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Ad Nationes

Tertullian

Book 2 · Chapter 16

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XVI.—Inventors of Useful Arts Unworthy of Deification. They Would Be the First to Acknowledge a Creator. The Arts Changeable from Time to Time, and Some Become Obsolete.

Well, but certain men have discovered fruits and sundry necessaries of

‹ Book 2 · Chapter 15 Book 2 · Chapter 17 ›

life

,

(

and

hence

are

worthy

of

deification

)

.

Now

let

me

ask

,

when

you

call

these

persons

“

discoverers

,

”

do

you

not

confess

that

what

they

discovered

was

already

in

existence

?

Why

then

do

you

not

prefer

to

honour

the

Author

,

from

whom

the

gifts

really

come

,

instead

of

converting

the

Author

into

mere

discoverers

?

Previously

he

who

made

the

discover

,

the

inventor

himself

no

doubt

expressed

his

gratitude

to

the

Author

;

no

doubt

,

too

,

he

felt

that

He

was

God

,

to

whom

really

belonged

the

religious

service

,

as

the

Creator

(

of

the

gift

)

,

by

whom

also

both

he

who

discovered

and

that

which

was

discovered

were

alike

created

.

The

green

fig

of

Africa

nobody

at

Rome

had

heard

of

when

Cato

introduced

it

to

the

Senate

,

in

order

that

he

might

show

how

near

was

that

province

of

the

enemy

whose

subjugation

he

was

constantly

urging

.

The

cherry

was

first

made

common

in

Italy

by

Cn

.

Pompey

,

who

imported

it

from

Pontus

.

I

might

possibly

have

thought

the

earliest

introducers

of

apples

amongst

the

Romans

deserving

of

the

public

honour

of

deification

.

This

,

however

,

would

be

as

foolish

a

ground

for

making

gods

as

even

the

invention

of

the

useful

arts

.

And

yet

if

the

skilful

men

of

our

own

time

be

compared

with

these

,

how

much

more

suitable

would

deification

be

to

the

later

generation

than

to

the

former

!

For

,

tell

me

,

have

not

all

the

extant

inventions

superseded

antiquity

,

whilst

daily

experience

goes

on

adding

to

the

new

stock

?

Those

,

therefore

,

whom

you

regard

as

divine

because

of

their

arts

,

you

are

really

injuring

by

your

very

arts

,

and

challenging

(

their

divinity

)

by

means

of

rival

attainments

,

which

cannot

be

surpassed

.

Notes

1
Sedenim.
2
We insert this clause at Oehler’s suggestion.
3
Ministerium.
4
The incident, which was closely connected with the third Punic war, is described pleasantly by Pliny, Hist. Nat. xv. 20.
5
Præconium.
6
Artifices.
7
“Antiquitas” is here opposed to “novitas,” and therefore means “the arts of old times.”
8
In æmulis. “In,” in our author, often marks the instrument.