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Roman name in religious merita, since it was after Romebecame an empire, or cali it still a hingdom, that tho religionshe prosesses made iis clites progressi Is it the caso nowl Has ita religion been the fource of the prosperi of Rome Τ Forthough Numa set agoing an eagern ess aster superstitious observances, yet religion among the Romans mas not yet amatter of images or temples. It was frugal in iis Ways, and iis rites Were simple, and there vere no capitois struggling totho heavens; but ths altars were of hand ones of turi, and the sacred vesseti mere Fet os Samian earthen are, and froni these the odoura rose, and no likeness os God Was to be seen.
For at that timo tho skill of the Greolis and Tuscans in imag mahing had not yet overrun the ciu With the producis of their art. The Romans, theretore, Mere not distinguishedior their devotion to the gods besore they attained to great-
ligion. Indeed, hoW could religion mahe a peοple great Who have owed their meain s to their irreligion Τ For, ii I am not mista n, hingdoms and empires are acquired by Wars, and are extended by victories. More than stat, youcannot have Wars and victories Without the laing, and ostenthe destruction, of citios. That is a thing in Whicli the godshavs their sham os calami . IIouses and temples sufferalike; there is indiscriminato flaughter of priesis and citi-
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106 TERTULLIANUS gens; tho hand of rapine is laid equalty upon sacred and oncommon tre ure. Τhus the sacrileges of the Romans areas numerous as their trophies. They boast as many triumphsoVer the gods as over the nations; as many spolis of batilothey have stili, as there remain imagos of captivo deities. And the pοor gods submit to M adored by their enemies, and they ordain illimitable empire to those Whoss injuries ratherthan their simulated homage should have had retribution attheir hanti. But divinities unconscious are missi impuniudishonoured, just as in vain they are adored. You certainlynever can belleve that devotion to religion has evidently ad-Vanced to greatness a peopte Whο, as Ws have put it, havo
part of the one great whole of the Roman empire, mere notwithout religion when their hingdoms were taken ironi them.
Why, the Rome of rural simplicity is older than some of hergods; she rei ed before her proud, vast Capitol mas bulli. ris Babylonians exercised dominion, too, before the dvs of tho Ρontisis; and tho Modes besore the Quindecemvira; and the Egyptians bosore the Salii; and the Assyrians besore tho Luperci; and tho Amazons before the Vestat Virgins. Andio add another potnt: is the religions of Rome give empire, ancient Judea mould never have been a hingdom, despisingas it did ono and ali theso idol deitios; Judea, Whose God you
Romans Once honoured with victims, and iis temple mittigitis, and iis peoplo With treaties; and which Would neverhave been beneath your sceptro but sor that lan and crowning offence against God, in rejecting and crucibing Christ.27. Enough has been said in these rem arks to confute the
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charge of treason against your religion; sor me cannot boheld to do harm to that whicli has no existence. When meam called therefore to sacrifice, me resolutely refuse, relyingon the knowledge me possess, by Which wo are meli assured of tho real objecis to Whom these ser ces are offered, under profaning of images and the deification of human names.
other than that spirit, hali devii and hali anges, who, haling
ing them to ali stat perversity in judgment, and that un-
righteous crueitri Whicli me havo mentioned at the beginning of our Work, When entering on this discussion. For, thoughthe wholo pomer of demons and hindred spiriis is subjectio us, yet stili, as ill-disposed flaves somelimes conjoio contumacy With fear, and doliot to injure those of whom th at the fame time stand in awe, so is it here. For fear also inspires halred. Besides, in their desperate condition, asiaready under condemnation, it oves them some comsor While punishment delays, to havo the ususruct of their malignant dispositions. Αnd yet, When hands aro laid on them, they are subdued at once, and submit to their lot; and thoso hom at a distance they oppose, in close quartera they suinplicate for mercy. So When, lihe insurrectionary Workhouses, Or prisons, or mines, or any such penes flaveries, they breali forth against us their mastera, thoy know ali the whilo thatthey are not a match for us, and just on stat account, in-deed, rusti the more rechlessty to destruction. We resistitiem unWillingly, as though they mere equias, and contendagainst them is persevering in that whicli they assail; and
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our triumph over them is never more complete than When e are condemned sor resolute adherence to our faith.
