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An Address to Demetrianus

Cyprian of Carthage

Section 4

About this work

Author: Cyprian of Carthage

4. You impute it to the Christians that everything is decaying

‹ Section 3 Section 5 ›

as

the

world

grows

old

.

What

if

old

men

should

charge

it

on

the

Christians

that

they

grow

less

strong

in

their

old

age

;

that

they

no

longer

,

as

formerly

,

have

the

same

facilities

,

in

the

hearing

of

their

ears

,

in

the

swiftness

of

their

feet

,

in

the

keenness

of

their

eyes

,

in

the

vigour

of

their

strength

,

in

the

freshness

of

their

organic

powers

,

in

the

fulness

of

their

limbs

,

and

that

although

once

the

life

of

men

endured

beyond

the

age

of

eight

and

nine

hundred

years

,

it

can

now

scarcely

attain

to

its

hundredth

year

?

We

see

grey

hairs

in

boys

—

the

hair

fails

before

it

begins

to

grow

;

and

life

does

not

cease

in

old

age

,

but

it

begins

with

old

age

.

Thus

,

even

at

its

very

commencement

,

birth

hastens

to

its

close

;

thus

,

whatever

is

now

born

degenerates

with

the

old

age

of

the

world

itself

;

so

that

no

one

ought

to

wonder

that

everything

begins

to

fail

in

the

world

,

when

the

whole

world

itself

is

already

in

process

of

failing

,

and

in

its

end

.

Notes

8
[Wisd. v. 13.]