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wo havo even learned in diei Wh ver Wishos to unde stand who tho Christians are, must needs emplo these marhssor their discoVery. CHAP. V. - The ineonsistent life of any bad Christian no more eondemna true diseipies of Christ, than a passing claud
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because it is obvious in m conspicuous a par ly servesto fho the puri of the entire complexion. The goodnessos the larger portion is weli attested by the flendis flan. But although you prove stat some of our peopte are evit, you do not hereby prove that they are Christians. Searchand see Whether there is any seci in Whicli is partiat short- comitari is imputed as a generat stain. You are accustomedin conversation yοurselves to say, in disparagement of us, Why is so-and-so deceitsul, When the Christians are so Mindenying Τ why merciless, When they are so mercisul l Youstus bear your testimony to the faci that this is not thocharacter of Christians, when you ash, in the Way of a retori, hoW men who are reputed to be Christians can bo os suchand such a disposition. There is a good deal os disserenoebet een an imputation and a name,' belween an opinion and the truth. For names Were appoinred sor the express purpοse
of setting their proper limits belWeen mere designation and actuat condition.' How many indoed are said to be phil sophers, Who for ali that do not fulsit the law of philosophylAll bear tho name in respect of their profession; but theyhold tho designation without the excellence of the profession, and they disgrace the real thing under the shalloW pretericeos ita nanae. Men are not straightWay of such and such a character, because they are said to be so; but when they arenot, it is vain to say so of them: they only deceive pe lewho attach reali to a name, When it is ita consistency Withfaet whicli docides the condition implied in the name.' Andyet persons os this doubiful stamp do not assemble mith us,neither do they belong to our communion: by their delin
Malitiae. Dum retorquetis. R Inter crimen et nomen. Inter dici et rege. - Statua nominia. ' Denuo.
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AD NATIONES 427 Christians themsolvos dony that name, and who have not
botake yourselves in hol haste to that poor altar of refuge, tho authori of the la s, because these, of courae, Would never punish the offensive' seci, is their deserta had not been fully considered by those who made the laws. Then Whatis it whieli has provented a like consideration on the part of those Who put the laws in force, When, in the case of allother crimes Whicli ars similarly sorbidden and punished by the laWs, the penalty is not inflicted untii it is fought is
regular processi A Tahe,' for instance, the case os a murdereror an adulterer. An examination is ordored touching tho
llaeis filiusJ. Naturalty enough, ' then, are the laws against tho Christians supposed in be just and deseruing of respect
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and observance, just as long as men remain ignorant of theiraim and purpori; but when this is perceived, their extremo injustice is discovered, and they are deservedly rejected mitti abhorrenco,' along Willi stheir instruments of tortureJ-thssWords, the crosses, and the lions. An unjust laW secures no respect. In my opinion, ho ever, there is a suspicionamong you stat some of these laws are unjust, since not aday passes Without your modi Wing their severi and iniqui is fresti deliberations and decisions. CHAP. VII. The Christiana defamed. I sareastis deseriptionos FAME ; ita deception and atroeseus alandera of the Christians tingthily deseribed. Whenco comes it to pras, Fou Will say to us, that sucha character could have been attributed to you, as is have justified tho law-mahers perhaps by iis imputationi Let me ask on my fide, What Voucher they had then, or γοu noW,
Fama malum, quo non aliud velocius ullum γ Fame, thau Which never plaguo that mus Ita Way more gwiltly vius.' ε
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whicli pras it on,' and so obscures the hvmble error in Whichil began, that no one considera Whether the mouth whichfirst set it avioing disseminated a falsehood,-a circumstance whieli osten happens either irom a temper of rivali y, or a suspicious turn, or even the pleasuro of feigning ne s. Itis, however, Weli stat time reveais ali things, as your own sayings and proverbs testi sy, yea, as nature heraeis attests, whicli has so ordered it that nothing lies hid, not even that whicli fame has not reported. See, noW, What a Witness' youliave suborned against us: it has not been ablo up to this time to prove the repori it set in motion, although it has had so long a time to recommend it is our acceptance. Thisname os ours took ita riso in tho reign os Augustus; under Tiberius it was taught With ali clearness and publici ; under Nero it Was ruthlessty condemned,ρ and you maywoigh iis Worth and character even from the person os iis persecutor. Is that prince Was a pious man, then tho Christians are impious; ii he Was just, ii he was pure, then the Christians are unjust and impure; ii he was not a public
are, our persecutor himself shoWs, since he of courso punishedwhat producud hostili to himself.' Now, although everyothor institution whicli existed under Nero has been destroyed, yet this of oum has firmiy remat ned - righteous, it mould seem, as being unlike the author sol ita persecutionJ. Two hundred and fisty years, then, have not yet passed since ourliso bogan. During tho intervat thero have been so many criminals; so many crosses have obtained immortali ;y so
