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| Chapter XII.
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Chapter XII.
But I first say a word also about the crown
itself. This laurel one is sacred to Apollo or Bacchus—to the
former as the god of archery, to the latter as the god of triumphs. In
like manner Claudius teaches; when he tells us that soldiers are wont
too to be wreathed in myrtle. For the myrtle belongs to Venus, the
mother of the Æneadæ, the mistress also of the god of war,
who, through Ilia and the Romuli is Roman. But I do not believe
that Venus is Roman as well as Mars, because of the vexation the
concubine gave her.423
When military service
again is crowned with olive, the idolatry has respect to Minerva, who
is equally the goddess of arms—but got a crown of the tree
referred to, because of the peace she made with Neptune. In these
respects, the superstition of the military garland will be everywhere
defiled and all-defiling. And it is further defiled, I
should think, also in the
grounds of it. Lo the yearly public pronouncing of vows, what does that
bear on its face to be? It takes place first in the part of the
camp where the general’s tent is, and then in the temples. In
addition to the places, observe the words also: “We vow
that you, O Jupiter, will then have an ox with gold-decorated
horns.” What does the utterance mean? Without a doubt the denial
(of Christ). Albeit the Christian says nothing in these places with the
mouth, he makes his response by having the crown on his head. The
laurel is likewise commanded (to be used) at the distribution of the
largess. So you see idolatry is not without its gain, selling, as it
does, Christ for pieces of gold, as Judas did for pieces of silver.
Will it be “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”424
to devote your energies to mammon, and to
depart from God? Will it be “Render unto Cæsar the things
which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are
God’s,”425
not only not to
render the human being to God, but even to take the denarius from
Cæsar? Is the laurel of the triumph made of leaves, or of corpses?
Is it adorned with ribbons, or with tombs? Is it bedewed with
ointments, or with the tears of wives and mothers? It may be of some
Christians too;426
| 426 [Such considerations may
account for our author’s abandonment of what he says in the
Apology; which compare in capp. xlii. and xxxix.] | for Christ is also
among the barbarians.427
| 427 [Et apud barbaros enim
Christus. See Kaye’s argument, p. 87.] | Has not he who has
carried (a crown for) this cause on his head, fought even against
himself? Another son of service belongs to the royal guards. And
indeed crowns are called (Castrenses), as belonging to the camp;
Munificæ likewise, from the Cæsarean functions they
perform. But even then you are still the soldier and the servant of
another; and if of two masters, of God and Cæsar: but assuredly
then not of Cæsar, when you owe yourself to God, as having higher
claims, I should think, even in matters in which both have an
interest.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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