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Christian Classics Ethereal Libkary
Ante-Nicene Fathers
Volume 4
Philip.Schaff
ANFO4. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen,
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_ Christian Classics
> Ethereal Library
Parts First and Second
Author(s): Publisher:
Description:
Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor) Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Originally printed in 1885, the ten-volume set, Ante-Nicene Fathers, brings together the work of early Christian thinkers. In particular, it brings together the writings of the early Church fathers prior to the fourth century Nicene Creed. These volumes are noteworthy for their inclusion of entire texts, and not simply fragments or excerpts from these great writings. The translations are fairly literal, providing both readers and scholars with a good approximation of the originals. This volume continues with the works of Tertullian, compiling a series of his shorter treatises. It also contains the work of other Church Fathers from "Latin Christianity"--Minucius Felix and Commododianus. Finally, it contains some of the works of well-known and influential theologian Origen. These writ- ings were heavily influential on the early Church, and for good reason, as they are inspirational and encouraging. These volumes also come with many useful notes, providing the reader with new levels of understanding. Overall, Ante- Nicene Fathers, or any part of it, is a welcome addition to one's reading list.
Tim Perrine
CCEL Staff Writer
Contents
Title Pages. Introductory Notice. Tertullian: Part Fourth. Title Page. On the Pallium. Time Changes Nations’ Dresses--and Fortunes. The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal. Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation. Change Not Always Improvement. Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence. Further Distinctions, and Crowning Glory, of the Pallium. Elucidations On the Apparel of Women. Book I
Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman.
The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen.
Concerning the Genuineness of “The Prophecy of Enoch.”
Waiving the Question of the Authors, Tertullian Proposes to Consider the Things on Their Own Merits.
Gold and Silver Not Superior in Origin or in Utility to Other Metals.
Of Precious Stones and Pearls.
Rarity the Only Cause Which Makes Such Things Valuable.
The Same Rule Holds with Regard to Colours. God's Creatures Generally
Not to Be Used, Except for the Purposes to Which He Has Appointed Them.
N oo uo F& FS WN
10 13 18 21 22 24 24 24
26
28 29
30 31 32 33
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God's Distribution Must Regulate Our Desires, Otherwise We Become the Prey of Ambition and Its Attendant Evils.
Introduction. Modesty to Be Observed Not Only in Its Essence, But in Its Accessories.
Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from Sin Itself. Difference Between Trust and Presumption. If Secure Ourselves, We Must Not Put Temptation in the Way of Others. We Must Love Our Neighbour as Ourself.
Grant that Beauty Be Not to Be Feared: Still It is to Be Shunned as Unnecessary and Vainglorious.
Concerning the Plea of “Pleasing the Husband.”
Some Refinements in Dress and Personal Appearance Lawful, Some Unlawful. Pigments Come Under the Latter Head.
Of Dyeing the Hair.
Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon Salvation.
Men Not Excluded from These Remarks on Personal Adornment.
Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned. Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VIL.
Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Ornaments and Embellishments.
Christian Women, Further, Have Not the Same Causes for Appearing in Public, and Hence for Dressing in Fine Array as Gentiles. On the Contrary, Their Appearance Should Always Distinguish Them from Such.
Such Outward Adornments Meretricious, and Therefore Unsuitable to Modest Women.
It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before Men. Especially in These Times of Persecution We Must Inure Our Bodies to the Hardships Which They May Not Improbably Be Called to Suffer.
Elucidation.
On the Veiling of Virgins.
Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its Developments.
Before Proceeding Farther, Let the Question of Custom Itself Be Sifted.
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Gradual Development of Custom, and Its Results. Passionate Appeal to Truth. Of the Argument Drawn from 1 Cor. XI. 5-16.
Of the Word Woman, Especially in Connection with Its Application to Eve. The Parallel Case of Mary Considered.
Of the Reasons Assigned by the Apostle for Bidding Women to Be Veiled. The Argument E Contrario.
Veiling Consistent with the Other Rules of Discipline Observed by Virgins and Women in General.
If the Female Virgins are to Be Thus Conspicuous, Why Not the Male as Well? The Rule of Veiling Not Applicable to Children.
Womanhood Self-Evident, and Not to Be Concealed by Just Leaving the Head Bare.
If Unveiling Be Proper, Why Not Practise It Always, Out of the Church as Well as in It?
Perils to the Virgins Themselves Attendant Upon Not-Veiling. Of Fascination.
Tertullian, Having Shown His Defence to Be Consistent with Scripture, Nature, and Discipline, Appeals to the Virgins Themselves.
An Appeal to the Married Women.
Elucidations.
To His Wife.
I Design of the Treatise. Disavowal of Personal Motives in Writing It. Marriage Lawful, But Not Polygamy. Marriage Good: Celibacy Preferable. Of the Infirmity of the Flesh, and Similar Pleas. Of the Love of Offspring as a Plea for Marriage. Examples of Heathens Urged as Commendatory of Widowhood and Celibacy.
The Death of a Husband is God's Call to the Widow to Continence. Further Evidences from Scripture and from Heathenism.
Conclusion. Book II Reasons Which Led to the Writing of This Second Book.
57 59 61 63 64 66 68
69 70 72
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78 80 82 82 82 84 85 87 89 91 92
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Of the Apostle's Meaning in 1 Cor. VII. 12-14. 98
Remarks on Some of the “Dangers and Wounds” Referred to in the Preceding 101 Chapter.
Of the Hindrances Which an Unbelieving Husband Puts in His Wife's Way. 103 Of Sin and Danger Incurred Even with a “Tolerant” Husband. 104 Danger of Having to Take Part in Heathenish Rites, and Revels. 105
The Case of a Heathen Whose Wife is Converted After Marriage with Him — 106 Very Different, and Much More Hopeful.
Arguments Drawn Even from Heathenish Laws to Discountenance Marriage 107 with Unbelievers. The Happiness of Union Between Partners in the Faith Enlarged on in Conclusion.
Elucidation. 110 On Exhortation to Chastity. 111 Introduction. Virginity Classified Under Three Several Species. 111
The Blame of Our Misdeeds Not to Be Cast Upon God. The One Power Which 113 Rests with Man is the Power of Volition.
Of Indulgence and Pure Volition. The Question Illustrated. 115 Further Remarks Upon the Apostle's Language. 117 Unity of Marriage Taught by Its First Institution, and by the Apostle's 119
Application of that Primal Type to Christ and the Church. The Objection from the Polygamy of the Patriarchs Answered. 120
Even the Old Discipline Was Not Without Precedents to Enforce Monogamy. 121 But in This as in Other Respects, the New Has Brought in a Higher Perfection.
If It Be Granted that Second Marriage is Lawful, Yet All Things Lawful are Not 123 Expedient.
Second Marriage a Species of Adultery, Marriage Itself Impugned, as Akinto 124 Adultery.
Application of the Subject. Advantages of Widowhood. 126 The More the Wives, the Greater the Distraction of the Spirit. 128 Excuses Commonly Urged in Defence of Second Marriage. Their Futility, 129
Especially in the Case of Christians, Pointed Out.
Examples from Among the Heathen, as Well as from the Church, to Enforce 131 the Foregoing Exhortation.
Elucidation. 133
On Monogamy. 134
Different Views in Regard to Marriage Held by Heretics, Psychic, and 134 Spiritualists. The Spiritualists Vindicated from the Charge of Novelty. 135
The Question of Novelty Further Considered in Connection with the Words 136 of the Lord and His Apostles.
Waiving Allusion to the Paraclete, Tertullian Comes to the Consideration of 139 the Ancient Scriptures, and Their Testimony on the Subject in Hand.
Connection of These Primeval Testimonies with Christ. 141 The Case of Abraham, and Its Bearing on the Present Question. 143 From Patriarchal, Tertullian Comes to Legal, Precedents. 145
From the Law Tertullian Comes to the Gospel. He Begins with Examples Before 148 Proceeding to Dogmas.
From Examples Tertullian Passes to Direct Dogmatic Teachings. He Begins 150 with the Lord's Teaching.
St. Paul's Teaching on the Subject. 152 Further Remarks Upon St. Paul's Teaching. 154 The Explanation of the Passage Offered by the Psychics Considered. 157 Further Objections from St. Paul Answered. 159 Even If the Permission Had Been Given by St. Paul in the Sense Which the 161
Psychics Allege, It Was Merely Like the Mosaic Permission of Divorce--A Condescension to Human Hard-Heartedness.
Unfairness of Charging the Disciples of the New Prophecy with Harshness. 163
The Charge Rather to Be Retorted Upon the Psychics.
Weakness of the Pleas Urged in Defence of Second Marriage. 164
Heathen Examples Cry Shame Upon This “Infirmity of the Flesh.” 166
Elucidations. 167 On Modesty. 169
Chapter I 169
God Just as Well as Merciful; Accordingly, Mercy Must Not Be Indiscriminate. 172 An Objection Anticipated Before the Discussion Above Promised isCommenced. 175 Adultery and Fornication Synonymous. 176 Of the Prohibition of Adultery in the Decalogue. 177
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Examples of Such Offences Under the Old Dispensation No Pattern for the 179 Disciples of the New. But Even the Old Has Examples of Vengeance Upon Such Offences.
Of the Parables of the Lost Ewe and the Lost Drachma. 182 Of the Prodigal Son. 185
Certain General Principles of Parabolic Interpretation. These Applied to the 187 Parables Now Under Consideration, Especially to that of the Prodigal Son.
Repentance More Competent to Heathens Than to Christians. 191 From Parables Tertullian Comes to Consider Definite Acts of the Lord. 193 Of the Verdict of the Apostles, Assembled in Council, Upon the Subject of 194 Adultery.
Of St. Paul, and the Person Whom He Urges the Corinthians to Forgive. 196 The Same Subject Continued. 199 The Same Subject Continued. 203 General Consistency of the Apostle. 205 Consistency of the Apostle in His Other Epistles. 209 Answer to a Psychical Objection. 212 Objections from the Revelation and the First Epistle of St. John Refuted. 215 From Apostolic Teaching Tertullian Turns to that of Companions of the 219
Apostles, and of the Law.
Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys. 222
Of Martyrs, and Their Intercession on Behalf of Scandalous Offenders. 225 Elucidations. 228 On Fasting. 230
Connection of Gluttony and Lust. Grounds of Psychical Objections Against 230 the Montanists.
Arguments of the Psychics, Drawn from the Law, the Gospel, the Acts, the 232 Epistles, and Heathenish Practices.
The Principle of Fasting Traced Back to Its Earliest Source. 234
The Objection is Raised, Why, Then, Was the Limit of Lawful Food Extended 235 After the Flood? The Answer to It.
Proceeding to the History of Israel, Tertullian Shows that Appetite Was as 236 Conspicuous Among Their Sins as in Adam's Case. Therefore the Restraints of the Levitical Law Were Imposed.
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The Physical Tendencies of Fasting and Feeding Considered. The Cases of 237 Moses and Elijah.
Further Examples from the Old Testament in Favour of Fasting. 259 Examples of a Similar Kind from the New. 241 From Fasts Absolute Tertullian Comes to Partial Ones and Xerophagies. 242 Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer. 244 Of the Respect Due to “Human Authority;” And of the Charges of “Heresy” 247
And “Pseudo-Prophecy.” Of the Need for Some Protest Against the Psychics and Their Self-Indulgence. 249
Of the Inconsistencies of the Psychics. 250 Reply to the Charge of “Galaticism.“ 252 Of the Apostle's Language Concerning Food. 253
Instances from Scripture of Divine Judgments Upon the Self-Indulgent; And = 255 Appeals to the Practices of Heathens.
Conclusion. 257 Elucidations. 259 De Fuga in Persecutione. 261 De Fuga in Persecutione. 261 Elucidations. 278 Appendix 280 A Strain of Jonah the Prophet. 280 A Strain of Sodom. 286 Genesis. 295 A Strain of the Judgment of the Lord. 303 Five Books in Reply to Marcion. 320 Of the Divine Unity, and the Resurrection of the Flesh. 320
Of the Harmony of the Old and New Laws. 332
Of the Harmony of the Fathers of the Old and New Testaments. 345
Of Marcion's Antitheses. 360 General Reply to Sundry of Marcion's Heresies. 373 Note. 386
Elucidations. 387
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Minucius Felix. 389
Title Page. 389 Introductory Note. 390 The Octavius of Minucius Felix. 393
Argument: Minucius Relates How Delightful to Him is the Recollection of the 393 Things that Had Happened to Him with Octavius While He Was Associated with Him at Rome, and Especially of This Disputation.
Argument: The Arrival of Octavius at Rome During the Time of the Public 394 Holidays Was Very Agreeable to Minucius. Both of Them Were Desirous of
Going to the Marine Baths of Ostia, with Ceecilius Associated with Them as a Companion of Minucius. On Their Way Together to the Sea, Czecillus, Seeing
an Image of Serapis, Raises His Hand to His Mouth, and Worships It.
Argument: Octavius, Displeased at the Act of This Superstitious Man, Sharply 395 Reproaches Minucius, on the Ground that the Disgrace of This Wicked Deed is Reflected Not Less on Himself, as Ceecilius' Host, Than on Cecilius.
Argument: Ceecilius, Somewhat Grieved at This Kind of Rebuke Which for His 396 Sake Minucius Had Had to Bear from Octavius, Begs to Argue with Octavius
on the Truth of His Religion. Octavius with His Companion Consents, and Minucius Sits in the Middle Between Ceecilius and Octavius.
Argument: Cecilius Begins His Argument First of All by Reminding Them 397 that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and Uncertain, and that Therefore
It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that
the World is Governed by No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to
Abide by the Received Forms of Religion.
Argument: The Object of All Nations, and Especially of the Romans, in 399 Worshipping Their Divinities, Has Been to Attain for Their Worship the Supreme Dominion Over the Whole Earth.
Argument: That the Roman Auspices and Auguries Have Been Neglected with 400 Ill Consequences, But Have Been Observed with Good Fortune.
Argument: The Impious Temerity of Theodorus, Diagoras, and Protagorasis 401 Not at All to Be Acquiesced In, Who Wished Either Altogether to Get Rid of
the Religion of the Gods, or at Least to Weaken It. But Infinitely Less to Be
Endured is that Skulking and Light-Shunning People of the Christians, Who
Reject the Gods, and Who, Fearing to Die After Death, Do Not in the Meantime
Fear to Die.
Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head ofan Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley.
Argument: Whatever the Christians Worship, They Strive in Every Way to Conceal: They Have No Altars, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images. Their God, Like that of the Jews, is Said to Be One, Whom, Although They are Neither Able to See Nor to Show, They Think Nevertheless to Be Mischievous, Restless, and Unseasonably Inquisitive.
Argument: Besides Asserting the Future Conflagration of the Whole World, They Promise Afterwards the Resurrection of Our Bodies: and to the Righteous an Eternity of Most Blessed Life; To the Unrighteous, of Extreme Punishment.
Argument: Moreover, What Will Happen to the Christians Themselves After Death, May Be Anticipated from the Fact that Even Now They are Destitute of All Means, and are Afflicted with the Heaviest Calamities and Miseries.
Argument: Ceecilius at Length Concludes that the New Religion is to Be Repudiated; And that We Must Not Rashly Pronounce Upon Doubtful Matters.
Argument: With Something of the Pride of Self-Satisfaction, Czecilius Urges Octavius to Reply to His Arguments; And Minucius with Modesty Answers Him, that He Must Not Exult at His Own by No Means Ordinary Eloquence, and at the Harmonious Variety of His Address.
Argument: Ceecilius Retorts Upon Minucius, with Some Little Appearance of Being Hurt, that He is Foregoing the Office of a Religious Umpire, When He is Weakening the Force of His Argument. He Says that It Should Be Left to Octavius to Confute All that He Had Advanced.
Argument: Octavius Arranges His Reply, and Trusts that He Shall Be Able to Dilute the Bitterness of Reproach with the River of Truthful Words. He Proceeds to Weaken the Individual Arguments of Ceecilius. Nobody Need Complain that the Christians, Unlearned Though They May Be, Dispute About Heavenly Things Because It is Not the Authority of Him Who Argues, But the Truth of the Argument Itself, that Should Be Considered.
Argument: Man Ought Indeed to Know Himself, But This Knowledge Cannot Be Attained by Him Unless He First of All Acknowledges the Entire Scope of Things, and God Himself. And from the Constitution and Furniture of the World Itself, Every One Endowed with Reason Holds that It Was Established by God, and is Governed and Administered by Him.
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Argument: Moreover, God Not Only Takes Care of the Universal World, But of Its Individual Parts. That by the Decree of the One God All Things are Governed, is Proved by the Illustration of Earthly Empires. But Although He, Being Infinite and Immense--And How Great He Is, is Known to Himself Alone--Cannot Either Be Seen or Named by Us, Yet His Glory is Beheld Most Clearly When the Use of All Titles is Laid Aside.
Argument: Moreover, the Poets Have Called Him the Parent of Gods and Men, the Creator of All Things, and Their Mind and Spirit. And, Besides, Even the More Excellent Philosophers Have Come Almost to the Same Conclusion as the Christians About the Unity of God.
Argument: But If the World is Ruled by Providence and Governed by the Will of One God, an Ignorant Antipathy Ought Not to Carry Us Away into the Error of Agreement with It: Although Delighted with Its Own Fables, It Has Brought in Ridiculous Traditions. Nor is It Shown Less Plainly that the Worship of the Gods Has Always Been Silly and Impious, in that the Most Ancient of Men Have Venerated Their Kings, Their Illustrious Generals, and Inventors of Arts, on Account of Their Remarkable Deeds, No Otherwise Than as Gods.
Argument: Octavius Attests the Fact that Men Were Adopted as Gods, by the Testimony of Euhemerus, Prodicus, Perseeus, and Alexander the Great, Who Enumerate the Country, the Birthdays, and the Burial-Places of the Gods. Moreover He Sets Forth the Mournful Endings, Misfortunes, and Deaths of the Gods. And, in Addition, He Laughs at the Ridiculous and Disgusting Absurdities Which the Heathens Continually Allege About the Form and Appearance of Their Gods.
Argument: Moreover, These Fables, Which at First Were Invented by Ignorant Men, Were Afterwards Celebrated by Others, and Chiefly by Poets, Who Did No Little Mischief to the Truth by Their Authority. By Fictions of This Kind, and by Falsehoods of a Yet More Attractive Nature, the Minds of Young People are Corrupted, and Thence They Miserably Grow Old in These Beliefs, Although, on the Other Hand, the Truth is Obvious to Them If They Will Only Seek After It.
Argument: Although the Heathens Acknowledge Their Kings to Be Mortal, Yet They Feign that They are Gods Even Against Their Own Will, Not Because of Their Belief in Their Divinity, But in Honour of the Power that They Have Exerted. Yet a True God Has Neither Rising Nor Setting. Thence Octavius Criticises the Images and Shrines of the Gods.
Argument: He Briefly Shows, Moreover, What Ridiculous, Obscene, and Cruel Rites Were Observed in Celebrating the Mysteries of Certain Gods.
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Argument: Then He Shows that Ceecilius Had Been Wrong in Asserting that the Romans Had Gained Their Power Over the Whole World by Means of the Due Observance of Superstitions of This Kind. Rather the Romans in Their Origin Were Collected by Crime, and Grew by the Terrors of Their Ferocity. And Therefore the Romans Were Not So Great Because They Were Religious, But Because They Were Sacrilegious with Impunity.
Argument: The Weapon that Ceecilius Had Slightly Brandished Against Him, Taken from the Auspices and Auguries of Birds, Octavius Retorts by Instancing the Cases of Regulus, Mancinus, Paulus, and Cesar. And He Shows by Other Examples, that the Argument from the Oracles is of No Greater Force Than the Others.
Argument: Recapitulation. Doubtless Here is a Source of Error: Demons Lurk Under the Statues and Images, They Haunt the Fanes, They Animate the Fibres of the Entrails, Direct the Flights of Birds, Govern the Lots, Pour Forth Oracles Involved in False Responses. These Things Not from God; But They are Constrained to Confess When They are Adjured in the Name of the True God, and are Driven from the Possessed Bodies. Hence They Flee Hastily from the Neighbourhood of Christians, and Stir Up a Hatred Against Them in the Minds of the Gentiles Who Begin to Hate Them Before They Know Them.
Argument: Nor is It Only Hatred that They Arouse Against the Christians, But They Charge Against Them Horrid Crimes, Which Up to This Time Have Been Proved by Nobody. This is the Work of Demons. For by Them a False Report is Both Set on Foot and Propagated. The Christians are Falsely Accused of Sacrilege, of Incest, of Adultery, of Parricide; And, Moreover, It is Certain and True that the Very Same Crimes, or Crimes Like to or Greater Than These, are in Fact Committed by the Gentiles Themselves.
