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| Christians Charged with an Obstinate Contempt of Death. Instances of the Same are Found Amongst the Heathen.
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Chapter XVIII.732
| 732 Comp., The
Apology, c. 50 [p. 54, infra.] | —Christians Charged with an Obstinate
Contempt of Death. Instances of the Same are Found Amongst the
Heathen.
The rest of your charge of obstinacy against us
you sum up in this indictment, that we boldly refuse neither your
swords, nor your crosses, nor your wild beasts, nor fire, nor tortures,
such is our obduracy and contempt of death. But (you are inconsistent
in your charges); for in former times amongst your own ancestors all
these terrors have come in men’s intrepidity733
| 733 A virtute
didicerunt. |
not only to be despised, but even to be held in great praise. How many
swords there were, and what brave men were willing to suffer by them,
it were irksome to enumerate.734
| 734 With the “piget
prosequi” to govern the preceding oblique clause, it is
unnecessary to suppose (with Oehler) the omission here of some verb
like “erogavit.” | (If we take the
torture) of the cross, of which so many instances have occurred,
exquisite in cruelty, your own Regulus readily initiated the suffering
which up to his day was without a precedent;735
a
queen of Egypt used wild beasts of her own (to accomplish her
death);736
| 736 Tertullian refers to
Cleopatra’s death also in his tract ad Mart. c. iv.
[See this Vol. infra.] | the Carthaginian woman, who in the last
extremity of her country was more courageous than her husband
Asdrubal,737
| 737 This case is again
referred to in this treatise (p. 138), and in ad Mart c.
iv. [See this Volume, infra.] | only followed the
example, set long before by Dido herself, of going through fire to her
death. Then, again, a woman of Athens defied the tyrant, exhausted his
tortures, and at last, lest her person and sex might succumb through
weakness, she bit off her tongue and spat out of her mouth the only
possible instrument of a confession which was now out of her
power.738
| 738 Eradicatæ
confessionis. [See p. 55, supra.] | But in your own instance you account such
deeds glorious, in ours obstinate. Annihilate now the glory of
your ancestors, in order that you may thereby annihilate us also. Be
content from henceforth to repeal the praises of your forefathers, in
order that you may not have to accord commendation to us for the same
(sufferings). Perhaps (you will say) the character of a more robust age
may have rendered the spirits of antiquity more enduring. Now, however,
(we enjoy) the blessing of quietness and peace; so that the minds and
dispositions of men (should be) more tolerant even towards strangers.
Well, you rejoin, be it so: you may compare yourselves
with the ancients; we must needs pursue with hatred all that we
find in you offensive to ourselves, because it does not obtain
currency739
among us. Answer me,
then, on each particular case by itself. I am not seeking for examples
on a uniform scale.740
Since, forsooth, the
sword through their contempt of death produced stories of heroism
amongst your ancestors, it is not, of course,741
| 741 Utique. The ironical
tone of Tertullian’s answer is evident. | from
love of life that you go to the trainers sword in hand and offer
yourselves as gladiators,742
| 742 Gladio ad lanistas
auctoratis. | (nor) through fear of
death do you enrol your names in the army.743
| 743 We follow Oehler
in giving the clause this negative turn; he renders it:
“Tretet nicht aus Furcht vor dem Tode ins
Kriegsheer ein.” | Since
an ordinary744
woman makes her death
famous by wild beasts, it cannot but be of your own pure accord that
you encounter wild beasts day after day in the midst of peaceful times.
Although no longer any Regulus among you has raised a cross as the
instrument of his own crucifixion, yet a contempt of the fire has even
now displayed itself,745
since one of
yourselves very lately has offered for a wager746
to go
to any place which may be fixed upon and put on the burning
shirt.747
| 747 Vestiendum incendiale
tunica. | If a woman once defiantly danced beneath the
scourge, the same feat has been very recently performed again by one of
your own (circus-) hunters748
| 748 Inter venatorios:
“venatores circi” (Oehler). | as he traversed
the appointed course,
not to mention the famous sufferings of the Spartans.749
| 749 “Doubtless
the stripes which the Spartans endured with such firmness, aggravated
by the presence of their nearest relatives, who encouraged them,
conferred honour upon their family.”—Apology, c. 50.
[See p. 55, supra.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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