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many insanis have been flain ; so many lomes Meepta in blood; so many extinctions os candies; y so many dissolute marriages. And up to the present time it is mere reportwhicli fighis against the Christians. Νο doubi it has astrong suppori in the wichedneis of the human mind, and
ultera ita falsehoods with more success among cruei and savage men. For the more inclinod you are to maliciou ness, the more ready are Fou in belleve evit; in stiori, merimore eastly belleve tho evit that is salse, than the good Whichis true. Now, is injustice has leti any place Mithri you forine exercise of prudence in investigating the truth of reporis, justice os course demanded that you fhould examine by whomthe report could have been spread amongst the multitude, and thus eirculated through the worid. For it could not have been by the Christians themselves, I suppose, since by the Very constitution and law of ali mysteries the obligation offitence is imposed. Ηon much more Mould this be the camin such smysteries as are ascribed to usJ, whicli, is divulged, could not fati to bring down instant punishment hom theprompt reseniment os men i Since, there ore, the Christiansare not their own betrvere, it foliows that it must be strangere. NoW I ash, hoW could strangere obtain knowledge of us, Wheneven true and la fui mysteries exclude every stranger hom
itnessing them, uniess illicit ones are less exclusive 3 Well, then, it is mors in hisping with the character of strangere both in be ignorant sol the true state os a casH, and is inventis falso accounq. Our domestic servanis sperhapH sistened, and peeped through crevices and holes, and stealthily got imformation Oi our Ways. What, then, shail We sv When Our servants botru them to you It is Miter, sto be sum,J'ior us ali not to be betrayed by any; but stili, ii oux practices be so atrocious, hoW much more proper is it when a righteous indignation bursis Munder even ali ties of domestic fideli How Was it possibio for it is enduro What horrified the mind
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that he, Who Was so overcome mitti impatient excitement asto turn informe'y did not lihewise destre to prove fwhat hereportedJ, and that he who heard tho informess sto did notcare to see sor himself, since no doubi the re ard ' is equalboth sor the informer Who proves What he reporis, and forine hearer who convinces himself of tho credibiliW' os what he heus. But then you say that filiis is precisely What hastahen placeJ: fidit came the rumour, then the exhibition of the proos; first the hearsay, then the inspection ; and after this, fame received iis commission. Now this, Ι must say, surpasses ali admiration, that that was onco for ali detectodaud divulged whicli is being ior ever repeated, unies' io sooth, me have by this timo ceased from the reiteration offuch things' fas are allegod os usJ. But we are called stillis the fame fossensiveJ name, and we are supposed to be stillengaged in the fame practices, and we multiply hom day to
character, hoW is it that we are stili oppressedi We have itindeed in our own pomer not to be thus apprehendod at all.
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For Who either selis or buys information about a crime, is the crime iueis has no existence But why need I disparag- ingly reser to' strange spies and in s mers, When you allege
with artifice; our seasis and our marriages are invented and
demited ' by ignorant persons, who had never besore heardabout Christian mysteries. And though they after arct cannot help acquiring sOme knowledge of them, it is eventhen as having to be administered by othera whom they bringon the scene.' Besides, hoW absurd is it that the profanehnow mysteries Whicli the priest knows noti They heepthem ali to themsolves, then,' and take them for granted; and so these tragedies, fWorse than thosf oi Thyestes or
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to tho public. Even more Voractous bites tahe nothing awaysrom the credit' os such as are initialed, whether servanis ormastera. Is, hoWeVer, none of these allegations can be provedio bo true, hoW incalcul able must be esteemed the grandeur
universat approbation.' Tertullian here states What the enemire ol the Christians used to allego against them. Alter discovering the allegedatrocities of thoir secret assemblies, they hept their knowledge fors in to theuiselves, being ahaid of the consequences of a disclosure, etc.Jλ Wo havo lar convenienco tristed protrahunt' o. f. nor do theyrepori them V) as a neuter verb.Jη Even morso than Thyestein atrocities vovid bo belloved of them.Jδ Miserae atque miserandae. ε Viderimus.
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tians testh os a disserent sori from others ' Have they more amplo ja sl ' Aro they os different nervo for incestuoua lust Τ Ι trow not. It is enough for us to disser irom youin condition ' is truth alone. CHAP. VIII. The absurdis of the ealumv against the Christians illust ted in the diseovery of Hammelichus about the primevat nation; refutation of the atory. Wo are indoed said to bo the third raco' of men. What, a dostfaced race ' or broad and clumsy footed ' orsome subterranean' Antipodes ' Ii you attach any mean ingto these names, pray teli us what are the firsi and the secondrace, that so We may know something os this third.' Hammotichus thought that he had hit upon tho ingenious discovery
of the primevat man. He is sald to have removed certain neW-born insanis from ali human intercourso, and to have
λ Immo idcirco. ' Quanto constare. η alii ordines dentium Christianorum, et alii specus saucium 3'' litorally, Have Christians other aeta ol Meth, and other caverna ofjam γ') seems to reser to voractous animala like the Ahais, Whoso terribio Meth, lying in severat roWs, and Meedinem to a allo anything, hoWever incongruous, that cornea in ira Way, are Mell-known facta in naturai