees everything always and at once, though men see only by pieces
and successions of time, and are forced to distinguish between the
beginning of a prophecy, and the fulfilling it, to separate present
from future and past from present.
ft
Wherein therefore I beseech you now, are Christians to blame
for believing things to come, who have two such motives to believe,
or two such mighty pillars to lean upon, as the pas^. and present
accomplishment of the predictions contained in Holy Scripture ?
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 6i
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE BIRTH AND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST.
But because I have already declared the Christian religion to have
its foundation in the most ancient of monuments, the sacred
writings of the Jews ; and yet many among you well know us to
be a novel sect risen up in the reign of Tiberius, and we ourselves
confess the charge; and because you Should not take umbrage
that we shelter ourselves only under the venerable pretext of this
old religion, which is tolerated among you, and because we differ
from them, not only in point of age, but also in the observation of
meats, festivals, circumcision, etc., nor communicate with them so
much as in name, all which seems to look very odd if we are
servants of the same God as the Jews ; — therefore I think it
necessary to explain myself a little particularly upon this head, and
especially because it is in every one's mouth that Christ was a man,
and a man, too, condemned to death by the very Jews, which may
naturally lead any one at first hearing into a mistake, that we are
worshippers of a man, and not of the God of the Jews. However,
this their wickedly ungrateful treatment )f Christ makes us not
ashamed of our Master; so far from it, that it is the joy and
triumph of our souls to be called by our Lord's name and con-
demned for it ; and yet for all this we think no otherwise of God
than the Jews did. To make out this, I am obliged to say
something of Christ as God.
The Jews once were a people in such favour with God, upon the
account of their forefathers' faith and piety, which was the root of all
their greatness, both with respect to the increase of their families,
and the advance of a kingdom, and their happiness was so
unparalleled, that God Himself did them the honour even with His
own mouth to prescribe them laws, whereby they might secure His
omnipotence on their side, and never turn it against them. But
how the degenerate children upon the stock of Abraham's faith, and
in confidence of their forefathers' virtue, how egregiously they pro-
voked God by deviating from His own positive institutions into
profaneness and idolatry ; although the Jews themselves will not
confess this, yet the present calamities ot that people are a sad and
standing testimony against them. For they are now a dispersed,^
1 Dispersi, palabundi, et solt ac ccbU sui Extorres, etc. Justin Martyr in his
First Apology, sec. 62, takes notice that it was a capital crime for a Jew so much
62 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
vagabond people, banished country and climate, strolling about the
world without any show of government, either divine or human,
and so completely miserable that they have not the poor privilege
to visit the Holy Land like strangers, or set a foot upon their native
soil ; and while the sacred writings did forethreaten these calamities,
they did likewise continually inculcate that the time would come
about the last days when out of every nation and country God
would choose Himself a people that should serve Him more faith-
fully, upon whom He would shed a greater measure of grace in
proportion to the merits of the founder of this new worship. The
proprietor therefore of this grace, and the master of this institution,
this Son of Righteousness and tutor of mankind, was declared the
Son of God; but not so that this begotten of God might blush
at the name of Son, or the mode of His generation ; for it was
not from any incestuous mixture of brother and sister, not from
any violation of a god with his own daughter, or another man's
wife, in the disguise of a serpent, or a bull, or a shower of
gold. These are the modes of generation with your Jove, and
the offspring of deities you worship ; but the Son of God we
adore had a mother indeed, but a mother without uncleanness,
without even that which the name of mother seems to imply, for
she was a pure virgin. But I shall first set forth the nature of
His substance in order to make you apprehend the manner of His
nativity.
I have already said that God reared this fabric of the world out
of nothing, by His word, wisdom, or power ; and it is evident that
your sages of old were of the same opinion, that the Aoyo?, that
is, the Word, or the Wisdom, was the Maker of the universe, for
as to set a foot upon the Holy Land. And Eusebius from Aristo Pellseus urges
likewise that by the law and constitutions of Adrian the Jews were prohibited
to cast even their eyes towards Jerusalem. Eus. lib. iv., Hist. Eccles. cap. 6.
Tertullian observes the same here ; and so likewise in his book against the Jews,
cap. 13, upon which you will see some remarks by Dr. Grabe in his Spicileg. Pat.
sec. 2, p. 131, and certainly the distinguishing misery of this vagabond people
even to this day is a strange living monument of the divine wrath ; a mark set
upon them by God for the murder of His Christ, and their obdurate infidelity.
But then it ought also to be observed, that as God in judgment hath scattered
them through all nations, and not suffered them to have a foot of free land in all
the world, yet He hath preserved their name and nation in all places, as distinct
from all other people, as if they had continued in the Holy Land ; in which His
providence and goodness are conspicuous, that according to the prophecies at His
appointed time the veil may be taken away from their faces, that they may look
upon Him whom they have pierced, and be converted to that Jesus whom they
have crucified and ever since blasphemed.
'Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 63
Zeno ^ determines the Logos to be the creator and adjuster of every-
thing in nature. The same Logos he affirms to be called by the name
of Fate, God, Mind of Jove, and Necessity of all Things. Cleanthes '^
will have the author of the world to be a spirit which pervades
every part of it. And we Christians also do affirm a spirit to be
the proper substance of the Logos, by whom all things were made,
in which He subsisted before He was spoken out,^ and was the
wisdom that assisted at the creation, and the power that presided
over the whole work. The Logos or Word issuing forth from that
spiritual substance at the creation of the world, and generated by that
issuing or progression, is for this reason called the Son of God, and
the God, from His unity of substance with God the Father, for God
is a Spirit. An imperfect image of this you have in the derivation
of a ray from the body of the sun ; for this ray is a part without any
diminution of the whole, but the sun is always in the ray, because
the ray is always from the sun ; nor is the substance separated, but
only extended. Thus is it in some measure in the eternal genera-
tion of the Logos ; He is a spirit of a spirit, a God of God,^ as one
1 Hunc enim Zeno determinat Factitatorem. Lactantius, lib. iv. sec. 9, p. 186,
justly says that the term "k'oyoi is much more expressive of the Maker of the
world, than the Latin Verbum or Sermo, as signifying both the Word and
Wisdom of God. And had we still continued the Logos instead of the Word in
our English translation, it had, methinks, been a term more majestic and more
expressive of the personality of Christ than the Word. This Logos was preached
up by Zeno as the disposer of nature and the framer of the world, and was
called sometimes Fate, God, Mind of Jove, etc., says Lactantius in the place
above cited, just as our author speaks here. Concerning this Zeno, the praeceptor
of Antigonus and founder of the Stoics, see Diog. Laer. lib. vii.
^ Hac Cleanthes in Spiritum congerit. Concerning the doctrine of Cleanthes,
Zeno's disciple, vid. Lactant. lib. i. sec. 5, p. 12.
^ Cid et Sermo insit Fronuncianti, etc. There is a threefold generation of the
Son of God frequently mentioned by the primitive writers. The first is the
true and proper generation of the Son, which was from the Father before all
worlds. The second is the progression of the Logos from His Father at the
creation, which they call ^poiXsvtri?, tptvlis, etc. The third was at His incarnation
in the womb of the Blessed Virgin overshadowed by the power of the Most High.
The second kind of generation is that which TertuUian hints at in the words
cited. For the fuller satisfaction in this point I advise the reader to consult
Bishop Bull's incomparable Defence of the Nicene Faith, cap. v., concerning the
co-eternity of the Son. And so likewise, cap. 7, sec. 5, where he will find
several things in this place cleared, and our author vindicated beyond exception
as to the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Son.
* De Deo Detis, ut Lumen de Lumine. This similitude of a ray from the sun,
or a light from a light, is not to be looked upon as a full and adequate illustration
of the mode how the Son of God was generated by the Father, nor will anything
in nature give us a perfect representation of it. It is what Justin Martyr and
others have chosen to represent it by ; nor do I know a better to make this
incomprehensible mystery apprehended, which is all they drive at ; and it serves
64 TertulliafUs Apology for the Christians.
light is generated by another ; the original parent light remaining
entire and undiminished, notwithstanding the communication of
itself to many other Kghts. Thus it is that the Logos which came
forth from God is both God and the Son of God, and those two are
one. Hence it is that a spirit of a spirit, or a God of God, makes
another in mode of subsistence, but not in number ; in order of
nature, but not in numericalness or identity of essence ; and so the
Son is subordinate to the Father as He comes from Him as the
principle, but is never separated. This ray of God then descended,
as it was foretold, upon a certain Virgin, and in her womb was
incarnated, and being there fully formed the God-man, was born
into the world; the divine and human nature making up this
person, as soul and body does one man. The flesh being wrought
and perfected by a divine Spirit, was nursed and grew up to the
stature of a man, and then addressed the Jews, and preached and
worked miracles among them ; and this is the Christ, the God of
Christians. If you please now you may receive this great truth in
the nature of a fable like one of yours, till I have given you my
proofs ; though it is a truth that could not be unknown to those
among you who maHciously dressed up their own inventions on
purpose to destroy it. The Jews likewise full well knew from
their prophets that Christ was to come, and they are now in
expectation of Him ; and the great clashing between us and them
is chiefly upon this very account, that they do not believe Him
already come. For there being two advents of Christ described in
the prophets, the first which is discharged and over, namely His
state of humiliation and suflering in human flesh. The second,
which is at hand, too, in the conclusion of the world, in which He
will exert His majesty, and come in a full explication of divine
glory. By not understanding the first, they fixed only upon the
second advent, which is described in the most pompous and glaring
metaphors, and which struck the carnal fancy with the most agree-
able impressions. And it was the just judgment of God upon them
for their sins that withheld their understandings from seeing this
first coming, which had they understood, they had believed, and by
believing had obtained salvation. And this judicial blindness they
sufficiently to declare their sense and notion of it, namely, that Christ from all
eternity did co-exist with the Father, as light does with the sun, that He was God
of God, without any diminution of the divine substance, as one light is kindled
from another, etc. It is evident likewise from this expression of God of God,
as Light of Light, what the notion of the Fathers was about the divinity of Christ
before the establishment of the Nicene Fathers, who make use of this expression
in their creed.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, 65
read of in their prophets/ that their understandings should be
darkened, and their eyes and ears of no advantage for their
conversion.
Him therefore they could not see to be a God in the humble
disguise of a man ; yet seeing the miracles He did, they cried Him
down for a conjurer, for dealing with the devil, when He was
turning the devils out of all their possessions at a word speaking ;
and with the same word bid sight return to the blind, and it
returned, and cleansed the lepers, and new braced the paralytic
joints, and spoke the dead to Hfe, and made the elements obey,
stilling the storms, and walking upon the seas, and demonstrating
Himself to be the Logos of God, that is, the ancient first-begotten
Word, invested with power and wisdom, and supported by the Spirit,
at whose doctrine the very doctors of the law stood aghast, and the
chief among the Jews were so exasperated against Him, especially
at seeing such numbers of people thronging after Him, that at
length, by mere violence and importunity of remonstrating, they
extorted sentence against Him to be crucified from Pontius Pilate,
then governor of Syria under Tiberius. And all this Christ Him-
self foretold they would do, which I will grant you to be an argument
not so considerable for the authority of His mission, had not all the
prophets long before concurred in every particular. At length
being fastened to the cross, and having cried out and commended
His spirit into the hands of His Father, He gave up the ghost of
His own accord, and so prevented the executioner's breaking His
bones, by dying in His own time, and fulfilled a prophecy by so
doing. Moreover, in the same moment He dismissed life, the light
departed from the sun,^ and the world was benighted at noonday,
and those men who acknowledged this eclipse, but were unac-
quainted with the prophecies that foretold it upon Christ's death,
and finding it impossible to be solved by the laws of nature, at last
roundly denied the fact ; and yet this wonder of the world you have
related, and the relation preserved in your archives to this day.
^ " Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed." Isa. vi. lo.
2 Deliqiduni utique ptitaverunt. An eclipse of the sun at a full moon (as this
was) is by the known laws of nature demonstratively impossible, and this it was
made it so much taken notice of by the ancient astronomers ; by Dionysius the
Areopagite, Apollophanes the Sophist, by Phlegon in his Olympiads, etc. Vid.
paraphrase of Zephyrus, and the notes of Pamelius, and especially the annota-
tions of Grotius upon Matt, xxvii. 45, where this passage of Tertullian is taken
notice of.
C
66 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
Christ then being taken down from the cross, and laid in a sepulchre,
the Jews beset it round with a strong guard of soldiers, forearming
them with the strictest caution that His disciples should not come
and steal away the body unawares, because He had foretold that
He would rise again from the dead on the third day. But lo ! on
the third day, a sudden earthquake arose, and the huge stone was
rolled from the mouth of the sepulchre, and the guard struck with
fear and confusion ; not one disciple appearing at the action, and
nothing found in the sepulchre, but the spoils of death, the linen
.clothes He was buried in. Nevertheless, the chief priests, whose
interest it was to set such a wicked lie on foot, in order to reclaim
the people from a faith which must end in the utter ruin of their
incomes and authority among them, gave out that His disciples
came privily and stole Him away. For after the resurrection Christ
thought not fit to make a public entry among the people,^ because
He would not violently redeem such obstinate wretches from error,
and that a faith which proposes infinite rewards should labour under
some difficulties, that believing might be a virtue, and not a
necessity. But with some of His disciples He did eat and drink
forty days in Galilee, a province of Judea, instructing them in all
they should teach, ^ and then having ordained them to the office of
preaching those instructions all over the world, He was parted from
them by a cloud, and so received up before them into heaven,
much more truly than what your Proculus's report of Romulus, and
some others of your deified kings. Pilate, who in his conscience
1 Nee ille se in Tjulgus eduxit, etc. These and the following words give the
true reason why Christ after His resurrection would not show Himself publicly
to all His crucifiers. Because He would not bestow upon such obstinate
offenders, who had abused all His former miracles, such an evidence as must in
a manner have forced them to believe, whether they would or no ; and therefore
it is said in the Acts of the Apostles, x. 40, " Him God raised up the third
day, and showed Him openly ; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen
before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He arose from
the dead."
2 Docens eos qucz docerent, dehine Ordinatis eis ad Offieium Prcedieandi, etc.
It is very evident in this place that our author makes a notorious distinction
between Christ teaching His apostles in what they should instruct the world, and
His ordaining them to the office and authority of preaching those instructions ;
and as Christ was sent by His Father, so by the same authority did He commis-
sion His apostles to ordain others, and promises to be with them to the end of
the world. And therefore to say that the people have a natural right to ordain
their own ministers, is in effect to say they have a natural right to do a thing
when Christ has determined to the contrary. And because the apostles gave the
people a liberty to choose whom they would have for deacons, therefore they had
a right to ordain them to that office by prayer and imposition of their own
hands.
Tertulltan's Apology for the Christians, 6y
was a Christian, sent Tiberius Caesar an account of all these
proceedings relating to Christ ; and the Caesars had been Christians
too, could the ages have borne it, if either such Caesars had not been
necessary and unavoidable in such times, or could Christians have
come to be Caesars. The apostles, in obedience to their Master's
command, went about preaching through the world, persecuted
by the Jews to the last degree, but suffering victoriously, in full
assurance of the truth ; but at length the infidels taking the advan-
tage of the barbarous Nero's reign, they were forced to sow the
Christian religion in their own Christian blood. But I shall take
an occasion, by and by, to produce such witnesses as you yourselves
must think authentic for the truth of the Christian religion ; for
I shall produce the gods you worship vouching for the God of
Christians. This must needs be surprising, you will say, that I should
bring in those to convert you to the faith, for whose sake it is that
you are infidels. In the meantime you are to look upon this as
the series and economy of the Christian religion. I have laid
before you an account of the original of our sect, of our name, and
of the author of it ; let no man therefore now throw such dirt and
infamy upon Christians, nor harbour an opinion that this account is
not according to truth ; for it is not reasonable to believe that any
one should think it allowable to lie for his religion ; ^ for every man
by saying he adores one, while in his mind he adores another,
denies the very deity he adores, and translates divine honour from
his own god to that other, and by such a translation un worships
the god he worships. But we say we are Christians, and say it to
the whole world, under the hands of the executioner,^ and in the
^ Quia nee fas est ulli de sua Religione mentiri. Pamelius brings forth this
passage in great state, as if it made notably for the papists against certain heretics
of his time, who justified lying for their religion. I do not know what heretics
he means, and if there be any that do so, they certainly do very ill, and against
the apostle's rule of not doing evil that good may come of it ; but had he con-
sidered some certain casuists of their own, he might have spared this reflection.
- Dicimus etpalam dicimus, et vobis torquentibus lacerati et cruenti vociferatnur,
Deum colimus per Christum. The primitive Christians were not ashamed or
afraid to proclaim, to proclaim it to the whole world, and under the hands of the
executioner, and weltering in their own blood, that they worshipped God through
Christ. Do we ever read of any generation of men so greedy of martyrdom
before, who thought it long till they were upon the rack, and so cheerful and
stedfast under the most intolerable torments ? What a restless posture of mind
does Socrates betray, the wisest and best of heathens ! With what misgivings
and fits of hope and fear does he deliver himself in that most famous discourse,
supposed to be made by him a little before his death, about a future state ! Vid.
Plat. Fhced. Do we find that Phsedo, Cebes, Crito, and Simmias, or any of his
greatest friends, who were present at his death, condemning his murder in
the Areopagus, and asserting the worship of one god as the Christians did ? Did
68 Tertnllians Apology for the Christians.
midst of all the tortures you exercise us with to unsay it. Torn and
mangled and covered over in our own blood, we cry out as loud as
we are able to cry that we are worshippers of God through Christ.
Believe this Christ, if you please, to be a man, but let me tell you
He is the only man by whom and in whom God will be known and
worshipped to advantage. But to stop the mouth of Jews, I have
this to answer, that they received every tittle of their religion from
God by the meditation and ministry of the man Moses ; and as to
the Greeks, did not Orpheus upon Mount Pieria, and his disciple
Musseus at Athens, and Melampus at Argos, and Trophonius in
Boeotia, were not all these men who initiated these several countries
in their religion? And to turn my eyes upon you, who are the
masters of the world, was it not the man Numa Pompilius, who
bound on these heavy burdens of ceremony and superstition upon
the Romans ? Why then, I pray you, must not Christ be tolerated
to give the world a commentary of that divinity ^ which is His own,
properly His and His alone ? He who did not begin His govern-
ment upon a wild uncultivated people, and astonish them into
subjection and civility by a multitude of imaginary gods, after the
example of your Numa, but addresses the most polished and
not Plato afterwards dodge about, and disguise himself under feigned names, and
say and unsay the most excellent truths for the security of his skin ? And did
not all the academics afterwards keep much upon the reserve, for fear that
dogmatizing should send them after their master Socrates ? How then comes it
to pass that Christians, and Christians only, should dare to suffer at this rate above
all the philosophers in the world, and that the same generation of men should
hold on suffering for four hundred years together, till they had subdued the world
by dying for their religion ? Had not Christians the same flesh and blood, the
same sense and feeling as other men ? and did they not desire happiness as
much as other men ? If so, then nothing but the clearest, the most powerful and
convincing arguments could possibly engage such numbers of men in a particular
worship, and support them under it in defiance of death in the most shocking
circumstances. And with what face could a Christian offer to persuade a heathen
to embrace such a persecuted religion, without the clearest convictions imagin-
able? This argument from the primitive sufferings, and from the manner of
them, for the truth of Christianity I insist upon the longer, not only because it is
strong in itself, and so often appealed to in these Apologies, but because to me it
is more moving, and apter to take hold of the heart, than all the speculative
proofs in nature.
1 Licuerit et Christo commentari Divinitatem, rem prop7'iam. Here it is
observable that Tertullian calls the divinity of Christ, Rem propriam, an expres-
sion which denotes our Saviour to be as truly and really God, as man can be said
to be the proprietor of anything in the sense of the law. Thus when our Saviour
said, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," the Jews sought to kill Him,
because vaTipoc 'i%ov 'ixiys <rov &iov, He said God was His own proper Father
in a sense incommunicable to any creature, making Himself equal to God, John
V. 17, 18.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 69
brightest people in the world, a people blinded and lost in their
own philosophy and wisdom, and helps them to eyes to see their
folly and the way of truth.
Inform yourselves carefully, therefore, whether the divinity of
Christ is not the true divinity you ought to worship, and which, if
once entertained, new makes the old man, and forms him to every
virtue, and consequently all divinities but Christ ought to be
renounced as false, and those especially, in the first place, which lie
lurking under the names and images of dead men, and by lying
signs and wonders and oracles pass for gods, when in truth they are
but devils, as I am now going to prove.
-0-
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCERNING DEMONS, THEIR POWER, AND THEIR WAYS OF
OPERATION.
We say then that there are a certain kind of spiritual substances
existing in nature, which go by the name of demons, and the name is
not of a modern stamp; the name and the thing being both well known
to the philosophers, for Socrates undertook nothing without the privy
council of his demon. And no wonder, when this familiar is said to
have kept him close company from his childhood to the conclusion
of his life, continually, no doubt, injecting dissuasives from virtue.^
The poets likewise talk of demons, and even the illiterate vulgar
^ DeJwriatorium plane a bono. The words immediately before concerning
this demon of Socrates are almost exactly transcribed by Lactantius, lib. ii. p.
105. However, I cannot but say that this character contradicts all the accounts
we have concerning the practice of this demon, from such persons as were best
able to understand the matter of fact, who represent it quite contrary to this
character of Tertullian. Nothing occasioned more speculations and amusement
in the time of Socrates than his demon, insomuch that one of his friends went to
consult the oracle about it. Vid. TlutRX ch o{ the demon of Socra/es. Nor would
Socrates make Simias any answer upon the question, and therefore the rest of
his friends desisted for the future from asking him any more about it. But
Xenophon and Plato, who certainly were two of his nearest friends, and best
understood this matter, were far from imagining, as some since have done, that
this demon was nothing more than his natural sagacity or understanding. The
sum of the story, as we have it in the Dialogue entitled Theages, and elsewhere,
is this : the directions of this demon were only dehortatory, but not from good,
as Tertullian thinks, but from evil. The demon never advised him to do, but
70 Tertulliafis Apology for the Christians.
frequently apply to them when they are in the cursing mood ; for by
a secret instigation on their minds when they invoke these demons
in their imprecations, they do in effect invoke Satan,^ who is
the prince of the evil spirits. Plato himself is express for the being
of angels, and the magicians are ready to attest the same when they
have recourse to the names of angels and demons both, in their
enchantments. But how from a corrupted stock of angels, corrupted
by their own wills, another worse and more degenerate race^ of
only to forbear an action ; when it would be of ill consequence either to Socrates
or his friends, he heard a voice, which was the sign to forbear ; when he heard
it not, it was always his warrant to proceed ; so that one would be apt from
hence to conclude that the voice was not articulate, but a bare sign only. And
Xenophon reports that of all the numberless predictions (of which, according to
Tully, Antipater collected a large volume) of disasters that would befall his
friends, not one of them failed in the event. But Plato's Apology of Socrates,
Camb. Edit. sec. 21, is very remarkable, where we have a veiy plain and
strange account of the operations and nature of this demon. *' It is very strange "
(says Socrates, addressing his judges with incomparable calmness just before his
execution) "that the prophetic voice of the demon, which never failed before of
dissuading me in matters of the smallest moment, where the consequence would
be ill, il rt fji.ixxot[jct fin opdus <rpa,'^uv, etc., should now in the worst of evils,
according to your opinion, be silent, and neither when I left my house in the
morning, nor when I went to the bar, nor all the time I have been pleading here,
should ever give me the wonted signal, ob yap 'iffS o-xui ou» hvavriuCn a,v fji,oi to ilu6o$
ir'/]fii7ov, il [j(.'n n 'if^iXXov lyu uyaSov •z'pa.^iiv ; for it could not be but that I should
hear his usual dissuasive was I not upon doing my duty, or that which would
turn to my advantage." Now when I read the character of Socrates from those
who certainly were best acquainted with him, when I find him employing all his
reason to bring men off from barren speculations to the knowledge of themselves,
and the practice of substantial virtue, when I find him the greatest master of
his passions, the most judicious despiser of riches within his reach, the most
temperate, humble, courteous, inoffensive man living in the Gentile world, when
I find him encouraged by his demon to die for the profession of the one true
God ; when Justin Martyr in his First Apology, sec. 5, says that the evil
demons contrived his death for his attempts to rescue mankind from the worship
of devils ; that he, by his share of reason, did among the Greeks what the Logos
Himself did among the Barbarians, and that both were condemned for the same
good designs ; — who, after this, I say, can think Socrates possessed and governed
by an evil spirit ? Why not rather divinely assisted to preach down idolatry,
and bring moral righteousness into practice, and by such means to prepare and
qualify the heathen world for the revelation of the Messiah ?
^ Nam et Satanam — exen-amenti voce pronunciat, etc. I do not find that the
Romans ever cursed expressly by the name of Satan, but by making use of the word
Malum or a mischief, take you, as we say ; and Satan being the prince of
mischief and virtually included in every such curse, they might be said in this
sense to pronounce Satan in their imprecations.
- Sed quomodo de Angelis quibusdam sua spojtte corruptis, corruptior Gens
Dmnonum evaserii, etc. This odd opinion we find in both the Apologies of
Justin Martyr, as well as in this of Tertullian, and so likewise in Athenagoras,
etc. The ground of it I take to be this : the Fathers were generally of opinion
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 7 1
demons arose, condemned by God, together with those they
descended from, and Satan the prince of them, whom I just now
mentioned, for the history of this, I say, I must refer you to the
Holy Scriptures.
But not to insist upon their generation, it will be sufficient to my
purpose to explain their operations, or their ways of acting upon the
sons of men. I say, then, that the ruin of mankind is their whole
employment ; these malicious spirits were bent upon mischief from
the beginning, and fatally auspicious in their first attempt, in undoing
man as soon as he was made ; and in like manner they practise the
same destructive methods upon all his posterity, by inflicting
diseases upon their bodies, and throwing them into sad disasters,
and stirring up sudden tempests and preternatural emotions in the
soulj and they are fitted by nature for both these kinds of evil,
the subtilty and fineness of their substance giving them an easy
access to body and soul both. These spirits certainly have great
abilities for mischief, and that they do it is apparent, though the
manner of effecting it is invisible, and out of the reach of human
senses ; as, for instance, when a secret blast nips the fruit in the
blossom or the bud, or smites it with an untimely fall just upon its
maturity, or when the air is infected by unknown causes, and
scatters the deadly potions about the world; just so, and by a
contagion that walketh in the like darkness, do demons and evil
angels blast the minds of men, and agitate them with furies and
that evil spirits were clothed with a finer sort of body, which was fed and
refreshed from the nidours and steams of the sacrifices. They found these spirits
had a prodigious power over the bodies they possessed, and could not certainly
tell but this power might extend even to generation. And finding in Josephus,
lib. i. cap. 4, 'roXkoi ayyiXoi SioZ, etc., that many angels of God mixing with
women begot a devihsh wicked offspring, and perhaps meeting likewise an
ancient edition of the Septuagint, which read ayyskoi where we read ol ulo) rod Qiov,
the angels of God, instead of the sons of God, went in to the daughters of men,
Gen. vi. 4. And meeting perhaps with something of the same nature in that
supposititious piece which went under the name of Enoch's prophecy, they
might by these means be led into this mistake. However, St. Chrysostom, J/om.
22 uJ>on Gen., St. Ambrose, lib. de Noe et Area, cap. 4, have set this matter
right, by interpreting the sons of God to be the posterity of Seth. And though
some men, who think themselves well employed in raking this, and all they can,
to invalidate the authority of the Fathers, in order to serve their cause, may think
it reasonable not to depend upon such mistaken men, yet such mistakes, in my
opinion, do not in the least affect their authority in such cases, for which we
chiefly depend upon them ; for is there any consequence in this way of reason-
ing? Because the Fathers have sometimes been mistaken in matters of pure
reasoning, as the wisest and best of men may sometimes be, therefore they are
not to be credited in plain matters of fact, wherein they cannot be mistaken.
72 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
extravagant uncleannesses, and dart in outrageous lusts with a
mixture of various errors ; the most capital of which errors is that,
having taken possession of a soul, and secured it on every side from
the powers of truth, they recommend to it the worship of false gods,
that by the nidours of those sacrifices they may procure a banquet
for themselves, the stench of the flesh and the fumes of the blood
being the proper pabulum or repast of those unclean spirits ; and
what more savoury meat to them than to juggle men out of the
notion of the true God with delusions of divination, which delusions
I come now to unfold.
Every spirit, angel, and demon, upon the account of its swiftness,
may be said to be winged, for they can be here and there and
everywhere in a moment ; the whole world to them is but as one
place, and any transactions in it they can know with the same ease
they can tell it ; and this velocity passes for divinity among such as
are unacquainted with the nature of spirits ; and by this means they
would be concluded the authors of those things sometimes of
which they are only the relators ; and verily sometimes they are the
authors of the evil, but never of the good. They have collected
some designs of providence from the mouths of the prophets ; and
to those sermons, whose sound is gone into all the earth, do they
apply at present to pick out something whereby to form their
conjectures about events to come ; and so, by filching from hence
some revolutions which have succeeded in time, they rival the
divinity, and set up for gods, by stealing his prophecies. But in
their oracles,^ what dexterity they have showed in tempering their
^ In oraculis autem, quo ingenio amhiguitates temperent in eventus, sciunt
Crcesi, sciunt Pp-rhi. The notorious ambiguity of the heathen oracles in
general, and particularly in the cases of Croesus and Pyrrhus,
Aio te y^acide Romanos vincere posse,
Intrepidus si CrcesMS Hylam, etc.
This ambiguity, I say, together with the folly and flattery of the responses and
the like, made some of the heathens, who were most inclined to atheism, to
conclude it all pure priestcraft ; and for no better reasons have some moderns, no
well-wishers to the doctrine of spirits, concluded the same also, and treated the
Fathers as a parcel of good-natured, easy men, who took everything upon trust.
But now I would ask these men of criticism and infidelity, what kind of proofs
will content them in matters of fact ; was ever any fact better and more univer-
sally attested even by the heathens themselves, than oracles and the cessation of
them ? Was ever anything more notorious in the time of our Saviour than the
possessions of private persons ? Was anything more commonly appealed to than
the dispossession of evil spirits, for some hundreds of years after, by the first
Christians? Does not Tertullian challensie the senate upon this article, and
TertulliafU s Apology for the Christians. 73
responses with a convenient ambiguity for any question, the
Croesuses and the Pyrrhuses know with a witness. It was by virtue
of the forementioned velocity that Pythian Apollo, cutting through
the air in a moment to Lydia, brought back word that Croesus was
boiling a tortoise with the flesh of a lamb.^ Moreover, these
demons, by having their residence in the air, and by reason of their
neighbourhood and commerce with the stars and clouds, come to
know the dispositions of the heavens, and promise rain, which they
see falling when they promise. These demons likewise are very
beneficent no doubt in the cure of diseases, for they first inflict the
malady, and then prescribe the remedy, but remedies marvellously
strange, and contrary to the distemper ; and after the patient has
used the recipe, the demon omits to afflict him, and that omission
passes for a cure. But why should I give more instances of their
wiles and strength in delusion, or mention the phantoms of Castor
and Pollux,^ or a sieve holding water,^ or a ship drawn by a girdle,
stake his life and the truth of his religion upon this proof, that upon a Christian's
adjuring a person possessed, the evil spirit shall not only come out of him, but
confess himself a devil in the presence of them all, as truly as before he had
falsely owned himself to be a god ; if so, I would fain see a good reason why an
evil spirit should not possess a Pythian priestess as well as any other person.
Sure I am that the kingdom of darkness was mainly supported by keeping up the
oracles ; nothing therefore could hinder the devil from this but want of power ;
and why he should have so much power over private persons, and not over his
own priestesses, is hard to tell. That there was oftentimes much tricking and
human fraud in the management of oracles, I doubt not ; but that it was all pure
priestcraft therefore is a consequence I can never allow, until men can prove
there is no good money because there is much counterfeit ; whereas there
would be no counterfeit was there no reality for the ground of imitation. Had
but the heathen world known that our first parents were seduced by the devil ;
had they but known the distinction of good and evil spirits, and that these latter
had been always intent upon the destruction and delusion of mankind, and that
one great reason of Christ's coming into the world was to destroy the worship of
devils, they would never have questioned the existence of oracles ; nor would the
Fathers have been thus discredited in a matter of fact, for which they had the
testimony of their senses. But finding abundance of false and foolish things
reported of the oracles, and from thence justly concluding they could not come
from an all-wise and good being, and not considering that they might proceed from
ignorant and malicious spirits, and having no mind perhaps to such strong proofs
of another state, they ran into a common extreme from believing everything to
believe nothing, and to conclude the whole business of oracles to be mere trick
and imposture.
^ This story about the tortoise is told at large by Herodotus in his Clio.
^ The phantoms of Castor and Pollux are said to have acquainted the Romans
of the victory of the Macedonic war the same hour it was obtained.
^ Tucia is the vestal virgin, who is reported to have done this feat with a
sieve ; and Claudia the other, who dragged along a ship foundered on the Tyber
by the strength of her girdle.
74 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
or a beard turned red with a touch ? ^ For all these are impostures
only of demons to keep idolatry in countenance, to make men take
stones for deities, and to detain them from any further inquiries
after the true God.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONCERNING THE SUBJECTION OF EVIL SPIRITS TO THE COMMAND
OF CHRISTIANS.
Moreover, if magicians do set before your eyes a scene of spectres,
and, by their black arts, or direful forms in necromancy, call up
the souls of the dead ; ^ if they throw children into convulsions,^
•^ It was Domitian's black beard, which is here said to be turned red with a
touch of Castor and Pollux, to make him give credit to the news of the victory
they told him of, and from hence he was surnamed ^nobarbus or Rusty Beard.
One thing the reader can hardly forbear taking notice of in the conclusion of this
chapter, and that is, between the tricks and amusements of evil spirits and the
substantial miracles of mercy wrought by Christ and His apostles, between
discolouring a beard and curing the sick or raising the dead.
^ Defunctorum animas infamant, aliter inclamant. These several species of
magic you find mentioned by Justin Martyr, ApoL i. sec. 24. See more of this
in our author, de Anima, cap. 57, etc. Vid. Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. 22. This
kind of divination by the dead, called necromancy, was very ancient and very
familiar in the Gentile world. A memorable example of which we find, i Sam.
xxviii., where Saul being about to war with the Philistines, and God denying
to answer him either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets, he repairs to the
witch of Endor, and demands that Samuel might be raised up from the dead, to
tell him the issue of the war. This was performed sometimes by the magical use
of a bone of a dead body, with other black solemnities ; sometimes by pouring
hot blood into the carcase to make it answer a question, as Erictho does in Lucan.
Dum vocem defuncto in corpore qucsrit,
Protinus astrictiis caluil Cruor, atraq. ; fovit
Vulnera.
Hence that of Horace —
Animas responsa daturas.
And in allusion to the same practice is that of Virgil —
Nee jam exaudire voeatos.
* Si pueros in eloquium Oractdi elidunt. Concerning this kind of divination,
see Apuleius, Apol. i., and Spartian. in vit. Jul. Hence that of Propertius, —
Reetulit in triviis omnia eerta Puer.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians, 75
and a while after make them vent the fury in oracles ; if by their
juggling wiles they delude the senses with abundance of mock
miracles, and inject dreams in the dead of sleep,^ by first invoking
the assistance of their angels and demons, by whose sophistry even
goats and groaning boards ^ are wont to divine: if then these evil
^ Si et Somnia itnittunt. These are the same with those called by Justin, in
the section aforesaid, IvupoTofATo). As the God of Israel was pleased some-
times to communicate Himself to His prophets by dreams, so likewise the devil,
in imitation, had his dreamer of dreams among the Gentiles. The Lacedse-
monians kept men on purpose to sleep in the temple of Pasithea to watch for
dreams. The vanity of these sort of diviners Juvenal takes occasion to lash in
these words —
Mon Delubra De^m, nee ab athere Numina mittunt, >
Sed sibi quisque facit. "
Whoever has a mind to amuse himself more upon this subject, may consult Tully,
de Divinat. hb. i., Valer. Max. lib. v. cap. 7, Plin. lib. vii. cap. 50, Macrob. de
Somn. Scip. lib. i. cap. 3 ; Plutarch in Pompeio, concerning a dream of Mithri-
dates, and Fulgent. Mitholog. lib. i.
2 Per qiios et CaprcB, et Menscz divinare consueverunt. Of goats trained up to
divination we find mention in Eusebius, from a quotation out of Clemens Alex.,
eiiyii It} /btavrixriv yiffx,tif/,ivai, Euseb. PrcBpar. Evang. lib. ii. cap. 3, p. 62.
"Whiy goats are particularly here specified for brutes of divination, I conjecture
the reason to be this : Before the oracle of Apollo came to be fixed at Delphos,
the place was nothing more than a common, and the goats which were grazing
about there coming to a den, large before with a little mouth at top, and looking
in, fell a-skipping and making an odd noise, not unhke perhaps the possessed
swine mentioned in the gospel, though not so fatal. The goat-herd (Coretas by
name, as Plutarch calls him) ran to the place to see what was the matter with
his flock, and fell into the same frolic, and likewise into a fit of prophesying ;
and so it fared with many others, who went afterwards to visit the place, and
many were strangled (says Tully) with terrce anhelitu, with the fumes of the earth.
Vid. Diodor. lib. xvi. Upon this hole of the earth therefore was the tripos, or
a three-footed stool placed, and a maid upon it consecrated for a priestess, who
received her inspiration from below, as the Scholiast upon Aristophanes in Avid,
describes, ixu^>jf/.iv'/i rZ rpi-Ttoit, etc. These belly-prophets, who delivered
themselves in a tone like a speaking trumpet, were called iyyua-Tpi/u.tj^oi, and
thus Isaiah viii. 19, " Seek unto them which have familiar spirits, and unto
wizards that peep and mutter ; " which the Septuagint, more to my purpose,
renders thus, Z,riTV(Ta,Tt tov$ lyyx/rrpif/.u^ovs, xk) rolls octo rn? yTi? (pcuvouvrag, tovs
xivokoyovvTci;, ol \k rtig xoiXioc; (puvriifoviriv. And more expressly yet, xxix. 4,
"Thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and
thy voice shall whisper out of the dust." Which words are still more expressive
of the Pythoness in the Septuagint, koH refTfuvuSyiffovrai s/j rh yh ol X'oyoi aov, xa.)
li; ryjv yyjv ot Xoyoi ffov outrovreci, koc) 'iffrcti us ol (pouvovvTsg Ix, 7>i; yvis h (puvvt ffov, xou
Tpos ro iha(pos h <peovrt ffou affhvnffit. Now the Mensas in this place of Tertullian I
take to be the Tripodess, called by Virgil Mensae, 2 ^n.
Htic undiqtie Troia Gaza,
•Incensis erepta adytis, Mensceq. ; DcBormii.
Sozomen in his sixth book, cap. 35, tells us that the Gentile philosophers, being
76 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
spirits will do so much at the impulse of men, what will they not
do by their own impulse, and for their own interest ? They will
surely collect the whole stock of malicious power into one effort for
the defence of themselves and the kingdom of darkness. Or if
angels and demons act the same with 570ur gods, pray where is the
difference between them and Him you look upon as the Sovereign
and supremest of powers ? Is it not therefore more becoming to
presume those to be gods, who do the things which make others
pass for gods, than to bring down the gods to a level with demons?
But perhaps I am to think that it is the difference of places only
which causes the distinction of titles, and that your gods are to be
looked upon as gods only in their own temples, and he who flies
through a sacred turret is begodded ; but he who passes through a
common house, bedeviled. Or that the priest who cuts off his
privities, or lances his arms, is inspired ; but he who cuts his throat,
possessed ; however, the fury of both has a like event, and the
instigation is the same.
Hitherto I have argued upon point of reason, and contented
myself with words only ; I come now to things, and shall give you
a demonstration from fact to convince you that your gods and
demons both are but the same beings, though of different denomina-
tions. Let a demoniac ^ therefore be brought into court, and the
extremely concerned at the increase of Christianity, made and consecrated a
tripod of laurel, with all the letters of the alphabet fastened to it, to know who
should be the man that was to succeed Valens in the empire ; a contrivance
perhaps in imitation of Urim and Thummim, which (as some say) consisted of
all the letters of the alphabet, which upon a question proposed did arise after a
strange manner, and joined themselves into words or syllables, and so returned a
complete answer.
^ Edatiir hie aliquis sub Tribunalibus vestris, etc. This is the famous
challenge I just now referred to, and which I would not have the reader to pass
over without reflection ; for never was anything appealed to in more daring
words, or more easy to be detected, if an imposture. He challenges their
senses, their eyes, and their ears to be judges in the case ; he defies them to deny
it if they can ; he stands ready to answer for the experiment with his own blood,
that their celestial virgin, their ^sculapius, and all the rest of those they
worship for gods, shall not only quit the bodies they possess, but publicly in the
hearing of them all confess themselves to be devils, upon the demand of any
Christian. Hear what his scholar St. Cyprian says to Demetrianus, proconsul
of Africa, upon the same subject : O si audire eos velles, et videre quattdo a nobis
adjurantur, et torquentur Spiritualibus flagris, et verborum tormentis de
obsessis corporibus ejicitintur, quando ejulantes et gementes voce humand,
et potestate Divindflagella et verbera sentietites, venturum Judicium conjitentur ;
veni, et cognosce vera esse quce dicimus. And a little after, Videbis sub manu
nostrd stare vinctos, et tremere captivos quos tu suspicis, et veneraris ut
De77iinos. Not to mention Lactantius, who speaks to the same purpose, dejiist.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. yj
spirit which possesses him be commanded by any Christian to
declare what he is, he shall confess himself as truly to be a devil
as he did falsely before profess himself a god. In like manner, let
one of those be produced, who is thought to labour with a god,
whom he conceived from the steams of the altar, and of which after
many a belch and many a pang he is delivered in oracles. Let
the celestial virgin, the great procurer of rain, or -^sculapius, the
great improver of medicine, who by the help of scordian, and other
sovereign and cordial medicines, recovered those who could not
have lived a day longer. If all these, I say, do not declare them-
selves in court to be devils, not daring to lie in the presence of a
Christian, that Christian is willing to be taken for the cheat, and
stands ready to answer for it with his own blood. What now can
be more glaringly evident than this demonstration from fact ?
What proof more unexceptionable 7 Here you have truth shining
full upon you in her native simplicity, without the colouring of
words, or any assistance but from her own proper virtue ; suspicion
itself here will find no entrance. You may say this is done by magic
or some such sophistry, if your eyes and ears will give you leave to
say it ; but what can be objected against that which is exposed in
its pure naturals, against mere naked truth ? Moreover, if on one
hand they are really gods, why should they be such silly liars as to
say they are devils ? What, in obedience to us ? Your gods then
are in subjection to Christians ; but that surely is a very sorry god
which is subject to a man, and to a man too who is his professed
enemy, and when such a subjection makes so much to his disgrace.
lib. V. cap. 21. All the primitive Fathers assert the same fact, with the same
assurance. Let me ask then a few questions. Did ever any heathen priest or
magician make such a challenge at the hazard of their lives? Did the evil
spirits ever stand in awe of them, or any of the philosophers ? Will the critics
say that these long quotations are foisted into the text, w^hen they are in every
primitive writer? And are not these matters of fact, not of reason, wherein
Christians and heathens could not be imposed upon ? If so, what can be urged
against this demonstration of the truth of the Christian religion ? What stronger
evidence, what more sensible conviction, could the heathens have, than to see
and hear the gods they worshipped, howl and wail and fly, at the name of
Christ, and confess themselves to be all devils in the presence of their
worshippers? This kingdom of darkness was permitted to grow to its full
height, and the ruin of it then providentially reserved for the coming and
conquest of the Son of God ; and though the dispositions and confessions of
evil spirits recorded of Him and His apostles in the New Testament do
sufficiently prove Him to be sent from God, yet the exercise of the same power
in their Master's name before proconsuls and tribunals for many ages, makes the
argument still the stronger and more unexceptionable. For it is not possible for
a miracle of three or four hundred years' continuance in public to be suspected
for a cheat.
"j^ Tertulliafis Apology for the Christians.
On the other hand, if they are demons or angels, how comes it to
pass that they personate gods, when they give their responses to
any but Christians ? For as those who have the reputation of gods
would not say they are devils if they are truly gods, because they
would not divest themselves of their majesty, so those you know to
be demons durst never aspire to the titles of gods if there were any
gods of those titles they usurp, because no doubt they would be
afraid of smarting for that usurpation from those superior deities
they have thus affronted.
The consequence therefore is undeniable, that the deities you
worship are no deities ; for if they were, the devils would never
presume to lay claim to the title of gods, or the gods disclaim it.
Since therefore both one and the other concur to the acknowledg-
ment of this truth, that the gods in worship are no gods, you must
confess them to be all of the same kind, that is devils. Bethink
yourselves now, and examine the gods on every side. For those
you presumed to be gods you plainly see to be devils ; and by the
help of Christians, and by the help of your very gods, not only
confessing themselves, but all the rest also not to be gods, you will
presently learn which is the true God ; whether it is He, and He
alone whom the Christians profess, and whether He is to be believed
and worshipped, according to the Christian rule of faith and wor-
ship. When we conjure these evil spirits in the name of Christ, let
them reply if they dare. Who is this Christ with His fable of a gospel ?
Let them say that He is of the common order of men ; or will they
call Him a magician ? Or say that after He was buried. His disciples
came and stole away His body out of the sepulchre, or that He is
yet among the dead ? Or rather will they not own Him to be in
heaven, and that He will come down from thence, and put the
whole universe in a tremor at His coming, and all mankind, but
Christians, into horror and lamentation? Shining in His native
glory, as He is the power of God, and the Spirit of God, and the
Logos, and the Wisdom, and the Reason, and the Son of God. Let
the devils keep their votaries company in derision, and join you
with their wit and drollery upon these things. Let them deny that
Christ will come in judgment upon every soul from the creation,
having first restored its body. Let them declare, and in open
court if they think fit, that they are of a mind with Plato and the
poets, that it is the lot of Minos and Rhadamanthus to be judges of
the world. Let them wipe off the brand of their own ignominy and
damnation. Let them renounce themselves to be unclean spirits,
though this is evident from the nature of their food, from the
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 79
blood, and stenches, and putrid sacrifices of animals, and the
abominable forms made use of in divination. And lastly, let them
disown themselves to be in a damned state, and under dreadful
expectations of the final judgment, where they shall receive the
recompense of sins, together with their worshippers, and all such
workers of iniquity.
But now this power and dominion of ours over these wicked
spirits has all its efficacy from the name of Christ, and from our
reminding them of those judgments which are dropping upon their
heads from the hand of God through Christ, whom He has made
Judge of the world ; and the dread they have of Christ in God, and
God in Christ, is the thing which subjects them to the servants of
God and Christ. Thus therefore by a touch of our hand, or the
breath of our mouth, scorched as it were with the prospect and repre-
sentation of future flames, they go out of the bodies they possess
at our command, but sore against their will, and gnashing and red-
hot with shame, to quit their possessions in the presence of their
adorers.
Now then let me advise you to believe the devils when they speak
true of themselves, you who are used to credit them in their lies ;
for no man is a fool to such a degree as to be at the pains of lying
to his disgrace, but only to his reputation ; and one is a thousand
times apter to believe men when they confess to their disadvantage
than when they deny for interest
These testimonies then of your gods against themselves often
conduce to the making of Christians, because there is no believing
them, without believing in our Master Christ. The very devils
kindle in us the belief of Holy Scripture ; the very devils are
edifying, and raise our hope to assurance. But you worship them,
and with the blood of Christians too, I well know ; and therefore
they would by no means lose such good clients and devoted
servants as you are, not only for the sake of their honours and
offerings, but for fear, should any of you turn Christians, you
should dispossess and serve them as we do. They would never, I
say, baulk a lie, in so grand a concern, was it in their power to lie,
when a Christian interrogates them in order to give you a proof of
his religion by their own confession.
8o Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
CHAPTER XXIV.
THAT THE ROMANS ARE THE CRIMINALS IN POINT OF
RELIGION, AND NOT THE CHRISTIANS.
This universal confession of the evil spirits, whereby they disclaim
the title of gods, and whereby they declare that there is no other
God but one, whose servants we profess to be ; this confession, I
say, is argument enough with a witness to discharge Christians from
the crime of irreligion, especially towards the Roman gods ; for if
the Roman gods for a certain arq no gods, then their religion for a
certain is no religion ; and if theirs be no religion, because theirs
be no gods, then certainly we cannot be justly charged upon the
article of irreligion, with respect to the worship of the Roman deities.
But this reproach rebounds upon yourselves, for you who worship a
lie, and not only neglect the true religion of the true God, but
moreover join all your forces to fight it out of the world, are in
truth guilty of that which is most properly irreligion. For should
I grant those you worship to be gods, do not you likewise subscribe
to the common opinion that there is one most high and powerful
Deity, who is the Author and Sovereign of the world, of infinite
majesty and perfection ? For thus many among you have ranged
the gods, so as to vest the supreme power in one only, and make
the rest subaltern gods, and under-officers merely of this Almightiest
of deities ; and thus Plato ^ describes great Jove as attended above
by an heavenly host of inferior gods and demons. Can you say,
then, that we must pay the same honours to his procurators and
prefects and presidents, as to the emperor himself? And pray
now, where is the crime to be ambitious of getting into the good
graces of Caesar only? and to acknowledge the title of God like
that of the emperor. His due alone who has the sovereign authority ?
since by your laws it is capital to call any one Caesar who is not
supreme, or to hear him so called by any other. I will grant you
there is a difference in the modes of worship between a worshipper
of God and a worshipper of Jove. Let us then suppose that one
•^ Ut Plato Jovem magnum in coelo comitum. exercitu describit Deorum pariter
et Dmmonum. This passage we have in Greek in Athenagoras, thus — *0 ^\ fjbiya.?
Ttyifiuv lu ovpavu Zivg ikauveav ^njvov £p/Lca Tpurog ^ofivirai^ ^iaK0fff4,uv crecvra, KCt)
Wif^iXovf^ivos ; rZ Ti 'i'fftrai ffTparia, Qiuvn »ai ^xi/zovav. Athenat. Legal, pro
Christian. The supremacy of one deity is what you will find by Minutius Felix
proARd at large from all the philosophers.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, 8i
man worships the true supreme God, another Jove ; one prays with
suppliant hands lifted up to heaven, another lays them upon the
altar of Fide.s,^ another (if you will think them deities) prays looking
upon the clouds,^ others upon the stately roofs of the temple ; one
devotes his own life to his god, another the life of a goat. But
you had best see to it whether this does not concur to the making
up of another article of irreligion against you — namely, to deprive
men of the liberty of worshipping after their own way, and to inter-
dict them the option of their deity ; so that I must not worship the
god I would, but am forced to worship the god I would not ; and
yet it is agreed upon on all hands, that forced or unwilling services
are not grateful either to God or man ; and for this reason even the
Egyptians are tolerated in their superstition, which is the very
vanity of vanities : they are permitted to make gods of birds and
beasts, and to make it capital to be the death of any of these kinds
of deities. Every province and city has its proper gods, as Syria
the god Ashtaroth,^ Arabia has Disares, Bavaria Belinus, Africa the
Celestial Virgin,^ and Mauritania their kings. Now these pro-
^ Aram Fidei. Tully in his Offices, lib. iii., has these words — Fidem in Capitolio
vicinam Jovi Opt, Max. Majores nostri esse voluerunt. Hence that of Silius —
Ille etiam quaprisca Fides stat Regia, nobis
Aurea Tarpeia ponet Capitolia rupe.
There was likewise one Fidius, a Sabine god, whose temple was upon the Mons
Quirinalis. He was the god who took care of oaths, hence that of Plautus in
Asinar, Per Divum Fidium quceris. This oath was afterwards contracted into
one word, MediusfidiuSy though Festus Pompeius expounds it otherwise, quasi
liii filius, lib. xi.
*^ Nubes numeret orans. The wise and good Socrates was lashed by Aristo-
phanes in his Ntibibus for a worshipper of the clouds, because he worshipped
the one true God with eyes lifted up to heaven like the Christians, who having
in a Gentile sense neither temple, image, nor altar, as the heathen in Minutius
objects, were charged, as Tertullian intimates, for adoring clouds ; but how that
in Minutius is to be understood, I refer the reader to my notes upon that
passage. Scaliger understands this of Juvenal of the Christians, and reads it
thus —
Nil prater Nubes, et Cceli Numen adorant.
3 SyricB Astartes. Eusebius from Sanchoniathon will have it to be Venus,
Euseb. Frcep. Evang. lib. i. cap. lo, p. 38. Suidas says this — 'Aa-reipTn h era/
"EXXjjo-iv *A(pi)oVi7n Xiyefjbivn, Btog ii^uviu*. This was the goddess of the Sidonians
whom Solomon himself went after, and to whom he built an house, i Kings
xi, 5 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 13. And in the house of Ashtaroth called by the LXX.
AffTxpTfj did the Philistines hang up Saul's armour after his death. I Sam.
xxxi. 10.
* Calesiis. This celestial virgin was peculiarly honoured at Carthage, and is
supposed by some to be Juno, though there is huge controversy about it. And
the rest of the idols here mentioned are so obscure, and so much disputed, that I
believe the reader will thank me if I say no more about them.
S2 Tertulliaf^s Apology for the Christians.
vinces (if I mistake not) are under the Roman jurisdiction, and
yet I do not find any of the Roman gods in worship among them ;
because the gods of these countries are as httle known at Rome as
many of the municipal deities in several towns in Italy, as Del-
ventinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narni, Ancaria of Ascoli,
Nursia of Volsinium, Valentia of Ocricoly, Nortia of Sutri, and
Juno of Monte Fiasco, who was worshipped by the name of Curetis
in honour of her father Cures. But we Christians, we alone are
the people who are not tolerated to enjoy a separate religion proper
to ourselves ; we offend the Romans, and are not to be looked
upon as Romans, because we do not worship the God of the
Romans ; however, we have this advantage, that God is the God
of all, whose we are all, whether we will or no ; but there is a
universal toleration among you to pay divine honours to any but
the true God, as if this was not emphatically the God of all, whose
creatures we all are.
-0-
CHAPTER XXV.
THAT THE ROMAN GRANDEUR IS NOT OWING TO THE
ROMAN RELIGION.
I HAVE now, in my opinion, given sufficient proofs of the false and
the true divinity ; having not only disputed and demonstrated this
point from arguments drawn from reason, but also from the very
confessions of those you acknowledge for gods ; so that nothing
more seems necessary to be reinforced upon that head. But
because the Roman greatness is an objection that comes properly
in my way, I will not decline the combat I am challenged to, by
the presumption of those who say that the Romans^ arrived to
such a pitch of grandeur as to be masters of the world, by the pure
^ Romanos pro nierito Religiositatis diligentissimcs in tantutn Sublimitatis elatos.
