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

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has tho poWer of selecting, and is a Lind of Caesar; and 'nobody is ablo in conlar' on othera a thing over Whicli ho has not absolute control. Besides, is they mere able to makegods of themsolves aster their Math, pray teli me Why theychoso to bo in an inferior condition at fidit ' ΟΠ again, itthere is no ona Who made them gods, hoW can they be saidis have been mado such, ii they could only havo been made by some one else Thero is thereforo no ground affordodyou sor densng that there is a certain Wholesalo distributor' os divini . Lot us accordin y examine the reasons fordespatching mortal beings in heaven. I suppose you mill produce a pair of them. Whoever, then, is the amarder Dithe divine honour , exercises his function, either that hemay have sOme supporta, or delences, or it may be evenornaments to his own high dignity, or irom tho pressingclaims of tho meritorious, that he may reWard ali ino deserv-ing. No oster cause is it permitted us to conjecture. ΝοWthere is no one Who, When bestoWing a gist on another, does

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496 TERTULLIANUS

not aci With a viem to his own interest or the othees. Thisconduci, hoWever, cannot be morthy of the Divino Beinninasmuch as His poWer is so great that He can mahe godsoutright; Whilst His bringing man into such request, on thBpretence that he requires the aid and suppori os certain, evendead, persons, is a strange conceit, since He Was ablo Domitio very first to create for Himself immortal beings. Howho has compared human things with divine mill requirono further argumenta on these potnis. Αnd yet tho latior opinion ought to be discussed, that God consereod divino

honours in consideration of meritorious claims. Weli, then, is the aWard Was made on such grounds, it heaven Wasopened to men of the primitive age because of their deseris, we must reflect that aster that time no one Was Worthy offuch honour; except it be, that there is noW no longer sucha place tor any one to attain to. Let us grant that ancientlymen may have deserved heaven by reason of their great merita. Then let us consider Whether there reatly Was Such merit. Let the man who alleges that it did exist declare his oWn VieW os merit. Since the actions os men dono in tho very infancy of time' are a valid claim for their deification, you consistently admitted to the honour the brother and sister Who more sta ed with the sin os incest-ops and Saturn. Your Jupiter too, stolen in his infan , mas u

Nulli subigebant arva coloni η 3- No a aius Would bring the fiet da beneata their amay; '

and without tho importuni of any one the earin Would

In cunabulia temporalitatis.

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io cho ε' bet eon tho father's piety and the wn's. Is thelaws had been just even at that early time,' Jupiter oughtto have been μ ωπω up in both sacks. M Aster this core boration of his lust mitti incestuous gratification, Why shouldho hesitate to indulge himself lavishly in tho li ter excesses of adultery and debauchery Ever since- p try sported

thus With his character in somo suci, Way as is usual When a

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498 TERTULLIANUS and to such sabies, Wo must not in this place speis os to any extent. As indeod the generat body i your godH, Whichtook their cve srom their hings, and princes, and instructora,' Was not of the self-same nature, it Was in some other Way that similariu of character Was exacted by their authori . But hoW much the worst of them Was he who fought to havo

deserved heaven and divine honours' For, as men chooseto have it, these hono s are awarded to him for his meriis. It it was for his valour in destroying wild beasti mitti intrepidiW, What Was there in that so very memorable Do notcriminals condemned to the gamos, though they are evenconsigned to the contest of the vile arena, despatch severatos these animais at one time, and that With more earnest

equat, i.e. on a par missi' othera-in eviI, of courae, M Wolt aa γοαJ7 Inter nativos et factos. See above, o. ii Jη Summa responsionis.

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largotton that the cynic Asclepiades on a single foro coW, riding on her bach, and somelimes nourished at her udder,surveyed' the whole world with a personat inspectioni Evenis Herculos visited the infernal regions, who does not knowthat the way to Hades is open to allΤ It you have dolfiedhim on account of his much carnage and many batiles, amuch greater number of Victories Was gained by the illu trious Pompey, the conqueror of tho pirates who had notsparod ostia itseli in their ravages; and fas to carnageJ, ho

fore Scipio has a botter claim to be considered a fit candidato for deification ' than Hercules. You must bs stili more caresul to add to the claims of fouri Hercules his debauch eries With concubines fandJ wives, and the swathes' of Omphalo, and his base desertion of the Argonauis becauselio had lost his boautiful boy.y Τo this mark of baseness addior his glorification likeWise his attachs of madness, adoro tho

after doeming himself Worthy of a funerat pile in the anguish

Apollo, hali human, although the grandson Oi Jupiter, and

y rimulatoria mendicitas. η Vaccula. . Subegisse oculis reduced to his oWn eymight 'J. M Byrsae. Magis obtinendua divinitati deputatur. ' Fascias.