Argument: Nor is It More True that a Man Fastened to a Cross on Account of His Crimes is Worshipped by Christians, for They Believe Not Only that He Was Innocent, But with Reason that He Was God. But, on the Other Hand, the Heathens Invoke the Divine Powers of Kings Raised into Gods by Themselves; They Pray to Images, and Beseech Their Genii.
Argument: The Story About Christians Drinking the Blood of an Infant that They Have Murdered, is a Barefaced Calumny. But the Gentiles, Both Cruelly Expose Their Children Newly Born, and Before They are Born Destroy Them by a Cruel Abortion. Christians are Neither Allowed to See Nor to Hear of Manslaughter.
Argument: The Charge of Our Entertainments Being Polluted with Incest, is Entirely Opposed to All Probability, While It is Plain that Gentiles are Actually Guilty of Incest. The Banquets of Christians are Not Only Modest, But
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Temperate. In Fact, Incestuous Lust is So Unheard Of, that with Many Even the Modest Association of the Sexes Gives Rise to a Blush.
Argument: Nor Can It Be Said that the Christians Conceal What They Worship Because They Have No Temples and No Altars, Inasmuch as They are Persuaded that God Can Be Circumscribed by No Temple, and that No Likeness of Him Can Be Made. But He is Everywhere Present, Sees All Things, Even the Most Secret Thoughts of Our Hearts; And We Live Near to Him, and in His Protection.
Argument: That Even If God Be Said to Have Nothing Availed the Jews, Certainly the Writers of the Jewish Annals are the Most Sufficient Witnesses that They Forsook God Before They Were Forsaken by Him.
Argument: Moreover, It is Not at All to Be Wondered at If This World is to Be Consumed by Fire, Since Everything Which Has a Beginning Has Also an End. And the Ancient Philosophers are Not Averse from the Opinion of the Probable Burning Up of the World. Yet It is Evident that God, Having Made Man from Nothing, Can Raise Him Up from Death into Life. And All Nature Suggests a Future Resurrection.
Argument: Righteous and Pious Men Shall Be Rewarded with Never-Ending Felicity, But Unrighteous Men Shall Be Visited with Eternal Punishment. The Morals of Christians are Far More Holy Than Those of the Gentiles.
Argument: Fate is Nothing, Except So Far as Fate is God. Man's Mind is Free, and Therefore So is His Action: His Birth is Not Brought into Judgment. It is Not a Matter of Infamy, But of Glory, that Christians are Reproached for Their Poverty; And the Fact that They Suffer Bodily Evils is Not as a Penalty, But as a Discipline.
Argument: Tortures Most Unjustly Inflicted for the Confession of Christ's Name are Spectacles Worthy of God. A Comparison Instituted Between Some of the Bravest of the Heathens and the Holy Martyrs. He Declares that Christians Do Not Present Themselves at Public Shows and Processions, Because They Know Them, with the Greatest Certainty, to Be No Less Impious Than Cruel.
Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men.
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Argument: When Octavius Had Finished This Address, Minucius and Cecilius 450 Sate for Some Time in Attentive and Silent Wonder. And Minucius Indeed Kept Silence in Admiration of Octavius, Silently Revolving What He Had Heard.
Argument: Then Cecilius Exclaims that He is Vanquished by Octavius; And 451 That, Being Now Conqueror Over Error, He Professes the Christian Religion.
He Postpones, However, Till the Morrow His Training in the Fuller Belief of
Its Mysteries.
Argument: Finally, All are Pleased, and Joyfully Depart: Ceecilius, that He Had 452 Believed; Octavius, that He Had Conquered; And Minucius, that the Former Had Believed, and the Latter Had Conquered.
Elucidations. 453 Commodianus. 454 Title Page. 454 The Instructions of Commodianus. 455 Introductory Note. 455 Preface. 456 God's Indignation. 457 The Worship of Demons. 458 Saturn. 459 Jupiter. 460 Of the Same Jupiter's Thunderbolt. 461 Of the Septizonium and the Stars. 462 Of the Sun and Moon. 463 Mercury. 464 Neptune. 465 Apollo the Soothsaying and False. 466 Father Liber--Bacchus. 467 The Unconquered One. 468 Sylvanus. 469 Hercules. 470 Of the Gods and Goddesses. 471 Of Their Images. 472 Of Ammydates and the Great God. 473
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Of the Vain Nemesiaci.
The Titans.
The Montesiani.
The Dulness of the Age.
Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready. Of Those Who Live Between the Two. They Who Fear and Will Not Believe. To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God. O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God. The Righteous Rise Again.
To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man. Rich Men, Be Humble.
To Judges.
To Self-Pleasers.
To the Gentiles.
Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles.
Of the Tree of Life and Death.
Of the Foolishness of the Cross.
The Fanatics Who Judaize.
To the Jews.
Also to the Jews.
Again to the Same.
Of the Time of Antichrist.
Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God.
Of the End of This Age. Of the First Resurrection. Of the Day of Judgment. To Catechumens.
To the Faithful.
O Faithful, Beware of Evil. To Penitents.
Who Have Apostatized from God.
474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505
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Of Infants. 506
Deserters. 507 To the Soldiers of Christ. 508 Of Fugitives. 509 Of the Seed of the Tares. 510 To the Dissembler. 511 That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided. 512 That the Christian Should Be Such. 513 To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God. 514 To the Same Again. 515 In the Church to All the People of God. 516 To Him Who Wishes for Martyrdom. 517 The Daily War. 518 Of the Zeal of Concupiscence. 519 They Who Give from Evil. 520 Of a Deceitful Peace. 521 To Ministers. 522 To God's Shepherds. 523 I Speak to the Elder-Born. 524 To Visit the Sick. 525 To the Poor in Health. 526 That Sons are Not to Be Bewailed. 527 Of Funeral Pomp. 528 To the Clerks. 529 Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence. 530 To the Drunkards. 531 To the Pastors. 532 To the Petitioners. 533 The Name of the Man of Gaza. 534 Elucidation. 535 Origen. 536 Title Page. 536
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Introductory Note. Preface. Life. Exegetical Works. Critical Works. Apologetical Works. Dogmatic Works. Practical Works. Editions of Origin. Prefatory Notice. Prologue of Rufinus. Origen De Principiis. Preface. Book I On God. On Christ. On the Holy Spirit. On Defection, or Falling Away. On Rational Natures. On the End or Consummation. On Incorporeal and Corporeal Beings. On the Angels. Fragment from the First Book of the de Principiis. Another Fragment from the Same. Book II On the World. On the Perpetuity of Bodily Nature. On the Beginning of the World, and Its Causes.
The God of the Law and the Prophets, and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Same God.
On Justice and Goodness.
On the Incarnation of Christ.
537 537 539 548 549 550 551 552 553 557 559 561 561 567 567 574 585 593 594 601 605 610 614 615 616 616 620 621 630
635 641
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On the Holy Spirit. On the Soul (Anima).
On the World and the Movements of Rational Creatures, Whether Good or Bad; And on the Causes of Them.
On the Resurrection, and the Judgment, the Fire of Hell, and Punishments. On Counter Promises. Book III Preface of Rufinus. Chapter I. translated from the Latin of Rufinus: On the Freedom of the Will.
Chapter I. translated from the Greek: On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It.
On the Opposing Powers. On Threefold Wisdom. On Human Temptations. That the World Took Its Beginning in Time. On the End of the World. IV
Chapter I., Sections 1-23 translated from the Latin of Rufinus: That the Scriptures are Divinely Inspired.
Chapter I., Sections 1-23 translated from the Greek: On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and How the Same is to be Read and Understood, and What is the Reason of the Uncertainty in it; and of the Impossibility or Irrationality of Certain Things in it, Taken According to the Letter.
Sections 24-End translated from the Latin.
Elucidations. A Letter to Origen from Africanus About the History of Susanna. A Letter from Origen to Africanus. A Letter from Origen to Gregory.
A Letter from Origen to Gregory.
Elucidation. Origen Against Celsus.
I
648 651 658
665 671 678 678 680 705
725 737 743 750 757 766 766
789
810 825 830 832 844 844 847 848 848
XVIil
Preface. Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI
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X1X
Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII
887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 916 917 918 919 920 922
XX
Chapter LXIV 923
Chapter LXV 924 Chapter LXVI 925 Chapter LXVII 927 Chapter LXVIII 928 Chapter LXIX 929 Chapter LXX 930 Chapter LXXI 931 Book II 932 Chapter I 932 Chapter II 934 Chapter III 936 Chapter IV 937 Chapter V 938 Chapter VI 939 Chapter VII 940 Chapter VIII 941 Chapter IX 943 Chapter X 946 Chapter XI 948 Chapter XII 950 Chapter XIII 951 Chapter XIV 953 Chapter XV 954 Chapter XVI 955 Chapter XVII 957 Chapter XVIII 958 Chapter XIX 959 Chapter XX 960 Chapter XXI 963 Chapter XXII 964
Chapter XXIII 965
XX1
Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI
966 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 993 996 998 999 1001 1002 1004
XXii
Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Chapter LXVI Chapter LXVII Chapter LXVIII Chapter LXIX Chapter LXX Chapter LXXI Chapter LXXII Chapter LXXIII Chapter LXXIV Chapter LXXV Chapter LXXVI Chapter LXXVII Chapter LXXVIII Chapter LXXIX Book III Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII
1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1014 1016 1017 1018 1019 1021 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1031 1032 1033 1034 1034 1035 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042
XX1il
Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL
1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1058 1059 1060 1062 1064 1065 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078
XXIV
Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Chapter LXVI Chapter LXVII Chapter LXVIII Chapter LXIX Chapter LXX Chapter LXXI Chapter LXXII
1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1110 1111 1112
XXV
Chapter LXXIII Chapter LXXIV Chapter LXXV Chapter LXXVI Chapter LXXVII Chapter LXXVIII Chapter LXXIX Chapter LXXX Chapter LXXXI Book IV Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII
1113 1114 1115 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 1123 1123 1124 1125 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1144 1145 1146 1147
XXV1
Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV
1148 1149 1150 1151 1153 1154 1155 1157 1159 1161 1162 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167 1170 1172 1173 1174 1175 1176 1177 1179 1180 1181 1182 1184 1185 1186 1187 1188
XXVIi
Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Chapter LXVI Chapter LXVII Chapter LXVIII Chapter LXIX Chapter LXX Chapter LXXI Chapter LXXII Chapter LXXIII Chapter LXXIV Chapter LXXV Chapter LXXVI Chapter LXXVII Chapter LXXVIII Chapter LXXIX Chapter LXXX Chapter LXXXI Chapter LXXXII Chapter LXXXIII Chapter LXXXIV Chapter LXXXV Chapter LXXXVI
1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1198 1199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1219 1220 1222 1223 1224
XXVIi1
Chapter LXXXVII 1225
Chapter LXXXVIII 1227 Chapter LXXXIX 1228 Chapter XC 1229 Chapter XCI 1230 Chapter XCII 1232 Chapter XCIII 1233 Chapter XCIV 1234 Chapter XCV 1235 Chapter XCVI 1236 Chapter XCVII 1237 Chapter XCVIII 1238 Chapter XCIX 1239 Elucidation. 1240 Book V 1242 Chapter I 1242 Chapter II 1243 Chapter III 1244 Chapter IV 1245 Chapter V 1246 Chapter VI 1247 Chapter VII 1248 Chapter VIII 1249 Chapter IX 1250 Chapter X 1251 Chapter XI 1253 Chapter XII 1255 Chapter XIII 1256 Chapter XIV 1257 Chapter XV 1258 Chapter XVI 1260
Chapter XVII 1261
XX1X
Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX
1262 1263 1265 1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1276 1277 1278 1279 1281 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1295 1296 1297 1298
XXX
Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Book VI Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV
1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1309 1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1316 1317 1318 1319 1321 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1329 1331 1332 1333 1334
XXX1
Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII
1336 1337 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 1364 1365 1366 1368 1370 1372 1373 1375
XXX
Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Chapter LXVI Chapter LXVII Chapter LXVIII Chapter LXIX Chapter LXX Chapter LXXI Chapter LXXII Chapter LXXIII Chapter LXXIV Chapter LXXV Chapter LXXVI Chapter LXXVII Chapter LXXVIII Chapter LXXIX
1376 1377 1379 1380 1381 1382 1384 1385 1387 1388 1390 1391 1392 1393 1395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 1410 1411 1413 1414
XXXIll
Chapter LXXX 1415
Chapter LXXXI 1416 Book VII 1417 Chapter I 1417 Chapter II 1418 Chapter II 1419 Chapter IV 1420 Chapter V 1421 Chapter VI 1422 Chapter VII 1423 Chapter VIII 1424 Chapter IX 1425 Chapter X 1426 Chapter XI 1427 Chapter XII 1428 Chapter XIII 1429 Chapter XIV 1430 Chapter XV 1431 Chapter XVI 1432 Chapter XVII 1433 Chapter XVIII 1434 Chapter XIX 1436 Chapter XX 1437 Chapter XXI 1438 Chapter XXII 1439 Chapter XXIII 1440 Chapter XXIV 1441 Chapter XXV 1442 Chapter XXVI 1443 Chapter XXVII 1444 Chapter XXVIII 1445
Chapter XXIX 1446
XXXIV
Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI
1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462 1464 1465 1467 1468 1469 1470 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 1480 1481 1482
XXXV
Chapter LXII 1483
Chapter LXIII 1484 Chapter LXIV 1485 Chapter LXV 1486 Chapter LXVI 1487 Chapter LXVII 1488 Chapter LXVIII 1489 Chapter LXIX 1490 Chapter LXX 1491 Book VIII 1492 Chapter I 1492 Chapter II 1493 Chapter III 1494 Chapter IV 1495 Chapter V 1496 Chapter VI 1497 Chapter VII 1498 Chapter VIII 1499 Chapter IX 1500 Chapter X 1501 Chapter XI 1502 Chapter XII 1503 Chapter XIII 1504 Chapter XIV 1505 Chapter XV 1506 Chapter XVI 1507 Chapter XVII 1508 Chapter XVIII 1509 Chapter XIX 1510 Chapter XX 1511 Chapter XXI 1512
Chapter XXII 1513
XXXVI
Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV
1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1546
XXXVI
Chapter LV
Chapter LVI
Chapter LVII
Chapter LVIII
Chapter LIX
Chapter LX
Chapter LXI
Chapter LXII
Chapter LXIII
Chapter LXIV
Chapter LXV
Chapter LXVI
Chapter LXVII
Chapter LXVIII
Chapter LXIX
Chapter LXX
Chapter LXXI
Chapter LXXII
Chapter LXXIII
Chapter LXXIV
Chapter LXXV
Chapter LXXVI
Indexes Index of Scripture References Greek Words and Phrases Hebrew Words and Phrases Index of Pages of the Print Edition Indexes
Index of Scripture References Greek Words and Phrases Hebrew Words and Phrases
Index of Pages of the Print Edition
1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1588 1667 1670 1672 1673 1682 1722 1724
XXXVIi1
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XXX1X
Title Pages.
The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325 ANTE-NICENE FATHERS
VOLUME 4. Z Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second. i Chronologically arranged, with brief notes and prefaces, by A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D. T&T CLARK EDINBURGH
WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second.
AMERICAN EDITION.
Chronologically arranged, with brief notes and prefaces, by A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D.
Ta apxaia €0n Kpatettw.
The Nicene Council
Introductory Notice.
Introductory Notice.
[ a.d. 200-250.] This fourth volume of our series is an exceptional one. It presents, under one cover, specimens of two of the noblest of the Christian Fathers; both of them exceptionally great in their influence upon the ages; both of them justly censurable for pitiable faults; each of them, in spite of such failings, endeared to the heart of Christendom by their great services to the Church; both of them geographically of Africa, but the one essentially Greek and the other a Latin; the one a builder upon the great Clementine foundations, the other himself a founder, the brilliant pioneer of Latin Christianity. The contrasts and the concurrences of such minds, and in them of the Alexandrian and Carthaginian schools, are most suggestive, and should be edifying.
The works of both, as here given, are fractional. Tertullian overflows into this volume, after filling one before; the vast proportions of Origen’s labours forced the Edinburgh pub- lishers to give specimens only.
Minucius Felix and Commodian are thrown in as a sort of appendix to Tertullian, and illustrate the school and the Church of the same country. The Italian type does not yet ap- pear. Latin Christianity is essentially North-African, and is destined to continue such, conspicuously, till it has culminated in the genius of Augustine. From the first, the Orientals speculate concerning God; the Westerns deal with man. Both schools “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.” And, once for all, it may be said, that if their language necessarily lacks the precision of technical theology, and enables those who have little sympathy with them to set them one against another on some points, and so to impair their value as witnesses, it is quite as easy, and far more just, to show the harmony of their ideas, even when they differ in their forms of speech. This has been triumphantly done by Bull, just as the same writer harmonizes St. James and St. Paul, working down to their common base in the Rock of Ages. The test of Ante-Nicene unity is the Nicene Symbol, in which the primitive writings find their ultimate expression. That Clement and Tertullian alike would have recognized as the faith; for the earlier Fathers were, in fact, its authors. The Nicene Fathers were compilers only, and professed only to embody in the Symbol what their predecessors had established and maintained.
Let it be borne in mind that there is only one Ecumenical Symbol. The Creed called the Apostles’ is unknown to the East save as an orthodox confession of their Western brethren. The “Athanasian Creed” is only a Western hymn, like the Te Deum, and has no cecumenical warrant as a symbol, though it embodies the common doctrine. The Filioque, wherever it appears, is apocryphal, and has no cecumenical force; while it is heretical (in Catholic theology) if it be held in a sense which destroys the One Source of divinity in the Father, its fons et origo. Surely, it is a noble exercise of mind and heart to see, in the splendid result of the Ante-Nicene conflicts with error, and in the enduring truth and perennial
Introductory Notice.
freshness of the Nicene Creed, the fulfilment of the promise of the Great Head of the Church, that the Spirit should abide with them for ever, and guide them into all truth.
The editor-in-chief, who has been forced to labour unassisted in the preceding volumes, has been so happy as to find a valued collaborator in editing the works of Origen, who has also relieved him of the task of proof-reading almost entirely throughout this volume, ex- cepting on his own pages of prefaces or annotations. In spite of the fact that a necessity for despatch requires the printing to be done from single proofs, it is believed that this volume excels its predecessors in typographical accuracy,—a merit largely due to the eminent skill of the Boston press from which it proceeds, but primarily to the pains of the Rev. Dr. Spencer, an expert in such operations.
For the favour and generous spirit with which his Christian brethren have welcomed and encouraged this undertaking, the editor is grateful to them, and to the common Lord and Master of us all.
October, 1885.
Tertullian: Part Fourth.
Tertullian.
Part Fourth.
On the Pallium.
I.
On the Pallium. !
[Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.]
Chapter I.—Time Changes Nations’ Dresses—and Fortunes.
Men of Carthage, ever princes of Africa, ennobled by ancient memories, blest with modern felicities, I rejoice that times are so prosperous with you that you have leisure to spend and pleasure to find in criticising dress. These are the “piping times of peace” and plenty. Blessings rain from the empire and from the sky. Still, you too of old time wore your garments—your tunics—of another shape; and indeed they were in repute for the skill of the weft, and the harmony of the hue, and the due proportion of the size, in that they were neither prodigally long across the shins, nor immodestly scanty between the knees, nor niggardly to the arms, nor tight to the hands, but, without being shadowed by even a girdle arranged to divide the folds, they stood on men’s backs with quadrate symmetry. The garment of the mantle extrinsically—itself too quadrangular—thrown back on either shoulder, and meeting closely round the neck in the gripe of the buckle, used to repose on the shoulders. * Its counterpart is now the priestly dress, sacred to Asculapius, whom you now call your own. So, too, in your immediate vicinity, the sister State > used to clothe (her citizens); and wherever else in Africa Tyre (has settled). 4 But when the urn of worldly ? lots varied, and God favoured the Romans, the sister State, indeed, of her own choice hastened to effect a change; in order that when Scipio put in at her ports she might already beforehand have greeted him in the way of dress, precocious in her Romanizing. To you, however, after the benefit in which your injury resulted, as exempting you from the infinity of age, not (deposing you) from your height of eminence,—after Gracchus and his foul omens, after Lepidus and his rough jests, after Pompeius and his triple altars, and Cesar and his long delays, when Statilius Taurus reared your ramparts, and Sentius Saturninus pronounced the solemn form of your inauguration,—while concord lends her aid, the gown is offered. Well! what a circuit has it taken! from Pelasgians to Lydians; ® from Lydians to Romans: in order that from the shoulders of the sublimer people it should descend to embrace Carthaginians! Henceforth, finding your tunic too long, you suspend it on a dividing cinc- ture; and the redundancy of your now smooth toga f you support by gathering it together
1 [Written, according to Neander, about a.d. 208.] [See Elucidation I.]
Utica (Oehler).
ie., in Adrumetum (Oehler).
Secularium.
i.e., Etruscans, who were supposed to be of Lydian origin.
N QD Oo & WO WN
iLe., your gown.