That the Roman greatness was not owing to the Roman religion, Prudentius
proves at large, lib. ii. adver. Symmach.
Sed multi duxere Dii per prospera Romam,
Quos colit ob meritum magnis donata TriumphiSy
Ergo age, Bellatrix, qucz vis subjecerity ede.
And Minutius is very particular upon the same head, but because he has borrowed
so many hints from Tertullian, and is subjoined to this Apology, I will not fore-
stall the reader. However, that the Romans valued themselves as extraordinary
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 83
dint and merits of their religion ; and consequently that theirs were
the right gods, inasmuch as they who served them out-flourished all
others in glory, as much as they surpassed them in devotion to
these deities ; and this surpassing figure, no doubt, was the return
your own Roman gods made you for their worship ; and these
proper gods, who have thus enlarged your borders must be Ster-
culus, and Mutunus, and Larentina; for it is not to be imagined
that strange gods should find in their hearts to be greater friends to
a strange nation than to their own ; and that they should make
over their own native soil, in which they were bred, and born, and
buried, and deified, to an outlandish people. Let Cybele see to it,
whether she transplanted her affections to Rome for the sake of her
beloved countrymen the Trojans, screened from the Grecian arms
I warrant by her divine protection ; let her say whether she went
over to the Romans upon this view, as foreseeing them the people
that would revenge her upon her enemies, and one day triumph
over Greece, as Greece had done over Troy ; and to prove that
she did go over to the Romans upon this prospect, she has
given a most glorious instance of her foresight in our age, for M.
Aurelius being taken off at Sirmium the seventeenth day of March,^
her chief priest and eunuch on the twenty-fourth day of the same
month, having lanced his arms, and let out his impure blood upon
the altar, offered up his usual vows for the life of the emperor, who
was dead some days before. O leaden-heeled couriers ! O drowsy
dispatches ! not to give Cybele notice before the emperor was dead ;
in good troth, Christians must make a little merry with such a goddess.
But had kingdoms been at Jove's disposal, Jove surely had
never suffered his own Crete to have come under the Roman rod ;
unmindful of the Idean cave and the never-to-be-forgotten noise the
Corybantes made to drown his infant cries, and of the agreeable
sweets of his fragrant nurse the Goat Amalthaea. What ! would
not he have preferred his own tomb before any capitol, and made
the country which contained Jove's ashes ^ the mistress of the
favourites of heaven upon the account of their grandeur, is evident from that of
Valerius, hb. i. Non Mirum igitur si pro eo imperio augendo custodiendoq.;
fcrtinax Deorum indulgentia semper exciibuit.
^ M. Aurelio — exevipto, die deci??w sexto Kalend. Aprilitim. Thus Dion
Cassius of the same emperor says — tJJ lirra Koi hxarri tov Mapriov furyiXXa^iv.
2 Qua: cineres Jovis texit. There is hardly any one thing more talked of than
Crete by the poets and historians, and the Christians apologists, where Jove was
born, bred, and buried. Thus Virgil —
DictcEo Cceli Regem pavere sub antro.
Thus St. Cyprian, de Idol. van. Antrum Jovis in Creta visitur. And in the
84 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
world? Would Juno, do you think, could she have helped it,
suffered her beloved Carthage, more beloved than Samos, to have
been sacked and ruined by the detested race of Trojans; for I
know her passion for this city from your own Virgil :
-Here, here, this darling place,
Immortal Juno's arms, and chariot grace ;
And here to fix the universal reign
The mighty goddess strove, but strove in vain,
By mightier fate o'ercome.-^
Poor unhappy Juno, wife and sister both to Jove, and yet not a
match for fate ! For, as another poet has it.
Even Jove himself must bend to fate.^
And yet the Romans cannot afford the fates who made them masters
of Carthage in spite of all the intrigues of Juno, half so much
honour as they pay to the most infamous of prostitutes, Larentina.
But it is certain that many of your gods reigned once upon earth :
if therefore kingdoms are now at their disposal, pray tell me from
whom did they themselves receive their crowns ? Who was the
god that Saturn or Jove worshipped ? Some dunghill-god, Sterculus
I suppose ; but this could not well be, for Saturn and Jupiter were
both dead long before Sterculus got his immortal honour at Rome
for teaching his countrymen the art of dunging their ground. But
though some of your gods never arrived to the honour of being
kings, yet others who were kings have not had the honour to be
gods. The disposal of kingdoms therefore must be lodged else-
where, and not in the kings themselves; because they are kings
before they have the good luck to be gods, or the disposers of
kingdoms. But how ridiculous a thing is it to ascribe the Roman
grandeur to the merits of the Roman religion, when the grandeur is
older than the religion ; or rather the religion increased and multi-
plied in proportion to the state. For though your superstitious
Alexandrian Chronic, we have this inscription, — ENeAAE KEITAI 0ANfiN
niK02 KAI O ZET2 ON. KAI AI AKAfiOT2IN— HIC SITUS JACET PICUS
MORTUUS, QUI ET JUPITER, QUEM JOVEM VOCANT.
^ Hie illius arma.
Hie currus fuit, hoc Regnuni Dea Gentibus esse.
Si qua Futa sinant, jam turn tenditq, ; fovetq. ;
S^ Fafo stat Jupiter ipse.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 85
curiosities had their first conception in Numa's brain,i and yet
during his reign the Roman worship was without either statue or
temple, their old religion was a thrifty plain religion,^ without any
pompous rites, or any capitol vying with heaven ; ^ their altars
were rude and hasty, and of turf only; their sacred vessels of
Samian clay. And from hence the moderate steams of a slender
sacrifice ascended, and not the image of any god to be seen
amongst them ; for as yet the Grecian and Tuscan artists had not
overflowed the city with the invention of images ; and therefore it
is certain that the Romans were not so exceeding religious before
they were so exceeding great; and consequently their greatness
cannot be owing to their religion.
But with what forehead can men entitle their greatness to
religion, when their greatness stands upon the ruins of religion?
^ A Numd concepta est Ciiriositas Superstitiosa. It has been objected that the
consent of nations, if it argues anything, argues for Polytheism, that being more
universal, and consequently more natural than the worship of one god ; but
this is a very foolish objection ; for there is in all mankind a propensity to
religion in general, as there is an inclination to eat and drink in all ; and as
it is left to the direction of our appetites what we should choose to eat and
drink in particular, so is it left to our reason what we should worship ; but to
eat and drink and worship something, we are all inclined, though often abused
as to the object. It is this natural propensity to religion designing men strike
in with ; and they would never apply to it so universally did they not find all
mankind readily disposed for divine worship ; for an atheist has been looked
upon as a monster in all ages. Thus it was that Numa Pompilius worked upon
his subjects, and procured an implicit veneration to all his institutions, by pre-
tending an acquaintance with the goddess ^geria. Nu??ia Pompilms, tit
Populu7n Romanurn saa'is obligaret, volebat videri sibi cum Dea y^geria
congressus esse noctiirnos, ejtisque nionitu accepta Diis Immortalibtis sacra
instituere. Valer. Max. lib. i. cap. 2.
^ Frugi Keligio, etc. Varro says that the Romans worshipped their gods one
hundred and seventy years without any image, and thinks they had been better
served had there been no images made ; and this frugality in religion lasted to
the conquest of Asia, usque ad devictam Asiam, says Pliny, lib. xxxiv. Thus
Ovid, speaking of the ancient simplicity, says —
Jupiter exiguA vix totus stabat in ^de,
Inque Jovis dextrd fictile Fulmen erat.
In Fast. 3, and in like manner Juvenal —
Hanc rebus Latiis curam prcestare solebat
Fictilis, et nullo violatus Jupiter auro.
Vid. Cicer. Paradox, i.
^ Capitolia certantia coelo. Capitols vying with heaven. Agreeable to which
Martial thus describes it —
Nee Capitolini sumnnim penetrate Tonanfis,
Qiueque nitent Coelo proxima Temp I a sua.
86 Tertulliaris Apology for the Christians,
For, if I mistake not, kingdoms or empires are got by wars, and
propagated by victories, and wars and victories for the most part
conclude in the captivity and desolation of cities. And this sort of
business is not likely to be despatched without treading upon
religion ; for the walls of a town and those of a temple are battered
both alike — priests and people slain without distinction ; and the
plundering soldier will no more pardon the riches of the gods than
those of men. The Romans therefore may compute their sacrileges
by their trophies, and tell how many gods they have triumphed
over, by the nations they have conquered ; and withal remember
that all the statues of the captive deities now in the temple are but
so many spoils of war. And yet these gods will endure to be
worshipped by such enemies, and decree them a perpetual empire ^
for so doing, when in honour they ought to be revenged upon
their outrages, rather than be cajoled by their adoration ; but gods
who have neither sensation nor knowledge may be injured with as
much impunity as they are served with vanity. Certainly it cannot
enter into any one's head to imagine that the Romans grew to this
bulk of greatness by the influence of religion, who (as I have
suggested) one way or other always mounted to their greatness by
treading upon religion ; for even those whose kingdoms are melted
down, as it were, into one mass of Roman empire, those, I say,
when they lost these kingdoms were no more without religion than
they who got them.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THAT KINGDOMS ARE ONLY AT HIS DISPOSAL WHO IS THE TRUE GOD.
Consider therefore with yourselves, and see whether it must not
needs be Him who is the disposer of kingdoms, who is the maker
and proprietor of the world which is governed, and of the man who
governs it ; whether it must not be Him who orders the revolutions
of empire in succeeding ages of time, who was before time itself,
and who of the several parts or links of ages composed the whole
body or chain of time; whether it is not He who raises up and
1 Illis Imperium sine fine decernunt. Tertullian frequently quotes Virgil
expressly, which makes it probable that in these words he alludes to a like
passage in that poet —
Imperium sine fine dedi.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 8 7
pulls down cities, under whom mankind once sojourned without
any cities at all. Why will you thus persist in error ? For ancient
uncultivated Rome ^ is ancienter than many of your gods. She had
her kings before she had such a circumference of her ground taken
up with a capitol. The Babylonians, and Medes, and Egyptians,
and Assyrians, and Amazons had all their kingdoms before your
Pontiffs, and Quindecemviri, and Salii, and Luperci were thought
of. After all, had the Roman gods been the dispensers of king-
doms, the ancient Jews had never risen to such an ascendant as to
reign in defiance of all the common deities all the world over; to
which god of the Jews you yourself have offered sacrifices, and to
whose temple you have presented gifts ; and which nation for a long
time you honoured with your alliance ; ^ and which, let me tell you,
you had never reigned over had they not finally filled up the
measure of their sins with their sin against Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THAT THE GENTILES ARE SET AGAINST CHRISTIANS BY THE
INSTIGATION OF EVIL SPIRITS.
This I take for a sufficient answer to that article which charges us
with treason against the gods, having demonstrated them to be no
gods, and consequently no harm done them. When therefore we
are called forth to sacrifice, we set conscience before to support us
against the order, which tells us what kind of beings those are
which these sacrifices are made to, that are made to the images
prostituted for worship, and to the consecrated names of men. But
some look upon it as madness, that when we might sacrifice
occasionally, and depart in a whole skin, or without hurting our
conscience, by virtue of an inward reserve to continue firm to our
1 Sylvestris Roma. Wild uncultivated Rome ; in which state Virgil thus
describes it, j^Sn. 8 —
Hinc ad Tarpeiam Sedem, et Capitolia ducit,
Aurea nunc, olim Sylvestribus horrida dumis.
^ Fcederibus. Concerning the alliance and frequent leagues of the Romans
with the Jews, vid. Machab. lib. i. cap. 8, lib. ii. cap. ii, etc. ; and Joseph.
lib. xiv. p. 486, lib. xvi. cap. 10, p. 562. But for offering sacrifice to the god
of the Jews I cannot find, though Heraldus affirms it, and from Josephus.
88 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
religion, that we should be such blockheads as to prefer our
opiniatrete to our lives. Thus, forsooth, you give the counsel by
what means we are to abuse you ; but well we know from whence
the suggestions come ; who it is that is behind the scene and
prompts all this ; and how he works sometimes by persuasive wiles,
and sometimes by dint of cruelty, and all to throw us off from our
constancy. It is verily the devil of an angel, a spirit divorced
from God, and for that reason our immortal enemy, and one who
gnashes with envy at the divine graces we enjoy, and plays all his
engines of destruction against us from your minds, as it were from
a citadel. Which minds of yours are by his secret injections
modified and suborned to that perverseness of judgment, and
savage injustice against us, which I mentioned in the beginning of
my Apology. For although the whole force of demons and such
kind of spirits is subjected to us, yet, like other rebellious slaves,
their fear is mixed with contumacy, and it is their meat and drink
to be hurting those whom otherwise they are afraid of, for servile
fear inspires hatred.
Besides, in this stage of rage and despair, they look upon
mischief as their whole comfort ; and all the lucid interval \ they
have for this devilish enjoyment is but until the day of judgment ;
and yet when we apprehend them, they surrender and submit to
their condition ; and whom they battle at a distance they beseech
at hand. Therefore when by their instinct you treat us like rebels,
and condemn us to workhouses, or prisons, or the mines, and such
like servile punishment j when thus, I say, by you their instruments
they break out against us, in whose power they are (for they know
their imparity full well, and their malice is but the more enraged at
their impotency), then we take another course, and engage these
odious spirits, as it were, upon equal terms, and resist with patience
impregnable ; that being the quarter they attack us upon with all
their fury, and we never come off so triumphantly as when we
suffer victoriously, and resist unto death.
1 Fruendcs iterum malignitati de Poence mord. " And all the lucid interval they
have for this devilish enjoyment is but until the day of judgment." In these words
our author plainly alludes to the Second Epistle of St. Peter ii. 4 — " For if
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. " And this
allusion, in a point of doctrine, in some measure proves that this Epistle went for
genuine in our author's time.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 89
CHAPTER XXVIII.
*
THAT THE ROMANS HAVE THEIR EMPERORS IN GREATER
VENERATION THAN THEIR GODS.
But because it seems manifestly wrong to drag men to sacrifice
against the natural freedom of their wills, since, as I have else-
where declared, religion must be a pure act of the will, it must
needs be very foolish to press men to the service of the gods, whom
for their own sakes they ought to serve freely ; and that it should
not be in a man's choice, which he has a right to by the liberty of
his will, to say, I will not have Jove for my god. Who are you,
pray, sir, that pretend to have my will in keeping? I care not a
farthing for Janus, let him turn his brows upon me from which
forehead he pleases. What have you to do with me in the choice
of religion ? But they which put you upon forcing us to sacrifice
to the gods are the same spirits which inform you to make us
sacrifice^ for the safety^ of the emperor; and so Caesar's safety
being twisted with the honour of the gods, you are by this stratagem
necessitated to compel, and we to suffer.
I come now to the second article of lese majesty, but majesty
more august with you than that of your gods ; for you are more
sincerely afraid and circumspect in your devotions to Caesar than
to Olympian Jove; and deservedly too if you understood it; for
what man alive is not preferable to a dead one ? But this difference
in your devotions is not grounded so much upon reason, or the
knowledge you have of your deities, as upon the consideration of
the emperor's present sensible power upon you ; and it is upon
this account here I tax you with irrehgion, because you stand more
heartily in awe of Caesar than of all your gods ; for, in fine, you will
sooner invoke all your gods round to bear witness to a lie than
swear falsely by the single genius of Caesar.^
1 Pro salute Iviperatoris sacrificare. When Herod and his father Nicetes took
up Polycarp into their coach, they attempted to persuade him off of his resolu-
tion to suffer, in this form of words, t/ ya.f xcckov la-Ttv tiTuv, xvpn Ktnla^up, xui iZacti
jccci ^ntffuZ^iffSiti. "Where is the harm to say, O Lord Csesar, and to sacrifice, and
so save yourself? " And when the martyr was brought before the tribunal, the
proconsul charges him to swear by the genius of Csesar, o^jlosd'» toZ Kalffccpos Tvx,nv,
fjuravcviiTov, u<ffov aipi tov; a.6iov;, that is, swear by Caesar's genius, repent, say take
off the atheists, that is, the Christians. These and such like were the forms
upon which they tried Christians. Vid. Euseb. Ecc. Hist. lib. iv. cap, 15, p. 131.
^ Citius denique apud vos. Ttitius fer Jovis Genhwi fejerarc, quam Regis It
90 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THAT THE EMPERORS MAINTAIN THE GODS RATHER THAN THE
GODS THE EMPERORS.
First therefore make it appear that those you sacrifice to can
protect either kings or subjects, and then charge us with treason
against gods and men ; for if angels or demons, spirits essentially
wicked or of the most destructive nature, can be the authors of
any good ; if spirits lost and undone themselves can save others,
if the damned can give freedom, and lastly if the dead (as you
know in your conscience your gods to be) can defend the living,
pray why do they not defend in the first place their own statues and
images and temples, which in my opinion are defended by Caesar's
guards, who keep watch and ward for their security. But the
materials of these I think come from Csesar's mines; and the
temples depend on Caesar's nod \ and lastly, many of the gods have
felt Caesar's displeasure ; and if he has been propitious to the gods,
and liberal, and bestowed privileges upon them, it still makes for
our cause. Thus then how is it likely that they who are at Caesar's
nod, as they all entirely are, should be the guardians of Caesar's
life? Is it not more likely that the gods should be in Caesar's
keeping, than Caesar in theirs? What! are we traitors to the
emperors because we do not set them below their own possessions ?
because we will not make mock addresses for their safety, con-
cluding it cannot be in the keeping of hands of lead. But you are
the only persons of religion who pray for their safety where it
cannot be had, and overlook Him who alone has it in His power.
But those who know how to ask it, and can obtain it too, because
they know how to ask it j those, I say, you are persecuting out of
the world. •
is much safer, says Minutius, to swear falsely by the genius of Jove than
Caesar.
Jurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus aras^ says Horace.
For he who swore falsely by the gods was noted only by the censors, and
exposed to shame. Vid. Ciceron. lib. iv. de Repub. But one perjured by the
genius of Caesar was severely bastinadoed, and exposed into the bargain. For
thus says Ulpian, lib. xiii., de Jure-jurando. Siquis juraverit m re peainiariA per
Genium Ccesaris, et pejeraverif, etc. Iniperator noster cum Patre rescripsis, fusti-
bus eiim. castiga7idum dimittere, et ita ei superdki^ vrpoTrsrug iu,r huwi, peiulanter
ne Jurat 0,
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, g i
CHAPTER XXX.
CONCERNING THE GOD OF CHRISTIANS BY WHOM KINGS REIGN,
AND THE PRAYERS OF CHRISTIANS FOR THE LIFE OF THE
EMPERORS.
The God we pray to for the life of emperors is the eternal God,
the true God, the God of life, and whom above all the emperors
themselves principally desire to propitiate ; they know by whom
they reign as kings and live as men. They are sensible that He is
the only God, and in whose power alone they are ; and that they
themselves are, next under Him, supreme ; and after Him the first
in honour above all men, and all your other gods too into the
bargain. And why not ? since they are above all men living, and
the living surely are above the dead. They consider how far their
power will go, and find it infinitely below the reach of heaven, and
so come to be sensible of a God above them ; and consequently
that the powers they have must be from God. Let an emperor
make war upon heaven, and pride himself with the thoughts of
leading captive heaven in triumph ; let him set guards upon heaven,
and try to reduce it to a Roman province, and he will find his
weakness. He is therefore great, because he is but less than
heaven ; for he is a creature of His who made heaven and every
creature that ever had a being. He made him an emperor who
made him a man ; the author of his life is the author of his power.
To this Almighty Maker and Disposer of all Things it is that we
Christians offer up our prayers, with eyes lifted up to heaven, un-
folded hands in token of our simplicity,^ and with uncovered heads,
1 /Hue suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis, etc. The primitive Christians
at their devotion did not only lift up their hands to heaven, for so we find the
heathens did, according to that of Virgil —
Et duplices tendens ad sidera palmas,
but they laid their expanded hands transverse in the form of a cross ; and so we
are to understand our author here by his manibus expansis, and so likewise in
his book de Orat. cap. ii — Nos vero non attollimus tantum, sed etiaf?i expandi-
mus, et Dominicd Passione modulamur. Vid. Not. Vales, in Euseb. Eccles. Hist.
lib. iv. cap. 14, p. 242. I cannot but take notice here of a most extraordinary
objection against set forms of prayer, urged by David Clarkson in his discourse
concerning liturgies, from this passage : " That the Christians then lifted up their
hands and eyes to heaven in prayer, which shows they had no books." It shows
it indeed just as much as our lifting up our hands and eyes shows now that we
have no Common Prayer-Book in our Church ; but certainly both ministers and
people being constantly used to one form may have so much memory as to find
time to look off from their books, and look up to heaven at proper seasons.
92 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
because we have nothing to blush for in our devotion ; and without
a prompter/ because we pray with our hearts rather than our
tongues; and in all our prayers are ever mindful of all our
emperors and kings wheresoever we live, beseeching God for every
one of them without distinction, that He would bless them with
length of days and a quiet reign, a well-established family, a stout
^ Denique sine Monitore, quia de Pectore 07-a??ms. This is just such another
obscure passage as the ol»? A6vafji,t5 in Justin Martyr already mentioned ;
but as dark as it is, yet with some men it is as clear as the day for the use of
extempore prayer in Tertullian's time. But before I enter upon this contro-
verted place, I desire the reader to take notice first, that though our author does
not give us the very form, because he wrote to unbelievers, yet in this chapter
he gives the heads of a stated prayer for the emperor, namely, a long life, a
quiet empire, a well-established family, a valiant army, a faithful senate, a
virtuous people, etc. Now he could not deliver in these particulars as a proof
of the Christian loyalty, unless they prayed constantly for these things, and that
must be by a constant settled form ; for extempore prayer is as uncertain as the
wind, and could have been no evidence in this or any other case. Secondly, by
this phrase, " without a monitor," cannot possibly be meant without any one to
dictate a form of words to them, because in all their public prayers the minister
was always the mouth of the congregation, and whether he prayed by a form, or
extempore, his words must be a form of words to the people who prayed after
him. Whatever therefore this dubious expression may mean, it cannot possibly
mean without a form, unless it means without a minister ; because, as I have
said, the prayers of the minister must be a form to the people. And now for the
phrase itself ; we pray Sine Monitore, without a prompter or monitor, because
de Pectore, from the heart, that is extempore, as Mr. Clarkson and the anti-
formulists expound it. Bishop Bilson, in his Christian Stibject, with great
modesty says, "This seems to be meant of the miraculous gift of prayer, which
dured in the Church unto his time." Vid. Christian Subj. part iv. p. 411. But
then he supposes withal that this extraordinary gift ceased soon after, and that
liturgies came into practice long before the time of St. Basil or Chrysostom ; so
that, allowing this conjecture, it will by no means follow that because ministers,
while divinely inspired, prayed without a form, therefore they ought to keep on
praying extempore when the days of inspiration are over. But with all respect
to this learned prelate, he seems not to reach the design and meaning of
Tertullian in this place ; and in order hereunto, it is to be remembered that
the heathen had abundance of deities, and every deity to be invoked in a several
form, for such blessings as lay within his particular province. Thus, for instance,
Bacchus was invoked in this wise, O Bacchus ! son of Semele, the giver of
riches, etc. Vid. Casaub. Exercit. lib. xvi. p. 42. And so again for Janus,
O Father Janus ! with this cake I offer thee my good wishes, etc. Vid. Test.
in verb. Signif. And so again for Jupiter, Mars, and all the rest. Now in such
a swarm of deities and different invocations, a god might easily be passed over,
or the invocation ill worded, or ill pronounced (which was looked upon very
ominous, and hence perhaps that phrase of Bona Verba). For fear, I say, that
there should be any omission or blunder in these divine addresses, these se\^eral
forms of invocation were not only read out of the ritual by one priest, but there
was another priest also appointed, as a public monitor, to oversee and set them
right in their repetitions. And that this was the case seems very probable from
that of Pliny, lib. xxviii. cap. 2 — Inprecationibus , ne quid Verborum prcetereatur,
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 93
army, a faithful senate, an honest people, and a peaceful world, and
whatever else either prince or people can wish for.
But these are blessings I cannot persuade myself to ask of any,
but Him who I know can give them, and that is my God, and my
God only, who has them in His disposal ; and I am one to whom
He has obliged Himself by promise to grant what I ask, if I ask as
I should do ; for I am His servant, and serve Him only, and for
aut prceposterum dicatur de Scripto prcEire aliquem, rursusque alhi?n Custodein
dari, qui attendat. " In certain prayers, lest any of the words should be omitted,
or preposterously repeated, there is one to dictate to the people out of a book,
and another appointed as overseer, to attend how they pronounce." Now this
last, whom Pliny calls the cusios, or overseer, seems not unlikely to be the
monitor alluded to by Tertullian. We pray then without a monitor, because de
Peciore, from the heart ; which may either signify that we repeat not our prayers
aloud after the priest, as you do, but join with him in our soul ; or else, that we
can say our prayers by heart, and so have no occasion for such a monitor, and
then de Pectore answers exactly to k'Troam^lXnv, and such Graecisms are much
affected by this writer, Vid. Thornd, Relig. Assentb. p. 237. Another learned
person understands this phrase de Pectore of those prayers which every private
Christian used in the solemn assemblies on the stationary days, in the intervals
between the public offices of the Church, while the congregation kept silence ;
and considering that they stayed at these stations for nine hours together, and
that all this time was not taken up in reading, expounding, singing, and in
common prayers, it is not improbable but the interspaces were allowed for the
exercise of mental devotion. And then this phrase de Pectore can argue nothing
against set forms in public prayers. Besides, it was a custom, and taken notice
of by Plutarch, that while the priest was officiating, for another to go behind
him with this admonition. Hoc age quod agis, " Be sure to mind what you are
about ; " and this perhaps might be the monitor. But Christians who prayed de
Pectore, with all their hearts and souls, had no need of such an officer. Lastly,
if we consider that Tertullian is here proving the sincerity of the Christian
loyalty above that of the heathens, it seems most agreeable to his design in my
opinion, and what the words will very well bear, to understand him thus : the
heathens were obliged to offer up their vows and sacrifices in public for the life
of the emperor ; and for fear they should omit to name him, either out of
negligence or malice, or name him only by way of imprecation, there was a
custos, or monitor, appointed to see that they rightly pronounced the form of
words dictated by another priest from writing. And to this Seneca no doubt
alludes in these remarkable words, lib. de Clement, cap. 19 — Quid pulchrius
est, quani vivere optantibtcs cunctis, et vota non sub Custode nuncupantibus ?
"What more lovely or desirable than to live in the hearts of his subjects, and to
have them all praying for him without the help of a monitor ? " And therefore,
says our author, we pray sine Monitore, without an overseer, because de Pectore,
that is, ex animo, because we pray for emperors from our very heart and soul.
Thus then we see how many ways there are of expounding this obscure passage,
each of which is much more probable than that which is urged for the justifica-
tion of extempore prayer. And thus likewise we see how the authority of the
ancients is valued like an oracle, when they deliver themselves in agreeable
ambiguity ; but when they cannot be made to speak for the party, why then the
Fathers are very ordinary people.
94 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
whose service I am killed all the day long, and to whom I offer
that noble and greatest of sacrifices which He has commanded, a
prayer which comes from a chaste body, an innocent soul, and a
sanctified spirit; not a farthing's worth of frankincense, not the
tears of an Arabian tree, or two drops of wine ; not the blood of
a discarded bull worn out with age ; and after all these defilements,
a conscience the most defiling thing of all. So that in truth, when
I reflect upon the pollutions of the sacrificers who are to examine
the qualifications of the sacrifice, I cannot but wonder why the
entrails of the beasts should be rather inspected than the inwards
of the priests.
Thus, then, while we are stretching forth our hands to our God,
let your tormenting irons harrow our flesh ; let your gibbets exalt
us, or your fires lick up our bodies, or your swords cut ofl" our
heads, or your beasts tread us to earth. For a Christian upon his
knees to his God is in a posture of defence against all the evils
you can crowd upon him.
Consider this,^ O you impartial judges, and go on with your
justice, and while our soul is pouring out herself to God in the
behalf of the emperor, do you be letting out her blood.
-0-
CHAPTER XXXI.
THAT CHRISTIANS ARE COMMANDED TO LOVE THEIR ENEMIES.
But perhaps our vows and intercessions with heaven for the life of
the emperor are to be looked upon merely as the spices of flattery,
and a trick only to elude the severity of the laws ; but if you will
have it a trick, it has had this advantage, to procure us the liberty
^ Hoc agite, boni Prcesides, extorquete animam Deo supplicaniem pro Impera-
tore. There is a most bitter sarcasm implied in these words, Hoc agite, that is,
"be intent upon your sacrifice, and wrack out the soul of a Christian while it is
praying to God for the life of the emperor ; " wherein our author manifestly
alludes to the custom just now mentioned from Plutarch, that while the priest
was sacrificing, the crier or prc£co went behind with these words, Hoc age, mind
what you are about ; for thus Plutarch tells us in Coriolano, orxv yup a.pxo^'^^s
9i hpu; TpciTTUffi r) tuv Siluv, o Kyjpu^ ^potrrutri f^iyxXt] <f>ci)v» (houv, ok ccyi, a'y)f/,a,vu yctp
<peovri, T0U70 Tpoim, TTpoffi^uv xikivovira, roTs hpo7;, xai f^^i^iv 'ipyov l/^ficiXiTv f^-ra^v,
' Terhillian s Apology for the Christians. 95
of proving what we proposed to do in our justification. Thou
therefore that thinkest that the Christian rehgion expresses no
concern for the Hfe of Caesar, look into the word of God, the word
we go by, and which we do not suppress in private, and which
many accidents have thrown into the hands of strangers, and there
you may see with what superabundant charity we are commanded
to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to do good to
them that hate us, and to pray for them which despitefully use us,
and persecute us. Matt. v. 44. And who such cruel persecutors of
Christians as the emperors for whom they are persecuted ? And
yet these are the persons we are commanded by the word of God
expressly, and by name, to pray for; for thus it runs — "I exhort
therefore, that first of all supplications and prayers, intercessions
and giving of thanks be made for all men; for kings, and for all that
are in authority ; that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all
godliness and honesty," i Tim. ii. i. For when the government is
shaken, the members of it feel the shock, and we (though we are
not looked upon as members by the people), yet we must be found
somewhere in the calamity of the public.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCERNING ANOTHER REASON OF THE CHRISTIANS IN PRAYING
FOR THE EMPERORS.
But there is another and more prevailing reason which determines
us to intercede with heaven for the emperors, and for the whole
estate of the empire, and their prosperity. And it is this, that we
are of opinion that the conflagration of the universe which is now
at hand, and is likely to flame out in the conclusion of this century,
and to be such a horrid scene of misery, is retarded by this inter-
position of the Roman prosperity ; ^ and therefore we desire not to
' Quod vim inaximam tmiverso orbi imminentum^ etc. Tertullian in this
passage alludes to that of St. Paul, 2 Thess. ii. — " And now ye know what
withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time," etc. And so likewise in his
book de Resiir. Carnis, cap. 24 — Jam enim arcamim iniqidtatis agitiir ; tantwn
ut qtii tenet, teneat, donee de medio Jiat. Quis nisi Roinantis Status? etc. And
it was the current opinion of the Fathers that Antichrist should not come until
the Roman Empire was destroyed. To this purpose Theod. Chrysost. : Tivej to
xccrip^ov rriv PeofictiKriv Ivontr^at (latriXiictv, r/v£j ?£ riiv X^P'^ "^"^ 'mvfji.ce.TOiy ol fJiXv rod
<;rviVfiuros Tm ^a.fiv (pair)v, ol Ti rh* 'V&ifiai'xyiv ap^i]v o'l; sytwyt jtAoiKiffrcx, ri^ificti. And
g6 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
be spectators of dissolving nature \ and while we pray for it to be
deferred, we pray for the subsistence of the Roman Empire.
But then as to your other objection concerning oaths ; to this I
answer, that swear we do,^ and if not by the geniuses of the Caesars,
yet by their Hfe, which is of more veneration to us than all the
genii put together. But you seem to be ignorant that the genii
are called demons, and from thence by a diminutive word demonia,
that is, little devils. We reverence the providence of God in the
persons of the emperors, who has made choice of them for the
government of the world. We know that the power they have, they
have by the will of God ; and therefore we wish well to that which
God has willed to be ; and we look upon, .that as a very sacred oath
which is made by so sacred a person ; but as for demons, that is
genii, we are used to exercise them, and not to swear by them, for
fear of giving that honour to devils which is due only to God.
-0-
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF CHRISTIAN LOYALTY, AND THEIR REFUSING
TO CALL THE EMPEROR BY THE TITLE OF GOD.
But what need I say more to show the sacred tie which binds on
the duty of allegiance upon Christian subjects ? It is enough to
so again St. Jerome — Nisi, inqznt,fuerit Roi7ianuni Imferium ante desolahwi^
et Antichristus prcBcessarit, Christus non veniet. Hieron. Epist. ad Algas.
Qu. II, f. 60.
•'■ Sed etjuramus, sicut non per Genios Ccesariim, ita per Salutem eorum, etc.
Here we have the lawfulness of an oath expressly asserted by our Tertullian,
though now gainsaid by some new-fashioned Christians (if the Quakers may
be called Christians), and an oath too by the life of the emperors ; and a very
sacred oath too it is, says our author, when so sacred a person is sworn by.
They would not swear by their genii indeed, because they looked upon that as
swearing by the devil and his angels ; and thus we find that Joseph swore by the
life of Pharaoh. Some are of opinion that this custom of swearing by the safety
of the emperor was introduced by Augustus, from that of Horace,
Prasenti tibi ?naturos largimur honores,
Jurandasq. ; tuum per nu?nen poninius aras.
However this be, it is certain from Suetonius in Vita Tiberii, and from Cornelius
Tacitus, lib. i., that Tiberius forbade all such swearing either by his Hfe or
genius. Vid. Dion. Rom. Hist. lib. Ivii,
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 97
say that we look upon ourselves under a necessity to honour the
emperor as a person of God's election ; so that I may very
deservedly say that we have much the greatest share in Caesar, as
being made emperor by our God. And therefore it is I who more
effectually recommend him to God,^ because I not only earnestly
ask it of Him who can give it, or because I am such a petitioner as
have the most reason to obtain it, but also because by setting Caesar
below his god, I set him higher in his affection, to which God
alone I subject him ; and I subject him to God, by not making him
his equal.
I will not give the title of god to the emperor,^ either because I
dare not speak against my conscience, nor ridicule him ; or because
he himself will not endure the title. If he be a man, it is the
interest of a man to give place to God ; let him content himself
with the name of emperor, for this is the most majestic name upon
earth, and it is the gift of God. He lays aside the emperor who
takes upon him the God ; he must be a man to be an emperor.
When he is in the very prime of his glory sitting in his triumphal
chariot, even then he is admonished to know himself a man, by
one speaking from behind in these words, " Look back, and remember
yourself to be but man ; " ^ and he is then the more contented to find
^ Plus ego illi operor in Saluteui. " It is I who more effectually recommend
him to God." This word operor I take to be very significative and emphatical
in this place ; for z.'&facere often is used for Re7?i sacramfacere, to sacrifice ; so
operari, when applied to religious matters, is the same with the Greek hipyuvy
by sacrifice or prayer to work upon God with energy, or efficaciously.
^ Non enifn Deum Imperatorem dicain. "I will not call the emperor God."
Antiochus, king of Syria, arrived to the extravagant blasphemy of taking upon
him this title of God. Vid, Appian. in Syr. So likewise among the Romans,
Caligula commanded himself to be called Optimus Maximus and Jupiter
Latialis. See Sueton. in vita ipsius, cap. 22, and Philo in his Legatione ad
Caium. And thus Tacitus, lib. iii., speaks of Domitian, Mox imperiiim adepius,
Jovi Custodi templum ingens, seq. ; in sinu Dei sacravtt. Vide eHa?n Sueton.
cap. 13. Hence that of Martial, lib. v. Epigr. 8 —
Edictum Domini, Deiq. ; nostri.
And so again, lib, viii. Epigr. 2 —
Terrarum Domino, Deoq. ; rerum.
^ Suggeriter enim ei a tergo, Respice post te, Ho7ninem memento te. In the
same chariot, behind him who triumphed, was the public servant carried, who
held up a huge heavy crown above the head of the triumpher, both to express
his merits and his weakness by a glorious weight he could not bear, and with
the mortifying words just now mentioned. In allusion to this is that of Juvenal,
Sat. 10 —
Qiiippe tenet sudajis hanc Publicus, et sibi Consul.
Ne placeat, eurru Servus portatur eodeni.
D
98 Terhillians Apology for the Christians.
himself on such a dazzling height of glory as to make it necessary
for him to be advised of his humanity. He is the weakest of
princes who can feel himself a man, and would be flattered as
Almighty ; and he the Caesar truly great, that will bear the truth
that is designed to keep him within the bounds of mortality.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CONCERNING AUGUSTUS C^SAR.
Augustus,^ the founder of the Roman Empire, would by no means
admit of the style of Dominus, or lord, for this is the surname of
God. Nevertheless, I should not scruple to call the emperor
lord ; 2 but then it must be when I am not compelled to do it in a
sense peculiarly appropriated to God ; for I am Caesar's free-born
subject, and we have but one Lord, the Almighty and Eternal God,
who is his Lord as well as mine.
But why should you call him lord, who is styled the father of
his country ? Surely that name of affection sounds sweeter much
than that of power ; and they had rather be called fathers of great
families, than lords of slaves. But if Augustus would never assume
the title of lord, he would much less have thought it Caesar's due
^ Augustus, ne Dominum quideni did se volebat, Suetonius in the life of
Augustus writes thus of his refusiug the title of Dominus, or lord, cap. 53 —
" Domini appellationem, ut maledictum et opprobrium semper exhorruit. Cum
spectante eo ludos, pronunciatum esset in mimo, O Dominum sequum et
bonum : et universi quasi de ipso dictum exultantes comprobassent : statim manu
vultuque indecoras adulationes repressit, et insequenti die gravissimo corripuit
edicto, Dominumque se posthac appellari, ne a liberis quidem aut nepotibus
suis, vel serio vel joco, passus est; atque hujusmodi blanditias etiam inter ipsos
prohibuit."
^ Dicam plane Imperatorem Dominum^ sed more communi, etc. If the Quakers
would, be determined by Tertullian, a person of great mortification, a mighty
stickler for anything which had the least appearance of extraordinary piety, and
withal an exceeding admirer of Montanus, and the false pretenders to the spirit
of that age, they might hear him in this place frankly declaring that he should
make no scruple to call the emperor Dominus, or lord, to own him supreme, or
as he in the foregoing chapter expresses it, subject to God only, provided this
term Dominus might be taken in the common sense, and noways intrench upon
the prerogative of God. And this proviso he had reason to make, because the
adoration of emperors was then grown into fashion,
TerhilliafUs Apology for the Christians. 99
to have been styled god ; a flattery not only most fulsome, but of a
most destructive influence to both parties. It is just as if you
should pass by the rightful emperor, and give his titlejo another ;
would not this be an unpardonable offence in you who give the
title, and fatal to him who takes it ? Lef rrie advise you therefore,
as you tender Csesar's safety, not to rob God of His attributes, to
bestow them upon Csesar ; forbear to believe that there is any other
god, and to style him god who stands in need of God every
moment of his being. But if you are proof against all shame, and
can daub the emperor with such a lie of a title as you do by
calling such a mortal, god ; at least, methinks, you should be afraid
of having such an ill-boding name in your mouths, for it is a kind
of imprecation against Csesar's life, to call him a god before the
time of his apotheosis.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CONCERNING THE DIFFERENT OBSERVATION OF PUBLIC FESTIVALS
BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND THE HEATHENS.
Christians therefore lie under the odium of public enemies,
because they join not in the public flatteries, in the false fantastic
honours which are dedicated to emperors upon public festivals ;
because the professors of the true religion celebrated such solem-
nities with sobriety of conscience, and not with the liberties of a
dissolute joy.^ A mighty instance of loyalty, no doubt ! to make
bonfires, to bring out tables and feasts in the streets, and meta-
morphose the whole city into a tavern ; ^ to make the conduits run
wine, and see the mob suck up dirt and Hquor together, and run
^ VercE Religionis Homines etiam solemnia eoj'um, conscientid potius quam
lascivid celebrant. Here you have another instance of the primitive Christians
complying with heathen solemnities, so far as was consistent with innocence.
The festival here mentioned seems to be a day of rejoicing for the suppressing
the faction of Niger and his adherents. The Christians made no scruple to
observe the day with a conscientious mirth, though they would not join in the
public debauchery.
^ Civitatem tabernce habitu abolefacere. * ' To metamorphose the city into a
tavern." Agreeable to this description is that of Martial, lib. vii. —
Tonsor, Caupo, Coquus, Lanius, sua limina servant,
Nunc Roma est, niiper magna Taberna fuit.
lOO Terlullian s Apology for the Christians.
about in troops like mad into all the confusions of injury, im-
pudence and lust, their heated imagination prompts them to. Is
such a scene of public shame a proper expression of public joy ?
And are these becoming practices upon an holy day, which upon
any day are abominable? Shall they who seem so mighty devout
for Caesar's safety be so mighty drunk for Caesar's safety too?
Shall licentiousness pass for loyalty, and luxury for religion ? Oh
the just condemnation of Christians ! For why should we dare to
be so singularly sober, chaste, and honest upon Cesar's birthday,
and be so unfashionably religious in discharging our vows and
rejoicings for him ? When all the world has given such a loose to
joy, why do we not do so too, and darken our gates with laurels,^
and put out the day with illuminations ? For certainly it is a very
fine figure to see your houses upon holy days dressed up in the
fashion of the stews.
But touching the religion upon these sacred festivals to Caesar,
who is the second majesty next to God, and upon whose account we
N are convened as guilty of a second sacrilege, for not celebrating
these days according to your modes of worship, which temperance,
modesty, and chastity will not permit us to do. I would set this
matter, I say, in a better light, and lay before you your own allegi-
ance and sincerity, that we may judge whether they are not more
to blame in this point than Christians, who will not have us treated
as Romans, but as enemies of the State.
For the truth of this I convene the populace of Rome, the natives
of the Seven Hills, and let them answer whether their tongues, as
much Roman as it is, have spared any of their own Caesars ? Let
the pasquils fixed upon the statue of Tiberius speak, and the Circus
too, that academy where beasts are sent to learn the art of killing
men with a better grace.
Had nature covered our breasts with transparent matter, so that
we might look into the people's heart, what heart should we see
' Cur diu Iceto non Laurels Pastes obicmbramjis ? Juvenal, speaking in the
person of the people applauding the emperor's happiness upon the overthrow of
his enemy, says, Fone doi7ii Latiros. Sat. lo. And so again. Sat. 6 —
Omentur Posies, et grandi Janua Lauro.
But this also (says our author in the words following) was the habit of the stews ;
and lib. ii. ad Uxor. — Procedit de Janud Laureat d et lucernatd, ut de novo
Consistorio libidinum Puhlicarum.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. loi
that was not inscribed with a scene of Caesar's fresh and fresh
distributing the doles to the people, which are usual at their first
coming to the throne ? We should see these wishes, I say, in their
hearts for Caesar's death, even in the moment that their mouths are
full of cry for Caesar's life, according to that of the poet : ^
»
Shorten my thread of life, good Jove ! from mine
Take many years to lengthen Caesar's line.
But a Christian dares no more take their words in his mouth than
their wishes in his heart ; but this you will say is mob, and to be
considered as mob only. But let me tell you, this mob are Romans,
and the worst too of enemies we have ; the Romans then of better
rank are certainly better subjects, and their fidelity greater in
proportion to their quality; not a man of the senatorian or
equestrian order but is all subjection ; and not a breath of re-
bellion ever comes from camp or court. If so, whence came the
Cassiuses, the Nigers and Albinuses ? ^ Whence those who set upon
the Emperor Commodus between the two laurel groves at Lauretum ?
and those who got him strangled at his exercise with his wrestling-
master Narcissus ? Whence those who broke into the palace, sword
in hand, and murdered Pertinax, in a more audacious manner than
Domitian was by the Sigeriuses and Partheniuses ? Now these
parricides (if I mistake not) were men of rank, and Romans ; and
not a Christian among them. And these traitors just before the
perpetration of this horrid impiety offered sacrifice for Caesar's Hfe,
and swore by Caesar's genius, with religion in their faces, and
murder in their hearts, and branded the Christians with the
character of public enemies. But the principals and abettors of
this wicked conspiracy against Severus which are daily detected,
and picked up as the gleanings after a vintage of rebellion.^ Bless
me ! with what loads of laurel did they signalize their gates on
1 De nostris annis Jupiter augeat annos.
^ Unde Cassii^ et Nigri, et Albini? Whoever has a mind to see a
particular account of these Tyranni, and those that adhered to them, may read
the life of Avidius Cassius in Vulcatius, the life of Niger in Spartianus, and that
of Albinus in Capitolinus. See also the preface of Baldwinus before Minutius
Felix.
2 Post Vmdemiam Parricidarum Race^natio Superstes. How this passage
determines the time of this Apology, I have already mentioned ; and that relates
not to the death of Plautianus, according to Baronius, tom. ii., Annal. p. 264,
and according to Mr. Dodwell, Cyp. diss. xi. cap. 51, p. 282, but to the
death of Pertinax, is to me most probable from the history of Zosimus, lib. i.,
where he gives this account — xa) -rpoyt aTtavTuv, etc., Ante ovinia (Severus)
de Militibus qui Pertinacem necaverant, et Jtdiano tradiderant Imperium,
acerba Stipplicia sumpsit.
I02 Tertullians Apology for the Ckristiaits.
Caesar's birthday ! With what extraordinary illuminations did
their porches overcast the sun ! ^ With what exquisite and stately
tables did they take up the forum ! Not in truth to celebrate the
public joy, but to take omens from hence of their own future empire,
and to inaugurate this image of their hopes, even upon Cesar's
festival, by calling themselves in their hearts by the name of Caesar.
They likewise pay the same observances who are so officious in
consulting astrologers, and soothsayers, and augurs, and magicians
about the life of the emperors ;2 for these fortune-telling arts delivered
by fallen angels, and interdicted by God, the Christians never apply
to in any cause of theirs. For what business has a man to be so
curious about Caesar's life, who has no design against it, or expecta-
tions from it? For we seldom ask questions about our dearest
friends, with the same intent as we do about our masters ; and the
solicitude of relations, and the curiosity of slaves, are generally upon
very different principles.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CONCERNING THE CHRISTIAN DUTY OF LOVING ENEMIES.
If the case be thus, that such as are found traitors in the very fact
shall be indulged the title of Romans, why are we denied the
benefit of that title who are only thought traitors ? Can we not be
Romans without being rebels, because so many Romans have been
found guilty of rebellion? That piety, veneration, and loyalty
^ Lucernis vestibula enuhilabant. It was the manner of the Grecians to
express the celebration of festival days by (^uir) kou ffri(pa,)>a>[ji,a.ffi, by illuminations
and coronets of flowers. And Persius, speaking of Herod's birthday, has these
words —
Unctdq. ; fenestrd
Dispositce pingue7n nebiilam vomuere Lucerna.
But the Christians would not express their joy by lights and laurels ; and for
candles, we find an express prohibition against them in the Apostolical Canons,
can. 70 — Si quis Christianus oleum tulerit ad sacra Gentilium, vel Synagogam
TudcEorum, Festis ipsorwn diebus, aiit lucernas accenderit, de Societate pellatur.
2 Qui Astrologos et Aruspices, et AugU7'es, et Magos de Cczsarunz capita
consultant. Our author mentions these several sorts of conjurors, because many
of them had been put to death upon this account by Severus. For thus
Spartianus in his life of Severus, Multos etiam, quasi Chaldceos^ aut vates, de sua
salute consulissent, interemit.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians, 103
therefore which is due to emperors, does not consist in the fore-
mentioned shows of duty, which even rebellion cloaks herself in to
pass undiscovered, but in such virtues as civil society finds
necessary to be practised sincerely towards prince and people.
Nor are these actions of a virtuous mind looked upon by us as a
tribute due to Caesar only ; for we have no respect of persons in
doing good, because by so doing we do good to ourselves, who
catch at no applause or reward from men, but from God only, who
keeps a faithful register of our good works, and has ample rewards
in store for this universal charity ; for we have the same good wishes
for emperors as for our nearest friends. To wish ill, to do ill, to
speak ill, or to think ill of any one, we are equally forbidden with-
out exception. What is injustice to an emperor is injustice to his
slave; and that which is unlawful against the meanest is much
more so against the greatest of men ; and him too especially who
came to this greatness by the appointment of God.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A CONTINUATION OF THE UNLIMITED LOVE OF CHRISTIANS,
If then (as I have elsewhere declared) we Christians are expressly
commanded by our Master to love our enemies, whom then have
we left to hate? And if when hurt we must not return the evil,
for fear of being like the rest of the world, where shall we find a
man to hurt ? How well we practise this command of our Master,
you yourselves can tell with a witness ; for how many times, partly
in compliance with a brutish passion, partly in obedience to the
laws, have you judges showed a most savage cruelty to Christians !
How often without your authority has the hostile mob of their own
mere motion invaded us with showers of stones and fire ! The
mob, I say, who acted with the furies of a Bacchanal spare not
even a dead Christian, but tear him from the quiet of a tomb, the
sacred refuge of death, and mangle the body, hideously deformed
already, and rotting to pieces ; and in this rueful condition drag
it about the streets. But now in all this conspiracy of evils against
us, in the midst of these mortal provocations, what one evil have
you observed to have been returned by Christians? Whereas we
could in a night's time with links and firebrands in our hands have
I04 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
made ourselves ample satisfaction by returning evil for evil, had we
not thought it unlawful to quit the score of one injury with another.
But God forbid that any of this divine sect should seek revenge
by fire, after the manner of men, or grudge to suffer what is sent
to refine them.
But if we would not revenge ourselves in the dark, but as
professed enemies engage you in the open field, do you think we
could want forces ? The Moors, and Marcomans, and Parthians,
which you have lately conquered, or any other people within the
bounds of a country, are more numerous perhaps than those who
know no other bounds than the limits of the world. We are but of
yesterday, and by to-day are grown up, and overspread your empire ;
your cities, your islands, your forts, towns, assemblies, and your
very camps, wards, companies, palace, senate, forum, all swarm
with Christians. Your temples indeed we leave to yourselves, and
they are the only places you can name without Christians. What
war can we now be unprepared for ? ^ And supposing us unequal
^ Cut bello non Idoncei, etc. ? In the preliminary discourse to this Apology, I
have shown at large from this and the foregoing chapters that it was not for
want either of strength or courage that the primitive Christians sat still and
suffered ; but purely the reverence they bore to the character of God in the
emperor, tied their hands, and secured their passions, and perfectly got the
better of self-preservation. It was the doctrine and example of their suffering
Master which made them content to go this rugged way to heaven ; and I
cannot but think this extraordinary, supernatural patience, a mighty, strong, and
moving argument for the truth of Christianity, to see its professors in such
numbers, and for some ages, so willingly comply wath a religion which, as
Tertullian says, taught men they must choose rather to be killed than to kill.
But because the measures of Christian obedience to the supreme powers are no-
where better argued and more clearly stated both from Scripture and antiquity,
and from these passages, than by the Right Reverend and learned Bishop of Sarum
himself in his four Conferences, printed at Glasgow in the year 1673, I
recommend the reader for fuller satisfaction on this head to those excellent
dialogues. However, for fear they should be out of print, 1 shall give him a
taste for his encouragement to read the whole. Thus then he expresses his zeal
with a justifiable primitive warmth, p. 17 — "Whatever other cases allow of,
certainly the defence of religion by arms is never to be admitted ; for the nature of
the Christian religion is such that it excludes all carnal weapons from its defence.
And when I consider how expressly Christ forbids His disciples to resist evil.
Matt. XXV. 39, how severely that resistance is condemned by St. Paul, and
that condemnation is declared the punishment of it, I am forced to cry out, Oh !
what times are we fallen in, in which men dare against the express laws of the
gospel defend that practice upon which God hath passed this condemnation — ' If
whosoever break the least of these commandments, and teach men so to do,
shall be called the least in the kingdom of God,' what shall their portion be
who teach men to break one of the greatest of these commandments, such as are
the laws of peace and subjection ? And what may we not look for from such
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 105
in strength, yet considering our usage, what should we not attempt
readily ? we whom you see so ready to meet death in all its forms
of cruelty, was it not agreeable to our religion to be killed rather
than to kill.
We could also make a terrible war upon you without arms, or
fighting a stroke, by being so passively revengeful as only to leave
you ; for if such a numerous host of Christians should but retire
from the empire into some remote region of the world, the loss of
so many men of all ranks and degrees would leave a hideous gap,
and a shameful scar upon the government ; and the very evacuation
would be abundant revenge. You would stand aghast at your
desolation, and be struck dumb at the general silence and horror
of nature, as if the whole world was departed. You would be at a
loss for men to govern, and in the pitiful remains you would find
more enemies than citizens ; but now you exceed in friends, be-
cause you exceed in Christians.
Besides, whom would you have left to deHver you from the
incursions of your invisible enemies, who lay waste both body and
soul ? From the devils I mean, from whose depredations we defend
you gratis; and had we a spirit of revenge, it would make the
passion full amends only to abandon you freely to the mercy of
those impure beings ; but without the least touch of gratitude for
the benefit of so great a protection, you declare a sect of men,
which are not only not burdensome, but necessary, to be public
enemies ; as we are indeed, but not in your sense, enemies not of
human kind but of human errors only.
teachers, who dare tax that glorious doctrine of patient suffering, as brutish and
irrational ; and though it be expressly said, i Pet. ii. 21, that Christ by
suffering for us left us His example how to follow His steps, which was followed
by a glorious cloud of witnesses, yet in these last days, what a brood hath
sprung up ' of men who are lovers of their own selves, traitors, heady, high-
minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a fornr. jf godliness,
but denying the power thereof, who creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins ! ' It is our sins that provoked God to open the bottom-
less pit, and let loose such locusts ; but were we turning to God, and repenting
of the works of our own hands, we might hope that their power should be taken
from them, and that their folly should be made known unto all men." Thus that
great prelate.
a
To6 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THAT CHRISTIANS CAN NEVER BE JUSTLY SUSPECTED OF DESIGNS
AGAINST THE STATE.
The Christian sect therefore for a certain ought to meet with
kinder treatment than it does, and to be tolerated among other
lawful societies/ because it is a sect from whom nothing hostile ever
comes, like the dreadful issue of other unlawful factions. For, if I
mistake not, such a multiplicity of sects is suppressed upon reasons
of State, that the city should not be split into parties, for such
breaches would let in a general disorder into all your popular
elections, councils, courts, assemblies, and public sights, by the
ambitious clashings of the contending factions; and never more
reason to provide against such disorders than now, when the parties
are sure not to want violent hands for any design ; if they want not
money to pay them.
But for us who are stark cold and dead to all the glories upon
earth, what occasion can we have for caballings? And in good
truth nothing is further from our soul than the thoughts of mixing
in State affairs, or in any private designs ; for we look upon ourselves
as citizens of the world.
