Ante-Nicene Christian Library; Translations Of The Writings Of The Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Volume 11: The Writings Of Tertullian, Volume 1

발행: 1869년

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AD NATIONES

Which consummation Dur players and binoons dram tho materials of their exhibitions. It was from suta a soure

t , that so flagrant a tragedy recently buret upon the publicas that which the prefect Fuscianus had judicialty to decido. A by oi nobio birin, Who, by the unintentional neglect of

than his own sather and mollier, anxiously urge a protracted inqui . The sim dealer is examined, tho unh py truthis ali discovered. When their Wichednem hecomes manifest,

selves; to thela son, Who sumiVes the miserable calami , their propexu is aWarded by the prefeci, not as an inheri, ance, but as the wages of infamy and incest. That one cassmas a sufficient examplo for public exposure' of tho sins of

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456 TERTULLIANUS

irremerenee retortis On the heathen.

to your charies of obstinacy and presumption, WhateVer Du allego against us, eVen in these respecta there are notwanting potnis in Which you Will bear a comparison mith us. Οur fidit step in this contumactous conduci concerus that

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blood has over fixod a stain Mon us, in the senate or even

Verenee of your oWn loWer classes, and the scandalous lam-poons ' of which the statues are so cogniZant, and the sneers

CHAP. XVIII. ' - The Christiana charged with an obstinate CONTEMPT OF DEATH.' Tertullian ahows how many instanees of the fame disposition are found amongat the

Galliae. Vesaniae. y Conveniam. ε Recognoscam. β Festivos libellos. ' Α concilio. 7 Ex fide. η Literalty, me malio faces. J' fComp. The holon, c. xxxiii., and Minucius Felix, Octavius, o. xxiii.J

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458 TERTULLIANUS mon's intrepidi in nos only to bo despiseri bui even in be

A virtute didicerunt.' 'ith tho piget prosequi ' to govem the precessing obliquo clauae, itis unnecessary to suppose With Ointer the omlation hero es Aomo verblilio se erogavit. J

η Novitatem . . . dedicarit.

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huntem ' as he traversed the appotnted co se, not to mentionthe iamous sufferings of the Spartans. 'CHAP. XIX.yΤ Υ the Christians and the heathen are in theseretorta ahown to resembis meh Other, there is, after ali, great disserenee in the grounda and nature of theis apparently similar conduet. Ηere end, I suppose, Four tremendous charges of obstinacyagainst tho Christians. No , since Wo are amenablo to themin common Min yo selves, it onj mmaius that We compare

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460 TERTULLIANUS the nounds Which the respective parties have tor heing pe sonalty derided. All our obstina , hoWever, is With you aforegone conclusion,in based on Our strong convictions; for Wetake for granted' a resurrection os tho dead. Ηope in this resurrection amounts io' a contempt of death. Ridicule, ther fore, as much as you like the excessive stupidiu of such mindsas die that they may live; but then, in order that you may beable to laugii mors merrtly, and derido us With greater bold-ness, you must tine Four sponge, or perhaps yοur longue, and Wipe aWay those records of youra every nom and then croppingoui, vlicli assert in not dissimilar tems that fouis mill r turn to bodies. But how much more morthy of acceptanceis our belles Whicli maintains that they v ill return to thosamo bodiost And hoW much more ridiculous is Dur in- heriled conceit,' that tho human spirit is to reappear in a dog, Or a mule, or a peacochi Again, Me affrm that a judgmenthas been ordained by God according to the merita os eve man. This you ascribe to Minos and Rhadamanthus, whileat the fame time you reject Aristides, who Was a juster judgethan either. By the a ard of the judgment, me say that thewichod Will havo to speiid an eterni in endless sire, theptous and innocent in a region of bliss. In your vioW lik Wiso an unalterablo condition is ascribed to tho respectivo destinations of Pyriphlegethon' and Elysium. No theyare not merely your composers of myth and poetry Who Write songs of this strain; but your philosophers also speah with aliconfidence of the return of fouis to their former state,' and

AP. XX.-In conclusion, Tertullian elatas truth and reali for the Christians alone, and earneatly eoumeti the heatheuto Gamine and embraee it.

Praestruitur. 3 Praesumimus. η rit. 3 Interim. β Traditum. Tho heathen heu, Turtarus or Orcua. Jy Reciprocatione. ' Distributione.

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ior rivalry. Thus a potier enutes a potier, and a smith asmith.VM But me must nom discontinue this imaginary consession.' Our conscienco has returned to the truth, and to

and we Hono can rebul them, against Whom they are adduced,

by getling you to listen ' to the other fide of the question, Whenes that fuit knowledgo is learat which both inspires counsel and directa tho judment. Non it is in sact your

OWn maxim, that no one aliould determino a cause Without

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462 TERTULLIANUS

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eharaeter of that whieli ought to be Med and eertain. Our defetico requires that me should at this mini discuss

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secure alie is in her own inherent strengthl And naturallyenough,y When from her very adversaries alie gains to herside Whomsoever silo Will, as her friends and protectora, and prostrates the entire host of her assallanis. It is theresore against theso things that our contest lies-against tho institutions os our ancestors, against the authority os tradition, tholaws of our govemors, the reasonings of the wise; againstantiquity, custom, submission ;' against precedenis, prodigies, miracles,-ail Whicli things havo had their pari in consolidat-ing that spurious system of yοur gods. Wishing, then, in follo step by step your oWn commentaries Which you hine drawn out of your theology of every fori Jecause theauthori of learned men goes further Mith you in matters of this hind than tho testimony of facts), I have tinen and abridged tho works of Varro ;- for he in his treatiso Concerning Divine Things, collected out os ancient digesta, has alio nhimself a serviceable guido' for us. Noπ, is I inquire ofhim Who were the subile inventors' of tho gods, he potnis toeither the philosophers, or the peοples, or the poets. For helias mado a threesold distinction in classibing the gods et onobeing the physiecit class, of Which the philosophera treat; another the mythio class, whicli is the constant burdon os' thopoeis; the third, the gentile class, whicli tho nations have adoptod each one for itself. When, thereiore, the philosophers

havo ingeniousty composed their physical theologri out os

in the worid must truth be placedi In the conjectures' li, but these are only a doubisul conception. In the

Quidni 2 Receptorum. R Necessitatem sanaWering to the leges dominantium 'J.

Adulterinam.

. Volutetur.

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