Time Changes Nations' Dresses--and Fortunes.
fold upon fold; and, with whatever other garment social condition or dignity or season clothes you, the mantle, at any rate, which used to be worn by all ranks and conditions among you, you not only are unmindful of, but even deride. For my own part, I wonder not (thereat), in the face of a more ancient evidence (of your forgetfulness). For the ram withal—not that which Laberius ° (calls)
“Back-twisted-horned, wool-skinned, stones-dragging,”
but a beam-like engine it is, which does military service in battering walls—never before poised by any, the redoubted Carthage,
“Keenest in pursuits of war,” ”
is said to have been the first of all to have equipped for the oscillatory work of pendulous impetus; !° modelling the power of her engine after the choleric fury of the head-avenging beast. 1 When, however, their country’s fortunes are at the last gasp, and the ram, now turned Roman, is doing his deeds of daring against the ramparts which erst were his own, forthwith the Carthaginians stood dumbfounded as at a “novel” and “strange” ingenuity: “so much doth Time’s long age avail to change!” !? Thus, in short, it is that the mantle, too, is not recognised.
8 A Roman knight and mime-writer.
9 Virg., AEn., i. 14.
10 ~— Or, “attack.”
11 Cap ut vindicantis. But some read cap ite: “which avenges itself with its head.”
12 See Virg., Ain., iii. 415 (Oehler).
The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal.
Chapter I.—The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal.
Draw we now our material from some other source, lest Punichood either blush or else grieve in the midst of Romans. To change her habit is, at all events, the stated function of entire nature. The very world 3 itself (this which we inhabit) meantime discharges it. See to it Anaximander, if he thinks there are more (worlds): see to it, whoever else (thinks there exists another) anywhere at the region of the Meropes, as Silenus prates in the ears of Midas, 14 apt (as those ears are !°), it must be admitted, for even huger fables. Nay, even if Plato thinks there exists one of which this of ours is the image, that likewise must necessarily have similarly to undergo mutation; inasmuch as, if it is a “world,” ° it will consist of diverse substances and offices, answerable to the form of that which is here the “world:” !” for “world” it will not be if it be not just as the “world” is. Things which, in diversity, tend to unity, are diverse by demutation. In short, it is their vicissitudes which federate the discord of their diversity. Thus it will be by mutation that every “world” !8 will exist whose corporate structure is the result of diversities, and whose attemperation is the result of vicissitudes.
At all events, this hostelry of ours ba
is versiform,—a fact which is patent to eyes that are closed, or utterly Homeric. ci Day and night revolve in turn. The sun varies by annual stations, the moon by monthly phases. The stars—distinct in their confusion—sometimes drop, sometimes resuscitate, somewhat. The circuit of the heaven is now resplendent with serenity, now dismal with cloud; or else rain-showers come rushing down, and whatever missiles (mingle) with them: thereafter (follows) a slight sprinkling, and then again brilliance.
So, too, the sea has an ill repute for honesty; while at one time, the breezes equably swaying it, tranquillity gives it the semblance of probity, calm gives it the semblance of even temper; and then all of a sudden it heaves restlessly with mountain-waves. Thus, too, if you survey the earth, loving to clothe herself seasonably, you would nearly be ready to deny her identity, when, remembering her green, you behold her yellow, and will ere long see her hoary too.
Of the rest of her adornment also, what is there which is not subject to interchanging mutation—the higher ridges of her mountains by decursion, the veins of her fountains by disappearance, and the pathways of her streams by alluvial formation? There was a time when her whole orb, withal, underwent mutation, overrun by all waters. To this day marine
13 Mundus.
14 See Adv. Herm., c. xxv. ad fin. (Oehler).
15 As being “the ears of an ass.”
16 Mundus. Oehler’s pointing is disregarded. 17. Mundus. Oehler’s pointing is disregarded. 18 Mundus. Oehler’s pointing is disregarded. 19 Metatio nostra, i.e., the world.
20 ie. blind. Cf. Milton, P. L., iii. 35, with the preceding and subsequent context.
The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal.
conchs and tritons’ horns sojourn as foreigners on the mountains, eager to prove to Plato that even the heights have undulated. But withal, by ebbing out, her orb again underwent a formal mutation; another, but the same. Even now her shape undergoes local mutations, when (some particular) spot is damaged; when among her islands Delos is now no more, Samos a heap of sand, and the Sibyl (is thus proved) no liar; 21 when in the Atlantic (the isle) that was equal in size to Libya or Asia is sought in vain; 7” when formerly a side of Italy, severed to the centre by the shivering shock of the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas, leaves Sicily as its relics; when that total swoop of discission, whirling backwards the contentious encounters of the mains, invested the sea with a novel vice, the vice not of spuing out wrecks, but of devouring them! The continent as well suffers from heavenly or else from inherent forces. Glance at Palestine. Where Jordan’s river is the arbiter of boundaries, (behold) a vast waste, and a bereaved region, and bootless land! And once (there were there) cities, and flourishing peoples, and the soil yielded its fruits. ?3 Afterwards, since God is a Judge, impiety earned showers of fire: Sodom’s day is over, and Gomorrah is no more; and all is ashes; and the neighbour sea no less than the soil experiences a living death! Such a cloud overcast Etruria, burning down her ancient Volsinii, to teach Campania (all the more by the eruption of her Pompeii) to look expectantly upon her own mountains. But far be (the repetition of such catastrophes)! Would that Asia, withal, were by this time without cause for anxiety about the soil’s voracity! Would, too, that Africa had once for all quailed before the devouring chasm, expiated by the treacherous absorption of one single camp! oa Many other such detriments besides have made innovations upon the fashion of our orb, and moved (particular) spots (in it). Very great also has been the licence of wars. But it is no less irksome to recount sad details than (to recount) the vicissitudes of kingdoms, (and to show) how frequent have been their mutations, from Ninus the progeny of Belus, onwards; if indeed Ninus was the first to have a kingdom, as the ancient profane authorities assert.
Beyond his time the pen is not wont (to travel), in general, among you (heathens). From the Assyrians, it may be, the histories of “recorded time” *° begin to open. We, however, who are habitual readers of divine histories, are masters of the subject from the nativity of the universe *° itself. But I prefer, at the present time, joyous details, inasmuch as things
21 Alluding to the Sibylline oracles, in which we read (1. iii.), Koi Z&pog opos Eon, Kai AfjAos &SnAos and again (1. iv.), AfjAog obx ét1 dfjAos, SnAa de na&vta tod AnjAov (Oehler).
22 See Apolog., c. xi. med.; ad Nat., 1. i. c. ix. med.; Plato, Timceus, pp. 24, 25 (Oehler).
23. Oehler’s apt conjecture, “et solum sua dabat,” is substituted for the unintelligible “et solus audiebat” of the mss., which Rig. skilfully but ineffectually tries to explain.
24 The “camp” of Cambyses, said by Herod. (iii. 26) to have been swallowed up in the Libyan Syrtes (Salm. in Oehler). It was one detachment ofhis army. Milton tells similar tales of the “Serbonian bog.” P.L., ii. 591-594. 25 Avi.
26 = Mundi.
The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal.
joyous withal are subject to mutation. In short, whatever the sea has washed away, the heaven burned down, the earth undermined, the sword shorn down, reappears at some other time by the turn of compensation. ” For in primitive days not only was the earth, for the greater part of her circuit, empty and uninhabited; but if any particular race had seized upon any part, it existed for itself alone. And so, understanding at last that all things worshipped themselves, (the earth) consulted to weed and scrape her copiousness (of inhab- itants), in one place densely packed, in another abandoning their posts; in order that thence (as it were from grafts and settings) peoples from peoples, cities from cities, might be planted throughout every region of her orb. ae Transmigrations were made by the swarms of re- dundant races. The exuberance of the Scythians fertilizes the Persians; the Phoenicians gush out into Africa; the Phrygians give birth to the Romans; the seed of the Chaldeans is led out into Egypt; subsequently, when transferred thence, it becomes the Jewish race. 7? So, too, the posterity of Hercules, in like wise, proceed to occupy the Peloponnesus for the behoof of Temenus. So, again, the Ionian comrades of Neleus furnish Asia with new cities: so, again, the Corinthians with Archias, fortify Syracuse. But antiquity is by this time a vain thing (to refer to), when our own careers are before our eyes. How large a portion of our orb has the present age 3° reformed! how many cities has the triple power of our existing empire either produced, or else augmented, or else restored! While God favours so many Augusti unitedly, how many populations have been transferred to other localities! how many peoples reduced! how many orders restored to their ancient splendour! how many barbarians baffled! In truth, our orb is the admirably cultivated estate of this empire; every aconite of hostility eradicated; and the cactus and bramble of clandestinely crafty familiarity 31 wholly uptorn; and (the orb itself) delightsome beyond the orchard of Alcinoiis and the rosary of Midas. Praising, therefore, our orb in its mutations, why do you point the finger of scorn at a man?
27 “Alias versura compensati re dit;” unless we may read “re ddit,” and take “versura” as a nominative: “the turn of compensation at some other time restores.”
28 This rendering, which makes the earth the subject, appears to give at least an intelligible sense to this hopelessly corrupt passage. Oehler’s pointing is disregarded; and his rendering not strictly adhered to, as being too forced. If for Oehler’s conjectural “se demum intellegens” we might read “se debere demum intellegens,” or simply “se debere intellegens,” a good sense might be made, thus: “understanding at last” (or, simply, “under- standing”) “that it was her duty to cultivate all (parts of her surface).”
29 Comp. Gen. xi. 26-xii. 5 with Acts vii. 2-4, 15, 45, and xiii. 17-19.
30 = Seeculum.
31 Oehler understands this of Clodius Albinus, and the Augusti mentioned above to be Severus and his two
sons Antonius and Geta. But see Kaye, pp. 36-39 (ed. 3, 1845).
Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation.
Chapter II.—Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation.
Beasts, too, instead of a garment, change their form. And yet the peacock withal has plumage for a garment, and a garment indeed of the choicest; nay, in the bloom of his neck richer than any purple, and in the effulgence of his back more gilded than any edging, and in the sweep of his tail more flowing than any train; many-coloured, diverse-coloured, and versi-coloured; never itself, ever another, albeit ever itself when other; in a word, mutable as oftas moveable. The serpent, too, deserves to be mentioned, albeit not in the same breath as the peacock; for he too wholly changes what has been allotted him—his hide and his age: if it is true, (as it is,) that when he has felt the creeping of old age throughout him, he squeezes himself into confinement; crawls into a cave and out of his skin simultaneously; and, clean shorn on the spot, immediately on crossing the threshold leaves his slough behind him then and there, and uncoils himself in a new youth: with his scales his years, too, are repudiated. The hyena, if you observe, is of an annual sex, alternately masculine and feminine. I say nothing of the stag, because himself withal, the witness of his own age, feeding on the serpent, languishes—from the effect of the poison—into youth. There is, withal,
“A tardigrade field-haunting quadruped,
Humble and rough.”
The tortoise of Pacuvius, you think? No. There is another beastling which the versicle fits; in size, one of the moderate exceedingly, but a grand name. If, without previously knowing him, you hear tell of a chameleon, you will at once apprehend something yet more huge united with a lion. But when you stumble upon him, generally in a vineyard, his whole bulk sheltered beneath a vine leaf, you will forthwith laugh at the egregious audacity of the name, in asmuch as there is no moisture even in his body, though in far more minute creatures the body is liquefied. The chameleon is a living pellicle. His headkin begins straight from his spine, for neck he has none: and thus reflection *? is hard for him; but, in circum- spection, his eyes are outdarting, nay, they are revolving points of light. Dull and weary, he scarce raises from the ground, but drags, his footstep amazedly, and moves forward,—he rather demonstrates, than takes, a step: ever fasting, to boot, yet never fainting; agape he feeds; heaving, bellowslike, he ruminates; his food wind. Yet withal the chameleon is able to effect a total self-mutation, and that is all. For, whereas his colour is properly one, yet, whenever anything has approached him, then he blushes. To the chameleon alone has been granted—as our common saying has it—to sport with his own hide.
Much had to be said in order that, after due preparation, we might arrive at man. From whatever beginning you admit him as springing, naked at all events and ungarmented he came from his fashioner’s hand: afterwards, at length, without waiting for permission, he possesses himself, by a premature grasp, of wisdom. Then and there hastening to forecover
32 Reflecti: perhaps a play upon the word = to turn back, or (mentally) to reflect.
10
Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation.
what, in his newly made body, it was not yet due to modesty (to forecover), he surrounds himself meantime with fig-leaves: subsequently, on being driven from the confines of his birthplace because he had sinned, he went, skinclad, to the world °° as to a mine. *4
But these are secrets, nor does their knowledge appertain to all. Come, let us hear from your own store—(a store) which the Egyptians narrate, and Alexander ae digests, and his mother reads—touching the time of Osiris, 3° when Ammon, rich in sheep, comes to him out of Libya. In short, they tell us that Mercury, when among them, delighted with the softness of a ram which he had chanced to stroke, flayed a little ewe; and, while he persistently tries and (as the pliancy of the material invited him) thins out the thread by assiduous traction, wove it into the shape of the pristine net which he had joined with strips of linen. But you have preferred to assign all the management of wool-work and structure of the loom to Minerva; whereas a more diligent workshop was presided over by Arachne. Thenceforth material (was abundant). Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus, and Selge, and Altinum, or of those for which Tarentum or Beetica is famous, with nature for their dyer: but (I speak of the fact) that shrubs afford you clothing, and the grassy parts of flax, losing their greenness, turn white by washing. Nor was it enough to plant and sow your tunic, unless it had likewise fallen to your lot to fish for raiment. For the sea withal yields fleeces, inasmuch as the more brilliant shells of a mossy wooliness furnish a hairy stuff. Further: it is no secret that the silkworm—a species of wormling it is—presently reproduces safe and sound (the fleecy threads) which, by drawing them through the air, she distends more skilfully than the dial-like webs of spiders, and then devours. In like manner, if you kill it, the threads which you coil are forthwith instinct with vivid colour.
The ingenuities, therefore, of the tailoring art, superadded to, and following up, so abundant a store of materials—first with a view to coveting humanity, where Necessity led the way; and subsequently with a view to adorning withal, ay, and inflating it, where Ambition followed in the wake—have promulgated the various forms of garments. Of which forms, part are worn by particular nations, without being common to the rest; part, on the other hand, universally, as being useful to all: as, for instance, this Mantle, albeit it is more Greek (than Latin), has yet by this time found, in speech, a home in Latium. With the word the garment entered. And accordingly the very man who used to sentence Greeks to extrusion from the city, but learned (when he was now advanced in years) their alphabet and
33 Orbi.
34 i.e.,a place which he was to work, as condemned criminals worked mines. Comp. de Pu., c. xxii. sub init.; and see Gen. ii. 25 (in LXX. iii. 1), iii. 7, 21-24.
35 Alexander Polyhistor, who dedicated his books on the affairs of the Phrygians and Egyptians to his mother (Rig. in Oehler).
36 The Egyptian Liber, or Bacchus. See de Cor., c. vii. (Rig. in Oehler). 11
Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation.
speech—the self-same Cato, by baring his shoulder at the time of his preetorship, showed no less favour to the Greeks by his mantle-like garb.
12
Change Not Always Improvement.
Chapter IV.—Change Not Always Improvement.
Why, now, if the Roman fashion is (social) salvation to every one, are you nevertheless Greek to a degree, even in points not honourable? Or else, if it is not so, whence in the world is it that provinces which have had a better training, provinces which nature adapted rather for surmounting by hard struggling the difficulties of the soil, derive the pursuits of the wrestling-ground—pursuits which fall into a sad old age >” and labour in vain—and the unction with mud, °° and the rolling in sand, and the dry dietary? Whence comes it that some of our Numidians, with their long locks made longer by horsetail plumes, learn to bid the barber shave their skin close, and to exempt their crown alone from the knife? Whence comes it that men shaggy and hirsute learn to teach the resin >? to feed on their arms with such rapacity, the tweezers to weed their chin so thievishly? A prodigy it is, that all this should be done without the Mantle! To the Mantle appertains this whole Asiatic practice! What hast thou, Libya, and thou, Europe, to do with athletic refinements, which thou knowest not how to dress? For, in sooth, what kind of thing is it to practise Greekish depil- ation more than Greekish attire?
The transfer of dress approximates to culpability just in so far as it is not custom, but nature, which suffers the change. There is a wide enough difference between the honour due to time, and religion. Let Custom show fidelity to Time, Nature to God. To Nature, accordingly, the Larisszean hero = gave a shock by turning into a virgin; he who had been reared on the marrows of wild beasts (whence, too, was derived the composition of his name, because he had been a stranger with his lips to the maternal breast 41); he who had been reared by a rocky and wood-haunting and monstrous trainer Pina stony school. You would bear patiently, if it were in a boy’s case, his mother’s solicitude; but he at all events was already be-haired, he at all events had already secretly given proof of his manhood to some one, *? when he consents to wear the flowing stole, “4 to dress his hair, to cultivate his skin, to consult the mirror, to bedizen his neck; effeminated even as to his ear by boring, whereof his bust at Sigeum still retains the trace. Plainly afterwards he turned soldier: for necessity restored him his sex. The clarion had sounded of battle: nor were arms far to
37. Male senescentia. Rig. (as quoted by Oehler) seems to interpret, “ which entail a feeble old age.” Oehler himself seems to take it to mean “pursuits which are growing very old, and toiling to no purpose.”
38 Or, as some take it, with wax (Oehler).
39 Used as a depilatory.
40 Achilles.
41 ’AytAAgvc: from & privative, and xeitAos, the lip. See Oehler.
42 The Centaur Chiron, namely.
43 Deianira, of whom he had begotten Pyrrhus (Oehler).
44 See the note on this word in de Idol., c. xviii.
13
Change Not Always Improvement.
seek. “The steel’s self,” says (Homer), “attracteth the hero.” 45 Else if, after that incentive as well as before, he had persevered in his maidenhood, he might withal have been married! Behold, accordingly, mutation! A monster, I call him,—a double monster: from man to woman; by and by from woman to man: whereas neither ought the truth to have been belied, nor the deception confessed. Each fashion of changing was evil: the one opposed to nature, the other contrary to safety.
Still more disgraceful was the case when lust transfigured a man in his dress, than when some maternal dread did so: and yet adoration is offered by you to me, whom you ought to blush at,—that Clubshaftandhidebearer, who exchanged for womanly attire the whole proud heritage of his name! Such licence was granted to the secret haunts of Lydia, 46 that Hercules was prostituted in the person of Omphale, and Omphale in that of Hercules. Where were Diomed and his gory mangers? where Busiris and his funereal altars? where Geryon, triply one? The club preferred still to reek with their brains when it was being pestered with unguents! The now veteran (stain of the) Hydra’s and of the Centaurs’ blood upon the shafts was gradually eradicated by the pumice-stone, familiar to the hair-pin! while voluptuousness insulted over the fact that, after transfixing monsters, they should perchance sew a coronet! No sober woman even, or heroine *” of any note, would have adventured her shoulders beneath the hide of such a beast, unless after long softening and smoothening down and deodorization (which in Omphale’s house, I hope, was effected by balsam and fenugreek-salve: I suppose the mane, too, submitted to the comb) for fear of getting her tender neck imbued with lionly toughness. The yawning mouth stuffed with hair, the jaw- teeth overshadowed amid the forelocks, the whole outraged visage, would have roared had it been able. Nemea, at all events (if the spot has any presiding genius), groaned: for then she looked around, and saw that she had lost her lion. What sort of being the said Hercules was in Omphale’s silk, the description of Omphale in Hercules’ hide has inferentially depicted.
But, again, he who had formerly rivalled the Tirynthian 48__the pugilist Cleo- machus—subsequently, at Olympia, after losing by efflux his masculine sex by an incredible mutation—bruised within his skin and without, worthy to be wreathed among the “Fullers” even of Novius, *? and deservedly commemorated by the mimographer Lentulus in his Catinensians—did, of course, not only cover with bracelets the traces left by (the bands of)
45 Hom., Od., xvi. 294 (Oehler).
46 Jos. Mercer, quoted by Oehler, appears to take the meaning to be, “to his clandestine Lydian concubine;” but that rendering does not seem necessary.
47 Viraginis; but perhaps =virginis. See the Vulg. in Gen. ii. 23.
48 i.e., Hercules.
49 Or, “which are now attributed to Novius.” Novius was a writer of that kind of farce called “Atellanz fabulze;”
and one of his farces—or one attributed to him in Tertullian’s day—was called “The Fullers.”
14
Change Not Always Improvement.
the cestus, but likewise supplanted the coarse ruggedness of his athlete’s cloak with some superfinely wrought tissue.
Of Physco and Sardanapalus I must be silent, whom, but for their eminence in lusts, no one would recognise as kings. But I must be silent, for fear lest even they set up a muttering concerning some of your Cesars, equally lost to shame; for fear lest a mandate have been
50
given to canine” constancy to point to a Cesar impurer than Physco, softer than Sardanap-
alus, and indeed a second Nero. >!