We renounce your sports as much as we condemn their original,^
^ Inter licitas Factiones. The politicians and statesmen troubled not their heads
much about any religion, but only to support that which was by law established,
and there being a law against the Heterise already mentioned, they prosecuted
the Christians under the notion of a society dangerous to the State, among the
rest without distinction. These Christian meetings, ubi congregabantur oraturi,
et verbi divini interpretationeni accepturi, ac sacras Synaxes, habituri, they
called Conventicula, saith Heraldus. Vid. Observat. in. Arnob. lib. iv.
^ Spectaculis vestris in tantum renunciamus^ etc. This charge of sequestering
themselves from the public sports and pleasures is urged against the Christians
by the heathen in Minutius ; and it is certain they thought themselves obliged so
to do by their baptismal vow, which was an engagement upon their admission to
renounce the devil and all his works, pomps, and pleasures, that is, saith St.
Cyril, Cat. Myst. i, p. 510, the sights and sports of the theatre, and such like
vanities. They looked in good truth upon these public pastimes, not only as
scenes of folly and lewdness, but of idolatry ; as places where the devil eminently
ruled, and reckoned all his own who came there ; and accordingly Tertullian, de
Sped. cap. 26, p. 83, tells us of a Christian woman who, going to the theatre,
was there possessed by an evil spirit, who upon his ejectment being demanded
how he durst set upon a Christian, immediately replied, "I did but what was
just and fitting, for I found her upon my own ground."
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 107
which we know is owing to superstition and idolatry, and never are
present at any of your diversions. We have nothing to do with the
madness of the Cirque, with the obsceneness of the stage, and the
cruelty of the amphitheatre, and the vanity of the Xystus.^ The
Epicurean sect is tolerated in the exercise of their pleasures, and
why are we such intolerable offenders for non - conforming with
you in point of pleasure? Nay, if mortification is the Christian
pleasure, where is the harm to you ? if it be a harm, it is to ourselves
only. But thus it is, your pleasures are our aversion, and ours
affect not you.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CONCERNING THE DISCIPLINE OF CHRISTIANS, AND THEIR
EMPLOYMENT AND V^AYS OF LIVING.
Having vindicated our sect from the calumnies of rebellion, etc.,
I come now to lay before you the Christian way and fashion of
living.
We Christians then are a corporation or society of men 2 most
strictly united by the same religion, by the same rites of worship,
^ Cum Xisti vanitate. The Xystus was a gallery or portico of great length
and breadth, and planted about with trees, where in the winter time the athletae
performed. Vid. Alex, ab Alex. tom. ii. cap. 9, p. 659. It was certainly a place
too where philosophers and men of learning met, for here it was Justin Martyr
met and disputed with Trypho the Jew.
2 Corptis suinus de conscientid Religionis, et DiscipliiKE Unitate. ' ' We are one
body by our agreement in religion and our unity of discipline." I know nothing
less understood, or less regarded, than unity of discipline, as if that was no part
of Church unity ; forms of worship and government are now to be passed over
with moderation, though the ancient and best of Christians reckoned unity of
discipline, as well as faith, necessary to make them members of the same body.
Dr. Barrow, a truly moderate and good man, in his excellent discourse concern-
ing the unity of the Church, says, " That all Christians are one by a specifical
unity of discipline, resembling one another in ecclesiastical administrations,
which are regulated by the indispensable sanctions and institutions of their
sovereign. That they are all bound to use the same sacraments, according to
the forms appointed by our Lord, not admitting any substantial alteration.
They must uphold that sort of order, government, and ministry, on all its
substantial parts, which God did appoint in His Church." And a little after he
says, " That no power ought to abrogate, destroy, infringe, or violate the main form
io8 Terhillians Apology for the Christians,
and animated with one and the same hope. When we come to the
pubHc service of God, we come in as formidable a body as if we
were to storm heaven by force of prayer, and such a force is a most
grateful violence to God. When this holy army of supplicants is
met and disposed in godly array, we all send up our prayers for
the life of the emperors,- for their ministers, for magistrates, for
the good of the State, for the peace of the empire, and for retarding
the final doom.
We meet together likewise for the reading of Holy Scriptures,^
and we take such lessons out of them as we judge suit best
with the condition of the times, to confirm our faith either by
of discipline constituted by divine appointment. Hence the Meletians rejected
by the Church for introducing ordinations. Hence was ^rius accounted a
heretic for meaning to innovate in so grand a point of discipline as the subordina-
tion of bishops and presbyters. Upon which grounds " (says he at the conclusion
of his discourse) " I do not scruple to affirm the recusants in England to be no
less schismatics than any other separatists ; they are indeed somewhat worse, for
most others do only forbear communion, these do rudely condemn the Church to
which they owe obedience, they strive to destroy it, they are most desperate
rebels against it." Another person too of known learning, the Right Reverend
author of the Conferences abovesaid, thus argues for unity of discipline, Conf.
iii, p. 275 — " If therefore the worship of God among us continue undefiled, even
in the confession of all ; if the sacraments be administered as before ; if the
persons who officiate be ministers of the gospel, then certainly such as separate
from our public meetings do forsake the assemblies of the saints, and so break
the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace." And page 280 he goes on — "But
if separation be a sin, it must have a guilt of a high nature, and such as all who
would be thought zealous watchmen ought to warn their people of. And what
shall be said of those (even Churchmen) who, at a time when the laws are sharply
looked to, do join in our worship ; but if there be an unbending in these, they
not only withdraw and become thereby a scandal to others, but draw about them
divided meetings ; are not those time-servers ? For if concurrence in our worship
be lawful, and to be done at any time, it must be a duty which should be done
at all times ; and therefore such masters of conscience ought to express an
equality in their ways, and that they make the rules of their concurrence in
worship to be the laws of God, and not the fear of civil punishment." Whoever
would see more concerning the nature of Church unity, and the sin of occasional
conformity, let him read the whole Conference.
'^ Oramus etiatn pro Imperatoribiis, pro Ministris eortwt, etc. This, not
without good reason, is thought to be the "common prayer" mentioned by St.
Justin just before the communion, and much the same with that in our
Communion Service for the Church Militant ; the form whereof in the Apostolical
Constitutions is described at large. Const. Apost. lib. ii. cap. 57, p, 881, and so lib.
viii, cap. 10, p. loii, which is still a further proof that the passage sine nionitore
ought not to be understood of extempore prayer.
^ Cogitnur ad Divinaru77i literarum Commemorationem^ etc. This is just the
same almost with what you had in the conclusion of Justin's Apology, and there-
fore the same note may serve for both.
Tertiillian s Apology for the Christians. 109
forewarning us what we are to expect, or by bringing to our minds
the predictions already fulfilled. And certainly our spiritual life is
wonderfully nourished with reading the Holy Scriptures, our hopes
thereby are erected, and our trust fixed and settled upon God.
However, besides the bare reading, we continually preach and
press the duties of the gospel with all the power and argument we
are able ; for it is in these assemblies that we exhort, reprove, and
pass the divine censure or sentence of excommunication ;^ for the
judgments in this place are delivered with all solemnity, and after
the maturest deliberation imaginable, as being delivered by men
who know they are pronouncing God's sentence, and act with
the same caution as if God stood visibly among them ; and the
censures here pronounced are looked upon as an anticipation of
the judgment to come, and the sinner precondemned by God,
who has sinned to such a degree as to be shut out by his ministers
from the fellowship of the faithful, the communion of prayers and
sacraments, and the rest of that sacred commerce.
^ Ibidem etiam exhortation es, castigaiiones, et censura Divina, — Summumqtie
fufuri /udicii Prejudicium est, si quis ita deliqiierit lit a Communicatione
Orationis et conventtls et 07nnis Sancti commercii relegetur. The Church subsisted
now purely as a spiritual society independent of the State, and while it did so,
and its censures were managed magno cum pondere, as our author speaks, with
great gravity and judgment, they were looked upon as divine, and an anticipation
of the judgment to come. And had this inherent power of the Church acted
still independently of the civil power, and the people been made sensible of the
necessity of the communion of the Church in order to salvation, I cannot see
why excommunication should not have as good an effect, and be as much
dreaded now, as in the primitive times, upon the same principles. However,
thus much is observable from this passage, that men were first admonished and
then reproved more severely, before the sentence of excommunication was passed.
Secondly, that this sentence excluded them from all religious intercourse. And
thirdly, that it was looked upon as the forerunner of future condemnation in the
world to come. To the same purpose St. Cyprian speaks — ad Pomponitwi,
Spiritali Gladio superbi, et conttajiaces necantur, dum de Ecclesid ejiciuntur :
neque enim vivere /oris possent, cum Domus Dei una sit ; et neminl sahis esse,
nisi ijt Ecclesid possit. " The proud and contumacious are slain with the spiritual
sword, by being cast out of the Church ; for they cannot live without (or be
admitted into any other Church), since the house of God is but one, and there
can be no salvation to any, but only in the Church." And thus again, de Orat.
Domin. p. 192 — Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibui7i Sal litis accipimns, inte^redente
aliquo graviore delicto, dum abstenti et non comniunicantes a Ccelesti PaJie
prohibemur ; a Christi corpore separamur. "We receive the Eucharist every day,
as the food that nou^rishes to salvation ; and while for any more grievous offence
we do not communicate, but are debarred from the heavenly bread, we are
separated from the body of Christ. " So far was this martyr from thinking that
excommunication was little more than the loss of a grace-cup, or the Church
ministers refusing him that bread and wine which was not bought with his, but
other men's money.
no Terhtllian s Apology for the Christians.
The presidents or bishops ^ among us are men of the most
venerable age and piety, raised to this honour not by the powers
of money, but the brightness of their lives \ for nothing sacred is to
be had for money. That kind of treasury we have is not filled with
any dishonourable sum, as the price of a purchased religion ; every
one puts a little to the pubHc stock, commonly once a month,^ or
when he pleases, and only upon condition that he is both willing
and able ; for there is no compulsion upon any. All here is a free-
will offering, and all these collections are deposited in a common
bank for charitable uses, not for the support of merry meetings, for
drinking and gormandizing, but for feeding the poor and burying
the dead, and providing for girls and boys who have neither parents
nor provisions left to support them, for relieving old people worn
out in the service of the saints, or those who have suffered by
shipwreck, or are condemned to the mines, or islands, or prisons,
only for the faith of Christ ; these may be said to live upon their
profession, for while they suffer for professing the name of Christ,
they are fed with the collections of His Church.
But strange! that such lovely expressions of Christian charity
cannot pass with some men without a censure ; for l6ok ye, say
they, how these Christians seem to love each other, when in their
hearts they hate each other to death ! How forward are they to
^ PrcEsident prohati quique Seniores.^ honoretn istum non pretio sed testimonio
adepti. The presiding elders here are undoubtedly the same with the -^poicTUTis
in Justin Martyr's foregoing Apology, that is, the bishops ; for our author,
speaking of the power of excommunicating where it is lodged, tells us it was in
the president, ut extra Ecclesiam detur, inerat in PrcBsidentis officio^ lib. de Pud.
cap. 14. And thus his scholar St. Cyprian, de Unitate Ecclesice, Tenere Jirjjiiter,
et vindica7'e debemus, maxime Episcopi qui in Ecclesia prcesidemus. They were
Probati Seniores, men of age, and publicly approved for their life and conversa-
tion. For thus again, St. Cyprian in Epist. ad Felicem — Quod ad ipsum
•videmus divind Auctoritate desce?idere, uti Sacerdos plebe present e sub 07}inium
octilis deligatur, et digmis atque idoneus publico judicio et testimonio comprobetur.
Agreeable to the practice of the apostles, who left it to the congregation as the
most competent judges to choose fitting men, and then they ordained them to
the office of deacon by prayer and laying on of hands.
^ Modicam umisquisque Stipem rnenstrua die, etc. We have St. Paul, I Cor.
xvi. I, 2, giving order to the Churches of Galatia and Corinth for weekly
offerings for the saints, " That upon the first day of the week " (when they never
failed to receive the sacrament) *' they should every one of them lay by him in
store according as God had prospered him." But I have already given an account
of these charities, and therefore only remark here, that according to St. Paul's
order, the collections were weekly to the time of Justin Martyr, but in the age
following, that of Tertullian, we find these offerings sunk to monthly, Menstrua
die, etc.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, 1 1 1
stake down their lives for one another, when inwardly they could cut
one another's throats ! But the true reason of this defamation, upon
the account of styling ourselves brethren, I take to be this, because
the name of brother is found with these men to be only a gilded
expression of a counterfeit friendship. But you need not wonder
at this loving title among Christians, when we own even you your-
selves for brethren by the right of one common nature ; although
indeed you have cancelled this relation, and by being inhuman
brethren have forfeited the title of men ; but by what diviner ties
are we Christians brethren ! We who all acknowledge but one and
the same God as our universal Father, who have all drunk of one and
the same Holy Spirit, and who are all delivered as it were from one
common womb of ignorance, and called out of darkness info His
marvellous light. But maybe we cannot pass for right brothers
with you, because you want a tragedy about the bloody feuds of the
Christian fraternity ; or because our brotherly love continues even
to the division of our estates, which is a test few brotherhoods will
bear, and which commonly divides the dearest unions among you.
But we Christians look upon ourselves as one body, informed as
it were by one soul ; and being thus incorporated by love, we can
never dispute what we are to bestow upon our own members.
Accordingly among us all things are in common,^ excepting wives ;
in this alone we reject communion, and this is the only thing you
enjoy in common \ for you not only make no conscience in violat-
ing the wife of your friend, but with amazing patience and gratitude
lend him your own. This doctrine, I suppose, came from the
school of the Grecian Socrates, or the Roman Cato, those wisest of
sages, who accommodated their friends with their own wives, wives
which they espoused for the sake of children of their own begetting,
as I imagine, and not of other folks.
Whether the wives are thus prostituted with their own consent,
in truth I cannot tell, but I see no great reason why they should be
1 Omnia indiscreta sunt apud nos, etc. Dr. Potter observes from hence that
among many other reasons why a certain proportion for the maintenance of the
clergy was not fixed by the apostles, this was one, that there could be no occasion
to determine the portion then, when men laid all they had at their feet ; and the
same reason held good to our Tertullian's time, for he says here that Christians
had all things in common but their wives. Vid. Dr. Potter's Discourse of Church
Government, p. 434. I only observe further, what great veneration is due to the
writers of those ages, when men valued nothing but religion, and followed Christ
in the highest expression of charity, in selling all they had for the support of
Christians.
112 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
much concerned about that chastity which their husbands think not
worth keeping. Oh, never-to-be-forgotten example of Athenian
wisdom ! Socrates the great Grecian philosopher, and Cato the
great Roman censor, are both pimps.
But is it any great wonder that such charitable brethren as enjoy
all things in common should have such frequent love-feasts ? For
this it is you blacken us, and reflect upon our little frugal suppers,
not only as infamously wicked, but as scandalously excessive.
Diogenes, for aught I know, might have us Christians in his eye
when he said that the Megarensians feast as if they were never to
eat more, and build as if they were to live for ever ; but every one
sees a straw in another's eye sooner than a beam in his own ; or else
you must be sensible of your own beastliness in this case ; for the
very air in the streets is soured with the belches of the people
coming from their feasts in their several wards. The Salii cannot
sup without the advance of a loan, and upon the feast of tithes to
Hercules the entertainment is so very costly that you are forced to
have a bookkeeper on purpose for expenses. At Athens likewise
when the Apaturia, or feasts in honour of Bacchus for a serviceable
piece of treachery he did, are to be celebrated, there is a proclama-
tion for all the choice cooks to come in and assist at the banquet ;
and when the kitchen of Serapis smokes, what baskets of provisions
come tumbling in from every quarter ! But my business at present
is to justify the Christian supper; and the nature of this supper you
may understand by its name ; for it is the Greek word for love. We
Christians think we can never be too expensive, because we think
all is gain that is laid out in doing good ; when therefore we are at
the charge of an entertainment, it is to refresh the bowels of the
needy, but not as you gorge those parasites among you who glory
in selling their liberty for stuffing their guts, and can find in their
hearts to cram their bellies in spite of all the affronts you can lay
upon them ; but we feed the hungry, because we know God takes
a peculiar delight in seeing us do it. If therefore we feast only with
such brave and excellent designs, I leave you from hence to guess
at the rest of our discipline in matters of pure religion ; nothing
earthly, nothing unclean, has ever admittance here ; our souls ascend
in prayer to God before we sit down to meat \ we eat only what suffices
nature, and drink no more than what is strictly becoming chaste
and regular persons. We sup as servants that know we must wake
in the night to the service of our Master, and discourse as those
who remember that they are in the hearing of God. When supper
is ended, and we have washed our hands, and the candles aie
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 113
lighted up, every one is invited forth to sing praises to God, either
such as he collects from the Holy Scriptures, or such as are of his own
composing ; ^ and by this you may judge of the measures of drinking
at a Christian feast. And as we began, so we conclude all in prayer,
and depart not like a parcel of heated bullies, for scouring the
streets and killing and ravishing the next we meet, but with the
same tenor of temperance and modesty we came, as men who have
not so properly been a-drinking as imbibing religion. This as-
sembly of Christians therefore is deservedly ranked among unlawful
ones, if it holds any resemblance with them ; and I will not say a
word against condemning it, if any man will make good any one
article against it which is charged upon other factions. Did we ever
come together to the ruin of any one person ? We are the same in
our assemblies as at home, and as harmless in a body as apart ;
in neither capacity injuring or afflicting any person whatever.
When therefore so many honest and good, pious and chaste people
^ Post aquam viamcaleni et hwzina, ut quisq. ; de Scripturis Sanctis^ vel de
propria Ijigenio potest, provocatiir in medium Deo canere. Pliny, lib. x. ep. 97,
reports it as a main part of the Christian worship, that they met together before
day to join in singing hymns to Christ as God. These hymns were taken either
out of the Holy Scriptures (and the compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions
mentions the 33rd Psalm, lib. viii. cap. 13, p. 1023), or else such as were de
proprio Ingenio, of their own head, of their own composing ; for it was usual at
this time for any persons to compose divine songs in honour of Christ, and sing
them in the public assemblies, till the Council of Laodicea ordered that no songs
composed by private persons should be recited in the church, Can. 59. The
dispute between us and the dissenters is about the sense of this phrase, de
proprio Ingenio, which they will have to signify extempore raptures, in vindica-
tion of their own effusions ; against which the Reverend Mr. Bennet argues thus :
That allowing this hymn to be extempore, yet it made nothing to the purpose,
unless it could be proved that the congregation joined in it. Secondly, he
denies the fact that the psalm was extempore, because no such thing as an
extempore psalm was ever heard of; those of David, though inspired, were
notwithstanding precomposed. Nor does singing de proprio Iiigenio psalms of
their own composing, imply that they were extempore psalms, for psalms de
proprio Ingenio are in this place opposed to psalms de Scripttiris Sanctis, taken
out of Scripture, and not to precomposed ones. Thus, that judicious person in
his very laborious and very valuable History of Set Forms of Prayer, p. 243,
which I had not the satisfaction to see till it was too late to add any improve-
ments from him to my own remarks upon that passage, Sine motiitore quia de
Pectore, and therefore I recommend the reader to his eighth chapter, p. 95,
where he will find this phrase largely and substantially treated. But after all,
supposing these hymns to have been extempore, yet it is granted on all hands
that the season of miracles and inspiration was not over in Tertullian's time, and
therefore it is great contempt of authority and presumption in them to pray the
same way, till they can prove they have the same gifts, especially since they
find all such effusions censured and forbid by the Council of Laodicea already
cited.
114 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians.
are met together, and regulated with so much discipline and order,
such a meeting, I say, is not to be called factious, but as orderly
an assembly as any of your courts.
-0-
CHAPTER XL.
THAT THE CAUSES OF PUBLIC EVILS ARE MOST MALICIOUSLY
THROWN UPON THE CHRISTIANS.
On the contrary, faction is a name which belongs to those only who
conspire in the hatred of the good and virtuous, and remonstrate
full cry for innocent blood, sheltering their malice under this vain
pretence, that they are of opinion, forsooth, that the Christians are
the occasion of all the mischief in the world. If Tiber overflows,^
and Nile does not; if heaven stands still and withholds its rain,
and the earth quakes ; if famine or pestilence take their marches
through the country, the word is, Away with these Christians to the
lion ! Bless me ! what, so many people to one lion ! Pray tell me
what havoc, what a mighty fall of people has been made in the
world and Rome before the reign of Tiberius, that is, before the
advent of Christ ? We read of Hierannape, and Delos, and Rhodes,
and Co, islands swept away with many thousands of their inhabit-
ants. Plato tells of a tract of land bigger than Asia and Africa
together, devoured by the Atlantic Ocean. Besides, an earthquake
drank up the Corinthian Sea, and an impetuous force of water tore
off Lucania from Italy, and banished it into an island, which goes
now by the name of Sicily. Now these devastations of whole
countries I hardly believe you will deny to be pubhc calamities.
^ Si Tiberius ascendit in Mcenia, station Christianos ad Leones. The overflow-
ing of Tiber was looked upon as an ill omen, as we see by that of Horace,
Vidimus fiavum Tiberim retortis, etc.
That it was the hard fate of the Christians to be continually charged as the cause
of all the public calamities, we find by St. Cypr. ad DeiJtetr. p. 197 ; and in the
very first page of Arnobius adv. Gent. Nay, so hot and lasting was this calumny,
that when the Goths and Vandals broke in upon the Roman empire, St. Austin
was obliged to write his books de Civit. Dei, to silence this objection. And so
likewise for the same reason did Orosius at St. Austin's request write his seven
books of history. And Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in that fragment of his oration
which we have in Eusebius, pursues the same design. Vid. Eus. II. Eccl. iv.
cap. 26, pp. 119, 120. Whoever has a mind to be more particularly acquainted
with the history of the following calamities will meet with references in abun-
dance in Pamelius, and therefore I shall say nothing to them.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 1 1 5
But where now, I do not ask, were the Christians, the professed
despisers of your gods ? But where, I trow, were your gods them-
selves when the deluge blotted out the whole world, or, as Plato
will have it, the plains only ? For that your gods were not in being
in the time of the deluge, the cities wherein they breathed their first
and their last, as well as those they founded, are a proof with a
witness; for had they existed before the flood, they had not continued
to this day, but been overwhelmed in the general ruin. As yet, the
Jews, the original of the Christian sect, were not gone from Egypt
into Palestine when the adjacent countries of Sodom and Gomorrah
were consumed by a storm of fire ; the land smells of burning to this
day, and the apples that grow there are agreeable to the eye only,
but turn to ashes upon the touch. Besides, we have not a word
of complaint against the Christians from Tuscany or Campania, when
Heaven shot his flames upon Volsinium, and Vesuvius discharged
his upon Pompeium. Was there any worshipper of the true God at
Rome when Hannibal made such havoc of the Romans at Cannae, and
computed the numbers of the slaughtered gentry by bushels of rings
picked up after the battle ? Were not all your gods everywhere in
worship when the Gauls surprised the capitol? And it is really
worth observing that in all these public evils the towns and temples
both are involved in the same misfortune ; which would not be,
methinks, had your gods anything to do in the matter, because they
would hardly have a hand in doing themselves a mischief.
But would you know the true reason of such judgments, you
must know that mankind has always served God very ill ; first by
a stupid neglect of Him \ for when they might have understood the
divine nature in some measure, they would not pursue after it with
their understanding, but let their vain imaginations go after gods
of their own invention ; and secondly, because that when God had
been at the expense of revelation, they would not be at the pains of
inquiring after it, nor be ruled by that Master He had sent to teach
them righteousness ; and to take vengeance on their sins, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind to work all unclean ness with greedi-
ness. But had they went on as far as the light of nature, that
candle of the Lord, would have led them, they had certainly found
the God they looked for, and consequently would have served Him
only, whom they found to be the only God ; and by this means
have experienced His mercies rather than His judgments. But
now they lie under His just judgments, and which too they have
felt long before the name of Christian had a being in the world, and
whose goods man enjoyed long before he had made himself any
1 16 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
gods. Why will he not be persuaded to think that the Being who
has done him the good without any thanks for his blessings, is the
same Being that does him the evil for his ingratitude, since every
person is so far guilty as he is unthankful ?
However, if we enter into a comparison of past and present
calamities, we shall find the account much abated since the coming
of Christianity ; for since that time the innocence of Christians has
tempered the iniquities of the age, and there have been a set of
men who knew the right way of deprecating the vengeance of God.
Lastly, when we are in great want of rain, and the year in anxiety
about the succeeding fruits, then you are at your baths and
debauches, and offering your water sacrifices to Jupiter,^ and
ordering processions on barefoot for the people. You look for
heaven in the capitol, and gape to the clouds upon the ceiling to
dissolve in rain, without ever turning your eyes to the true heaven,
and applying to the true God, who is the only help in time of need.
But then in this great drought, we Christians sympathize with the
world and dry up ourselves as it were with fasting, and are exceed-
ingly temperate in all respects, differing the most frugal meals of
life, and rolling in sackcloth and ashes ; and in this pitiable posture
we knock aloud for admission of our prayers with as much im-
portunity as if we would bring odium upon heaven for denying our
petition ; and when we have, as it were, extorted pity from our God
by the violence of prayer, then, forsooth, your Jove must have the
honour of the grant.
-0-
CHAPTER XLI.
CONCERNING THE CAUSE AND REASON OF PUBLIC CALAMITIES.
It is not Christians therefore but yourselves who are the bane of
human affairs ; you are the men who are continually drawing down
judgments upon the world, you who set aside the true God, and set
up images in His stead. For certainly it is more reasonable to
^ Aquilicia Jovi immolamus. These Aquilecia were the sacrifices offered to
Jupiter under great scarcity of water, propter aquam elicimdani ; and thence
called Jupiter Elicius, according to that of Ovid. Fast. lib. 3.
Eliciunt ccelo tejtipiter^ tinde minores
Nunc quoq. ; te celebrant, Eliciunq. ; vacant.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians, 117
believe that ours is the God provoked, who is in contempt among
you, and not those you have in worship. Or verily yours are
very unjust kinds of deities, who revenge themselves upon their
worshippers for the sake of Christians who will not worship them,
and make no distinction between friends and foes. But this, say
you, reflects equally upon the God of Christians, for He makes no
difference between them and heathens. But would you understand
the economy of His providence, you would forbear this reflection ;
for He who has once determined at the end of the world to give
every man his everlasting doom according to his works, will not
anticipate His own appointed season, and make that difference now,
which He has said He will not make till the conclusion of the world.
In the meanwhile, therefore, the divine providence smiles and
frowns upon all mankind without distinction, and scatters good and
evil with an indiff'erent hand, that the pious and the impious might
have both a taste of happiness and misery during this present state
of things ; and because we know the reason of these proceedings
from God Himself, therefore we have a due sense both of His
kindness and severity, but both to you are contemptible ; and
therefore it follows that all the evils which are sent by God upon
the world are sent for our admonition and your punishment. But
we are no ways concerned with what befalls us here, because in the
first place our great concern is to get out of the world as fast as we
can ; and because in the next place what misfortunes do fall, we
know that they are your provocations which have pulled them
down ; and when they do fall upon us, as without a miracle they
must, considering how we are blended together in this world, we
rejoice and are exceeding glad to find the miseries foretold verified
in ourselves ; and this sensible fulfilling of divine prophecies gives
new life to our faith, and wing to our hope.
But if it be as you say, that they be the gods you worship who
do you all this mischief, and for our sakes too, why do you con-
tinue such ungrateful and unjust gods in worship, who are so
much obhged to vindicate and assist you to the utmost of their
almightiness against the Christians ?
1 1 8 Tertullia7is Apology for the Christians,
CHAPTER XLII.
THAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE A VERY USEFUL SORT OF PEOPLE.
Another article we are indicted upon is this, that we are a good-
for-nothing, useless sort of people to the world ; but how can this
possibly be, since we converse with you as men, we use the same
diet, habit, and necessary furniture? We are no Brahmins, or
Indian gymnosophists, who live in woods, and as it were in exile
from other men ; and we act as men under the warmest sense of
gratitude to God our Lord, the Creator of all things ; and we reject
nothing He has made for the use of man. We are indeed very
temperate in our enjoyments, and cautious in transgressing the
bounds of reason, and abusing the favours of His indulging pro-
vidence, therefore we come to your forum,i we frequent your
shambles, your baths, your shops, your stalls, your inns, and your
marts, and all other kinds of commerce ; we cohabit, we sail, we
war, we till, we traffic with you \ we likewise communicate our arts
and work for the public; and notwithstanding all this, how we
should be of no service to the public is a thing quite past my
understanding.
But what if I do not frequent your festivals, I hope I may be a
man, and have hands and feet for the public at that time as well
as any other. If I do not bathe about night at your Saturn's feasts,^
■•■ Itaque non sine foro, non sine macello, non sine balneis, etc. You may
observe from hence that the Christians of old, as devout and religious as they
M^ere, yet they conversed and traded with the heathen world, v^^ere active and
diligent in their secular professions, and refused no calling whatever that was
innocent in itself and useful to the public ; for had they been never so good, and
lived only to God and themselves, in woods and cloisters, they had not been
shining lights, but candles under a bushel. Fishers of men must converse with
multitudes, to spread their nets to greater advantage and for larger draughts ;
and we find by all the apologists that they caught as many by their examples,
and preached as powerfully with their lives, as their sermons. And as the Jews
were hated for their reservedness, selfishness, and ill-nature, and therefore made
little progress, so, on the other hand, the Christians were as much admired even
by their enemies, for the sweetness of their temper, their patience and unbounded
charity, and therefore spread the more prodigiously.
^ Nojz lavor diluculo Satumalibus, etc. The Saturnalia were noted feasts in
the month December, blessed times of liberty, wherein the servants all sat at
table and the masters waited. See more of this in Macrobius, Sattirnal. lib. i.
cap. 7. And December being a cold season, our author jeeringly tells them that
he did not much like bathing so early, and that it was time enough for washing
Teriullian s Apology for the Christians. 1 19
it is because I am a better husband for the pubhc than to wash
away day and night to so Httle purpose \ however, I bathe at proper
hours for my health's sake ; it is time enough in conscience to grow
stiif and pale with washing when I am dead. I do not care for
feasting with you in public, upon the festivals of Bacchus, because
methinks I look hke one of those condemned wretches who at
these feasts is supping his last, and when you have given him his
bellyful you throw him to your beasts. But however at this time,
somewhere or other I do eat, and of some such victuals too as you
eat. I lay out no money in chaplets of flowers to crown my
temples, and pray how is your interest concerned which way I
dispose of my flowers ? It is more agreeable to me to see them
free and loose and scattered about in a grateful confusion ; but yet
when they are wreathed into a garland, even then it is my way
to apply them to my nose ; let them if they please apply them to
their head, who smell with their hair.^ We come not to your
sights, but if we want anything which is brought thither, we freely
go and buy it at those places where it is ordinarily sold. We buy
no frankincense, and if the Arabians complain, let the Sabaean
merchants know that we take off greater quantities of more costly
spices for the embalming our dead,^ than others do for incensing
and being made stiff with cold when he was dead, alluding to the custom of
washing the dead which was very ancient ; according to that of Ennius —
Jarqiiinii Corpus bonafoemina lavit et unxit.
The Xevrpa. •pravvtrrxTo, (as Electra in Euripides calls it), extreme washings, or wasLv
ing the dead bodies, was counted so necessary a thing, that towards the conclusion
of Plato's Phcedo, sec. 47, Edit. Cantab. Select. Dial.^ we find that Socrates,
when he intended to drink his poison, thought it best to set about washing
himself beforehand to save the women the labour. — axihov ti fjcot upa, TpaTi^a-t Trpo;
TO XvTpov. AoKit yap '/ion (iikriov I'lvai Xovffafjcivov tiuv (pdpf^oixov^ xa.i /u,ri Tpu'yf/,u'7-a
TocTs yvvai^i 7ra,p'ix,uv vixph Xovuv. And we find this custom of washing the dead
in the Acts of the Apostles, ix. 37 — "And it came to pass in those days,
that she (Tabitha) was sick and died ; whom when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber."
■■■ I\/bn emo capiti coronam — Viderhit, qui per capillum odorantur. In
reference to this, but in a more intelligible expression, is that of Minutius, —
Sa7ie quod caput nan coronamus ; ignoscite, Aurani boni Flares naribtis ducere,
non occipitio capillisve solemics haurire.
^ Sciant Sabcei, pluris et carioris suas mercis Christianis sepeliendis, etc.
Thus again we have it in Minutius, Reservatis unguento Funeribus. The
primitive Christians were very careful about funerals, and very costly in their
spices and odours for embalming their dead ; and therefore when St. Polycarp
was put to death they burnt his body in spite to the Christians, who had begged
it of the proconsul, in order to embalm it and give it a solemn interment, where-
upon they gathered up the bones and decently committed them to the earth,
and there used to meet and celebrate the memory of that holy martyr. Vid.
I20 Terhdliau's Apology for the Christians.
their gods. Certainly, say you, the rates for the temple now come
to nothing, and who can brag of any collections for the gods ? And
really we cannot help it ; for in good truth we are not able to
relieve such a parcel of beggars, both of gods and men ; we think
it very well if we can give to those that ask ; and I will pass my
word that if Jupiter will but hold out his hand, he shall fare as well
as any other beggar. For we bestow more in the streets than you
with all your religion do in your temples. However, if your temple
wardens have reason to complain against Christians, the public, I
am sure, has not, but on the contrary very great reason to thank us
for the customs we pay with the same conscience as we abstain
from stealing. So that was the account fairly stated how much the
public is cheated in its revenues by the tricks and lies of those of
your religion, who bring in an inventory of their goods in order to
be taxed accordingly ; you would soon find, I say, at the foot of
the account that what the temple may lose in her offerings by the
Christian religion, the State sufficiently gets in her taxes by the
Christian fidelity in their public payments.
CHAPTER XLIII.
A FURTHER VINDICATION OF THE USEFULNESS OF CHRISTIANS TO
THE PUBLIC.
But shall I tell you who the gentlemen be, if there be any in good
truth, who make these heavy complaints of the unprofitableness of
Euseb. B. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 15, p. 135. "This cost" (says Dr. Cave, Prim.
Christian, part iii. cap. 2, p. 275) "the Christians doubtless bestowed upon
the bodies of the dead, because they looked upon death as the entrance into a
better life, and laid up the body as the canditate and expectant of a joyful and
happy resurrection. Besides, hereby they gave some encouragement to suffering,
when men saw how much care was taken to honour and secure the relics of their
mortality, and that their bodies should not be persecuted after death." And I
take leave to add, that considering how very careful the first Christians were to
follow the Scriptures even in ceremonies indifferent, I question not, but finding
how Joseph was embalmed, Gen. 1. v. ult., and especially considering how the
alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious, was approved by our Lord
Himself for His own burial, in that of St. Mark xiv. 8, " She has done what
she could ; she is come beforehand to anoint my body to the burying ; " — I doubt
not, I say, but this prevailed very much with the first Christians to be so expensive
in their spices upon the dead.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 121
Christians to the public? Why, first they are your panders, and
pimps,^ and filthy pliers about your baths ; ^ next, your cut-throats,
poisoners, and magicians; lastly, your soothsayers, wizards, and
astrologers ! These the gentlemen we Christians are so useless
to, and I think it is very well for the public we are so ; hov/ever, if
you are sufferers in anything by Christians, they make you ample
recompense another way ; for what a valuable blessing is it you are
in possession of, in having such a people among you who are not
only your defence against devils, and always upon their knees to
the true God in your behalf; not to insist upon this, I say, what a
treasure is it barely to have such people to serve you as you are
sure will never do you any harm !
CHAPTER XLIV.
THAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE CONDEMNED MERELY UPON THE
ACCOUNT OF THEIR NAME.
But your reason is so entirely blinded with prejudice that you
have not an eye left to see the public damage, a damage as visibly
great as true. Not a man weighs what the common injury amounts
to by thus depopulating the empire of the most just and innocent
subjects in it ; it is hardly credible to imagine how many Christian
prisoners your judges destroy at every gaol delivery, but only their
trials are upon record. Among all this number of criminals, and
this variety of indictments, what Christians do you find arraigned
for assassinating, or for a pickpocket,^ or for sacrilege, or for
pilfering at the bath? Do you hear at the trials any article
^ These Preductores are much the same with Lenones, according to that of
Horace —
Ptitasne
Perihici poterit^ tamfriigitaniq.; piidica?
^ Aqiiarioli. Filthy pliers about baths. Aqtiarioli, saith Festus, dicebantnr
Mulieram impudicarum AsseclcB. And are what Martial calls Balneatores —
Certe Lticernd Balneator extindd
Admittat inter busUiarias moehas.
3 ManticMlarius. A pickpocket. Of this word Festus speaks thus : Manti-
cidaruvi usus pauperibus in numniis recondendis etiam nostra saculo fuit, vnde
Manticularii dicebantttr qni fiirandi gratia mantictdas attrectabant.
122 Tertullian's Apology for the Christians.
against Christians, like that which other malefactors are charged
withal? Does not the prison sweat with your heathen criminals
continually ? Do not the mines continually groan with the load of
heathens ? Are not your wild beasts ^.fatted with heathens ? And
is not the whole herd of condemned wretches which some public
benefactors ^ keep alive for the entertainment of the amphitheatre,
are not they all of your religion? Now, among all these male-
factors, there is not a Christian to be found for any crime but that
of his name only, or if there be, we disown him for a Christian.
-0-
CHAPTER XLV.
CONCERNING ONE GREAT REASON FOR THE INNOCENCE OF
CHRISTIANS ABOVE THAT OF ALL OTHER PEOPLE.
We then are the only harmless people among you, and where is the
wonder, if it cannot well be otherwise ? As in truth it cannot, con-
sidering our education ; for the innocence we are taught, we are
taught from God, and we know our lesson perfectly well, as being
revealed to us by the Master of all perfection, and we observe it
faithfully as the command of an all-seeing Lawgiver, who we know
is not to be despised but at the hazard of eternal happiness.
Whereas your systems of virtue are but the conjectures of human
philosophy, and the power which commands obedience merely
human; and so neither the rule nor the power indisputable, and
consequently the one too imperfect to instruct us fully, and the
other too weak to command us effectually, both which are abun-
dantly provided for by a revelation from God. Where is the
philosopher ^ who can so clearly demonstrate the true good as to
1 Muiierarii. Such sports and plays which were exhibited by private men at
their own charges in order to ingratiate with the people, were called Ltidi
honorarii ; and those of this nature were for the most part either fencing or
stage-plays. Fencing is that which is here meant, and because freely bestowed,
called Mimtis, and the bestowers of them Ahinerarii. In allusion to this is that
of St. Jerome, Munerarius Paupe7'um, et Egentium Candidatus Epist. ad
Pa77imach.
- Tajita est Prudentia Hominis ad demonstrandum bonum, quanta Aiictoritas
ad exigendum, tarn ilia falli facilis, quant ista contenmi. " Where is the philo-
sopher who can so clearly demonstrate the true good as to fix the notion beyond
dispute ? and what human power is able to reach the conscience, and bring down
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 123
fix the notion beyond dispute ? and what human power is able to
reach the conscience, and bring down that notion into practice?
For human wisdom is as subject to error as human power is to
contempt. And therefore let us enter a little into a comparison
between your laws and ours. Tell me then, which do you take to
be the fullest and completest law, that which says, Thou shalt do
no murder, or that which restrains the very passion of anger?
Which expresses greatest purity and perfection, the law which
prohibits the outward act of adultery, or that which condemns the
bare lust of the eye ? Which is the wisest provision for innocence,
to forbid evil-doing, or not to permit so much as evil-speaking?
Which is the most instructing lesson for the good of mankind, to
debar men from doing injury, or not so much as to allow the
injured person the common privilege of returning evil for evil ?
•
But this is not all, for I must give you to understand that these
very laws of yours, which are but in the way to perfection, are no
more in good truth than a transcript of the old law of God, older
by much than any law of your making, but I have already laid
before you the antiquity of Moses.
But as our law is more perfect in its precepts, so is it more
cogent in its penalties ; for pray tell me what is the force of human
the notion into practice? For human wisdom is as subject to error as human
power is to contempt." It is plain, in fact, from the sad state of darkness which
overspread the world at the coming of our Saviour, that human reason unassisted
was not sufficient for the establishment of true moral righteousness, or to make
one entire and perfect system of the law of nature. But supposing such a body
of ethics possible to be collected from the writings of the philosophers as we
find in the gospel, how far must such a collection fall short from a complete,
steady, indisputable rule of morality ! It is all at most but human wisdom, and
that (as Tertullian says) is as subject to error as human power is to contempt,
and both consequently subject to dispute. Had the sayings of Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, etc. , any authority ? They were only the sayings and opinions of mere
men, and so might be rejected or embraced as men thought fit ; or if any part of
the doctrine of a philosopher must go for law, the whole must pass for such too,
or else his authority ceases. Such a system therefore of morality as was not
only perfectly agreeable to right reason, but also of divine indisputable authority
in every point, was wanting to the world before the coming of our Saviour,
allowing mere human philosophy as perfect as you please in point of truth.
Such a system, I say, was wanting which was not only right in every rule, but of
infallible wisdom and authority in every precept, and easy and intelligible in all
things necessary to every understanding ; and the gospel, and only the gospel, is
such a system, dictated by divine wisdom, and confirmed by divine authority, by
such a wisdom as is not subject to error, and by such a power as cannot be
disputed.
124 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
laws ? Which an offender has oftentimes a chance to escape either
by lying hid in his wickedness, or else by pleading inadvertency or
compulsion. Reflect likewise upon the shortness of human punish-
ment, which always ends with life ; for this reason you see how
little Epicurus valued any kind of torment, by laying down this for
his maxim of comfort, that a little pain is contemptible, and a
great one is not lasting. But we who know we must account to a
God who sees the secrets of all hearts ; we who have a prospect of
that eternal punishment He has in store for the transgressors of His
laws ; we, I say, may well be looked upon under so much revela-
tion, to be the only men who always take innocence in their way ;
and considering the omniscience of our Law-giver, and that dark-
ness and light to Him are both alike, and withal weighing the
heaviness of future torment, torment not lasting only, but everlast-
ing, we proportion our fear and obedience accordingly, fearing Him
whom those judges ought to be afraid of, who condemn Christians
for standing more in awe of God than the proconsul.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE A BETTER RIGHT TO A TOLERATION
THAN PHILOSOPHERS.
I HAVE now, as I think, stood the whole charge, and replied to
every article, for which men have been so deadly clamorous for the
blood of Christians. I have likewise laid before you our whole
state, and the ground of our faith, namely, the antiquity of the
divine Scriptures most credibly attested, together with the testimony
and confession of the very devils themselves ; he therefore that will
take upon him to refute me ought to disprove these facts in the
same method and simplicity as I have proposed them, and not to
fold himself in quirks of logic or the disguise of eloquence.
In the meantime, I cannot but take notice of the strange in-
credulity of some men, who notwithstanding they are convinced of
the excellency of our sect, which they are notoriously sensible of
by their conversation and dealings with us, yet they will not be
convinced that Christianity is of diviner original than mere human
philosophy. For, say they, philosophers prescribe and profess the
Terhtllians Apology for the Ckrislians, 125
same doctrine as Christians, namely, innocence, justice, patience,
temperance, and chastity. But now if this comparison be just, and
Christianity and philosophy be the same things, pray, what is the
reason that we have not the same philosophic treatment? Why
are we not equalled to those in points of privilege and impunity, to
whom we are compared in points of discipline ? Why are not they
who are of the like profession with us put upon the same offices
with us, and which we for refusing run the risk of our lives ? But
what philosopher is compelled to sacrifice or swear by your gods,
or to hang out a parcel of insignificant lights at noonday upon your
festivals ? And yet these philosophers destroy your gods openly,^
and write against your superstitions, and with your approbation into
the bargain. Nay, many of them not only snarl, but bark aloud
against the emperors, and you bear it very contentedly ; and not
only so, but give them statues and pensions instead of throwing
them to the beasts for so doing; and all this, no doubt, with great
reason, because they go by the name of philosophers, and not
Christians, — a name ^ which gives no disturbance to the demons,
and how should it? since the philosophers do these demons the
honour as to place them next the gods. For it was a constant
form in the mouth of Socrates, By my demon's leave I will do so
or so. Yet even this same philosopher after he had given such an
instance of his true wisdom in denying the divinity of your gods,
yet notwithstanding this (such was the inconstancy of the man) he
^ Qidn into et Deos vestros palam destrimnt, — laudantibtis vobis. These and
the following words are plainly an imitation, or rather a translation of those in
Justin Martyr, Apol, l. sec. 4 — naKHtuv t« otha^yi/^aTu, o\ uinp^o/nivoi OVK i'lpyovren
•Jipo; vfjt,uv^ aCXa. o\ x.a) Ttf/.K; toTs iiKpcovi; vfipi^ovffi Touroi; rJiXB.
^ Nomen hoc Philosophorum Dceinonia nonfugaL When the more sober and
inquisitive heathens took a stricter view of the lives of the preachers of the
gospel, and of the genuine followers, instead of the common and rude name of
impostors, they gave them the more civil title of philosophers, as we find from
the beginning of this chapter : Sed du7Ji unicuiq. ; inanifestahir Veritas nostra,
quod ustijani et de comtnercio iiinotuit, non titiq. ; Diviftiim negociuni exist imant,
sed magis Philosophice getttcs. They could not but own Christianity to be a more
exalted kind of philosophy, when they saw the Christians live above the very
notions of the philosophers. But the difference between the life of a Christian
and a philosopher was not the only characteristic ; for, says our Tertullian,
Nomen hoc Philosophorum Dcemonia 71071 fitgat. Philosopher is a name the
devils value not ; they stand in no awe of a philosopher's beard, nor will the hem
of his pallium cure any diseases. But Christians did not only outlive them in
virtue, but outdid them in power. For Christ was a name that made the very
devils tremble ; a thing which the philosophers with all their mighty wisdom
were so far from pretending to, that they worshipped those very demons next to
their gods. So that Christianity and philosophy differ just as much as heaven
and earth, as a name that can do everything, and a mere empty title.
126 Tertullians Apology f 07^ the Christians.
ordered a cock to be sacrificed to -^sculapius ^ just upon the point
of expiring, in gratitude, I suppose, to his father Apollo, who had
given him out for the wisest of mortals. O inconsiderate Apollo !
was you bewitched thus to ungod yourself, by crying up such a one
for the wisest of men, who cried down the whole race of heathen
gods ?
But forasmuch as men of corrupted minds have always a burning
hatred to truth, so her strictest followers must expect to meet with
the severest usage; but he who adulterates truth will be sure to
have the thanks of her enemies for his service. Accordingly, philo-
sophers affect truth only in appearance, and this affectation puts
them upon corrupting her, for the glorious vanity of a name j but
Christians are heartily and violently set upon pure truth, and
perform her commands sincerely, as men who have nothing to care
for here, but in order to their salvation hereafter; and therefore
Christians, both in respect of conscience and discipline, notwith-
standing your comparison, are very different persons. And for a
further proof of this difference, consider what was the answer that
Thales the prince of naturalists made Croesus, when he was pressed
by him plainly to declare his positive notions of the divine nature.
Did not the philosopher put off the prince from time to time with
his "I will consider on it"? But the meanest mechanic among-
Christians apprehends God, and can answer the question, and can
assign substantial reasons, and very sensibly explain himself upon
all these disquisitions about the divine nature; though Plato
affirms it to be so difficult to find out the Creator of the universe,
and when found, to express himself intelligibly upon that subject.
But if you make a challenge between Christians and heathens, in
point of morals, let us enter the lists, and begin with chastity ; and
in the trial of Socrates I read one article of the Athenians against
him for sodomy; but a Christian keeps inviolably to one sex
and one woman. I find also that Diogenes could not lie con-
tentedly in his tub without his mistress Phryne ; and I hear of one
Speusippus of Plato's school, slain in the very act of adultery ; but
a Christian is a man only to his own wife. Democritus by putting
out his eyes, because he could not look upon a woman with
innocence, and was not easy within the bounds of chastity, suffici-
ently published his incontinence by his cure ; but a Christian can
■*■ ^scitlapio tamen gallinacetim prosecari in fine judebat. The last dying
words of Socrates we have in the conclusion of Plato's Phado, and they are
these — '^ xpirojVf yi<P'/if Tw 'AffKkyi^iZ o(piiXofiiv ocXtXTpvova^ a,XXa, ocTrohoTi kcci f^vi
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 127
look upon a woman securely, because his mind is blind to all
impressions of that nature. If the question is about probity or
sweetness of temper, behold Diogenes with his dirty feet treading
upon Plato's stately carpets, and crying he trampled upon Plato's
pride, though the sloven did it with a greater pride of his own ; but
the Christian expresses not the least air of haughtiness to the
poorest man on earth. If we contend about moderation with
respect to worldly greatness, behold Pythagoras affecting tyranny
at Thurium, and Zeno at Priene ! But a Christian has not the
ambition to aspire even to the office of an sedile. If we compare
equanimity, remember Lycurgus made away with himself because
he was unable to bear the thought of the Lacedaemonians correcting
the severity of his laws ; but a Christian after condemnation is able
to return thanks to those who have condemned him. If you vie
with us in fidelity, there is your Anaxagoras who had not fidelity
enough to restore the strangers the goods they had deposited in
his trust ; but a Christian has the name of faithful, even among the
enemies of his faith. If we dispute humility, I must tell you that
Aristotle could not sit easy until he proudly made his friend
Hermias sit below him ; but a Christian never bears hard, so much
as upon his enemy. The same Aristotle was as gross a dauber of
Alexander, to keep that huge pupil under his management, as Plato
was of Dionysius for the benefit of his belly. Aristippus in his
purple, and under the greatest show of gravity, was an arrant
debauchee ; and Hippias ^ was killed while he was actually in
ambush against the city, a thing which no Christian ever attempted
for the deliverance of his brethren, though under the most barbarous
usage. But perhaps it may be replied that some Christians are
far from living up to their profession, to which I reply again, that
then they are as far from having the reputation of Christians among
those who truly are so ; but yet philosophers shall enjoy the name
and honour of philosophy among you in spite of the wickedness of
^ Hippias du7n Civitati insidias disponit, occiditur ; hoc pro suis omni atrocitate
dissipatis nemo unquam Christiajitis tentavit. Concerning the several crimes
charged upon the philosophers in this catalogue, the reader may find them
sufficiently dilated on by the commentators ; but that which I think mostly
remarkable in this comparison between a philosopher and a Christian is, that
he concludes the whole with the instance of rebellion in Hippias, " a thing," says
he, "which no Christian was ever heard to have attempted for the rescue of his
brethren, though under the most provoking and barbarous usage." This upon
all occasions he shows to be the distinguishing character of Christians, this he
triumphs upon, and therefore concludes the period with non-resistance like an
orator who gradually rises higher and higher, and clinches all with that he thinks
most likely to leave the deepest impression.
128 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians.
their lives. And where is now the similitude between a philosopher
and a Christian ? between a disciple of Greece and of heaven ? a
trader^ in fame and a saver of souls? between a man of words and
a man of deeds ? between a builder up of virtue and a destroyer of
it? between a dresser up of lies and a restorer of truth? between a
thief and a guardian of this sacred depositum ?
^ Fames Negotiator, et Vita. " A trader in fame, and a saver of souls." Philo-
sophus GloricB Animal, et popularis atirce vile mancipitim, says Jerome ad
Julianum. "A philosopher is an animal of fame, one who basely drudges for
the breath of the people." Lactantius is not a little severe with Cicero upon this
very score, for thus he delivers himself in his second book de Origine Erroris,
sec. 3, p. 67, Cantab. Edit., intelligebat Cicero falsa esse, etc. " Cicero," says he,
"was very sensible of the vanities in worship, and when he had said enough in
all reason utterly to overthrow the established religions, yet he concludes that
these were the truths not to be told the people for fear of unhinging the religions
of the State. Now what is to be done with a man who knows himself in an
error, and yet knowingly dashes upon a rock, that the people may do so too ?
who pulls out his own eyes to secure others in darkness ; who neither deserves
well of those he permits to wander, nor of himself, whom he associates with
practices he condemns ; who makes no use of his wisdom for the regulation of
his life, but wilfully entangles himself to ensnare others, whom as the wiser
person he was obliged to rescue from error. But, O Cicero ! if you have
any regard for virtue, attempt rather to deliver the people out of ignorance ; it
is a noble enterprise, and worthy all your powers of eloquence ; never fear
but your oratory will hold out in so good a cause, which never failed you in the
defence of so many bad ones. But Socrates' prison is the thing you dread, and
therefore truth must want a patron. But certainly, as a wise man, you ought to
despise death in competition with truth ; and you had fallen more honourably
by much for speaking well of truth, than for speaking ill of Antony. Nor will
you ever rise to that height of glory by your Philippics, as you would have
done by labouring to undeceive the world, and dispute the people into their
senses." This I take to be a just character, Socrates excepted, of all the heathen
philosophers ; they were traders for fame, and enriched their heads only to fill
their pockets ; they never loved truth well enough to suffer for her, nor would
plead her cause before the Areopagus or Senate, at the hazard of their lives ; their
notions were inactive, and lay floating only on their fancies, nor were the people
nor themselves the better men for their philosophy ; Socrates' prison spoiled all.
How unlike to this was the carriage of the apostles and their genuine followers !
How did they engage in the defence of truth ! With what zeal did they preach
their crucified Master before Sanhedrim and Senate, in the face of all the dis-
couraging tortures witty malice could invent ! They accounted no hazards
comparable to the advantage the world would enjoy by the propagation of
Christian philosophy ; they rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer
for the name of Christ. This showed a truly noble and generous spirit, that
would not be discouraged from doing the world good, though the benefactors
met with such hard usage for their pains. This likewise showed the divine
power of the Christian religion, that it was able to raise its professors above all
considerations present, for the joy that was set before them. Such was the differ-
ence between a philosopher and a Christian, between a disciple of Greece and
a disciple of heaven.
TerhUlian s Apology for the Christians. 129
CHAPTER XLVII.
THAT THE HEATHEN POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS STOLE MANY OF
THEIR NOTIONS FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
The antiquity 1 of the divine writings which I have already
estabhshed would be a proper topic to insist upon here, in order
to convince you that those writings have been the treasury of all
succeeding wisdom ; and this topic I would pursue at large, was it
not for fear of swelling this Apology to a volume. But, to be short,
which of your poets,- which of your sophisters have not drank from
^ Antiquior omnibus, etc. Was it not for fear of swelling this tract beyond
the bounds of an Apology, Tertullian says, he would enter into a particular proof
of the antiquity of the Holy Scriptures. The reader will find this largely treated
by Eusebius in his Prcepar. Evang., where in the fifth chapter, lib. x., you will
see that the Grecians had not so much as the use of letters till Cadmus the
Phoenician introduced them, which the Phoenicians had from the Syrians, that is,
the Plebrews, which bordered upon them. In this chapter you will see also, not
only the affinity between the Hebrew and Greek alphabet, which I have already
mentioned, but how all the two-and-twenty letters in the Hebrew have their
proper signification, which in the Greek have no meaning at all ; which plainly
proves the one to be but an imperfect copy of the other, especially when the
letters are just almost the same in both, as Alph, Alpha, etc.
