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The Chaplet, or De Corona

Tertullian

Chapter 13

About this work

Author: Tertullian

For state reasons, the various orders of the citizens also

‹ Chapter 12 Chapter 14 ›

are

crowned

with

laurel

crowns

;

but

the

magistrates

besides

with

golden

ones

,

as

at

Athens

,

and

at

Rome

.

Even

to

those

are

preferred

the

Etruscan

.

This

appellation

is

given

to

the

crowns

which

,

distinguished

by

their

gems

and

oak

leaves

of

gold

,

they

put

on

,

with

mantles

having

an

embroidery

of

palm

branches

,

to

conduct

the

chariots

containing

the

images

of

the

gods

to

the

circus

.

There

are

also

provincial

crowns

of

gold

,

needing

now

the

larger

heads

of

images

instead

of

those

of

men

.

But

your

orders

,

and

your

magistracies

,

and

your

very

place

of

meeting

,

the

church

,

are

Christ’s

.

You

belong

to

Him

,

for

you

have

been

enrolled

in

the

books

of

life

.

There

the

blood

of

the

Lord

serves

for

your

purple

robe

,

and

your

broad

stripe

is

His

own

cross

;

there

the

axe

is

already

laid

to

the

trunk

of

the

tree

;

there

is

the

branch

out

of

the

root

of

Jesse

.

Never

mind

the

state

horses

with

their

crown

.

Your

Lord

,

when

,

according

to

the

Scripture

,

He

would

enter

Jerusalem

in

triumph

,

had

not

even

an

ass

of

His

own

.

These

(

put

their

trust

)

in

chariots

,

and

these

in

horses

;

but

we

will

seek

our

help

in

the

name

of

the

Lord

our

God

.

From

so

much

as

a

dwelling

in

that

Babylon

of

John’s

Revelation

we

are

called

away

;

much

more

then

from

its

pomp

.

The

rabble

,

too

,

are

crowned

,

at

one

time

because

of

some

great

rejoicing

for

the

success

of

the

emperors

;

at

another

,

on

account

of

some

custom

belonging

to

municipal

festivals

.

For

luxury

strives

to

make

her

own

every

occasion

of

public

gladness

.

But

as

for

you

,

you

are

a

foreigner

in

this

world

,

a

citizen

of

Jerusalem

,

the

city

above

.

Our

citizenship

,

the

apostle

says

,

is

in

heaven

.

You

have

your

own

registers

,

your

own

calendar

;

you

have

nothing

to

do

with

the

joys

of

the

world

;

nay

,

you

are

called

to

the

very

opposite

,

for

“

the

world

shall

rejoice

,

but

ye

shall

mourn

.

”

And

I

think

the

Lord

affirms

,

that

those

who

mourn

are

happy

,

not

those

who

are

crowned

.

Marriage

,

too

,

decks

the

bridegroom

with

its

crown

;

and

therefore

we

will

not

have

heathen

brides

,

lest

they

seduce

us

even

to

the

idolatry

with

which

among

them

marriage

is

initiated

.

You

have

the

law

from

the

patriarchs

indeed

;

you

have

the

apostle

enjoining

people

to

marry

in

the

Lord

.

You

have

a

crowning

also

on

the

making

of

a

freeman

;

but

you

have

been

already

ransomed

by

Christ

,

and

that

at

a

great

price

.

How

shall

the

world

manumit

the

servant

of

another

?

Though

it

seems

to

be

liberty

,

yet

it

will

come

to

be

found

bondage

.

In

the

world

everything

is

nominal

,

and

nothing

real

.

For

even

then

,

as

ransomed

by

Christ

,

you

were

under

no

bondage

to

man

;

and

now

,

though

man

has

given

you

liberty

,

you

are

the

servant

of

Christ

.

If

you

think

freedom

of

the

world

to

be

real

,

so

that

you

even

seal

it

with

a

crown

,

you

have

returned

to

the

slavery

of

man

,

imagining

it

to

be

freedom

;

you

have

lost

the

freedom

of

Christ

,

fancying

it

is

slavery

.

Will

there

be

any

dispute

as

to

the

cause

of

crown

-

wearing

,

which

contests

in

the

games

in

their

turn

supply

,

and

which

,

both

as

sacred

to

the

gods

and

in

honour

of

the

dead

,

their

own

reason

at

once

condemns

?

It

only

remains

,

that

the

Olympian

Jupiter

,

and

the

Nemean

Hercules

,

and

the

wretched

little

Archemorus

,

and

the

hapless

Antinous

,

should

be

crowned

in

a

Christian

,

that

he

himself

may

become

a

spectacle

disgusting

to

behold

.

We

have

recounted

,

as

I

think

,

all

the

various

causes

of

the

wearing

of

the

crown

,

and

there

is

not

one

which

has

any

place

with

us

:

all

are

foreign

to

us

,

unholy

,

unlawful

,

having

been

abjured

already

once

for

all

in

the

solemn

declaration

of

the

sacrament

.

For

they

were

of

the

pomp

of

the

devil

and

his

angels

,

offices

of

the

world

,

honours

,

festivals

,

popularity

huntings

,

false

vows

,

exhibitions

of

human

servility

,

empty

praises

,

base

glories

,

and

in

them

all

idolatry

,

even

in

respect

of

the

origin

of

the

crowns

alone

,

with

which

they

are

all

wreathed

.

Claudius

will

tell

us

in

his

preface

,

indeed

,

that

in

the

poems

of

Homer

the

heaven

also

is

crowned

with

constellations

,

and

that

no

doubt

by

God

,

no

doubt

for

man

;

therefore

man

himself

,

too

,

should

be

crowned

by

God

.

But

the

world

crowns

brothels

,

and

baths

,

and

bakehouses

,

and

prisons

,

and

schools

,

and

the

very

amphitheatres

,

and

the

chambers

where

the

clothes

are

stripped

from

dead

gladiators

,

and

the

very

biers

of

the

dead

.

How

sacred

and

holy

,

how

venerable

and

pure

is

this

article

of

dress

,

determine

not

from

the

heaven

of

poetry

alone

,

but

from

the

traffickings

of

the

whole

world

.

But

indeed

a

Christian

will

not

even

dishonour

his

own

gate

with

laurel

crowns

,

if

so

be

he

knows

how

many

gods

the

devil

has

attached

to

doors

;

Janus

so

-

called

from

gate

,

Limentinus

from

threshold

,

Forcus

and

Carna

from

leaves

and

hinges

;

among

the

Greeks

,

too

,

the

Thyræan

Apollo

,

and

the

evil

spirits

,

the

Antelii

.

Notes

1
Phil. iv. 3.
2
Matt. iii. 10.
3
Isa. xi. 1.
4
Ps. xx. 7.
5
Rev. xviii. 4. [He understands this of Rome.]
6
Phil. iii. 20.
7
John xvi. 20.
8
1 Cor. vii. 39.
9
[A suggestive interpretation of the baptismal vow, of which see Bunsen, Hippol., Vol. III., p. 20.]