Nor less warmly does the force of vainglory also work for the mutation of clothing, even while manhood is preserved. Every affection is a heat: when, however, it is blown to (the flame of) affectation, forthwith, by the blaze of glory, it isan ardour. From this fuel, therefore, you see a great king >? _ inferior only to his glory—seething. He had conquered the Median race, and was conquered by Median garb. Doffing the triumphal mail, he degraded himself into the captive trousers! The breast dissculptured with scaly bosses, by covering it with a transparent texture he bared; punting still after the work of war, and (as it were) softening, he extinguished it with the ventilating silk! Not sufficiently swelling of spirit was the Macedonian, unless he had likewise found delight in a highly inflated garb: only that philosophers withal (I believe) themselves affect somewhat of that kind; for I hear that there has been (such a thing as) philosophizing in purple. If a philosopher (appears) in purple, why not in gilded slippers °3 too? Fora Tyrian >4 to be shod in anything but gold, is by no means consonant with Greek habits. Some one will say, “Well, but there was another °° who wore silk indeed, and shod himself in brazen sandals.” Worthily, indeed, in order that at the bottom of his Bacchantian raiment he might make some tinkling sound, did he walk in cymbals! But if, at that moment, Diogenes had been barking from his tub, he would not (have trodden on him °°) with muddy feet—as the Platonic couches testify—but would have
>7 in order that he
58
carried Empedocles down bodily to the secret recesses of the Cloacine; who had madly thought himself a celestial being might, as a god, salute first his sisters,
50 i.e., cynical; comp. de Pa., c. ii. ad init.
51 i.e., Domitian, called by Juv. calvum Neronem, Sat. iv. 38.
52 Alexander.
53 Comp. de Idol., c. viii. med.
54 — i.e., one who affects Tyrian—dresses in Tyrian purple.
55 Empedocles (Salm. in Oehler).
56 I have adopted Oehler’s suggestion, and inserted these words.
57 — iie., of Cloacina or Cluacina (="the Purifier,” a name of Venus; comp. White and Riddle), which Tertullian either purposely connects with “cloaca,” a sewer (with which, indeed, it may be really connected, as coming derivatively from the same root), and takes to mean “the nymphs of the sewers” apparently.
58 The nymphs above named (Oehler). 15
Change Not Always Improvement.
and afterwards men. Such garments, therefore, as alienate from nature and modesty, let it be allowed to be just to eye fixedly and point at with the finger and expose to ridicule by a nod. Just so, if a man were to wear a dainty robe trailing on the ground with Menander- like effeminacy, he would hear applied to himself that which the comedian says, “What sort of a cloak is that maniac wasting?” For, now that the contracted brow of censorial vigilance is long since smoothed down, so far as reprehension is concerned, promiscuous usage offers to our gaze freedmen in equestrian garb, branded slaves in that of gentlemen, the notoriously infamous in that of the freeborn, clowns in that of city-folk, buffoons in that of lawyers, rustics in regimentals; the corpse-bearer, the pimp, the gladiator trainer, clothe themselves as you do. Turn, again, to women. You have to behold what Cecina Severus pressed upon the grave attention of the senate—matrons stoleless in public. In fact, the penalty inflicted by the decrees of the augur Lentulus upon any matron who had thus cashiered herself was the same as for fornication; inasmuch as certain matrons had sedulously promoted the disuse of garments which were the evidences and guardians of dignity, as being impediments to the practising of prostitution. But now, in their self-prostitution, in order that they may the more readily be approached, they have abjured stole, and chemise, and bonnet, and cap; yes, and even the very litters and sedans in which they used to be kept in privacy and secrecy even in public. But while one extinguishes her proper adornments, another blazes forth such as are not hers. Look at the street-walkers, the shambles of popular lusts; also at the female self-abusers with their sex; and, if it is better to withdraw your eyes from such shameful spectacles of publicly slaughtered chastity, yet do but look with eyes askance, (and) you will at once see (them to be) matrons! And, while the overseer of brothels airs her swelling silk, and consoles her neck—more impure than her haunt—with necklaces, and inserts in the armlets (which even matrons themselves would, of the guerdons bestowed upon brave men, without hesitation have appropriated) hands privy to all that is shameful, (while) she fits on her impure leg the pure white or pink shoe; why do you not stare at such garbs? or, again, at those which falsely plead religion as the supporter of their novelty? while for the sake of an all-white dress, and the distinction ofa fillet, and the privilege of a helmet, some are initiated into (the mysteries of) Ceres; while, on account of an opposite hankering after sombre raiment, and a gloomy woollen covering upon the head, others run mad in Bellona’s temple; while the attraction of surrounding themselves with a tunic more broadly striped with purple, and casting over their shoulders a cloak of Galatian scarlet, commends Saturn (to the affections of others). When this Mantle itself, arranged with more rigorous care, and sandals after the Greek model, serve to flatter sculapius, °? how much more should you then accuse and assail it with your eyes, as being guilty of superstition—albeit superstition simple and unaffected? Certainly, when first it clothes this wisdom 60 Which
59 sie, are worn by his votaries. 60 i.e. Christianity. Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7. 16
Change Not Always Improvement.
renounces superstitions with all their vanities, then most assuredly is the Mantle, above all the garments in which you array your gods and goddesses, an august robe; and, above all the caps and tufts of your Salii and Flamines, a sacerdotal attire. Lower your eyes, I advise
you, (and) reverence the garb, on the one ground, meantime, (without waiting for others,) of being a renouncer of your error.
17
Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence.
Chapter V.—Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence.
“Still,” say you, “must we thus change from gown °! to Mantle?” Why, what if from diadem and sceptre? Did Anacharsis change otherwise, when to the royalty of Scythia he preferred philosophy? Grant that there be no (miraculous) signs in proof of your transform- ation for the better: there is somewhat which this your garb can do. For, to begin with the simplicity of its uptaking: it needs no tedious arrangement. Accordingly, there is no necessity for any artist formally to dispose its wrinkled folds from the beginning a day beforehand, and then to reduce them to a more finished elegance, and to assign to the guardianship of the stretchers ©” the whole figment of the massed boss; subsequently, at daybreak, first gathering up by the aid of a girdle the tunic which it were better to have woven of more moderate length (in the first instance), and, again scrutinizing the boss, and rearranging any disarrangement, to make one part prominent on the left, but (making now an end of the folds) to draw backwards from the shoulders the circuit of it whence the hollow is formed, and, leaving the right shoulder free, heap it still upon the left, with another similar set of folds reserved for the back, and thus clothe the man with a burden! In short, I will persistently ask your own conscience, What is your first sensation in wearing your gown? Do you feel yourself clad, or laded? wearing a garment, or carrying it? If you shall answer negatively, I will follow you home; I win see what you hasten to do immediately after crossing your threshold. There is really no garment the doffing whereof congratulates a man more than the gown’s does. 63 Of shoes we say nothing—implements as they are of torture proper to the gown, most uncleanly protection to the feet, yes, and false too. For who would not find it expedient, in cold and heat, to stiffen with feet bare rather than in a shoe with feet bound? A mighty munition for the tread have the Venetian shoe-factories provided in the shape of effeminate boots! Well, but, than the Mantle nothing is more expedite, even if it be double, like that of Crates. °* Nowhere is there a compulsory waste of time in dressing yourself (in it), seeing that its whole art consists in loosely covering. That can be effected by a single circumjection, and one in no case inelegant: © thus it wholly covers every part of the man at once. The shoulder it either exposes or encloses: 6© in other respects it adheres to the
61 Toga.
62 Or, “forcipes.”
63 Ofcourse the meaning is, “on the doffing of which a man congratulates himself more,” etc.; but Tertullian as it were personifies the act of doffing, and represents it as congratulating the doffer; and I have scrupulously retained all his extravagances, believing them (in the present treatise at least) to be intentional.
64 A Cynic philosopher.
65 “Inhumano;” or, perhaps, “involving superhuman effort.”
66 Oehler attempts to defend the common reading, “humerum velans exponit vel includit;” but the correction of Salmasius and Lud. de la Cerda which he quotes, “ vel exponit,” is followed in preference. If Oehler’s reading
be retained, we may render: “a covering for the shoulder, it exposes or encloses it at will.”
18
Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence.
shoulder; it has no surrounding support; it has no surrounding tie; it has no anxiety as to the fidelity with which its folds keep their place; easily it manages, easily readjusts itself:
even in the doffing it is consigned to no cross until the morrow. Ifany shirt is worn beneath it, the torment of a girdle is superfluous: if anything in the way of shoeing is worn, it is a most cleanly work; ®7 or else the feet are rather bare,—more manly, at all events, (if bare,) than in shoes. These (pleas I advance) for the Mantle in the meantime, in so far as you have defamed it by name. Now, however, it challenges you on the score of its function withal.
“I,” it says, “owe no duty to the forum, the election-ground, or the senate-house; I keep no obsequious vigil, preoccupy no platforms, hover about no preetorian residences; I am not odorant of the canals, am not odorant of the lattices, am no constant wearer out of benches, no wholesale router of laws, no barking pleader, no judge, no soldier, no king: I have with- drawn from the populace. My only business is with myself: except that other care I have none, save not to care. The better life you would more enjoy in seclusion than in publicity.
But you will decry me as indolent. Forsooth, ‘we are to live for our country, and empire, and estate.’ Such used, °° of old, to be the sentiment. None is born for another, being destined to die for himself. At all events, when we come to the Epicuri and Zenones, you give the epithet of ‘sages’ to the whole teacherhood of Quietude, who have consecrated that Quietude with the name of ‘supreme’ and ‘unique’ pleasure. Still, to some extent it will be allowed, even to me, to confer benefit on the public. From any and every boundary-stone or altar it is my wont to prescribe medicines to morals—medicines which will be more feli- citous in conferring good health upon public affairs, and states, and empires, than your works are. Indeed, if I proceed to encounter you with naked foils, gowns have done the commonwealth more hurt than cuirasses. Moreover, I flatter no vices; I give quarter to no lethargy, no slothful encrustation. I apply the cauterizing iron to the ambition which led M. Tullius to buy a circular table of citron-wood for more than £4000, 6 and Asinius Gallus to pay twice as much for an ordinary table of the same Moorish wood (Hem! at what fortunes did they value woody dapplings!), or, again, Sulla to frame dishes of an hundred pounds’ weight. I fear lest that balance be small, when a Drusillanus (and he withal a slave of Claudius!) constructs a tray 70 of the weight of 500 lbs.!—a tray indispensable, perchance, to the aforesaid tables, for which, if a workshop was erected, ’' there ought to have been
67 _ie., the “shoeing” appropriate to the mantle will consist at most of sandals; “ shoes” being (as has been said) suited to the gown.
68 “Erat.”—Oehler, who refers to “errat” as the general reading, and (if adopted) renders: “This sentiment errs (or wanders) in all directions;” making olim = passim.
69 Reckoning the 1000 sesterces at their pre-Augustan value, £8, 17s. 1d.
70 “Promulsis”—a tray on which the first course (“promulsis” or “antecoena”) was served, otherwise called “promulsidare.”
71 As Pliny (quoted by Oehler) tells us was the case. 19
Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence.
erected a dining-room too. Equally do I plunge the scalpel into the inhumanity which led Vedius Pollio to expose slaves to fill the bellies of sea-eels. Delighted, forsooth, with his novel savagery, he kept land-monsters, toothless, clawless, hornless: it was his pleasure to turn perforce into wild beasts his fish, which (of course) were to be forthwith cooked, that in their entrails he himself withal might taste some savour of the bodies of his own slaves. I will forelop the gluttony which led Hortensius the orator to be the first to have the heart to slay a peacock for the sake of food; which led Aufidius Lurco to be the first to vitiate meat with stuffing, and by the aid of forcemeats to raise them to an adulterous ’” flavour; which led Asinius Celer to purchase the viand of a single mullet at nearly £50; 73 which led Esopus the actor to preserve in his pantry a dish of the value of nearly £800, made up of birds of the selfsame costliness (as the mullet aforesaid), consisting of all the songsters and talkers; which led his son, after such a titbit, to have the hardihood to hunger after somewhat yet more sumptuous: for he swallowed down pearls—costly even on the ground of their name—I suppose for fear he should have supped more beggarly than his father. I am silent as to the Neros and Apicii and Rufi. I will give a cathartic to the impurity of a Scaurus, and the gambling of a Curius, and the intemperance of an Antony. And remember that these, out of the many (whom I have named), were men of the toga—such as among the men of the pallium you would not easily find. These purulencies of a state who will eliminate and ex- suppurate, save a bemantled speech?
72 ~~ Or, “adulterated.”
73 Reckoning the 1000 sesterces at the post-Augustan value, £7, 16s. 3d. 20
Further Distinctions, and Crowning Glory, of the Pallium.
Chapter VI.—Further Distinctions, and Crowning Glory, of the Pallium. “With speech,’ says (my antagonist), ‘you have tried to persuade me,—a most sage medicament.’ But, albeit utterance be mute—impeded by infancy or else checked by bash- fulness, for life is content with an even tongueless philosophy—my very cut is eloquent. A philosopher, in fact, is heard so long as he is seen. My very sight puts vices to the blush.
Who suffers not, when he sees his own rival? Who can bear to gaze ocularly at him at whom mentally he cannot? Grand is the benefit conferred by the Mantle, at the thought whereof moral improbity absolutely blushes. Let philosophy now see to the question of her own profitableness; for she is not the only associate whom I boast. Other scientific arts of public utility I boast. From my store are clothed the first teacher of the forms of letters, the first explainer of their sounds, the first trainer in the rudiments of arithmetic, the grammarian, the rhetorician, the sophist, the medical man, the poet, the musical timebeater, the astrologer, and the birdgazer. All that is liberal in studies is covered by my four angles. “True; but all these rank lower than Roman knights’ Well; but your gladiatorial trainers, and all their ig- nominious following, are conducted into the arena in togas. This, no doubt, will be the in- dignity implied in ‘From gown to Mantle!” Well, so speaks the Mantle. But I confer on it likewise a fellowship with a divine sect and discipline. Joy, Mantle, and exult! A better philosophy has now deigned to honour thee, ever since thou hast begun to be a Christian’s
vesture!
21
Elucidations
Elucidations.
I.
(The garment...too quadrangular, p. 5.)
Speaking of the Greek priests of Korfou, the erudite Bishop of Lincoln, lately deceased, has remarked, “There is something very picturesque in the appearance of these persons, with their black caps resembling the modius seen on the heads of the ancient statues of Serapis and Osiris, their long beards and pale complexions, and their black flowing cloak,—a relic, no doubt, of the old ecclesiastical garment of which Tertullian wrote.” These remarks 74 are illustrated by an engraving on the same page.
He thus identifies the pallium with the gown of Justin Martyr; ”° nor can there be any reasonable doubt that the pallium of the West was the counterpart of the Greek peAdviov and of the patAdvn, which St. Paul left at Troas. Endearing associations have clung to it from the mention of this apostolic cloak in Holy Scripture. It doubtless influenced Justin in giving his philosopher’s gown a new significance, and the modern Greeks insist that such was the apparel of the apostles. The seamless robe of Christ Himself belongs to Him only.
Tertullian rarely acknowledges his obligations to other Doctors; but Justin’s example and St. Paul’s cloak must have been in his thoughts when he rejected the toga, and claimed the pallium, as a Christian’s attire. Our Edinburgh translator has assumed that it was the “ascetics’ mantle,” and perhaps it was. ”° Our author wished to make all Christians ascetics, like himself, and hence his enthusiasm for a distinctive costume. Anyhow, “the Doctor’s gown” of the English universities, which is also used among the Gallicans and in Savoy, is one of the most ancient as well as dignified vestments in ecclesiastical use; and for the prophetic or preaching function of the clergy it is singularly appropriate. es
“The pallium,” says a learned author, ’® the late Wharton B. Marriott of Oxford, “is the Greek ivatiov, the outer garment or wrapper worn occasionally by persons of all conditions of life. It corresponded in general use to the Roman toga, but in the earlier Roman language, that of republican times, was as distinctively suggestive of a Greek costume as the toga of that of Rome.” To Tertullian, therefore, his preference for the pallium was doubtless com-
74 Wordsworth’s Greece, p. 263. London, 1839. 75 See vol. i. p. 160, this series. 76 But it was assuming a questionable point (See Kaye, p. 49) to give it this name in the title, and I have retained it untranslated. 77 See note on p. 160 of vol. i., this series. 78 See his valuable and exhaustive treatise, the Vestiarium Christianum, especially pp. 73, 125, 233, 490. Also, for the Gallicanum, p. 204 and Appendix E., with pp. 210, 424. For the Grecum, pp. xii. (note), xv. 73, 127, 233.
22
Elucidations
mended by all these considerations; and the distinctively Greek character of Christian theology was indicated also by his choice. He loved the learning of Alexandria, and reflected the spirit of the East.
II.
(Superstition, p. 10, near note 9. )
The pall afterwards imposed upon Anglican and other primates by the Court of Rome was at first a mere complimentary present from the patriarchal see of the West. It became a badge of dependence and of bondage ( obsta principiis). Only the ornamental bordering was sent, “made of lamb’s-wool and superstition,” says old Fuller, for whose amusing remarks see his Church Hist., vol. i. p. 179, ed. 1845. Rome gives primitive names to middle-age corruptions: needless to say the “pall” of her court is nothing like the pallium of our author.
23
On the Apparel of Women.
Il.
On the Apparel of Women. Book I.
[Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.]
79
Chapter I.—Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman.
If there dwelt upon earth a faith as great as is the reward of faith which is expected in the heavens, no one of you at all, best beloved sisters, from the time that she had first “known the Lord,” 80 and learned (the truth) concerning her own (that is, woman’s) condition, would have desired too gladsome (not to say too ostentatious) a style of dress; so as not rather to go about in humble garb, and rather to affect meanness of appearance, walking about as Eve mourning and repentant, in order that by every garb of penitence *! she might the more fully expiate that which she derives from Eve,—the ignominy, I mean, of the first sin, and the odium (attaching to her as the cause) of human perdition. “In pains and in anxieties dost thou bear (children), woman; and toward thine husband (is) thy inclination, and he lords it over thee.” °* And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: °° the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer ** of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded 85 him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert—that is, death—even the Son of God had to die. And do you think about adorning yourself over and above your tunics of skins? °° Come, now; if from the beginning of the world ®” the Milesians sheared sheep, and the Serians *° spun trees, and the Tyrians dyed, and the Phrygians embroidered with the needle, and the Babylonians with the loom, and pearls gleamed, and onyx-stones flashed; if gold itself also had already issued, with the cupidity (which accompanies it), from the ground; if the mirror, too, already had licence to lie so
79 [Written about a.d. 202. See Kaye, p. 56.] 80 Comp. Heb. viii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 34 (in the LXX. it is xxxviii. 34). 81 Satisfactionis. 82 Comp. Gen. iii. 16, in Eng. ver. and in LXX. 83 Seculo. 84 _ Resignatrix. Comp. the phrase “a fountain sealed” in Cant. iv. 12. 85 “Suasisti” is the reading of the mss.; “persuasisti,” a conjectural emendation adopted by Rig. 86 See Gen. iii. 21. 87 Rerum. 88 _ i.e., Chinese. 24
Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction...
largely, Eve, expelled from paradise, (Eve) already dead, would also have coveted these things, Iimagine! No more, then, ought she now to crave, or be acquainted with (if she desires to live again), what, when she was living, she had neither had nor known. Accordingly these things are all the baggage of woman in her condemned and dead state, instituted as if to swell the pomp of her funeral.
25
The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had F...