^ Qiiis Foetaricm, qui non om?mio de Prophetartnji fonte potaverit? The
Grecian bards of old were the instructors of the people, and priests generally as
well as poets ; they travelled much into Egypt and other parts most noted for
antiquity and learning ; and from thence freighted themselves with ancient
traditions, which they set their fancies to work upon, and so hacked and hewed
and disguised the originals, that it was hard to say from what country they came.
Grcecia Mendax was a true motto. I will not go about to show particularly how
the poets have plundered the prophets, since Bochartus, Vossius de Idol., and
Bishop Stillingfleet, Orig. Sac, have so nicely traced the plagiaries and discovered
the foundation of almost the whole fabulous superstructure, in spite of all their
artifice to conceal it. However, it may not be amiss just to mention some of the
ways they took to conceal and colour the impostures. And one way was, to
alter the Hebrew name and put a Greek one in the place of like importance.
Thus Cham or Ham, who either for his minority or undutifulness had his share of
government allotted him in the barren sands of Africa, and was there for many
ages worshipped under the name of Jupiter Hamon, which the Egyptians by
leaving out the aspirate call 'A^^awx or 'Afjt.ovv, according to that of Herodotus in
his Euterpe, Afjt.u.ovv yap AlyvTTtot xccXiovtrt tvv Ata, Thus I say, for Qn Ham,
which signifies fervidus from the radix D^n fervere, they put Ziv,, from
Z,iw, which signifies the same in Greek with Ham in Hebrew. This Ammon
had a temple in the city of No, as we find from that of Jeremiah xlvi. 25 :
"Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt with their
gods." That which we render the multitude of No, is in the original Amon de No,
E
1 30 Tertullians Apology for the Christians,
the fountain of the prophets? It is from these sacred sources
hkewise that your philosophers have refreshed their thirsty, in-
quisitive spirits. From hence also it is that philosophy has iDeen
proscribed some countries, as Thebes, Sparta, and Argos, for the
monstrous issue she produced from the adulterous mixture of
divine truths with human inventions \ and no wonder, since (as I
have said) these philosophers were men of glory only, and driven
on with the lust of eloquence. Accordingly, if they found any-
thing in our divine digests ^ which hit their fancies, or might serve
the God Amon, whose temple was in the city No. Vid. Bochar. Phaleg. lib. i.
pp. 5, 6. Another way of disguising their thefts was by taking the Hebrew in its
literal and proper sense, thus finding Noah (whom Bochartus has demonstrated
to be the same with Saturn) to be called, Gen. xi. 20, nilD"l5<n 5J>"'i5> "vir Terrce^
a husbandman, as Vir Sanguinis^ Vir Pecoris^ a bloody man, a shepherd,
2 Sam. xvi. 7, Gen. xlvi. 32. A most familiar phrase among the Hebrews, they
take vir Terrce or husbandman in a literal sense for a,\ihf tyu yr^, the husband
of the earth ; and so Saturn, which was Noah, is reported to have married
Rhea, that is, the earth. Vid. Bochart. Phaleg. lib. i. cap. i, p. 3. And so
likewise where the Oriental languages were ambiguous or equivocal, by omitting
the obvious sense and following the obscure, they spun out strange stories. Thus
again the great Bochartus, lib. iv. cap. 31, has traced the fable of the Golden
Fleece, which was nothing but the robbing the treasury of the king of Colchis,
framed from the equivocal Syriac word 5^13, which signifies both a fleece and a
treasury ; and so the bulls and dragons which kept it were nothing but the
walls and brazen gates, for *T)E^ signifies both a bull and a wall, and tJ^PlJ,
brass and a dragon. I shall mention but one Grecian artifice more, which was
by ascribing to some of their own nation what is recorded in the sacred history.
Thus the Thessalians make Deucalion to be the person who escaped the flood,
and from whom the world was peopled after it ; and whoever compares the
relation of Deucalion's flood in Apollodorus, Biblioth. lib. i. p. 19, with that
of Moses, may easily turn Apollodorus's Greek into the language of Scripture by
only turning Greece into the whole earth, and Deucalion into Noah, Parnassus
into Ararat, and Jupiter into Jehovah. Vid. Bishop Stillingfleet's Orig. Sac.
lib. iii. cap. 5.
•'■ Si quid in Sanctis Scripturis offenderunt, pro instituto Curiositatis ad propria
opera verterunt. In the foregoing Apology, Justin Martyr gives several instances
wherein Plato had stolen from Moses ; and Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom, i,
calls Plato, Tflv 'Efipci'iuv (ptXoffo(pov. See St. Austin, de Doctr. Christ, lib. ii. cap.
28, de civit. Dei, lib. xviii. cap. 41, and lib. viii. cap. 1 1. But above all, see this
philosopher hunted through all his coverts, and traced home to the prophets by
Eusebius in his Prcepar. Evang. lib. xi. xii. xiii., and there you will find with
what good reason the Fathers charged the philosophers in general, and Plato in
particular, for shirking from the Holy Scriptures, according to that of Eusebius,
Pr(2par. Evang. lib. xi. cap. 10, t/ yap \(tti nxxraiv, n Mtua-yj? xttizi^uv ; Quid est
aliud Plato, quam Moses Atticl loquens? Origen is of opinion that Plato by
conversing with the Jews in Egypt came acquainted with the history of the fall
of man, which after his enigmatical way he describes in his Symposiacs, where he
introduces Porus the god of plenty feasting with the rest of the gods ; after
supper Penia comes to the door a-begging ; Porus being drunk with nectar, goes
into Jupiter's garden, and there falls fast asleep ; Penia observing it steals to
Terhillians Apology for the Christians. 131
their hypothesis, they took it and turned it and bent it to a com-
phance with their own curiosity; not considering these writings to
be sacred and unalterable, nor understanding their sense, which
was then under a cloud to those carnal minds, as it is at this day
to the very Jews, to whom they were appropriated. For if in any
place truth appeared in its native simplicity without the disguise of
type or metaphor, worldly wisdom, instead of submitting her faith,
blended the certainties of revelation with her own philosophic
uncertainties ; for having dipped in the Holy Scripture, and found
there is no other God but one, they presently divided into various
speculations about the divine nature, some asserting it to be incor-
poreal, others corporeal, as the Platonics and Stoics ; some com-
posing him of atoms, and others of numbers, as Epicurus and
him, and by this cunning conceived by him. In this fable of Plato, Origen
observes the resemblance between Jupiter's garden and Paradise, and between
Penia and the serpent, etc. . And he is the rather confirmed in his conjecture,
because he knew it to be Plato's custom to wrap up his subHmest notions in fable,
for fear of disobliging the fabulous Greeks, who hated the Jews, and who would
have themselves pass for the wisest, if not the most ancient people ; and I may
add, too, that nobody else might know from whence Plato had his notions. Vidi.
Orig. cont. lib. iv. And as Plato purloined his divinest discoveries from the
prophets, and perplexed them on purpose to hide the theft, so is it very remark-
able that the latter Platonists, such as Jamblichus, Hierocles, Simplicius, etc.,
talk in a kind of evangelical strain, and as much above Plato as the apostles do
above the prophets ; and at the same time vilify the Christians for a blind to
make believe that there was nothing in the Christian doctrine worth borrowing,
just as their master Plato had done before them. For it is to be remembered
that Plotinus, Porphyrius, Jamblichus, and Hierocles were brought up under the
great Ammonius of Alexandria, as well as Herennius and Origen. This Ammo-
nius both lived and died a Christian, as Eusebius and Jerome testify, Hist. Eccles.
lib. vi. cap. 19, Hieron. de Script. EccL, and so instructed his scholars in the
Christian mysteries, as well as the pagan philosophy at the same time. The
not observing therefore that the admirable discourses of these latter Platonists
had their rise from a Christian master, has been the ground of two scurvy
mistakes amongst some learned critics, namely, of overvaluing the Platonic
philosophy, as if in their notions of the origin of evil, and the degeneracy of our
souls from their primitive purity, etc., they outdid revelation, though it is
evident that their noblest flights took wing from the gospel. Secondly, of
charging the primitive Fathers with Platonizing, a charge (as I have proved)
they utterly deny, and on the contrary tax the philosophers with Christianizing,
or stealing from the doctrine of Christ ; which they wrested only to serve their
hypothesis, and without telling a word whence they had the notion ; and not
only the philosophers, but the heretics (says Tertullian) had got a trade of
blending philosophy and Christianity together. And our author complains not
only here of this tampering with Scripture among Christians, but cries out in his
Prescription against Heretics^ cap. 7 — Viderint qui Stoicum et Platonicum et
Dialecticum Christianismum protulerunt. And it is notorious of late years what
attempts have been made to reform religion by philosophy, instead of making
philosophy bend to revelation.
132 TertiUlians Apology for the Christians,
Pythagoras, and some of fire, as was the opinion of Heraclitus.
The Platonists Hkewise maintain his care and providence over his
creation; on the contrary, the Epicureans make him a careless,
inactive God, and, as I may say, nobody in the world. Again, the
Stoics place him without the world, and turning the globe about,
like a porter sitting without his wheel. The Platonists place him
within the world like a pilot of a ship steering the universal vessel
that contains him. In like manner we find these sages at variance
about the world itself, whether it was made or unmade, and whether
it would dissolve or last for ever. The same disputes we find
about the state of the soul, some contending for it to be of a divine
immortal nature, and others of a nature corruptible; every one
inferring and reforming as the maggot bit. Nor do I wonder to
find the philosophic wits play such foul pranks with the Old
Testament, when I find some of the same generation among our-
selves who have made as bold with the New, and composed a
deadly mixture of gospel and opinion, as the same philosophizing
vanity led them ; and out of one plain road have cut a world of
labyrinths and inextricable mazes to confound men in the way of
salvation ; which therefore I thought proper to advertise you of,
that this noted diversity of opinions among Christians should not
justify a parallel between us and philosophers, and make men
condemn truth itself from the contentions about it. But this in
short is my prescription ^ against these adulterers of the faith, to try
all their doctrines by the gospel, that rule of truth which came
from Christ, and was transmitted by His apostles, that, I say, is the
^ Expedite enini prescribimus Adulteris nostris, illam esse Regulam veritaiis
qucBveniata Christo transf?iissa per comites ipsius. I shall not here enter into
the necessary qualifications of a perfect rule of faith, and prove such qualifications
to be in Holy Scripture, but observe only, that supposing philosophers to be in
the right, yet all their reasonings were but the reasonings of mere men, and
therefore fallible. No one system of philosophy then could be collected from
their writings (granting all necessary truths to lie scattered amongst them) for a
standing authoritative rule in matters of controversy, for such a collection can be
of no more authority than the collector, and must want a sanction more than
human ; for all men have a natural right to reason for themselves, till God
determines it by a rule divine : the want of such rule therefore was a great
desideratum in the Gentile world ; and this was one of the great wants provided
for by Christ's coming into the world, who is emphatically said to have brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. The heathens then of old, and
the deists at present, vainly object against Christianity the many difi^erences about
it ; for, says Tertullian, there is an infallible rule transmitted by Christ through
His apostles, which we apply to upon all occasions to measure doctrines by, and
which is wanting to the philosophers ; and therefore all the fundamental differ-
ences which arise among Christians do not rise for any fault in the rule but in
themselves.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 133
touchstone by which all the different opinions of succeeding
teachers is to be proved.
All the arrows ^ that are shot at truth are taken from her own
quiver, for the heresies are to look with a gospel face in emulation
of divine truth, and the spirits of error have a great stroke in the
picture. These are they which suborn men to discolour the
doctrines of salvation, and stain them with their own inventions.
By the same spiritual wickednesses are fables foisted in, to invali-
date the credibility of our religion, or rather to procure this credi-
bility for themselves, that the doctrines of devils being dressed up
like truth might have the same veneration with the word of God;
so that either a man might disbelieve a Christian, because he
disbelieves a poet or a philosopher, or rather conclude he has the
greater reason to give credit to a philosopher or a poet, because he
cannot find in his heart to believe a Christian. From this sacri-
legious mixture it is that we are so ridiculed when we preach about
the day of judgment, for in imitation of this the poets and
philosophers have their tribunal in the infernal region ; and if we
threaten them with hell, which is a subterranean treasure of secret
fire reserved for the punishment of the wicked, we are hooted at;
for thus they ape us too with their Puriphlegeton ^ or burning river
among the shades below ; and if we mention Paradise,^ a place of
' Omnia adversus veritatem de ipsd veritate constj'uda sunt, operantibus
amulationem istam spiritihus Erroris. The Holy Scriptures being confessedly
of divine authority, the most effectual way of doing mischief is not to descry
them, but to put a crown on their head, and a reed in their hands, and to bow
before them, and cry, " Hail King of the Jews ! " to pretend a mighty deal of
reverence to the Scriptures, and then crucify them to their own sense. This was
always the way of heretics and designing men, set on foot, says our author, and
carried on by the agency of the spirits of darkness. And it is observable that
the old serpent took the same course in tempting the second Adam with a text
from Scripture ; and I know not any author that ever copied closer after the
devil in this very thing than the author of the Rights of the Christian Church,
who, with all the strength of delusion, has done his best to set up the kingdom of
darkness, and to unchurch Christendom from Scripture.
^ Sic enini Pyriphlegeton apud mortuos amnis est. From the 7th of Daniel and
the loth verse, where it is said that "a fiery stream issued and came forth from
before him ; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before him, and the judgment was set, and the books were
opened ; " from this passage, I say, Eusebius shows the affinity between Plato
and the prophet as to the future judgment, and particularly that the Puriphlegeton
or burnmg river in Plato, 'xifi -^vx^n?., is plainly the fiery stream in Daniel.
Vid. Euseb. Prcep. Evan. lib. xi. cap. 58.
* Et si Faradisum nominemus, Locum Divina amcenitatis recipiendis Sanct-
orum spiritibus distinatum, macerid quddam ignea illiiis Zonce segregatum.
134 Tertullians Apology for the Christians.
divine pleasure, destined for the reception of the spirits of holy
men, and guarded from the notice of the common world by the
torrid zone or wall of fire, immediately they trump upon us with
their Elysium. From whence now, I pray, had your poets and
philosophers these resemblances ? Whence, if not from the books
of our sacred mysteries? ,And if they copied from them, then they
have the prerogative of antiquity, and consequently are the more
credible ; since you look upon an original of more authority than
the copy. But now, if they were the founders of these inventions,
then we must take our religion from them, which is as impossible in
Paradise, says Philo, de Plaut. Noce, p. 171, is avfA^'oXov "^v^/Ai ^"^o -TrXriSovi »a)
fiiyiirhv; ;^;a^aj dvaffxipruayi?, " The representation of a soul exulting for fulness and
excess of joy." By Paradise or Abraham's bosom, or Abraham's port, as the
Greek word ««x^o? truly signifies, the primitive Christians understood a place
of ease and divine happiness, next to heaven, but not heaven itself, or the
perfect fruition of the beatific vision ; they were of opinion that the departed
souls of just men in general ascended not into heaven till after the resurrection ;
which Irenseus and Tertullian prove from the example of Christ, to which we
must be conformed ; for Christ Himself did not ascend into heaven till after His
resurrection, but as His body rested in the grave, so His soul went into the place
of departed souls, and when He rose again, then He ascended into heaven ; and
thus, say they, we must do also. Not that they affirmed no souls immediately
entered into heaven, for they believed the souls of martyrs did, and this belief
seems to have increased the passion so much for martyrdom in that age. Here
then the reader is desired to observe, that Tertullian asserts a middle state
without a Purgatory, for he asserts Paradise to be a garden of divine pleasure
prepared for the refreshment of holy souls till the resurrection ; and therefore our
author could not possibly imagine it to be a place of torment, to expiate the
temporal punishment due to sin, when the eternal punishment is remitted, which
is the popish Purgatory, an invention not only against the current doctrine of the
Fathers, but highly derogatory to the all-sufficient merits of our crucified Master, —
a most discouraging and barbarous representation of the Christian religion, and
such a one as had never been framed, had it not been a convenient engine to
make a way into the pockets of the people. This Paradise (says our author) is
guarded about with a wall of fire, like what the torrid zone is commonly
supposed to be, plainly alluding to the cherubim and the flaming sword which
turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life ; hereby intimating, as I
conceive, that as Paradise was the blissful seat of man in innocence, so Abraham's
bosom or port was such an Eden of happiness for righteous spirits ; and as that
was guarded from the re-entrance of sinful Adam and his posterity by those
ministering spirits, which the psalmist, and after him the author to the Hebrews,
calls a flame of fire, so was this blessed mansion of pure souls, this port after the
storms of life, secured by the same ministers from the incursion of evil spirits :
the devil they knew to be prince of the air, and this lower region to be filled
with his legions, who in the opinion of the Fathers stood always ready to seize
on a departed soul ; and therefore as the soul of Lazarus was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom, so they concluded that every righteous soul in the
like manner was conducted in triumph through the dominions of the devil, and
lodged in the same port of happiness till the day of judgment.
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. 135
nature as for a shadow to be before the substance,^ or the image
before the reality.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.
Let us now consider a little the different treatment of a philosopher
and a Christian. If a philosopher affirms, as Laberius from Pytha-
goras has done, that after death the soul of a man departs into a
mule, and that of a woman into a serpent, and turns all the sails
of eloquence to carry this absurd point, shall not he find credit,
and harangue some of you into abstinence even from the flesh of
animals ? And will not many scruple to eat a piece of beef, for
fear of eating a piece of their ancestors ? But now if a Christian
shall affirm that man shall be made man again after death, and
Caius rise the very same Caius again, he is in danger of being
mobbed, and having all the sticks and stones in the street presently
about his ears. But if you can find it reasonable to believe the
transmigration of human souls from body to body, why should you
think it incredible for the soul to return to the substance it first
inhabited? For this is our notion of a resurrection, to be that
again after death, which we were before; for, according to the
Pythagorean doctrine, these souls now are not the same they were,
because they cannot be what they were not without ceasing to be
what they were. A man might be very merry upon this subject,
had he leisure and inclination to give himself a loose, and hunt
^ Nunquam enim corpus Umbra, aut veritatem Imago prcBcedit. It was a
mighty objection with the heathens, that Christianity was a novel upstart
religion, formed out of the corruption of the heathen mythology ; but this
Tertullian argues to be as impossible as for the shadow to be before the sub-
stance, or an imitation before the reality. This very objection we find almost
continually in the mouth of Celsus the Epicurean ; for, says he, " the building of
the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues were patched up out of the
fable of the Aloidge in Homer's Odyssey ; the story of the flood, from Deucalion ;
Paradise, from Alcinous's gardens ; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, from
the story of Phaeton ; the folly of which objection Origen answerably demon-
strates by showing the far greater antiquity of those relations among the Jews,
than of these or any other fables among the Greeks ; and therefore the corruption
of the tradition must be in them, and not in the Jews." Vid. Orig. cont. Cels.
lib. iv. pp. 174, 179.
136 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
after all the animals in which all the departed souls from the
beginning have taken up their lodgings.
But instead of digressing, I think it of more consequence to
establish this doctrine of the resurrection; and we propose it as
more agreeable to reason and the dignity of human nature to
believe that man will be remade man, and every person after death
himself again; so that the soul shall be habited with the same
qualities it was invested with in its former union, though the man
may receive some alteration in his figure. For certainly the reason
of a resurrection is only in order to judgment ; and therefore it is
necessary that the bodies which have been instrumental to the
actions should be the same bodies which are summoned from the
grave to judgment, "that every one may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
whether it be evil."
The graves then shall repay the bodies at the day of judgment,
because it is not conceivable perhaps how a mere soul should
be passible without a union with matter, I mean the flesh; but
especially because the divine justice will have souls suffer in
the body they have sinned. But perhaps you will ask how the
particles of a body dissolved to dust can be made to rally and
reunite after such a dissolution ? Reflect upon yourself, O man !
and in yourself you will find an answer. Consider what you were
before you had existence — you were nothing at all ; for if you had
been a man, you might have remembered something of it. As
therefore you may be said to be nothing before you were in being,
to just such a nothing will you return again when you cease to be.
Why then cannot you be recalled from this second nothing, as you
think it, by the same Almighty word which called you from your
first ? Where now is the wonderful difference in these two cases ?
You who were not are made to be, and when you shall not be
again, God shall make you what you were. Be pleased now, if you
can, to solve me the mode of your creation, and then demand the
manner of your resurrection. And yet methinks you may easily
conceive the possibility of restoring you to a former being, since
you were with the same ease made something out of nothing. Is
the power of that God to be disputed who raised this universe
from nothing, from nothing as it were but the death of privation or
pure void, and animated it with that spirit which is the universal
life? And He has impressed upon this world for your conviction
many testimonials of the human resurrection. For the light which
Tertullians Apology for the Christians. i
'^
daily departs rises again with its primitive splendour ; and darkness
succeeds by equal turns ; the stars which leave the world revive ;
the seasons, when they have finished their course, renew it again ;
the fruits are consumed and bloom afresh ; and that which we sow
is not quickened except it die, and by that dissolution rises more
fruitful. Thus you see how all things are renewed by corruption,
and reformed by dying. And you, O man ! did you but under-
stand the nobility of that title, and which you might have under-
stood even from Apollo's oracle, how could you imagine that man,
the lord of all these dying and reviving things, should himself die
for ever ? In what place soever therefore the cord of life is broken,
whatsoever element has your body in destroying, in abolishing, in
annihilating, it shall deliver up the pledge, and return you whole ;
for pure nothing is as much at the divine word as His whole
creation.
But then, say you, here will be nothing but dying and rising in
endless succession. If the Sovereign of the world has ordered it
thus, you must have taken your destined turns whether you would
or no \ but now He has established a resurrection once for all, as
He has taught by His Word ; that Word or Reason which composed
the universe of various elements, and made it a consistent har-
monious system by a due temperament of opposite principles, of
vacuum and matter, animate and inanimate, comprehensible and
incomprehensible, light and darkness, life and death. The same
Word who thus made and preserved the world has likewise so
pointed and distinguished time, that the first period from the
creation shall run out the determined stage of years, but the
succeeding space on which all our thoughts are fixed is endless
duration. But between these two there is an isthmus or middle
term of time,^ and when this period is over, and the beauty of this
1 Cum ergo finis ^ et limes medius qui interhiat adfuerit, etc. "Between the
conclusion of this world and the commencement of the world eternal there is an
isthmus or middle term of time." By which he undoubtedly means the Chiliasm,
or thousand years' reign upon earth ; for this he maintains in his books against
Marcion^ lib. iii. cap. 23, p. 411. Now this is an error (if it be one) wherein
Tertullian stands not alone, but in the good company of Papias Bishop of
Hierapolis, Irseneus Bishop of Lyons, Justin Martyr, Nepos, Apollinaris,
Victorinus, Lactantius, and Severus Gallus, with many others. But then it is to
be remembered that this was an opinion they laid no stress upon, for Justin
Martyr confesses, and without any censure, that there were many sincere and
devout Christians who did not hold it, and many others also of the same mind
with himself, and so leaves it as a matter indifferent. Vid. Dial, cum Tryphones,
pp. 306, 307, 369. This notion seems to be first set on foot by the forementioned
Papias, a very good man but of no great reach, as Eusebius remarks, EccL Hist.
138 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians,
new world likewise had its season, which is but a goodly curtain
between us and eternity, then all human kind shall be restored to
life, to answer for their several works, whether they be good or evil j
and then consigned over to a state of immense perpetuity ; and then
death and resurrection shall be no more, but we shall be the same
we now are, and the same for ever. The worshippers of God shall
be clothed upon with a substance proper for everlasting duration,
and fixed in a perpetual union with God ; but the profane and
the hypocrite shall be doomed to a lake of everflowing fire, and
fueled with incorruptibility from the divine indefectible nature of
that flame which torments them. Philosophers are not unacquainted
with the difference of secret and common fire ; the fire which serves
for the use of man is quite of another nature from that which
ministers to the justice of God ; whether it be that which shoots
the thunderbolts from heaven, or that which belches from the
bowels of mountains, for it burns without consuming, and repairs
what it preys upon ; the mountains therefore burn, and maintain
themselves by burning, and the man who is blasted from heaven is
insured from being burnt to ashes ; and this may be a testimony of
the eternal fire, an emblem of those flames which are decreed to
nourish the damned in torment. The mountains burn with per-
petual fire, and are mountains still ; why, therefore, may not the
wicked and the enemies of God burn like these ?
lib. iii. cap. 39, p. 112, who by not seeing into the mystical meaning of the
apostle's discourses, ran presently away with it as an apostolical tradition ; just
perhaps as we find from the misunderstanding of our Saviour's words to St.
Peter : " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou
me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple
(namely John) should not die." Now from a doctrine so harmless in itself and
consequences, according to the sense of the orthodox (though abused indeed by
Corinthus and his followers), recommended by the venerable antiquity of an
apostolical person, as Papias was, an opinion that has so much to be said for it
from Scripture, from the Revelation especially, as appears by the learned Mr.
Mede and others, and which we are freely left to believe or disbelieve at our
discretion ; is it not, I say, very disingenuous as well as very trifling in Mr.
Daille to argue from hence against the authority of the Fathers ? As if their
authority was the less valuable in matters of faith wherein they are all unanimous
and pressing, and in matters of fact wherein they cannot be mistaken, because,
forsooth, in some cases of tradition or reasoning it is possible they may be
mistaken, and wherein they expressly declare that it is no matter of consequence
if they are.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians. 139
CHAPTER XLIX. .
THAT THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OUGHT NOT TO BE PERSECUTED,
BECAUSE THE WORLD CANNOT BE WELL WITHOUT IT.
These things then are decried as groundless whimsy and capricious
in us alone ; but in the philosophers and poets who stole them from
us are deemed prodigious attainments, the brightest discoveries and
noblest flights of human wit ; for the same things, they are the
sages and we the simpletons ; they are laden with respect, and we
with derision, and what is worse, with punishment. But allowing
our tenets to be as false and groundless presumptions as you would
have them, yet I must tell you that they are presumptions the world
cannot be well without ; if they are follies, they are follies of great
use, because the believers of them, who under the dread of eternal
pain, and the hope of everlasting pleasure, are under the strongest
obligations possible to become the best of men. It can never
therefore be a politic expedient to cry down doctrines for false and
foolish, which it is every man's interest to presume true ; it is upon
no account advisable to condemn opinions so serviceable to the
public. You, then, are the presumptuous and impertinent, and not
we ; you who rashly adventure to pass sentence against principles
so palpably conducing to general good ; however, if you will upbraid
our religion with folly and impertinence, yet certainly you can never
charge it with mischief to any person breathing; you can at most
but look upon it like abundance of other romances, which by the
laws are not penal, and which, though vain and fabulous, are not
criminal, but as harmless stories, without accusation or punishment,
pass freely among you. For errors of such inoffensive nature at
worst should only be condemned to ridicule, and not to fire and
sword, gibbets and beasts ; at which savage executions, not only the
mob are transported with insolence and cruel satisfaction, but even
some of you magistrates pride yourselves in the same barbarities,
the better to recommend yourselves to the populace ; as if the
whole of your power against us was not dependent upon our own
will, and defeatable at pleasure. For instance, I am certainly a
Christian because it is my will and pleasure so to be, then you
shall condemn me, if I please to be condemned ; and if you could
not condemn me if I would not persist in my religion, it is plain
your power depends upon my will. In like manner, the people
show as much folly as brutishness in rejoicing at the sufferings of
Christians ; for these sufferings which give them only a malicious
140 Tertullian s Apology for the Christians.
pleasure, a pleasure they usurp without a title, feed the Christian
sufferers with just and substantial comforts, who choose to be con-
demned rather than to fall from their affiance in God, and the
expectations of the other world ; for would these people act conse-
quently who thus hate us, they ought rather to grieve than rejoice
at our torments, because these torments put us in possession of our
heart's desire.
-0-
CHAPTER L.
1
THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH.
What reason then, say you, have we Christians to complain of our
sufferings, when we are so fond of persecution ; we ought rather to
love those who persecute us so sweetly to our heart's content. It
is true, indeed, we are not against suffering, when the Captain of our
salvation calls us forth to suffer : but let me tell you, it is with us in
our Christian warfare as it is with you in yours, we choose to suffer as
you choose to fight ; ^ but no man chooses fighting for fighting sake,
because he cannot engage without fear and hazard of life. Yet,
nevertheless, when the brave soldier finds he must engage, he
battles it with all his power, and if he comes off victorious is full of
joy, though just before not without his complaints of a miUtary Hfe,
because he has obtained his end, laden with glory, laden with spoil.
Thus it is with Christians we enter into battle, when we are cited
to your tribunals, there to combat for truth with the hazard of our
^ Plane volumus pati, vertim eo more quo et belliwi miles, nejno qtdppe libens
patitur. ' ' We choose to suffer as you choose to fight, but no man chooses fighting
for fighting's sake." Some of the Winder and perverser sort of heathens derided
the primitive martyrs (as their passive followers since have been) for a sect of
besotted, infatuated fellows, who did neither know nor feel what it was they
underwent. But our author tells them that the flesh and blood of Christians
was like other folks, that they understood natural rights and liberties, had the
same aversion to suffering, the same passion for preservation and pleasure that
the heathens had ; and whereas they alone were the people who seemed to have
forgot humanity, by their enduring the most exquisite torments not only with
patience, but with joy and thanksgiving, yet this was far from the effect of any
stoical apathy, but purely the strength of their faith, which overcame the reluct-
ance of nature, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, which
enabled them to despise the life present, and that light affliction which is but for
a moment, and which worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory.
Tertullian s Apology for the Christians, 141
life. To set up truth is our victory, and the victor's glory is to
please his God, and the precious spoil of that victory is eternal hfe ;
and this life we certainly win by dying for it, therefore we conquer
when we are killed, and being killed are out of the reach of you
and all other vexations for ever.
Give us now what names you please from the instruments of
cruelty you torture us by ; call us Sarmenticians and Semaxians,
because you fasten us to trunks of trees, and stick us about with
faggots to set us on fire ; ^ yet let me tell you, when we are thus
begirt and dressed about with fire, we are then in our most
illustrious apparel. These are our victorious palms and robes of
glory, and mounted upon our funeral pile we look upon ourselves
in our triumphal chariot. No wonder then such passive heroes
please not those they vanquish with such conquering sufferings ;
and therefore we pass for men of despair, and violently bent upon
our own destruction. However, that which you are pleased to
call madness and despair in us are the very actions which under
virtue's standard lift up your sons of fame and glory, and emblazon
them to future ages. Thus Mutius Scaevola immortaHzed himself
1 Hcec Palmata vestis^ etc. This among the Romans was the triumphal robe,
all over embroidered with palm branches in token of victory. A Christian then,
says Tertullian, never thinks himself so fine, never so illustrious as at the stake,
with fire and faggot about him ; he then is in his triumphal chariot going to
heaven in state. Eusebius tells us it was a most charming sight to behold the
martyrs in prison, to see how their misery became them, how they adorned
their fetters, and that they looked as captivating in chains as a bride in all her
glories at the day of marriage. Vid. Eus. Bist. Ecc. lib. v. cap. i, p. i6o. So
far were they from complaining of providence, that they blessed God the more
for the honour of suffering, and gave thanks to their judges for condemning
them ; so far from being ashamed of their bonds, that they gloried in them, and
therefore we find that Babylas the*martyr ordered the chains he wore in prison
to be buried with him. Vid. Chrys. /. de S. Bab, tom. i. p. 669. Here then
we see a Christian triumph, the true spirit of the first ages, nor would I interpose
any cold criticisms on this last and most excellent chapter, that my reader might
not be interrupted, but go off with a full impression, with all the fire and
devotion of the writer ; for in the Bishop of Sarum's words, " I confess there is
no piece of story I read with so much pleasure as the accounts that are given of
these martyrs, for methinks they leave a fervour upon my mind, which I meet
with in no study, that of the Scriptures being only excepted." I conclude all
with that admirable collect of our own Church upon the festival of St. Stephen,
so exactly conformable to the primitive spirit, " Grant, O Lord, that in all our
sufferhigs here upon earth for the testimony of Thy truth, we may stedfastly look
up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed, and being
filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the
example of Thy first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to Thee,
O blessed Jesus, who standeth at the right hand of God to succour all those
that suffer for Thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. Amen."
142 Tertullian^s Apology for the Christians.
by voluntarily sacrificing his right hand to the flames for mistaking
the eneny. O exaltation of mind ! Empedocles offered his whole
self to the flames of ^tna near Catana ; O vigour of soul ! the
foundress of Carthage bequeathed herself to the fire, to avoid a
second marriage ; O monument of chastity ! Regulus not willing
to put his country to the expense of redeeming himself alone, with
the liberty of many enemies, chose to go back and suffer all the
torments they could inflict upon every part of his body ; O brave
Regulus, in captivity conqueror ! Anaxarchus while the executioner
was pounding him like barley in a mill j Pound on, pound on, says
he, for you pound not Anaxarchus but his budget. O notable
magnanimity of the philosopher, who had presence of mind enough
to pun while he was pounding ! I mention not those who seem to
have contracted for praise at the price of cutting their own throats,
or despatching themselves by some sweeter method ; for lo ! you
crown as meritorious even a mere spiteful contention for degrees
of torture : for a strumpet of Athens having quite tired out her
executioner, at length, to her immortal honour, bit off her tongue,
and spit it in the tyrant's face, that so she might put it out of her
power to discover the conspirators should the torments chance to
get the better of her resolution. Zeno Eleates being demanded by
Dionysius the use of philosophy, told him it was to raise men to a
contempt of death, and by the tyrant's order was whipped to death
for an experiment, and ratified his doctrine with his blood. The
Lacedaemonian method, of enuring their people to hardiness, is to
put them into a course of scourging, and to double their discipline
in the presence of any of their friends, who read the scholars a
lecture of patience while they are under the lash ; and every
scholar carried home a quantity of honour, according to the
quantity of blood he left behind him.* O true glory, because of
human stamp and fashion ! not one of all these contemners of
death and cruelty in its several shapes have had their actions
sullied with the imputation of despair and madness. A man shall
suffer with honour for his country, for the empire, for a friend,
what he is not tolerated to suffer for his God. Strange 1 that you
should look upon the patience of Christians as such an inglorious
thing, and yet for the persons aforesaid cast statues, and adorn
figures with inscriptions and magnificent titles, to perpetuate the
memory of their actions to eternity, to such an eternity as monu-
ments can bestow; and by this means give them a kind of resurrection
from the dead. On the contrar)^, he who expects a real resurrection,
and in hopes of this suffers for the word of God, shall pass among
you for a sot and a madman.
Tertullians Apology for the Ckrisiiafis' 143
And now, O worshipful judges, go on with your show of justice,
and, beheve me, you will be juster and juster still in the opinion of
the people, the oftener you make them a sacrifice of Christians.
Crucify, torture, condemn, grind us all to powder if you can ; your
injustice is an illustrious proof of our innocence, and for the proof
of this it is that God permits us to suffer; and by your late
condemnation of a Christian woman to the lust of a pander, rather
than the rage of a lion, you notoriously confess that such a pollution
is more abhorred by a Christian than all the torments and deaths
you can heap upon her. But do your worst, and rack your
inventions for tortures for Christians — it is all to no purpose; you
do but attract the world, and make it fall the more in love with
our religion ; the more you mow us down, the thicker we rise ; the
Christian blood you spill is like the seed you sow, it springs from
the earth again, and fructifies the more. Many of your philosophers
have set themselves to write the world into patience and a con-
tempt of death, as Cicero in his Tusculan questions, Seneca in his
remedies against accidents, Diogenes, Pyrrhon, and CaUinicus ; but
their pompous glitter of words has not made the tithe of disciples
that our lives have done. That which you reproach in us as
stubbornness has been the most instructing mistress in proselyting
the world ; for who has not been struck at the sight of that you
call stubbornness, and from thence pushed on to look into the
reality and reason of it? And who ever looked well into our
religion but came over to it ? And who ever came over, but was
ready to suffer for it, to purchase the favour of God, and obtain the
pardon of all his sins, though at the price of his blood ? for martyr-
dom is sure of mercy. For this reason it is that we thank you for
condemning us, because there is such a blessed emulation and
discord between the divine and human judgment, that when you
condemn us upon earth, God absolves us in heaven.
THE
CONVERSATION OF THE
EMPEROR MARCUS ANTONINUS:
A DISCOURSE WITH HIMSELF.
BOOK I.
I. The example of my grandfather Verus gave me the advantage
of a candid and dispassionate temper.
II. By the recollection of my father's character I learned to be
both modest and manly.
III. As for my mother, she taught me to have a regard for
religion, to be generous and open-handed, and not only to forbear
doing anybody an ill turn, but not so much as to endure the
thought of it. By her likewise I was bred to a plain, inexpensive
way of living, and very different from the common luxury and
liberties of young people of my quality.
IV. I am to thank my great grandfather^ for not running the
risk of a public education, for providing me good masters at home,
and making me sensible that I ought to return them a large and
honourable acknowledgment.
V. From my governor I learned not to overvalue the diversions
of the race-ground and amphitheatre, nor to dote upon the liveries
and distinctions of jockeys and gladiators. He taught me also to
^ Catilius Sevems.
1 46 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
put my own hand to business on occasion, to endure hardship and
fatigues, and to throw the necessities of nature into a Httle compass.
That I ought not to meddle with other people's matters, nor be
easy in giving credit to informers.
VI. Diognetus gave me the hint not to keep quails for the pit,^
or bestow my pains and inclination upon trifles. Not to be led
away with the impostures of wizards and figure-fiingers, who pretend
they can discharge evil spirits, and do strange feats by the strength
of a charm. This Diognetus helped me to the faculty of bearing
freedom and plain dealing in others ; brought me to relish philo-
sophy, and apply myself to it ; and procured me the instruction of
those celebrated men, Bacchius, Tandacides, and Marcianus. He
likewise put me upon improving myself, by writing dialogues when
I was a boyj prevailed with me to prefer a couch covered with
hides to a bed of state; and reconciled me to other resembling
rigours of the Stoic disciphne.
VII. It was Rusticus ^ that first set me upon correcting my
humour, and bringing it to a better state ; who prevented me from
running into the vanity of the sophists, either by writing pretendedly
upon learning and life, haranguing upon moral subjects, or making
a fantastical appearance of being mightily taken up with exercises,
disciphne, and business. This philosopher kept me from being
smitten with the charms of rhetoric and poetry, from affecting the
character of a man of pleasantry, or the dress and mien of a beau,
or anything of this kind, which looks like conceit and affectation.
He taught me to write letters in a plain, unornamented style, like
that dated from Sinuessa to my mother. By his instructions I was
persuaded to be easily reconciled to those who had misbehaved
themselves and disobliged me. And of the same master I learned
to read an author carefully ; not to take up with a superficial view,
or resign to every noisy impertinent, but to look through the
argument, and go to the bottom of the matter. And to conclude
with him, he procured me a copy of Epictetus's works.
VIII. ApoUonius ^ taught me to give my mind its due freedom,
and disengage it from dependence upon chance; and furnished
me with such precepts for steadiness and ballast, as not to float in
uncertainties, or be at a loss about design or event ; nor so much
^ Quail-fighting amongst the ancients, like cock-fighting with us.
^ A Stoic philosopher.
2 Most probably a Stoic philosopher.
A Discourse with Himself. 147
as to look towards anything uncountenanced by reason and truth.
To maintain an equality of temper under trying circumstances, such
as tedious sickness, acute pains, and loss of children. To give him
his due, his practice was a handsome instance that a man may be
master of his own behaviour, that he may be earnest and easy, force
and unbend his humour as occasion requires. To go on with him.
The heaviness and impertinence of his scholars could seldom throw
him off the hooks. And as for his learning, and the peculiar
happines-s of his manner in teaching, he was so far from being
smitten with himself upon this score, that one might easily perceive,
he thought it one of the least things which belonged to him. This
great man let me into the true secret of managing an obligation,
without either lessening myself, or being ungrateful to my friend.
IX. The philosopher Sextus recommended good humour to me,
and to make nature and reason my rule to live by. He also gave
me to understand that good usage and authority were not incon-
sistent, but that a family might be governed with the tenderness
and concern of a parent. By his precedent I was instructed to
appear with an unaffected gravity, to study the temper and circum-
stances of my friends, in order to oblige them ; to bear with the
ignorant and unthinking; to be complaisant and obliging to all
people, even up to the smoothness of flattery ; and yet at the same
time not to suffer in one's quality, or grow a jot the cheaper for it.
Conversing with this philosopher put me in a way how to draw up
a true, intelligible, and methodical scheme for life and manners;
and never so much as to show the least sign of anger, or any other
disturbing thought; but to be perfectly calm and indifferent, yet
not in the latitude of letting my fancy stand neuter, and be uncon-
cerned for the advantage of others. However, he let me see in
himself that a man might show his goodwill significantly enough,
without noise and transport, and likewise be very knowing on this
side vanity and ostentation.
X. Alexander the grammarian taught me not to be ruggedly
critical about words, nor fall foul upon people for improprieties of
phrase or pronunciation ; but to set them right, by speaking the
thing properly myself, and that either by way of answer, assent,
or inquiry, or by some such other remote and gentlemanly cor-
rection.
XI. Fronto, my rhetoric master, obliged me with the knowledge
of men. For the purpose ; that envy, tricking, and dissimulation
148 Conversation of Efnperor Marcus Antoninus :
are the character and consequences of tyranny ; and that those we
call top quality have commonly not much of nature in them.
XII. Alexander the Platonist advised me, that without necessity
I should never pretend not to be at leisure to assist a friend, nor
make business an excuse to decline the offices of humanity.
XIII. I learned of Catullus ^ not to slight a friend for making^
remonstrance, though it should happen to be unreasonable, but
rather to retrieve his temper, and make him easy. That, like
Domitius and Athenodotus, I should never be backward to give an
honourable character of those who had the care of my education ;
and that I should always preserve a hearty affection for my
children, without any little jealousies of being supplanted or over-
topped by them.
XIV. I am indebted to Severus for the due regard I have for
my family and relations, and for keeping this inclination from
growing too strong for justice and truth. He likewise made me
acquainted with the character and sentiments of those celebrated
patriots and philosophers, Cato, Brutus, Thraseas, Helvidius, and
Dioj and gave me the idea of a commonwealth, in which the
general interest was considered, without preference or partiality in
the constitution ; and also of a monarchy, where the liberty of the
subject was principally regarded. To mention some more of my
obligations to him. It was of him I learned not to grow wise by
starts and broken fancies, but to be a constant admirer of philo-
sophy and improvem.ents ; that a man ought to be generous and
obliging ; hope the best of matters, and never question the affection
of his friends ; to be free in showing a reasonable dislike of
another, and no less clear in his ovm expectations and desires, and
not to put his friends to the trouble of divining what he would
be at.
XV. The proficiency I made under Maximus ^ was to command
myself, and not to be overborne with any impotency of passion or
surprise; to be full of spirits under sickness and misfortune; to
appear with modesty, obligingness, and dignity of behaviour; to
turn off business smoothly as it rises, without drudging and com-
plaint. By observing the practice of this Maximus I came to
understand a man might manage himself so as to satisfy the world,
'a Stoic philosopher.
5, Another Stoic philosopher.
A Discourse with Himself, 149
that there was nothing but truth, sincerity, and fair play in his words
and actions ; attain that greatness of mind, as not to admire or
start at anything. Neither to hurry an enterprize, nor sleep over
it ; never to be puzzled, dispirited, or lie grinning at a disgust or
disappointment. His way was to be neither passionate nor over-
suspicious, forward to do a good turn and to forgive an ill one.
In short, he seemed to be always in the possession of virtue, and
to have nothing which stood in need of correction. And, which is
very remarkable, nobody ever fancied they were slighted by him,
or had the courage to think themselves his betters \ and to conclude
with him, another part of his philosophy was, not to be taken with
raillery and jesting.
XVI. In my father's ^ conversation and management I observed
a smooth and inoffensive temper, with great steadiness in keeping
close to measures judiciously taken; a greatness proof against
vanity, and the impressions of pomp and power. From him a
prince might learn to love business and action, and be constantly at
it ; to be willing to hear out any proposals relating to public
advantage ; to overlook nobody's merit or misbehaviour ; to
understand the critical seasons, and circumstances for rigour or
remissness ; when it was proper to take up, and when to slacken
the reins of government; to have no he-sweethearts and boy-
favourites ; not to stand upon points of state and prerogative, but
to leave his nobility at perfect liberty in their visits and attendance.
And when he was upon his progress, no man lost his favour for not
being at leisure to follow the court ; to debate matters nicely and
thoroughly at the council-board, and then to stand by what was
resolved on; to be constant to a friend, without tiring or fond-
ness ; to be always satisfied and cheerful ; to reach forward into
the future, and manage accordingly ; not to neglect the least con-
cerns, but all without hurry or being embarrassed. Further, by
observing his methods and administration, I had the opportunity of
learning how much it was the part of a prince to check the excesses
of panegyric and flattery ; to have his magazines and exchequer
well furnished; to be frugal in his favours and expenses, without
minding being lampooned for his pains ; not to worship the gods
to superstition, nor to court the populace, either by prodigality or
compliment, but rather to be reserved, vigilant, and well poised
upon all occasions, keeping things in a steady decorum, without
chopping and changing of measures; to enjoy the plenty and
^ The Emperor Antoninus Pius, who adopted our author.
150 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
magnificence of a sovereign fortune, without pride or epicurism,
and yet if a campaign or country happen to prove cross, not to be
mortified at the loss of them; and to behave himself so that no
man could charge him with vanity, flourish, and pretendingness,
with buffooning, or being a pedant ; — no, he was a person, modest,
prudent, and well weighed, scorned flattery and fooling, and was
thoroughly qualified both to govern himself and others. In a word,
he had nothing of the sophist in him. And as for those that were
philosophers in earnest, he had a great value for them, but without
reproaching those who were otherwise. To go on with him, he
was condescensive and familiar in conversation, and pleasant too,
but not to tiresomeness and excess. His dress was neither beauish
nor negligent. As for his health, he was not anxious about it, like
one fond of living, and yet managed his constitution with that care
as seldom to stand in need of the assistances of physic. Further, he
never envied and browbeat those that were eminent in any faculty
or science, either orators, historians, or others,^ but, on the contrary,
encouraged them in their way, and promoted their reputation.
He observed decency and custom in all his actions, and yet did
not seem to mind them. He was not fickle and fluttering in his
humour, but constant both to place and undertaking. And I have
seen him after violent fits of the headache return fresh and
vigorous to business. He kept but few things to himself, and those
were secrets of government. He was very moderate and frugal in
public shows, triumphal arches, liberalities, and such like; being
one that did not so much regard the popularity as the reason of an
action. It was none of his custom to bathe at unusual hours, or to
be overrun with the fancy of building, to study eating and luxury,
to value the curiosity of his clothes, or the shape and person of his
servants. Indeed, his dress at his country palaces was very ordinary
and plain, where he would scarcely so much as put on a cloak with-
out making an excuse for it. To take him altogether, there was no-
thing of ruggedness, immodesty, or eagerness in his temper. Neither
did he ever seem to drudge and sweat at the helm. Things were
despatched at leisure, and without being felt, and yet the administra-
tion was carried on with great order, force, and uniformity. Upon
the whole, part of Socrates's character is applicable to him, for he
was so much master of himself, that he could either take or leave
those conveniences of life with respect to which most people are
either uneasy without them or intemperate with them. Now to
1 This was then a considerable commendation, for in the reign of Adrian an
excellency of almost any kind was sometimes capital to the owner, Cassius
Capitolinus.
A Discourse with Himself. 1 5 1.
hold on with fortitude in one condition, and sobriety in the other,
is an argument of a great soul, and an impregnable virtue. And
lastly, when his friend Maximus was sick, he gave me an instance
how I ought to behave myself upon the like occasion.
XVII. I am to thank the gods that my grandfathers, parents,
sister, preceptors, relations, friends, and domestics were almost all
of them persons of probity; and that I never happened to dis-
oblige or misbehave myself towards any of them ; notwithstanding,
if my humour had been awakened, and pushed forw^ard, I had been
likely enough to have miscarried this way. But by the goodness of
the gods, I met with no provocation to discover my infirmities.
It is likewise their providence that my childhood was no longer
managed by my grandfather's mistress j^ that my youth was un-
debauched, and that I barred my liberty for some time in standing
clear from engagements with women ; that I was observant of the
emperor my father, and bred under him, who was the most proper
person living to put me out of conceit with pride, and to convince
me that authority may be supported without the ceremony of
guards, without richness and distinction of habit, without torches,^
statues, or such other marks of royalty and state ; and that a prince
may shrink himself almost into the figure of a private gentleman,
and yet act nevertheless with all the force and majesty of his
•character when the government requires it. It is the favour of the
gods that I happened to meet with a brother,^ whose behaviour
and affection is such as to contribute both to my pleasure and
improvement. It is also their blessing that my children were neither
heavy in their heads, nor misshapen in their limbs ; that I made
no further advances in rhetoric, poetry, and such other amusements,
which possibly might have engaged my fancy too far, had I found
myself a considerable proficient ; that without asking, I gave my
governors that share of honour, and that sort of business, which
they seemed to desire, and did not put them off from time to time
with promises and excuse; that I had the happiness of being
acquainted with those celebrated philosophers, ApoUonius, Rusticus,
and Maximus ; for having a clear idea of the rules of practice, and
the true way of living, and the impression frequently refreshed,
so that considering the extraordinary assistances and directions of
the gods, it is impossible for me to miss the road of nature and
^ Concubine.
^ To have torches or fire always carried before them was an honour peculiar to
the Roman emperors and empresses.
' Lucius Verus, who was adopted by the Emperor Antoninus Pius.
152 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
right reason, unless by refusing to be guided by the dictates and
almost sensible inspirations of heaven. It is the favour of these
superior beings that my constitution has held out so well, under a
life of fatigue and business ; that I never had any infamous
correspondence with Benedicta or Theodotus ; ^ and that after some
amours and intemperate saUies, I took up, and recovered; that
when I fell out with Rusticus, as it frequently happened, I was not
transported into any act of violence ; that I had the satisfaction of
my mother's life and company a considerable while, though she was
very near dying when she was young. To give more instances of
their bounty \ it is they that kept me from standing in need of any
man's fortune, and that when I was willing to relieve the necessities
of others, I was never told that the exchequer, or privy-purse, were
out of cash. And further, it is from them that my wife is so very
obsequious and affectionate, and so remote from the fancy of
figure and expense ; that I had choice of good governors for my
children; that remedies were prescribed me in a dream, against
giddiness and spitting of blood, as I remember it happened both
at Cajeta and Chrysa;^ that when I had a mind to look into
philosophy, I met neither with a pedant nor a knave to instruct me ;
that I did not spend too much time in voluminous reading, chop-
ping logic or natural philosophy. Now all these points could never
have been compassed and guarded without a protection from above,
and the gods presiding over fate and fortune.
This was written in the country of the Quadi,^ in my expedition
against them.
BOOK II.
I. Remember to put yourself in mind every morning that before
night it will be your luck to meet with some inquisitive impertinent,
with some ungrateful and abusive fellow; with some knavish,
envious, or unsociable churl or other. Now all this perverseness in
them proceeds from their ignorance of good and evil. And since
it is fallen to my share to understand the natural beauty of a good
^ The one most probably a famous wench, and the other a court catamite.
2 A town in Troas, D'Acier.
^ In High Germany.
A Discourse with Himself, 153
action, and the deformity of an ill one \ since I am satisfied the
person disobliging is of kin to me, and though we are not just of
the same flesh and blood, yet our minds are nearly related, being
both extracted from the deity ; since I am likewise convinced that
no man can do me a real injury, because no man can force me to
misbehave myself; for these reasons, I cannot find in my heart to
hate or be angry with one of my own nature and family. For we
are all made for mutual assistance, no less than the parts of the
body are for the service of the whole ; from whence it follows
that clashing and opposition is perfectly unnatural. Now such an
unfriendly disposition is implied in resentment and aversion.
II. This being of mine, all that is of it, consists of body, breath,
and that part which governs. Now would you examine your whole
composition? Pray then let your library alone; what need you
puzzle your thoughts and over-grasp yourself? To come to the
inquiry. As for your carcase, value it no more than if you were
just expiring, and taking leave of it. For what is it in comparison ?
Nothing but a little paltry blood and bones ; a piece of network,
wrought up wdth a company of nerves, veins, and arteries twisted
together. In the next place, you are to examine what sort of thing
your breath is. Why, only a little air sucked into your lungs, and
pumped out again. The third part of your composition is your
mind, which was made for government and authority. Now here
make a stand ; consider you are an old man ; do not suffer this noble
part of you under servitude any longer ; let it not be overborne with
selfish passions ; let it not quarrel fate, be uneasy at the present, or
afraid of the future.
III. Providence shines clearly through the administration of the
world. Even chance itself is not without steadiness and nature at
the bottom, being only an effect of that chain of causes which are
under a providential regulation ; indeed, all things flow from this
fountain. Besides, there is necessity and general convenience that
matters should lie as they do ; and to speak out, the interest of the
whole world, of which you are a part, is concerned in it. Now,
that which is both the product and support of universal nature
must by consequence be serviceable to every part of it. But the
world subsists upon alteration, and what it loses one way it gets
another ; for generation and corruption are no more than terms of
reference and respect. Let these reflections satisfy you, and make
them your rule to live by. As for books, never be over-eager about
them; such a fondness for reading will be apt to perplex your
154 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
mind, and make you die unpleased. Be sure therefore to resign
willingly, and go off in good humour, and heartily thank the gods
for what you have had.
IV. Remember how often you have postponed the minding your
interest, and slipped those opportunities the gods have given you.
It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of,
and from what kind of governor of it you are descended ; that you
have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve
it, to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off
with you, and be lost beyond recovery.
V. Take care always to pursue the business in hand with vigour
and application ; remember yourself a man, and a Roman ; and let
the action be done with all the dignity and advantage of circum-
stance. Let unaffected gravity, humanity, freedom, and justice
shine through it. And be sure you \ entertain no fancies which may
give check to these qualities. This talk is very practicable, if you
will but suppose everything you are upon your last; if your
appetites and passions do not cross upon your reason ; if you stand
clear of rashness, and do not complain of your destiny, and have
nothing of insincerity and self-love to infect you. You see what a
few points a man has to gain in order to a happy and godlike way
of living; for he that comes thus far performs all which the
immortal powers require of him.
VI. In earnest, at this rate of management thou usest thyself
very coarsely,^ neither hast thou much time left to do right to thy
honour. For life hurries off apace ; thine is almost up already, and
yet instead of paying a due regard to thy own reason, thou hast
placed thy happiness in the fancies of other men.
