Opening the library…

Search the Bible

The Prescription Against Heretics

Tertullian

Chapter 39

About this work

Tertullian argues that apostolic churches possess the proper claim to interpret Christian Scripture and that rival teachers should not be granted equal standing in debates over the inherited rule of faith.

Author: Tertullian
Date: c. AD 200–210
Origin: Carthage, North Africa
Genre: Heresiology

Chapter XXXIX.—What St. Paul Calls Spiritual Wickednesses Displayed by Pagan Authors, and by Heretics, in No Dissimilar Manner. Holy Scripture Especially Liable to Heretical Manipulation. Affords Material for Heresies, Just as Virgil Has Been the Groundwork of Literary Plagiarisms, Different in Purport from the Original.

These were the ingenious arts of “

‹ Chapter 38 Chapter 40 ›

spiritual

wickednesses

,

”

wherewith

we

also

,

my

brethren

,

may

fairly

expect

to

have

“

to

wrestle

,

”

as

necessary

for

faith

,

that

the

elect

may

be

made

manifest

,

(

and

)

that

the

reprobate

may

be

discovered

.

And

therefore

they

possess

influence

,

and

a

facility

in

thinking

out

and

fabricating

errors

,

which

ought

not

to

be

wondered

at

as

if

it

were

a

difficult

and

inexplicable

process

,

seeing

that

in

profane

writings

also

an

example

comes

ready

to

hand

of

a

similar

facility

.

You

see

in

our

own

day

,

composed

out

of

Virgil

,

a

story

of

a

wholly

different

character

,

the

subject

-

matter

being

arranged

according

to

the

verse

,

and

the

verse

according

to

the

subject

-

matter

.

In

short

,

Hosidius

Geta

has

most

completely

pilfered

his

tragedy

of

Medea

from

Virgil

.

A

near

relative

of

my

own

,

among

some

leisure

productions

of

his

pen

,

has

composed

out

of

the

same

poet

The

Table

of

Cebes

.

On

the

same

principle

,

those

poetasters

are

commonly

called

Homerocentones

,

“

collectors

of

Homeric

odds

and

ends

,

”

who

stitch

into

one

piece

,

patchwork

fashion

,

works

of

their

own

from

the

lines

of

Homer

,

out

of

many

scraps

put

together

from

this

passage

and

from

that

(

in

miscellaneous

confusion

)

.

Now

,

unquestionably

,

the

Divine

Scriptures

are

more

fruitful

in

resources

of

all

kinds

for

this

sort

of

facility

.

Nor

do

I

risk

contradiction

in

saying

that

the

very

Scriptures

were

even

arranged

by

the

will

of

God

in

such

a

manner

as

to

furnish

materials

for

heretics

,

inasmuch

as

I

read

that

“

there

must

be

heresies

,

”

which

there

cannot

be

without

the

Scriptures

.

Notes

1
See Eph. vi. 12, and 1 Cor. xi. 18.
2
Instruendis.
3
Oehler reads “ex Vergilio,” although the Codex Agobard. as “ex Virgilio.”
4
Denique. [“Getica lyra.”]
5
Otis.
6
Nec periclitor dicere. [Truly, a Tertullianic paradox; but compare 2 Pet. iii. 16. N.B. Scripture the test of heresy.]
7
1 Cor. xi. 19.