Chapter II.—The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen. °°
For they, withal, who instituted them are assigned, under condemnation, to the penalty of death,—those angels, to wit, who rushed from heaven on the daughters of men; so that this ignominy also attaches to woman. For when to an age” much more ignorant (than ours) they had disclosed certain well-concealed material substances, and several not well- revealed scientific arts—if it is true that they had laid bare the operations of metallurgy, and had divulged the natural properties of herbs, and had promulgated the powers of enchant- ments, and had traced out every curious art, *! even to the interpretation of the stars—they conferred properly and as it were peculiarly upon women that instrumental mean of womanly ostentation, the radiances of jewels wherewith necklaces are variegated, and the circlets of gold wherewith the arms are compressed, and the medicaments of orchil with which wools are coloured, and that black powder itself wherewith the eyelids and eyelashes are made prominent. ?” What is the quality of these things may be declared meantime, even at this point, ”° from the quality and condition of their teachers: in that sinners could never have either shown or supplied anything conducive to integrity, unlawful lovers anything conducive to chastity, renegade spirits anything conducive to the fear of God. If (these things) are to be called teachings, ill masters must of necessity have taught ill; if as wages of lust, there is nothing base of which the wages are honourable. But why was it of so much importance to show these things as well as 4 to confer them? Was it that women, without material causes of splendour, and without ingenious contrivances of grace, could not please men, who, while still unadorned, and uncouth and—so to say—crude and rude, had moved (the mind of) angels? or was it that the lovers »° would appear sordid and—through gratuitous use—contumelious, if they had conferred no (compensating) gift on the women who had been enticed into connubial connection with them? But these questions admit of no calcu- lation. Women who possessed angels (as husbands) could desire nothing more; they had, forsooth, made a grand match! Assuredly they who, of course, did sometimes think whence they had fallen, °6 and, after the heated impulses of their lusts, looked up toward heaven, thus requited that very excellence of women, natural beauty, as (having proved) a cause of
89 Comp. with this chapter, de Idol., c. ix.; de Or., c. xxii; de Cult. Fem., 1. ii. c. x.; de Virg. Vel., c. vii. 90 Seculo. 91 Curiositatem. Comp. de Idol., c. ix., and Acts xix. 19. 92 Quo oculorum exordia producuntur. Comp. ii. 5. 93 “Jam,” ie., without going any farther. Comp. c. iv. et seqq. 94 Sicut. But Pam. and Rig. read “sive.” 95 i.e. the angelic lovers. 96 Comp. Rev. ii. 5. 26
The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had F...
evil, in order that their good fortune might profit them nothing; but that, being turned from simplicity and sincerity, they, together with (the angels) themselves, might become offensive to God. Sure they were that all ostentation, and ambition, and love of pleasing by carnal means, was displeasing to God. And these are the angels whom we are destined to judge: *” these are the angels whom in baptism we renounce: ”® these, of course, are the reasons why they have deserved to be judged by man. What business, then, have their things with their judges? What commerce have they who are to condemn with them who are to be condemned? The same, I take it, as Christ has with Belial. 7? With what consistency do we mount that (future) judgment-seat to pronounce sentence against those whose gifts we (now) seek after? For you too, (women as you are,) have the self-same angelic nature promised 1° as your reward, the self-same sex as men: the self-same advancement to the dignity of judging, does (the Lord) promise you. Unless, then, we begin even here to pre-judge, by pre-condemning their things, which we are hereafter to condemn in themselves, they will rather judge and condemn us.
97 See 1 Cor. vi. 3. 98 Comp. de Idol., c. vi. 99 Comp. 2 Cor. vi. 14-16. 100 See Matt. xxii. 30; Mark xii. 25; Luke xx. 35, 36; and comp. Gal. iii. 28. 27
Concerning the Genuineness of “The Prophecy of Enoch.”
Chapter III.—Concerning the Genuineness of “The Prophecy of Enoch.” 1°!
Iam aware that the Scripture of Enoch, !°
which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either. I suppose they did not think that, having been published before the deluge, it could have safely survived that world-wide calamity, the abolisher of all things. If that is the reason (for rejecting it), let them recall to their memory that Noah, the survivor of the deluge, was the great-grandson of Enoch himself, !" and he, of course, had heard and remembered,
104
from domestic renown "~“ and hereditary tradition, concerning his own great-grandfather’s
» 105 and concerning all his preachings; 1°
“grace in the sight of God, since Enoch had given no other charge to Methuselah than that he should hand on the knowledge of them to his posterity. Noah therefore, no doubt, might have succeeded in the trusteeship of (his) preaching; or, had the case been otherwise, he would not have been silent alike concerning the disposition (of things) made by God, his Preserver, and concerning the particular glory of his own house.
If (Noah) had not had this (conservative power) by so short a route, there would (still)
107
be this (consideration) to warrant our assertion of (the genuineness of) this Scripture:
he could equally have renewed it, under the Spirit’s inspiration, as
after it had been destroyed by the violence of the deluge, as, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian storming of it, every document 1 of the Jewish literature is generally agreed to have been restored through Ezra.
But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that “every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired.” !° By the Jews it may now seem to have been rejected for that (very) reason, just like all the other (portions) nearly which tell of Christ. Nor, of course, is this fact wonderful, that they did not receive some Scriptures which spake of Him whom even in person, speaking in their presence, they were not to receive. To these
considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude. me
101 ~—_‘[Elucidation.] 102. Comp. de Idol., c. iv. 103 See Gen. v. 21, 25, 28, 29. 104 “Nomine;” perhaps ="account.” 105 Comp. Gen. vi. 8. 106 __— Preedicatis. 107 = Tueretur. 108 In spiritu. 109 = Instrumentum. 110 See2 Tim. iii. 16. 111 See Jude 14, 15. 28
Waiving the Question of the Authors, Tertullian Proposes to Consider the...
Chapter IV.—Waiving the Question of the Authors, Tertullian Proposes to Consider the Things on Their Own Merits.
Grant now that no mark of pre-condemnation has been branded on womanly pomp by the (fact of the) fate '!? of its authors; let nothing be imputed to those angels besides their repudiation of heaven and (their) carnal marriage: 113 ‘Tet us examine the qualities of the things themselves, in order that we may detect the purposes also for which they are eagerly desired.
Female habit carries with it a twofold idea—dress and ornament. By “dress” we mean what they call “womanly gracing;” |" by “ornament,” what it is suitable should be called “womanly disgracing.” |!° The former is accounted (to consist) in gold, and silver, and gems, and garments; the latter in care of the hair, and of the skin, and of those parts of the body which attract the eye. Against the one we lay the charge of ambition, against the other of prostitution; so that even from this early stage 1° (of our discussion) you may look forward and see what, out of (all) these, is suitable, handmaid of God, to your discipline, inasmuch as you are assessed on different principles (from other women),—those, namely, of humility and chastity.
112 _——sCExitu. 113. Matrimonium carnis. 114 Mundum muliebrem. Comp. Liv. xxxiv. 7. 115 Immundum muliebrem. 116 Jam hinc; comp. ad. Ux., i. 1 ad init. and ad fin., and 8 ad fin. 29
Gold and Silver Not Superior in Origin or in Utility to Other Metals.
Chapter V.—Gold and Silver Not Superior in Origin or in Utility to Other Metals.
Gold and silver, the principal material causes of worldly M4
splendour, must necessarily be identical (in nature) with that out of which they have their being: (they must be) earth, that is; (which earth itself is) plainly more glorious (than they), inasmuch as it is only after it has been tearfully wrought by penal labour in the deadly laboratories of accursed mines, and there left its name of “earth” in the fire behind it, that, as a fugitive from the mine, it passes from torments to ornaments, from punishments to embellishments, from ignominies to honours. But iron, and brass, and other the vilest material substances, enjoy a parity of condition (with silver and gold), both as to earthly origin and metallurgic operation; in order that, in the estimation of nature, the substance of gold and of silver may be judged not a whit more noble (than theirs). But ifit is from the quality of utility that gold and silver derive their glory, why, iron and brass excel them; whose usefulness is so disposed (by the Creator), that they not only discharge functions of their own more numerous and more necessary to human affairs, but do also none the less serve the turn of gold and silver, by dint of their own powers, !!® in the service of juster causes. For not only are rings made of iron, but the memory of antiquity still preserves (the fame of) certain vessels for eating and drinking made out of brass. Let the insane plenteousness of gold and silver look to it, if it serves to make utensils even for foul purposes. At all events, neither is the field tilled by means of gold, nor the ship fastened together by the strength of silver. No mattock plunges a golden edge into the ground; no nail drives a silver point into planks. I leave unnoticed the fact that the needs of our whole life are dependent upon iron and brass; whereas those rich ma- terials themselves, requiring both to be dug up out of mines, and needing a forging process in every use (to which they are put), are helpless without the laborious vigour of iron and brass. Already, therefore, we must judge whence it is that so high dignity accrues to gold and silver, since they get precedence over material substances which are not only cousin- german to them in point of origin, but more powerful in point of usefulness.
117. ~— Secularis.
118 Desuo. Comp. de Bapt., c. xvii. sub fin. 30
Of Precious Stones and Pearls.
Chapter VI.—Of Precious Stones and Pearls.
But, in the next place, what am I to interpret those jewels to be which vie with gold in haughtiness, except little pebbles and stones and paltry particles of the self-same earth; but yet not necessary either for laying down foundations, or rearing party-walls, or supporting pediments, or giving density to roofs? The only edifice which they know how to rear is this silly pride of women: because they require slow rubbing that they may shine, and artful underlaying that they may show to advantage, and careful piercing that they may hang; and (because they) render to gold a mutual assistance in meretricious allure ment. But whatever it is that ambition fishes up from the British or the Indian sea, it is a kind of conch not more pleasing in savour than—I do not say the oyster and the sea-snail, but—even the giant muscle. !!? For let me add that I know conchs (which are) sweet fruits of the sea. But if that (foreign) conch suffers from some internal pustule, that ought to be regarded rather as its defect than as its glory; and although it be called “pearl,” still something else must be understood than some hard, round excrescence of the fish. Some say, too, that gems are culled from the foreheads of dragons, just as in the brains of fishes there is a certain stony substance. This also was wanting to the Christian woman, that she may add a grace to
» 120
herself from the serpent! Is it thus that she will set her heel on the devil’s head, while
she heaps ornaments (taken) from his head on her own neck, or on her very head?
119 Peloris. Comp. Hor., S., ii. 4, 32, and Macleane’s note there. 120 See Gen. iii. 15. 31
Rarity the Only Cause Which Makes Such Things Valuable.
Chapter VII.—Rarity the Only Cause Which Makes Such Things Valuable.
It is only from their rarity and outlandishness that all these things possess their grace; in short, within their own native limits they are not held of so high worth. Abundance is always contumelious toward itself. There are some barbarians with whom, because gold is indigenous and plentiful, it is customary to keep (the criminals) in their convict establish- ments chained with gold, and to lade the wicked with riches—the more guilty, the more wealthy. At last there has really been found a way to prevent even gold from being loved! We have also seen at Rome the nobility of gems blushing in the presence of our matrons at the contemptuous usage of the Parthians and Medes, and the rest of their own fellow- countrymen, only that ( their gems) are not generally worn with a view to ostentation. Emeralds !*! lurk in their belts; and the sword (that hangs) below their bosom alone is witness to the cylindrical stones that decorate its hilt; and the massive single pearls on their boots are fain to get lifted out of the mud! In short, they carry nothing so richly gemmed as that which ought not to be gemmed if it is (either) not conspicuous, or else is conspicuous only that it may be shown to be also neglected.
121 Smaragdi. Comp. Rev. iv. 3. 32
The Same Rule Holds with Regard to Colours. God's Creatures Generally Not...
Chapter VIII.—The Same Rule Holds with Regard to Colours. God’s Creatures Generally Not to Be Used, Except for the Purposes to Which He Has Appointed Them.
Similarly, too, do even the servants 1?”
of those barbarians cause the glory to fade from the colours of our garments (by wearing the like); nay, even their party-walls use slightingly, to supply the place of painting, the Tyrian and the violet-coloured and the grand royal hangings, which you laboriously undo and metamorphose. Purple with them is more paltry than red ochre; (and justly,) for what legitimate honour can garments derive from adulter- ation with illegitimate colours? That which He Himself has not produced is not pleasing to God, unless He was unable to order sheep to be born with purple and sky-blue fleeces!
If He was able, then plainly He was unwilling: what God willed not, of course ought not to be fashioned. Those things, then, are not the best by nature which are not from God, the Author of nature. Thus they are understood to be from the devil, from the corrupter of nature: for there is no other whose they can be, if they are not God’s; because what are not God’s must necessarily be His rival’s. '”° But, beside the devil and his angels, other rival of God there is none. Again, if the material substances are of God, it does not immediately follow that such ways of enjoying them among men (are so too). It is matter for inquiry not only whence come conchs, '*4 but what sphere of embellishment is assigned them, and where it is that they exhibit their beauty. For all those profane pleasures of worldly }*°
126
shows—as we have already published a volume of their own about them ““°—(ay, and) even
idolatry itself, derive their material causes from the creatures '*” of God. Yet a Christian
f !?8 to the frenzies of the racecourse, or the atrocities of the arena,
ought not to attach himsel or the turpitudes of the stage, simply because God has given to man the horse, and the panther, and the power of speech: just as a Christian cannot commit idolatry with impunity either, because the incense, and the wine, and the fire which feeds !?° (thereon), and the animals which are made the victims, are God’s workmanship; 130 since even the material thing which is adored is God’s (creature). Thus then, too, with regard to their active use, does the origin of the material substances, which descends from God, excuse (that use) as
foreign to God, as guilty forsooth of worldly !°! glory!
122 ~~ Or, “slaves.”
123 Comp. de Pen., c. v. med.
124 Comp. c. vi. above.
125 Seecularium.
126 _i.e., the treatise de Spectaculis.
127 ‘Rebus.
128 “Affici?—a rare use rather of “afficere,” but found in Cic. 129 Or perhaps “is fed” thereby; for the word is “vescitur.” 130 “Conditio”—a rare use again.
131 = Secularis.
33
God's Distribution Must Regulate Our Desires, Otherwise We Become the Prey...
Chapter [X.—God’s Distribution Must Regulate Our Desires, Otherwise We Become the Prey of Ambition and Its Attendant Evils.
For, as some particular things distributed by God over certain individual lands, and some one particular tract of sea, are mutually foreign one to the other, they are reciprocally either neglected or desired: (desired) among foreigners, as being rarities; neglected (rightly), if anywhere, among their own compatriots, because in them there is no such fervid longing for a glory which, among its own home-folk, is frigid. But, however, the rareness and out- landishness which arise out of that distribution of possessions which God has ordered as He willed, ever finding favour in the eyes of strangers, excites, from the simple fact of not having what God has made native to other places, the concupiscence of having it. Hence is educed another vice—that of immoderate having; because although, perhaps, having may be permissible, still a limit 132 is bound (to be observed). This (second vice) will be ambition; and hence, too, its name is to be interpreted, in that from concupiscence ambient in the mind it is born, with a view to the desire of glory,—a grand desire, forsooth, which (as we have said) is recommended neither by nature nor by truth, but by a vicious passion of the mind,—(namely,) concupiscence. And there are other vices connected with ambition and glory. Thus they have withal enhanced the cost of things, in order that (thereby) they might add fuel to themselves also; for concupiscence becomes proportionably greater as it has set a higher value upon the thing which it has eagerly desired. From the smallest caskets is produced an ample patrimony. Ona single thread is suspended a million of sesterces. One delicate neck carries about it forests and islands. }*° The slender lobes of the ears exhaust a fortune; and the left hand, with its every finger, sports with a several money-bag. Such is the strength of ambition—(equal) to bearing on one small body, and that a woman’s, the product of so copious wealth.
132 ~~ Or, “moderation.”
133 “Saltus et insulze,” i.e., as much as would purchase them.
34
IT
Book II.
Chapter I.—Introduction. Modesty to Be Observed Not Only in Its Essence, But in Its Accessories.
Handmaids of the living God, my fellow-servants and sisters, the right which I enjoy with you—I, the most meanest !** in that right of fellow-servantship and brotherhood—em- boldens me to address to you a discourse, not, of course, of affection, but paving the way for affection in the cause of your salvation. That salvation—and not (the salvation) of women only, but likewise of men—consists in the exhibition principally of modesty. For since, by
the introduction into an appropriation 2
(in) us of the Holy Spirit, we are all “the temple of God,” !°° Modesty is the sacristan and priestess of that temple, who is to suffer nothing unclean or profane to be introduced (into it), for fear that the God who inhabits it should be offended, and quite forsake the polluted abode. But on the present occasion we (are to speak) not about modesty, for the enjoining and exacting of which the divine precepts which press (upon us) on every side are sufficient; but about the matters which pertain to it, that is, the manner in which it behoves you to walk. For most women (which very thing I trust God may permit me, with a view, of course, to my own personal censure, to censure in all), either from simple ignorance or else from dissimulation, have the hardihood so to walk as
137
if modesty consisted only ~~’ in the (bare) integrity of the flesh, and in turning away from
(actual) fornication; and there were no need for anything extrinsic to boot—in the matter
(I mean) of the arrangement of dress and ornament, ae
the studied graces of form and brilliance:—wearing in their gait the self-same appearance as the women of the nations, from whom the sense of true modesty is absent, because in those who know not God, the Guardian and Master of truth, there is nothing true. '°? For if any modesty can be believed (to exist) in Gentiles, it is plain that it must be imperfect and undisciplined to such a degree that, although it be actively tenacious of itself in the mind up to a certain point, it yet allows itself to relax into licentious extravagances of attire; just in accordance with Gentile perversity, in craving after that of which it carefully shuns the effect. ‘4° How many a one, in short, is
there who does not earnestly desire even to look pleasing to strangers? who does not on that
134 Postremissimus.
135 Consecrato.
136 ~=See 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19, 20.
137. Comp. de Idol., c. ii.
138 Cultus et ornatus. For the distinction between them, see b. i. c. iv. 139 Comp. de Pen., c. i.
140 Or, “execution.”
35
Introduction. Modesty to Be Observed Not Only in Its Essence, But in Its...
very account take care to have herself painted out, and denies that she has (ever) been an object of (carnal) appetite? And yet, granting that even this is a practice familiar to Gentile modesty—(namely,) not actually to commit the sin, but still to be willing to do so; or even not to be willing, yet still not quite to refuse—what wonder? for all things which are not God’s are perverse. Let those women therefore look to it, who, by not holding fast the whole good, easily mingle with evil even what they do hold fast. Necessary it is that you turn aside from them, as in all other things, so also in your gait; since you ought to be “perfect, as (is)
your Father who is in the heavens.” !*1
141 ~~ See Matt. v. 48. 36
ie
Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from...
Chapter II.—Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from Sin Itself. Difference Between Trust and Presumption. If Secure Ourselves, We Must Not Put Temptation in the Way of Others. We Must Love Our Neighbour as Ourself.
You must know that in the eye of perfect, that is, Christian, modesty, (carnal) desire of one’s self (on the part of others) is not only not to be desired, but even execrated, by you: first, because the study of making personal grace (which we know to be naturally the inviter of lust) a mean of pleasing does not spring from a sound conscience: why therefore excite toward yourself that evil (passion)? why invite (that) to which you profess yourself a stranger? secondly, because we ought not to open a way to temptations, which, by their instancy, sometimes achieve (a wickedness) which God expels from them who are His; (or,) at all events, put the spirit into a thorough tumult by (presenting) a stumbling-block (to it). We 142 of faith, as to be confident and secure in regard of our own conscience, desiring that that (gift) may abide in us to the
ought indeed to walk so holily, and with so entire substantiality
end, yet not presuming (that it will). For he who presumes feels less apprehension; he who feels less apprehension takes less precaution; he who takes less precaution runs more risk. Fear !49 is the foundation of salvation; presumption is an impediment to fear. More useful, then, is it to apprehend that we may possibly fail, than to presume that we cannot; for appre- hending will lead us to fear, fearing to caution, and caution to salvation. On the other hand, if we presume, there will be neither fear nor caution to save us. He who acts securely, and not at the same time warily, possesses no safe and firm security; whereas he who is wary will be truly able to be secure. For His own servants, may the Lord by His mercy take care that to them it may be lawful even to presume on His goodness! But why are we a (source of) danger to our neighbour? why do we import concupiscence into our neighbour? which concupiscence, if God, in “amplifying the law,” ‘“4 do not !*° dissociate in (the way of) penalty from the actual commission of fornication, 146 7 know not whether He allows im- punity to him who !*7 has been the cause of perdition to some other. For that other, as soon as he has felt concupiscence after your beauty, and has mentally already committed (the deed) which his concupiscence pointed to, ss perishes; and you have been made =
the sword which destroys him: so that, albeit you be free from the (actual) crime, you are
142 Substantia. Comp. Heb. xi. 1, Zot1 5€ mtotig EAMGopevwv UndotaaIc . 143. = Timor. 144 = Matt. v.17. Comp. de Or., c. xxii. mid.; de Pa., c. vi. mid.; de Peen., c. iii. sub fin. 145 ‘The second “non,” or else the first, must apparently be omitted. 146 = Matt. v. 28. See de Idol., c. ii; de Pa., c. vi.; de Peen., c. iii. 147 = “Qui,” Oehler; “que,” Rig. 148 Comp. de Pen. c. iii. (latter half). 149 Tu facta es. 37
Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from...
not free from the odium (attaching to it); as, when a robbery has been committed on some man’s estate, the (actual) crime indeed will not be laid to the owner’s charge, while yet the domain is branded with ignominy, (and) the owner himself aspersed with the infamy. Are we to paint ourselves out that our neighbours may perish? Where, then, is (the command),
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?” °° “
Care not merely about your own (things), but (about your) neighbour’s?” !°! No enunciation of the Holy Spirit ought to be (confined) to the subject immediately in hand merely, and not applied and carried out with a view to every occasion to which its application is useful. 152 Since, therefore, both our own interest and that of others is implicated in the studious pursuit of most perilous (outward) comeliness,
it is time for you to know !
that not merely must the pageantry of fictitious and elaborate beauty be rejected by you; but that of even natural grace must be obliterated by concealment and negligence, as equally dangerous to the glances of (the beholder’s) eyes. For, albeit comeliness is not to be censured, }*4 as being a bodily happiness, as being an additional outlay of the divine plastic art, as being a kind of goodly garment °° of the soul; yet it is to be feared, just on account of the injuriousness and violence of suitors: °° which (injurious-
158
ness and violence) even the father of the faith, °” Abraham, '°® greatly feared in regard of
his own wife’s grace; and Isaac, by falsely representing Rebecca as his sister, purchased
safety by insult! 1©°
150 Lev. xix. 18; Matt. xix. 19; xxii. 39; Mark xii. 31; Luke x. 27; Rom. xiii. 9; Gal. v. 14; Jas. ii. 8. 151 Comp. 1 Cor. x. 24; xiii. 5; Phil. ii. 4.