VII. Do not let accidents disturb or outward objects engross
your thoughts, but keep your mind quiet and unengaged, that you
may be at leisure to learn somewhat that is good ; and do not
ramble from one thing to another. There is likewise another
dangerous sort of roving to be avoided. For some people are
busy, and yet do nothing ; they fatigue and wear themselves out,
and yet drive at no point, nor propose any general end of action or
design.
VIII. A man can rarely miscarry by being ignorant of another's
^ See sect. i6.
A Discourse with Himself. 155
thoughts ; but he that does not attend to his own is certainly un-
happy.
IX. The reflections following ought always to be at hand. To
consider well the nature of the universe, and my own, together with
the communication and reference betwixt them ; and in what
degree of proportion and quality I stand with respect to the whole ;
and that no mortal can hinder me from acting and speaking
suitably to the condition of my being.
X. Theophrastus, in comparing the degrees of faults (as we
commonly speak), talks like a philosopher, where he affirms that
those instances of misbehaviour which proceed from desire are
greater than those of which anger was the occasion. ^ For a man
that is angry seems to quit his hold unwillingly, to be teazed out of
his reason, and start out of rule before he is aware. But he that
runs riot out of appetite and pleasure is swayed by a libertine
principle, and appears a more scandalous offender. The philosopher
therefore was certainly right in pronouncing upon the difference of
the case ; for the first looks like an injured person, and is vexed,
and, as it were, forced into a passion, whereas the other begins with
inclination, and commits the fault with a gust.
XL Manage all your actions and thoughts in such a manner as
if you were just going to step into the grave. And what great
matter is the business of dying? If the gods are in being, you
can suffer no harm. And if they are not, or take no care of us
mortals, why then I must tell you that a world without either gods
or providence is not worth a man's while to live in. But there is
no need of this supposition ; the being of the gods, and their
concern in human affairs, is beyond dispute. And as an instance
of this they have put it in his power not to fall into any calamity
properly so called.^ And if other misfortunes (as we count them)
had been really evils, they would have provided against them too,
and furnished them with capacity to avoid them. And here I would
gladly know how that which cannot make the man worse should
make his life so ? To speak clearly, I can never be persuaded that
the first cause can be charged with the want of power, skill, or
inclination to take care of these matters ; or, that nature should
commit such an error as to suffer things really good and evil to
^ This is said because the Stoics esteemed all sins equal.
2 The emperor means that no man is under a necessity of committing an
immoral action.
156 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
happen promiscuously to good and bad men. Now, living and
dying, honour and infamy, pleasure and pain, riches and poverty,
all these things are the common allotment of the virtuous and
disorderly. Why so? Because they have nothing of intrinsic
creditableness or scandal in their nature, and therefore, to speak
properly, are neither good nor bad.
XII. A man's reason will easily convince him how quickly all
corporeal things moulder off, and vanish both in appearance and
memory, and are neither so much as seen or talked of. The same
faculty will inform him of the quality and size of the objects of
sense, particularly those which charm us with pleasure, frighten us
with pain, or are most admired upon the score of reputation. A
little thinking will show a man how insignificant, despicable, and
paltry these things are, and how soon they wither and go off. It
will show one what sort of bulk those people are of, upon whose
fancy and good word the being of fame depends. Thus a man may
examine the point of dying, which if once abstracted from the pomp
and terror of the idea it will be found nothing more than a pure
natural action. Now he that dreads the course of nature is a child.
Besides, there is general advantage in the case.^ Lastly, we should
consider how nigh we are related to the deity, and in what part of
our being, and what becomes of that honourable side when the
composition is broken.
XIII. Nothing can be more unhappy than the curiosity of that
man that ranges everywhere, and digs into the earth for discovery ;
that is wonderfully busy to force a passage into other people's
thoughts, and dive into their bosom, but does not consider that
his own mind is large enough for inquiry and entertainment, and
that the care and improvement of himself will afford him sufficient
business. And how is all this to be done ? Why, by being neither
passionate nor heedless, nor yet displeased upon any account either
with the gods or men. For as for the gods, their administration
ought to be revered upon the score of excellency and station.
And as for men, their actions should be well taken for the sake ot
common kindred ; besides, they are often to be pitied for their
ignorance of good and evil ; which incapacity of discerning between
moral qualities is a greater misfortune than that of a blind man
who cannot distinguish between white and black.
XIV. Suppose you were to live three thousand, or, if you please,
^ See sect. 3.
A Discourse with Himself, 157
three millions of years, yet you are to remember that no man can
lose any other life than that which he lives by, neither is he
possessed of any other than that which he loses ; from whence it
follows that the longest life, as we commonly speak, and the
shortest, come all to the same reckoning. The proof lies thus :
the present is of the same duration everywhere, and of the same
extent to all people; everybody's loss therefore is of the same
bigness, and reaches no further than to a point of time. For, to
speak strictly, no man is capable of losing either the past or the
future j for how can any one be deprived of what he has not ? So
that, under this consideration there are two notions worth the
laying up. One is, that a little while is enough to view the world
in, for things are repeated, and come over again apace. Nature
treads in a circle, and has much the same face through the whole
course of eternity ; and therefore it signifies not a farthing whether
a man stands gazing here a hundred or a hundred thousand
years ; for all that he gets by it is only to see the same sights so
much the oftener. The other hint is, that when the longest and
shortest lived persons come to die, their loss is equal; for, as I
observe, the present is their all, and they can suffer no further.
XV. Monimus, the cynic philosopher, used to say that all
things were but mere fancy and opinion ; pretending there was no
infallible rule for the test of truth and certainty. Now this rallying
expression may undoubtedly prove serviceable, provided one does
not turn sceptic and carry it too far.
XVI. There are several ways of behaviour by which a man may
sink his quality, use his person very scurvily, and it is possible
without being aware of it. And this in the first place is more
remarkably done by murmuring at anything which happens. By
doing thus he makes himself a sort of an excrescence of the world,
breaks off from the constitution of nature, and instead of a limb
becomes an ulcer. Again, he falls under the same misfortune who
hates any person, or crosses upon him, with an intention of mischief ;
which is the case of the angry and revengeful. Thirdly, a man
lessens and affronts himself when he is overcome by pleasure or
pain ; fourthly, when he makes use of art, tricking, and falsehood
in word or action ; fifthly, when he does not know what he would
be at in a business, but runs on without thought or design — whereas
even the least undertaking ought to be aimed at some end. Now
the end of rational beings is to be governed by the laws of nature
158 Conversation of E7nperor Marcus Antofiinus :
and the interest of the universe \ for these two are both the oldest
and the best rules we can go by.
XVI I. The extent of human life is but a point ; matter is in a
perpetual flux; the faculties of sense and perception are weak
and unpenetrating ; the body slenderly put together, and but a
remove from putrefaction; the soul a rambling sort of a thing.
Fortune and futurity are not to be guessed at ; and fame does not
always stand upon desert and judgment. In a word, that which
belongs to the body streams off like a river, and what the soul has
is but dream and bubble ; life, to take it rightly, is no other than
a campaign or course of travels ; and posthumous fame has little
more in it than silence and obscurity.^ What is it then that will
stick by a man and prove significant ? Why, nothing but wisdom
and philosophy. Now the functions of this quality consist in
keeping the mind from injury and disgrace, superior to pleasure
and pain, free from starts and rambling, without any varnish of
dissembling and knavery, and as to happiness, independent of the
motions of another. Further, philosophy brings the mind to take
things as they fall, and acquiesce in the distributions of Providence,
inasmuch as all events proceed from the same cause with itself;
and above all to have an easy prospect of death, as being nothing
more than dissolving the composition and taking the elements to
pieces. Now if the elements themselves are never the worse for
running off into one another, what if they should all unclasp and
change their figure? Why should any man be concerned at the
consequence ? All this is but nature's method ; now nature never
does any mischief.
Written at Carnantum,^ a town of Pannonia, or Hungary.
BOOK III.
I. We ought not only to remember that life is perpetually wearing
off, and in a literal consumption, but also to consider that if a
man's line should happen to be longer than ordinary, yet it is
uncertain whether his mind will keep pace with his years, and
afford him sense enough for business and speculation, and to look
1 See Book iii. sect. 10, Book iv. sect. 35. 2 Supposed to be Piesburg,
A Discourse with Himself. 159
into the nature, reasons, and references of things both human and
divine ; for if the understanding falls off, and the man begins to
dote, what does he signify? It is true the mere animal life may
go on, he may breathe and nourish, and be furnished with percep-
tion and appetite; but to make any proper use of himself; to work
his notions to any clearness and consistency; to state duty and
circumstance and practice to decency and exactness; to know
whether it is time for him to walk out of the world or not,^ — as to
all these noble functions of reason and judgment, the man is
perfectly dead already. It concerns us therefore to push forward
and make the most of our matters, for death is continually
advancing; and besides that, our understanding sometimes dies
before us, and then the true purposes and significancy of life are
at an end.
II. It is worth one's while to observe that the least design and
almost unbespoken effects of nature are not without their beauty.
Thus, to use a similitude, there are cracks and little breaks on the
surface of a loaf, which, though never intended by the baker, have
a sort of agreeableness in them which invite the appetite. Thus
figs, when they are most ripe, open and gape ; and olives, when
they fall of themselves and are near decaying, are particularly
pretty to look at. To go on ; the bending of an ear of corn, the
brow of a lion, the foam of a boar, and many other things, if you
take them singly, are far enough from being handsome, but when
they are looked on as parts of somewhat else, and considered with
reference and connection, are both ornamental and affecting. Thus,
if a man has but inclination and thought enough to examine the
product of the universe, he will find the most unpromising appear-
ances not unaccountable, and that the more remote appendages
have somewhat to recommend them. One thus prepared will
perceive the beauty of life as well as that of imitation, and be no
less pleased to see a tiger grin in the tower than in a painter's
shop. Such a one will find something agreeable in the decays of
age as well as in the blossom of youth. I grant many of these
things would not charm us at the first blush ; to pronounce rightly,
a man must be well affected in the case, and thoroughly acquainted
with the methods and harmony of nature.
III. Hippocrates, who cured so many diseases, was not able to
recover himself; the Chaldceans, who foretold other people's death,
at last met with their own. Alexander, Pompey, and Julius Caesar,
' The Stoics allowed self-murder.
r6o Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonimcs :
who had destroyed so many towns, and cut off so many thousands
in the field, were forced at last to march off themselves. Heraclitus,
who argued so much about the world's being set on fire, perished
himself by a counter element, and was drowned in a dropsy.
Democritus was eaten up with lice,^ and Socrates was despatched
by another sort of vermin.^ And what are these instances for?
Why, to show what we must all come to. Look you, you are got
abroad, you have made your voyage and your port; debark then
without any more ado ; if you happen to land upon another world,
there will be gods enough to take care of you ; but if it be your
fortune to drop into nothing, why then your virtue will be no more
solicited with pleasure and pain ; then you will have done drudging
for your carcase. Whereas as matters go now, the best moiety of
you has sometimes the worst office ; for, if I mistake not, the one is
all soul and spirit, whereas the other is but dirt and putrefaction.
IV. For the tuture, do not spend your thoughts upon other
people, unless you are put upon it by common interest. For the
prying into foreign business, that is, musing upon the talk, fancies,
and contrivances of another, and guessing at the what and why
of his actions, all this does but make a man forget himself and
ramble from his own reason. He ought therefore not to work his
mind to no purpose, nor throw a superfluous link into the chain
of thought, and more especially to stand clear of curiosity and
malice in his inquiry. And to come home and make all sure,
let it be your way to think upon nothing but what you could freely
discover, if the question was put to you ; so that if your soul was
thus laid open there would nothing appear but what was sincere,
good-natured, and public-spirited ; not so much as one libertine or
luxurious fancy, nothing of litigiousness, envy, or unreasonable
suspicion, or anything else which would not bear the light without
blushing. A man thus qualified may be allowed the first rank
among mortals; he is a sort of priest and minister of the gods,
and makes a right use of the deity within him ; ^ by the assistance
of which he is preserved uninfected with pleasure, invulnerable
against pain ; out of the reach of injury, and above the malice of
ill people. Thus he wrestles for the noblest prize,^ stands firm on
the most slippery ground, and keeps his feet against all his passions ;
to go on with him, his honesty is right sterling, and touches as
^ In this story about Democritus the emperor seems to be singular.
^ The informers Anytus and Melitus.
^ So the emperor calls the soul or reasoning faculty.
* An allusion to the diversions and wrestling in the circus.
A Discourse with Himself, i6i
well as it looks ; he always resigns to Providence, and meets his
fate with pleasure ; he never minds other people's thoughts or
actions, unless public reason and general good require it. No ; he
confines himself to his own business, and contemplates upon his
post and station, and endeavours to do the first as it should be,
and believe well of the latter, — I say of the latter, for fate is both
inevitable and convenient. He considers that all rational beings
are of kin, and that general kindness and concern for the whole
world is no more than a piece of humanity ; that every one's good
opinion is not worth the gaining, but only of those who live up to
the dignity of their nature. As for others, he knows their way of
living, and their company ; their public and their private disorders ;
and why indeed should he value the commendation of such people,
who are so vitious and fantastical as not to be able to please
themselves ?
V. Be not haled, selfish, unadvised, or passionate in anything
you do; do not affect quaintness and points of wit; neither talk
nor meddle more than is necessary. Take care that your tutelar
genius ^ has a creditable charge to preside over ; that you appear
in the character of your sex and age ; act like a Roman emperor
that loves his country ; and be always in a readiness to quit the
field 2 at the first sounding of the retreat. In the meantime manage
your credit so that you need neither swear yourself nor want a
voucher. Let your air be cheerful; depend not upon foreign
supports, nor beg your happiness of another. And, in a word,
never throw away your legs to stand upon crutches.
VI. If in the whole compass of human life you find anything
preferable to justice and truth, to temperance and fortitude ; to a
mind self-satisfied with its own rational conduct, and entirely
resigned to fate, — if, I say, you know anything better than this,
never baulk your fancy, count it your supreme happiness, and make
the most of it you can. But if there is nothing more valuable than
that the genius and spirit within you ^ should be absolute in its
reason, master of its appetites, inquire nicely into the quality of an
object. If there is nothing more to be wished than that, with
Socrates, it should stand off from the impressions of sense ; submit
to the government of the gods, and be helpful and benevolent to
mankind. If all things are trifles with respect to this, do not divide
* The mind, or powers of reason.
^ To die. ^ The soul.
1 62 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
your inclinations, misplace your thoughts, and weaken your satis-
faction, by any foreign pursuits ; rational choice and benevolent
design should never be checked. But if you are for trying tricks,
and compounding the matter \ if popularity and power, if wealth and
pleasure once strike your fancy, you are gone ; these new favourites
will govern your motions, and ride you at discretion. Let your
choice therefore run all one way, and be bold and resolute for that
which is best. Now use and significancy is the proper test of this
quality ; so that the question will be whether a thing is serviceable
to your rational capacity ; if so, close with the offer ; but if it is no
more than a sensual advantage, hold your hand ; and that you may
distinguish rightly, keep your judgment unbiassed, and do not let it
stick in the outside of matters. i
VII. Do not be fond of any thing, or think that for your interest
which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, be of a
dissembling, suspicious, or outrageous humour; which puts you
upon hating any person, and inclines you to any practice which
would not bear the light and look the world in the face. For he that
values the virtue of his mind, and the dignity of his reason before
all other things, is easy and well fortified, and has nothing for a
tragedy to work on ; he laments under no misfortune, and wants
neither solitude nor company ; and, which is still more, he neither
flies death nor pursues it, but is perfectly indifferent about the
length and shortness of his life. And if he was to expire this
moment, the want of warning would not surprise him ; he would
never struggle for more time, but go off with decency and honour.
Indeed, he is solicitous about nothing but his own conduct, and
for fear he should fail in the functions of reason, prudence, and
generosity.
VIII. If you examine a man that has been well disciplined by
philosophy, you will find nothing that is unsound, foul, or false in him;
nothing that is servile, foppish, or fond ; no selfish, no obnoxious
and absconding practices. To give him his due, his business is
always done ; his life may be short, but never imperfect ; so that
nobody can say he goes off the stage before the play is quite acted.
IX. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your
thoughts, therefore guard accordingly ; and take care that you
entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Now in order to this, you must be wary in your assent, obedient to
the gods, and benevolent to mankind.
r
A Discourse with Himself. 163
X. As for other speculations, throw them all out of your head,
excepting those few precepts above mentioned ; remembering withal
that every man's life lies all within the present ; for the past is spent
and done with, and the future is uncertain. Now the present, if
strictly examined, is but a point of time. Well, then, life moves in
a very narrow compass; yes, and men live in a poor corner of the
world too ; and the most lasting fame will stretch but to a sorry
extent. The passage of it is uneven and craggy, and therefore it
cannot run far. The frequent breaks of succession drop it in the
conveyance ; for alas ! poor transitory mortals know little either
of themselves or of those who were long before them.
XI. To the foregoing hints you may add this which follows.
And that is to survey and define every object and thought extra-
ordinary ; and that with such penetration as to dissect it throughout,
pull off its mask and fucus, and view it in its naked essence ; to call
the whole and the parts by their true names ; and be truly informed
of their force and nature, both single and in composition. For
nothing is so likely to raise the mind to a pitch of greatness as to
bring accidents, persons, and pretensions to a true test. For
instance, to be ready to tell oneself, to what sort of purpose this
thing serves, and what sort of world it is which makes use of it ;
what proportion of value it bears to the universe, and what to men
in particular; to men, I say, who are citizens of that great Capitol,^
in respect of which all other towns are no more than single families.
To return : my business is to examine nicely into the present object;
to know what it is made on, and how long it will last ; what virtue
it requires of me, and gives occasion to ; whether fortitude or truth,
good nature or good faith, simplicity, frugality, and so forth. Upon
every impression and accident, a man should be ready to pronounce,
— this was sent me by heaven ; this is a consequence of destiny ; this
comes from chance, overruled by Providence ; and this other was
done by one of the same clan, family,^ and corporation with myself.
It is true, I do not like the usage, but the man was a stranger to the
relation he stood in, and knew no better. But I am under none of
this mistake, and therefore I will be just and friendly to him, and
treat him by the laws of common society ; for why should any man
forfeit for his ignorance, and lose a natural right ? However, as to
things indifferent,^ I shall take care to look into them too, and rate
them according to their respective value.
1 The world. 2 s^g Book ii. sect. i.
^ The Stoics reckoned all things indifferent, excepting honesty and virtue.
164 Conversation of Emperor Marctis Antoninus :
XII. If you will be governed by reason, and manage what lies
before you with industry, vigour, and temper ; if you will not run
out after new game, but keep your mind stanch and well disciplined,
as if this trial of behaviour was your last ; and then, if you will but
stick to your measures, and be true to the best of yourself, and keep
your fears and desires from going further ; if living up to your
nature, minding an opportunity, and standing boldly by the truth ;
— if these things, I say, will satisfy you, you may be a happy man.
Now, if you are but willing, the world cannot hinder you from doing
all this.
XIII. As your surgeons have their instruments ready for sudden
occasions, so be you always furnished with rules and principles, to
let you into the knowledge and extent of things human and divine ;
for these two have their reference and connexion with each other.
The consequence is that 5^our whole practice ought to turn upon
this supposition ; for without looking into the nature and adminis-
tration of the gods, you will fail in your behaviour towards men ;
and thus the reasoning holds backward to the other side of the
argument.
XIV. Do not go too far in your books, and overgrasp yourself
Alas ! you have no time left to peruse your diary,^ to read over the
Greek and Roman history, or so much as your own common-place
book, which you collected to serve you when you were old. Come,
do not flatter and deceive yourself ; look to the main chance, to the
end and design of reading, and mind life more than notion. I say,
if you have a kindness for your person, drive at the practice, and
help yourself, for that is in your own power.
XV. Many people do not know the true compass and extent of
language. For instance, they are not aware in how many senses
the words, to steal, to buy, to sow, to be at quiet, may be taken,
nor how much meaning the duties of life carry in them. These
actions are commonly either straitened in the notion, or misapplied
in the end. To say no more of it, he that would view this matter
rightly must think a little, and look inward.
XVI. There are three things which belong to a man — the body,
the soul, and the mind. And as to the properties of the division, ^
sensation belongs to the body, appetite to the soul, and reason to
1 D'Acier.
* The emperor makes a distinction "between the soul and the mind, or spirit.
A Discourse with Himself. 165
the mind. To have the senses affected, and be stamped with the
impression of an object is common to brutes and cattle. To be
hurried and convulsed with passion is the quality of beasts of prey
and men of pleasure ; of hbertines and tyrants ; ^ of atheists and
traitors ; and of those who do not care what they do when nobody
sees them. And since these qualities are both coarse and common,
let us find out the mark of a man of probity. His distinction then
lies in keeping reason at the head of practice, and being easy in his
condition ; to live in a crowd of objects without suffering either in
his sense, his virtue, or his quiet ; to have a good understanding at
home, and be governed by that divine principle within him ; to be
all truth in his words, and justice in his actions. And if the whole
world should disbelieve his integrity, dispute his character, and
question his happiness, he would neither take it ill in the least, nor
alter his measures, but pursue the ends of living with all the
honesty, ease, and resignation imaginable.
-0-
BOOK IV.
I. When the mind acts up to nature, and is rightly disposed, she takes
things as they come, stands loose in her fancy, and tacks about with
her circumstances. As for fixing the condition of her fortune, she is
not at all solicitous about that. It is true, she is not perfectly in-
different, she moves forward with a preference in her choice ; but
then it is always with a reserve of acquiescence, and being easy in
the event. And if anything comes cross, she falls to w^ork upon it,
and, like fire, converts it into fuel. For, as this element, when it is
weak, is easily put out, but when once well kindled it seizes upon
what lies next, subdues it into its own nature, and increases by
resistance.
II. Let every action tend to some point, and be perfect in its
kind.
III. It is the custom of people to go to unfrequented places
and country seats for retirement; and this has been your method
formerly. But, after all, this is but a vulgar fancy ; for it is in your
power to withdraw into yourself whenever you have a mind to it.
^ The Greek mentions Phalaris and Nero.
1 66 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Ant 07iinus :
Now, one's own breast is a place the most free from crowd and
noise in the world, if a man's retrospections are easy, his thoughts
entertaining, and his mind well in order. Your way is therefore to
make frequent use of this retirement, and refresh your virtue in it.
And to this end be always provided with a few short, uncontested
notions, to keep your understanding true, and make you easy in
your business. For instance, what is it that troubles you ? Is it
the wickedness of the world, and the ill-usage you meet with ? If
this be your case, out with your antidote, and consider that mankind
were made for mutual advantage ; that forbearance is one part of
justice, and that people misbehave themselves against their will.^
Consider likewise how many men have embroiled themselves, and
spent their days in disputes and animosities ; and what did they get
by it ? Why, they had more trouble, and it may be less of life than
they would have had. Be quiet, then, and do not disturb yourself
to no purpose. But it may be the government of the world does
not please you ; take out the other notion, and argue thus. Either
Providence or chance sits at the helm ; if the first, the administration
cannot be questioned; if the latter, there is no mending of it. Besides,
you may remember that the world is, as it were, one great city and
corporation. But possibly the ill state of your health afflicts you ;
pray reflect, your soul does not lie in your lungs, nor your reason in
your breath, so that if you are somewhat asthmatic or out of order,
it is no such great matter. No, not if your mind will retire and
take a view of her own privilege and power, and when she has done
this, recollect her philosophy about pleasure and pain, and to which
she has formerly assented. Well ! it may be the concern of fame
sits hard upon you. If you are pinched here, consider how quickly
all things vanish and are forgotten ; what an immense chaos there
stands, what an extent of darkness and confusion on either side of
eternity.^ Applause ! consider the emptiness of the sound, the
precarious tenure, the little judgment of those that give it us, and
the narrow compass it is confined to. For the whole globe is but
a point ; and of this little, how little is inhabited ? And where it is
peopled, you will have no reason to brag either of the number or
quality of your admirers. Upon the whole, do not forget to retire
into the seat of your reason ; and above all things, let there be no
haling nor struggling in the case, but move freely and gracefully,
and manage matters like a man of sense and spirit, like a burgher
of the whole world, and like a creature that must die shortly. And
among the rest of your stock, let these two maxims be always ready —
1 See Book viii. sect. 14, where the emperor gives his reasons for this paradox,
^ Of eternity past, and eternity to come.
A Discourse with Himself, 167
first, that it is not things, but thoughts, which give disturbance; for
things keep their distance, and tease nobody, until fancy raises the
spleen and grows untoward. The second ^ is, to consider that the
scene is just shifting and sliding off into nothing, and that you
yourself have seen abundance of great alterations. In a ji'ord,
generally speaking, the world is all revolution and conduct, little
better than fancy.^
IV. If the faculty of understanding lies in common amongst us
all, then reason, the effect of it, must be common too, — that reason,
I say, which governs practice by commands and prohibitions.
From whence we may conclude that mankind are under one
common regulation ; and if under one common law, they must be
fellow-citizens, and belong to the same body politic. From whence
it will follow that the whole world is upon the matter but one
commonwealth ; for certainly there is no other society in which
mankind can be incorporated. Now this common fund of under-
standing, reason, and law, is a commodity of this same country, or
which way do mortals light on it ? For as the four distinctions in
my body belong to some general head and species of matter ; for
instance, the earthy part in me comes from the division of earth ;
the watery belongs to another element ; the airy particles flow from
a third spring, and those of fire from one distinct from all the
former. For, by the way, nothing can no more produce something,
than something can sink into nothing. And thus in proportion to
the reasoning upon my constitution, our understanding must have
a cause, and proceed from some quarter or other.
V. Death and generation are both mysteries of nature, and some-
what resemble each other; for the first does but untwist those
elements the latter had wrought together. Now, there is nothing
that a man needs be ashamed of in all this ; nothing but what his
reason may digest, and what results from his make and constitution.
VI. Practices and humours are generally of a piece ; such usage
from such sort of men is in a manner necessary. To be surprised
at it, is in effect to wonder at the eager quality of vinegar.^ Pray
consider that both you and your enemy are dropping off, and that
ere long your very memories will be extinguished.
1 See Book v. sect. 19, Book viii. sect. 47, and alib.
2 See Book ii. sect. 15.
^ It is probable the emperor made this reflection upon receiving some great
injury.
1 68 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
VII. Do not suppose you are hurt, and your complaint ceases,
and then no damages will be done.
VIII. That which does not make a man worse, does not make
him live worse ; and by consequence he has no harm by it either
one way or the other.
IX. Nature was obliged to act in this manner for her own con-
venience.
X. Take notice that all events ^ turn upon merit and congruity ;
which, if you observe nicely, you will not only perceive a con-
nection between causes and effects, but a sovereign distribution of
justice, which presides in the administration and gives everything its
due. Go on with this remark, and let all your actions answer the
character of a good man, I mean a good man in the strictness and
notion of philosophy.
XL If a man affronts you, do not go into his opinion, or think
just as he would have you. No; look upon things as reality
presents them, and form your judgment accordingly.
XI I. Be always provided with principles for the following
purposes : First, to engage in nothing but what reason dictates,
what the sovereign and legislative part of you shall suggest for the
interest of mankind. Secondly, to be disposed to quit your
opinion and alter your measures when a friend shall give you good
grounds for so doing. But then the reasons of changing your mind
ought to be drawn from the considerations of justice, public good,
or some such generous motive ; and not because it pleases your
fancy or promotes your reputation.
XIII. Have you any sense in your head ? Yes. Why do
you not make use of it, then ? For if this faculty does but do its
part, I cannot see what more you need wish for.
XIV. At present your nature is distinguished and stands apart ;
but ere long you will vanish into the whole. Or, if you please, you
will be returned into that active and prolific reason which gave
you your being.^
1 That is, which proceed from the first cause.
2 The Stoics supposed the soul a part of the deity, and that it was absorbed
in him after death.
A Discourse with Himself. 169
XV. When frankincense is thrown upon the altar, one grain
usually falls before another ; but then the distance of time is
insignificant.^
XVI. The seeming singularities of reason quickly wear off. Do
but stick close to the principles of wisdom, and those who take
you now for a monkey, or a madman, will make a god of you in a
week's time.
XVII. Do not manage as if you had ten thousand years to throw
away. Look you, death stands at your elbow ; make the most of
your minute, and be good for something while it is in your power.
XVIII. What a great deal of time and ease that man gains who
is not troubled with the spirit of curiosity ; who lets his neighbour's
thoughts and behaviour alone, confines his inspections to himself,
and takes care of the points of honesty and conscience. Truly, as
Agatho observes, this malicious trifling humour ought to be checked.
In a word, we must keep to our own business, for rambling and
impertinence is not to be endured.
XIX. He that is so very solicitous about being talked of when
he is dead, and makes his memory his inclination, does not consider
that all his admirers will quickly be gone ; that his fame will grow
less in the next generation, and flag upon the course; and, like a
ball that is handed from one to another, it will be dropped at last.
But, granting your monuments and your men immortal, what is their
panegyric to you when you are dead, and know nothing of the
matter? And if you were living, what would commendation
signify, unless for the convenience of imitation ? To conclude, if
you depend thus servilely upon the good word of other people, you
will act below your nature, and neglect the improvement of yourself.
XX. Whatever is good has that quality from itself; it is finished
by its own nature, and commendation is no part of it. Why, then^
a thing is neither better nor worse for being praised. This holds
concerning things which are called good in the common way of
speaking as the products of nature and art ; what do you think, then,
of that which deserves this character in the strictest propriety ? Do
you imagine it wants anything foreign to complete the idea ? What
is your opinion of truth, good nature, and sobriety? Do any of
^ This thought is to show that the difference between a long and short life, as
we call it, is inconsiderable with respect to eternity.
1 70 Conversation of Emperor Marctis Antoninus :
these virtues stand in need of a good word ? or are they the worse
for a bad one ? I hope a diamond will shine never the less for a
man's being silent about the worth of it; neither is there any
necessity of flourishing upon a piece of gold to preserve the intrinsic
of the metal.
XXL If human souls have a being after death, which way has
the air made room for them from all eternity? Pray how has the
earth been capacious enough to receive all the bodies buried in it ?
The resolution of this latter question will satisfy the former. For
as a corpse after some continuance turns into dust, and makes way
for another, so when a man dies, and the spirit is let loose into the
air, it holds out for some time, after which it wears off and drops
in pieces. And when things come to this pass, it is either renewed
and lighted up into another soul,^ or else absorbed into that of the
universe ; and thus they make room for succession. And this may
serve for an answer upon the supposition of the soul's surviving the
body. Besides, we are not only to consider the vast number of
bodies disposed of in the manner above mentioned, but what an
infinite number are every day devoured by mankind and other living
creatures, and as it were buried in their stomachs ; and yet by the
transmutation of the food into blood and humours, and by the con-
veyance of perspiration, there is stowage enough. And now, which
way can a man take a prospect of the truth, and trace the history
of nature? ^Miy, in order to this you must divide the thing in
question into matter and form.^
XXII. Do not run riot. Keep your understanding true, and
your intendons honest.^
XXIII. Whatever is agreeable to you, O universe,* is so to me
too. Your things are never mistimed ; your methods are accept-
able, and your seasons all spring and summer to me ! From you
all things proceed, subsist in you, and return to you. And if the
poet called Athens the city beloved by Cecrops, why may not the
world be styled the favourite town of Jupiter ?
XXIV. If you would live at your ease, says Democritus, manage
^ The Stoics held the soul a composition of fire and air, but fire was the pre-
dominant element.
- By form the Stoics meant God, or the efi&cient cause of all things.
^ See Book v. sect. 36, Book vii. sect. 54.
* By the world the Stoics sometimes understood God.
A Discourse with Himself. 171
but a few things. I think it had been better if he had said, Do
nothing but what is necessary, and what becomes one made for
society; nothing but what reason prescribes, and in the order, too, she
prescribes it. For by this rule a man may both secure the quaHty
and draw in the bulk of his business, and have the double pleasure
of making his actions good and few into the bargain. For the
greatest part of what we say and do, being unnecessary, if this were
but once retrenched, we should have both more leisure and less
disturbance. And therefore before a man sets forward he should
ask himself this question. Am I not upon the verge of something
unnecessary and impertinent ? Further, we should apply this hint
to what we think, as well as to what we do ; for impertinence of
thought draws unnecessary action after it.
XXV. Bring the matter to an issue, make an experiment upon
yourself, and examine your proficiency in a life of virtue ; try how
you can acquiesce in your fate, and whether your own honesty and
good-nature will content you.
XXVI. Have you seen one sort of fortune ? Pray view the other
too ; never be disturbed, but reduce your person to its natural
bulk, and be not concerned for more than belongs to you. Is any
man guilty of a fault ? It is to himself, then. Has any advantage
happened to you ? It is the bounty of fate. It was all of it pre-
ordained you by the universal cause. Upon the whole, life is but
short, therefore be just and prudent, and make your most of it; and
when you divert yourself, be always upon your guard.
XXVII. The world is either the effect of contrivance or chance ;
if the latter, it is a world for all that, that is to say, it is a regular
and beautiful structure. Now, can any man discover symmetry in
his own shape, and yet take the universe for a heap of rubbish ? I
say the universe, in which the very discord and confusion of the
elements settles into harmony and order.^
«
XXVIII. There are several sorts of scandalous tempers, some
malicious and some effeminate, others obstinate, brutish, and
savage. Some humours are childish and silly, some false and
others scurrilous, some mercenary and some tyrannical.
XXIX. Not to know what is in the world, and not to know what
is done in the world, comes much to the same thing, and a man is
^ This section is levelled against the hypothesis of Epicurus.
172 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
one way no less a stranger than the other. To proceed ; he is no
better than a deserter that renounces pubHc reason and the laws of
Providence. He is a blind man that winks with his understanding ;
and he is a beggar that is not furnished at home, but wants the
assistance of another. He that frets himself sore because things
do not happen just as he would have them, is but a sort of an ulcer
of the world ; by murmuring at the course of nature, he quits the
universal body, and gains only the distinction of a disease, never
considering that the same cause which produced the displeasing
accident made him too. And lastly, he that is selfish, narrow-
souled, and sets up for a separate interest, is a kind of voluntary
outlaw, and disincorporates himself from mankind.
XXX. This philosopher has never a waistcoat to his coat, the
other never a book to read, and a third is half-naked, and yet they
are none of them discouraged. One learned man has nothing for
his stomach, nor another for his lectures ; however, they are resolved
to starve on, and be wise in despite of misfortune.
. XXXI. Be satisfied with your business, and learn to love what
you were bred to ; and as to the remainder of your life, be
entirely resigned, and let the gods do their pleasure; and when
this is done, be neither slave nor tyrant to anybody.
XXXII. To begin somewhere; consider how business, humour,
and fortune went with the world in Vespasian's time ; consider this,
I say, and you will find mankind just at the same pass they are now,
— some marrying, and some concerned in education ; some sick, and
some dying ; some fighting, and some feasting ; some drudging at
the plough, and some upon the Exchange ; some were too affable,
and some overgrown with conceit; one was full of jealousy, and
the other of knavery. Here you might find a parcel wishing for the
death of their friends, and there a seditious club complaining of
the times ; some loved their wenches, and some their bags ; some
grasped at the consulship, and some at the sceptre. Well ! all is
over with that generation long since. Come forward, then, to the
reign of Trajan; now here you will find mortals in the same circle
of business and folly they were in before ; but they are all gone
too. Go on with the contemplation, and carry it to other times
and countries ; and here you will see abundance of people, very
busy and big with their projects, drop off presently, and moulder to
dust and ashes. More particularly recollect those within your own
memory who have been hurried on in these vain pursuits; how
A Discourse with Himself. 173
they have overlooked the dignity of their nature, and those better
satisfactions in their own power. And here you must remember to
proportion your concern to the weight and importance of business ;
thus you will be safe against trifling, and part with amusements
without regret.
XXXIII. Those words which were formerly current and proper
are now become obsolete and barbarous. Alas ! this is not all :
fame tarnishes in time, too, and men grow out of fashion as well
as language. Those celebrated names of Camillus, Caeso, and
Volesus are antiquated ; those of Scipio, Cato, and Augustus will
have the same fortune ; and those of Adrian and Antoninus must
follow. All these things are transitory, and quickly swallowed up
in oblivion. I speak this of those who have been the wonder of
their age, and shined with unusual lustre ; but as for the rest, they
are no sooner dead than forgotten. And if you could perpetuate
your memory, what does fame everlasting signify? Mere stuff!
What, then, is it that is worth one's while to be concerned for? Why,
nothing but this, to bear an honest mind, to act for the good of
society, to deceive nobody, to foresee the worst, and be contented
with what happens upon the score both of the cause and the
necessity.
XXXIV. Put yourself frankly into the hands of fate, and let her
spin you out what fortune she pleases.
XXXV. He that does a memorable action, and those that report
it, are all but short-lived things.
XXXVI. Accustom yourself to consider that whatever is pro-
duced, is produced by alteration ; that nature loves nothing so
much as shifting the scene, and bringing new persons upon the
stage. To speak closely; the destruction of one thing is the
making of another; and that which subsists at present is, as it
were, the seed of succession which springs from it. But if you
take seed in the common notion, and confine it to the field or the
garden, you have a dull fancy.
XXXVII. You are just taking leave of the world ; and do you not
know what you are, and what you are not ? Have you not done
with unnecessary desires? Are you not yet above disturbance and
suspicion, and fully convinced that nothing without your own will
can hurt you ? Have you not yet learned to be friends with every-
1 74 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
body, and that to be an honest man is the only way to be a
wise one ?
XXXVIII. To understand the true quality of people, you must
look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.
XXXIX. Your pain cannot lie in another man's head, neither
can his mismanagement be your misfortune ; nay, further, the
declension of your health, or the accidents in your carcase, need
not affect you. Where, then, are you passive and vulnerable ? Why,
in that part of you that forms judgments and opinions of things.
Do not imagine you are hurt, and you are impregnable. Suppose,
then, your flesh was hacked, seared, or putrefied, for your life let
your fancy lie still ; ^ that is, do not conclude what is common to
good or ill men can be good or evil in itself; for that which may be
everybody's lot must in its own nature be indifferent.
XL. You ought frequently to consider that the world is an
animal,^ consisting of one soul and body; that a universal sense
runs through the whole mass of matter. You should likewise
reflect how nature acts by a joint effort, and as it were altogether;
and how everything contributes to the being of everything. And
lastly, what connection and subordination there is between causes
and effects.
XLI. Would you know what you are ? Epictetus will tell you
that you are a living soul that drags a carcase about with her.
XLII. Things that subsist upon change, and owe their being to
instability, can neither be considerably good nor bad.®
XLIII. The world hurries off apace, and time is like a rapid
river: a thing is no sooner well come but it is past; and then
another is posted after it, and it may be at length the first will
return under another appearance.
XLIV. Whatever happens here is as common and well known
as a rose in the spring, or an apple in autumn ; of this kind are
diseases and death, calumny and undermining, and several other
things which raise and depress the spirits of unthinking people.
A Stoical rhodomontade.
2 The Stoics believed the world animated, and that God was the soul of it.
■^ See Boole vii. sect. 23, and alib.
A Discourse with Himself. 175
XLV. Antecedents and consequents are dexterously tied
together in the world ; things are not carelessly thrown on a heap,
and joined more by number than nature, but, as it were, artificially
inlaid into each other. And as the present set of appearances are
very curiously contrived, so those upon the stocks are carried on
by rule, and come forward with great uniformity.
XLVl. The elements are always shifting their forms, and trans-
muting into each other; therefore do not forget the saying of
Heraclitus, that the earth dies into water, water into air, air into
fire, and so backward. Remember likewise the story of the man
that travelled on, without knowing to what place the way would
bring him, and that many people contest the point with that
reason that governs the world, and with which they are daily con-
versant, and seem perfectly unacquainted with those things which
occur daily. Further, we must not nod over business, nor dream
away life, like people who fancy they are mightily employed, when
they are fast in their beds. Neither are we to be wholly governed
by tradition ; for that is like children who believe anything their
parents tell them.
XLVII. Put the case, some god should acquaint you, you were
to die to-morrow, or next day at furthest. Under this warning you
would be a very poor wretch if you should strongly solicit for the
longest time ; for alas ! how inconsiderable is the difference ? In
like manner, if you would reason right, and compute upon the
notion of eternity, you would not be much concerned whether your
life was up to-morrow or a thousand years hence.
XLVIII. Consider how many physicians are dead that used to
value themselves upon the cure of their patients; how many
astrologers, who thought themselves great men by foretelling the
death of others ; how many philosophers have gone the way of all
flesh, after all their learned disputes about dying and immortality ;
how many field-worthies, who had knocked so many men's brains
out ; how many tyrants, who managed the power of life and death
with as much pride and rigour as if themselves had been immortal;
how many cities, if I may say so, have given up the ghost — for
instance, Helice in Greece, Pompeii and Herculanum in Italy, not
to mention many besides. Do but recollect your acquaintance,
and here you will find people managing and making way for
funerals, mourning for their friends, and giving occasion for the
same ofiice themselves ; and all within a small compass of time.
1 76 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
In short, mankind are poor transitory things. They are one day in
the rudiments of hfe, and almost the next turned into mummy or
ashes. Your way is therefore to manage this minute wisely, and
part with it cheerfully; and, like a ripe nut, when you drop out of
the husk, be sure to speak well of the season, and make your
acknowledgments to the tree that bore you.
XLIX. Stand firm like a rock, against which though the waves
batter and swell they fall flat at last. How unfortunate has this
accident made me ! cries such a one. Not at all ; he should rather
say, what a happy mortal am I, for being unconcerned upon the
occasion, for being neither shocked at the present, nor afraid of
what is to come ! The thing might have happened to any other
man as well as myself, but for all that, everybody would not have
been so easy under it. Why, then, is not the good-fortune of the
bearing more considerable than the ill-fortune of the happening ?
Or, to speak properly, how can that be a misfortune to a man which
is no disappointment to his nature ? And how can that cross upon
a man's nature which falls in with the very intention and design of
it ? Now, what human nature rightly disposed drives at, I suppose,
you are not to learn at this time of day. To apply this reasoning ;
does the present accident hinder your being honest and brave,
temperate and modest, judicious and unservile? etc. Now, when
a man is furnished with these good qualities, the highest notion of
him is finished, and his nature has what she would have. Further,
when anything grows troublesome, recollect this maxim, that
generous behaviour is too strong for ill-fortune, and turns it to an
advantage.
L. To consider those old people that resigned so unwillingly is,
for a common notion, not unserviceable ; it helps us somewhat to
face death, and contemn it j for what are these long-lived mortals
more than those that went off in their infancy ? What is become of
Coecilianus, Fabius, Julianus, and Lepidus? Their heads are all
laid somewhere j they buried a great many, but came at last to it
themselves. Upon the whole, the difference between long and
short life is insignificant, especially if you consider the accidents,
the company, and the carcase you must go through with; therefore
do not let a thought of this kind affect you one way or the other ;
do but look upon the astonishing notion of time and eternity; what
an immense deal has run out already, and how infinite it is still in
the future ; — do but consider this, and you will find three days and
three ages of life come much to the same measure and reckoning.
A Discourse with Himself. 177
LI. Always go the shortest way to work. Now the nearest road
to your business lies through honesty. Let it be your constant
method, then, to deal clearly and above-board ; and by this means
you need not fatigue it, you need not quarrel, flourish, and dis-
semble like other people.
BOOK V.
I. When you find an unwillingness to rise early in the morning, make
this short speech to yourself: I am getting up now to do the
business of a man ; and am I out of humour for going about that
I was made for, and for the sake of which I was sent into the
world ? Was I then designed for nothing but to doze and batten
beneath the counterpane ? Well, but this is a comfortable way of
living. Granting that ; wert thou born only for pleasure ? were
you never to do anything ? I thought action had been the end of
your being. Pray look upon the plants and birds, the pismires,
spiders, and bees, and you will see them all regular and industrious,
exerting their nature, and busy in their station. For shame ! Shall
a spider act like a spider, and make the most of her matters, and
shall not a man act like a man? Why do you not rouse your
faculties, and manage up to your kind ? For all that, there is no
living without rest. True ; but then let us follow nature's directions,
and not take too much of it. She likewise has given you leave
to eat and drink within a rule ; but here you generally exceed your
commission, and go beyond convenience ; whereas in business you
are apt to favour yourself, and do less than lies in your power. In
earnest, you have no true love for yourself; if you had, you would
improve your nature, humour her motions, and solicit her interest.
Now, when a man loves his trade, how he will sweat and drudge to
perform to a curiosity, and make himself master of it ! But to
speak out ; you mind your person less than a turner does the making
of a chair ; a dancing-master has much more regard for his heels
than you have for your head ; and as for wealth and popularity,
how strongly are they pursued by the vain and the covetous. All
these people, when their fancy is once struck, push their point,
might and main, and will scarcely allow themselves necessary
refreshment. And now, caia you think the functions of reason,
justice, and generosity less valuable than these petty amusements ?
178 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
II. What an easy matter it is to them the current of your imagina-
tion ; to discharge a troublesome or improper thought, and grow
as calm and regular as one would wish !
III. Do not think any action beneath you which reason and
circumstances require; and never be misled by the apprehension
of censure or reproach. Where honesty prompts you to say or do
anything, never baulk yourself or start at the matter. If other
people are particular in their fancies and opinions, mind them not.
Be you governed by the reason within you ; pursue that which is
most for your own and the common interest. For to speak strictly,
these two are but one and the same.
1
IV. I w411 jog on in that path which nature has chalked out till my
legs sink under me, and then I shall be at rest, and expire into
that air which has given me breath ; fall upon that earth which has
maintained my parents, helped my nurse to her milk, and supplied
me with meat and drink for so many years ; and though its favours
have been often abused, still suffers me to tread upon it.
V. Wit and smartness are not mightily your talent. What then ?
There are a great many other good qualities in which you cannot
pretend nature has failed you. Improve them as far as you can,
and let us have that which is perfectly in your power. You may, if
you please, behave yourself like a man of gravity and good faith j
endure hardship, and despise pleasure ; want but a few things, and
complain of nothing ; you may be dispassionate, stand upon your
own legs, and be great if you please, and have nothing of ill-nature,
luxury, or trifling in your humour. Do you not see how much you
may do if you have a mind to it, and how the plea of incapacity is
out of doors ? And yet you do not push and manage as you should
do. What then ? Does any natural defect force you upon grumbling,
miserableness, or laying your faiilts upon your constitution, upon
flattery or ostentation ; upon uncertainty of temper, and rolling
from one folly to another ? Can you say you are so weakly made
as to be driven upon these practices ? The immortal gods know
to the contrary ! No, you might have stood clear of all this long
since. And after all, if your parts were somewhat low, and your
understanding heavy, your way had been to have taken the more
pains with yourself, and not to have lain fallow and doted upon
your own dulness.
VI. Some men when they do you a kindness are presendy for
A Discourse with Himself. 1 79
ringing the obligation in your ears ; others are more modest than
this comes to. However, they remember the favour, and look upon
you as their debtor. A third sort shall be every jot as much
benefactors, and yet scarce know anything of the matter. These
are much like a vine, which is satisfied by being fruitful in its kind,
and bears a bunch of grapes without expecting any thanks for it.
A fleet horse or greyhound do not use to make a noise when they
have performed handsomely, nor a bee neither when she has made
a little honey. And thus a man that is rightly kind never proclaims
a good turn, but does another as soon as he can ; just like a vine
that bears again the next season. Now we should imitate those
who are so obliging as hardly to remember their beneficence. But
you will say, a man ought to understand the quality of his own
actions. It is somewhat natural for one that is generous to be
conscious of his generosity ; yes, truly, and to desire the person
obliged should be sensible of it too. I grant what you say is in a
great measure true, and if you do not take me right you will make
one of those untoward benefactors I first mentioned. Indeed, they
think their grounds plausible enough, for their vanity imposes
upon them. But if you will view the case in its true colours, the
privacy of doing a good turn will never discourage you.
VII. The Athenians used to be mighty clamorous to Jupiter for
rain upon their own lands, but not a word for other people. Now,
to my mind, they had even better have held their tongues, or else
prayed with more of extent and generosity.
VIII. u^sculapius, as we commonly speak, has prescribed such
a one riding out,^ walking in his slippers, or a cold bath. Now,
much to the same meaning we may affirm that Providence or the
soul of the universe has ordered this or that person a disease, loss
of limbs or estate, or some such other calamity. For, as in the first
case, the word prescribed signifies a direction for the health of the
patient, so in the latter it means an application proper for the
constitution and benefit of fate. And thus these harsher events
may be counted fit for us, as freestone, v/hich is well joined and
lies snug in a building, may be said to fit it. Indeed, the whole of
nature consists of a harmony and congruity of parts ; for as the
w^orld has its form and entireness from that universal matter of
which it consists, so the character and distinction of fate results
from the quality and concurrence of all other causes contained in
^ Probably in a dream.
i8o Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
it. The common people understand this notion very well; their
way of speaking is, "This was sent him by destiny." Say you so?
Was there not, then, somewhat of purpose and design in it ? Let us
then comply with our doom, as we do with the prescriptions of a
celebrated physician. These doses are often unpalatable and rugged,
and yet the desire of health makes them go merrily down. Now,
that which nature esteems profit and convenience should be no
less valued than your own health ; and therefore, when any cross
accident happens, take it quietly to you ; it is for the good of the
universe, and Jupiter himself is the better for it.^ Depend upon
it, this had never been sent you if the world had not found its
account in it ; neither does nature act at random, or order anything
which is not suitable to those beings under her government. You
have two reasons, therefore, to be contented with your condition :
first, because you were born and singled out for it ; it was assigned
you from the beginning by the highest and most ancient .causes.
Secondly, it is for the interest of him that governs the world ; ^ it
perfects his nature in some measure, and continues his happiness ;
for it holds in causes no less than in matter and quantity ; if you
lop off any part of the continuity and connection, you maim the
whole. Now, if you are displeased with your circumstances, you
dismember nature, and pull the world in pieces, as much as lies in
your power.
IX. Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour, because
practice falls short of precept in some particulars. If you happen
to be beaten off your reason, come on again, and let your fancy
strike in at your second trial, and do not go like a school-boy to his
master with an ill-will. No, you must apply to philosophy with
inclination, as those who have sore eyes make use of a good
recipe; and when you are thus disposed you jwill easily acquiesce
and be governed by reason. And here you are to remember that
philosophy or true wisdom will put you upon nothing but what your
nature wishes and calls for. And can you be so unreasonable as to
cross the inclinations of your nature ? Is not her fancy the most
agreeable of anything? And does not pleasure often deceive us
under this pretence ? Now, think a little, and tell me what there
is more delightful than downright honesty and religion, than
generosity and greatness of mind. And once more, what can be
more entertaining than prudence, than to be furnished with that
^ A Stoical paradox.
^ A gross error of the Stoics.
A Discourse with Himself. 1 8 1
understanding which keeps a man from making a false step, and
helps him to good fortune in all his business ? ^ ^
X. Things are so much, perplexed and in the dark, that several
considerable philosophers looked upon them as altogether un-
intelligible,^ and that there was no certain test for the discovery of
truth. Even the Stoics agree that nature and certainty is very hard
to come at, that our understandings are always liable to error, and
that infallibility is mere vanity and pretence. However, our
ignorance is not so great but that we may discover how transitory
and insignificant all things are, that those we commonly call the
best circumstances are sometimes in the worst hands, and that it
is possible for thieves, whores, and catamites to run away with the
world, and who then would care threepence for it? Further,
consider the temper of those you converse with, and you will find
the best will hardly do ; not to mention that a man has work
enough to make himself tolerable to himself. And since we have
nothing but darkness and dirt to grasp at, since time and matter,
motion and mortals, are always rolling and running out of them-
selves,— for these reasons, I say, I cannot imagine what there is here
worth the minding. On the other hand, a man ought to keep up
his spirits, for it will not be long before his discharge comes. In
the meantime his point is to be easy, and satisfy himself with these
two considerations ; the one is, that nothing will befall me but what
is for the interest of the universe;^ the other, that nobody can
command my practice, or force me to act against my own
judgment.
XI. What use do I put my soul to, or what hand do I make
of my reason ? It is a serviceable question this, and should
frequently be put to oneself. I say, how does my sovereign part
stand affected? and what is the furniture and complexion of my
mind ? Is there nothing of the boy or the beast in it ? nothing
that is either tyrannical or effeminate ?
XII. What sort of good things those are which are commonly
so reckoned, you may learn from hence. For the purpose, if you
reflect upon those qualities which are intrinsically valuable, such as
prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, you will not find a jest
^ The Stoic's maxim is, "A wise man can never be unfortunate, let his
circumstances be what they will."
^ Of this opinion were Pyrrho and the new Academics.
'^ See sect. 8.
1 82 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
upon them apt to relish and make sport ; whereas upon the
advantages of fortune and common estimation a piece of raillery
will pass well enough. Thus we see the generality are struck with
the distinction, otherwise they would not dislike the liberty in one
case and allow it in the other. The felicities of riches, luxury, and
ambition are all within the privilege of buffoons, and liable to the
lash of the stage. Now, what significancy can there be in these
things when a poet's jest will take place upon them? And what
comical droll may be patly applied to the owner. "He is so
stuffed," says the play, "with wealth and finery that he has no
room for his close-stool."
XIIL My being consists of matter and form, that this, of soul
and body. Annihilation will reach neither of them ; for as they
were never produced out of nothing, so they will always remain
something. The consequence is that every part of me will serve
to make something in the world ; and thus I shall be tossed from
one figure to another, through an infinite succession of change.
And what wonder of all this ? This constant method of alteration
gave me my being, and my father before me, and so on to eternity
backward ; for I think I may speak thus, though the world is
confined within a certain determinate period.^
XIV. Reason needs no foreign assistance, but is sufficient for its
own purposes. This faculty moves within itself, and makes directly
for the point in view; for to take the matter rightly, honesty is
always the nearest way to success.
XV. Those things do not belong to a man which do not belong
to him as a man, or under the definition of his species. This
notion may be applied to all external advantages, for these are not
included in the idea; they are not required of us as men; human
nature does not promise them, neither is she perfected by them ;
from whence it follows that they can neither constitute the chief
end of man, nor strictly contribute towards it. Further, if these
things were any real additions, how comes the contempt of them,
and the being easy without them, to be so great a commendation ?
To balk an advantage would be folly, for one cannot have too much
of that which is good. But the case stands otherwise ; for we know
that self-denial and indifference about these things is the character
of a good man, and goes for a mark of true greatness,
^ See Book x. sect. 7, Book ii. sect. i.