28. But as it was eastly seen to be unjust to compelfreemen against their Will to offer sacrifice for even in oster acts of religious service a Willing mind is required), itshould bo counted quite absurd sor one man to compelanother to do hono to the gods, When he ought evervoluntarily, and in the sense of his οὐ need, to sein their
compei us to offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperor; and you are under a necessi of using force, just as We areunder an obligation to face the dangers of it. This bringsus, then, to the second ground of accusation, that ws aroguilty of treason against a majesty more august; sor Du do homage missi a greater dread and an intenser reverenco in
Caesar, than Olympian Jovo himself. And is you know it,
mould bo tho protection os their statues, and images, and temples, Which raster οπε their sately, I thinh, to the watch
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APOLOGETICUS109hept is Caesar's guards. Nay, I thinh the very materials
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110 TERTULLIANUS broath os lito. Thither Wo liti our eyes, With hanci out-strosthed, because free s m sin; With head uncovered, forme have nothing whereos in be astamed ; finalty, without a monitor, because it is from the heari We supplicate. And,
protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a fallitates senate, a Virtuous people, the Worid at rest,-Whatever, RS man or Caesar, an emperor Would Wish. Theso things I
hiding, and whicli many accidendi put into the hands of
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Christians, stan the very parties With treason against whom me are chamed Τ Nay, even in terms, and most clearly, the Scripture says, Pray sor hings, and rulers, and poWers, statali may bo peace With you. For When there is disturbanco in the empire, it the commotion is seli by iis oster members, Surely me too, though We are not thought to be invento disorder, are to be found in some place or other which thocalami affecis. 32. Thore is also another and a greater necessity for ourostering prayer in behali of the emperors, nay, for the complete stabiliu of the empire, and for Roman interesis in generat. For me know that a mighty shoch impending Overthe wholo earth-in faci, the very end of ali things threatening dreadfui Wo -is only retarded by the continued exis, ence of the Roman empire. We have no destre, then, to beoverinken by these dire evenis; and in pruing that their coming may be delayed, me are tending onr aid to Romo's duration. More than inis, though we decline to swear by the genii of the Caesars, we s ear by their staetri Whicli is Worth far more than ali your genti. Are Fou ignorant that theso genii aro called Daemones,' and thenco the diminutivo name Daemonia' is applied in thom Τ We respect intho emperora the ordinance of God, Who has set thom overthe nations. We know that there is that in thom whieli God has milled; and to what God has Willed wo destro allsasely, and we count an oath by it a great Oath. But as sordaemons, stat is, your genii, me have been in tho habit ofexorcising them, not of s earing by them, and thereis conferring on them divine honour. 33. But why dweli longer on the reverence and sacredrespect of Christians to the emperor, Whom me cannot but
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112 TERTULLIANUS sor our God has appotnted him. Thomsore, as having this propriety in him, I do mors than you sor his Welfare, notmerely becauso I ask it of Him Who can give it, or because I ask ii as Ono who deserves to get ii, but also because, in
keeping the majesty of Caesar milliin due limiis, and puttingit under the Μost Uigh, and mahing it less than divine, Icommend him the more to the favour of Dei , to Whom Imahe him alono inferior. But I placo him in subjection toone I regard as more glorious than himself. Never mill I callthe emperor God, and that Esther because it is not in me to
remember thou ari but a mari.' And it only adds to his exultation, that he shines With a glory so surpassing as inrequire an admonitory reserence to his condition. It addsto his greatness that ho needs such a reminiscence, test he
34. Augustus, the founder of the empire, Would not evenhave the titie Lord ; for that, too, is a name os Dei . Foriny pari, I am Willing to give the em peror this designation, but in tho common acceptation os the word, and when I amnot foreed to cali him Lord as in God's place. But my relation to hi in is ono os freodom; for I have but one true Lord, God omnipotent and eternal, who is Lord of the emperor asmeli. How can he, who is truly sather of his country, be iis lord et Tho namo of piety is moro gratesul than the name os poWor; so tho hoads of families ars called sathors rather than lords. Far tess should the emperor havo the name of God. can only profess our belles that ho is that by tho most
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conscience, insisad of With tho common Wantonness. It is, fors th, a notable homage to bring fires and conches out into the public, is havs se ting srom street in street, to turn theciu into one great lavere, to mae mud With mine, to run in imops in acta es violenco, in de s of shamel anem, to lustalluremental What i is public joy manifested is public di
grace Do things unwemly at ollier times beseem the festaldus os princes ' Do thv Who observo the reses of Viriue out os reverenco for Caesar, for his a s tum Mido Domthom l And shali pisty bo a licenco in immorat deed' and shali religion be regardod as inording tho occasion sor alt
reserence in Which We are accused os a lomer sacrilege, be-
cause We do not celebrato along With you tho holidus of tho Caesars in a manner forbidden althe is modestri decen , and puri ,-in truth thv have been est lished rather as
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us, and with them longilien life to you,V-wotas as foretgn totho lips os a Christian as it is out of heeping with his characterto destre a change of emperor. But this is the rabbie, yousay; yet M the rabble they stili are Romans, and none more frequently than they demand tho doath os Christians. Os course, then, the other classes, as befiis their higher rank, aro religio ly faithsul. No broath of treason is there ever in the senate, in the equestrian order, in the camp, in thepalace. Whence, then, came a Cassius, a Niger, an Albinus t ence they Who beset tho Caesary botweon the two laurei gravest Whence they Who practised Wresiling, stat theymight acquire skill to stranglo him Τ Wheneo they who insuli armour broho into the palaco,' more audacious than allyour Tigorii and Parthenii Τ' Ιs Ι mistahe not, they Were Romans ; that is, they Were not Christians. Yet ali ofthem, on the very eve of their traiiorous ouibreah, offered sacrifices for the salaty of the emperor, and soro by his genius, one thing in profession, and another in tho heari;
and no docti thoy mero in tho habit os calling Christians
enemies of the state. Yes, and persons Who are noW dailybrought to light as confederates or approvers of these crimes and treasons, the stili remanent gleanings after a Vintage of
λ Commodus. ' Τo murder Pertinax δ Tigerius and Parthenius mero among the murderere of Commodus-