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500 TERTULLIANUS

στέρνων κἀθελεν ώκέως, αιθων δε κεραυνὸς ενέσκιμψεν μόρον- Εven mi om

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- Divini. Et tristitiae arbitrea. Transvolem. ' Diva arquis.' Ferhapa another form os Diana.J λ' Faciunt m μιζουσι.J his Mema to bo the meaning of an almost unintelligibie sentence, Which me subjoin: Gentia eisdem illi faciunt qui in isdem locia amavel aedes habent; praeterea aliis qui in alieno loco aut mercedibus habitant.' Oehler, Who mahea thia teri, supposea that in inch clauae thename of some god has dromed onLJ

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TERTULLIANUS say nothing about Ascensus, Who geis his namo sor his et inbing propensity, and Clivicola, from hex stoping fhaunt ;I pass silently by the deities called Forculus hom doors, and Cardea from hinges, and Limentinus the god of thresholds,

and whatever others are Worshipped by your neighboum astutelar deities of their front doors. There is nothing strange in this, since men have their respective gods in their brotheis, their kitchens, and even in their prison. Heaven, theresore, is cro ded with innumerable gods of ita oWn, both theseand othera belonging to the Romans, which havo distributedamongst them the sunctions of one's whole liso, in such away that thero is no want of the other' gods. Although, itis true,' the gods Which we have onumerated are rechoned as Roman peculiarly, and as not easi ly recognised abroad, yethow do ali those functions and circumstances, OVer Whichmen have milled their gods to preside, come aboui, in every part of the human race, and in every nation, Where theirguaranteessi are not only Without an ossiciat recognition, buteVen any recognition at ali ΤCHAP. XVI.-Inventora Os use fui arta are unisortis os de

verting the Author into mereJ discoverers' Previous tollis mahing the discove , the inventor himself no doubtexpressed his gratitude to the Author; no doubi, too, he felithat He Was God, to whom reatly belonged the religio

λ Numinum janitorum. Ceteria. Immo cum.' Proveniunt. φ Praedes. ' Sedenim.

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AD NATIONES 503 sorvice,' as the Creator of the gis , by Whom also both he

perial power to their gori. The great God alone dispenses hingdoms, is ordering the eventa ishich laad to theirrise and fall. Ne is the God of the Christians. In conclusion, Without denying ali those Whom antiquity

Mardians of your religion, there yet rem ains for our consideration that very large assumption of the superstitions of Romo whicli me have to incet in opposition to you, ohoathen, that the Romans have become the lords and masters

i Μinisterium.

. Praeconium. ε Artifices. β Antiquitas V is hero opposin to novitae', and thereiore mea the aris of old timea. Jφ In semulis. In,' in Our author, osten maris the instrument.J

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504 TERTULLIANUS of the wholo Worid, because by their religious ossices theyhavs morited this dominion to such an extent that they aromistin a very littis os excelsing even their own gods in Wer. One cannot Wonder that Sterculus, and Mutunus, and Larentina, have severalty advanced this empiro to iis

strange nation than their oWn people, and so by such conduct come the deserters and neglectera, nan the betrvers of the nativo land wherein they wero bom and bred, and ennobled and buried. Thus not even Jupiter couid suffer his own Creto to he subdued by the Roman fasces, sorgettingthat cavo os Ida, and the braeten cymbals of the Corybantes, and the most pleasant odour of the goa hich nursed hison that deari spodi Would he not have mado that tomb of his superior in the whole Capitol, so that that land should moat widely rulo Whicli covered the ashes of Jupiter Would Juno, fiso,J be Willing that the Punic ci , for tholove of Which she even neglected Samos, should bo destroyed, and that, too, by the fires of the fons of AEneas ' AlthoughI am weli awaro that

Hio illius arma, Hic currus fuit, hoc regnum dea gentibus esse, Si qua fata sinant, jam tunc tenditque fovetque. Hero mere her arma, her chariot here, Here, goddess-liae, to fix one duris sint of universat a V, Uight lato M Wrung to feld ament, E'en then her schemea, her carea Were bent. 3

satest And yet the Romans did not accord as much honourto the fates, although they gave them Carthage, as they didio Larentina. But surely those gods of yours have not thopoWer os conferring empire. For When Jupiter reimed in Crete, and Saturn in Italy, and Isis in Egypt, it Was even as

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