A Discourse with Himself» 183
XVI. Your manners will depend very much upon the quality of
what you frequently think on ; for the soul is, as it were, tinged
with the colour and complexion of thought. Be sure, therefore, to
work in such maxims as these. A man may live as he should do,
and behave himself well in all places; by consequence, a Hfe of
virtue, and that of a courtier, are not inconsistent. Again, that
which a thing is made for, it is made to act for ; and that which it
is made to act for it is naturally carried to ; and in the due pursuit
of this tendency the end of the agent consists. Now, where the end
of a thing is, there the advantage and improvement of it is certainly
lodged. From hence the inference will be that the happiness of
mankind lies in society and correspondence, since that we were
made for this purpose I have proved already. ^ For is it not plain
that the lower order of beings are made for their betters, and the
higher for the service of each other? Now, as Hfe is preferable to
bare existence, so amongst all living creatures the rational are the
h)est quality.
XVII. To expect an impossibility i's distraction; now it is
impossible for ill men not to follow their bias, and show their
temper in some instance or other.
XVIII. There is nothing happens to any person but what is in his
power to go through with. Some people have had very severe
trials, and yet, either by having less understanding or more pride
than ordinary, have charged bravely through the misfortune, and
come off without a scratch. Now it is a scandalous indecency to let
ignorance and vanity do more with us than prudence and principle.
XIX. It is thoughts, not things, which take hold of the soul.
Outward objects cannot force their passage into the mind, nor set
any of its wheels a-going. No, the impression comes from herself,
and it is her notions which affect her. As for the contingencies of
fortune, they are either great or little according to the opinion she
has of her own strength.
XX. When we consider we are bound to be serviceable to
mankind, and bear with their faults, we shall perceive there is a
common tie of nature and relation between us. But when we see
people grow troublesome, and disturb us in our business, here we
are to look upon men as indifferent sort of things, neither good nor
bad to us, but according to our management. It is true, like a
^ See Book ii. sect. i.
184 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
cross wind, they may hinder me in the executing part, but all this
while my inclinations stand firm, and the reserve of a good meaning
is secured to me. Being rightly disposed, I can pass on to the
exercise of another virtue ; and thus it is probable I may gain by
the opposition, and turn the disappointment to an advantage.
XXI. Among all things in the universe direct your worship to the
greatest. And which is that ? It is that Being which manages and
governs all the rest. And as you worship the best thing in nature,
so you are to pay a proportionable regard to the best thing in
yourself You will know it by its relation to the Deity. The quality
of its functions will discover it. It is the reigning power within
you, which disposes of your actions and your fortune.
XXII. That which does not damnify the city,^ or body politic,
cannot, properly speaking, damnify any person that belongs to it.
Therefore, when you think you are ill-used, let this reflection be
your remedy, ahd say thus to yourself. If the community is not the
worse for it, neither am I; But if the community is injured, your
business is to show the person concerned his fault, but not to grow
passionate about it.
XXIII. Reflect frequently upon the instability of things, and
how very fast the scenes of nature are shifted. Matter is in a per-
petual flux. Change is always and everywhere at work \ it strikes
through causes and effects, and leaves nothing fixed and permanent.
And then how very near the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the
future, stand together ! Now, upon the whole, is not that man a
blockhead that thinks these momentary things big enough either
to make him proud or uneasy .?
XXIV. Remember what an atom your person stands for in respect
of the universe, what a minute of unmeasurable time comes to your
share, and what a small concern you are in the empire of fate.
XXV. A man misbehaves himself towards me. What is that to
me? The action is his, and the will that set him upon it is his,
and therefore let him look to it. As for me, I am in the condition
Providence would have me, and am doing what becomes me.
XXVI. Whether the motions of your body are rugged or agree-
^ By the city the emperor means the world, to which, as he observes, private
disadvantages are a convenience.
A Discourse with Himself. 185
able, do not let your reason be concerned with them ; confine the
impressions to their respective quarters, and let your mind keep her
distance and not run in. It is true, that which results from the
law of the union, from the force of sympathy or constitution, must
be felt, for nature will have its course ; but though the sensation
cannot be stopped, it must not be overrated nor strained to the
quality of good or evil.
XXVII. We ought to converse with the gods, and live the life
that they do. This is done by being contented with the appoint-
ments of Providence, and by obeying the orders of that genius,
which is both the deputy and the offspring of Jupiter. Now this
divine authority is neither more nor less than that soul and reason
which every man carries about him.
XXVIII. Are you angry at a rank smell or an ill-scented breath?
Why, if a man's lungs or stomach are ulcerated, or his arm-pits out
of order, how can he help it ? But you will say, the case is not
parallel between an ill action and an ill breath — the one is choice,
and the other necessity. Well, if you think mankind so full of
reason, pray make use of your own. Argue the case with the
faulty person, and show him his error. If your advice prevails, he
is what you would have him, and then there is no need of being
angry. And lastly, do not mismanage either by your haughtiness
or servility.
XXIX. You may live now, if you please, as you would choose to
do if you were near dying. But suppose people will not let you ? why,
then, give life the slip,^ but by no means make a misfortune of it.
If the room smokes, I leave it, and there is an end \ for why should
one be concerned at the matter ? However, if nothing of this kind
drives me out, I will stay, behave myself like a man of spirit, and
do what I have a mind to ; but then I will have a mind to nothing
but what I am led to by reason and public interest.
XXX. God, or the soul of the universe, is of a sociable disposi-
tion. For this reason He has made the coarser part of the creation
for the sake of the finer. And as for those beings of the higher
rank, He has engaged them to each other by inchnation. You see
how admirably things are ranged, and sorted according to the
dignity of their kind, and cemented together by nature and
benevolence.
^ A Stoical piece of distraction.
1 86 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
XXXL Recollect how you have behaved yourself all along,
towards the gods, your parents, brothers, wife, and children ; towards
your instructors, governors, friends, acquaintance, and servants ;
whether you have not done or said something unbecoming to some
of them. Recollect how much business you have been engaged in,
and how well you have gone through it; that now your task is
done, and the history of your life finished. Remember likewise
how much bravery you can make out ; how much of pleasure, and
pain, and grandeur you have despised; and how often you have
done good against evil.
XXXII. Why should skill and knowledge be disturbed at the
censures of ignorance? But you will say. Who are these knowing
and skilful people? Why, tliose who are acquainted with the
original cause and end of all things, with that reason that pervades
the mass of matter, renews the world at certain periods, and
governs it through all the lengths of time.
XXXIII. You will quickly be reduced to ashes and skeleton ; and
it may be you may have a name left you, and it may be not. And
what is a name ? Nothing but sound and syllable. And then for
those things which are so much valued in the world, they are
miserably empty and insignificant. The prize is so mean that it
makes the scuffle about them ridiculous. It puts one in mind of a
parcel of puppies snarling for a bone, and the contests of little
children, sometimes transported and sometimes all in tears about a
plaything. And as for modesty and good faith, truth and justice,
they have left this wicked world and retired to heaven. And now
what is it that can keep you here ? For if the objects of sense are
floating and changeable, and the organs misty and apt to be imposed
on ; if the soul is but a vapour drawn off the blood, and the applause
of little mortals insignificant ; — if the case stands thus, what is it you
stay for ? Why, I am resolved to have patience until I am either
extinguished or removed.^ And until that time comes, what is to
be done? The answer is easy — to worship the gods, and speak
honourably of them ; to be beneficial to mankind ; to bear with
their faults and let their property alone ; and lastly, to remember
that whatever lies without the compass of your person is nothing of
yours nor in your power.
XXXIV. You may be always successful if you do but set out
well, and let your thoughts and practice proceed upon grounds and
^ Into a state of separation.
A Discourse with Himself. 187
method. There are two properties and privileges common to God
and all rational beings ; the one is, not to be hindered by anything
foreign \ the other, to make virtue their supreme satisfaction, and
not so much as to desire anything further.
XXXV. If this accident is no fault of mine, nor a consequence
of it, and besides, if the community is never the worse for it, v/hy am
I concerned ? Now, which way the community ^ may be damnified,
I shall discourse afterwards.^
XXXVI. Do not suffer a sudden impression to overbear your
judgment. Let those that want your assistance have it, as far as the
case requires. But if fortune, as they call it, lies hard upon them,
do not you conclude upon any real damage, for there is no such thing.
However, upon the score of tenderness and humanity, you may
condescend to their weakness, and treat them a little in their own
way. But then you must remember to keep your notion true, and
not suffer your compassion to run away with your reason. Thus,
when you are haranguing in the Rostra ^ and courting the populace,
when you are thus busy, I say, a little of this to yourself would not
be amiss. Hark you, friend, have you forgot that this glitter of
honour is but tinsel and pageantry? I grant it, but for all that, it
is extremely valued. It is mighty well. And because other people
are fools, must you be so too ? You may be a happy fellow in any
ground, provided you have the wit to choose your fortune hand-
somely. Now, if you ask further, I must tell you, if your manners
be good, your fortune can never be bad. For, in a word, happiness
lies all in the functions of reason, in warrantable desires and
regular practice.
-0-
BOOK VI.
I. As matter is all of it pliable and obsequious, so that sovereign
reason which gives laws to it has neither motive nor inclination to
bring an evil upon anything. This great being is no way unfriendly
or hostile in his nature ; he forms and governs all things, but hurts
nothing.
^ By the community is meant the world.
^ See Book viii. sect. 55.
A pulpit in one of the squares at Rome, where the great men use to make
speeches to carry elections.
1 88 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
II. Do but your duty, and do not trouble yourself about your
condition. If you behave yourself well, never mind whether it is in
the cold or by a good fire; whether you are overwatched or
satisfied with sleep ; whether you have a good word or a bad one ;
whether you are in health or dying ; for this last must be done at
one time or other. It is part of the business of life to lose it
handsomely. Upon the whole, if we do but manage the present to
advantage, that is enough.
III. Look thoroughly into matters, and let not the distinction or
intrinsic value of anything escape you.
IV. The present appearance of things will quickly undergo a
change, and be either exhaled into common matter, or dispersed
into their respective elements.^
V. That intelligent Being that governs the universe has perfect
views of everything ; his knowledge penetrates the quality of matter,
and sees through all the consequences of his own operations.
VI. The best way of revenge is not to imitate the injury.
VII. Be always doing something serviceable to mankind, and
let this constant generosity be your only pleasure, and not forgetting
in the meantime a due reverence and regard to the Deity.
VII I. It is the governing part of the mind which awakens thought,
and alters the quality of it ; which gives what air she pleases to her
own likeness, and to all the accidents and circumstances without
her.
IX. The particular effects in the world are all wrought by one
intelligent nature. This universal cause has no foreign assistant,
no interloping principle, either without his jurisdiction or within it.
X. For argument's sake let us use a disjunction ; the world, then, is
either nothing but a rencounter of atoms, a heap of confusion, and
a hurry oi chance, or else it is the effect of design, and under the
laws of order and providence. If the first, what should I stay for,
where nature is in such a hotch-potch, and things are so blindly
jumbled together? Why do not I rather make it my choice to
1 Some philosophers held all matter was the same ; and others maintained that
the four elements were distinct and original principles of bodies.
A Discourse with Himself. 189
disengage and return to the element of earth as soon as may be ? ^
Why should I give myself any trouble? Let me do what I will, my
constitution must be broken, and my atoms all disbanded in a
little time. But if there is a Providence, and tlie latter part of the
disjunction holds good, then I adore the great Governor of the
world, and am easy in the prospect of protection.
XI. When you happen to be ruffled a little, and throw off your
temper by any cross accident, retire immediately into your reason,
and do not move out of rule any longer than needs must. For the
sooner you recover a false step, the more you will be master of
your practice.
XII. Put the case you had a mother-in-law and a mother at the
same time ; though you would pay regard to the first, your converse
I conceive would be mostly with the latter. Let the court and
philosophy represent these two relations to you ; apply frequently
to this last, and set up your stand with her ; for it is a life of virtue
and philosophy which makes you and your courtiers tolerable to
each other.
XIII. To check the pleasure of luxury, we should in our fancy
at least take away the garnishing of the dishes, the value the cook
sets upon them, and give them names less tempting than ordinary.
For the purpose, we may say this is but the carcase of a fish, this
fowl has no more life in it than I shall have when I am buried, and
the other is no better than a piece of a dead hog. And then for
this bottle of Falerno,^ what is it but a little moisture squeezed out
of the tumour of a grape? And to mortify the vanity of fine
clothes, and prevent your purple ^ from growing too big for you.
consider that it is nothing but sheep's hair twisted together, and
stained in the gore of a little shell-fish. And if we were to proceed
to some other satisfactions of sense, we should find them but coarse
in their causes and constitution ; and as these notions strike through
the surface, press into the heart of things, and show them in their
natural colours, so we should carry them on and apply them to all
the pageantry of life. And where things appear most plausible and
pretending, be sure to bring them to the test, and look within them.
And when the paint is thus pulled off, the coarseness of them will
1 An expression of Homer.
2 Falernus, a country in Campania, which affords the richest wines in Italy.
^ Purple was so nauch the privilege of the emperor, that it was treason for the
su' ject to wear it.
I go Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
easily be discovered. Without this care, figure and appearance are
great cheats, and when you think your fancy is best employed,
you will be most fooled. Even virtue itself is sometimes counter-
feited, and gravity is nothing else but grimace. Thus Crates
discovered Xenocrates' philosophy to be only skin deep, — great
demureness without, and no less vanity within.
XIV. The inclination of the generality may be reduced to these
heads. Some people are httle enough to be smitten with things
in the state of bare existence or vegetation, as with wood, stones,
fruit, and such like. Others, who are somewhat more tolerable in
their fancy, must have life to charm them, and these, it may be, are
mightily in love with their flocks and herds. A third sort, better
furnished than the former, admire nothing beneath human nature ;
but then they do not take in the whole kind, but it is either the skill,
parts, or property ^ of some particulars which affect them. But he
that values a rational creature without limitation or partiality, runs
into none of the dotages above mentioned, but makes it his chief
business to look at home, to keep reason and good-nature stirring,
and to assist all mankind in the public interest.
XV. Some things are pressing for birth and being, and others are
posting off, and that which was entire just now is part of it spent
already. The world is renewed by this change and rolling, no less
than time is by a perpetual succession. Now, who would dote upon
things hurried down the stream thus fast, and which it is impossible
to take hold on ? Such a passion is much like falling in love with
a sparrow flying over your head — you have as it were but one
glimpse of her, and she is out of sight. To go on ; Hfe is but a sort
of exhalation of the blood, and a little air sucked into the lungs.
Now, to return your breath for the support of life, and expire your
last, when you lose it, is muchwhat the same action.
XVI. Neither the perspiration of plants, nor the breath of
animals, nor the impressions of sensation, nor the poppet motions ^
of passions, are privileges of any great value. To which we may
add the instinct of crowding into herds, together with the functions
of nutrition; this latter being not unlike a separating kind of
evacuation. What then is it that you count worth your esteem.?
Huzzas and acclamations ? Not at all. Why, then, you must not
value harangues and panegyric, for this is but a mannerly sort of
' As in slaves who belong to their masters.
- Because they do as it were dance men upon wires.
A Discourse with Himself, 191
bawling about a man. Well, I find fame and glory will not tempt
you, what then is there behind worth the having ? To govern your
motions, and make use of your being according to the intentions of
nature ; this is the design of arts and improvement in other cases ;
every artificer and profession endeavouring to make the thing fit to
answer the end for which it was intended. This, for instance, is
the design of vine-dressers, those that manage horses and make
dogs ; their business is to make the most of things, and drive them
up to the top of their kind. And what other view has learning and
education but to improve the faculties and set them the right way
at work? It is agreed, then, the main point lies here. Compass
but this, and let the world rub. What! must your inclinations
always run riot, and will you never keep them true to one thing?
Must you be still hankering after this fancy and the other ? Why,
then, let me tell you, you will always be a slave, always in wants and
disquiet. This temper will let loose abundance of uneasy passions
upon you. It will make you grow envious, full of jealousy and
suspicion, and apt to overreach those who are possessed of some-
thing you have a mind to. And when strong desires are unsatisfied,
you will find yourself mightily disturbed ; and this will make you
murmur, and grow mutinous against the gods. But if you come
once to pay a due regard to your reason, you will be pleased with
yourself, serviceable to society, and compliant with the gods, that
is, you will be entirely satisfied with their administration.
XVII. The elements either press upwards, or tumble downwards,
or else run round in a circle. But virtue has none of these
motions ; she is of a nobler kind. Her progress in regular thoughts
is somewhat unintelligible, but always prosperous.
XVIIl! What a strange humour there is amongst some people.
They do not care to afford a good word to their contemporaries, and
yet are very desirous of being praised by posterity ; that is by
those they never saw, nor ever will have the least acquaintance
with. Now this is almost such a freak as it would be to be
disturbed because you were not commended by the generations
that lived before you.
XIX. Because you find a thing very difficult, do not presently
conclude that no man can master it. But whatever you observe
proper and practicable by another, believe likewise within your own
power.
192 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
XX. If an antagonist in the circus tears our flesh with his nails,
or tilts against us with his head, we do not use to cry out foul play,
nor be offended at the rough usage, nor suspect him afterwards as
a dangerous person in conversation. It is true, when we are at the
exercise, we guard and parry, but all this is done without raising ill
blood, or looking upon the man as an enemy. Let us act at this
rate in the other instances of life. When we receive a blow, let us
not think ourselves in a battle, but at a trial of skill. We may
fence, as I said before, and manage the contest with caution, but
not with malice and ill-will.
XXI. If any one can convince me of an error, I shall be very
glad to change my opinion, for truth is my business, and right
information hurts nobody. No, he that continues in ignorance and
mistake, it is he that receives the mischief.
XXII. I will do my duty, that is enough. As for other things, I
shall never be disturbed about them. For if they happen to come
cross, it is but considering that they are either without life, or
without reason, or without judgment, and thus I can easily pass
them over.
XXIII. As for brute animals, and things undignified with reason,
use them freely and boldly, as being of a superior order yourself.
But treat men like beings of your own kind, and members of the
same society. And in all your affairs invoke the gods for their
assistance. As for the time you are to continue this regularity,
never trouble yourself whether it is long or short ; for three hours
of hfe thus well spent will do your business.
XXIV. Alexander the Great and his groom, when dead, were
both upon the same level, and ran the same fortune of being either
scattered into atoms or absorbed in the soul of the universe.^
XXV. What abundance of motions there are in the body, what
abundance of thoughts and sensations in the mind at the same
time ! What a vast number of operations are performed, and how
much business is despatched within us in a single moment ! He
that considers this will not wonder so much that infinitely more
productions should start out together in the universe, or that the
soul of the world should by once exerting Himself look over, actuate,
and govern the whole mass of matter.
^ See Book iv, sect. 14.
A Discourse zvith Himself. 193
XXVI. Suppose you were asked to spell Antoninus's name, would
you holloa every letter in the company's ears? Or would you
return their passion, if they were angry? I conceive you would
rather go mildly to work, and give them the letters and syllables
as they stand, without noise. Apply this to greater instances, and
remember that all duties in morality have such a determinate
number of parts and circumstances to render them complete ; these
must be all taken care of, and performed in order; but then it must
be done smoothly, without growing hot upon meeting with peevish-
ness and provocation.
XXVII. It is a sort of cruelty to baulk people's fancies, and not
give them leave to pursue what they reckon their interest. And
with this you are chargeable in some measure yourself when you
are angry with those that do amiss. Why so? Because they
imagine they are carrying on their own interest and convenience.
But that, you will say, is their mistake. I grant it ; but then it is your
part to lead them out of it, and to show them their error without
passion and resentment.
XXVIII. What is death ? It is a resting from sensation and
desire ; a stop upon the rambling of thought, and a release from
the drudgery about your carcase.
XXIX. Keep up your spirits for business as long as your consti-
tution lasts ; for it would be a shame if your mind should falter
and give in before your body.
XXX. Have a care you have not too much of an emperor in
you, and that you do not fall into the liberties and pride of your
predecessors. These humours are easily learned, therefore guard
against the infection. Be candid, sincere, and modestly grave.
Let justice and piety have their share in your character ; let your
temper be remarkable for mildness and good-nature, and be always
enterprizing and vigorous in your business. And, in short, strive to
be just such a man as virtue and philosophy would make you.
Worship the gods and protect mankind. This life is short, and all the
advantage you can get by it, is the opportunities you have of adoring
those above ^ and doing good to those below you. Do everything
like a disciple of Antoninus ; ^ imitate him in the vigour and
^ The gods.
2 The author means the Emperor Antoninus Pius, who was his adoptive
father.
G
194 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
constancy of his good conduct, in the equahty, sweetness, and piety
of his temper, the serenity of his aspect, the modesty and unpre-
tendingness of his behaviour, and the generous ambition he had to
be perfectly master of his business. Further, it was his way to
dismiss nothing till he had looked through it, and viewed it on all
sides ; to bear unreasonable remonstrance without making a return ;
never to be in a hurry ; to be backward in giving encouragement
to informers. He was a great judge of men and manners ; but ot
no satirical or reprimanding humour. Not at all apt to be frightened
or surprised; not too suspicious, nor in the least overrun with
impertinence and conceit. Expense and figure was none of his
fancy, as one might easily perceive, by his palace, his furniture, his
habit, his eating, and his attendance. Lenity was his humour, and
fatiguing his delight. He was so temperate in his diet that he was
able to sit at the council board till night, without withdrawing into
another room ; for the necessities of nature never returned upon
him till their usual time. He was firm in his friendship, and steady
and agreeable in the manner of showing it. He gave his courtiers
all the freedom imaginable to contradict him, and was pleased with
the proposal of a better expedient than his own. To conclude, he
was a religious prince, but on this side superstition. Pray imitate
these good qualities of his, that you may have the satisfaction of
them at your last hour.
XXXI. Rouse and recollect yourself, and you will perceive
your trouble lay only in a scene of imagination ; ^ and when you
are well awake, turn the tables, and carry the contemplation
through life ; and then the world in a dream, and the world out of
it, will appear muchwhat the same thing.
XXXII. My person consists of soul and body. To this latter all
things are morally indifferent ; the body being in no condition to
make a distinction of this kind. And as to my mind, there is
nothing can affect her in the quality of good or evil, her own actions
excepted ; now these are all within her power. And of all her
actions she is only concerned with the present ; for what is past or
to come signifies as much as nothing, and falls under no moral
character. 2
XXXIII. As long as the hands and feet do the work they were
made for, they move naturally and with ease. Thus while a man
^ The emperor seems to have made this reflection after a troublesome dream.
2 A kind of paradox.
A Discourse with Himself. 195
performs the functions of his species, and keeps true to his condition,
he feels no more weight than what nature lays upon him. Now that
which is not beside the intentions of nature can never be a real
misfortune.
XXXIV. What abundance of sensual satisfaction have thieves,
catamites, parricides, and usurpers been possessed of? We may
guess at the quality of pleasure by its falling to the share of such
wretches as these.
XXXV. Do you not observe among your artificers, though they
bear the contradiction and impertinence of the unskilful, yet they
will not comply so far as to be talked out of their knowledge, or
work against the rules of their trade ? And is it not a scandalous
business that an architect or a physician should have more regard
for their profession than a man has for his? For his, I say, in
which he has the honour of the gods for his partners. And what is
a man's trade simply considered as a man ? Why, nothing but the
study and practice of virtue and moral philosophy.
XXXVI. The vast continents of Europe and Asia are but corners
of the creation. The ocean is but a drop, and Mount Athos but a
grain in respect of the universe; and the present instant of time
but a point to the extent of eternity. These things have all
of them little, changeable, and transitory beings. Remember like-
wise that all things proceed from the soul of the universe, either by
direct or consequential causality. Thus the growling deformity of
a lion, the poison of serpents, thorns and dirt, and whatever seems
coarse or offensive in nature, start out of something more noble, or
belong to the entireness of her beautiful productions. Do not
therefore suppose them insignificant and unworthy the Being you
worship, but consider the fountain from whence all things spring.^
XXXVII. He that has taken a view of the present age has seen
as much as if he had begun with the world, and gone to the end of
it ; for all things are of a kind and of a colour. ^
XXXVIII. The mutual dependence all things have, and the
relation they stand in to each other, is worth your frequent
observation. For all the parts of matter are in some measure
linked together and interwoven, and for this reason have a natural
^ See Bonk iii. sect. 2, Book viii. sect. 50.
'^ See Book ii. sect. 14, Book ix. sect. 35.
196 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
sympathy for each other. And thus ixiotion and the continuity of
matter makes one body consequent and connected to another.^
XXXIX. Bring your will to your fate, and suit your mind to your
circumstances; and love those people heartily that it is your
fortune to be engaged with. 4
XL. Those tools and utensils are said to be right when they
serve for the uses they were made ; though in this case the artificer
that made them is commonly absent. But in the works of nature,
the forming power is always present with the effect, and deserves a
particular regard. From hence you are to conclude that as long
as you behave yourself as this sovereign power directs you, you will
have your wishes in everything. Indeed, it is this bent of inclina-
tion which makes the gods happy, and gives satisfaction to the soul
of the universe.
XLI. If you suppose anything which lies out of your command
to be good or evil, your missing the one or falling into the other
will unavoidably make you a malcontent against the gods, and put
you upon hating those people whom you either know or suspect
to be instrumental in your misfortune. To be plain ; our mistake
in this supposition and pursuing objects above our reach often
makes us very unreasonable and unjust. But if we confine the
notion of good and evil to things in our power, then all the
motives to complaint and ill -nature will drop off; then we shall
neither remonstrate against heaven nor quarrel with any mortal
living.
XLII. All people concur in some measure to the purposes of
Providence, though all are not sensible of it. And thus, as I
remember, Heraclitus observes, that those who are asleep may be
said to help the world forward. In short, the grand design is carried
on by different hands and different hearts too. For even he that
complains makes head against his fate, and strives to pull the
administration in pieces ; even such a testy mortal as this is useful
in his way.2 Consider then how you are ranged, and whether you
have joined the dutiful or the disaffected party. For He that
governs the world will certainly make you good for something, and
prove serviceable to his scheme one way or other. Have a care
you do not serve for a foil or a jest, and make such a ridiculous
^ This section seems to be levelled against Epicurus's hypothesis of a vacuum.
^ See Book ix. sect. 42.
A Discoitrse with Himself. 197
figure in nature as that Doggril did in the play Chrysippus
mentions.
XLIII. Every one should keep to his post, and be contented
with the assignments of Providence. The sun never covets the
properties of a shower, nor does one god interfere with another.
Everything is serviceable in his own station, and unresembling
causes unite to advantage in the effect. Are not the stars different
from each other? and yet their influences agree together upon
sublunary productions.
XLIV. If the gods have decreed me anything, they have decreed
my advantage. If not, they must either be mistaken in their
measures or unbenevolent in their design. Now, as the first part
of this supposition is absurd, so the latter is incomprehensible. For
to what purpose should they intend me any harm ? What would
themselves or their universe get by it? But granting they have
made no particular provision for me, yet since their government of
the world is not disputed, the consequence will be much the same.
For this way my affairs will be comprehended and fall within the
compass of their general providence, and why then should 1 not be
contented with whatever happens ? To put the case further. Sup-
pose the gods take care of nothing, which, by the way, we must
reckon a scandalous opinion, or else it will be high time to leave
off the common solemnities of sacrificing, prayers, and religious
swearing. If things lie thus, why all this superstitious trouble in
these and many other instances? To what purpose should we
behave ourselves as if we were in the very court and company of
heaven ? However, since a supposition implies nothing of reality,
let it pass for once. If the gods therefore will take care of none of
us, it is certainly lawful for me to take care of myself. Now it is
my right to state the notion of my own convenience ; and what is
that? Why, that is convenient for every one which suits his
nature and his species. Now my nature has reason, sociable
principles, and public inclination in it. By consequence, the
interest of my country must be my own. Take me then under the
particular distinction of Antoninus, and Rome is my town and
country ; but consider me as a man in general, and I belong to the
corporation of the world. That, therefore, and only that, which is
serviceable to both these societies, is an advantage to me.
XLV. Whatever happens to particulars is serviceable to the
universe ; that thought might satisfy. But we can carry the reasons
198 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
for acquiescence further ; for, upon observation, you will perceive
that what is profitable to one man is in some measure for the
interest of the rest. And here I take the word profit in the sense
of common acceptation, and not in the language of the Stoics.^
XLVI. You may remember at a play, or such resembling diver-
sions, coming over and over with the same thing tires the sense
and extinguishes the pleasure. Remove this contemplation into
life; for here all things come round, and bring the same causes
and appearances along with them. How long, then, will it be before
you are cloyed with these repetitions ?
XLVII. Consider with yourself that people of all conditions,
professions, and countries are forced to die. Cast your eyes upon
what sort of mortals you please, and you will find them go the way
of all flesh. And we must take our turn too with the rest, and
remove to the same place whither so many famous orators and
philosophers, generals, princes, and heroes have shown us the
way. Those great sages, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Socrates;
those celebrated mathematicians, Eudoxus, Hipparchus, and Archi-
medes, had no privilege or protection against fate. Not to mention
a great many other extraordinary geniuses, persons of industry,
reach, and spirit ; they are all gone. Even those buffoons who,
like Menippus, were always flouting and fleering at mankind, though
they lived in jest, they died in earnest. Remember they are all
in their graves ; and where is the harm of all this ? Nay, what are
those the worse for it that have not so much as left their own
names behind them? In a word, there is only one thing here
worth the minding, and that is, not to imitate the degeneracy of
mortals, but to be true, honest, and good-natured even amongst
knaves and sharpers.
XLVIII. When you have a mind to divert your fancy, consider
the good qualities of your acquaintance ; as the enterprizing
vigour of this man, the modesty of another, the liberality of a
third, and so on ; for there is nothing so entertaining as a lively
image of the virtues and advantages of those we converse with.
Let such an idea therefore be always ready and at hand.
XLIX. You are not angry because you weigh so light in the
scale, and do not ride forty stone. Why then should you be
^ The Stoics esteemed nothing profitable but virtue and honesty, though at the
same time they allow other things to be useful.
A Discourse with Himself. 199
dissatisfied because your life is not drawn out to an unusual and
extraordinary period? You ought to be no more covetous of
time than you are of bulk, but be contented with the common
allowance.
L. It is good to try to bring people to a right understanding of
the case, but if they grow troublesome, be governed by your own
conscience, and never ask anybody's leave to be honest. If there
comes a force upon you, and stops your progress, disengage, and
be easy, and make a virtue of necessity. Remember that you
undertook the business upon the condition of its being feasible,
and never pretended to grasp at impossibilities. What was it, then,
you aimed at? Why, to do your best, and secure your reason.
Right! And this may be effectually done, though the enterprize
should happen to miscarry.
LI. The ambitious person lodges his happiness in the fancy of
another. The voluptuary admires at home, and keeps within the
reach of his senses ; but a man of understanding depends upon
himself, and makes action, and not appetite, his pleasure.
LII. We are at liberty not to misinterpret any accident, and by
consequence may be free from disturbance. Things have no such
power over thoughts as to make us of what judgment they please.
LIII. Accustom yourself to attend to what is discoursed, and,
as far as you can, get into the soul of him that speaks.
LIV. That which is not for the interest of the whole swarm is
not for the interest of a single bee.
LV. If the patient rails at the doctor, or the crew at the master
of the vessel, who will they mind, or what good is to be done upon
them? Or, which way can either health or a good voyage be
expected ?
LVI. How many people that came into the world with me are
gone out of it already ?
LVII. Honey tastes bitter to such as are troubled with an over-
flowing of the gall ; and people bitten by a mad dog are frightened
at the sight of water; and, on the other hand, a little ball is a
curious thing to a child. This considered; why should you be
200 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonimts :
angry with any one? Can you imagine that error and ignorance
has less force upon the mind than a Httle gall or venom upon
the body ?
LVIII. As nobody can rob you of the privileges of your nature,
or force you to live counter to your reason, so nothing can happen
to you but what comes from Providence, and consists with the
interest of the universe.^
LIX. Consider with yourself what sort of people your men of
popularity must court, what scandalous submissions they are obliged
to, and what poor returns they have for their pains. And then
how soon death and oblivion sweep all before them.
BOOK VII.
I. What is vice and wickedness ? No rarity, you may depend on
it. When you are in danger of being shocked, consider that the
sight is nothing but what you have frequently seen already. To be
brief, men and manners are generally much what alike. All ages
and histories, towns and families, are of the same complexion, and
full of the same stories. There is nothing new to be met with, but
all things are common and quickly over.
II. Opinions, whether right or wrong, can never be pulled out
of your head, unless the grounds and reasons of them are first
removed. It is your interest, therefore, to awaken your memory,
and refresh those notions which are serviceable and well examined.
For the purpose ; you may say to yourself, it is in my power to
form a right judgment upon the present emergency ; and why then
should I be disturbed at it ? For nothing that does not enter my
mind, and get within me, can hurt me. Hold to this, and you are
safe. Come, I will tell you a way how you may live your time
over again. Do but recollect and review what you have seen
already, and the work is done.
III. Gazing after triumphs and cavalcades ; the diversions of the
Stage ; farms well stocked with flocks and herds ; contests for victory
^ See Book v. sect, 8.
A Discourse with Hhnself. 201
in the field, — these are the little pleasures and concerns of mortals.
Would you have a further illustration, and see an image of them
elsewhere ? Fancy, then, that you saw two or three whelps quarrel-
hng about a bone ; fishes scrambling for a bait ; pismires in a peck
of troubles about the carriage of a grain of wheat ; mice frightened
out of their wits, and scouring across the room ; puppets dancing
upon a wire, etc. And after all, though human life is but ordinary
and trifling, a wise man must be easy and good-humoured, and not
grow splenetic or haughty upon the contemplation ; remembering,
notwithstanding, that the true bulk and bigness of a man is to
be measured by the size of his business and the quality of his
mclinations.
IV. Do not let either discourse or action pass unobserved ;
attend to the sense and signification of the one, and to the tendency
and design of the other.
V. Am I sufficiently qualified for this business or not? If I
am, I will make use of my talent, as given me by heaven for that
purpose. If I am not, I will either let it alone, and resign it to a
better capacity, or else I will do what I can, I will give my advice,
and put the executing part into an abler hand ; and thus, by looking
out for help, the juncture may be nicked, and the general interest
secured. For whatsoever I act, either by myself or in conjunction
with another, I am always to aim at the advantage of the
community.
VI. How many famous men are dropped out of history, and
forgotten ! And how many poets and panegyrists, that promised
to keep up other people's names, have lost their own !
VII. Never be ashamed of assistance. Like a sentinel at the
storming of a town, your business is to maintain your post and
execute your orders. Now, suppose you happen to be lame at an
assault, and cannot mount the breach upon your own feet, will
not you suffer your comrade to help you ?
VIII. Be not disturbed about the future ; for if ever you come
to it, you will have the same reason for your guide and protection
which preserves you at present.
IX. All parts of the universe are interwoven and tied together,
and no one thing is foreign or unrelated to another. This general
202 Conversation of Emperor Ma^xus Antonimis :
connexion gives unity and ornament to the world. For the world,
take it altogether, is but one; there is but one sort of matter to
make it of, one God to govern it, and one law to guide it. For,
run through the whole system of rational beings, and you will find
reason and truth is but single and the same. And thus beings of
the same kind, and endued with the same reason, are made happy
by the same exercises of it.
X. All compositions of matter fly off apace to the common stock
and receptacle ; spirits are quickly swallowed up in the soul of the
universe,^ and so is memory and fame in the gulf of time.
XI. With rational beings, nature and reason is the same thing.
By consequence, to act according to the one must be to act
according to the other.
XII. Either stand upright upon your own legs, or let another
support you.
XIII. Does continuity and connexion create sympathy and
relation in the parts of the body ? Why, resemblance and, as one
may say, consanguinity of nature does the same thing among
rational beings ; for though they are not tacked together by
extension and union of place, they seem all made to co-operate
with each other. This thought will be more intelligible and affect-
ing if you frequently consider yourself as a member of the rational
system ; but if you reckon yourself only a part, this relation will
prove too weak for a principle of action. This remoter notion
will not cherish good nature enough, nor carry it to a just
improvement. You will not love mankind so heartily as you
should do. Under this persuasion a generous action will never
delight and regale you. You will do a good office merely for
fashion and decency, but not as if it was really a kindness to
yourself
XIV. Let accidents happen to such as are liable to the impression,
and those that feel misfortune may complain of it if they please.
As for me, let what will come, I can receive no damage by it, unless
I think it a calamity ; and it is in my power to think it none if I
have a mind to it.
XV. Let people's tongues and actions be what they will, my
^ See Book iv. sect. 14.
A Discourse with Himself. 203
business is to keep my road, and be honest, and make the same
speech to myself that a piece of gold or an emerald should, if they
had sense and language. Let the world talk and take their method,
I shall not mind it, but sparkle and shine on, and be true to my
species and my colour.
XVI. Does not the mind give the man the disturbance ? Does
she not bring fears and fits of the spleen upon herself? Let any
other body try to disquiet her if they can ; when they have done
their worst, it is in her power to prevent the impression. And as
for this small carcase, let it complain, and feel, and be frightened,
if it know how. It is true, the soul is the seat and principle of
thought, and by consequence, of passion and pain ; however, this
passive capacity will do no harm, unless you throw her into
fancies and fears about it.^ For the mind is in her own nature self-
sufficient, and must create her wants before she can feel them. 2
This privilege makes her impregnable, and above restraint, unless
she teases and puts fetters upon herself.
XVII. What is happiness but wise thinking, or a mind rightly
disposed ? Why then does fancy ^ break in and disturb the scene ?
Begone ! I will have nothing to do with the impostures of imagina-
tion ! However, since they have custom to plead in their excuse,
let them withdraw, and I will forgive them.
XVIII. Is any one afraid of dissolution and change? I would
gladly know what can be done without it. If the course of nature
and the method of the universe will not reconcile us to the expecta-
tion, we are somewhat unreasonable. Pray, must not your wood
be turned into»a coal before your bath can be ready for you ? Must
not your meat be changed in your stomach, to make it fit to nourish
you? Indeed, what part of life or convenience can go forward
without alteration? Now, in all likelihood, a revolution in your
carcase and condition may be as serviceable to the world in
general as those alterations above mentioned are to you.
XIX. All particular bodies are quickly dissolved and hurried
through the universal mass, where, at last, they incorporate, grow
serviceable, and become a sort of limbs to the world. How many
such eminent sages, as Chrysippus, Socrates, and Epictetus, have
^ The old Stoical paradox. 2 a Stoical piece of vanity.
^ That is a vulgar opinion concerning good and evil. Now all people are
the vulgar with the Stoics except themselves.
204 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonmus :
sunk in the gulf of time ? And the same reflection will hold
good concerning any other person or thing whatsoever.
XX. I am only solicitous about one thing, and that is, lest I
should not act up to the nature and dignity of a man ; lest I should
fail in some of the circumstances of my duty, and mismanage either
in the matter, manner, or time of doing it.
XXI. It will not be long before you will have forgotten all the
world; and in a little time, to be even, all the world will forget you too.
XXII. It is the privilege of human nature above brutes to love
those that disoblige us ; to practise with ease and inclination, you
must consider that the offending party is of kin to you, that
ignorance is the cause of the misbehaviour, that the will and
the fault seldom go together, ^ that you will both of you quickly
be in your graves ; but especially consider that you have received
no harm by the injury ; for if your reason is untouched, and your
mind never the worse, there can be no damages done.
XXIII. God, or the spirit of nature, works the mass of matter
like wax. Now, for the purpose, it is a horse ; soon after you will
have it melted down, and run into the figure of a tree ; and from
this form it is possible it may remove into the flesh and bones of a
man, or what you please, and it is but a little while that it is fixed
in one species. Now, a trunk feels no more pain by being knocked
in pieces than when it was first put together.^
XXIV. A sour, gruff look is very unnatural, and to put it on often
will make it settle, and destroy the beauty and pleasantness of the
aspect to that degree that it is never to be recovered ; from whence
you may conclude it a foolish custom.
XXV. It is high time for those people to die that have outlived
the sense of their own misdemeanours,
XXVI. That Being which governs nature will quickly change
the present face of it. One thing will be made out of another by
frequent revolutions, and thus the world will be always coming new
out of the mint.
^ See this paradox further explained, sect. 3.
2 This similitude is brought to insinuate the mind's independence on the body,
which is all paradox.
A Discourse with Himself. 205
XXVII. When any one misbehaves himself towards you, im-
mediately bethink yourself what notions he has concerning advantage
and disadvantage ; when you have found out this, you will pity
him, and neither be angry nor surprised at the matter. It may be,
upon inquiry, you may find your opinions upon these points much
the same, and then you ought to pardon him, for you would have
done the same thing yourself upon the same occasion. But if your
notions of good and evil are different, and more just than his, then
your passion will yield to your good-nature, and you will easily
bear with his ignorance.
XXVIII. Do not let your head run upon that which is none of
your own, but pick out some of the best of your circumstances,
and consider how eagerly you would wish for them, were they not
in your possession ; but then you must take care to keep your
satisfaction within compass, for fear it should carry you too far,
make you overvalue the object, and be disturbed at the loss of it.
XXIX. Fortify at home, and rely upon yourself, for a rational
mind is born to the privilege of independence ; honesty, and the
inward quiet consequent to it, is enough, in all conscience, to
make you happy.
XXX. Rub out the colours of imagination ; ^ do not suffer your
passions to make a machine of you ; confine your care to the
present: 2 look through the quality, and press into the nature of
that which happens either to yourself or another. Distinguish the
parts of your subject, and divide them into matter and form, and
into body and spirit,-"^ when they have them. Think upon your
last hour, and do not trouble yourself about other people's faults,
but leave them with those that must answ^er for them.
XXXI. When you hear a discourse make your understanding
keep pace with it, and reach as far as you can into those things
which fall under your observation.
XXXII. Would you set off your person, and recommend your-
self? Let it be done by simplicity and candour, by modesty of
behaviour, and by indifference to external advantages. Love mankind
and resign to Providence, for, as the poet observes, " All things are
^ See sect. 17.
2 See Book iii. sect 12, and alib.
^ See Book iv. sect. 21.
2o6 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
under law and superior direction." And what if the elements only
had their course chalked out, and their motions prescribed them ?
But we may carry the conclusion further, for there are, at the most,
but very few things in the world perfectly turned over to chance
and liberty.
XXXIII. Let death make atoms or vacuum of me, or what you
please, it will come to this upshot at last, — it will either extinguish
my being or translate me to another state.
XXXIV. As for pain, if it is intolerable, the extremity will
destroy itself and quickly despatch you. If it stays long, you will
be big enough to grapple with it. Your mind, in the meantime,
will save herself by the strength of thought, keep undisturbed, and
suffer nothing.! And for your limbs that lie under the execution,
if they can complain and make out anything, let them do it.
XXXV. To moderate your ambition about fame, consider the
generality of the people that are to commend and take notice of
you, how insignificant they are, and how little in their pursuits and
aversions ! Consider also that as one heap of sand thrown upon
another covers the first, so it happens in the business of fame, a
new glory eclipses an old one, and the latter age is a sort of
extinguisher to the former.
XXXVI. A saying of Plato : ^ " He that has raised his mind to
a due pitch of greatness, that has looked through the world from
one end to the other, and carried his view through the whole extent
of matter and time, do you imagine such a one will think human
life any great business? Not at all (says the other man in the
dialogue) ; what then ? Will the fear of death afflict him ? Far
from it."
XXXVII. There is a great deal of truth in that sentence of
Antisthenes : " That it is the fate of princes to be ill spoken of for
their good deeds."
XXXVIII. It is a shame that a man should not be master of his
mind as well as of his countenance ; that his will should be stronger
for his looks than for his thoughts : prescribe what air he pleases to
the first, and let the other lie mutinous and ungovernable.
^ The old paradox.
^ Plato, De Republic, lib. vi.
A Discourse with Himself. 207
XXXIX. " It is to no purpose to fall out with accidents and things,
for they do not care a farthing for it." ^
XL. " Manage yourself with that advantage, that I, and the gods
too, may have pleasure and satisfaction in your conduct." ^
XLI. " Fate mows down life like corn, this mortal falls, and the
other stands a while." ^
XLII. " Is my family struck out of Providence, and do the gods
forget me ? If it be so, they have reason for their neglect."
XLI II. " Virtue and happiness is a present I can make myself."
XLIV. " Not too much sympathy with other people's sorrow ; " *
and keep your passions from all kinds of transport and excess.
XLV. More of Plato's sentences:^ "To such a one I should
return this very reasonable answer. Hark ye, friend, you are
mightily out if you think a man that is good for anything is either
afraid of living or dying. No ; his concern is only to bring his
actions to the test, to secure his practice, and stand clear of knavery
and misbehaviour."
XLVI. Plato again : ^ " Gentlemen, in my opinion, when a man
is satisfied with his own choice, or put into a post by his superiors,
his business is to stand buff against danger and death, and fear
nothing but disgrace and cowardice."
XLVII. Plato once more : ^ " With your favour, sir, it is not
always the part of virtue and bravery to preserve either your own
life or your neighbour's. He that is a man in good earnest must
not be so mean as to whine for life, and grasp intemperately at old
age ; let him leave this point to Providence. The women in the
nursery can tell him that we must go when our time is come. His
duty is to consider how he may make the most of his life, and spend
what there is to the best advantage."
^ Eurip. Belleroph. Here the emperor transcribed some sentences of the
poets into his commonplace book.
2 This advice seems intended for his son Commodus.
^ Eurip. Hypsip. 1, * Aristoph. Acharn. ^ Plato, Apolog.
^ Apolog. ^ Plato, Gorgias.
2o8 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonmus :
XLVIII. Let the transmutation and shuffling of the elements
be frequently the subjects of your meditation. Consider the course
of the stars as if you were driving through the sky, and kept them
company. Such contemplations as these brighten the soul, and
scour off the rust contracted by conversing here below.
XLIX. It is a handsome saying, that of Plato's: ''That when
we consider the state and condition of mankind, we should place
our imagination upon some lofty pyramid or observatory ; and
from thence take a prospect of the world, and look it over as it were
at one view. Here we may see how mortals are drawn up into towns
and armies in one place, and dispersed for husbandry in another !
Here are abundance of things to be seen together, marriage and
confederacy treated by nations and families, births and burials,
feasting and jollity at one house, and all in tears at another. Here
they are in a mighty hurry at the bar, and there up to the ears in
trading and merchandise. Towards the end of the prospect, it may
be you may see a great deal of barren and unhabitable wilderness,
with variety of barbarous people beyond it. Take it altogether, it
is a strange medley of business, humour, and condition ; and yet if
you consider it thoroughly, you will find the diversity and disagree-
ment of the parts contribute to the beauty of the whole."
L. By looking back into history, and considering the fate and
revolutions of government, you will be able to draw a guess, and
almost prophesy upon the future. For things past, present, and
to come, are strangely uniform and of a colour, and are commonly
cast in the same mould. So that upon the matter, forty years of
human life may serve for a sample of ten thousand.
LI. "What is sprung from earth dissolves to earth again, and
heaven-born things fly to their native seat." ^
If the matter does not stand thus, either the atoms will be un-
twisted, or the elements scattered into insensibility. .
LII. " We feed ourselves up for long life with a great deal of care
and expense ; but alas ! fate will find us out, and when the gods
give the sign, we must embark, though never so unwilling." ^
Lin. Can another man ride or fence better than you? It may
be so. But though you may fall short in your exercises, let nobody
^ Eurip. Chrysip. ^ Eurip.
A Discourse with Himself. 209
outdo you in virtue and behaviour. Let nobody be more liberal
and modest, more resigned and forgiving than yourself.
LIV. As long as a man can make use of his reason, and act in
concert with the gods, he needs not question the event. There can
be no grounds to suspect misfortune, provided you stick close to
nature, and manage within the character of your condition.
LV. It is always and everywhere in your power to resign to the
gods, to be just to mankind, and to examine every object with that
nicety as never to be imposed on.
LVI. Never make any rambling inquiries after other people's
thoughts, but look directly at the mark which nature has set you.
Nature, I say, either that of the universe ^ or your own. The first
leads you to submission to Providence, the latter to act as becomes
you. Now that which is suitable to the frame and constitution of
things is what becomes them. To be more particular ; the rest of
the world is designed for the service of rational beings, in consequence
of this general appointment, by which the lower order of things are
made for the use of the more noble ; and rational creatures, standing
all upon a level, are designed for the advantage of each other. Now,
a beneficent and sociable temper is that which human nature was
principally intended for -, the next thing designed in our being is
to be proof against corporeal impressions. It being the peculiar
privilege of reason to move within herself, to fortify against an
assault, and not suffer sensation or passion to break in upon her;
for these are both of animal and inferior quality. But the under-
standing part claims a right to govern, and will not bend to matter
and appetite. And good reason for it, since she was born to
command and make use of them. The third main requisite in a
rational being is to secure the assent from rashness and mistake.
Let your mind but compass these points and stick to them, and
then she is mistress of everything which belongs to her.
LVII. We ought to spend the remainder of our fife as if it
was more than we expected, and lent us on purpose for wiser
management.
LVIII. Let your fate be your inclination, for there is nothing
more reasonable and prudential.
LIX. When any accident happens, call to mind those who have
^ The rature of the universe is God, in the language of the Stoics.
2 lo Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonimis :
formerly been under the same circumstances ; how full of surprise,
complaint, and trouble they were about the matter. And where are
they now? They are gone, their murmuring could not make them
immortal. To what purpose should you imitate their behaviour ;
cannot you leave foreign humours and things to their own mis-
management and bias ? Your business is only to mind your conduct,
and give a turn of advantage to the emergency. Now you may be
the better for the misfortune, if you will but take care, and do
nothing but what is warrantable ; always remembering that accidents
are indifferent in themselves, and only good or bad for us accord-
ingly as we use them.
LX. Look inwards, and turn over your self ; for you have a lasting
mine of happiness at home, if you will but dig for it.
LXI. Take care that your motions and gestures may be grave
and composed ; for the same air of sense and decency which the
mind can put into the face ought to be visible through the whole
body. But then all this must be done without the least affectation.
LXI I. The right knack of living resembles wrestling more than
dancing, for here a man does not know his movement and his
measures beforehand. No ; he is obliged to stand strong against
chance, and secure himself as occasion shall offer.
LXIII. Well ! it seems you desire to be commended. But what
sort of people are they that must do you this kindness, and how are
their understandings furnished? Truly, if you do but consider
the size of their sense and the disorder of their passions, you will
pity their ignorant misbehaviour, and not care a rush for their
approbation.
LXIV. It is a saying of Plato's,^ that nobody misses the truth by
their good-will. The same may be said with reference to honesty,
sobriety, good-nature, and the like. Be particularly careful to
remember this hint, for it will help to sweeten your temper.
LXV. When you lie under any corporal affliction, let this
lenitive be at hand to relieve you — that there is no scandal in
pain, that the sovereign part of your mind is never the worse for it.
For how can she suffer unless her essence or her benevolence were
' Plato charges ignorance and vice upon the misfortunes of constitution or
education ; Plato's Tinueus.
A Discourse with Himself. 211
impaired ? Besides, Epicurus's maxim will support you under most
pains ; for, as he observes, they will either be tolerable or quickly
over. But then you must keep your notions tight, and not run into
the common opinion about them.^ And here you must remember
that there are many more sensations than we are aware of, which
belong to the nature of pain. Such as nodding when one would
be awake, broihng in the heat of the sun, and nauseating some part
of our diet. Now, when you find yourself fret and grow disturbed
at these things, take notice that you are caught napping, and that
pain has got the better of you.
LXVI. Do not return the temper of ill-natured people upon
themselves, nor treat them as they do the rest of mankind.
LXVII. Which way are we to conclude that Socrates was a better
man in virtue and temper than Telauges ? ^ To make out this, it is
not enough to say that he disputed better and died bolder. The
austerity and discipline of his life, his bravery in slighting the orders
of the thirty tyrants, and refusing to apprehend an innocent person,*
the gravity and greatness in his mien and motion (though the truth
of this last particular may be questioned) ; all this glitter will not
make the character shine out. To prove the point, we must
examine what sort of soul Socrates carried about him. Could he
be contented with the conscience of an honest and a pious man ?
Did he not fret and fume to no purpose at the knavery and wicked-
ness of the age ? Was he governed by nobody's ignorance ? Did
he never question the equity of Providence, grow surprised at his
hard fortune, and sink under the weight of it ? To conclude, did
he keep pain and pleasure at a due distance, and not dip his soul
too deep in his senses ? These marks are the only test of a great
man, and it is to no purpose to pretend to that character without
them.
LXVIII. Nature has not wrought your composition so close as
to destroy the properties of matter and spirit. No ; the mind is in
a condition to distinguish her faculties, to set out her jurisdiction,
and do her own business herself. And now I think of it, lodge this
always in your memory, that a man may be a first-rate in virtue and
true value, and yet be very obscure at the same time. You may
likewise observe that happiness lies in a little room ; granting your
talent will not reach very far into logic and natural philosophy. This
^ See Book viii. sect. 49. 2 ^ philosopher of slender character.
^ One Salominius, a man of fortune.
212 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoniwus :
cannot hinder the freedom and greatness of your mind, nor deprive
you of the blessings of sobriety, beneficence, and resignation.
LXIX. You may live with all the freedom and satisfaction
imaginable, though the whole world should bawl against you and
cry you down ; nay, though a brace of lions should quarter upon
your carcase and tear you limb from limb. For, pray, how can
anything of this reach up to your mind and ruffle her serenity?^
How can it prevent your passing a right judgment upon your
circumstances, and making the best use of them ? And thus your
reason may repel the attack, and argue thus against the object of
terror. " Look ye ! you are not so fierce as you are painted ;
nature has made you one thing, and common mistake another. To
be plain, I expected to engage you, and now you are come, I will
turn you to some account or other ; for it is my way to make
everything serve for something." In short, you may work any
accident into an instance of virtue, into a performance of some
duty, either to God or man. By consequence, we need not be
surprised or overset by any rencounter. For to take things rightly,
there is nothing new in them or difficult to deal with.
LXX. He that is come to the top of wisdom and practice spends
every day as if it were his last, and is never guilty of over-driving,
sluggishness, or insincerity.
LXXI. Though the gods are immortal, and have their patience
tried through so many ages, yet they not only bear with a wicked
world, but provide liberally for it into the bargain. And are you
that are just going off the stage sick of the company ? Are you
tired with ill men already, and yet one of those unhappy mortals
yourself?
LXXn. It is great folly to run from other people's faults, and
not part with your own. This is going quite the wrong way to
work, grasping at a project impracticable, and losing an advantage
which lies in your power.
LXXI II. Whatever business tends neither to the improvement
of your reason nor the benefit of society, conclude it beneath you,
and manage accordingly.
LXXIV. When you have done a kindness, and your neighbour
^ The old paradox.
A Discourse with Himself. 213
is the better for it, what need you be so ignorant as to look any
farther, and lie gaping for reputation and requital ?
LXXV. Nobody is ever tired with favours and advantages.
Now, to act in conformity to the laws of nature and reason is
certainly an advantage. Do not you therefore grow weary of doing
good offices ; for by obliging others, you are really kind to yourself.
LXXVI. There was a time when God and nature was employed
in making the world. So that now all events must either be con-
sequences of decree, and result from the first measures, or else the
soul of the universe ^ failed in the execution of her principal design.
Now the absurdity of this latter supposition will go a great way
towards the making a man easy.
