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and the putrid gore flowing bach to the chest, and deprived
longues ;= and then they attached to it a definite signification. Oranted, then, that the Phrygians mere the earliest race, it does not sollow that the Christians are tho third. For hois many other nations come regularly after the Phrygians' Tahe care, hoWever, test those Whom you cali the third racosiould obtain tho first rank, sinco there is no nation indeed whicli is not Christian. Whatever nation, therefore, Wasthe firat, is nevertheless Christian now.' It is ridiculous follyWhich mahes you say we are tho latest race, and then Speci-
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436 TERTULLIANUS seatly eali us tho third. But it is in respect os cur religion,
not os our nation, that we are supposed to bo the third; tho series being the Romans, the JeWs, and the Christians aster them. Where, then, are the Greelis Τ or is they are rechonodamongst the Romans in regard to their superstition since itwas from Greece that Rome borro ed even her gods), Wheroat least are the Εgyptians, since these have, so far as I know, a mysterious religion peculiar to themselves Τ ΝοW, ii thoywho bolong to the third race are so monstrous, What must
CHAP. IX. The Christiana are not the eause of public eadam tias ; there isere sueh troubles before Christianity. But why should I be astonished at your vain imputations 'Under the fame natural forin, malice and folly have alwaysbeon associaled in one body and gro th, and have ever omposed us under the one instigator of error.' Indeed, Ι ieel no astonishment; and thereiore, as it is necessary for mysubject, I mill enumerate some instances, that you may ieel the astonishment by the enumeration of the folly into whichyou sali, when yοu insist on Our being the causes of eve
public calamity or injury. Is the Tiber has ovetaowed itabanks, is tho Nilo has remainod in iis bod, is the sis hasbeen stili, or the earth been in commotion, ii doath M has made iis devastations, or famine iis afflictions, your cry --
mediately is, This is tho fauit si os tho Christiansi As ii
λ De superstitione. Comp. The holon, cc. xl. xli.J By the manceps erroria' he means the devit.J Libitina. si Christianorum meritum fWhich mith sit' may be also, Lot tho Christians have their due.' In The Apolon the cry is, Christianos ad
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in our existence; but What vast smurges besore that timosoli on ali tho Worid, on iis Various cities and provincestwhat terribie wars, both soreign and domestici What pestilences, famines, conflagrations, ya nings, and quakings os the earth has histo recorded ly Where were the Christians, then, When the Roman state sumished so many chronicies of iis disastora ' Where mero the Christians whon the istandsHiera, Anaphe, and Delos, and Rhodes, and Cea mere des lated with multitudes of men ' or, again, When the land mentioned by Plato as largor than Asia or Asrica was sunk intho Atlantic Soa or whon firo from heaven overwhelmed Volsinii, and flames from their own mountain consumed
had been more recent than that catastrophe. Is you do notcare to peruse and reflect upon these testimontes of historn
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tions os our foresathera, consider again and again Whether Fou are not yourseives open to that accusation in common
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sistently reject them. Ηον great must Dur perversenem have been, to havs besto ed approbation on your ancestore'
reieci them, Who honour and also assail them. one may also gather the fame conclusion from this consideration, above ait: since Fou Worship Various gods, some one and some another,
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havo vowed in batile, before the senate gave ira sanction; asin the case of Marcus AE milius, who had made a vom to thogod Alburnus. Now is it not consessedly the meatest impietnnay, the greatest insuli, in place the honour of the Dei atthe will and pleasure of human judgment, so that there Cannot be a god except the senate permit hi in ' Many timos have the censors destroyed J Da g J without consulting thopeople. Father Bacchus, With ali his ritual, mas certainlyby the consula, on the senate's authori , cast not only out of the city, but out os ali Italy; whilst Varro informs ustilat Serapis also, and Isis, and Arpocrates, and Anubis, Were excluded from the Capitol, and that their altars whicli tho senate had thrown down urere only restored by the popularviolence. The Consul Gabinius, hoWevor, on the first day of the ensuing Janua , although he gave a tardy consent tofome sacrifices, in deseretice to the crowd Whicli assonibled, beeauso he had falled to decide about Serapis and Isis, yetheld the judment of the senato to bo more potent than the clamour of tho multitude, and sorba te the altars to be bulli. Here, then, you have amongst your own foresathera, is notthe name, at ali evenis the procedure, of the Christians, whicli despises the gods. Ii, ho ever, Fou Were eVen iun cent of the charge of treason against them in the honoue you pay them, I stili find that you have made a consistentadvance in superstition as weli as impie . For hoW muchmore irreligious are you sound to bel There are Four