152. Comp. 2 Pet. i. 20.
153 Jam...sciatis.
154 Accusandus.
155 Comp. Gen. xxvii. 15.
156 Sectatorum.
157. Comp. Rom. iv. 11, 16.
158 — Gen. xii. 10-20, and xx.
159 ~~ Gen. xxvi. 6-11.
160 “Salutem contumelia redemit;” the “insult” being the denial of her as his wife.
38
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Grant that Beauty Be Not to Be Feared: Still It is to Be Shunned as Unnecessary...
Chapter II.—Grant that Beauty Be Not to Be Feared: Still It is to Be Shunned as Unne- cessary and Vainglorious.
Let it now be granted that excellence of form be not to be feared, as neither troublesome to its possessors, nor destructive to its desirers, nor perilous to its compartners; 161 Jet it be thought (to be) not exposed to temptations, not surrounded by stumbling-blocks: it is enough that to angels of God 162 it is not necessary. For, where modesty is, there beauty is idle; because properly the use and fruit of beauty is voluptuousness, unless any one thinks that there is some other harvest for bodily grace to reap. 163 Are women who think that, in furnishing to their neighbour that which is demanded of beauty, they are furnishing it to themselves also, to augment that (beauty) when (naturally) given them, and to strive after it when not (thus) given? Some one will say, “Why, then, if voluptuousness be shut out and chastity let in, may (we) not enjoy the praise of beauty alone, and glory in a bodily good?”
Let whoever finds pleasure in “glorying in the flesh” '*
see to that. To us in the first place, there is no studious pursuit of “glory,” because “glory” is the essence of exaltation. Now exaltation is incongruous for professors of humility according to God’s precepts. Secondly, if all “glory” is “vain” and insensate, 165 how much more (glory) in the flesh, especially to us? For even if “glorying” is (allowable), we ought to wish our sphere of pleasing to lie in
the graces 166 » 167
of the Spirit, not in the flesh; because we are “suitors of things spiritual.
In those things wherein our sphere of labour lies, let our joy lie. From the sources whence we hope for salvation, let us cull our “glory.” Plainly, a Christian will “glory” even in the flesh; but (it will be) when it has endured laceration for Christ’s sake, 168 jy order that the spirit may be crowned in it, not in order that it may draw the eyes and sighs of youths after it. Thus (a thing) which, from whatever point you look at it, is in your case superfluous, you may justly disdain if you have it not, and neglect if you have. Let a holy woman, if naturally beautiful, give none so great occasion (for carnal appetite). Certainly, if even she
be so, she ought not to set off (her beauty), but even to obscure it. “
161 Conjunctis.
162 Angelis Dei. Comp. the opening sentence of the book. 163. Comp. ad Ux., b. i.c. iv.
164 See Gal. vi. 13 and 1 Cor. iii. 21; v. 6.
165 = Stuporata.
166 _ Bonis.
167 _ Sectatores.
168 Comp. 2 Cor. xi. 18; xii. 10; Phil. iii. 3, 4.
169 Non adjuvare, sed etiam impedire, debet.
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Concerning the Plea of “Pleasing the Husband.”
Chapter IV.—Concerning the Plea of “Pleasing the Husband.”
As if I were speaking to Gentiles, addressing you with a Gentile precept, and (one which is) common to all, (I would say,) “You are bound to please your husbands only.” 1° But you will please them in proportion as you take no care to please others. Be ye without care- fulness, !”! blessed (sisters): no wife is “ugly” to her own husband. She “pleased” him enough when she was selected (by him as his wife); whether commended by form or by character. Let none of you think that, if she abstain from the care of her person, !”” she will incur the hatred and aversion of husbands. Every husband is the exactor of chastity; but beauty, a believing (husband) does not require, because we are not captivated by the same
graces 173 Which the Gentiles think (to be) graces: me
an unbelieving one, on the other hand, even regards with suspicion, just from that infamous opinion of us which the Gentiles have. For whom, then, is it that you cherish your beauty? If for a believer, he does not exact it: if for an unbeliever, he does not believe in it unless it be artless. 17° Why are you eager
to please either one who is suspicious, or else one who desires it not?
170 Comp. 1 Cor. vii. 34. 171 Comp. 1 Cor. vii. 32. 172 Compositione sui. 173. Bonis.
174 Bona.
175 Simplicem. 40
Some Refinements in Dress and Personal Appearance Lawful, Some Unlawful. ...
Chapter V.—Some Refinements in Dress and Personal Appearance Lawful, Some Un- lawful. Pigments Come Under the Latter Head.
These suggestions are not made to you, of course, to be developed into an entire crudity and wildness of appearance; nor are we seeking to persuade you of the good of squalor and slovenliness; but of the limit and norm and just measure of cultivation of the person. There must be no overstepping of that line to which simple and sufficient refinements limit their desires—that line which is pleasing to God. For they who rub 176 their skin with medica- ments, stain their cheeks with rouge, make their eyes prominent with antimony, !”” sin against Him. To them, I suppose, the plastic skill 178 of God is displeasing! In their own persons, I suppose, they convict, they censure, the Artificer of all things! For censure they do when they amend, when they add to, (His work;) taking these their additions, of course, from the adversary artificer. That adversary artificer is the devil. '”? For who would show the way to change the body, but he who by wickedness transfigured man’s spirit? He it is, undoubtedly, who adapted ingenious devices of this kind; that in your persons it may be apparent that you, in a certain sense, do violence to God. Whatever is born is the work of God. Whatever, then, is plastered on 10 (that), is the devil’s work. To superinduce on a divine work Satan’s ingenuities, how criminal is it! Our servants borrow nothing from our personal enemies: soldiers eagerly desire nothing from the foes of their own general; for, to demand for (your own) use anything from the adversary of Him in whose hand !*! you are, is a transgression. Shall a Christian be assisted in anything by that evil one? (Ifhe do,) I know not whether this name (of “Christian”) will continue (to belong) to him; for he will be his in whose lore he eagerly desires to be instructed. But how alien from your schoolings 182 and professions are (these things)! How unworthy the Christian name, to wear a fictitious face, (you,) on whom simplicity in every form is enjoined!—to lie in your appearance, (you,) to whom (lying) with the tongue is not lawful!—to seek after what is another’s, (you,) to whom is delivered (the precept of) abstinence from what is another’s!—to practise adultery
183 (
in your mien, you,) who make modesty your study! Think, 184 blessed (sisters), how
will you keep God’s precepts if you shall not keep in your own persons His lineaments?
176 Urgent. Comp. de Pen., c. xi. 177 “Fuligine,” lit. “soot.” Comp. b. i. c. ii. 178 Seec. ii. ad fin. 179 Comp. b. i. c. viii. 180 —_Infingitur. 181 — i.e., subject to whom. 182 _ Disciplinis. 183 Species. 184 —Credite. 41
Ul
Of Dyeing the Hair.
Chapter VI.—Of Dyeing the Hair.
I see some (women) turn (the colour of) their hair with saffron. They are ashamed even of their own nation, (ashamed) that their procreation did not assign them to Germany and to Gaul: thus, as it is, they transfer their hair 185 (thither)! Ill, ay, most ill, do they augur d, 18° and think that graceful which (in fact) they are polluting! Nay, moreover, the force of the cosmetics burns ruin into the hair; and
for themselves with their flame-coloured hea
the constant application of even any undrugged moisture, lays up a store of harm for the head; while the sun’s warmth, too, so desirable for imparting to the hair at once growth and dryness, is hurtful. What “grace” is compatible with “injury?” What “beauty” with “impur- ities?” Shall a Christian woman heap saffron on her head, as upon an altar? !®” For, whatever is wont to be burned to the honour of the unclean spirit, that—unless it is applied for honest, and necessary, and salutary uses, for which God’s creature was provided—may seem to be a sacrifice. But, however, God saith, “Which of you can make a white hair black, or out of a black a white?” ‘88 And so they refute the Lord! “Behold!” say they, “instead of white or black, we make it yellow,—more winning in grace.” 189 And yet such as repent of having lived to old age do attempt to change it even from white to black! O temerity! The age which is the object of our wishes and prayers blushes (for itself)! a theft is effected! youth, wherein we have sinned, !” is sighed after! the opportunity of sobriety is spoiled! Far from Wisdom’s daughters be folly so great! The more old age tries to conceal itself, the more will it be detected. Here is a veritable eternity, in the (perennial) youth of your head! Here we
» 191
have an “incorruptibility” to “put on, with a view to the new house of the Lord !”? which
the divine monarchy promises! Well do you speed toward the Lord; well do you hasten to
d, 193
be quit of this most iniquitous worl to whom it is unsightly to approach (your own)
end!
185 Jam capillos: so Oehler and Rig. But the others read patriam capillo: “they change their country by the instrumentality of their hair.” 186 Comp. ad Ux., b. i.c. vi. 187 Aram. 188 See Matt. v. 36. 189 Gratia faciliorem. 190 Comp. Ps. xxv. 7 (in LXX. xxiv. 7). 191 Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 53. 192. Comp. 2 Cor. v. 1. 193 Seeculo. 42
Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon S...
Chapter VII.—Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon Salvation.
What service, again, does all the labour spent in arranging the hair render to salvation? Why is no rest allowed to your hair, which must now be bound, now loosed, now cultivated, now thinned out? Some are anxious to force their hair into curls, some to let it hang loose and flying; not with good simplicity: beside which, you affix I know not what enormities of subtle and textile perukes; now, after the manner of a helmet of undressed hide, as it were a sheath for the head and a covering for the crown; now, a mass (drawn) backward toward the neck. The wonder is, that there is no (open) contending against the Lord’s prescripts! It has been pronounced that no one can add to his own stature. 1? You, however, do add to your weight some kind of rolls, or shield-bosses, to be piled upon your necks! If you feel no shame at the enormity, feel some at the pollution; for fear you may be fitting on a holy
h 195
and Christian head the sloug of some one else’s !”° head, unclean perchance, guilty
perchance and destined to hell. !?” Nay, rather banish quite away from your “free” !?° head all this slavery of ornamentation. In vain do you labour to seem adorned: in vain do you call in the aid of all the most skilful manufacturers of false hair. God bids you “be veiled.”
199 T believe (He does so) for fear the heads of some should be seen! And oh that in “that
» 200
day of Christian exultation, I, most miserable (as I am), may elevate my head, even
though below (the level of) your heels! I shall (then) see whether you will rise with (your)
201 whether it will be women
1 202
ceruse and rouge and saffron, and in all that parade of headgear: thus tricked out whom the angels carry up to meet Christ in the air If these (decorations) are now good, and of God, they will then also present themselves to the rising bodies, and will recognise their several places. But nothing can rise except flesh and spirit sole and pure. 203 Whatever, therefore, does not rise in (the form of) a4 spirit and flesh is condemned, because it is not of God. From things which are condemned abstain, even at the present
day. At the present day let God see you such as He will see you then.
194 Mensuram. See Matt. vi. 27. 195 Exuvias. 196 “Alieni:” perhaps here =" alien,” i.e., “heathen,” as in other places. 197. Gehenne. 198 Comp. Gal. iv. 31; v. 13. 199 See 1 Cor. xi. 2-16; and comp. de Or., c. xxii., and the treatise de Virg. Vel. 200 Comp. ad Ux.,b. ii. c. iii. 201 Ambitu ( habitu is a conjectural emendation noticed by Oehler) capitis. 202 See 1 Thess. iv. 13-17. 203 Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 50 with 1 Thess. v. 23. 204 Or, “within the limits of the flesh and the spirit.” 43
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Men Not Excluded from These Remarks on Personal Adornment.
Chapter VIII.—Men Not Excluded from These Remarks on Personal Adornment. Of course, now, I, a man, as being envious 20° of women, am banishing them quite from their own (domains). Are there, in our case too, some things which, in respect of the
206 we are to maintain on account of the fear 7°” due to God, are disallowed? 208
sobriety If it is true, (as it is,) that in men, for the sake of women (just as in women for the sake of men), there is implanted, by a defect of nature, the will to please; and if this sex of ours ac- knowledges to itself deceptive trickeries of form peculiarly its own,—(such as) to cut the beard too sharply; to pluck it out here and there; to shave round about (the mouth); to arrange the hair, and disguise its hoariness by dyes; to remove all the incipient down all over the body; to fix (each particular hair) in its place with (some) womanly pigment; to smooth all the rest of the body by the aid of some rough powder or other: then, further, to take every opportunity for consulting the mirror; to gaze anxiously into it:—while yet, when (once) the knowledge of God has put an end to all wish to please by means of voluptuous attraction, all these things are rejected as frivolous, as hostile to modesty. For where God is, there modesty is; there is sobriety 209 her assistant and ally. How, then, shall we practise modesty
210
without her instrumental mean, “~~ that is, without sobriety? 211 How, moreover, shall we
bring sobriety ?!2 to bear on the discharge of (the functions of) modesty, unless seriousness
213
in appearance and in countenance, and in the general aspect “"~ of the entire man, mark
our carriage?
205 Amulus. 206 = Grravitatis. 207 Metus.
208 Detrahuntur.
209 _ Gravitas.
210 Comp. de Pa., c. xv. ad fin. 211 ~~ Gravitate.
212 ~ Gravitatem.
213 Contemplatione.
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Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned. Arguments...
Chapter IX.—Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned. Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VII.
Wherefore, with regard to clothing also, and all the remaining lumber of your self- elaboration, 7'* the like pruning off and retrenchment of too redundant splendour must be the object of your care. For what boots it to exhibit in your face temperance and unaffected- ness, and a simplicity altogether worthy of the divine discipline, but to invest all the other parts of the body with the luxurious absurdities of pomps and delicacies? How intimate is the connection which these pomps have with the business of voluptuousness, and how they interfere with modesty, is easily discernible from the fact that it is by the allied aid of dress that they prostitute the grace of personal comeliness: so plain is it that if (the pomps) be wanting, they render (that grace) bootless and thankless, as if it were disarmed and wrecked. On the other hand, if natural beauty fails, the supporting aid of outward embellishment supplies a grace, as it were, from its own inherent power. 715 Those times of life, in fact, which are at last blest with quiet and withdrawn into the harbour of modesty, the splendour and dignity of dress lure away (from that rest and that harbour), and disquiet seriousness by seductions of appetite, which compensate for the chill of age by the provocative charms of apparel. First, then, blessed (sisters), (take heed) that you admit not to your use meretri- cious and prostitutionary garbs and garments: and, in the next place, if there are any of you whom the exigencies of riches, or birth, or past dignities, compel to appear in public so gorgeously arrayed as not to appear to have attained wisdom, take heed to temper an evil of this kind; lest, under the pretext of necessity, you give the rein without stint to the indul- gence of licence. For how will you be able to fulfil (the requirements of) humility, which
216 217
our (school) profess, “"” if you do not keep within bounds “*’ the enjoyment of your riches
and elegancies, which tend so much to “glory?” Now it has ever been the wont of glory to exalt, not to humble. “Why, shall we not use what is our own?” Who prohibits your using
it? Yet (it must be) in accordance with the apostle, who warns us “to use this world 218 as
219
if we abuse it not; for the fashion *!? of this world 7”° is passing away.” And “they who buy
are so to act as if they possessed not.” ald Why so? Because he had laid down the premiss,
» 222
saying, “The time is wound up. If, then he shows plainly that even wives themselves
214 Impedimenta compositionis. 215 Desuo. Comp. de Bapt., c. xvii. ( sub. fin.), de Cult. Fem., b. i. c. v. (med.). 216 = See c. iii. 217 Repastinantes. 218 Mundo; kdouw. See 1 Cor. vii. 31. 219 Habitus; oxfjpa, ib. 220 Kédopou, ib. 221 = 1 Cor. vii. 30. 222 ~=1 Cor. vii. 29. 45
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Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned. Arguments...
are so to be had as if they be not had, *”° on account of the straits of the times, what would be his sentiments about these vain appliances of theirs? Why, are there not many, withal, who so do, and seal themselves up to eunuchhood for the sake of the kingdom of God, 7~4 spontaneously relinquishing a pleasure so honourable, 225 and (as we know) permitted? Are there not some who prohibit to themselves (the use of) the very “creature of God,” ane abstaining from wine and animal food, the enjoyments of which border upon no peril or solicitude; but they sacrifice to God the humility of their soul even in the chastened use of food? Sufficiently, therefore, have you, too, used your riches and your delicacies; sufficiently have you cut down the fruits of your dowries, before (receiving) the knowledge of saving disciplines. We are they “upon whom the ends of the ages have met, having ended their course.” **” We have been predestined by God, before the world 228 was, (to arise) in the extreme end of the times. 7”? And so we are trained by God for the purpose of chastising, and (so to say) emasculating, the world. 230 We are the circumcision **!—spiritual and
232
carnal—of all things; for both in the spirit and in the flesh we circumcise worldly “°* prin-
ciples.
223 ~=—-1 Cor. vii. 29.
224 Matt. xix. 12.
225 —-Fortem.
226 Comp. 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.
227. «1 Cor. x. 11, €i¢ oc Ta TEAN TOV GiwvwV KaTIVTNOEV. 228 Mundum.
229 Inextimatione temporali. See Eph. i. 4 and 1 Pet. i. 20. 230 = Seeculo.
231 Comp. Phil. iii. 3.
232 Secularia.
46
Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Ornaments...
Chapter X.—Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Orna- ments and Embellishments. 7>°
It was God, no doubt, who showed the way to dye wools with the juices of herbs and the humours of conchs! It had escaped Him, when He was bidding the universe to come into being, 234 to issue a command for (the production of) purple and scarlet sheep! It was God, too, who devised by careful thought the manufactures of those very garments which, light and thin (in themselves), were to be heavy in price alone; God who produced such grand implements of gold for confining or parting the hair; God who introduced (the fashion of) finely-cut wounds for the ears, and set so high a value upon the tormenting of His own work and the tortures of innocent infancy, learning to suffer with its earliest breath, in order that from those scars of the body—born for the steel!—should hang I know not what (pre- cious) grains, which, as we may plainly see, the Parthians insert, in place of studs, upon their very shoes! And yet even the gold itself, the “glory” of which carries you away, serves a certain race (so Gentile literature tells us) for chains! So true is it that it is not intrinsic worth, 235 but rarity, which constitutes the goodness (of these things): the excessive labour, moreover, of working them with arts introduced by the means of the sinful angels, who were the revealers withal of the material substances themselves, joined with their rarity, ex- cited their costliness, and hence a lust on the part of women to possess (that) costliness. But, if the self-same angels who disclosed both the material substances of this kind and their
charms—of gold, I mean, and lustrous pas
stones—and taught men how to work them, and by and by instructed them, among their other (instructions), in (the virtues of) eyelid-powder and the dyeings of fleeces, have been condemned by God, as Enoch tells us, how shall we please God while we joy in the things of those (angels) who, on these accounts, have provoked the anger and the vengeance of God?
Now, granting that God did foresee these things; that God permitted them; that Esaias finds fault with no garment of purple, eat represses no coil, 228 reprobates no crescent-
shaped neck ornaments; ane
still let us not, as the Gentiles do, flatter ourselves with thinking that God is merely a Creator, not likewise a Downlooker on His own creatures. For how
far more usefully and cautiously shall we act, if we hazard the presumption that all these
233. Comp. i. cc. ii. iii. v. vii. viii.
234 Universa nasci.
235 Veritate.
236 ~— Ilustrium.
237. De conchylio.
238 Koovupous. Isa. iii. 18 (in LXX.).
239 ~~ Lunulas = unvioxous, ib. 47
Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Ornaments...
d 74° at the beginning and placed in the world oat by God, in
things were indeed provide order that there should now be means of putting to the proof the discipline of His servants, in order that the licence of using should be the means whereby the experimental trials of continence should be conducted? Do not wise heads of families purposely offer and permit some things to their servants 7” in order to try whether and how they will use the things thus permitted; whether (they will do so) with honesty, or with moderation? But how far more praiseworthy (the servant) who abstains entirely; who has a wholesome fear 243 even of his lord’s indulgence! Thus, therefore, the apostle too: “All things,” says he, “are lawful,
245
but not all are expedient.” 44 How much more easily will he fear “4° what is unlawful who
has a reverent dread 74° of what is lawful?
