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Tertullian

Chapter 3

About this work

Author: Tertullian

However, as we have already remarked, it cannot but distress us

‹ Chapter 2 Chapter 4 ›

that

no

state

shall

bear

unpunished

the

guilt

of

shedding

Christian

blood

;

as

you

see

,

indeed

,

in

what

took

place

during

the

presidency

of

Hilarian

,

for

when

there

had

been

some

agitation

about

places

of

sepulture

for

our

dead

,

and

the

cry

arose

,

“

No

areæ

—

no

burial

-

grounds

for

the

Christians

,

”

it

came

that

their

own

areæ

,

their

threshing

-

floors

,

were

a

-

wanting

,

for

they

gathered

in

no

harvests

.

As

to

the

rains

of

the

bygone

year

,

it

is

abundantly

plain

of

what

they

were

intended

to

remind

men

—

of

the

deluge

,

no

doubt

,

which

in

ancient

times

overtook

human

unbelief

and

wickedness

;

and

as

to

the

fires

which

lately

hung

all

night

over

the

walls

of

Carthage

,

they

who

saw

them

know

what

they

threatened

;

and

what

the

preceding

thunders

pealed

,

they

who

were

hardened

by

them

can

tell

.

All

these

things

are

signs

of

God’s

impending

wrath

,

which

we

must

needs

publish

and

proclaim

in

every

possible

way

;

and

in

the

meanwhile

we

must

pray

it

may

be

only

local

.

Sure

are

they

to

experience

it

one

day

in

its

universal

and

final

form

,

who

interpret

otherwise

these

samples

of

it

.

That

sun

,

too

,

in

the

metropolis

of

Utica

,

with

light

all

but

extinguished

,

was

a

portent

which

could

not

have

occurred

from

an

ordinary

eclipse

,

situated

as

the

lord

of

day

was

in

his

height

and

house

.

You

have

the

astrologers

,

consult

them

about

it

.

We

can

point

you

also

to

the

deaths

of

some

provincial

rulers

,

who

in

their

last

hours

had

painful

memories

of

their

sin

in

persecuting

the

followers

of

Christ

.

Vigellius

Saturninus

,

who

first

here

used

the

sword

against

us

,

lost

his

eyesight

.

Claudius

Lucius

Herminianus

in

Cappadocia

,

enraged

that

his

wife

had

become

a

Christian

,

had

treated

the

Christians

with

great

cruelty

:

well

,

left

alone

in

his

palace

,

suffering

under

a

contagious

malady

,

he

boiled

out

in

living

worms

,

and

was

heard

exclaiming

,

“

Let

nobody

know

of

it

,

lest

the

Christians

rejoice

,

and

Christian

wives

take

encouragement

.

”

Afterwards

he

came

to

see

his

error

in

having

tempted

so

many

from

their

stedfastness

by

the

tortures

he

inflicted

,

and

died

almost

a

Christian

himself

.

In

that

doom

which

overtook

Byzantium

,

Cæcilius

Capella

could

not

help

crying

out

,

“

Christians

,

rejoice

!

”

Yes

,

and

the

persecutors

who

seem

to

themselves

to

have

acted

with

impunity

shall

not

escape

the

day

of

judgment

.

For

you

we

sincerely

wish

it

may

prove

to

have

been

a

warning

only

,

that

,

immediately

after

you

had

condemned

Mavilus

of

Adrumetum

to

the

wild

beasts

,

you

were

overtaken

by

those

troubles

,

and

that

even

now

for

the

same

reason

you

are

called

to

a

blood

-

reckoning

.

But

do

not

forget

the

future

.

Notes

1
[An obvious play on the ambiguity of this word.]
2
[Notes of the time when this was written. See Kaye, p. 57.]
3
[Christians remembered Herod (Acts xii. 23) very naturally; but we may reserve remarks on such instances till we come to Lactantius. But see Kaye (p. 102) who speaks unfavourably of them.]
4
[Notes of the time when this was written. See Kaye, p. 57.]