paWning them sor γοur Wanta or your Whims. Such insolent sacrilege might be excusabie, is it were not practised against your humbier deities; as it is, the case is only the more i solent. There is, hoWever, some consolation sor your privats
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years bring them to the ham mer among your revenues. Forthis purpose Fou frequent the temple of Serapis or the Capitol, hold your sales there,' conclude your contracis,' as is they were markets, with the vell-known' voice of the crier, fandJ thsselnsanae levy' of the quaestor. No lands become chea per when burdened with tribute, and men by the capitation tax diministi in value these are the R ell-known mains Of Slavem . But the gods, ille more tribute they pay, become more holy;or rather,ρ the more holy they are, the more tribute do theypay. Their majesty is converted into an article of tramc; men drive a business with their religion; the sanctitv of thegods is beggared with sales and contracis. You mahe me chandise of the ground of your temples, of the approach toyοur altars, of your offerings,' of your sacrifices.' You sell
gratuitous Worship. The auctioneers necessitate more repairs'
the sanae superscription over both; you fhetch out the fame lineaments sor their statues-as best fulta their genius, orprofession, or age; you mahe an old man of Saturn, a beard-
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442 TERTULLIANVS dead os .halaver sorty as equat With the gods Even to
Four princes there are assigned the services of primis and sacred ceremontes, and chariola, and cara, and the hono s
is pure of the charge of penu ' ' this time, indeed,
there is an end to ait danger in swearing by the gods, sincethe oath by Caesar carries With it more influentiat scruples, which very circumstance indeed tonds to the degradation ofyοur gοds; for those Who perjure themselves When s earing by Caesar are more readily punished than those who violato an oath to a Jupiter. But sos tho tWo hindred feelings os contempt and derisionJ contempt is tho more honour te, having a certain glory in iis arrogance; sor it somelimes
proceeds hom confiden ce, or the securi os consciousness, ora natural tostin ess of mind. Derision, hoWever, is a more anton Deling, and so far it minis more directiy' to a carying insoleiace. NoW only consider What great deridere of
λ Uint mortuos. Tenaae. R Plane.' fmgaltius has sto name Proeulus in his teri; but Tertullian referanot merely to that mae, but is a uauia iunctionary, necessary in ali maea
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most learned and serious classes for seriousness and wisdom
made such spori of them. I mean Homer by this description. Ηe it is, in my opinion, Who has trealed the majes of tho Divino Being on the low levet of human condition, imbuing the gods with the salis' and the passions of men, who has pitted them against each other With varying successithe patra os gladiatore: he wounds Venus With an arro frem a human hand; he keeps Mars a prisoner in chains forthirteen montiis, With the prospect os perishing ;' he parados'Jupiter as suffering a like indigni srom a crowd of celestialbebeiq; or he dra s irom him tears for Sarpedon; or horepresenta him Wantoning With Juno in the most disgracosul Way, advocating his incestuom passion sor her is a description and enumeration of his various amours. Since then, '
' Prope religionem convenire s to have approximated to J. η Quatenus.
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444 TERTULLIANUS seigning falsehood ' Have the dramatista also, Whother in tragedy or comedy, refrained from mahing the gods thoauthors in os tho calamities and retributions fof their playsJ ΤI say nothing of your philosophers, Whom a certain inspiration os truth itself elevates against the gods, and secures si omali soar in thoir proud severity and stern discipline. Tahe, for example,' Socrates. In contempt of your goda, he s earsis an oah, and a dog, and a goat. NoW, although he was condemned to die for this very reason, the Athenians astor-warils repented of that condemnation, and even put to dea thhis accusers. By this conduci of theirs the testimony of Socrates is replaced at ita fuit value, and I am enablud tomeet you With this retori, ibat in his case you have approbation bestowed on that whicli is noW-a Vs reproba ted in us. But besides this instance there is Diogenes, Who, I knοW notis What extent, made spori os Hercules; Whilst that Diogenes
of the Roman cut,' Varro, introduces to our vieW Some three
y Ut dei praefarentur. DOeliter explaina tho verb praesari ' to mean,