240 Or, “foreseen.” 241 Seculo. 242 ~~ Or, “slaves.” 243 Timuerit. 244 1 Cor. x. 23. 245 Timebit. 246 ~~ Verebitur. 48
Le
Christian Women, Further, Have Not the Same Causes for Appearing in Public,...
Chapter XI.—Christian Women, Further, Have Not the Same Causes for Appearing in Public, and Hence for Dressing in Fine Array as Gentiles. On the Contrary, Their Appearance Should Always Distinguish Them from Such.
Moreover, what causes have you for appearing in public in excessive grandeur, removed as you are from the occasions which call for such exhibitions? For you neither make the circuit of the temples, nor demand (to be present at) public shows, nor have any acquaintance with the holy days of the Gentiles. Now it is for the sake of all these public gatherings, and of much seeing and being seen, that all pomps (of dress) are exhibited before the public eye; either for the purpose of transacting the trade of voluptuousness, or else of inflating “glory.” You, however, have no cause of appearing in public, except such as is serious. Either some brother who is sick is visited, or else the sacrifice is offered, or else the word of God is dis- pensed. Whichever of these you like to name is a business of sobriety 247 and sanctity, re- quiring no extraordinary attire, with (studious) arrangement and (wanton) negligence. a And if the requirements of Gentile friendships and of kindly offices call you, why not go forth clad in your own armour; (and) all the more, in that (you have to go) to such as are strangers to the faith? so that between the handmaids of God and of the devil there may be a difference; so that you may be an example to them, and they may be edified in you; so that (as the apostle says) “God may be magnified in your body.” **? But magnified He is in the body through modesty: of course, too, through attire suitable to modesty. Well, but it is
urged by some, “Let not the Name be blasphemed in us, 7°?
if we make any derogatory change from our old style and dress.” Let us, then, not abolish our old vices! let us maintain the same character, if we must maintain the same appearance (as before); and then truly the nations will not blaspheme! A grand blasphemy is that by which it is said, “Ever since she became a Christian, she walks in poorer garb!” Will you fear to appear poorer, from the time that you have been made more wealthy; and fouler, 251 from the time when you have been made more clean? Is it according to the decree ae
the decree of God, that it becomes Christians to walk?
of Gentiles, or according to
247 ~~ Gravitatis.
248 Et composito et soluto. 249 = See Phil. i. 20.
250 Comp. de Idol., c. xiv. 251 = Sordidior.
252 Or “pleasure:” placitum.
49
Such Outward Adornments Meretricious, and Therefore Unsuitable to Modest...
Chapter XII.—Such Outward Adornments Meretricious, and Therefore Unsuitable to Modest Women.
Let us only wish that we may be no cause for just blasphemy! But how much more provocative of blasphemy is it that you, who are called modesty’s priestesses, should appear in public decked and painted out after the manner of the immodest? Else, (if you so do,) what inferiority would the poor unhappy victims of the public lusts have (beneath you)? whom, albeit some laws were (formerly) wont to restrain them from (the use of) matrimo- nial and matronly decorations, now, at all events, the daily increasing depravity of the age 253 has raised so nearly to an equality with all the most honourable women, that the difficulty is to distinguish them. And yet, even the Scriptures suggest (to us the reflection), that
254 to
meretricious attractivenesses of form are invariably conjoined with and appropriate bodily prostitution. That powerful state 2°° which presides over 7°° the seven mountains and very many waters, has merited from the Lord the appellation of a prostitute. 287 Bua what kind of garb is the instrumental mean of her comparison with that appellation? She sits, to be sure, “in purple, and scarlet, and gold, and precious stone.” How accursed are the things without (the aid of) which an accursed prostitute could not have been described! It was the fact that Thamar “had painted out and adorned herself” that led Judah to regard
her as a harlot, 2a0
and thus, because she was hidden beneath her “veil,’—the quality of her garb belying her as if she had been a harlot,—he judged (her to be one), and addressed and bargained with (her as such). Whence we gather an additional confirmation of the lesson,
that provision must be made in every way against all immodest associations een
and suspi- cions. For why is the integrity of a chaste mind defiled by its neighbour’s suspicion? Why is a thing from which I am averse hoped for in me? Why does not my garb pre-announce my character, to prevent my spirit from being wounded by shamelessness through (the channel of) my ears? Grant that it be lawful to assume the appearance of a modest woman:
260 to assume that of an immodest is, at all events, not lawful.
253 Seculi. 254 Debita. 255 Or, “city.”
256 Or, “sits on high above.” 257. Comp. Rev. xvii. 258 Comp. Gen. xxxviii. 12-30. 259 Congressus. 260 Videri pudicam. 50
2]
It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before...
Chapter XIII.—It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before Men. Especially in These Times of Persecution We Must Inure Our Bodies to the Hardships Which They May Not Improbably Be Called to Suffer.
Perhaps some (woman) will say: “To me it is not necessary to be approved by men; for Ido not require the testimony of men: 761 God is the inspector of the heart.” ane (That) we all know; provided, however, we remember what the same (God) has said through the apostle: “Let your probity appear before men.” “°° For what purpose, except that malice may have no access at all to you, or that you may be an example and testimony to the evil? Else, what is (that): “Let your works shine?” ant Why, moreover, does the Lord call us the
265
light of the world; why has He compared us to a city built upon a mountain; “°° if we do
not shine in (the midst of) darkness, and stand eminent amid them who are sunk down?
If you hide your lamp beneath a bushel, 7%
you must necessarily be left quite in darkness, and be run against by many. The things which make us luminaries of the world are these—our good works. What is good, moreover, provided it be true and full, loves not
darkness: it joys in being seen, ae
and exults over the very pointings which are made at it. To Christian modesty it is not enough to be so, but to seem so too. For so great ought its plenitude to be, that it may flow out from the mind to the garb, and burst out from the conscience to the outward appearance; so that even from the outside it may gaze, as it were, upon its own furniture, eae e furniture) such as to be suited to retain faith as its inmate perpetually. For such delicacies as tend by their softness and effeminacy to unman the 269 of faith are to be discarded. Otherwise, I know not whether the wrist that has
been wont to be surrounded with the palmleaf-like bracelet will endure till it grow into the
manliness
numb hardness of its own chain! I know not whether the leg that has rejoiced in the anklet will suffer itself to be squeezed into the gyve! I fear the neck, beset with pearl and emerald nooses, will give no room to the broadsword! Wherefore, blessed (sisters), let us meditate on hardships, and we shall not feel them; let us abandon luxuries, and we shall not regret them. Let us stand ready to endure every violence, having nothing which we may fear to leave behind. It is these things which are the bonds which retard our hope. Let us cast away
261 Comp. John v. 34; 1 Cor. iv. 3.
262 Comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 7; Jer. xvii. 10; Luke xvi. 15. 263 See Phil. iv. 5, 8; Rom. xii. 17; 2 Cor. viii. 21. 264 See Matt. v. 16; and comp. de Idol., c. xv. ad init. 265 = Matt. v. 14.
266 Matt. v. 15; Mark iv. 21; Luke viii. 16; xi. 33. 267 ~~‘ See John iii. 21.
268 Supellectilem.
269 Effeminari virtus.
51
It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before...
earthly ornaments if we desire heavenly. Love not gold; in which (one substance) are branded all the sins of the people of Israel. You ought to hate what ruined your fathers; what was adored by them who were forsaking God. 7”” Even then (we find) gold is food for the fire. 271 But Christians always, and now more than ever, pass their times not in gold but in iron: the stoles of martyrdom are (now) preparing: the angels who are to carry us are (now) being awaited! Do you go forth (to meet them) already arrayed in the cosmetics and ornaments of prophets and apostles; drawing your whiteness from simplicity, your ruddy hue from modesty; painting your eyes with bashfulness, and your mouth with silence; implanting in your ears the words of God; fitting on your necks the yoke of Christ. Submit your head to your husbands, and you will be enough adorned. Busy your hands with spinning; keep your feet at home; and you will “please” better than (by arraying yourselves) in gold. Clothe yourselves with the silk of uprightness, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of modesty. Thus painted, you will have God as your Lover!
270 Comp. Ex. xxxii. 271 ~~ Ex. xxxii. 20. 32
Elucidation.
Elucidation.
(The Prophecy of Enoch, p. 15.)
Dr. Davidson is the author of a useful article on “Apocalyptic Literature,” from which we extract all that is requisite to inform the reader of the freshest opinion as seen from his well-known point of view. He notes Archbishop Lawrence’s translation into English, and that it has been rendered back again into German by Dillman (1853), as before, less accurately, by Hoffmann. Ewald, Liicke, Koestlin, and Hilgenfeld are referred to, and an article of his own in Kitto’s Cyclopedia. We owe its re-appearance, after long neglect, to Archbishop Lawrence (1838), and its preservation to the Abyssinians. It was rescued by Bruce, the ex- plorer, in an Athiopic version; and the first detailed announcement of its discovery was made by De Sacy, 1800. Davidson ascribes its authorship to pre-Messianic times, but thinks it has been interpolated by a Jewish Christian. Tertullian’s negative testimony points the other way: he evidently relies upon its “Christology” as genuine; and, if interpolated in his day, he could hardly have been deceived.
Its five parts are: I. The rape of women by fallen angels, and the giants that were begotten ofthem. The visions of Enoch begun. II. The visions continued, with views of the Messiah’s kingdom. III. The physical and astronomical mysteries treated of. IV. Man’s mystery re- vealed in dreams from the beginning to the end of the Messianic kingdom. V. The warnings of Enoch to his own family and to mankind, with appendices, which complete the book. The article in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible is accessible, and need only be referred to as well worth perusal; and, as it abounds in references to the entire literature of criticism re- specting it, it is truly valuable. It seems to have been written by Westcott. 7”
The fact that St. Jude refers to Enoch’s prophesyings no more proves that this book is other than apocryphal than St. Paul’s reference to Jannes and Jambres makes Scripture of the Targum. The apostle Jude does, indeed, authenticate that particular saying by inspiration of God, and doubtless it was traditional among the Jews. St. Jerome’s references to this quotation may be found textually in Lardner.*”* Although the book is referred to frequently in the Patrologia, Tertullian only, of the Fathers, pays it the respect due to Scripture.
272 See also Pusey’s reply to Dr. Farrar. 273 Credibility, etc., iv. pp. 460-462. 33
2]
On the Veiling of Virgins.
IIT. On the Veiling of Virgins. 7” [Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.]
4
Chapter I.—Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its Developments.
Having already undergone the trouble peculiar to my opinion, I will show in Latin also that it behoves our virgins to be veiled from the time that they have passed the turning-point of their age: that this observance is exacted by truth, on which no one can impose prescrip- tion—no space of times, no influence of persons, no privilege of regions. For these, for the most part, are the sources whence, from some ignorance or simplicity, custom finds its be- ginning; and then it is successionally confirmed into an usage, and thus is maintained in
h, 27> not Custom. If
opposition to truth. But our Lord Christ has surnamed Himself Trut Christ is always, and prior to all, equally truth is a thing sempiternal and ancient. Let those therefore look to themselves, to whom that is new which is intrinsically old. It is not so much novelty as truth which convicts heresies. Whatever savours of opposition to truth, this will be heresy, even (if it be an) ancient custom. On the other hand, if any is ignorant of anything, the ignorance proceeds from his own defect. Moreover, whatever is matter of ignorance ought to have been as carefully inquired into as whatever is matter of acknowledg- ment received. The rule of faith, indeed, is altogether one, alone immoveable and irreform- able; the rule, to wit, of believing in one only God omnipotent, the Creator of the universe, and His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised again the third day from the dead, received in the heavens, sitting now at the right (hand) of the Father, destined to come to judge quick and dead through the resurrection of the flesh as well (as of the spirit). This law of faith being constant, the other succeeding points of discipline and conversation admit the “novelty” of correction; the grace of God, to wit, operating and advancing even to the end. For what kind of (supposition) is it, that, while the devil is always operating and adding daily to the ingenuities of iniquity, the work of God should either have ceased, or else have desisted from advancing? whereas the reason why the Lord sent the Paraclete was, that, since human mediocrity was unable to take in all things at once, discipline should, little by little, be directed, and ordained, and carried on to perfec- tion, by that Vicar of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. “Still,” He said, “I have many things to say to you, but ye are not yet able to bear them: when that Spirit of truth shall have come, He will conduct you into all truth, and will report to you the supervening (things).” 7”° But
274 ~[Written, possibly, as early as a.d. 204.] 275 ‘John xiv. 6. 276 ~=John xvi. 12, 13. See de Monog., c. ii. 54
s
Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its...
above, withal, He made a declaration concerning this His work. 7”” What, then, is the Paraclete’s administrative office but this: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reformation of the intellect, the advancement toward the “better things?” as Nothing is without stages of growth: all things await their season. In short, the preacher says, “A time to everything.” 7”? Look how creation itself advances little by little to fructification. First comes the grain, and from the grain arises the shoot, and from the shoot struggles out the shrub: thereafter boughs and leaves gather strength, and the whole that we call a tree expands: then follows the swelling of the germen, and from the germen bursts the flower, and from the flower the fruit opens: that fruit itself, rude for a while, and unshapely, little by little, keeping the straight course of its development, is trained to the mellowness of its flavour. 78° So, too, righteousness—for the God of righteousness and of creation is the same—waas first in a rudimentary state, having a natural fear of God: from that stage it advanced, through the Law and the Prophets, to infancy; from that stage it passed, through the Gospel, to the fervour of youth: now, through the Paraclete, it is settling into maturity. He will be, after Christ, the only one to be called and revered as Master; ae for He speaks not from Himself, but what is commanded by Christ. 7°” He is the only pre- late, because He alone succeeds Christ. They who have received Him set truth before custom. They who have heard Him prophesying even to the present time, not of old, bid virgins be wholly covered.
277 See John xiv. 26. 278 Comp. Heb. xi. 40; xii. 24. 279 Eccles. iii. 1, briefly. 280 Comp. Mark iv. 28. 281 Comp. Matt. xxiii. 8. 282 John xvi. 13. 55
EI
Before Proceeding Farther, Let the Question of Custom Itself Be Sifted.
Chapter I.—Before Proceeding Farther, Let the Question of Custom Itself Be Sifted.
But I will not, meantime, attribute this usage to Truth. Be it, for a while, custom: that to custom I may likewise oppose custom.
Throughout Greece, and certain of its barbaric provinces, the majority of Churches keep their virgins covered. There are places, too, beneath this (African) sky, where this practice obtains; lest any ascribe the custom to Greek or barbarian Gentilehood. But I have proposed (as models) those Churches which were founded by apostles or apostolic men; and antecedently, I think, to certain (founders, who shall be nameless). Those Churches therefore, as well (as others), have the self-same authority of custom (to appeal to); in op- posing phalanx they range “times” and “teachers,” more than these later (Churches do). What shall we observe? What shall we choose? We cannot contemptuously reject a custom which we cannot condemn, inasmuch as it is not “strange,” since it is not among “strangers” that we find it, but among those, to wit, with whom we share the law of peace and the name of brotherhood. They and we have one faith, one God, the same Christ, the same hope, the same baptismal sacraments; let me say it once for all, we are one Church. 283 Thus, whatever belongs to our brethren is ours: only, the body divides us.
Still, here (as generally happens in all cases of various practice, of doubt, and of uncer- tainty), examination ought to have been made to see which of two so diverse customs were the more compatible with the discipline of God. And, of course, that ought to have been chosen which keeps virgins veiled, as being known to God alone; who (besides that glory
must be sought from God, not from men 7°4
) ought to blush even at their own privilege.
You put a virgin to the blush more by praising than by blaming her; because the front of sin is more hard, learning shamelessness from and in the sin itself. For that custom which belies virgins while it exhibits them, would never have been approved by any except by some men who must have been similar in character to the virgins themselves. Such eyes will wish that a virgin be seen as has the virgin who shall wish to be seen. The same kinds of eyes re- ciprocally crave after each other. Seeing and being seen belong to the self-same lust. To
285
blush if he see a virgin is as much a mark of a chaste 7®° man, as of a chaste **° virgin if seen
by a man.
283. Comp. Eph. iv. 1-6. 284 Comp. John v. 44 and xii. 43. 285 — Sancti. 286 Sanctee. 56
Gradual Development of Custom, and Its Results. Passionate Appeal to T...
Chapter II.—Gradual Development of Custom, and Its Results. Passionate Appeal to Truth.
But not even between customs have those most chaste 7°” teachers chosen to examine. Still, until very recently, among us, either custom was, with comparative indifference, admit- ted to communion. The matter had been left to choice, for each virgin to veil herself or expose herself, as she might have chosen, just as (she had equal liberty) as to marrying, which itself withal is neither enforced nor prohibited. Truth had been content to make an agreement with custom, in order that under the name of custom it might enjoy itself even partially. But when the power of discerning began to advance, so that the licence granted to either fashion was becoming the mean whereby the indication of the better part emerged; imme- diately the great adversary of good things—and much more of good institutions—set to his own work. The virgins of men go about, in opposition to the virgins of God, with front quite bare, excited to a rash audacity; and the semblance of virgins is exhibited by women who have the power of asking somewhat from husbands, 7°8
that (forsooth) their rivals—all the more “free” in that they are the “hand-maids” of Christ 289
not to say such a request as alone “*”—may be surrendered to them. “We are scandalized,” they say, “because others walk otherwise (than we do);” and they prefer being “scandalized” to being provoked (to modesty). A “scandal,” if I mistake not, is an example not of a good thing, but of a bad, tending to sinful edification. Good things scandalize none but an evil mind. If modesty, if bashfulness, if contempt of glory, anxious to please God alone, are good things, let women who are “scandalized” by such good learn to acknowledge their own evil. For what if the incontinent withal say they are “scandalized” by the continent? Is continence to be recalled?
And, for fear the multinubists be “scandalized,” is monogamy to be rejected? Why may not these latter rather complain that the petulance, the impudence, of ostentatious virginity is a “scandal” to them? Are therefore chaste virgins to be, for the sake of these marketable creatures, dragged into the church, blushing at being recognised in public, quaking at being unveiled, as if they had been invited as it were to rape? For they are no less unwilling to suffer even this. Every public exposure of an honourable virgin is (to her) a suffering of rape: and yet the suffering of carnal violence is the less (evil), because it comes of natural office. But when the very spirit itself is violated in a virgin by the abstraction of her covering, she has learnt to lose what she used to keep. O sacrilegious hands, which have had the hardihood to drag off a dress dedicated to God! What worse could any persecutor have done, if he had known that this (garb) had been chosen by a virgin? You have denuded a maiden in regard of her head, and forthwith she wholly ceases to be a virgin to herself; she
287 — Sanctissimi. 288 The allusion is perhaps to 1 Cor. xiv. 35. 289 Comp. 1 Cor. vii. 21, 22. 57
x
Gradual Development of Custom, and Its Results. Passionate Appeal to T...
has undergone a change! Arise, therefore, Truth; arise, and as it were burst forth from Thy patience! No custom do I wish Thee to defend; for by this time even that custom under which Thou didst enjoy thy own liberty is being stormed! Demonstrate that it is Thyself who art the coverer of virgins. Interpret in person Thine own Scriptures, which Custom understandeth not; for, if she had, she never would have had an existence.
58
Of the Argument Drawn from I Cor. XI. 5-16.
Chapter IV.—Of the Argument Drawn from 1 Cor. XI. 5-16.
But in so far as it is the custom to argue even from the Scriptures in opposition to truth, there is immediately urged against us the fact that “no mention of virgins is made by the apostle where he is prescribing about the veil, but that ‘women’ only are named; whereas, ifhe had willed virgins as well to be covered, he would have pronounced concerning ‘virgins’ also together with the ‘women’ named; just as,” says (our opponent), “in that passage where he is treating of marriage, *”° he declares likewise with regard to ‘virgins’ what observance is to be followed.” And accordingly (it is urged) that “they are not comprised in the law of veiling the head, as not being named in this law; nay rather, that this is the origin of their being unveiled, inasmuch as they who are not named are not bidden.”
But we withal retort the self-same line of argument. For he who knew elsewhere how to make mention of each sex—of virgin I mean, and woman, that is, not-virgin—for distinc- tion’s sake; in these (passages), in which he does not name a virgin, points out (by not making the distinction) community of condition. Otherwise he could here also have marked the difference between virgin and woman, just as elsewhere he says, “Divided is the woman and the virgin.” 291 Therefore those whom, by passing them over in silence, he has not di- vided, he has included in the other species.