BOOK VIII.
I. To keep you modest and mortified to vain glory, remember that
it has not been your good fortune to spend your life wholly in the
pursuit of virtue and wisdom. Your friends and yourself too are
sufficiently acquainted how much you fall short of philosophy;
and though merit and character are sometimes parted, yet the bare
report of being a philosopher is no easy matter for you to compass.
You are unqualified by your station, and too much embarrassed, for
this privilege, Plowever, since you know how to come at the thing,
never be concerned about missing the credit of it. Be satisfied,
therefore, and for the rest of your life let your own rational nature
direct you. Mind then what she would be at, and let nothing
foreign disturb you. You are very sensible how much you have
rambled after happiness, and failed. Neither learning, nor wealth,
nor fame, nor pleasure, could ever help you to it. Which way is it
to be had, then ? By acting up to the height of human nature.
And how shall a man do this? Why, by getting a right set of
principles for thoughts and practice. And what principles are
those ? Such as state and distinguish good and evil ; such as give
us to understand that there is nothing properly good for a man but
what promotes the virtues of justice, temperance, fortitude, and
iGod.
2 14 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
benevolence ; nor anything bad for him but that which carries him
off to the contrary vices.
II. At every action and enterprise ask yourself this question,
What will the consequence of this be to me? Am I not likely to
repent of it ? I shall be dead in a little time, and then all is over
with me. If the present undertaking is but suitable to an intelligent
and sociable being, and one that has the honour to live by the same
rule, and reason with God himself; if the case stands thus, all is
well, and to what purpose should you look any farther ?
III. Alexander, Julius Csesar, and Pompey, what were they in
comparison of Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates? These philo-
sophers looked through cause, matter, and consequence, and
understood the nature and use of things. This was noble furniture
for a man's head and happiness ; but as for those great princes,
what a load of cares were they pestered with, and how much slaves
to their ambition !
IV. Never disturb yourself, for people will be untoward, and
play the same pranks over again, though you should fret your
heart out.
V. In the first place, keep yourself easy, for all things are
governed by the laws and order of Providence ; besides, you will
quickly go the way of all flesh, as Augustus, Adrian, and the rest
of the emperors have done before you. Farther, examine the
matter to the bottom, and remember that the top of your business
is to be a good man. Therefore, whatever the dignity of human
nature requires of you, set about it presently without ifs or ands ;
and speak always according to your conscience, but let it be done
in the terms of good-nature and civility.
VI. It is the method of Providence to change the face of things,
and remove fortune and success from one place to another. All
conditions are subject to revolution, so that you need not be afraid
of unusual treatment ; for you stand upon no worse ground than
the rest of the world, and will only have your share of the common
fate.
VII. Every being is at ease when the powers of it move regularly
and without interruption. Now a rational being is in this prosperous
condition when her judgment is gained by nothing but truth and
A Discourse with Himself. 2 1 5
evidence; when her designs are all meant for the advantage of
society; when her desires and aversions are confined to objects
within her power ; when she rests satisfied with the distributions of
Providence ; for which she has great reason, in regard she is part of
it herself,^ and with as much propriety as a leaf belongs to the
nature of the tree which bears it ; only with this difference, that a
leaf is part of nature, without sense or reason, and liable to be
checked in its operations ; whereas a man is a limb, as it were, of
an intelligent, righteous, and irresistible being, — a being that is all
wisdom, and assigns matter and form, time, force, and fortune to
everything in due measure and proportion. And this you will
easily perceive, if you do not stop short in your speculation and
make a lame inquiry, but compare the whole of one thing with
the whole of another.
VIII. You have no leisure to read books; what then? You
have leisure not to be haughty or play the knave. It is in your
power to be superior to your senses, and paramount over pleasure
and pain ; to be deaf to the charms of ambition, and look down
upon fame and glory. It is in your power not only to forbear being
angry with people for their folly and ingratitude, but over and
above to cherish their interest and take care of them.
IX. Never censure a court life, nor seem dissatisfied with your
own.
X. Repentance is a reproof of a man's conscience for the neglect
of some advantages. Now, whatever is morally good is profitable,
and ought to be the concern of a man of probity; but no good
man was ever inwardly troubled for the omission of any pleasure,
or the baulking of his senses. From whence it follows that pleasure,
strictly speaking, is neither profitable nor good.
XI. To go to the bottom of a thing, these things should be
answered, What is it in its proper nature and distinction ? Of what
sort of matter and form does it consist? What share of force and
action has it in the world ? And how long is it likely to stay there ?
XII. When you find yourself sleepy in a morning, remember that
business and doing service to the world is to act up to nature and
live like a man; whereas sleeping does but degrade you for the
time, and bring you down to a beast. Now those actions which
^ The Stoics believed the soul a part of God.
2 1 6 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
fall in with the design and properties of nature are more suitable
and serviceable, and upon a custom more pleasant than others.
XIII. Upon every new idea let it be your constant custom to
make use of your talent in physics, metaphysics, and morality, and
examine the object in the respective inquiries of those sciences.
XIV. When you are about to converse with any person, make
this short speech to yourself: How does this man's definition
stand affected ? What notions has he about good and evil ? Nay,
if his understanding is so misled, if he has such unfortunate opinions
concerning pleasure and pain and the causes of them ; if his fancy
or his fears are misapplied, or over-proportioned with respect to
reputation or ignominy, to life or death; if the case stands thus
with him, I do not wonder at his practice, for indeed it is next to
impossible he should do otherwise.
XV. Would it not be an odd instance of surprise to stare at a
fig-tree for bearing figs ? Why then should it seem strange to us
for the world to act like itself, and produce things pursuant to
quality and kind? This is just as foolish as it would be for a
physician to wonder at a fever, or a master of a vessel at a cross
blast of w4nd.
XVI. To retract or mend a fault at the admonition of a friend,
hurts your credit or liberty no more than if you had grown wiser
upon your own thought; for it is still your own judgment and
temper which makes you see your mistake and willing to retrieve it.
XVII. If what is done displeases you, why do you do it, if it is
in your power to let it alone ? But if you cannot help it, who do
you complain of? The atoms or the gods?^ Either way is dis-
traction, and therefore we must murmur against nothing. If you
can mend the matter, go about it; if you cannot, what are you
the better for grumbling ? Now a man should never do anything
to no purpose.
XVIII. Whatever drops out of life is caught up somewhere, for
the world loses nothing.^ Within this circumference of corporeity
all things have their several forms and revolutions ; and here it is,
^ That is, chance or Providence, for the world must be governed by one of
them.
^ That is, nothing is annihilated.
A Discourse with Himself. 217
likewise, that they return into element and first principle, under
which notion those of the world and your own are the very same ; ^
and all these last changes are made without the least repining.
And why, then, should the same matter that lies quiet in an element
grumble in a man ?
XIX. Providence does not grant force and faculties at random,
but everything is made for some end. The sun, as high as it is,
has its business assigned, and so have the celestial deities.^ And
where is the wonder of all this ? But pray what were you made
for ? For your pleasure ? Common sense will not bear so scandalous
an answer.
XX. Nature ^ pre-ordains the end of everything, no less than its
beginning and continuance ; as he that strikes a ball designs whither
it should go, as well as which way. And what is the ball the better
all this while for mounting, or the worse for flying lower and coming
to the ground ? What does a bubble get in the swelling, or lose in
the breaking ? The same may be said of a candle, which is every
jot as happy out as burning.
XXI. Turn your carcase the wrong side outwards, and be proud
if you can ; and to improve your thought, consider what a beauty,
age, diseases, and death will make of you ; and, to keep you low
in your computations upon fame, consider that both the orator and
the hero, the men and the merit, will quickly go off and be out of
sight ; that the earth is but a point, and that we live but in a corner
of this little dimension ; that men differ in their notions of honour
and esteem; and that even the same person is not of the same
opinion long together.
XXII. Mind that which Hes before you, whether it be thought,
word, or action. You are well enough served^ for postponing
your improvement, and making virtue wait for you till to-morrow.
XXIII. Am I about anything? I will do it with regard to the
interest of mankind. Does anything happen to me extraordinary ?
1 All bodies are made of the same matter.
2 The emperor means the stars which the heathen and some Christians too
believed to be animated ; and that a spirit or intelligence was seated in the
centre, and governed the motions of the luminary.
^ Or Providence.
^ Here the emperor refers to some disappointment.
2 18 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
I will receive it as the appointment of fate and the distribution of
heaven.
XXIV. Think a little, and tell me what you meet with in the
business of bathing. There is oil, and sweat, - and dirtiness, and
water, but an offensive mixture, take it altogether. Why, life and
satisfaction is made up of much such indifferent stuff, but coarse, if
you examine it to the bottom.
XXV. Lucilla buried Verus,^ and followed him soon after;
Secunda did the same office for Maximus, and survived but a
little while. And thus it fared with Epitynchanus and Diotimus,
with Antoninus and Faustina,^ with Celer ^ and the Emperor
Adrianus ; they assisted at one funeral, and quickly made another
themselves. Thus poor mortals moulder away ! Where are those
men of reach and prognostication ? and the other haughty fantastical
sparks ? They made a great noise and figure formerly, but what is
become of them now ? Where are those celebrated philosophers,
Charax, Eudsemon, Demetrius the Platonist, and others of their
learning and character ? Alas ! they took but a turn in the world,
and are gone long since. Some of them have sunk to-rights, and
left no memory behind them ; the history of others is overcast
and dwindled into fables ; and a third sort have decayed farther,
and dropped even out of a romance. Your business is therefore to
remember, that after death your body will fall in pieces and fly off
into atoms ; and as for your spirit, that will either be extinguished
or removed into another station.
XXVI. Pleasure and satisfaction consist in following the bent
of nature, and doing the things we were made for. And which way
is this to be compassed ? By the practice of general kindness, by
neglecting the importunity and clamour of our senses, by distin-
guishing appearance from truth, and by contemplating the nature
and works of the Almighty. All this is acting according to kind,
and keeping the faculties in the right channel.
XXVII. Every man has three relations to acquit himself in ; his
body helps to make one, the Deity another, and his neighbours a third.
^ Lucilla was our emperor's daughter, and married to Verus, who was his
partner in the empire.
2 Antoninus Pius's empress.
^ An orator, or rhetoric master to our emperor and his colleague Lucius
Verus.
A Discourse with Hi^nself. 219
XXVIII. If pain is an affliction, it must affect either the body or
the mind. If the body is hurt, let it say so.^ As for the soul, she
can secure the passes, and keep the enemy at a distance ; it is in
her power to be invulnerable, by supposing the accident no evil ;
which supposition is very practicable; for judgment and appetite,
aversion and desire, and all the equipage of thought, are lodged
within, and there no mischief can come at them.2
XXIX. Discharge common prejudice and the fallacies of fancy,
by saying thus to yourself: It is in my power to be as easy and as
innocent as it is possible ; to have nothing of vice, of appetite or dis-
turbance in me. I am likewise in a condition to state the value
and distinguish the quality of things, and make use of them accord-
ingly. These are all privileges of nature, and ought to be remem-
bered as such.
XXX. When you speak in the senate, or elsewhere, mind decency
and character more than rhetoric, and let your discourse be always
sincere and agree with your meaning.
XXXI. Augustus's court is buried long since. His empress and
daughter, his grandchildren and sons-in-law, his sister and Agrippa,
his relations and domestics, physicians and under-sacrificers, his
favourites, such as Arius the philosopher and Maecenas, they are
all gone.
Go on from single persons to families ; that of the Pompeys, for
instance, and you will find the whole line extinct. "This man was
the last of his house " is not uncommon upon a monument. How
solicitous were the ancestors of such people about an heir, and yet
the family must of necessity sink, and the blood fail at one time or
other.
XXXII. Govern your life altogether by measures and rules ; and
if every action goes its due lengths, and holds up to opportunity,
rest contented. Now, no mortal can hinder you from putting your
affairs in this condition. But may not some obstacle without
interpose ? No, not so far as to prevent your acting like a man of
probity and prudence. For all that my motions may be checked,
and my design baulked. It is no matter for that, as long as you are
easy under the obstruction, and pass on smoothly to what comes
* See Book vii. sect. i6.
^ The old paradox.
2 20 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
next ; this behaviour is as good as going thorough, and serves your
improvement as well as success.
XXXIII. As to the case of good fortune, take it without pride,
and resign without reluctance.
XXXIV. If you have observed a hand or a foot cut off and
removed from the body, just such a thing is that man to his power,
who is either a malcontent or over-selfish, who struggles against
fate, or breaks off from the interest of mankind.^ This untoward
behaviour amounts to amputation, and destroys the union of nature.
But here lies the good luck of the case; it is in your power to
retrieve the maim, and set the limb on again. This favour is
allowed to no other part of the creation. Consider then the par-
ticular bounty of God Almighty to man in this privilege. He has
set him above the necessity of breaking off from nature and Pro-
vidence at all ; but supposing his miscarriage, it is in his power to
rejoin the body, and grow together again, and recover the advantage
of being the same member he was at first.
XXXV. Whence come all the powers and prerogatives of rational
beings? From the soul of the universe.^ Amongst other faculties,
they have this which I am going to mention. For as God overrules
all mutinous accidents, brings them under the laws of fate, and makes
them serviceable to his purpose, so it is the power of man to make some-
thing out of every cross adventure, and turn all opposition to advantage.
XXXVI. Do not take your whole life into your head at a time,
nor burden yourself with the weight of the future, nor form an
image of all probable misfortunes ; this method will but confound
you. On the contrary, your way is, upon every emergency to put
this question to yourself. What intolerable circumstances are there in
all this ? For here your honour will secure you, you will be ashamed
to assign particulars, and confess yourself conquered. Besides, you
are to remember that neither what is past nor what is to come
needs afflict you, for you have only to deal with the present. Now
this is strangely lessened if you take it single and by itself. Chide
your fancy, therefore, if it offers to shrink for a moment, and grow
faint under so slender a trial.
XXXVII. Do Panthea and Pergamus still wait at the tomb of
^ See Book ii. sect. l6, Book iii. sect. 8, and alib,
2 God.
'A Discotirse with Himself. 221
Verus, or Chabrias and Diotimus at that of Adrian ? ^ That would
be stuff indeed. And what if they were there, would those princes
be sensible of the service ? Granting they were, what satisfaction
would it be to them ? And suppose they were pleased, would these
waiters last always and be immortal? Are they not doomed to age
and death with the rest of mankind ? And when they are dead,
what a pickle would the royal ghosts be in for want of their attend-
ance ! Alas ! these fancies have nothing in them ; all this cere-
mony must end at last in stench and dust.
XXXVIII. If you are so discerning, says the philosopher, make
use of your talent to some purpose, and let your subject be propor-
tionable to your parts.
XXXIX. I find no moral virtue which contradicts and combats
justice ; this cannot be affirmed of pleasure, for here temperance
comes in with a restraint.
XL. It is opinion which gives being to misfortune ; do not fancy
yourself hurt, and nothing can touch you. But what, is this you?
Is it not some notional superfine thing? No, it is your reason.
But I am not so lucky as to be all reason. Make yourself
so, then, and do not let reason degenerate and grow uneasy.
In short, when anything troubles you, let this thought be your
remedy.
XLI. To be checked in the functions of sense, and motion, and
desire, is an evil to the animal life. That which hinders the growth
or flourishing of a vegetable may be said to be an evil there ; so
likewise to be cramped in the faculties of the mind is an evil to an
intelligent nature. Apply all this to yourself. Does pleasure or pain
solicit or attack you ? Turn them over to your senses, and let them
answer for it. Does anything lie across your undertaking ? Why,
if you were positive and peremptory about it, and set your heart
upon it, then the disappointment is really an evil. But if you
engaged only upon condition the nail would drive, and with a
reserve for accidents, then no manner of hindrance or harm has
happened to you. Indeed, no mortal can lay the soul by the heels,
or put a restraint upon her. The mind, if she will but arm her
thoughts and exert her courage, is impregnable ; and neither fire
nor sword, tongue nor tyrant, can touch her.
^ Princes used to have some of their friends or domestics sit constantly at their
tombs for some time after they were dead.
2 2 2 Conversation of Empero7'' Marcus A ntonimis :
XLII. Why should I fret and vex that never willingly vexed any-
body ? ^ Certainly I can have no reason to be more unkind to
myself than to other people.
XLII I. Every man has his particular gust and inclination ;
but my pleasure lies in wise thinking and reasonable desires. Give
me a sound and a sober understanding; a temper that never falls
out either with men or accidents, that takes all things with good
humour, computes rightly upon their value, and puts them to the
uses they are fit for.
XLIV. Make the best of your time while you have it. Those
who are so solicitous about fame, and think of living here after they
are dead ; such men, I say, never consider that the world will not
mend by growing older; that future generations will be as weak
and disobliging as the present. What then can the noise or
opinions of such little mortals signify ?
XLV. Toss me into what climate or state you please ; for all that
I will keep my genius^ in good humour; that is, my own conscience,
if it is good, shall make me happy. Let me but perform the duties
of a reasonable nature, and I will ask no more. What ! is this
misadventure big enough to ruffle my mind and throw her off the
hinges? to make her mean, craving, and servile, and to fright
her from the privileges of her nature? What is there that can
justify such disorders, and make satisfaction for them?
XLVI. No accident can happen to any man but what is conse-
quent to his condition, and common to his kind. And the same
thing may be affirmed of a beast, a tree, or a stone. Now, if
things fare no otherwise than according to kind and constitution,
what makes you complain and grow uneasy ? You may be assured
Providence will never lay you in the way of an intolerable evil, nor
make your being your grievance.
XLVII. If externals put you into the spleen, take notice that it
is not the thing which disturbs you, but your notion about it,
which notion you may dismiss if you please. But if the condition
of your mind disgusts you, who should hinder you from rectifying
your mistakes, and setting your thoughts in order ? Farther, if
^ The emperor seems here to be under the sense of some ingratitude and ill-
usage extraordinary.
^ Or soul.
A Discourse with Himself. 223
you are disturbed because you are not active and bold in the
discharge of your duty ; if this be your case, your way is to fall on,
and do something, and not lie growling at your own omission. But
you are under some insuperable difficulty. If you have done your
utmost, never vex yourself about the matter ; for you have nothing
to answer for. It may be you will say, It is not worth my while to
live unless this business can be effected. Why, then, even die, but
take your leave handsomely ; go off as smoothly as if you had
succeeded, and be not angry with those that disappointed you.
XLVIII. The mind is invincible when she exerts herself and
relies upon her own courage. In this case there is no forcing her
will, though she has nothing but obstinacy for her defence. What
then must her strength be, when she is fortified with reason, and
engages upon thought and deliberation? A soul unembarrassed
with passion ^ is the most impregnable security ; hither we may
retire and defy our enemies. He that sees not this advantage
must be ignorant, and he that forgets to use it, unhappy.
XLIX. Do not add to your information from without, nor make
more of things than your senses report. For instance, you are
told that such a one has spoken ill of you. Right ; but that you are
really the worse for it is no part of the news ; and if you think so, it
is your own addition. Again ; I see my child lie sick. True ; but
that he is in danger is more than I see, and therefore if I conclude
so I must thank myself for it. Thus always stop at the first
representation, and you are safe. Inferences and supplemental
fancies do but make a man unhappy. But if you will reason upon
it (which may not be unserviceable) do it the right way. Do it like
a man that has looked through the world, and is no stranger to
anything that can happen.
L. Does your cucumber taste bitter ? Let it alone. Are there
brambles in your way ? Avoid them, then. Thus far you are well.
But then do not ask, What does the world with such stufi" as this is ?
This is to be too bold and impertinent, and a natural philosopher
would laugh at you. This expostulation is just as wise as it would
be to find fault with a carpenter for having sawdust, or a tailor
shreds in his shop ; they know where to bestow them, though you
do not. Nay, if you examine farther, the absurdity is too big for the
comparison. For universal nature has no place for refuse out of
herself. All things are lodged within her circumference. Here it
1 That has nothing of hope or fear or aversion or desire to weaken it.
2 24 Conversation of Emperor Marctis Antoninus :
is that they grow old and moulder, and seem good for nothing.
But then under all these disadvantages the wonder of her con-
trivance is such that she melts them down, and recoins them in
another figure, and sends them new and shining from the mint.
And thus she neither wants any foreign ore or by-place to throw
the dross in, but is always abundantly furnished with room, and
matter, and art within herself.
LI. Be not heavy in business, nor disturbed in conversation,
nor rambling and impertinent in your thoughts. Keep your mind
from running adrift, from sudden surprise and transports, and do not
overset yourself with too much employment. Do they curse you ?
Do they threaten to kill and quarter you ? Let them go on. They
can never murder your reason or your virtue. Those privileges run
for life if you please. All this barbarity signifies little. It is much
as if a man that stands by a lovely spring should fall a-railing at it.
The water is never the worse for his foul language; and if he
should throw in dirt and dung, it would quickly disappear and
disperse, and the fountain be as wholesome as ever. Which way
now are you to go to work, to keep your springs always running,
and never stagnate into a pool ? I will tell you. You must be always
drudging at the virtues of freedom and independence, of sincerity,
sobriety, and good-nature. Make yourself but master of these
qualities, and your business is done.
LII. He that is unacquainted with the origin and first cause of
the world, and with that Providence that governs it, must be at a
loss to know where he is, and what empire he lives under. And he
that cannot tell the ends he was made for, is ignorant both of him-
self and the world too. And he that is uninstructed in either of
these two points, will never be able to look into the design of his
being. And yet there are abundance of people that would be
puzzled at these questions. What do you think then of his discre-
tion that is anxious about what is said of him, and values either
the praise or the censure of those little folks that know neither
where they are nor who ?
LIII. Nothing can be more vain than the courting of popular
applause. What ! are you so ambitious of a man's good word that
it may be in an hour's time shall curse himself to the pit of hell ?
Are you so fond of being in their favour that cannot keep in their
own? Striving to please those people that cannot please them-
selves is to no manner of purpose. And how can they be said to
A Discourse with Himself. 225
please themselves who are dissatisfied with their conduct at every
turn, and repent of almost everything they do ?
LIV. Let your soul receive the Deity as your blood does the air,
for the influences of the one are no less vital than the other. This
correspondence is very practicable. For there is an ambient
omnipresent spirit, which lies as open and pervious to your mind,
as the air you breathe does to your lungs. But then you must
remember to be disposed to draw it.
LV. Wickedness is no substance or separate being, and therefore
one would think it should be no necessary nuisance. It subsists
only in particular subjects, and here it does no harm to anything
that is foreign. It is only a plague to the breast it lies in, and does
nobody any mischief, but him that may be rid of it whenever he
pleases.
LVI. My thoughts and my will are as much my own as my
constitution, and no more concerned in the conduct of another
man, than my blood is in the beating of another body's pulse. For
though we are born for the service of each other, yet our liberty is
independent, and our souls all left to ourselves. Otherwise my
neighbour's miscarriage might be my misfortune. But God has
prevented this consequence, lest it should be in another's power to
make me unhappy.
LVII. The sun is diffused and bestows himself everywhere, but
this seeming expense never exhausts him. The reason is, because
he is stretched like a thread, and not poured out like a liquor.
And thus his beams have their name from extension.^ As for the
properties and philosophy of a ray, you may observe them, if you
please to let it into a dark room through a narrow passage. Here
you will see it move in a right line till it is broken and as it were
divided in reflection, by having its progress stopped upon a solid
body. And here the light makes a stand, without dropping or
sliding off. Thus you should let your sense shine out upon
conversation. There is no fear of emptying your understanding.
And when you meet with opposition, never tilt and batter against
it, nor yet drop your talent in despair. No ; let your beams spread
themselves, and play on, and enlighten where they find a capacity.
And as for that body that will not transmit the light, it does but
darken itself by its resistance.
^ ' KxTmi from ''E.x.riUaffScii, as the emperor will have it.
H
2 26 Conversation of Emperor Marctts Antonimis :
LVIII. He that dreads death, is either afraid that his senses
will be extinguished, or altered. Now if the powers are lost, the
pain must be so too, for if he has no faculties, he will have no feeling.
But if he has new perceptions, and another set of senses, he will be
another creature, and then he will live still, as I take it.
LIX. Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore
either reform the world, or bear with it.
LX. Understanding does not always drive onward like an arrow.
The mind sometimes, by making a halt, and going round for
advice, hits the mark much better than if she had let fly directly
upon it. I
LXI. Look nicely into the thoughts of other people, and give
them the same freedom with your own.
BOOK IX.
I. To play the knave is to rebel against religion, all sort of injustice
is no less than high treason against heaven. For since the nature
or soul of the universe^ has made rational creatures for mutual
service and support ; made them that they should assist and oblige
each other, according to the regards of circumstance and merit, but
never to anybody any harm. The case standing thus, he that
crosses upon this design, is profane in his. contradiction and
outrages the most ancient Deity. For the nature of the universe is
the cause of it, and that w^hich gives it being. Thus all things are
one family, suited, and as it were of kin to each other. This nature
is also styled truth, as being the basis of first principles and
certainty. He, therefore, that tells a lie knowingly, is an irreligious
wretch, for by deceiving his neighbour, he is unjust to him, and
cheats him of the truth to which he has a natural right. And he
that is guilty of an untruth out of ignorance, is liable to the same
charge (though not in the same degree), because his ignorance is
voluntary and affected ; because he dissents from the mind of
providence, brings disorder into the world, and opposes the first
settlement of nature. He seems to be fond of confusions to declare
iGod.
A Discourse with Himself. 227
for the interest of error, and take the field against certainty and
science. By neglecting the assistances of heaven, and the talent he
was born to ; he has parted with the guide of his understanding,
lost the test of truth, and the distinction of right and wrong.
Further, he that reckons prosperity and pleasure among things
really good, pain and hardship amongst things really evil, can be no
pious person. For such a man will be sure to complain of the
administrations of providence, charge it with mismatching fortune
and merit, and misapplying rewards and punishments. He will
often see ill people furnished with materials for pleasure, and
regaled with the relish of it, and good men harassed and
depressed, and meeting with nothing but misfortune. To go on :
he that is afraid of pain or affliction, will be afraid of something
that will always be in the world, but to be thus uneasy at the
appointments of providence, is a failure in reverence and respect.
On the other hand : he that is violent in the pursuit of pleasure,
will not stick to turn villain for the purchase. And is not this plainly
an ungracious and an ungodly humour ? To set the matter right,
where the allowance of God is equally clear, as it is with regard to
prosperity and adversity, for had He not approved both these con-
ditions, He would never have made them. I say, where the good
liking of heaven is equally clear, ours ought to be so too. Because
we ought to follow the guidance of nature, and the sense of the
Deity. That man therefore that does not comply with providence
in the same indifference of notion, with respect to pleasure and pain,
life and death, honour and infamy ; he that does not this with-
out struggling of passions, without unmanageable preference or
aversion, is no friend to the divine economy ; his thoughts are
lewd and mutinous, and so would his actions be too, if he had
power.
By saying that Universal Nature, or God, stands equally affected
to these different dispensations, the meaning is, that they are both
comprehended in the general scheme, and equally consequent to
the first establishment. They were decreed by the Almighty from
the beginning, and struck out with the lines of the creation. Then
it was that the plan of providence was drawn, and the fate of
futurity determined. Then nature was made prolific, and enabled
to bring forth in due time. Then the whole stock of beings, the
revolutions of fortune, and the successions of time, were all stated
and set a going.
H. He is better bred, and more a gentleman, that takes leave of
the world without a blot in his scutcheon, and has nothing of false-
2 28 Conversation of Emperor Mar cits Antonimts :
hood and dissimulation, of luxury or pride, to tarnish his character.
But when a man is once dipped in these vices, the next best thing is
for him to quit, rather than live on and be an old sinner. I suppose
you understand the plague too well hot to run away from it. And
what is the plague ? Why, if you are a knave or a libertine, you
have the tokens upon you. The infection of the mind is ten times
worse than that of the air ; the malignity is not near so fatal in the
blood as in the will, for the brute only suffers in the first case, but
the man in the other.
III. Do not contemn death, but take it handsomely and willingly ;
look upon it as part of the product of nature, and one of those things
which Providence has been pleased to order. For as youth and
age, growth and declension, down and grey hairs, pregnancy and
birth, etc., are all natural actions, consequences of time, and
incidents of life ; so also is dying and dissolution every jot as much
according to common course as the rest. A wise man therefore
must neither run giddily, nor stalk haughtily into his grave; he
must look upon death as nature's business, and wait her leisure, as
he does for the progress and maturity of other ^ things : for as you
don't overdrive a foetus, but let it take its own time, and come into
the world when it is ready, so you should stay in the other case,
till opportunity presents, and things are ripe, and your soul drops
out of the husk of her own accord. But if you stand in need of a
vulgar remedy, and want a cordial to make dying go down the
better, you shall have it. Consider then what sort of world and
what sort of humours you will be rid of ! It is true you are not to
fall foul upon mankind, but to treat them with kindness and temper ;
but still you may remember that you do not live among people just
of your own mind and fancy. Indeed if your humours hit it, and
your understandings were all set to the same tune, such an
unanimity amongst mortals might reasonably recommend life, and
make us loath to part with it ; but you perceive the matter is quite
otherways, and that vast disturbances are bred by different opinions,
insomuch that now we ought rather to petition death to make haste,
for fear we should be teased out of our reason, and lose our best
thoughts in a crowd.
IV. He that commits a fault abroad is a trespasser at home, and
he that injures his neighbour hurts himself, for to make himself an
ill man is a shrewd mischief.
^ Here the emperor seems to contradict his Stoical opinion of the lawfulness of
self-murder.
A Discourse with Himself. 229
V. Omissions no less than commissions, are oftentimes branches
of injustice.
VI. If your judgment pronounces rightly, if your actions are
friendly and well-meant, if your mind is contented and resigned to
Providence ; if you are in possession of these blessings, you are
happy enough in all conscience.
VII. Do not be imposed on by appearances ; check your fancy,
and moderate your heat, and keep your reason always in her own
power.
VIII. The souls of brutes are all of one kind, and so are those
of rational beings, though of a high order. And thus all living
creatures that have occasion for air, and earth, and light, are
furnished at the same shop, and have the same elements and sun
at their service.^
IX. Things of the same common quality have a tendency to their
kind. Earthy bodies tumble to the ground, one drop of moisture
runs after another ; and thus air, where it is predominant, presses
after air, and nothing but force and violence can keep these things
asunder. Fire likewise mounts, and reaches upwards, to make
after its own element above. This property gives it a disposition
to propagate its species, and join other fires here below, and for this
reason it catches easily upon all fuel a little more dry than ordinary,
because here the qualities opposite to ascension are weak and
disabled. Thus all beings which partake of the same common
thought and understanding, have a natural instinct for correspond-
ence with their own kind, only with this difference, that the higher
anything stands in the scale of being, the stronger it is inclined to
communication with its own order and distinction. To illustrate
the argument, we find the force of nature and blood very active
amongst brute animals, as appears by their running together in
herds and swarms according to kind ; by their providing for their
young ones, and by that resemblance of love and affection, which
is carried on among them. These animals have a soul in them ;
by consequence their principle of union is more vigorous than in
stocks and stones. To go on to reasonable creatures, and here we
may observe mankind united by public councils and common-
wealths, by particular friendships and families ; and when war has
^ This section proves that mankind are all equal in the grand privileges of
nature.
230 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
worked them to the greatest misunderstanding, they have even then
the benefit of corresponding by truce and articles. Farther, to
instance in a higher order, the stars,^ though not neighbours in
situation, move by concert. Thus where things are more noble,
and nature rises, sympathy rises too, and operates at a distance.
But here lies the misery of it. Mankind are strangely unfortunate
with the privilege of their reason ! They are the only beings
which break through the force of instinct, and would make the
alliances of nature signify nothing. But though they run from
their kind, they are caught again in some measure. For you shall
sooner see a piece of earth refuse to lie by its own element, than
find any man so perfectly unsociable, as not to correspond with
somebody or other.
X. Everything affords some product ; God, and men, and the
world, all of them bear fruit in their proper seasons ; it is true, use
has restrained this signification to vines and trees ; but this custom
apart, reason may properly enough be said to bear, when it is
serviceable both at home and to the public, especially if we
consider that the fruit of the understanding keeps close to its kind,
and resembles the stock more fully than that which grows in the
garden.
XI. Give an injurious person good advice, and reform him if you
can. If not, remember that your clemency and temper were given
you for this trial ; that the gods are so patient and benign, as to
pass by the perverseness of men, and sometimes to assist them over
and above in their health, fame, and fortune. Just thus may you do
if you please ; if not, let me know the impediment.
XII. Do not drudge like a galley slave, nor do business in such
a laborious manner, as if you had a mind to be pitied, or wondered
at. Let your motives be more solid, and either put on, or make a
halt, as public reason and convenience shall direct you.
XIII. To-day I rushed clear out of all misfortune, or rather I
threw misfortune from me ; for, to speak truth, it was no outlier,
nor ever any farther off than my own fancy.
XIV. All things are the same over again, and nothing but what
has been served up to our forefathers; they are stale upon experiment,
momentary in their lasting, and coarse in their matter.
^ The emperor supposed the stars animated by a deity.
A Discourse with Himself. 231
XV. Things or accidents stand without doors, and keep their
distance, and neither know, nor report any things about themselves ;
what is it then that pronounces upon their quahty, and makes them
look frightfully ? Nothing but your own fancy and opinion.^
XVI. As virtue and vice consist in action, and not in the
impressions of the senses ; so it is not what they feel, but what they
do, which makes mankind either happy or miserable.^
XVII. It is all one to a stone whether it is thrown upwards or
downwards ; the mounting or sinking of the motion does not make
the thing one jot the better or the worse.^
XVIII. Examine the size of people's sense and the condition
of their understandings, and you will never be fond of popularity,
or afraid of censure.
XIX. All things are in a perpetual flux, and a sort of consump-
tion ; you yourself are so, and the whole world keeps you company.
XX. Do not disturb yourself about the irregularities of other
people, but let everybody's fault lie at their own doors.
XXL The intermission of action, and a stop in appetite and
thought, are a kind of death upon the faculties for the present ; and
yet there is no harm in it. Go on now to the different periods of
life, and here you will find infancy, youth, manhood, and old age
treading upon the heels of each other ; and the first as it were cut
down, and despatched by the latter. And where lies the damage
and terror of all this ? Proceed to your grandfather's time, and to
that of your father and mother, and run over as much ground
in changes, decay and death, as you please; and when you
have done, ask yourself what great grievance there is in the
contemplation. And when you find nothing extraordinary, you
may conclude that ending and alteration will fit no harder upon
your life than upon those before you.
XXII. Make a stand for thought and inquiry, and survey your
own mind, that of the universe,* and that of the person who has
disobliged you : your own, that you may keep it honest ; God
Almighty's, that you may know who you are part of, and to whom
1 See Book iv. sect. 39 and alib. 2 See Book vi. sect. 51.
^ See Book viii. sect. 20. * God.
232 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus:
you belong; the offender's, that you may discover whether his
fault was ignorance or malice : and here you should likewise
remember, that you are of kin to him.
XXIII. As you are a member of society yourself, so every action
of yours should tend to the benefit and improvement of it. So
that when you do anything which has neither immediate nor remote
reference to general advantage, you make a breach in the common
interest, destroy the unity of public life, and are as really guilty of
a seditious behaviour, as a malcontent that embroils a nation, and
draws off a faction from the government.
XXIV. The business of mankind is strangely trifling and transient;
things are so hollow, and so quickly hurried off, that the world looks
somewhat like a scene of necromancy, and seems to be more
apparition than real life.^
XXV. Penetrate the quality of forms, and take a view of them,
abstracted from their matter ; and when you have done this, com-
pute the common period of their duration.^
XXVI. You have been a great sufferer for rambling from a life of
reason, and for not being contented with doing what you were made
for.
XXVII. When people treat you ill, blame your conduct, or
report anything to your disadvantage ; shoot yourself into the very
soul of them ; rummage their understandings, and see how their
heads are furnished. A thorough inquiry into this matter will set
you at rest. You will be fully convinced that the opinion of such
mortals is not worth one troublesome thought. However, you must
be kind to them, for nature has made them your relations. Besides,
the gods^ give them all sort of countenance, advertise them by
dreams and prophecy, and help them to those things they have a
mind to.
XXVIII. This uncertain world is always rolling, and turning
things topsy-turvy. Now the soul of the universe ^ either pursues
the course of time, descends to particulars, and exerts itself upon
every effect, or else matter and motion were put into such order at
^ See Book v. sect. 33. '^ See Book iv. 21, and vii. 29, and xii. 18,
^ Whose pattern ought to be followed. * God.
A Discourse with Himself. 233
first, that things should do of themselves, and work up the model by
necessary consequence. Take it either way, and the administration
will lie in the same hands ; and that is sufficient to make you quiet.
But if neither of these hypotheses will satisfy, you must set
Epicurus's atoms at the helm, and make them justle out a world
in the dark. In a word, if God governs, all is well ; but if things are
left to themselves and set adrift, do not you ramble and float after
them. To conclude ; we shall quickly be all under ground ; and
ere long the earth itself must be changed into something else,
and that something into another form, and so on in infinilum. Now
he that considers these everlasting alterations, this constant tossing
and tumbling, and how fast revolutions succeed each other ; he that
considers this, I say, will have but a mean opinion of what the
world can afford.
XXIX. Nature runs rapid like a torrent, and sweeps all things.^
What wretched statesmen are those counterfeits in virtue and
philosophy ! ^ Hark you, friend, no more hypocrisy and grimace,
no prudential knavery, no clashing between politics and morals !
Come, let honesty be served first ; do what God requires of you,
and trust for the issue and event. Fall on them as occasion offers,
and never look about for company and commendation. However,
I would not have you expect Plato's commonwealth. That draught
is too fine, and your morals will never rise up to it. As the world
goes, a moderate reformation is a great point, and therefore rest
contented. If we can but govern people's hands, we must let their
hearts and their heads go free. To cure them all of their folly and
ill principles is impracticable. And yet, unless you can change
their opinions, their subjection will be all force and dissembling.
But you will say, were not Alexander, Philip, and Demetrius
Phalereus under the rules of these pretended philosophers? and
what a noble figure do they make in history ! Granting all that, I
have a question or two to ask them. Had they a right notion of
the laws of nature, and were they just and generous in good earnest ?
If their virtues were all show and varnish, I desire to be excused
the imitation. Philosophy is a modest profession ; it is all reality
and plain dealing. I hate solemnity and pretence with nothing but
pride at the bottom.
XXX. Fly your fancy into the clouds, and from this imaginary
^ See Books ii., xvii., vii., xix., and alib.
2 This section is levelled against the knavery of the Sophists, who pretended
to the politics.
234 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
height, take a view of mortals here below. What strange medley of
management, what confusion of prospect is here ! What infinite
variety in religion, government, and fortune ! Go on with the
speculation, stretch your thoughts over time and nature, and look
upon things in the different aspects of the past and the present ;
consider how the world withers and wears off; that the ages before
were unacquainted with you, and so will many of those that come
after ; that neither your power nor your fame reaches far among
the barbarians ; how many are there that never heard of your name,
how many that will quickly forget you, and how many that admire
you now, will censure you afterwards ! In short, memory and fame,
and all those things which are commonly so much valued, are no
better than toys and amusements.
XXXI. Be always easy and upright ; let fortitude guard without
and honesty within ; keep your mind and your motions true to the
interest of mankind, for then you know your faculties are in the
right posture that nature has set them.
XXXII. The greatest part of your trouble lies in your fancy, and
therefore you may disengage yourself when you please. I will tell
you which way you may move much more freely, and give ease
and elbow-room to your mind. Take the whole world into your
contemplation, and the little time you are to live in it. Consider
how fast the scenes are shifted, and how near the end of all things
lies to their beginning ! But then the extent of duration in which
we are nothing concerned ! The ages before our birth and after
our death are both infinite and unmeasurable.
XXXIII. Whatever makes a figure now, will quickly decay and
disappear. And those that gaze upon the ruins of time will be
buried under them. And then the longest and the shortest liver
will be both in the same condition.
XXXIV. If you would walk within people, and discover their
intentions, and look through their ceremony and respect, you must
strain for observation ; and strip them to the soul if you can. Such
a narrow inquiry will, among other things, bring a great deal of
vanity to light ; yes, mortals are very full of themselves ; when they
commend or censure, do you a good or ill turn, they are strangely
conceited of the performance.
XXXV. The dissolution of forms is no loss in the mass of matter.
A Discotcrse with Himself. 235
Things are changed this way, it is true, but they do not perish.
Providence, by which all things are well contrived, delights in these
alterations ; they have always had their range in the world, and
always will have. What then ? Will you blame the conduct of the
first cause ? Were all things made, and must they always be out of
order ? What ! are there so many gods in being, and none able to
conquer and correct this evil ? And is nature indeed condemned
to an everlasting misfortune ?
XXXVI. The materials of bodies, if you examine them, are
strangely coarse. Those that are animated have little in them but
water, and dust, and bones, and something that is offensive. And
then if you go to metals, minerals, etc., marble is no more than a
callous excrescence, nor gold and silver any better than the dregs
and sediment of the earth. Fine clothes are nothing but hair
twisted together, and smeared with the blood of a little fish.^
And thus I might proceed further. And as for spirits, they are
somewhat of kin to the rest, and are chased from on^ figure to
another. 2
XXXVII. Come, you have lived long enough, unless you could
make more of it. Here is nothing but grumbling and apishness to
be met with. What makes you disturbed? What can you be
surprised at? What has happened to you worse than you had
reason to expect ? Does form or matter, body or spirit, make you
uneasy? Look into them, and you may probably be relieved.
Now, for your comfort, these two are nature's all, and there is no
third thing to molest you. It is high time therefore to interpret the
gods rightly, and throw off your chagrin against heaven.
XXXVIII. Three years' time to peruse nature and look over
the world is as good as a hundred.^
&'
XXXIX. If such a man has done amiss, the mischief is to himself;
and it may be, if you inquire, he is not neither.
XL. Either all things are ordered by an intelligent being, who
makes the world but one family (and if so, why should a part, or
single member, complain of that which is designed for the benefit
^ This made the purple dye.
^ The Stoics held the soul a composition of fire and air, and by consequence it
must be corruptible.
^ See Book iii. sect. 7, Book vi. sect. 23.
236 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
of the whole?), or else we are under the misrule of atoms and con-
fusion. Now, take the case which way you please, there is either
no reason or no remedy for complaint ; and therefore it is to no
purpose to be uneasy.
XLI. I hope you understand your mind better than to kill and
bury it, and make it little enough for the coarse functions and fate
of the body.
XLII. Either the gods have power to assist us, or they have not ;
if they have not, what does praying to them signify ? If they have,
why do not you rather pray that they would discharge your desires
than satisfy them; and rather set you above the passion of fear
than keep away the thing you are afraid of? For if the gods can
help us, no doubt they can help us to be wiser. But it may be,
you will say, they have furnished me sufficiently for these matters.
Why then do not you make use of your talent and act like a man of
spirit, and not run cringing and creeping after that which is out of
your reach ? But then who told you that the gods do not assist us
in things which we might possibly compass by ourselves ? Let me
prescribe the matter of your devotions. For instance : This man
prays that he may gain such a woman, it may be to debauch her ;
but do you rather pray that you may have no such inchnation.
Another invokes the gods to set him free from a troublesome
superior ; but let it be your petition that your mind may never put
you upon such a wish. A third is mighty devout to prevent the
loss of his son ; but I would have you pray rather against the fear
of losing him. Let this be the rule for your devotions, and see if
the event does not answer.
XLIII. When I was sick, says Epicurus, I did not discourse the
company about my diseases, or the torment I was troubled with.
No ; my system of natural philosophy was part of my subject ; and
my main concern was, that my mind might not give way to my body,
nor grow uneasy under pain. I made no great business of a
recovery, nor gave any handle to the doctors to brag of their pro-
fession, but held on with fortitude and indififerency. Thus he. And
when you are sick, or under any other disadvantage, cannot you
behave yourself in this manner ? It is practicable to all persuasions
in philosophy to stand their ground against all accidents, and not
to fall into the weaknesses and folly of the ignorant. We must
always be prepared for the present, mind the thing before us, and
the tools too with which we are to work.
A Discottrse with Himself. 237
XLIV. When you are shocked by any man's impudence, put this
question to yourself, Is it possible for such impudent people not to
be in the world? No indeed.^ Why then do you wish for an
impossibility? For this lewd, ill-behaved fellow is one of those
necessary rascals that the world cannot dispense with. This
reflection will furnish you with patience for a knave or any other
ill body. For when you consider that there is no living without
this sort of cattle, you will treat them with more temper upon
occasion. And to fortify you further, you will find that nature has
armed you at all points, sent an antidote against every disease, and
provided you some virtue or other against all sort of vice and
immorality. For the purpose, if you have to do with a troublesome
blockhead, you have meekness and temper for your guard, and so
of the rest. It is likewise in your power to inform the man better
and set him right ; for every one that does an ill action is really out
of his way, and misses his mark, though he may not know it.
Besides, what harm have you received ? If you examine the case
you will find none of these provoking mortals have done your mind
any damages. Now that is the only place in which you are capable of
being hurt. Pray, where is the wonder if an ignorant fellow has done
like himself? If you expected other things from him, you are much
to blame. His want of sense or principles might make you conclude
upon his misbehaviour, and yet when that which was most likely
has happened, you seem surprised at it. Further, when you
complain of a notorious knave, you are still more to blame ; for
though his honesty might have been a disappointment, falsehood
ought to be none. And what could make you believe he would
baulk his custom and fancy for your sake ? To go on, you have
done a kindness to such a person, and because he makes no return
you grow peevish and satirical upon him. In earnest, this is a sign
that you had a mercenary view, and that you were but a huckster
in the mask of a friend ; for otherwise you would have been
satisfied with a generous action, and made virtue her own reward.
To argue the point a Httle : You have obliged a man ; it is very
well. What would you have more ? Is not the consciousness of
doing a good office a sufficient consideration ? You have humoured
your own nature, and acted upon your constitution : and must you
still have something over and above ? This is just as if an eye or a
foot should demand a salary for their service, and not see a pin or
move a step without something for their pains. For as these organs
are contrived for particular functions, which when they perform
^ The Stoics fancied vice necessary to the being of virtue. Vid. Annot,
Gatak,
238 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
they pursue their nature, and attain their perfection ; so man is made
to be kind and obhge, and his faculties are ordered accordingly.
And therefore when he does a good office, and proves serviceable
to the world, he follows the bent and answers the end of his being ;
and when he does so, he moves smoothly, and is always in the best
condition.
BOOK X. I
I. O MY soul ! Are you ever to be rightly good, uncompounded
and uniform, unmasked and made more visible to yourself than the
body that hangs about you? Are you ever likely to relish good
nature and general kindness as you ought ? Will you ever be fully
satisfied, get above want and wishing, and never desire to fetch
your pleasure out of anything foreign, either living or inanimate?
Not desiring, I say, either time for longer enjoyment, nor place for
elbow-room, nor climate for good air, nor the music of good com-
pany? Can you abstract yourself thus from the world, and take
your leave of all mortals, and be contented with your present
condition, let it be what it will ? And be persuaded that you are
fully furnished ; that all things will do well with you, for the gods
are at the head of the administration; and they will approve o
nothing but what is for the best, and tends to the security and
advantage of that good, righteous, beautiful, and perfect aniraal,i
which generates and supports all things, and keeps those things
which decay from running out of compass, that other resembling
beings may be made out of them. In a word, are you ever likely
to be so happily qualified, as to converse with the gods and men in
such a manner as neither to complain of them nor be condemned
by them ?
II. Examine what your nature requires, as if you had no other
law to govern you : and when you have looked into her inclinations,
never baulk them, unless your animal nature or the interest of your
body are likely to be worse for it. Then you are to examine what
your animal nature or the interest of your senses demands : and
here you may indulge your appetite as far as 3'OU please, provided
your rational nature does not suffer by the liberty. Now your
1 The world, or God. See Book iv. sect. 40, Book v. sect. 8.
A Discourse with Himself. 239
rational nature admits of nothing but what is serviceable to the rest
of mankind : keep to these rules, and you will have no need of
rambling for further instruction.
III. Whatever happens, you have no reason to take it ill, for
either you have strength to bear it, or you have not ; if you have,
exert your nature, and never murmur at the matter : but if the
weight is too heavy for you, it will crush your senses, and then you
won't feel it. And here you are to remember that to think a thing
tolerable is the way to make it so : now, to think it necessary is the
way to think it tolerable. Press it but strongly from the topics of
interest or duty, and you will go through.
IV. Is any one mistaken ? Undeceive him civilly, and show him
his oversight; but if you cannot convince him, blame your own
management, though it is possible you may not always deserve
it.
V. Whatever happens to you, was pre-ordained your lot, and that
chain of causes which constitutes fate, tied your person and the
event together from all eternity.
VI. Either atoms and chance, or nature,^ are uppermost : now
I am for the latter part of the disjunction, and lay it down for a
ground in the first place, that I am part of that whole which is all
under nature's government. Secondly, I am in some measure
related to those beings which are of my own order and species.
These points being agreed, I shall apply them : insomuch then as I
am a part of the universe, I shall never be displeased with the
general appointment : for that can never be prejudicial to the parts
which is serviceable to the whole ; neither is the universe clogged
with any incumbrance, for the nature of no being is an enemy to
itself. But the world ^ has this advantage above other particular
beings, that there is nothing to limit or overrule it; no foreign
power to force it upon unfriendly productions. Since therefore I
am a member of so magnificent a body, and belong to such an
uncontrollable sovereignty, I shall freely acquiesce in whatever
happens to me. Further, inasmuch as I have a particular relation
to my own species, I will never do anything against common right
or the interest of society. On the other hand, I shall make it my
business to oblige mankind, lay out my whole life for the advantage
of the public, and forbear all sort of liberty which has a tendency
1 God. ^ Or God.
\
\
240 Conversatio7i of Einperor Marcus Ajitoninus :
to the contrary. And by holding to this conduct I shall be happy
of course ; as that burgher must needs be who is always plodding
for the benefit of his corporation, and perfectly satisfied with that
interest and station the government shall assign him.
VII. Whatever lies within the compass of the universe, must of
necessity corrupt and decay ; by corruption I mean only alteration.
Now if this be an evil, it is a necessary one ; by consequence the
whole of nature must be in a bad condition, by having the parts so
slenderly put together, and so very much disposed to moulder and
drop in pieces. And if the case stands thus, nature must either
design unkindness to herself, by making the parts of her own body
subject to an unavoidable misfortune, or else she huddled up things
in the dark without foreseeing what would become of them : but
both these suppositions are highly improbable. Now if any man
has a mind to leave nature or the first cause out of the scheme, and
aftirm that things follow the make and tendency of their constitu-
tion ; he that afiirms this does but expose himself by granting, in
the first place, that the parts of the universe are made for alteration :
and then falls a wondering and growling at decay and revolution, as
if such accidents were unnatural and extraordinary ; especially since
things do but return whence they came, and fall back no further
than their first principles. For upon the dissolution of particular
bodies, either the elements are scattered at large, or else they march
straight to their head-quarters ; and that which is solid turns to
earth, and the particles of air join their own element : and thus they
are received into the main body of the universe: the universe, I
say, which will either be destroyed by fire, after a certain period, or
else be renewed by perpetual vicissitudes. To return ; I would not
have you think that those particles of earth or air, which you have now
in your constitution, are the same with those you brought into the
world with you. Do not mistake ; your body has been made over
and over since that time. The matter which now belongs to you is
as it were but of yesterday's growth ; though you have lived so long
in the world, your carcase is but a young one, for you have taken it
all in at your mouth but somewhat lately; and therefore, when you
perceive it wear off, you need not be so much troubled at the loss ;
for the alterations in your body do not rob you of the flesh and
blood you had from your mother, but only of some fresher recruits
of no long standing. But suppose you had still the same body you
were born with, what would you do with it without the benefit
of change? Without a new supply of matter, which must alter
the case, nourishment and growth are perfectly impracticable:
A Discourse with Himself. 241
besides, death cannot be far off, and then both new matter
and old must take their leave and be swept to their respective
elements.^
VIII. When you have given yourself the titles of a man of
modesty and good nature, of truth and prudence, of resignation and
magnanimity, take care that your practice answers up to your
character; and if your distinctions and your hfe do not agree, if
any of these glorious names are lost in your mismanagement,
recover them as soon as you can. Remembering withal, that
prudence implies consideration, care, and comprehensive inquiry :
that to be unanimous ^ or resigned, signifies a cheerful compliance
with the allotments of providence. That magnanimity imports an
elevation of soul, a noble contempt of pleasure and pain, of glory
and death ; and all those things which people are either fond or
afraid of. Now if you can earn the honour of this style, and
neither fly out of the compass of the character, nor yet desire it
from other folks, you will be quite another man, and steer a quite
different course from what you do at present. And indeed it is
high time to begin : for to desire to go on at this rate, to be
polluted with appetite and harassed with passion any longer, is a
senseless and a scandalous wish. It resembles the meanness of
those poor wretches in the amphitheatre, who when they are half
devoured,^ and have nothing but wounds left them, beg notwith-
standing to be respited till the morrow ; though they know them-
selves only reserved for the same teeth that tore them before. Act
up then to these few names of credit, and work them into the soul
of you. And if you find your virtue big enough for the practice,
stand your ground, and think yourself transported to the Fortunate
Islands.* But if you are overmatched, and begin to give way, and
perceive your station and impediment, even knock off, and retire
where you may manage better. And if this will not do, you may give
life the slip ; but then let there be nothing of passion or hurry in
the manner. Walk gravely and handsomely into the other world ;
and thus the last action of your life will be the only one worth the
owning. And to remember those good qualities above mentioned
the more effectually, you should consider that imitation is the most
acceptable part of worship, and that the gods had much rather
mankind should resemble than flatter them : that operation is the
right proof of nature; that trees are distinguished by their fruit,
dogs by the qualities proper to their kind ; and thus it holds with
^ D'Acier. 2 To(T6[z(ppov.
^ By lions and other beasts of prey. * The Paradise of the heathens.
242 Conversation of Emperor Maracs Anto7iinus :
men too, who ought to quit that name, unless they can answer the
idea, and make out their claim by their actions.
IX. Unless you are very careful, this campaigning, tempestuous
life you are engaged in, the liberties of your court, your own
laziness, and the flattery of your subjects, will constantly be doing
you disservice, wear out the noble impressions of philosophy, and
make your study of nature insignificant. How then are you to
manage upon all occasions ? In such a manner as to omit neither
business nor thinking. To be modest in the consciousness of your
improvement, but not so far as to undervalue your knowledge, and
keep it out of sight. When you are thus well skilled, both in
theory and practice, then your virtues will regale you, and you will
relish the advantage of philosophy. Then you will be able to
understand the bottom of everything; to pronounce upon its nature,
the ingredients it was made of, and the weight it has in the world ;
to calculate its continuance, who are likely to be affected with it,
and what powers they are which can both give, and take it away.