Nor yet, because in that case “divided is both woman and virgin,” will this division exert its patronizing influence in the present case as well, as some will have it. For how many sayings, uttered on another occasion, have no weight—in cases, to wit, where they are not uttered—unless the subject-matter be the same as on the other occasion, so that the one utterance may suffice! But the former case of virgin and woman is widely “divided” from the present question. “Divided,” he says, “is the woman and the virgin.” Why? Inasmuch as “the unmarried,” that is, the virgin, “is anxious about those (things) which are the Lord’s, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but the married,” that is, the not-virgin, “is anxious how she may please her husband.” This will be the interpretation of that “division,” having no place in this passage (now under consideration); in which pronouncement is made neither about marriage, nor about the mind and the thought of woman and of virgin, but about the veiling of the head. Of which (veiling) the Holy Spirit, willing that there should be no distinction, willed that by the one name of woman should likewise be understood the virgin; whom, by not specially naming, He has not separated from the woman, and, by not separating, has conjoined to her from whom He has not separated her.
Is it now, then, a “novelty” to use the primary word, and nevertheless to have the other (subordinate divisions) understood in that word, in cases where there is no necessity for individually distinguishing the (various parts of the) universal whole? Naturally, a compen-
290 ~—- 1 Cor. vii. 291 ~—- 1 Cor. vii. 34. 59
Of the Argument Drawn from I Cor. XI. 5-16.
dious style of speech is both pleasing and necessary; inasmuch as diffuse speech is both tiresome and vain. So, too, we are content with general words, which comprehend in themselves the understanding of the specialties. Proceed we, then, to the word itself. The word (expressing the) natural (distinction) is female. Of the natural word, the general word is woman. Of the general, again, the special is virgin, or wife, or widow, or whatever other names, even of the successive stages of life, are added hereto. Subject, therefore, the special is to the general (because the general is prior); and the succedent to the antecedent, and the partial to the universal: (each) is implied in the word itself to which it is subject; and is sig- nified in it, because contained in it. Thus neither hand, nor foot, nor any one of the members, requires to be signified when the body is named. And if you say the universe, therein will be both the heaven and the things that are in it,—sun and moon, and constellations and stars,—and the earth and the seas, and everything that goes to make up the list of elements. You will have named all, when you have named that which is made up of all. So, too, by naming woman, he has named whatever is woman's.
60
Ai
Of the Word Woman, Especially in Connection with Its Application to Eve
Chapter V.—Of the Word Woman, Especially in Connection with Its Application to Eve.
But since they use the name of woman in such a way as to think it inapplicable save to her alone who has known a man, the pertinence of the propriety of this word to the sex itself, not to a grade of the sex, must be proved by us; that virgins as well (as others) may be com- monly comprised in it.
When this kind of second human being was made by God for man’s assistance, that fe- male was forthwith named woman; still happy, still worthy of paradise, still virgin. “She shall be called,” said (Adam), “Woman.” And accordingly you have the name,—I say, not already common to a virgin, but— proper (to her; a name) which from the beginning was allotted to a virgin. But some ingeniously will have it that it was said of the future, “She shall be called woman,” as if she were destined to be so when she had resigned her virginity; since he added withal: “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and be conglutinated to his own woman; and the two shall be one flesh.” Let them therefore among whom that subtlety obtains show us first, if she were surnamed woman with a future reference, what name she meantime received. For without a name expressive of her present quality she cannot have been. But what kind of (hypothesis) is it that one who, with an eye to the future, was called by a definite name, at the present time should have nothing for a surname? On all animals Adam imposed names; and on none on the ground of future condition, but on the ground of the present purpose which each particular nature served; 292 called (as each nature was) by that to which from the beginning it showed a propensity. What, then, was she at that time called? Why, as often as she is named in the Scripture, she has the appellation woman before she was wedded, and never virgin while she was a virgin.
This name was at that time the only one she had, and (that) when nothing was (as yet) said prophetically. For when the Scripture records that “the two were naked, Adam and his woman,” neither does this savour of the future, as if it said “his woman” as a presage of “
wife;” but because his woman 7?
was withal unwedded, as being (formed) from his own substance. “This bone,” he says, “out of my bones, and flesh out of my flesh, shall be called woman.” Hence, then, it is from the tacit consciousness of nature that the actual divinity of the soul has educed into the ordinary usage of common speech, unawares to men, (just as it has thus educed many other things too which we shall elsewhere be able to show to derive from the Scriptures the origin of their doing and saying,) our fashion of calling our wives our women, however improperly withal we may in some instances speak. For the Greeks, too, who use the name of woman more (than we do) in the sense of wife, have other
names appropriate to wife. But I prefer to assign this usage as a testimony to Scripture. For
292 Gen. ii. 19, 20. 293 = Mulier, throughout. 61
Of the Word Woman, Especially in Connection with Its Application to Eve
when two are made into one flesh through the marriage-tie, the “flesh of flesh and bone of bones” is called the woman of him of whose substance she begins to be accounted by being made his wife. Thus woman is not by nature a name of wife, but wife by condition is a name of woman. In fine, womanhood is predicable apart from wifehood; but wifehood apart from womanhood is not, because it cannot even exist. Having therefore settled the name of the newly-made female—which (name) is woman—and having explained what she formerly was, that is, having sealed the name to her, he immediately turned to the prophetic reason, so as to say, “On this account shall a man leave father and mother.” The name is so truly separate from the prophecy, as far as (the prophecy) from the individual person herself, that of course it is not with reference to Eve herself that (Adam) has uttered (the prophecy), but with a view to those future females whom he has named in the maternal fount of the feminine race. Besides, Adam was not to leave “father and mother”—whom he had not—for the sake of Eve. Therefore that which was prophetically said does not apply to Eve, because it does not to Adam either. For it was predicted with regard to the condition of husbands, who were destined to leave their parents for a woman’s sake; which could not chance to Eve, because it could not to Adam either.
If the case is so, it is apparent that she was not surnamed woman on account of a future (circumstance), to whom (that) future (circumstance) did not apply.
To this is added, that (Adam) himself published the reason of the name. For, after saying, “She shall be called woman,” he said, “inasmuch as she hath been taken out of man”—the man himself withal being still a virgin. But we will speak, too, about the name
of man 774
in its own place. Accordingly, let none interpret with a prophetic reference a name which was deduced from another signification; especially since it is apparent when she did receive a name founded upon a future (circumstance)—there, namely, where she is surnamed “Eve,” with a personal name now, because the natural one had gone before. *”° For if “Eve” means “the mother of the living,” behold, she is surnamed from a future (cir- cumstance)! behold, she is pre-announced to be a wife, and not a virgin! This will be the name of one who is about to wed; for of the bride (comes) the mother.
Thus in this case too it is shown, that it was not from a future (circumstance) that she was at that time named woman, who was shortly after to receive the name which would be proper to her future condition.
Sufficient answer has been made to this part (of the question).
294 Viri: so throughout. 295 See Gen. iii. 20. 62
The Parallel Case of Mary Considered.
Chapter VI.—The Parallel Case of Mary Considered.
Let us now see whether the apostle withal observes the norm of this name in accordance with Genesis, attributing it to the sex; calling the virgin Mary a woman, just as Genesis (does) Eve. For, writing to the Galatians, “God,” he says, “sent His own Son, made of a woman,”
a 297 resist (that doctrine).
who, of course, is admitted to have been a virgin, albeit Hebion I recognise, too, the angel Gabriel as having been sent to “a virgin.” °° But when he is blessing her, it is “among women,” not among virgins, that he ranks her: “Blessed (be) thou among women.” The angel withal knew that even a virgin is called a woman.
But to these two (arguments), again, there is one who appears to himself to have made an ingenious answer; (to the effect that) inasmuch as Mary was “betrothed,” therefore it is that both by angel and apostle she is pronounced a woman; for a “betrothed” is in some sense a “bride.” Still, between “in some sense” and “truth” there is difference enough, at all events in the present place: for elsewhere, we grant, we must thus hold. Now, however, it is not as being already wedded that they have pronounced Mary a woman, but as being none the less a female even if she had not been espoused; as having been called by this (name) from the beginning: for that must necessarily have a prejudicating force from which the normal type has descended. Else, as far as relates to the present passage, if Mary is here put on a level with a “betrothed,” so that she is called a woman not on the ground of being a fe- male, but on the ground of being assigned to a husband, it immediately follows that Christ was not born ofa virgin, because (born) of one “betrothed,” who by this fact will have ceased to bea virgin. Whereas, if He was born of a virgin—albeit withal “betrothed,” yet intact—ac- knowledge that even a virgin, even an intact one, is called a woman. Here, at all events, there can be no semblance of speaking prophetically, as if the apostle should have named a future woman, that is, bride, in saying “made ofa woman.” For he could not be naming a posterior woman, from whom Christ had not to be born—that is, one who had known a man; but she who was then present, who was a virgin, was withal called a woman in consequence of the propriety of this name,—vindicated, in accordance with the primordial norm, (as belonging) to a virgin, and thus to the universal class of women.
296 Gal. iv. 4. 297 _ [i.e., Ebion, founder of the Ebionites.] 298 Lukei. 26, 27. 63
Of the Reasons Assigned by the Apostle for Bidding Women to Be Veiled.
Chapter VII.—Of the Reasons Assigned by the Apostle for Bidding Women to Be Veiled.
Turn we next to the examination of the reasons themselves which lead the apostle to teach that the female ought to be veiled, (to see) whether the self-same (reasons) apply to virgins likewise; so that hence also the community of the name between virgins and not- virgins may be established, while the self-same causes which necessitate the veil are found to exist in each case.
If “the man is head of the woman,” 7?”
of course (he is) of the virgin too, from whom comes the woman who has married; unless the virgin is a third generic class, some monstrosity with a head of its own. If “it is shameful for a woman to be shaven or shorn,” of course it is so for a virgin. (Hence let the world, the rival of God, see to it, if it asserts that close-cut hair is graceful to a virgin in like manner as that flowing hair is to a boy.) To her, then, to whom it is equally unbecoming to be shaven or shorn, it is equally becoming to be covered. If “the woman is the glory of the man,” how much more the virgin, who is a glory withal to herself! If “the woman is of the man,” and “for the sake of the man,” that rib of Adam 3°
was first a virgin. If “the woman ought to have power upon the head,” oot
all the more justly ought the virgin, to whom pertains the essence of the cause (assigned for this assertion). For if (it is) on account of the angels—those, to wit, whom we read of as having fallen from God and heaven on account of concupiscence after females—who can presume that it was bodies already defiled, and relics of human lust, which such angels yearned after, so as not rather to have been inflamed for virgins, whose bloom pleads an excuse for human lust likewise? For thus does Scripture withal suggest: “And it came to pass,” it says, “when men had begun to grow more numerous upon the earth, there were withal daughters born them; but the sons of God, having descried the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all whom they elected.” °°” For here the Greek name of women does seem to have the sense “ wives,” inasmuch as mention is made of marriage. When, then, it says “the daughters of men,” it manifestly purports virgins, who would be still reckoned as belonging to their parents—for wedded women are called their husbands’—whereas it could have said “the wives of men:” in like manner not naming the angels adulterers, but husbands, while they take unwedded “daughters of men,” who it has above said were “born,” thus also signifying their virginity: first, “born;” but here, wedded to angels. Anything else I know not that they were except “born” and subsequently wedded. So perilous a face, then, ought to be shaded, which has cast stumbling-stones even so far as heaven: that, when standing in the presence of God, at whose bar it stands accused of the driving of the angels from their
299 1 Cor. xi. 3 sqq. 300 = Gen. ii. 23. 301 = 1 Cor. xi. 10. 302 ~=— Gen. vi. 1, 2. 64
]
Of the Reasons Assigned by the Apostle for Bidding Women to Be Veiled.
(native) confines, it may blush before the other angels as well; and may repress that former evil liberty of its head,—(a liberty) now to be exhibited not even before human eyes. But even if they were females already contaminated whom those angels had desired, so much the more “on account of the angels” would it have been the duty of virgins to be veiled, as it would have been the more possible for virgins to have been the cause of the angels’ sinning. If, moreover, the apostle further adds the prejudgment of “nature,” that redundancy of locks is an honour to a woman, because hair serves for a covering, °°? of course it is most of all to a virgin that this is a distinction; for their very adornment properly consists in this, that, by being massed together upon the crown, it wholly covers the very citadel of the head with
an encirclement of hair.
303. 1 Cor. xi. 14, 15. 65
The Argument E Contrario.
Chapter VIIH.—The Argument E Contrario.
The contraries, at all events, of all these (considerations) effect that a man is not to cover his head: to wit, because he has not by nature been gifted with excess of hair; because to be shaven or shorn is not shameful to him; because it was not on his account that the angels transgressed; because his Head is Christ. *°* Accordingly, since the apostle is treating of man and woman—why the latter ought to be veiled, but the former not—it is apparent why he has been silent as to the virgin; allowing, to wit, the virgin to be understood in the woman by the self-same reason by which he forbore to name the boy as implied in the man; embracing the whole order of either sex in the names proper (to each) of woman and man. So likewise Adam, while still intact, is surnamed in Genesis man: °°° “She shall be called,” says he, “ woman, because she hath been taken from her own man.” Thus was Adam a man before nuptial intercourse, in like manner as Eve a woman. On either side the apostle has made his sentence apply with sufficient plainness to the universal species of each sex; and briefly and fully, with so well-appointed a definition, he says, “ Every woman.” What is “every, but of every class, of every order, of every condition, of every dignity, of every age?—if, (as is the case), “every” means total and entire, and in none of its parts defective. But the virgin is withal a part of the woman. Equally, too, with regard to not veiling the man, he says “every.” Behold two diverse names, Man and woman—“every one” in each case: two laws, mutually distinctive; on the one hand (a law) of veiling, on the other (a law) of baring. Therefore, if the fact that it is said “every man” makes it plain that the name of man is common even to him who is not yet a man, a stripling male; (if), moreover, since the name is common according to nature, the law of not veiling him who among men is a virgin is common too according to discipline: why is it that it is not consequently prejudged that, woman being named, every woman- virgin is similarly comprised in the fellowship of the name, so as to be comprised too in the community of the law? Ifa virgin is not a woman, neither is a stripling a man. If the virgin is not covered on the plea that she is not a woman, let the stripling be covered on the plea that he is not a man. Let identity of virginity share equality of indulgence. As virgins are not compelled to be veiled, so let boys not be bidden to be unveiled. Why do we partly acknowledge the definition of the apostle, as absolute with regard to “every man,” without entering upon disquisitions as to why he has not withal named the boy; but partly prevaricate, though it is equally absolute with regard to “every woman?” “Tf any,” he says, “is contentious, we have not such a custom, nor (has) the Church of God.” 3°° He shows that there had been some contention about this point; for the extinction whereof he uses the whole compendiousness (of language): not naming the
304 =. 1 Cor. xi. 3. 305 See Gen. ii. 23. 306 =. 1 Cor. xi. 16. 66
=]
The Argument E Contrario.
virgin, on the one hand, in order to show that there is to be no doubt about her veiling; and, on the other hand, naming “every woman,” whereas he would have named the virgin (had the question been confined to her). So, too, did the Corinthians themselves understand
him. In fact, at this day the Corinthians do veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, their disciples approve.
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Veiling Consistent with the Other Rules of Discipline Observed by Virgins...
Chapter IX.—Veiling Consistent with the Other Rules of Discipline Observed by Virgins and Women in General.
Let us now see whether, as we have shown the arguments drawn from nature and the matter itself to be applicable to the virgin as well (as to other females), so likewise the precepts of ecclesiastical discipline concerning women have an eye to the virgin.
It is not permitted to a woman to speak in the church; 3°7 but neither (is it permitted her) to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer, nor to claim to herself a lot in any manly function, not to say (in any) sacerdotal office. Let us inquire whether any of these be lawful to a virgin. If it is not lawful to a virgin, but she is subjected on the self-same terms (as the woman), and the necessity for humility is assigned her together with the woman, whence will this one thing be lawful to her which is not lawful to any and every female? If any is a virgin, and has proposed to sanctify her flesh, what prerogative does she (thereby) earn adverse to her own condition? Is the reason why it is granted her to dispense with the veil, that she may be notable and marked as she enters the church? that she may display the honour of sanctity in the liberty of her head? More worthy distinction could have been conferred on her by according her some prerogative of manly rank or office! I know plainly, that in a certain place a virgin of less than twenty years of age has been placed in the order of widows! whereas if the bishop had been bound to accord her any relief, he might, of course, have done it in some other way without detriment to the respect due to discipline; that such a miracle, not to say monster, should not be pointed at in the church, a virgin-widow! the more portentous indeed, that not even as a widow did she veil her head; denying herself either way; both as virgin, in that she is counted a widow, and as widow, in that she is styled avirgin. But the authority which licenses her sitting in that seat uncovered is the same which
allows her to sit there as a virgin: a seat to which (besides the “sixty years” 208
not merely “single-husbanded” ( women)—that is, married women—are at length elected, but “mothers” to boot, yes, and “educators of children;” in order, forsooth, that their experimental training in all the affections may, on the one hand, have rendered them capable of readily aiding all others with counsel and comfort, and that, on the other, they may none the less have travelled down the whole course of probation whereby a female can be tested. So true is it, that, on
the ground of her position, nothing in the way of public honour is permitted to a virgin.
307. ~—s- 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35; 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. 308 =61 Tim. v. 9. 68
If the Female Virgins are to Be Thus Conspicuous, Why Not the Male as W...
Chapter X.—If the Female Virgins are to Be Thus Conspicuous, Why Not the Male as Well?
Nor, similarly, (is it permitted) on the ground of any distinctions whatever. Otherwise, it were sufficiently discourteous, that while females, subjected as they are throughout to men, bear in their front an honourable mark of their virginity, whereby they may be looked up to and gazed at on all sides and magnified by the brethren, so many men-virgins, so many voluntary eunuchs, should carry their glory in secret, carrying no token to make them, too, illustrious. For they, too, will be bound to claim some distinctions for themselves—either the feathers of the Garamantes, or else the fillets of the barbarians, or else the cicadas of the Athenians, or else the curls of the Germans, or else the tattoo-marks of the Britons; or else let the opposite course be taken, and let them lurk in the churches with head veiled. Sure we are that the Holy Spirit could rather have made some such concession to males, if He had made it to females; forasmuch as, besides the authority of sex, it would have been more becoming that males should have been honoured on the ground of continency itself likewise. The more their sex is eager and warm toward females, so much the more toil does the con- tinence of (this) greater ardour involve; and therefore the worthier is it of all ostentation, if ostentation of virginity is dignity. For is not continence withal superior to virginity, whether it be the continence of the widowed, or of those who, by consent, have already re- nounced the common disgrace (which matrimony involves)? 309 For constancy of virginity is maintained by grace; of continence, by virtue. For great is the struggle to overcome con- cupiscence when you have become accustomed to such concupiscence; whereas a concupis- cence the enjoyment whereof you have never known you will subdue easily, not having an adversary (in the shape of) the concupiscence of enjoyment. 310 How, then, would God have failed to make any such concession to men more (than to women), whether on the ground of nearer intimacy, as being “His own image,” or on the ground of harder toil? But if nothing (has been thus conceded) to the male, much more to the female.
309 = See 1 Cor. vii. 5. Comp. ad Ux., l. i. c. viii; de Ex. Cast., c. i. 310 So Oehler and others. But one ms. reads “concupiscentiz fructum” for “concupiscentiam fructus;” which
would make the sense somewhat plainer, and hence is perhaps less likely to be the genuine reading.
69
x
The Rule of Veiling Not Applicable to Children.
Chapter XI.—The Rule of Veiling Not Applicable to Children.
But what we intermitted above for the sake of the subsequent discussion—not to dissipate its coherence—we will now discharge by an answer. For when we joined issue about the apostle’s absolute definition, that “every woman” must be understood (as meaning woman) of even every age, it might be replied by the opposite side, that in that case it behoved the virgin to be veiled from her nativity, and from the first entry of her age (upon the roll of time).
But it is not so; but from the time when she begins to be self-conscious, and to awake to the sense of her own nature, and to emerge from the virgin’s (sense), and to experience that novel (sensation) which belongs to the succeeding age. For withal the founders of the race, Adam and Eve, so long as they were without intelligence, went “naked;” but after they tasted of “the tree of recognition,” they were first sensible of nothing more than of their cause for shame. Thus they each marked their intelligence of their own sex by a covering. 311 But even if it is “on account of the angels” that she is to be veiled, *!* doubtless the age from which the law of the veil will come into operation will be that from which “the daughters of men” were able to invite concupiscence of their persons, and to experience marriage. For a virgin ceases to be a virgin from the time that it becomes possible for her not to be one. And accordingly, among Israel, it is unlawful to deliver one to a husband
313 thus, before this indication, the
except after the attestation by blood of her maturity; nature is unripe. Therefore if she is a virgin so long as she is unripe, she ceases to be a virgin when she is perceived to be ripe; and, as not-virgin, is now subject to the law, just as she is to marriage. And the betrothed indeed have the example of Rebecca, who, when she was being conducted—herself still unknown—to an unknown betrothed, as