X. A spider when she has caught a fly thinks she has done
some great matter, and so does a sportsman when he has run down
a hare, and a fisherman too when he has overreached a sprat or a
gudgeon. Some others must kill a boar or a bear before they can
grow conceited ; and a fourth sort value themselves extremely upon
their hunting the Sarmatian moss-troopers. Though it may be, in
this last case, if you go to the definition of robbing, the one are as
much thieves as the other,
XI. Sit closely to the study of physics, that you may observe the
steps, and learn the history of nature, and trace the progress of
bodies from one form and species to another : contemplate often
upon this subject, for there is nothing contributes so much to
greatness of mind, as a thorough insight into these matters.^ He
that is rightly affected with this speculation, has in a manner laid
his body aside and all that belongs to it. He considers that this
world will quickly be over with him, that he must take his leave of
mankind, and remove into another condition. In consequence of
these thoughts, he is all justice and resignation.^ And as for what
people think or talk of him, or practise against him, he never minds
it. He has but two points to secure, that is, to be honest in what
he does, and contented with what he receives.^ As for other
^ See Book iii. sect. ii. ^ That is, to Providence.
^ From fate.
A Discourse with Himself. 243
projects and fancies, he has done with them. His business is only
to live by reason, and to follow that path which nature has
chalked out for him, for in so doing he has the deity for his
guide.
XII. What need you be anxious about the event, when you may
examine the enterprise, and debate the reasonableness of it? If
you find it practicable and proper, go on, and let nothing divert
you : but if you cannot see through it, make a halt, and take the
best advice upon the case. And if your measures happen to be
broken by some new emergency, make the most of what is in your
power and always stick to the point of honesty ; for after all, that
is the best stake in the hedge : for, though the grand design may
not succeed, yet when it is fairly undertaken, and well managed, it
makes one easy under the miscarriage. Reason and justice are
pleasant companions; and those that keep to them are always
satisfied, and in good humour.
XIII. When you are first awake you may put this question :
whether another man's virtue will signify anything to the doing your
business ? No, unless you help yourself, another man's mind will
no more improve you, than another man's mouth will nourish you.
This thought may do you service in a morning, and help to make
the day more significant. And, now I think on it, do not forget
what sort of men those are which value themselves so much upon
the good or ill character they give their neighbours ; one would
imagine by their bragging they could govern the world with their
tongues, and talk people into what condition they had a mind to.
But then these mighty men of satire and panegyric, how scandal-
ously do they live ! How are they overgrown with luxury and
lewdness ! How foolish are their fancies, and how unreasonable
their fears ! How much truth do they murder with their pratings ;
and how often do they steal from an honest man, to make a knave
look the better ! But after all they have the worst of it, by abusing
that reason which might have served them to so many excellent
purposes.
XIV. He that considers that nature ^ has the disposal of all
things, will address her in this language of respect : " Give me what
you please, and take what you please away. I am contented.'
This is the strain of a man bred to sobriety and good principles.
And though the expression may be extraordinary, there is not the
1 God.
244 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonimts :
least tincture of vanity in it, but it proceeds wholly from obedience
and satisfaction.
XV. Your time is almost over, therefore live as if you were re-
tired in the country. Place signifies nothing ; virtue and philosophy
will thrive everywhere, provided you mind your business. Never
run into a hole and shun company. No, let the world have the
benefit of a good example, and look upon an honest man ; and if
they do not like him, let them knock him on the head ; for it is
much better he were served so, than to live at their rate of
disorder.
XVI. Notion without practice is impertinence ; spend no more
time then in stating the qualifications of a man of virtue, but
endeavour to get them.
XVII. Take the whole bulk of matter, and all the extent of time
frequently into your thoughts : and then consider that all particular
bodies are but a grain in the proportion of substance, and but the
turning of a wimble in respect of time.
XVIII. Do not suffer the appearances of things to dazzle your
sight and deceive you. Examine them closely, and you will find
them ready to decay and tumble. And that all things are made as
it were to be unmade again.
XIX. Consider what an humble figure the biggest people make
when they are eating, sleeping, and doing the other coarse work of
nature, to which they are all condemned ! But then when they are
in their altitudes, in their pomp, or in their passion, strutting or
mauling their inferiors; you would take them for another sort of
creatures, and that they fancy themselves more than mortal men !
And yet how many little masters did they lately cringe to ! how
mean was their service and their salary ! and what a sorry condition
will they come to in a short time ! ^
XX. That's best for every man which God sends him ; and the
time of His sending too is always a circumstance of advantage.
XXI. The earth, as the poet has it,^ " loves the refreshment of a
shower, and the clouds when they are loaden, love to send it."
And the world loves to execute the decrees of fate ; and therefore
1 Either by misfortune or death. ^ Eurip.
A Discourse with Himself. 245
say I to the world,^ your inclinations and mine shall always be the
same.
XXII. Either you will take the benefit of custom, and keep to
your old course of life, or you will step farther into the world, as
your fancy shall lead you, or else death will give you your quietus
est; one of these cases must happen, therefore be not discouraged.
XXIII. Take it for a rule, that philosophy is everywhere
practicable ; and that there is no such great matter in retirement.
A man may be wise and sedate in a crowd as well as in a desert,
and keep the noise of the world from getting within him. In this
case, as Plato observes,^ " the walls of a town and the enclosure of a
sheepfold may be made the same thing."
XXIV. How does my mind stand affected ? What condition is
my understanding in ? And to what uses do I put it ? Does not
thought and reason run low with me? Am I not grown selfish,
and broken loose from the general interest } Is not my soul as it
were melted into my senses, and perfectly governed by them ?
XXV. He that runs away from his master is a fugitive ; now the
law ^ is every man's master, and therefore he that transgresses it is
a deserter. And under this character we may range all those that
are dissatisfied with the administration of the world ; angry at what
is past, and uneasy about the future. For these people, were it in
their power, would set aside that justice which gives every one his
due, and break through the orders of providence.
XXVI. The formation of the foetus is a great subject for con-
templation. The first principles of life are extremely slender and
mysterious ; and yet nature works them up into a strange increase
of bulk, diversity, and proportion. And after the birth is over, the
infant is supported by throwing a Httle nourishment down the
throat on it. And here the force and conduct of the operation is
extraordinary. For what can be more surprising than to see such
wonderful effects from so unpromising a cause? To see growth
and motion, and strength and beauty ; all the functions and force
and ornament of the creature sprout out of a little pap or gruel ?
These things though they are wrought in the dark, and we cannot
trace them with our senses, no more than we can the causes of
gravitation ; for all this, our understandings may reach a great way,
^ Or Providence. ^ piato, Thrcetei. ^ The law of nature, or God.
246 Conversation of E^npe^'or Marcus Antoninus :
and discover the miracles of Providence, though not the manner of
their performance.
XXVII. You will do well to remember that the world is just as
it was formerly, and will go on at the same rate when you are dead
and gone. If you either dip into history, or recollect your own
memory, you will perceive the scenes of life strangely uniform, and
nothing but the old plays revived. Take a view of the courts of
Adrian, Antoninus Pius, of PhiHp of Macedon or Croesus ; and
you will find the grimace and entertainment the same, only the
actors are different.
XXVIII. He that struggles with his fortune and makes an
affliction on it, is much like a hog that kicks and cries out when
his throat is cutting: and he that mourns privately over himself
when he is sick, is not much better. We should consider that we
are tied to the chains of fate, that all accidents are inevitable, that
none but rational creatures have the privilege of moving freely, and
making necessity a choice. All other things are forced onward, and
dragged along to their doom.
XXIX. Consider the satisfactions of life singly, and examine
them as they come up ; and then ask yourself, if death is such a
terrible bugbear in taking them from you ? ^
XXX. When anybody's misbehaviour disturbs you, dismiss the
image of the injury, and bethink yourself whether you have not
been guilty of the same fault. For instance, whether you have not
over-valued money, or pleasure, or fame, or the like. Such re-
flections will quickly make you cool, and come to a temper;
especially if you consider the offender was not altogether his own
man, but under the force of some untoward passion or other. You
would do well therefore, if you can, to step in to the rescue, and
free him from the cause of his disorder.
XXXI. When you consider Satyrion the Socratist, think upon
Eutiches or Hymen ; 2 and when you remember Euphrates, think
upon Eutychion or Sylvanus ; and when Alciphron comes into your
head, carry your thoughts to Tropseophorus ; and when you are musing
^ See Book xii. sect. 31.
- The first proper name throughout this enumeration denotes a philosopher
that lived before the emperor's time, the others, those who were his con-
temporaries.
A Discourse with Himself. 247
upon Xenophon or Crito, let Severus come into the contempla-
tion ; and when you make yourself the subject of your meditations,
bring some of the emperors your predecessors into your company ;
and thus set the dead and the living of the same character and
profession always one against another, then ask the question,
Where are those men that made such a figure formerly? The
answer will be, they are nowhere, or at least nowhere that I know
of. Thus you will be strongly convinced that men are but smoke
and bubbles ; they vanish as they rise, and break soon after the
swelling, and this impression will go the deeper, if you consider that
what is once perished and sunk, will never come up again exactly.^
As for your share of time ; it is but a moment in comparison ; why
then cannot you manage that little handsomely, and be satisfied ?
What a noble opportunity of improvement do you run away from ?
For what are all the revolutions of nature, and the accidents of life,
but trials of skill and exercises of reason ? A wise man that has
looked through the causes of things, makes but a diversion of them.
Go on then with the theory and practice of philosophy, till you
have digested the subject and conquered the difficulty ; for I would
have you be like a strong stomach, that masters all sort of diet, and
makes nourishment of it ; or, if you please, like a fire well kindled,
which catches upon everything you throw in, and turns it into flame
and brightness.
XXXII. Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill
character; and if anybody reports you not to be an honest or a
good man, let your practice give him the lie. This is all very
feasible ; for pray who can hinder you from being just, sincere, and
good-natured, if you have a mind to it? To make all sure, you
should resolve to live no longer than you can live honestly ; for, in
earnest, you had much better be nothing than a knave.
XXXIII. What is it which is most proper to be said or done
upon the present occasion ? That question I confess is pertinent,
but, let it be what it will, I am sure it is in your power to come up
to it, and therefore never pretend it impracticable. You will never
leave grumbling and growling till you have brought your fancy to
your philosophy ; till you can practise virtue with a gust, and make
your duty your pleasure. And why you should not do this I cannot
imagine ; for the practice of virtue is nothing but human powers
naturally set on work ; it is only putting the wheels in the motion
they were contrived for, and going just as you were made. Now
^ Vid. Annot. D'Acier.
248 Cojiversdtion of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
nature's postures are always easy, and, which is more, nothing but
your own will can put you out of them. The motion of a cylinder
may be stopped, fire and water may be checked in their tendency,
and so may any part of the elementary, vegetative, and animal
world. In this case a great many obstructions may interpose.
But there is nothing can block up a soul, stop the course of reason,
or hinder a thought from running in the right channel. He that
considers the irresistible liberty of the mind, that she moves as
easily as fire does upwards, as a stone downwards, as a cylinder on
a smooth descent, will trouble his head about nothing further. For
all other impediments proceed either from the body, which he looks
upon rather as a carcase than a companion, or else they are founded
in opinion ; and unless we betray ourselves, and desert our reason,
can do us no manner of mischief; otherwise, ill fortune, as it is
commonly called, would make a body an ill man. For all other
productions of nature or art, when any harm happens to them,
they are certainly the worse for it ; but here a man is the better for
what he suffers ; he improves his value, and raises his character, by
making a right use of a rugged accident. In short, I would have
you remember that no burgher can receive any damage by that
which does not affect his corporation ; neither can the community
suffer, unless the laws by which it is governed are broken and
suffer too. But these misfortunes, as they are called, do not
violate the constitution, nor break in upon the laws ; therefore they
do not damage the corporation, nor by consequence any member
in it.i
XXXIV. He that is well tinctured with philosophy needs but a
short receipt. A common cordial will keep up such a man's spirits,
and expel the cold from his heart. A verse or two out of Homer
will serve for a hint, and do his business. Let the poet speak, —
Men are like leaves in verdure and decay,
As spring supplies what autumn blows away,
So mortals fade and flourish in their turns. ^
You see how slenderly human felicity is put together, your
children are but leaves upon the matter, a little blast may take
them from you. The freshest laurels wither apace, and the echoes
of fame are soon silenced (and which has some comfort), so is
censure and reproach too. All these matters, like leaves, have their
^ By the city or corporation the emperor means the world, and by the laws,
the order and decrees of Providence. See Book v. sect. 22.
2 Horn. //. E.
A Discourse with Himself. 249
spring for growing, then a puff of wind sends them packing, and
quickly after the wood is new furnished again. Things are strangely
short-lived, and yet your appetites and fears grasp and scamper at
that rate, as if all were everlasting. But for all your haste your head
will be laid in a short time, and then he that is your chief mourner
will quickly want another for himself.
XXXV. An eye that is strong and rightly disposed is indifferent
to all colours ; therefore if it calls for greens, it is a sign it is weak
and out of order. Thus when the hearing and smelling are in a
good condition, they do not pick and choose their objects, but take in
all manner of scents and sounds. Thus a strong stomach despatches
all that comes into it, like a mill that grinds all sorts of grain ; and
thus a mind that is sound and healthy is prepared to digest all sorts
of accidents ; and therefore when it is clamorous in such wishes as
these, " O that my children may live and flourish, that I may be
everybody's favourite, and be commended for everything I do : "
when the mind, I say, is thus sickly and untoward, it is just like an
eye that is all for green colours, and like a set of teeth that would
touch nothing by their goodwill but flummery and pudding.
XXXVI. There is nobody so happy in his family and friends,
but that some of them when they see him going will wish for a
good riddance, and almost keep a holy day for his death. Let
him be a person of never so much probity and prudence, do you
think somebody or other will not drop some of these sentences over
his grave? "Well, our man of order and gravity is gone, we
shall now be no more troubled with his discipline ! I cannot say
he was ill-natured to any of us, but for all that, I am sensible he
disliked our management in his heart." This is the best treatment
a good man must expect. But alas ! as for our conduct, how many
reasons will people muster up to be rid of us ! If you consider this
when you are dying, you will quit with the less reluctance. Say
then to yourself, " I am leaving an odd sort of world, where the
sharers in my fortune, and the objects of my care and kindness,
those people for whom I have drudged, and contrived, and wished
so heartily, count my life no better than a grievance, and would fain
be shut of me ; now who would be fond of staying in such company
any longer?" However, this thought must not go so deep as to
sour your humour. You must keep your temper, and part friendly
with everybody ; but then your good-nature must not make you
hang back ; for as when a man has an easy death, the soul slides
gently out of the body and takes her leave without tugging, so you
250 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antoninus :
must walk off handsomely, and bid the world adieu without regret.
It is true, nature has twisted your interests and tied you together,
but now she loosens the knot, and makes the sign to disengage.
I'll part then with the world as with my friends and relations,
but for all my kindness I will not be dragged from them; no,
Providence would have me move freely, and therefore I'll do it.
XXXVII. Let it be your constant method to look into the
design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often
as it is practicable. And to make this custom more significant,
practise it first upon yourself.
XXXVIII. Remember that which pulls and hales you from one
passion to another is no external force, but your fancy within you.
There lies the rhetoric that persuades you. That is the live thing,
and to speak plainly, that is the man after all. But when you talk of
a man, I would not have you tack flesh and blood to the notion,
neither those limbs which are made out of it; these are but
tools for the soul to work with, and no more a part of a man than
an axe or a plane is a piece of a carpenter. It is true, nature has
glued them together, and they grow as it were to the soul, and
there is all the difference ; but the use of them depends solely upon
the mind, it is the will that either checks or sets them agoing.
They have but the force of instruments, and signify no more without
foreign direction than a shuttle, a pen, or a whip, which will neither
weave, nor write, nor lash the horses without somebody to manage
them.
BOOK XL
I. The properties of a rational soul are these. She has the
privilege to look into her own nature, to cut out her qualities, and
form herself to what temper she pleases. She enjoys her product
(whereas trees and cattle bring plenty for other folks). Whether
life proves long or short, she gains the ends of living. Her business
is never maimed by interruption, as it happens in a dance or a
play ; no, she is never surprised, her performances are struck out
at a heat, and always finished and entire, so that she may say with
modesty enough, " I have sustained no damages, but carry off all
that belongs to me." Further, she ranges through the whole world,
A Discourse with Himself. 251
views its figure, looks into the vacuum on the outside of it,i and
stretches on to an unmeasurable length of time. She contemplates
the grand revolutions of nature, and how the universe will be
destroyed,^ and renewed at certain periods. She considers that
there will be nothing new for posterity to gaze at, and that our
ancestors stood upon the same level for observation. That all ages
are uniform and of a colour, insomuch that in forty years' time a
tolerable genius for sense and inquiry may acquaint himself with
all that is past and all that is to come. Lastly, it is the property of
a rational soul to love her neighbours, to be remarkable for truth
and sobriety, to prefer nothing to her own dignity and authority,
which is likewise the custom and prerogative of a law ; and thus
far the quality and measures of right reason and public justice are
the same.
II. The way to despise the pleasure of a fine song, a well-
performed dance, or the Olympic exercises, is as follows : As for
the song, take the music in pieces, and examine the notes by
themselves, and ask as you go along, " Is it this, or this single sound
that has subdued me ? " You'll be ashamed to confess the conquest,
and so get clear of the charm. Thus, to lessen the diversion of
dancing, consider every movement and gesture apart. And this
method will hold with respect to the Olympic exercises.^ In short,
all other entertainments but those of virtue abate by taking them
asunder, and therefore apply the expedient to all other parts of
your life.
III. What a brave soul is that, that's always prepared to walk
out of the body, and unconcerned about her being either extin-
guished,^ scattered, or removed ! Prepared, I say, upon judgment,
and not out of mere obstinacy, like the Christians ; ^ to recommend
the example, this fortitude must have nothing of noise or ostentation,
but be carried on with a solemn air of gravity and consideration.
IV. Have I obliged anybody, or done the world any service?
If so, the action has rewarded me ; this answer will encourage
good-nature, therefore let it always be at hand.
1 The Stoics imagined that on the outside of the world there was a void or
vacuum, that is, extension unfurnished with substance or body.
^ By conflagrations.
^ Boxing, running, wrestling, leaping, and playing at quoits, etc.
^ Into atoms.
'' The true bravery of the Christians was misrepresented to the emperor.
252 Conversation of Emperor Marcus AntoninMs :
V. What may your trade or profession be ? It is to live like a
man of virtue and probity. And how can this end be better
compassed than by the contemplation of the nature of the world,
and of mankind in particular, and the influence the one has upon
the affairs of the other ?
VI. As to dramatic performances, tragedy appeared first. The
design of them was to show the misfortunes of life were customary
and common. That thus the fiction might reconcile them to the
reality, and that what diverted them upon the stage might surprise
them the less when they meet with it in the world. Thus people
see there is no living without accidents. Mortifications, and severe
ones too, will happen ; kings and princes cannot stand clear of
them. And to give the stage-poets their due, they have some
sententious and serviceable passages, as for instance, —
If I and mine are by the Gods neglected
There's reason for their rigour.
Again,
Ne'er quarrel accidents, for things are sullen,
And don't regard your anger.
Once more,
Fate mows down life like corn, this mortal falls,
And t'other stands a while. -^
These instances may suffice, otherwise I might go on with them.
Next to tragedy, old comedy took a turn upon the stage ; and here
pride and ambition were lashed and pointed at with great freedom
and authority, and not without some success. And for this reason
Diogenes sometimes made use of the poet's discipline. You are
now to observe that middle comedy succeeded to the old, and the
new to the middle ; this last kind sinking by degrees to the
buffoonery of the Mt?m. It is true, there are some useful expressions
to be met with even here ; but then you are to consider the tendency
of the whole poem, and what these dramatic diversions drive at in
areneral.^
a
VII. Nothing is clearer to me than that the principles you go
upon ^ are as good a foundation for philosophy and improvement
as are to be met with in any other sect whatsoever.
^ Eurip. Hypsipyl. See Book vii. sect. 39, 41, 42.
^ It is D'Acier's observation that the emperor condemns all sorts of plays,
though upon the comparison he prefers the old comedy to the new, because the
old made instruction, not pleasure, their principal design.
^ The emperor's main principles are the love of God and our neighbour.
A Discourse with Himself. 253
VIII. A bough, by being lopped off from another, must of
necessity be lopped from the whole tree. Thus a man that breaks
with another loses the benefit of the whole community. It is true,
a bough is lopped off by a foreign hand, but this moral amputation
is all voluntary ; it is the man that pulls himself asunder by his
untoward aversion to his neighbour. He little thinks by this
unhappy division, how he disincorporates himself from the body of
mankind ! And here the goodness of God who founded this society
is extraordinary. He has put it in our power to grow to the limb
we left, and come again into the advantage of the main body. But
if this misfortune is often repeated, it will be a hard matter to
restore the part, and close the division. For as gardeners observe,
a bough cut off and grafted in again is not in the same good
condition with another which always flourished upon the trunk ;
for, though the first does not grow out of its kind, yet it suffers
somewhat in its figure and beauty.^
IX. Never grow sour upon people's malice or impertinence.
Can they beat you off your reason, or stop your progress in virtue ?
Not at all. ■ Be not then disconcerted, nor check your good-nature
towards them. If you meet with opposition and ill-will, you must
neither be diverted nor disturbed, but keep your point, and your
temper too. For as it is a weakness to lose your spirits, and be
thrown off your conduct, so it is likewise to be angry with im-
pertinent people. Upon the whole, they are both a sort of deserters
from Providence, who are either frightened from their duty, or fall
out with those of their own nature and family.^
X. Nature falls short of art in no instance, art being but an
imitation of nature ; and if so, the most perfect and best furnished
nature cannot be supposed to work with less reach than a common
artificer. Now in all arts, the less in value are contrived for the *
sake of the greater ; this therefore is the method of general nature,
or the first cause. And upon this ground justice is founded, which
consists in a regard and preference of things according to their
dignity and worth. The other virtues are likewise governed by this
rule, and are but acts of justice differently applied. But just we
can never be, if we are eager and anxious about external advantages,
if we are apt to be imposed on, and grow heedless and inconstant
in our motion.
t
XL Aversions and desires are the general occasions of disturbance ;
^ See Book v. 8, Book viii. 34. 2 ggg Book ii. sect. I.
2 54 Conversation of E'>nperor Marcus Antoninus :
now since the objects of these passions do not press upon you, but
it is you that make up to them in some measure, whereas they
stand off, and keep their distance,^ your method is therefore, to
let your opinion about them He still ; this suspension of your
judgment will bring you towards an indifference. And then you
will neither pursue nor avoid them any longer.
XII. The figure of the soul, as we may call it, is then round
and uniform, when she neither reaches after anything foreign, nor
shrinks in, out of cowardice and fear. When her superficies is
thus even, the light plays better upon her. The prospect of truth
and nature is enlarged ; and she sees the world and herself to the
most advantage.
XIII. Does any one despise me? What is that to me? I will
take care not to give him any reason for his contempt. Does any
one hate me ? It may be so j I shall not concern myself about it.
And, more than that, another man's malice shall never spoil my
temper. I will continue kind and good-humoured to all the world,
even to the injurious person himself. I am always ready to show
him his error, without ruffling, or making a merit of my own
patience ; but frankly, and with all the cordial sincerity imaginable,
as Phocion^ seemed to behave himself towards the Athenians.
Indeed your mind should always be so disposed as to bear the
narrowest inspection, that the gods may examine you with pleasure,
and perceive that you are neither angry nor uneasy at anything.
Now if you follow the current of your nature, and do a handsome
action, where is the harm of it ? What ! are you unwilling to sub-
mit to providence ? To comply with the interest of the universe,
when you know you were made on purpose for it ?
XIV. People generally despise where they flatter, and cringe
to those they would gladly overtop; so that truth and ceremony
are two things. -
XV. How fulsome and hollow does that man look that cries,
" I am resolved to deal clearly with you " ! Hark you, friend, what
need of all this flourish ? Let your actions speak. To go to the
right of it, your face ought to vouch for you, and your sincerity be
legible upon your forehead. I would have virtue look out of the
^ See Book v. sect. 19, Book ix. 15.
^ Phocion at his execution charged his son not to bear a grudge against the
Athenians for putting him to death. Plut.
A Discourse with Himself. 255
eye, no less apparently than love does. I would have honesty so
incorporated with the constitution, so mixed up with the blood
and spirits, that it should be discoverable by the senses, and as
easily distinguished as rankness, or a strong breath ; so that a man
must be forced to find it out whether he would or no. But on the
other side, an afifectation of being real is an untoward pretence.
Nothing is more scandalous than false friendship, and therefore of
all things avoid it. In short, a man of integrity and good-nature
can never be concealed, for his character is wrought into his
countenance.
XVI. To bestow no more upon objects than they deserve, and
where things are indifferent to let our thoughts be so too, is a noble
expedient for happiness ; the way to come up to this indifferency,
is to look through matters, and take them quite asunder,^ re-
membering always, that things cannot charge into the soul, nor
force upon us any opinions about them. They stand aloof, and
are quiet ; it is our fancy that makes them operate aiid gall us ; it
is we that rate them and give them their bulk and value ; and yet
it is in our power to let it alone ; and if any false colours are laid
on by surprise, we may rub them out if we please. We are likewise
to consider that this trouble will not last, that death will relieve
us quickly ; where then is the difficulty of standing upon our guard
a little while ? If therefore your circumstances put you in a way
of improvement, and there is anything to be made out of them,
bid them heartily welcome, and then your inclination will make
you easy. But if they prove unmanageably cross (which by the
way is a wrong supposition), look out for something that is more
serviceable to the dignity of your nature ; and never let infamy, or
being unpopular, deter you from the pursuit. For certainly every
man may take leave to make himself happy if he can.
XVII. Consider the original of all things, the matter they are
made of; the alterations they must run through, and the qualities
consequent upon it ; and that all this instability of nature has no
manner of harm in it.
XVIII. Concerning those that offend and disoblige you, con-
sider in the first place, the relation you stand in towards them,
and that you are all made for each other. And as for your own
part, you are particularly set at the head of the world ; and like a
ram in a flock, designed for defence and protection. You may go
^ See sect. 2.
/
256 Conversation of Emperor Marats Antoninus:
higher in your reasoning if you please, and consider that either
chance or providence governs the universe ; if the latter, then the
coarser parts of the creation were made for the service of their
betters j and these last for the interest and support of each other.
Secondly, consider how wretchedly they mismanage their own
business, and how far they are gone in luxury and libertinism;
especially you should remember what strong prejudices they lie
under, how confident they are in their mistakes, and with what
satisfaction they play the fool.
Thirdly, consider that if those that disoblige you are in the right,
you have no reason to be angry ; but if they are in the wrong, it is
because they know no better. They are under necessity of their
own ignorance. For as all error is involuntary, so nobody would
lessen themselves so much as to miss either honesty or good
manners, if they were rightly aware of it. And thus we see people
will not endure the charge of avarice, ingratitude, or knavery,
without being stung at the imputation.
Fourthly, do not forget you are like the rest of the world, and
faulty yourself in a great many instances; that though you may
forbear running riot in some cases, it is not for want of an inclina-
tion. And that nothing but cowardice, vanity, or some such
scandalous principle, hinders you from breaking out.
Fifthly, that it is sometimes a hard matter to be certain
whether you have received ill-usage or not. For men's actions
oftentimes look worse than they are. And one must be thoroughly
informed of a great many things before he can be rightly qualified
to give judgment in the case.
Sixthly, when you are most angry and galled, remember that
human life lasts but a moment, and that we shall all of us very
quickly be laid in our graves.
Seventhly, consider that it is not other people's actions (for they
are lodged at home, and are neither good nor bad to any but
those that do them) which disturb us, but only our own opinions
about them. Do but then dismiss these notions, and do not fancy
the thing a grievance, and your passion will cease immediately.
But how can this fancy be discharged ? By considering that bare
suffering has nothing of infamy or scandal in it. Now, unless you
A Discourse with Himself. 257
refrain the notion of evil to what is scandalous and dishonest, your
own virtue will grow precarious, and you will be under a necessity
of doing a great many unwarrantable things.^
Eighthly, consider that our anger and impatience often prove
much more mischievous than the provocation could possibly have
done.
Ninthly, that gentleness and good-humour are invincible, provided
they are of the right stamp, without anything of hypocrisy or gri-
mace. This is the way to disarm the most barbarous and savage.
A constancy in obliging behaviour, will make the most outrageous
person ashamed of his malice. The worst body imaginable cannot
find in his heart to do you any mischief, if you continue kind and
unmoved under ill-usage, if you strike in with the right opportunity
for advice ; if, when he is going to do you an ill turn, you endeavour
to recover his understanding, and retrieve his temper in such
gentle language as this: "Prithee, child, be quiet, men were never
made to worry one another ; in earnest, if you go on, my dear
friend, you will have the worst of it; and as for my part, I am
proof against everything but my own folly." Then proceed to
illustrate the point, and let your arguments be general and inoffen-
sive : show him that brutes are upon better terms than this comes
to ; that it is not the custom of bees to spend their stings upon
their own kind, nor of one herd of cattle to draw up against
another. And let all this be done out of stark love and kindness,
without anything of bantering or biting. You must likewise stand
clear of vanity in your address ; do not seem to flourish upon the
subject, as if you were declaiming in the schools, and courting the
audience for commendation : if there is any company, never set
yourself off to them : but discourse him with as little straining and
affectation, as if there was nobody but himself.
Lay up these nine heads in your memory, with as much care as
if they were a present from the nine Muses : for now it is high
time to begin to be a man for your life time. And here you must
take care to guard against flattery, as well as anger ; for these are
both unserviceable qualities, and do a great deal of mischief in the
world. And for a farther preservative against the latter, remember
that frowardness and rage are marks of an unmanly disposition.
Mildness and temper are not only more human, but more mascu-
line too : one thus affected appears much more brave and firm,
^ See Book ix. i.
I
258 Co7tve7^sation 0/ Empe^^or Marctts Antonmus .
and better fortified, than he that is fuming and out of sorts. F r
impassibility is an argument of greatness ; and he that has the lea t
feeling in these cases, has always the most strength : on the other
hand, as grief is a sign of weakness, so is anger too ; a man is
wounded in both these passions, and the smart is too big for him.
As you have received these nine precepts from the Muses, take
this tenth, if you please, from their president and instructor, Apo lo :
that to wish all people may not do ill things is to wish an impossi-
bility, and no better than a piece of distraction. But then to give
them leave to plague other folks, and desire to be privileged your-
self, is a foolish and a haughty expectation.
XIX. There are four ill qualities we must be particularly careful
to avoid,^ and pull them up as fast as we find them grow in our
heads, and undertake them as they rise in this fashion. This fancy,
say, is groundless and unnecessary, this rough behaviour makes
society and correspondence impracticable, this other is but a copy
of your countenance ; you cannot say it from your heart.^ Now
this is a very bad character. There are three of them. And what-
ever you are conscious degrades the diviner part of you, makes your
mind truckle to your body, and your reason to your pleasures, look
upon that as the fourth.
XX. Those particles of fire and air which are lodged in your body,
notwithstanding their tendency to mount, submit to the laws of the
universe, stick close to your constitution, and keep the rest of the
elements company. Again, the earthly and watery part in you,
though they naturally press downwards, are raised above their level,
and stand poised in a foreign region. Thus the elements serve the
interest of the world ; and though they seem to stand bent and
uneasy, they keep their post till the signal is given to march off and
separate. And is it not then a scandalous business that your mind
should be the only deserter, and grow mutinous about her station,
especially when her orders- agree with her constitution, and nothing
that is unnatural is enjoined ? and yet she will not bear the conduct
of her own faculties, but runs perfectly counter to humanity. For
when a man turns knave or libertine, when he gives way to fears
and fits of the spleen, he does, as it were, run away from himself
and desert his own nature. And further, when his mind complains
' D'Acier supposes the emperor means suspiciousness, ill language, lying, and
intemperance.
2 See Book ii. i6.
A Discourse with Himself. 259
of his fortune, he quits the station in which Providence has placed
him. For acquiescence and piety are no less his duty, and his
talent too, than honesty between man and man. For these virtues
carry up to the common interest, and are rather of greater antiquity
and value than fair dealing itself.^
XXI. He that does not always drive at the same end will never
be uniform and of a piece in his conduct. But this hint is too
short, unless you describe the quality of this design, and what it is
that we ought principally to aim at. Now as people do not agree in
the preferences of choice and the notion of advantage, unless in
what relates to the common good, so a man ought to propose the
benefit of society and the general interest of the world as his main
business. For he that levels at this mark, will keep an even hand,
and be always consistent with himself.
XXII. Remember the story of the country and city mouse, and
how pitifully the former was frightened and surprised. ^
XXIII. Socrates used to say the common objects of terror were
nothing but bugbears, fit only to scare crows and children.
XXIV. The Lacedaemonians at their public shows seated strangers
under a canopy in the shade, but made their own people shift, and
take their convenience as they found it.^
XXV. Socrates, being invited to Perdiccas's court,* made this
excuse : "I dare not come," says he, " for fear of being put under an
incapacity of returning an obligation, which I take to be the worst
way of destroying a man imaginable."
XXVI. It is a precept of the Epicurean philosophers, that we
should look back to the virtue of former ages, and always furnish
our memory with some eminent example.
XXVII. The Pythagorseans would have us look up into the sky
every morning, to put us in mind of the order and constancy of the
heavenly bodies, of the equality and perpetuity of their motion, of
^ Piety the foundation of justice.
^ This hint, I suppose, was designed to show the danger of curiosity and
appetite.
^ It was the custom of the Lacedaemonians to breed their people hardily.
* Seneca reports this invitation was made by Archelaus, king of Macedon.
26o Conversation of Emperor Ma^^cus A^itoninus :
the fineness and purity of their matter, and how frankly they He
open to observation ; for a star never wears a mask, nor puts any
clothes on.
XXVIII. Remember how unconcernedly Socrates wore a sheep-
skin, when Xantippe ^ had got his coat on, and run out with it ; and
how handsomely he laughed off the matter to his friends, who were
strangely out of countenance by seeing him in such a disguise.
XXIX. People don't pretend to teach others to write and read,
till they have been taught themselves. This rule holds stronger
in the niceties and importance of life, in which no man is fit to
govern, till he has first learned to obey. '
XXX. Be dumb ; slaves have not the privilege of speaking.^
XXXI. I smiled within myself.^
XXXII. They will treat their parents with rebellious language."*
XXXIII. He is a madman that expects figs on the trees in winter,
and he is little better that calls for his children again when they are
dead and buried.
XXXIV. Epictetus would have a man, when he is kissing and
caressing his child, say to himself at the same time, " To-morrow
perhaps this pretty thing may die and leave me." These are four
ominous reflections, you will say. That is your mistake; the
consequences of mortality and the course of nature are no ominous
things to think on, otherwise it would be an ominous business to
cut down a little grass or corn.
b^
XXXV. Grapes are first sour, then ripe, then raisins ; these are
all no more than bare alterations, not into nothing, but into some-
thing which does not appear and come up at present.
XXXVI. As Epictetus observes, nobody can rob another of his
will, nor by consequence make seizure of his virtue.
^ His wife.
2 A tragic poet quoted by Philo, De Libert. Viri boni.
•^ Horn. Odyss.
* Hesiod, Oper. lib. i. v. 184. These shreds of poetry seem to be set down
by the emperor as hints for further meditation. (Gatak.)
A Discourse with Himself, 261
XXXVII. The same philosopher has taught us the art of manag-
ing our assent, and preventing our reason from being imposed on ;
that we should enterprise with a reserve for disappointment, that
our inclinations should be generous and benevolent, and propor-
tioned to the merit and dignity of things, that we must keep our
desires from being headstrong and unruly in all cases, and never
have an aversion for anything which it is out of bur power to hinder.
XXXVIII. Therefore, as Epictetus observes, the contest is no
trifle, but whether we are to live in our wits, or out of them.^
XXXIX. It is a saying of Socrates to some untoward people :
" What would you be at ? Would you have the soul of a man or
of a beast in you ? Of a man, without all doubt. Of what sort of
men, of those that use their reason, or those that abuse it ? Of the
first, you may be sure. Why, then," continues the philosopher,
" don't you look out for this privilege ? Because we have it already.
What makes you then disagree, and fall foul upon each other ? "
■0-
BOOK XII.
I. All those things you drudge and range so much ground for,
you may have at your ease, unless you are afraid of making yourself
too happy. Your method to do your business is not to concern
yourself about the time past, for that is never to be recovered, to
rest the future with Providence, and only stick to the present, and
improve that to all the noble purposes of piety and justice. The
pious part will be discharged by being contented with your fate ;
and why should you not, since nature made you for each other ? ^
And as to the obligations of justice, you will acquit yourself here,
provided you speak truth boldly and above-board, and make law
and the dignity of things your rule to act by. When you are not to
be checked in your progress by the misbehaviour, the ignorance,
and impertinent reports of other people, nor yet by the sense and
sufferings of your own carcase, though by the way it is a question
whether it suffers or not.^ To go on ; if, since your life is almost
^ The Stoics reckoned all people madmen that did not live up to the precepts
of virtue and philosophy.
2 See Book v. sect. 8. -^ See Book vii. sect. i6, i8.
262 Conversatio7t of Emperor Marcus Anto7iinus :
up, you lay aside all other matters, and only cultivate your mind,
and pay a regard to the governing and diviner part of yourself; if
you are not at all afraid of losing your life, but of missing the ends
of it, and not living as you should do ; then you will act suitably to
your extraction, and deserve to have the Deity for your Maker ; then
you will be no longer a stranger in your own country, nor be surprised
at common accidents ; you will never be anxious about the future,
nor stand to the courtesy of events.
II. The Almighty sees through the soul of every man as clearly
as if it was not wrapped up in matter, or had anything of the shroud
and coarseness of body about it. And God being a spirit, acts only
as such, and concerns Himself for no other beings but those of His
own nature. Now, if you would learn to do thus, a great deal of
trouble would be saved, for he that can overlook his limbs and
make his carcase sit loose about him, will hardly disturb himself
about the house he dwells in ; about his equipage or reputation,
or any part of the furniture and magnificence of a figure.
III. You consist of three parts, your body, your breath, ^ and
your mind ; the two first are yours to take care of, but the latter is
properly your person. Therefore, if you abstract from the notion
of yourself, that is, of your mind, whatever other pecjple either say
or do, or whatever you may have said or done yourself formerly, to-
gether with all that which disturbs you under the consideration of
its coming to pass hereafter ; if you throw the necessary motions of
your carcase out of the definition, and those of the vortex that
whirls about you, and by this means preserve your rational faculties
in an independent state of innocence, free from force and infection,
holding close and steady to the virtues of justice, truth, and acqui-
escence ; if, I say, you keep your mind separate and distinguished
from the objects of appetite and the appendages of time, both past
and future, and make yourself like Empedocles's world,
Round as a ball, and spinning on your axis ; 2
and concern yourself to live no longer than your lifetime, that is,
the present moment ; ^ if you do all this, you may move on till
death stops you with credit and satisfaction.
IV. I have often wondered how it comes to pass that everybody
should love themselves best, and yet value their neighbour's opinion
^ See Book ii. sect. 2. - Turning upon your reason.
^ See Book ii. 14.
A Discourse with Himself. 263
about themselves more thnn their own. Therefore, if any god, or
eminent instructor in philosophy, should stand at a man's elbow,
and order him to turn his inside outwards, and publish every thought
and fancy as fast as they came into his head, he would think it a
hard chapter, and not submit so much as to a day's discipline.
Thus we stand more in awe of fame than conscience, and regard
other people's judgments above our own.
V. How comes it about, that since the gods have contrived all
things so well, and so much to the benefit of mankind, they should
overlook this particular, and suffer men of great virtue and merit,
who by their piety and devotion were, as it were, the domestics of
the powers above, and kept always a correspondence with heaven ;
that they should suffer such men, I say, to be finally extinguished
by death, and not give them their being again ? Now, if the case
stands thus, you may be assured, had it been proper, the gods would
have ordered it otherwise ; for had it been reasonable, it would have
been possible. Nature ^ would certainly have brought it forth if it
had been suitable to her perfections. Therefore, from its not being
matter of fact, if indeed it is not, you may undoubtedly conclude
it ought not to be so ; for, don't you perceive that in reasoning this
point you dispute the administration of Providence ? Now, if the
justice and goodness of the gods were not extraordinary, this liberty
would not be allowed, neither would you presume so far if you
thought otherwise. But if they have these perfections, they will
never neglect their affairs, nor blemish their world with anything
that is unreasonable or unjust.
VI. Accustom yourself to master things of the greatest difficulty,
and which you seem to despair of; for if you observe the left hand,
though, for want of practice, it is insignificant to other business, yet
it holds the bridle better than the right, because it has been used
to it.
VII. Consider what death will make of you, both as to body and
mind ; recollect the shortness of life, the unmeasurable extent of
time both past and future, and how tenderly all things are put
together.
VIII. Let it be your method to contemplate spirits apart from
their bodies, for these are no better than the shell they are shut up
in. Mind the aim and the end of people's actions ; examine the
1 God.
264 Conversation of Emperor Marcus Antonimis :
value of fame, the force of pain, the ascendant of pleasure,^ and see
what death amounts to. Consider upon what account a man
grows troublesome to himself,^ that nobody can be hindered by.
another, and that opinion is the main thing which does good or
harm in the world.
IX. We must manage the precepts of philosophy like those that
wrestle and box in the circus, and not like a gladiator ; for your
fencer, if he drops his sword, is hewn down immediately ; but the
other that makes weapons of his limbs has them always about him,
and has nothing to do but to keep his hands and feet stirring.
X. Be not satisfied with a superficial view, but penetrate the
nature and quality of things ; and to this purpose you must divide
them into matter and form,^ and inquire into the end they were
made for.
XI. What a mighty privilege is a man born to, since it is in his
power not to do anything but what God Almighty approves, and to
be satisfied with all the distributions of Providence !
XII. When things follow from the course and constitution ot
nature, we ought not to murmur at it. Not against the gods, for
they have neither ill-will nor impotence, and by consequence can
do nothing amiss ; nor yet against men, for their misbehaviour is
all involuntary,^ therefore we must complain of nobody.
XIII. How unacquainted is that man with the world, and how
ridiculous does he appear, that makes a wonder of any thing he
meets with here !
XIV. Either the order of things is fixed by irrevocable fate, or
Providence may be worked into compassion, or else the world floats
at random without any steerage. Now, if nature lies under an
immovable necessity, to what purpose should you struggle against
it ? If the favour of Providence is to be gained, qualify yourself for
the divine assistance ; but if chance and confusion carry it, and
nobody sits at the helm, be you contented, and ride out the storm
patiently, for you have a governor within you,^ though the world
^ See Book vii. 33, Book v. 26. 2 See Book ix. 26.
^ See Book ii. sect. 12, Book iv. 21, Book vii, 29.
* See Book vii. sect. 63, 64. ^ Your reason.
A Discourse with Himself. 265
has none. And if the waves run too high, let them roll off your
carcase and your fortune, but there is no necessity your mind should
be driven with them.
XV. A lamp, unless you put it out, holds its light, and shines
without interruption ; and can you find in your heart to see your
honesty sink in the socket, to outlast your sobriety, and let your
virtue be extinguished before you ?
XVI. When you fancy any one has transgressed, say this to
yourself: How do I know it is a fault? And granting it is, it may
be his conscience has corrected him ; and if so, he has given him-
self a sour box on the ear. Besides, you are to remember, that to
wish an ill man should not do amiss is just as wise as it would be
to desire an unripe fig should not taste of the tree ; that children
should not squall in the cradle, nor horses neigh, nor a great many
other things act according to the necessity of their condition. Pray,
how would you have a man of such an unfortunate disposition
behave himself? If you believe the case may be remedied, and are
such a doctor at his disease, do so much as cure him.
XVII. If it is not decent, never do it ; if it is not true, never
speak it : let this always be your rule.
XVIII. Look always nicely into whatever makes an impression
upon your mind ; distinguish it into matter and form ; find out the
purpose and design for which it was contrived, and the period of
time, too, beyond which it is unlikely to continue.
XIX. Consider, for it is high time, that you have something more
divine in you than the mechanism of passion, than the wires and
tackling of a puppet. What then is my soul made of? Is it fear,
or jealousy, or lust ? Or anything of this coarse nature ? Certainly
no.
XX. Take care never to do anything without thought and design,
nor for any other end either, but what may be serviceable to the
interest of society.^
XXI. Consider that in a little time you will neither have place
nor being, that your contemporaries will have the same fate, and
the present scene of nature be shut up ; for all things change of
^ That is, of mankind in general.
266 Conversation of E^nperor Marcus Antonimts :
course, and wither and drop in pieces, that new ones may be made
out of them.
XXII. Thoughts are, in a great measure, masters of things, and,
which is more, it is in your own power to think as you please;
therefore do not suffer opinion to cheat you any longer. Disengage
from the tyranny of fancy, and then, as if you doubled some
dangerous cape, you will have nothing but a steady course, a smooth
sea, and a land-locked bay to receive you.
XXIII. Every operation that ceases in due time, suffers nothing
by breaking off; neither does the agent receive any harm upon this
score. Thus life, which is nothing but a series and continuation of
action, comes to no damages by having a seasonable period put to
it ; neither does he that lays this motion asleep sustain any loss,
provided it is done at a proper juncture. Now, nature assigns the
term, and sets out the bounds of life ; sometimes this period is fixed
by particular nature or force of constitution, as it happens when a
man dies of old age ; but let it come late or early, common nature^
has certainly a hand in it. And thus the parts of nature, changing
from one form to another, preserve the world in perpetual youth
and vigour. Now, that is always as it should be, both as to time
and quality, which makes for the service of the universe. ^ From
hence it follows, that bare dying can be no real evil, seeing there is
nothing of baseness or moral turpitude in it ; for it is both involun-
tary with respect to ourselves, and serviceable to the general
interest ; therefore there can be nothing of scandal in it. Nay, it
is certainly a good thing, since it is suitable and seasonable for the
universe. And thus a man that goes off smoothly is, as it were,
carried out of the world by inspiration. For he that follows the
Deity with his motions, and with his will too, seems actuated by a
divine impression.
XXIV. Let these three hints lie ready for service. First, as to
your own actions, let nothing be done rashly, nor to no purpose,
nor indeed in any other manner than justice herself would have
ordered it. And as for casualties and the state of your fortune,
consider that they are the blind distributions of chance, or else the
appointment of Providence. Now, either to murmur against chance,
or impeach Providence, is extremely absurd. Secondly, consider
what a slight thing man is, from his conception to his birth or
1 God.
^ See Book iv. sect. 23, Book v. sect. 8,
can
A Discourse ivith Himself. 267
animation ; ^ and from his first breath to his last, in the parts of his
composition, and in the state of his dissolution. Thirdly, consider
that, if you could shoot yourself at pleasure into the sky, and thence
take a view of human affairs, you would perceive a strange medley
of humour and condition ; and discover at the same time the air
and ether too plentifully stocked with inhabitants,^ and that if you
mounted never so often, you would have the old prospect. Alas !
things are generally of the same complexion, and of the same short
continuance too, and yet how strangely we are conceited of them !
XXV. Discharge opinion,^ and you are safe ; and pray who
hinder you from doing it ?
XXVI. When you are uneasy upon any account, you seem to
forget that all things fall out according to the good pleasure of
Providence, and that another man's fault is no concern of yours ;
that what you reckon grievances is nothing but the old way of the
world, and will come over again when you are dead and gone, and
are now to be met with in a thousand places. You have forgotten
that all mankind are of kin ; for though they may be unallied in
flesh and blood, their understandings are all of the same family.
You do not remember that every man's soul is a portion of the
Deity, and derived from thence ; that we have nothing properly our
own, but that our children, our bodies, and our breath, are all
borrowed from heaven; that opinion governs all, and things are
only as you think them ; and that it is not possible for anybody to
live or lose any more than the present moment. All this you seem
to have forgotten.
XXVII. Reflect frequently upon those that have formerly been
mightily disturbed wath accidents of any kind ; that have carried
their animosities and feuds to the most flaming excess ; that have
made the most glorious figure, or met with the greatest misfortune ;
and then ask yourself. Where are they all now ? They are vanished
like a little smoke ; they shrank within the compass of an urn, and
are nothing but ashes and romance,* and it may be have not so
much as the last imaginary advantage neither. Recollect likewise
all that humour and oddness that some people affect, to appear as
^ The Stoics believed a human foetus not animated till the time of birth.
Tertull. De Aniin.
2 It was the opinion of the Platonists and Stoics that the air and sky were
inhabited by spirits suitable to the respective regions.
^ Opinion is a common, but false notion of things.
* Soe Book viii. sect. 25.
268 Conversation of Emperor Marctts Antoninus :
Fabius Catullinus did at his country seat, as Lucius Lupus and
Stertinius did at Baise, to act the fancy of Vertius Rufus, or the
liberties of Tiberius at Capreae ; thus people dote upon figure and
singularity, though it is sometimes in lewdness ; ^ but granting it is
somewhat better, the prize is insignificant, and the play not worth
the candle. It is much more becoming a philosopher to stand clear
of affectation ; to be honest and regular upon all occasions, and to
follow cheerfully wherever the Gods lead on. As for pretence and
hypocrisy, it is all stuff; for nothing is more scandalous than a man
that is proud of his humility.
XXVIII. To those that ask me the reason of my being so earnest
in religious worship ; — Did I ever 'see any of the gods } or, which
way am I convinced of the certainty of their existence? — in the
first place I answer, that the gods are not invisible ; ^ but granting
they were, the objection would signify nothing. For I never had
a sight of my own soul, and yet I have a great value for it, because
it is discoverable by its operations. And thus, by my constant
experience of the power of the gods, I have a proof of their being,
and a reason for my veneration.
XXIX. The best provision for a happy life is to dissect every-
thing, view it on all sides, and divide it into matter and form ; to
practise honesty in good earnest, and speak truth from the very
soul of you : and when you have done this, live easy and cheerful,
and crowd one good action so close to another, that there may not
be the least empty or insignificant space between them.
XXX. The light of the sun is but one and the same, though it
is divided by the interposition of walls and mountains, and
abundance of other opaque bodies. There is but one common
matter for corporeity, though it is parcelled out among bodies
of different qualities. There is but one sensitive soul, not-
withstanding it has peculiar conveyances, runs in innumerable
channels, and supplies a vast number of animals distinct from each
other. And lastly, the rational soul, though it seems to be split
into distinction, is but one and the same.^ Now, excepting this
last, the parts of the other species of form'* and matter, though
^ That of Tiberius was such.
- The sun, the moon, and the stars, were gods in the opinion of the Stoics.
^ The Stoics held the rational soul a part of the Deity.
* By form in rational creatures, the emperor seems to mean the mind, in
animals the sensitive soul, in vegetable and inanimate things the principle of
union which supports them in their distinction, and tacks their being together.
(D'Acier.)
A Discourse with Hhnself, 269
without apprehension or any common affection to tie them to each
other, are yet upheld by an intelligent being, and by that faculty
which pushes things of the same nature to the same place. But
human understandings have a peculiar disposition to correspond-
ence ; they stick together by inclination, and nothing can extinguish
such sociable thoughts in them.
XXXI. What is it you hanker after? Is it bare existence? or
sensation ? or motion ? or strength, that you may lose it again in
decay ? What ! is it the privilege of speech, or the power of
thinking in general ? Is any of this furniture big enough for desire?
If all these things are trifles upon the matter, proceed to something
that is worth your while ; and that is, to be governed by reason
and the Deity. And yet you cannot be said to value these last
mentioned privileges rightly, if you are disturbed because death
must take them from you.^
XXXII. What a small part of unmeasurable time falls to the
share of a single mortal, and how soon is every one swallowed up
in eternity ! What a handful of the universal matter goes to the
making a human body, and what a very little of the universal soul
too,^ to raise it into an animal ! And on what a narrow clod, with
respect to the whole earth, do you crawl upon ? Consider all this,
and reckon nothing great, unless it be to act in conformity to your
own reason, and to suffer as the Almighty shall appoint you.
XXXIII. The great business of a man is to improve his mind
and govern his manners ; this is minding the main chance. As for
all other projects and pursuits, whether in our power to compass or
not, they are no better than trifling and amusement.
XXXIV. We cannot have a more lively and promising notion, to
set us above the fear of death, than to consider that it has been
despised even by that sect ^ who made pleasure and pain the
standard of good and evil.
XXXV. He that likes no time so well as that fixed by Providence,
he that is indifferent whether he has room for a long progress in
reason and regularity or not,^ or whether he has a few or a great
^ See Book ix. sect. 7, Book x, sect. 28.
^ The emperor means the sensitive or vital soul, as the Stoics called it,
' The Epicureans.
* See Book ii. sect. I.
270 Conversation of Empei^or Marcus Antoninus.
many years to view the world in ; a person thus quaUfied will never
be afraid of dying.
XXXVI. Hark ye, friend, you have been a burgher of this great
city;^ what matter though you have lived in it but a few years? it
you have observed the lav/s of the corporation, the length or
shortness of the time makes no diiference. Where is the hardship,
then, if Providence, that planted you here, orders your removal ?
You cannot say you are sent off by a tyrannical and unrighteous
sentence ; no, you quit the stage as fairly as a player does, that has
his discharge from the master of the revels. But I have only gone
through three acts, and not held out to the end of the fifth. You
say well; but in life three acts make the play entire. He that
appoints the entertainment is the best judge of the length of it ;
and as he ordered the opening of the first scene, so now he gives
the sign for shutting up the last. You are neither accountable for
one or the other ; therefore retire in good humour, for he by wliom
you are dismissed means you no harm.
^ The world.
THE END.
;viORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
2 M — D— 12/93,
^
Date Due
Mn\/ ti iv
.«.A
NUV *£ V
irdj I
^MN2B^
t
nrr:A 2 1^
J
r
»
.--
OtC i i$ 6i
,, '■•'^
^m
^'^ ' ' -f^
'
MAR 1 v! 1^
bi
QCT=i=^
ff'jjp^f..'
1
1
UbMirv BHf»t..u Cat. no. 1137
BTl
116.T5E5
CLAPP
3 5002 00182 0559
Tertullian
The apology of Tertullian /
BT
11l6
T5E5
AUTHOR
JTertullian
a63931
TlTl-fc
Apology. .^^b^ir^H^
JAN 2 3 -STx , ,
r
'>';"■.' '.'l.V'i«."r;'l
s^mi^yM
:t; ; ■''
.•/■;V>..,,: ■: V
o<-'r,-.'V-.'--^:
."'.■' 'v;-'--'^^
.'rws
M-'-'m?
-■-. . .' ' '■■•': ■^A
■ ■■'i^^^:■■ .■ ■■ ■■ •
.-rv'.^oi >;-, . ', ■ -V,
-■-^^•-?.-:^':' ■■■■;'
' ^i,' ', '.""^ •-■■■■:.
.'.•.-.■-.•.•,;.r-»^j-;. .i, J.;
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11